"Don't worry, Second Uncle. I can definitely deliver the Qi Gathering Pills on time. I won't put you in a difficult position."

  After understanding everything, Ye Chen spoke with a smile.

  Ye Chen didn't mention anything about the Rose Red.

  A simple excuse like "someone was careless" could easily gloss over the issue.

  It might even expose himself and alert the enemy.

  With the System, everything could be returned tenfold.

  There was no worry about not completing the task.

  Upon hearing this, Steward Zhang's chubby face bloomed like a chrysanthemum, warmly patting Ye Chen on the shoulder: "I knew my wise nephew would achieve great things. Then you continue to rest. I won't disturb you!"

  Ye Chen smiled as he escorted Steward Zhang out of the room.

  Once the door was closed, Ye Chen's face was full of cold smiles.

  Outside, Steward Zhang's expression was also full of mockery.

  As he walked out of the courtyard, he looked back at Ye Chen's room with disdain and sneered, "The room is filled with the smell of wasted pills. Who knows how many times he's failed, yet he still thinks he can complete the task?

  The most important thing is, he can't even refine a few pills, yet he still tries to show off in front of a female cultivator?

  Truly a fool raised by a small family.

  When your cultivation is high, what woman can't you have? At the Red Sleeve Tower, one low-grade spirit stone can have a female cultivator serve you to the heavens. Yet he willingly gives away precious resources? Even if I don't trip him up, he probably has no hope of entering the Qingyun Sect..."

  Steward Zhang looked down on Ye Chen.

  A fool not worth wasting time on.

  He only hoped that the head of the Ye family could truly break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

  If the Ye family head succeeded, the Ye family's influence would greatly expand.

  The second branch of the Ye family could then transfer him to a better pce as a steward.

  Instead of being stuck in this godforsaken Silver Moon Market, wasting his life.

  A Foundation Establishment expert could influence too many interests.

  ***

  After Steward Zhang left, Ye Chen silently noted his name in his mental notebook.

  Then he sat in front of the alchemy furnace, beginning to sort and organize the herbs.

  He picked out the good herbs.

  As for the inferior ones, he tossed them aside.

  After preparing a batch of herbs, Ye Chen pced them into the alchemy furnace one by one.

  The furnace was divided into eight sections, allowing different operations simultaneously, such as roasting, steaming, and blending the herbs.

  He then lit the fire and began practicing.

  Alchemy required the use of fire and water control techniques.

  Ye Chen used to be confused, making a mess and fumbling around.

  There were martial fires and gentle fires.

  The flow of the medicinal liquid and the fusion speed varied with the properties of the herbs, requiring different techniques.

  There were also various skills for extracting the essence of the herbs.

  These couldn't be learned from books; they needed hands-on teaching to understand.

  But his predecessor's Second Uncle never taught him properly.

  So Ye Chen was always in the dark when refining pills, failing inexplicably.

  But now, everything was different.

  With abundant insights, Ye Chen handled everything with ease.

  However, at the st moment, his hand accidentally shook, the fme fred up slightly, and the furnace shook violently, releasing a burnt smell.

  It failed...

  But Ye Chen wasn't disappointed.

  Even though he had the insights, his body was still a bit unfamiliar. A few more tries would do.

  Soon, Ye Chen tidied up the alchemy furnace and started a second attempt.

  After half a day passed, Ye Chen's eyes lit up, and he immediately extinguished the fme.

  Opening the lid, the room was instantly filled with the fragrance of pills.

  Ye Chen used his magic to retrieve the pills.

  "Two low-grade, four mid-grade, and even one top-grade Qi Gathering Pill?"

  Looking at the pills in his hand, Ye Chen was in a good mood.

  But he immediately began to review and reflect.

  It was Ye Chen's habit to review everything he did, identify problems, and do better next time.

  "After the Green Fruit melted into a medicinal liquid, the fusion seemed to have an issue, not blending evenly. But time ran out, resulting in one low-grade pill and only seven pills instead of ten. Next time, if I handle this step better, it should improve."

  Ye Chen summarized his previous mistakes.

  But looking at the results, Ye Chen was indeed in a good mood.

  Twenty low-grade Qi Gathering Pill could be sold for one spirit stones.

  For mid-grade, one spirit stone could only buy fifteen.

  As for top-grade Qi Gathering Pills, one spirit stone could only buy ten.

  The grade of the pills was reted to their efficacy, potency, and impurities.

  The higher the grade, the better the efficacy, the purer the potency, and the fewer the impurities.

  But this was only retive.

  The efficacy difference was only about ten to twenty percent.

  So only wealthy cultivators would choose better top-grade or mid-grade pills.

  Ordinary cultivators had no choice.

  If a pill bought with one spirit stone could st twenty days, they wouldn't buy one that only sted fifteen or ten days.

  As for pill toxins and impurities, those weren't concerns for them.

  Just like in Ye Chen's previous life, who would refuse takeout because the pstic container might release toxins when holding hot food?

  Being poor was scarier than pill toxins.

  ***

  Looking at the results, Ye Chen put the mid-grade pills in a new bottle and kept them close.

  As for the top-grade pill, he directly swallowed it.

  Ye Chen certainly wouldn't hand these pills over to the shop.

  The steward clearly wanted to trick him.

  He'd be a fool to do so.

  So the top-grade pills were naturally kept for his own cultivation.

  In the cultivation world, while spirit stones were important, cultivation was fundamental.

  The cultivation world wasn't like Earth.

  Most pces were without order.

  On Earth, you could hire bodyguards with money, live in a high-security community, and protect yourself.

  But in the cultivation world, if you had no strength, hiring bodyguards with money?

  The only possibility was being betrayed by the bodyguards.

  Outside, there were robbers everywhere, or rather, everyone was a robber.

  You couldn't guarantee that a seemingly kind cultivator wouldn't draw their magic sword on you in the wild.

  Only pces like markets, bazaars, and immortal cities were retively safe due to the suppression and management of major forces.

  But even then, it was only retively safe.

  Therefore, cultivation was the top priority.

  Ye Chen immediately sat cross-legged and began cultivating.

  After crossing over, Ye Chen had also consumed pills made by his predecessor for cultivation.

  To be honest, they were really trash.

  Compared to the top-grade pills he refined now, they were even more trash.

  Top-grade pills were smooth and pure, causing no discomfort to the meridians.

  This was true enjoyment.

  Ye Chen quickly immersed himself in cultivation.

  ***

  When he opened his eyes again, three hours had passed.

  Ye Chen slowly finished his cultivation, feeling great.

  He felt that if he continued using top-grade pills for cultivation, he could break through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining in less than three months.

  This was definitely good news.

  Cultivation wasn't about the longer, the better.

  The meridians had a limit to what they could endure.

  Two hours of normal cultivation a day was enough; otherwise, the meridians couldn't handle it, and forced cultivation could cause irreparable damage.

  That's why cultivators used pills for cultivation.

  Pills not only accelerated cultivation speed but also protected the meridians, allowing cultivators to endure longer and cultivate a bit more.

  Even though the daily cultivation time wasn't long, most cultivators still found time insufficient.

  Besides cultivation, they needed to learn some attack spells.

  Otherwise, having cultivation without knowing how to fight was useless.

  If they knew any of the six cultivation skills, like alchemy or artifact forging, they also needed to keep learning and improving.

  Then they had to work and earn money.

  Otherwise, where would they get the money to eat, buy pills, or magic artifacts?

  In short, most low-level cultivators were like beasts of burden!