Chapter 30

Early the next morning, Luo Chen's biological clock habitually woke him up.

He felt his internal state and was extremely satisfied.

Before going to sleep last night, he circulated Changchun Gong to restore his spiritual power and then took a Nourishing Qi Elixir.

In the Qi Refining Level 4 section, it had increased by one point, from the initial one to two.

"Sure enough, it's a progress bar, not proficiency."

He confirmed his guess again; lifespan and realm both show progress.

Cultivation methods, spells, and skills show proficiency.

"In that case, if I eat all five bottles of Nourishing Qi Elixirs I bought, I can pull the progress bar about halfway."

A bit slow, but if combined with the perfect Changchun Gong and the first-tier spiritual vein, the progress bar should increase more.

Compared to the turtle-crawling cultivation speed of the past, this change could already be considered earth-shattering.

After a slight calculation, Luo Chen stopped worrying about this matter.

Taking out the forty Fire Dog Whips from his storage bag, Luo Chen rubbed his hands together.

Because other raw materials came from the Hundred Herbs Hall, he saved a lot of processing time; next, he just needed to specially process the main material, and he could start refining the Zhongmiao Pills.

Time is spirit stones!

Let's get to work!

Around the time of the Dragon hour, with the sun about to rise, Luo Chen finally had all the medicinal liquid prepared.

Next, he just needed to soak the Fire Dog Whips in it for three days and three nights until they were soft and rotten.

Luo Chen stuffed the Fire Dog Whips into the wooden basin one by one, and a foul stench wafted out.

Luo Chen put on a homemade mask and occasionally flipped the Fire Dog Whips.

Just as he was busy working, a sound of vomiting came from the courtyard.

"Ugh!"

"So smelly!"

Then, hurried footsteps approached.

Dong dong dong!

The door was knocked.

Luo Chen opened the door, and a somewhat familiar small face came into view.

"You are... ugh!"

The woman with the round face was halfway through her sentence when she was triggered to retch by the stench wafting from the room.

She leaned one hand against the door and pointed at the only window of the back room with the other.

"Hurry up and... ugh... turn on the Smoke-Absorbing Tower... ugh!"

Luo Chen hurriedly cast a strand of spiritual power, and the magic treasure given by Sun Shou began to hum.

At the same time, the various strange odors in the room gradually disappeared.

And at the end of the Smoke-Absorbing Tower facing outside, clear water droplets began to drip out.

This was the first time Luo Chen had activated this magic treasure; seeing this reaction, he was stunned.

"A cultivation version of a range hood?"

"What range hood, this is a first-tier magic treasure for smoke absorption and odor removal developed by Tianfan City."

The round-faced female cultivator said, then stared at Luo Chen angrily, "What are you doing early in the morning, are you not letting people... eh, it's you!"

After saying that, she looked at Luo Chen hesitantly, only then realizing that she actually knew him.

Luo Chen looked at her plain face without makeup and also felt it was familiar.

Suddenly, he remembered.

"You are Miss Xiaoling from the Hundred Herbs Hall!"

Bai Meiling wrinkled her nose, "Your surname is Luo, right? What's your name?"

Although the other party looked petite and cute, she was a genuine Qi Refining Level 7 cultivator.

Luo Chen wasn't annoyed by her impolite words and said freely: "Junior Luo Chen, greetings to Senior Bai."

"What junior, senior, am I that old?" Bai Meiling took out a handkerchief and wiped her mouth, "And I'm asking you, what exactly are you doing early in the morning? Don't you know there are other people living in the courtyard? You're easily going to get complained about by everyone."

It seemed there was such a thing.

When Sun Shou rented the room to Luo Chen, he had mentioned it.

That one spirit stone management fee came with the obligation to handle neighborhood conflicts.

"Sorry, I will pay attention in the future. When processing medicinal herbs, I will definitely remember to turn on the Smoke-Absorbing Tower, Senior Bai... Miss Xiaoling, please don't complain about me this time!"

Luo Chen said with an apologetic smile, having discovered that she did not seem to mind the address of Miss Xiaoling.

On the contrary, "Senior Bai" and the like were somewhat sensitive.

"Hmph!"

Bai Meiling snorted lightly, considering the matter closed.

Her peripheral vision glanced at the wooden basin next to the stove, and her expression suddenly became a bit strange.

"What did you use to soak that thing?"

"Uh, trade secret, it's hard to say." This was a little trick in the elixir formula that could maximize the release of the medicinal properties contained in the Fire Dog Whip.

Why are aphrodisiacs for cultivators on the market so expensive?

It's because the cost of raw materials is expensive.

Luo Chen could use cheap Fire Dog Whips as a substitute, yet the medicinal power was not weak at all; the trick lay in the processing formula.

Her thirst for knowledge wasn't satisfied, and Bai Meiling was very angry; her eyes rolled.

"Are you an alchemist?"

"I think I am!"

Grain-Grain Bigu Powder barely counts as an elixir, but the Zhongmiao Pill definitely does.

Luo Chen still had the confidence to state his profession.

"Then what elixir do you refine?"

Luo Chen had a headache; how come two women asked him this question in just one day!

"Too embarrassed to say? Or afraid to say?" Bai Meiling's eyes narrowed slightly, "You aren't refining some demonic elixir, are you? The Yuding Sword Sect is a righteous sect and doesn't allow cultivators to refine those harmful demonic elixirs!"

Luo Chen's spirit suddenly tightened, "Absolutely not any demonic elixir!"

Bai Meiling said: "Then why are you stuttering?"

Luo Chen was already doubting if he had made a mistake in renting this courtyard house.

It wasn't that he had thin skin and was afraid to say what elixir he was refining.

He had already discarded his face when he made the decision.

In front of male cultivators, he could talk eloquently and cite classics.

Because male cultivators were his target customers.

But female cultivators?

That would be very awkward.

If he said it, besides being despised, he wouldn't get anything.

Other women would be fine, but Gu Caiyi and Bai Meiling were his neighbors for at least the next three months.

Who would want to live under despised gazes every day for three months?

"Hmph, I also know about elixirs. No matter what you refine, sell one to me after it's out of the furnace. If it's a demonic elixir, I'll take it to the Yuding Sword Pavilion to report you, and there's a reporting bonus too."

"I'm going to work, goodbye!"

After saying that, she ran out of the gate in a hurry.

Only then did Luo Chen notice a burly woman standing at the gate, seemingly waiting for Bai Meiling.

If nothing unexpected happened, it should be Feng Xia, who lived in the other side room and worked at the Hundred Herbs Hall with Bai Meiling.

Looking at these two female cultivators rushing to work, for some reason, Luo Chen felt a trace of nostalgia.

They seemed to have a lot of life in them, not like the cultivators of this world, but rather more like the white-collar beauties on Earth in his previous life.

One couldn't see the pursuit of the Dao in their faces, nor the fierce aura of the cultivators in the outer city.

The only thing they had was the satisfaction and happiness of going to work and getting off work every day.

Communicating and talking with Luo Chen, a small Qi Refining Level 4 cultivator, although not polite, there was no sense of alienation, as if they had completely cast aside cultivation realms and were two pure ordinary people communicating.

Between ordinary people, without desire or demand, why should anyone be polite to anyone?

"It's a pity that big companies like the Hundred Herbs Pavilion and Spirit Source Studio only hire female cultivators, otherwise I would have applied too."

Muttering a sentence, Luo Chen entered the busy medicinal herb processing.