Chapter 54: Learning Skills
You replied that you felt that you had limited talent and that even if you practiced hard you would not be able to meet your expectations, so it would be better to specialize in alchemy. If you could become a high-level alchemist and be respected in the future, your life would not be in vain.
The alchemist sighed that everyone has their own aspirations, and then advised that in that case, you should not look for him. He is only a second-level alchemist, and you can only become a third-level at best by learning from him. It would be better for you to find a more powerful alchemist to be your master.
Your tone is sincere. Those who are powerful have many disciples and will not focus their energy on you. You only want to become his disciple and learn alchemy. As long as you can concentrate on studying alchemy, everything you gain within a hundred years will belong to the master, and you will have no regrets.
The alchemist was moved by your sincerity and accepted you.
You practiced while doing odd jobs in the alchemist's alchemy room. Half a month later, the innate true qi in your body was completely transformed into spiritual qi, and your realm reached the sixth level of Qi training. You began to learn the spell knowledge and fire control skills of the sixth level of Qi training.
At the age of twenty-one, you officially began to learn alchemy, and the alchemist bought a cluster of earth fire for you to use in alchemy.
Because of the foundation laid by the master alchemy skills, you made rapid progress. Not only did you successfully refine your first batch of first-grade elixirs in just half a month, but your success rate was also very high. The alchemist was very happy and kept praising you for your talent.
Half a year later, you took on most of the alchemist's orders. The alchemist therefore had more time to practice and reached the state of perfect Qi training ahead of time. However, he was a little undecided about whether to buy the Foundation Building Pill to assist in foundation building. The Foundation Building Pill was a third-grade elixir. After taking it, it could increase the chances of successful foundation building. The most important thing was that even if the foundation building failed, it could save life and cultivation. If the Foundation Building Pill was not used, he might die after the foundation building failed, and he could only stop at the ninth level of Qi training for the rest of his life.
If he doesn't take the foundation-building pill, he will need half a year or a year to stabilize his cultivation before he can break through. You persuaded the alchemist that money can be earned again, but life is only once, so it is better to spend a lot of money to buy the foundation-building pill for yourself as a guarantee, anyway, you can continue to make money by refining pills in the future. The alchemist thought what you said made sense, but he didn't have enough spirit stones to buy the foundation-building pill, so he changed the contract with Wanbaolou and increased the amount of pills supplied. The two of you began to refine pills day and night, and your experience in refining pills increased.
At the age of twenty-two, the alchemist finally saved up enough spirit stones and bought the Foundation Establishment Pill, successfully establishing the foundation. He was very happy and said that you contributed half of the credit. The next pill he would make could be divided into some Qi Gathering Pills for you to practice. You refused, saying that you only wanted to concentrate on refining pills and didn't want to distract your attention. The alchemist did not force you, but only said that when you get older and become increasingly frail, it would not be too late to regret and start practicing again.
You advised the alchemist to leave here and live in a big town, but the alchemist refused. He said that a second-level alchemist like him could not earn any spirit stones and had no way to make a living in a big town. Moreover, he had a contract with Wanbao Tower which could not be terminated at will. Seeing this, you did not say anything else, but instead seized every opportunity to make pills.
At the age of twenty-three, evil cultivators invaded and the city lord led all the cultivators in the city to resist. You also went to the city gate with everyone else and witnessed how arrogant the evil cultivators were. Dark clouds were pressing down on the city and were about to destroy it. The eggshell-like protective barrier that was inverted above the town was crumbling under the attack of the evil cultivators. It struggled to resist for less than a quarter of an hour but was on the verge of breaking. The evil cultivators entered the town and you died.
[End of simulation]
Although the sixth level of Qi training was very tempting, Ruan Xing still chose the random skill.
[Congratulations on gaining alchemy experience at the age of 23. ]
[New skills: Alchemy (Level 1), integrated with the Alchemy Grandmaster skills]
Ruan Xing looked at his character panel and it looked like this.
Name: Nguyen Hsing
Age: six years old
Skills: Gambling skills, spells, dance skills, weaving skills, riding skills, alchemy (first level)
Skill: Blood Refining Technique
Realm: Acquired Perfection
Points: 4003920
The words "alchemy" appear to be golden, but when one actually puts their consciousness on them they are grey, which means that they cannot be used at this stage. This may be because she has no cultivation and no earth fire.
However, the introduction is still worth reading. The level of alchemy is not linked to the level of cultivation. Theoretically, even in the Qi training stage, it is possible to become a ninth-level master, but in reality it is not that easy. Alchemy requires controlling the furnace fire. The higher the level of the elixir, the higher the requirements for the furnace fire and spiritual energy. Alchemists with low cultivation can easily fail halfway through their practice due to exhaustion of their spiritual consciousness and inability to guide the furnace fire and spiritual energy.
The earth fire that the alchemist bought for her was the lowest level flame. A cluster of earth fire had a lifespan of only three to five years. It was more than enough to refine a first-grade elixir, a second-grade elixir was also possible, but a third or fourth grade would be a bit of a stretch.
She has already learned all the recipes for pills that the alchemist can make. There is no need to go there again to gain experience to reach the second level. It is time to work on her talisman skills.
After repeating the simulation several times, Ruan Xing successfully upgraded her alchemy to the second level, but this talisman... Originally, she could buy materials and gain experience in talismans by earning spirit stones through the alchemy simulation. However, all the talismans she knew came from "The Ghost Records of the Netherworld", and the names and effects of those talismans did not sound like good things. Should she find a proper talisman maker to learn how to draw a proper talisman?
However, unlike alchemy, most of the elixirs purchased by Wanbao Tower are contracts signed with individual alchemists, while talismans are contracts signed with some small sects and markets. It is not so easy for her to find a talisman maker alone.
Forget it, I'd better find a market town and sign a ten-year contract to sell myself, starting as a talisman apprentice.
Anyway, we can't last ten years. We will all be dead in three years.
Ruan Xing did the same thing in the simulation. He first improved his realm to the innate level, cleansed his spiritual bones, converted the true Qi in his body into spiritual Qi, reached the sixth level of Qi training, and then went to the market town to recommend himself, and successfully became a glorious apprentice.
The life of an apprentice in this market town is even worse than working outside. Food and lodging are provided but wages are not paid. However, they must hand in at least twenty first-grade talismans every month. Otherwise, they will have to owe spirit stones in the market town according to the market price of first-grade talismans and make up the difference in the next month. If they still cannot make up the difference in the next month, the interest will be compounded to the next month. This model discourages young monks who feel that they do not have high aptitude for talisman making. After all, there are examples of predecessors who did not become first-grade talisman makers for ten years. When the contract expires, it will be automatically renewed and they will have to repay the debt of the previous ten years.
It was also from then on that Ruan Xing realized that it was normal for a talisman-making apprentice to make only one talisman out of a hundred... and it was abnormal that her own success rate was so high.
Of course, there are no assessments in the first three months after starting to learn talismans, but you have to hand in talismans from the fourth month. Most apprentices are in debt in the first year or even the first three years, because they cannot stably draw high-quality talismans during the apprenticeship period, and most of them are small cultivators below the fourth level of Qi training. Drawing fifty or sixty talismans a day is not enough, so they can only meditate and practice and come back tomorrow. After they have stably reached the level of quality and become a first-level talisman maker, the number of talismans they draw each month will exceed the quota for submission. The extra part can be used to pay off debts or to exchange for training resources to improve the level of cultivation.
However, those who are determined to take on debt to learn talismans will not be willing to stop at being a first-level talisman maker. After becoming a talisman maker, their extra income will all be used to exchange for talisman drawing materials to practice second-level talismans.
Ruan Xing's cultivation level was higher than theirs, and his spiritual energy reserves were more abundant than theirs. Moreover, Ruan Xing was not worried about not being able to pay back his debts. He happily received twice as much talisman materials as others every month. In the eyes of others, he handed in all the required talismans in the fourth month, which impressed the shopkeeper and relaxed the restrictions on Ruan Xing's learning of talismans. Normally, apprentices can only choose one talisman to learn before they have a stable entry level, so as not to waste the resources of the market if they learn too many talismans and the success rate is not high.
Ruan Xing selected many first-grade talismans to learn in one go, including the Light Body Talisman, the Rejuvenation Talisman, the Small Vajra Talisman, the Water-avoiding Talisman...
However, the knowledge of talismans in the world of immortal cultivation is quite different from what she learned in "Ghost Records of the Netherworld". The book says that the ink used for talismans is best made of the blood of ferocious beasts and monsters, and the best carriers are animal skins or bones of various properties. But what the market taught her is that yellow paper < spiritual wood < jade, cinnabar < gold ink < spiritual marrow. They look similar but are very different. Fortunately, she didn't buy animal skins and blood in large quantities right away, otherwise, if someone found out she was doing this, she would die prematurely and waste her time.
This also solved a mystery for her: why the main currencies in the world of immortal cultivation are spirit stones and silver, because gold... is used to refine gold ink.
After diligently drawing talismans for three years, the evil cultivator arrived as expected. After Ruan Xing selected his skills, he couldn't wait to check the character panel.
[Congratulations on gaining the experience of drawing talismans at the age of twenty-three. ]
[New skill: Talisman Making (Level 1), integrated with the Talisman Entry Skill]
The improvement of talisman-making skills took longer than that of alchemy. After seven or eight simulations, Ruan Xing successfully obtained the second level of talisman-making skills. However, the highest level of talismans available for learning in the market town was the fourth level. Anyway, the simulation points consumed were less now, so Ruan Xing simply simulated nearly a hundred times and upgraded her talisman-making skills to the fourth level, and emptied out all the talisman categories in the market town. In the last simulation, she had become the favorite of the shopkeeper of the market town, and only then did she end the improvement of talisman-making skills with a sense of unsatisfied desire.
But the next choice made Ruan Xing a little conflicted. In the Foundation Establishment Period, one can only achieve short-term flight through talismans, and in the Golden Core Period, one can fly swords and weapons. Every national master is a Golden Core True Man in [Liuyang Study], who crosses layers of mountains and passes to add new blood to the sect.
In other words, she either had to reach the Jindan stage and leave this isolated place on her own, or she would become a servant with no skills and spend 10,000 taels of silver to take a ride with the imperial teacher.
But this is very difficult. She has tried it in the previous simulations. She would always die for various reasons when leaving the city if she was not in the foundation-building stage. As for breaking through to the foundation-building stage... this is very embarrassing. What she practiced in the simulation was the basic Qi-refining technique given by the male protagonist in [Six Yang Study]. And the basic Qi-refining technique only reached the level of Qi training, not foundation-building.
At that time, she was already a cash cow for the shopkeeper of the market town, so the shopkeeper was naturally willing to buy foundation-building pills for her. However, she did not have the skills to build a foundation, so if she forced herself to build a foundation, she would almost certainly die.
Most of the items sold in the market were spell manuals, and there were very few techniques. Even if there were some, they were not very normal and were not suitable for her to practice. If she wanted authentic techniques for cultivating immortals, she had to leave the city and find a reliable sect to become their disciple.
If you don't build your foundation, you will die if you leave the city.
It's a complete dead end.
Unless she returns to [Six Suns Study], that route is safe, but what's the use? Most of the old men in [Six Suns Study], a small number of middle-aged people, and the young people are practicing basic Qi Refining Techniques like her in the outer sect. Most importantly, except for servants, there are almost no women in [Six Suns Study].
No need to think about it, it is 100% certain that it is the monk's technique.
No wonder the standard for accepting inner disciples is old men over 60 years old. It turns out that only men of this age are already pure and desireless and can't mess around, so they can be brought in to practice Taoism.
So she wanted to go to the world of immortal cultivation, but she could only take the ride of the national teacher. If she went to the world of immortal cultivation earlier, she was only six years old now. There were still seventeen years before the town was destroyed. In these seventeen years, there would be a useful method that would appear in the market, right? Otherwise, she would work hard to make talismans and refine pills to earn more spirit stones. Then she could hire cultivators through the Wanbao Building or take a ride with the Wanbao Building. It was said that the Wanbao Building was a chain of the entire world of immortal cultivation, so there must be a way to get to other towns safely.
But she didn't know when the current national teacher would leave. If he left late, Ruan Xing would be anxious to go to the world of immortal cultivation. If he left early, Ruan Xing would be worried that she would not be able to find an old man to be his disciple and delay her chance to catch a ride.
Oh, this is really troublesome. I can only try to find Mr. Cai, the former city lord and current scholar, tomorrow.
Thinking of this, Ruan Xing fell asleep again in a daze.
The next morning, Cui Yurong got up early. She had to find a way to deliver daily necessities to her father in prison so that he could live better. So she packed up and left in a hurry.
After breakfast, Ruan Xing also went out. He found out about Mr. Cai’s private residence in the capital, walked over slowly and started the simulation.
In the simulation results, Master Cai was finally persuaded by her to go to the National Master's Palace to become his disciple. Ruan Xing's brows relaxed when she saw this line of words, but she still chose to remember and see how she persuaded Master Cai.
But there was another difference that gave her pause.
In the simulation, the official was spotted by the immortal before he left more than ten years later. After asking about his age, the immortal said, "It's a pity that such a talented person could not achieve his achievements this time. It's a pity." The official asked him why, and the immortal replied, "I want to help you find immortality, but unfortunately you are young and have a beautiful wife and children at home. I'm afraid you can't escape from the mundane world. Someone else will come to pick you up in thirty years. Just wait." Upon hearing this, the official immediately drew his sword and killed his wife and young daughter in front of the immortal, and asked the immortal, "Now I am alone, can I escape from the mundane world and find immortality?"
The immortal clapped his hands and laughed, saying that his mind was firm and he would not be disturbed by the mundane world.
So a few days later, the immortal took the official and his servants on the back of an eagle and set off. The official did not even enter the Imperial Master's Palace to practice.
Therefore, she did not know that a spiritual bone test was required to enter the National Master's Palace.
Thanks to Youlan Jingxin for the monthly ticket~
Thanks to book friend 20220328172747561 for the monthly ticket~
Thanks to Lou Huai for the monthly ticket~
Thanks to book friend 20211220005339940 for the monthly ticket~
(End of this chapter)
