AGAINST NINE REALMS

In pill alchemy, the products are divided into four categories: Basic, Unrefined, Pure, and Perfect after the alchemy process.

All the Mind Clearing Verdant Pills inside the pill chest belonged to the Basic Category, as shown by their dark pale-green color and clouded core. It was said that the medicine had this earthy flavor and tasted like a pellet rolled from dirt. A pill of this quality often contained a day worth of Spiritual Qi inside.

(Authors Note: Cultivation Pills like this are usually counted by how many days worth of Qi they hold. It can be varied from days, months, or years)

The next classification would be the Unrefined-Category Pill, which is in Duan Yus hand.

An Unrefined-Category pill was said to have a much clearer, half-transparent green core with a hint of sweetness escaping from the medicinal pellet. Eating it would still produce an earthy flavor, but it also comes with a faint sweetness this time, like chewing on a root vegetable. The record says a pill of this level has close to a weeks worth of Spiritual Qi stored inside.

(Im sure the two Mind Clearing Verdant Pills in my hand were the Unrefined-Category… But the question is…)

(How did this happen? Would it work with raw Verdant Calming Grass?)

Duan Yu dropped the two Unrefined-Category Pills on a more proper-looking box before shifting his attention to the chest containing raw Verdant Calming Grass. He made his way to one of the chests and found it challenging to keep himself calm from all sorts of expectations.

(It won hurt to try…)

After taking a few deep breaths and calming himself down, Duan Yu opened one of the chests and took out a sack of the dried Verdant Calming Grass. The raw ingredient was in his embrace like a lover as Duan Yu returned to his seat.

Once again, his right palm was placed above the relic before gathering his Spiritual Qi.

”Please be a success…)

Duan Yu prayed in his heart for everything to go on smoothly.

But this time, the suction was much stronger than before. Duan Yus Spiritual Qi was almost sucked dried by the relic in less than three breaths.

He was about to collapse on the spot, but surprisingly, his persistence paid off as the suction stopped after four breaths.

Although Duan Yu managed to avoid fainting on the spot, his body is extremely weak now. Theres a hint of thirst around his throat from seeking Spiritual Qi. And without further ado, Duan Yu reached out to the pills chest and took two Mind Clearing Verdant Pills for his own consumption.

Duan Yu immediately sat cross-legged on the floor and meditated. Because the level of cultivation and understanding in this realm was too low, he almost had no idea what could have happened. This forced Duan Yu to focus on calming his mind and his Flesh Tempering cultivation before they ran amok in his body.

Only now does Duan Yu do understands that what happened in these past few days was extremely beneficial to his cultivation. The realization also allowed him to realize Flesh Tempering Stages essence.

(It looks like cultivation doesn mean simply keeping all the Spiritual Qi in my body, but instead, constantly using them to challenge my bodys limit. The more my flesh was tempered, the better result it would bring to my body…)

(If I could continuously benefit from this, reaching the middle layer of the Flesh Tempering Stage within a week wouldn be impossible…)

Duan Yu spoke to himself while immersing in his meditation. The two days worth of Spiritual Qi also helped him by replenishing his body with some strength. At the same time, he deciphered the true meaning and essence behind the Flesh Tempering Stage.

A few hours quickly pass by.

By the time Duan Yu opened his eyes again, it was already late midnight.

(Well, although I am still a lower-layer cultivator in Flesh Tempering Stage, I think the meditation just now brought me closer to advancing. If I can focus and repeat them for a few more days…)

Duan Yu gave it a thought.

His mind then quickly returned to where he had stopped earlier. Turning his head around, Duan Yu reaches out to the sack of Verdant Calming Grass in his embrace a while back. It feels good hugging the bag because the material used to sew the pouch is made especially for medicinal ingredients like these.

Duan Yu was surprised by how much lighter the bag was. But at the same time, he could feel some weight at the bottom of the sack.

The content was buried within some of the leftover Verdant Calming Grasses yet to be consumed.

(You
e joking…)

He laughed while pouring the content out of the bag. Theres a total of thirty Mind Clearing Verdant Pills gathering on the bottom of the sack. These pills appeared dark and cloudy, which defines their quality as Basic.

Basic or not, turning one sack of dried Verdant Calming Grasses into thirty pills was shocking in Duan Yus opinion. If the four remaining sacks inside the box were to be refined as well, won that yield him around a hundred and fifty pills?

One must understand that the weight and quantity of Verdant Calming Grasses in every sack and box were standardized to cut down the monotonous procedure when selling them to the buyers.

This was partly why a box of the Verdant Calming Grasses is estimated to produce an average of one hundred Mind Clearing Verdant Pills. But obviously, that wasn the case here for Duan Yu.

Apparently, a box of Verdant Calming Grass here is enough for a hundred and fifty pills, which is a blatant markdown from what they were told by their buyers.

Of course, even if they found the truth, arguing would be pointless since both parties agreed on the trading price before they started dealing.

(Perhaps even my father had no idea what was our losses in this deal we made with the buyers from other realms. And no wonder they appeared so helpful and cooperative when coming to trade with us…)

(Who wouldn , if you can use twenty basic pills to exchange for the raw ingredients to refine a hundred and fifty back? They would even agree to fork out all other fees and pay additional incentives for us to ”work ” even harder…)

Duan Yu chuckled after thinking about how profitable this deceitful business their trading partners were doing behind them. And the table ended up as Duan Yus first victim from the anger boiling inside him.

(Ill make sure they regret taking advantage of us over these years…)

He whispered to himself, grabbed another sack of the Verdant Calming Grasses, and continued with what he was doing.

…

…

Early next morning…

”Servants! ” a scream came from Duan Yus room.

Duan Yus call made all the servants around his courtyard report themselves immediately. This includes the individual responsible for collecting the Mind Clearing Verdant Pills on his behalf yesterday.

”Good morning, Young master. What can we servants do for you? ” the individual asked after greeting Duan Yu. Everyone else was queuing behind him as they awaited their order.

”Oh, Ji Duan. Its great to see you here. I was about to tell someone to bring you over if you
e not around. ” Duan Yu smiled because he could skip one of the orders from his mind.

”I need someone to bring me a portion of breakfast from the kitchen. Also, send someone to the brothel and notify Lady Qing of my arrival in the evening, ” said Duan Yu.

”As for everyone else, get inside my room and clean it. The tea table is broken, so contact someone to replace it before my breakfast is here. ” Duan Yu added and turned his head away.

”Your servants understand! ” they quickly accepted their order before leaving in a hurry. Only the servant Ji Duan was left around as he followed Duan Yu to a nearby fish garden with seats carved from marble.

”What can this servant do for you, Young master? ” Ji Duan politely asked again and slightly bowed toward Duan Yu.

”Help me return all the Mind Clearing Verdant Pills yesterday to the people. You
e allowed to work at your own pace this time. But at the same time, go out there and get more Verdant Calming Grass back for me. ” Duan Yu said.

His sentence was like a hammer of judgment falling on Ji Duans head. The task yesterday almost took his life out of his body, and the young master demands more again for today.

”Young master, this servant is afraid that the matter of Verdant Calming Grass cannot be done. ” Ji Duan apologetically responded to Duan Yus request. It wasn like he was unwilling but unable to complete the task.

”Whats the matter? ” Duan Yu asked. As the major producer for Verdant Calming Grass on this Huanle Continent, how can they have an issue with the ingredients?

”The one hundred boxes yesterday were taken from our reserve prepared for the merchant coming from Huanyi Realm. This servant worried that if we took more from the warehouse… Well make the master angry when its time to deliver the goods three days later… ” Ji Duan answered the question with great difficulty.

”What is their collection quota and the availability in our warehouse currently? ” Duan Yu asked. He knew that the goods would go in and out frequently daily, but not to the point theyll be burdened by a buyer or two.

”Three hundred boxes each month. And our reserve currently is around two hundred and eighty right now. ” Ji Duan replied. It was normal for him to know the answer because hes considered Duan Yus personal butler when necessary.

”Good. Then take another hundred boxes from the reserve and bring them to my room. I will persuade my father on this matter. ” said Duan Yu without considering how difficult it would be for Ji Duan to execute his young masters order.