Chapter 72: 70. Second-tier Alchemist (3/3)

70. Second-tier Alchemist (3/3)

After coming out of Wen Zhiyun's room, Chen An felt as though he had lost a great deal.

He hurried to the Alchemy Room to find a bottle of Energy-Replenishing Pills, pulled out the stopper, and poured them into his mouth.

Once the pills entered his stomach, they instantly transformed into wisps of essence that coursed through his body, continuously nourishing the parts of him that were overloaded.

In less than a moment, Chen An, who had been feeling somewhat listless, became full of vigor again in the blink of an eye.

"It's a pity that these Energy-Replenishing Pills are only useful for men; if only they were useful for women too."

Looking at the pill bottle he had nearly emptied, Chen An couldn't help but sigh.

If the Energy-Replenishing Pills could also work on women, then his wives and concubines wouldn't have to be so exhausted every day in the future.

After resting for a while.

With nothing better to do, Chen An began to diligently refine pills.

He refined for over two hours.

Feeling that he had refined enough, he got up and left the Alchemy Room to go to his young wife's room to see his daughter.

When passing by Wen Zhiyun's room on the way.

Chen An smelled the faint scent of photinia flowers wafting from inside, and he felt somewhat unconvinced.

If they were to face off directly, he wouldn't be afraid of Wen Zhiyun at all; he could make this tsundere concubine beg for mercy with a mouthful of pleas.

However, this tsundere concubine was currently relying on her pregnancy, knowing full well he couldn't use his strength, attacking throughout without defending, and using underhanded tactics that left him with grievances he couldn't voice.

"After the child in her belly is born, I will get my revenge with interest and make her beg for mercy every single day."

Chen An consoled himself inwardly.

Soon after, he walked into his young wife's room and watched her teaching their daughter various worldly etiquettes, which he found quite interesting.

In a flash.

Time arrived at the next day.

Chen An sat up from beside his young wife, who was still fast asleep, and his gaze fell upon the notification information before him.

【Alchemy Experience +3】x15

【Alchemy: First-tier Advanced (2391/2500)】

"Still 109 experience points away."

Looking at the data in the notification, Chen An felt a slight surge of excitement, thinking that his decision to spend 700 Low-grade Spirit Stones at the Treasure Pavilion to buy "Mandarin Ducks Flying Together" was truly an incredibly correct one.

Never mind 700 Low-grade Spirit Stones, he wouldn't even feel it was a loss at 7,000 Low-grade Spirit Stones.

For others, this Cultivation Method "Mandarin Ducks Flying Together" might just be a tool to enhance the experience of intimacy with wives and concubines while reducing the burden afterward.

But for him, this Cultivation Method was an upgrade booster, increasing his leveling speed by at least half.

He put on his clothes and got out of bed.

He washed up and drank some porridge.

Chen An quickly finished these tasks, and soon after, under the gaze of his wife and daughter, he shouldered a medicine chest filled with pills and went out.

Bamboo Leaf Gang, Logistics Department.

As usual, Chen An went in, delivered the pills, and turned to leave.

But before he had taken a few steps, he was called out by a Deacon behind him.

"Alchemist Chen, wait a moment."

"Deacon Liu, is there anything else?"

Chen An asked with a calm expression on his face.

However, he was cursing inwardly, berating those dogs in the Logistics Department for wanting to greedily increase the supply of pills again.

It was just unfortunate that he had cursed the wrong person this time.

This Deacon in the Logistics Department did not say they wanted to increase the pill supply.

Instead, he said:

"Alchemist Chen, Elder Han, who is in charge of the entire Logistics Department, will be coming here in a moment to convene a meeting for all Alchemists. If you have nothing urgent to do, you might as well sit here and wait for a while, so you don't have to make an extra trip later."

"Many thanks for the reminder, Deacon Liu."

Chen An smiled kindly.

After saying this, he asked: "Deacon Liu, do you know what the meeting is about?"

Deacon Liu said: "I don't know the specifics of the meeting either, because it was decided suddenly. They are currently notifying Alchemists in the gang and the Core Area to come over for the meeting."

"I see..."

Chen An pondered for a moment, nodded, and then found a relatively quiet corner to sit and wait.

Sigh, I hope it won't be a meeting held just to further squeeze the Alchemists.

He sighed in his heart.

While waiting with nothing to do, he observed the low-level cultivators busy in the Logistics Department.

There were more men than women.

Among the men, some were handsome and some were ugly, but the women were all ugly; not even one reached an average level.

The reason for this phenomenon was that the good-looking low-level female cultivators were basically all taken home as concubines by some wealthy male cultivators.

The ones left behind were all so ugly that no one wanted them, so they could only stay in the Logistics Department to work like cattle and horses.

As time passed.

Gradually, cultivators kept walking into the Logistics Department from outside.

Almost all of them were Alchemists who had received the meeting notice and hurried over.

An Alchemist who knew Chen An saw him sitting in a corner, so he walked over to sit and wait as well, greeting him with a smile.

About half an hour later.

The corner that had originally appeared empty had, without anyone noticing, become crowded.

From only Chen An being there at the start, it had turned into over fifty people now.

These fifty-plus people were all the top-tier Alchemists in the entire Bamboo Leaf Forest.

They all started at First-tier Advanced.

However, they were basically all First-tier Advanced, with only a mere two having reached the Second-tier level.

Furthermore, these two Second-tier Alchemists were both members of the Bamboo Leaf Gang.

"Fellow Alchemist Daoist friends, thank you for your hard work in coming to the Logistics Department to gather."

As a deep, resonant man's voice rang out, an old man dressed in white robes appeared before the crowd.

This was that Elder Han of the Bamboo Leaf Gang.

Upon seeing this Elder who was responsible for managing the Logistics Department, many of the Alchemists on the scene began to flatter him, saying things like it was no trouble at all, and that being summoned by Elder Han was their honor.

In truth, one could not blame these Alchemists for flattering him.

After all, the Elder Han before them was a big shot who controlled the fate of every Alchemist in the Bamboo Leaf Forest.

Whether one could join the Bamboo Leaf Gang to become an Alchemist, and how much of a supply of pills an Alchemist had to provide to the Logistics Department each month, were all decided by this Elder Han.

"Everyone, quiet down."

Elder Han pressed his hands down, signaling for everyone to be quiet.

He then said: "The reason I have summoned everyone here today is mainly to discuss with you all the matter of refining Poison Pills."

Poison Pills?

Upon hearing these two words, all the Alchemists present could not help but have their expressions change.

Everyone looked at one another, all thinking that someone had been secretly refining Poison Pills for sale, and that they had all been implicated.

But what Elder Han said next was not what they had imagined.

Instead, he made a shocking statement, saying that he wanted the Alchemists present to refine a type of special Poison Pill to be used to control the mercenaries on the battlefield.

Because the Bamboo Leaf Gang had recently been in an increasingly disadvantageous position in the war against Black Iron Villa, many mercenaries, seeing that the situation was bad, had chosen to defect and turn around to attack members of the Bamboo Leaf Gang, taking their heads to defect to Black Iron Villa.

To put an end to this situation, Elder Han required the Alchemists to develop a type of special poison.

The requirement was: it must be completely harmless to the body under normal circumstances, but if the specific antidote was not taken regularly, one would eventually end up dying suddenly.

To increase their motivation, he also offered very generous rewards.

Some were gifts of Dao companions, some were gifts of status, some were gifts of Cultivation Methods... and many other things were offered.

The Alchemists on the scene were all excited upon hearing this, and the majority of them began to stir.

Chen An was one of the less gregarious ones among them.

He had no interest in this.

He did not want to stand out just to get this reward.

He only wanted to hurry up and break through to become a Second-tier Alchemist, then join the Treasure Pavilion to change his life.

Not long after.

The meeting was dismissed.

Chen An did not stay long and left the Logistics Department at the first opportunity.

After returning home.

He headed straight for the room of his little beloved wife, Song Huaying.

He was currently only 109 experience points away from breaking through his Alchemy Dao realm to the Second-tier.

He did not want to wait any longer.

He thought he would trouble his little beloved wife one more time and break through his Alchemy Dao realm directly tonight.

As compensation, he would cherish his little beloved wife doubly in the future and give her more respect.

Instead of letting his little beloved wife be a little woman who only knew how to obey her husband, without a life of her own.

The sky gradually darkened.

A cool breeze began to blow outside.

This night, their daughter Chen Yuejian was sleeping in Wen Zhiyun's room.

Chen An pushed open his little beloved wife's door, took off his clothes, and lay on her bed, chatting with her about every beautiful moment from the two and a half years since they were married.

"Husband, Ying is merely a mortal woman; why do you, who are a noble Immortal Master, treat me so well?"

Song Huaying lay on the bed, weak and listless, her breathing long and somewhat heavy, her delicate, flushed little face filled with a look of confusion.

Chen An chose to follow his heart and honestly stated the real reason, saying: "It is only because Ying is too beautiful; at the time, I, your husband, was captivated after just one extra glance."

"Ah... is that all?"

Song Huaying felt a little disappointed by this answer.

But soon, she put away the disappointment on her face, turned her glistening, beautiful eyes toward him, and smiled sweetly: "Then Husband must take a few more looks while Ying is still young and beautiful, otherwise, when Ying is old and faded in the future, there will be nothing left for you to look at."

"That won't happen; in the future, I, your husband, will definitely find a Fixed Beauty Pill for Ying, so that Ying will remain forever young, and I, your husband, will see a young and beautiful Ying every day."

"Husband..."

Song Huaying was moved, the corners of her eyes slightly moist.

Chen An gently wiped the crystal-clear tear from the corner of her eye, his voice full of love as he said: "Ying, you have rested enough; it is time to continue reminiscing about every beautiful moment of the past two and a half years."

"Mm."

Song Huaying nodded through her tears.

Happy times always pass very quickly.

In the blink of an eye.

The sky had already brightened.

When Chen An opened his eyes again, the sky outside the window, which had been pitch black, had become completely bright.

He looked down at his little wife, who was curled up in his arms sleeping soundly, reached out to wipe away the tear stains she had left at the corners of her eyes last night, and let one of her jade legs rest across his body.

Then, with a thought, he called up the Alchemy progress bar he had been longing for to check the data.

【Alchemy: Second-tier Beginner (2502/12500)】

"I am a Second-tier Alchemist..."

Looking at the notification before him, Chen An did not feel the excitement he had imagined; there was only a sense that this was his due, a matter of course.

PS: Setting out my bowl, begging for monthly tickets and recommendation tickets!