Chapter 38: Alchemist Cultivation

After Shi Dazhu left, Li Yu had no intention of sleeping.

Instead, quite excited, he returned to the main room, lit the electric eel lamp, and began to study those chaotic and messy paper drafts.

It was a thick stack, all repeatedly printed; in some places, the ink was uneven in depth, making it quite strenuous to read.

But every sheet was genuine, containing extraordinary information.

It was just that compared to the content in the "Wanfu Daily," it was more colloquial.

"Citizens, with the arrival of Missionary Day, after all the refugees from the Three Kingdoms enter the city, the safe paths for leaving Wanfu City will also be closed. Anyone attempting to renounce their household registration and flee will lose all protection; either die in the three great forbidden lands or be hunted by other citizens. Please remember, if you want to leave, pay your taxes."

"Damn it, this topic didn't get picked. Saying I can't intimidate the citizens—isn't this an unwritten rule? Who did I intimidate?"

"Breaking news, breaking news! Over a dozen diners have filed complaints with me, claiming the Garuda Grand Restaurant bullies its customers, forbids them from giving any negative reviews, and frequently shorts the weight of dishes when they go to eat the same ones."

"An anonymous diner secretly revealed that when they and a few friends went to eat on the first floor, one friend had an old illness flare up and couldn't control their temper, cursing the chef in the back kitchen because the dishes weren't to their taste. As a result, they never came out again, and their table was comped and gifted a famous dish, [Roasted Fragrant Pig]. The whistleblower said he tasted his friend in it."

"Another big piece of news: according to informed sources, an heir of the East District overlord, the Joy King, went to the Garuda Grand Restaurant to dine and dash. It just so happened that the restaurant owner, the old demon Zhu Can, was there, and the two sides clashed. As for the subsequent outcome, this newspaper will continue to follow..."

"Damn it, none of it can be published. What kind of 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do' bullshit is this? Does my Heavenly Craft Sect need to fear a mere Joy King's mansion and a man-eating old demon?"

"The city's largest [Half-Human Pet] shop has had a large-scale pet escape incident due to an accident. The shop owner hereby appeals to all citizens."

"Please, citizens who have found centaur-girls, dog-girl hybrids, spider-girl hybrids, cow-girl hybrids... and other such pets, go to the Hehe Workshop in the South District to return them; there will be a generous reward."

"Heh, who would return them? I wouldn't return them if I found them."

"Pah, retracted the draft. Said it was originally a missionary-style scheme to pollute a few more powerful believers. Truly disgusting."

As he read, Li Yu realized.

These unselected news items were more interesting than the ones that were chosen.

Of course, in terms of the weight of extraordinary information, they were a bit inferior.

With the rustling sound of turning pages, at the edge of Li Yu's eye membrane.

The fifth Truth Bubble was rapidly charging.

But the speed was a little bit worse than when he was reading the "Wanfu Daily" before.

Fortunately, the volume of waste drafts was large.

He didn't know how much time had passed; it was already bright outside. Li Yu finally finished reading the last waste draft. The content on it was a series of insults written by an editor with the pen name "Danchenzi," venting his anger that the topic draft he had worked so hard to prepare hadn't been selected.

After reading it, Li Yu revealed a brilliant smile.

It was because at the edge of his eye membrane, there was good news.

The fifth Truth Bubble had somehow finished charging, and the one now flickering and charging was the sixth bubble, and its progress had also jumped forward quite a bit.

"Perfect!"

"From now on, I'll use both methods; I want both the official newspaper and the waste drafts."

"It's a pity I'm not a member of the [Heavenly Craft Sect], and I'm not cultivating the Artisan God path, otherwise it would be even more convenient to just apply for a job and join the newspaper office."

After muttering this, Li Yu hurriedly reached out to turn off the electric eel lamp.

Not wasting electricity had always been one of his good habits.

He glanced at the sky, about to calculate the time.

Suddenly, that familiar clicking sound came. The bronze crowing chicken skillfully rushed out of the coop, spraying choking smoke and fire, and pounced toward Li Yu.

"Master, Master!"

"Get up and sell meat!"

"I'll sell you, you plague-ridden chicken."

Li Yu, who would have chosen to endure it in the past, this time cursed while kicking it away.

Afterward, ignoring this plague-ridden chicken as it began to fly wildly around the courtyard, he called for Hongdou and said, quite lavishly:

"Let's go!"

"Time to spend."

An ordinary person who had pulled such an all-nighter would be going to sleep by now.

But Li Yu was no longer a mortal; before he was sure he had made full preparations, he didn't want to waste any more time.

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the so-called "Joint Gold Card" required his personal presence to be used, Li Yu wouldn't even have stepped out of the courtyard gate, but would have sent Hongdou out to buy alchemy materials as before.

Spending an entire morning, the master and servant finally returned home with large and small bags, and even a number of shop assistants responsible for delivering goods followed behind them.

Twenty thousand taels!

Even for a cultivator, this was a huge sum of money.

If a mortal obtained it, they could live a life without worry in this Wanfu City forever, go to pleasure clubs to enjoy themselves for several years, and buy multiple extraordinary pets like centaur-girls, spider-girls, or cow-girls.

And Li Yu had spent half of it directly.

Aside from some strange and peculiar sundries, most of it was spent in those two places: the smoke den and the pharmacy. Only then did Li Yu finally have a concept of just how expensive the "Alchemist Sequence" was.

What made him feel even more distressed was that although he had already refined the [Explosive Flame Pill], a basic spiritual pill, strictly speaking, he hadn't yet begun formal Alchemist cultivation.

"The first hurdle: ingestion."

"An Alchemist needs to use the art of ingestion to pass almost all highly toxic minerals and drugs, as well as some special medicinal catalysts, through their mouth, chewing them into dregs and savoring them carefully."

"Only in this way can one control the medicinal and toxic properties with extreme precision."

"Whether refining basic pill formulas or creating one's own, this hurdle must be passed."

"Of course, if I never cultivate properly in my life and only refine the Explosive Flame Pills used for throwing, I could avoid eating them."

Li Yu muttered to himself, then with a tragic look on his face, dove headfirst into the alchemy room.

Not long after!

The alchemy fire inside hadn't even been lit, but a large amount of retching sounds began to emerge.

Occasionally, it was interspersed with painful wails and roars about how disgusting it tasted.

=9+Shu_ba

Inside the alchemy room, a familiar large vat was placed in front of Li Yu; it was the very one he had been in when he was reborn.

However, there was no cold liquid inside at this time, only a more disgusting mixture of various medicinal dregs, saliva, and acid.

He stood in front of the vat, mouth agape, continuously stuffing into his mouth the highly toxic minerals like cinnabar and mica, as well as drugs like elephant gall and tiger whip, one after another.

Then, he chewed them thoroughly and spat them into the vat.

Or, vomited them in.

Most of the time, it was the latter.

This was one of the side effects of Alchemist cultivation!

Although Li Yu's body already possessed a resistance to toxins and drugs that crushed mortals.

But eating too much, and having it accumulate, was no joke.

Moreover, his Alchemist trait did not include resistance to disgust, and none of these things tasted good.

Time passed quickly.

He didn't know how much Li Yu had already eaten; his entire person was deathly pale, his body was growing in different ways in different places, the colors were all different, and there was much swelling, accompanied by evil signs like flesh tumors and festering sores.

By rights, he should have stopped to detoxify by now.

But he didn't at all; it seemed he had already entered some kind of special state.

Previously, when he ate too much, he would not only vomit, but toxic smoke and gas would also spray out from his seven orifices.

But this time, it was very different.

No matter how much he ate, he only took in and did not let out.

One after another, all sorts of strange, unrelated, and bizarre objects were stuffed into his belly all at once.

His whole body was swollen beyond recognition, like a bloated corpse.

Finally!

It seemed he had reached a certain critical point; Li Yu's eyes, which had originally turned into dead fish eyes from being tortured so severely, suddenly flashed with brilliance.

His mouth, already numb and covered with various sores, opened and he shouted:

"Hongdou!"

"Open the furnace!"

Following his command, the basic alchemy furnace behind him, which had been preheated, became extremely red within a few breaths.

As the furnace lid opened, terrifying heat surged out.

And Li Yu, as if he had gone mad, leaped up, like a tired bird returning to its nest, and fell directly into the furnace.

It was fortunate that his alchemy assistant was a mechanical maid like Hongdou.

If it had been a living person, they would have been scared to death by Li Yu's horrific action.

But after all, it was Hongdou!

Without a ripple, she lightly and casually covered the furnace lid back on.

At the same time, a cold mechanical voice came from her mouth:

"According to existing signs, the success rate of the pill the master is about to refine is eighty percent."

"There is a ten percent chance the master will die suddenly in the alchemy furnace."

"The remaining ten percent, the master will be poisoned and lose control; at that time, the backup command can be activated to sever the master's limbs, restrict physical movement, and help the master regain his sanity."

ps: Seeking monthly tickets.

(End of chapter)