Chapter 145: Third-Grade Alchemist

For Hua Changxi, she truly did not care about the imperial court sealing off the roads. If one wanted to enter Lingguang Hall but couldn't even break through the court's blockade or lacked the courage to charge forward without hesitation, then such a person was unfit to serve in the Vermilion Bird Army that eliminates evil and protects peace.

From the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month to the fifteenth day of the ninth month, Hua Changxi stayed inside Lingguang Hall for that entire month, concocting pills during the day and practicing body refinement at night.

[Third-Rank Alchemist (Low-Grade Pill): 1 furnace of pills 1/10]

After more than three months of intense, focused pill concocting, she had finally raised her alchemist rank to Third-Rank.

Spending another month, on the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month, Hua Changxi refined her first Third-Rank Supreme-Grade pill.

Compared to First-Rank and Second-Rank pills, Third-Rank pills were noticeably much harder to refine.

[Third-Rank Alchemist (Supreme-Grade Pill): 1001 furnaces of pills 1001/]

Looking at the Third-Rank Supreme-Grade Fire Replenishment Pill in her hand, Hua Changxi was shocked by the dense spiritual energy contained within the pill. One Third-Rank Supreme-Grade Fire Replenishment Pill could quickly restore one hundred thousand points of spiritual energy.

But considering that the spiritual energy contained within a Core Formation realm cultivator's body ranged from one million to one hundred million, she felt it was still manageable.

After refining ten furnaces of Third-Rank Supreme-Grade Fire Replenishment Pills for backup, Hua Changxi finally exited the main hall of Lingguang Hall.

At this time, the *Roster of the Vermilion Bird Army* had already recorded over two hundred cultivators with fire spiritual roots who had received the skill transfer. All of these people had completely dispersed their original cultivation bases and chosen to cultivate from scratch.

At this moment, all these people were inside the Training Hall opposite the Skill Transfer Hall, cultivating with full concentration.

Hua Changxi checked the First-Rank pills inside the Shennong Cauldron, took out half of the various First-Rank pills she didn't need, and used spiritual power to send them to the Repository, which was located on the fourth level of the palace complex, directly above the Training Hall.

"Anyone who has dispersed their cultivation and is restarting may go to the Repository to collect one bottle of First-Rank pills."

The Skill Transfer Hall and the Training Hall were located on the fifth and lowest level of the Lingguang Hall palace complex, distributed on the left and right sides of the stairs, covering a very large area.

Apart from several main halls used for discussions and gatherings, the Training Hall consisted mostly of small individual training rooms, with up to tens of thousands of rooms.

At this moment, except for a few cultivators chatting in the main hall, the vast majority were concentrating on cultivation in their training rooms.

When Hua Changxi's voice rang out above the Training Hall, everyone's attention was drawn.

"Is that the Hall Master?"

In the main hall, several chatting cultivators quickly stepped out of the hall and bowed in the direction of the main palace.

"Su Yu pays respects to the Hall Master."

"Yun You pays respects to the Hall Master."

?

Several of them spoke out, but received no response.

After waiting for a while, Su Yu, Yun You, and the others finally straightened up, then exchanged somewhat bewildered glances.

Su Yu was the first to break the silence: "Since the Hall Master has decreed that we go to the Repository to collect pills, let us go to the Repository now."

Yun You nodded: "Fellow Daoist Su is right."

The group quickly climbed the stairs and reached the fourth level of the palace.

Previously, they had also explored other parts of Lingguang Hall, but unfortunately, all the halls were tightly closed, and the main hall at the highest point was enveloped by a layer of oppressive pressure they could not withstand, preventing anyone from approaching in the slightest.

The Repository was divided into many departments, including an Armory, a Pill Room, a Talisman Pavilion, a Formation Pavilion, an Artifact Refining Room, and others.

Su Yu, Yun You, and the others visited each of these departments one by one, finally arriving at the Pill Room.

Seeing that there was not a single person in the Pill Room, Su Yu and the others fell silent again.

"Is the Hall Master letting us help ourselves?"

Yun You pondered for a moment. Since Lingguang Hall had only just appeared, the Hall Master probably had very few people to command, which was why such a situation had occurred—pills being placed directly in the Pill Room for people to take on their own.

After a moment of contemplation, Yun You took the initiative to bring out brush, ink, paper, and inkstone: "Everyone, please take your pills. After you take them, come and tell me so I can record it for the Hall Master to check later."

Seeing Yun You acting like a manager of the Pill Room, Su Yu and the others all regretted being a step too slow.

"Heavens..."

Someone walked up to the pill shelf and found that many of the pills were First-Rank Supreme-Grade pills, and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

After hearing the sound, the others gathered around to examine, and soon their faces also showed astonishment. Then, several of them involuntarily took a First-Rank Supreme-Grade Origin Spirit Pill.

One First-Rank Supreme-Grade Origin Spirit Pill, after being refined and absorbed, could increase one's cultivation by one thousand points. They had all dispersed their original cultivation and restarted; their spiritual roots were strong enough to absorb such a large amount of spiritual energy at once.

Equivalent to taking a top-grade Yuanling Pill, they could directly rush to the late Qi Refining stage, greatly shortening their cultivation time.

Not only that, the remaining nine top-grade Yuanling Pills could also help them break through to the Qi Sea realm.

Yunyou recorded the pills taken by Su Yu and others; then, cultivators came to the pill room one after another.

By nightfall, over two hundred cultivators from the training hall had come to pick up their pills. Yunyou had also gotten to know these people. When she finished sorting, counting, and recording the remaining pills and was about to return to the training hall, a key flew in front of her.

Seeing the key, Yunyou's heart immediately began to pound. She raised both hands and respectfully received the key: "Thank you, Hall Master, for entrusting me with this important task. Your subordinate will definitely take good care of the pill room."

Although there was still no response, Yunyou's heart was still extremely excited.

"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Yun."

As soon as Yunyou left the storage department, she ran into Su Yu.

Su Yu had seen spiritual light fly out from the main hall, followed the light to investigate, and happened to witness Yunyou taking over the key to the pill room.

Yunyou smiled: "Being able to work for the Hall Master is my blessing."

Su Yu's face was full of joy for Yunyou, and he returned to the training hall with her.

After returning to his own training room, Su Yu put away his smile. He hadn't expected the Hall Master of Lingguang Hall to be a woman. From her voice, she seemed even younger than him. He had just come of age this year; if she was younger than him, that would mean she was only a little over ten years old?

The Hall Master of Lingguang Hall was a young girl—how could the old monsters of the major aristocratic families bear that?

They had cultivated for decades, centuries, or even longer, yet in the end, they still couldn't surpass a little child. They probably felt like dying.

What Su Yu hadn't expected was that the Hall Master would be so casual in employing people—just because Yunyou recorded the pills everyone took, she entrusted the pill room to her.

However, such an employment standard was convenient for him. Next time, if another palace opened, he would definitely actively strive for it.

Su Yu took out the first-grade top-grade Yuanling Pill he had obtained today, lost in thought.

Was this pill refined by the Hall Master?

If so, then the Hall Master was even more unfathomable than he had imagined. Cultivation already consumed a large amount of a cultivator's time; to also spare time to study alchemy was not something an ordinary person could do.

If not, then the power behind the Hall Master could not be underestimated. Even for an ancient family with a long heritage, even for the royal family, it would be impossible to distribute top-grade pills to their subordinates.

The Hall Master could produce so many top-grade pills at once; the number of alchemists trained behind her was probably incalculable.

Cultivating an alchemist required supplying countless spiritual plants and herbs. The Su family had a dozen or so alchemists, which consumed over fifty percent of the family's resources each year. He truly couldn't imagine how many resources would be needed to train dozens or hundreds of alchemists.

Su Yu dared not continue thinking. Even the royal family, which had secretly occupied many relics, probably couldn't support such consumption.

Su Yu poured out a Yuanling Pill and swallowed it. Immediately, he felt spiritual energy beginning to fill his body. He felt grateful in his heart that he had chosen to enter Lingguang Hall as soon as possible.

Not all the pills in the pill room were top-grade; from this, it could be seen that the top-grade pills were deliberately rewarded by the Hall Master to those who arrived first.

…

After the pill room had someone in charge, Hua Changxi left Lingguang Hall that very night and went into the city to return to Shennong Pharmacy in Feng'an.

"Changxi, you've finally shown up."

Seeing Hua Changxi, Pucao quickly came over.

Hua Changxi looked at her: "Did something happen?"

Pucao: "Nothing happened, but many waves of people came looking for you, especially your father and mother, and your eldest, third, and sixth brothers—they came many times."

"Lin Sheng also came several times. He seemed very worried about your safety."

"Oh, right, the Embroidered Uniform Guard also came once, saying they had something to discuss with you."

After hearing this, Hua Changxi was silent for a moment.

She wasn't surprised that her parents and three brothers came looking for her; she could also guess that Lin Sheng came because Eunuch Lin wanted her to go to the Ghost Market. But as for the Embroidered Uniform Guard looking for her, that she didn't understand.

"What could the Embroidered Uniform Guard want from me?"

Pucao: "Judging by their attitude, they didn't seem to be looking for trouble. They were quite polite to me and A'niu."

Hua Changxi nodded: "Alright, I know. Next time the Embroidered Uniform Guard comes looking, notify me with a message talisman."