Chapter 194: The New Peak Master of the Pill Refining Peak
“Jiang Li, the Grandmaster was just speaking casually, he didn’t mean anything by it,” Bai Hongtu said, trying to comfort Jiang Li, who had remained silent.
Jiang Li shook his head. “I know Immortal Elder meant well. I just feel like there was more to his words.”
【Mission Released: You and several Golden Core cultivators will form a team to search for a secret treasure in the Southern Borders. One of your teammates has unfortunately been poisoned by Dissolution Powder. For Golden Core cultivators, this poison causes their body to collapse and rot within three days. The rest of the team are helpless, and the poisoned teammate is in despair, feeling there’s no hope of survival. As the team leader, you must take responsibility and find a cure. Fortunately, the Southern Borders, while full of toxins, also abound in herbs.】
【Please find Heart-Calming Grass.】
【This mission may be abandoned.】
【Mission Rewards: One instance of Sudden Enlightenment, one copy of “Fate-Reading Techniques”, and fifty Star Silver Stones.】
【Note: This mission cannot be completed via the store.】
The system issued another mission. For missions that could be abandoned, Jiang Li usually did so—after all, the system always assumed he was only at the Golden Core Stage, and the rewards were hardly tempting.
It had previously issued a mission to take a Pill Refiner as his master and learn alchemy to shock everyone who thought he couldn’t refine pills. The reward was a pill furnace that could be upgraded.
There was also a mission to attend a poetry conference in the Wei Kingdom. The people there looked down on him for being from Great Zhou and assumed he only knew cultivation theory and knew nothing of poetry. They mocked him, dismissed him. The system wanted him to shine at the literary meet by composing a masterpiece on the spot and becoming the poetry champion. The reward? None.
But from the system’s description, a beautiful and talented girl would be present at the event—one with many admirers. Her only criterion for liking someone? He had to be better than her in poetry.
The system also noted this mission was not recommended to be skipped.
Jiang Li had figured out the system’s pattern—any mission that wasn’t recommended to be skipped was meant to help him gain a romantic partner.
Like when he helped the Baize Empress and won her heart.
Or becoming the poetry champion to win the heart of that literary beauty.
Oh, and that day happened to be the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Jiang Li just chuckled—if he had taken that mission and didn’t write Su Dongpo’s “Prelude to the Water Melody,” he might as well have chopped his own head off and soaked it in water.
So for missions that were this plain and boring, and the rewards were meh, he skipped them if he could.
What was the point? Not doing it.
But this time was different. The mission reward caught his interest.
Fate-Reading Techniques.
This was a long-lost technique in the Nine Provinces. Jiang Li had learned about it from Immortal Elder Changcun.
Everyone’s status and destiny were different, so the aura above their head differed too. Normal people had a faint white-grey aura, those living on the edge, risking everything, had a rich black-and-gold aura—wealth found amidst danger. Emperors of the Nine Great Dynasties had five-colored auras shaped like dragons and tigers coiling together.
Jiang Li didn’t care about the emperor’s aura—he wanted to see the aura of the entire world. Was it really, as the books said, progressing in waves and spiraling upwards?
He had thought about buying medicine in the store to instantly complete the task, but the system’s note dissuaded him.
No matter—it’s not like the system was the only place to find medicine. This was the Dao Sect. How could the Dao Sect not have it?
“I’ll go to the Pill Refining Peak,” Jiang Li said to the two of them, then turned and left.
“Is Peak Master Su here?” Jiang Li arrived at the main peak of the Pill Refining Peak, but didn’t see Su Wei—just the Chiwu Furnace and a young attendant polishing it.
“Heh heh, you can’t call him Peak Master Su anymore.” The Chiwu Furnace bragged when it saw Jiang Li. “He admitted my alchemy skills surpassed his, so he voluntarily stepped down and became the Deputy Sect Master. I’m now the true Peak Master of the Pill Refining Peak.”
“When polishing, focus on key areas. Don’t just rub one spot. Be thorough. Not just there—over here too. Yes, yes, right here, that’s the spot—so comfy,” Chiwu Furnace instructed the attendant on how to clean it properly.
The young attendant looked utterly hopeless. What did he mean by focusing on key areas but also being thorough? Where exactly did he want her to clean?
Even though the Chiwu Furnace had no face, Jiang Li could clearly hear the enjoyment in its voice.
“So it’s Peak Master Chi now. My apologies,” Jiang Li cupped his hands in a congratulatory gesture. “May I ask what Peak Master Chi usually does?”
“As the Peak Master, and the Pill Refining Peak’s greatest alchemical tool, of course I refine pills. Whenever Dao Sect disciples need pills, they come to me.”
“Until I became Peak Master, I didn’t know how hard it is—out of twelve hours in a day, I spend eleven refining pills. Right now’s a rare break.”
“And what does Deputy Peak Master Su do?”
Chiwu Furnace snorted. “Him? Nothing. All he does is study alchemy, hoping to surpass me someday. Seeing him act all carefree like some wandering immortal is a joke. Doesn’t look like a peak master at all.”
While polishing, the attendant chimed in, “Exactly, as the Peak Master of the Pill Refining Peak, refining pills is the most important job. Since you became Peak Master, everyone’s been full of praise, saying you’re hardworking and selfless—a rare, excellent peak master.”
Chiwu Furnace laughed heartily, the long-extinguished furnace flame even showing signs of relighting.
Jiang Li understood. Su Wei had pushed all the exhausting grunt work onto Chiwu Furnace, gave it the title of Peak Master, and slipped away to study alchemy in peace.
The real question was—when would Chiwu Furnace realize it?
Judging by how its brain worked, probably never.
“To what do I owe the visit, Human Sovereign Jiang?” Now that it had become Peak Master, Chiwu Furnace’s entire aura had changed—it was no longer timid or afraid of Jiang Li.
“I’m looking for a herb called Heart-Calming Grass. Do you know if the Pill Refining Peak’s herb vault has any in stock?”
“Heart-Calming Grass?” Chiwu Furnace thought for a moment, then turned to the attendant. “Do we still have Heart-Calming Grass?”
The attendant was speechless. “Peak Master, don’t you remember? A couple of days ago, you were starving. I told you to sleep so you wouldn’t feel hungry, and you did. But I didn’t know you had a habit of sleepwalking. You were only asleep for half an hour, but in that time, you sleepwalked into the herb vault and gorged yourself. I couldn’t even stop you.”
“When you woke up, you asked me if the herb vault had moved to the main peak of the Pill Refining Peak, saying maybe the herbs loved you so much they ran over to you themselves.”
“I told you it wasn’t the herbs loving you deeply—it was you loving the herbs too much, fusing them with yourself in your dreams.”
“Oh, now I remember,” Chiwu Furnace had been so focused on alchemy lately that it completely forgot about that incident.
The attendant pulled out a scroll from her sleeve, densely packed with herb names—over a thousand listed.
“This is the list of herbs we need to restock after your feast. I think I saw Heart-Calming Grass on it.” She looked carefully and found the name indeed listed.
“Yep, you ate it.”
Chiwu Furnace turned to Jiang Li and said, “I ate it.”