“This is the guest room, you can sleep here for the night.” Proctor Ming handed Sean a pillow and blanket, directing the youth toward a spare bedroom.

When Sean walked into the room, he was met with two familiar faces. Wēnhé Huáng Dì and Huángjīn Gāo Wán both sat sitting cross-legged in the center of room, playing a game of old maid. The two turned to greet the youth with beaming faces.

“Hello brother Shi Huáng Zì.”

“Hello Senior Shi Huáng Zì.”

Sean did not know how to respond. Weren’t these two the ones that wanted to fight to the death only six hours ago? What is this scene?

“Senior, you don’t look too well. Perhaps it has been a long day for you. We two will depart now so that you may get some rest.” The hulking man named Huángjīn Gāo Wán got up and bowed, before grabbing his staff and motioning for the other cultivator to follow him out the door.

Wēnhé Huáng Zì bowed respectfully. "It is my honor to stand before the main branch*."

Sean stood there with a dumbfounded expression, watching the two men leave. Not only that, Huángjīn Gāo Wán’s weapon was a wooden pole chained to a ball lantern. Despite the frame being made of paper, the lantern still left an indentation on the floorboards when the hulking man dragged his weapon out the door. It didn’t even make sense, how heavy was that paper frame? It was like someone had dropped a two ton bowling ball on the wooden floor and pushed it across the room.

Also, why were these two so nice all of a sudden? Whatever, there was no point in dwelling on the thought. Sean climbed into bed and closed his eyes. Soon after, the question left his mind and Sean went into a deep sleep.

….

When Sean Wu reopened his eyes, he found himself standing on top of a salt flat. The shallow waters beneath him reflected a clear blue sky adorned with silky white clouds.

“In all my years, I have never met someone so braindead.”

A middle-aged man in a white garb stood some thirty yards away from Sean. He had his back to the youth, and stood upright with arms folded behind his back.

Dǐn Jiān continued, “what fool encounters a peerless treasure, and believing it to be a piece of candy, decides the best course of action is to consume it?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m talking about you!” Dǐn Jiān spat out in frustration. The elder held his head in both hands. “How could this have happened? Forty million years of cultivation, gone!

“I don’t follow…”

“No-! Okay, I will explain in a way even a monkey can understand. Listen closely, because our time here together is limited. My soul is stuck inside of the Nine-Universe Consuming Marble. That marble is currently inside your gut. I need to recover my body, and in order to do that, the illusory core associated with the innate realm has to reverse the qi within the dantian, thereby slowing the reaction process to negative channeling and freeing up the inborn soul for an affinity to…do you follow?

“Yes.” Sean nodded.

“Are you sure?”

“No.” Sean shook his head.

Dǐn Jiān didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. “Look here, this is not a dream! You must listen to me carefully! The mortal door inside your heart and mind that connects the dantian to the soul and roots is a conduit for subverting the impurities associated with the twelve acupoints; refining the excess qi into a suitable vessel for my spirit might-! Hey, get back here!”

Sean had wandered off mid-conversation, and was crouched somewhere off to the side, staring into the shallow waters above the salt flat. The youth dipped his hand into the pool of water. There was no feeling. It confirmed Sean’s suspicions, that this was indeed a dream, and therefore, he didn’t need bother wasting time listening to an imaginary entity’s tedious ramblings when he could simply do something else.

“You fool, we are out of time! Listen to me, I need you to-”

….

Sean woke up.

[I’m hungry.]

The youth got out of bed and wandered around the house, looking for something to eat. There was a particularly pungent smell coming from a room at the end of the hall, seven doors down. As the youth drew nearer, the combined scent of cinnamon, mint, and mildew grew stronger.

Inside the room, a frustrated Proctor Ming stood in front of a large black cauldron. In one hand she held onto a weathered book with yellow, crumbling pages, whereas the other grasped onto a handful of rose-colored ginseng.

The room was decorated with a plethora of knick-knacks, cupboards, and shelves. Herbs and unknown spices laid bare on wooden tables and inside glass jars. Dusty books and ancient tomes leaned against one another on decrepit shelves.

The proctor was currently in the process of refining a tier three resplendent earth transmogrification pill, and was having trouble extracting sufficient impurities from the final product. This was because she did not have an exact manual on how to refine the pill, and was only going off a basic list of ingredients. The process of trial and error did not bode well, as it had kept her up all night to no avail.

Sean entered the room and approached an empty cauldron. He looked left and right; a wide assortment of herbs and roots surrounded him. The young man decided to cook himself a meal since he was already here. He turned to Proctor Ming. “May I use this cauldron?”

“Yeah, sure. Do whatever you want.” Proctor Ming replied without looking up. Her undivided attention was affixed to the concoction bubbling inside the cauldron in front of her. Refining a pill was a tedious and careful process that required the utmost attention. It wasn’t until twenty minutes later did she realize she had allowed a unlearned youth free reign to her alchemy materials.

A sizzling sound, followed by the clinging and clanging of various pots and pans had already persisted for quite some time.

“Sto-!” Proctor Ming turned quickly spun around, intended to do some damage control before she lost any more resources, however what she saw next made her stop still as a rock.

The proctor could only stand there and watch with mouth agape, as a youth from across the room casually walked over and retrieved a metal tray from the a steaming cauldron. A clean platter of sixty-four pills, lined in an eight by eight array rested firmly on the metal tray.

The youth had oven mitts on, and was cooking pills as if he were frying beans.

….

Meanwhile, Sean looked down at the metal pan and frowned.

A subtle chime rang in the back of his head.

...

Ding… you received ‘Tier 1 Circulation Pill’ x 59

Ding… you received ‘Tier 2 Circulation Pill’ x 5

...

No matter how many different ingredients he put into the cauldron, the only things that came out were fucking pills. About an incense time ago, he had tried to make some vegetable stew, only to be met with the same result.

Sean furrowed his brow, he could have sworn just a second ago, he had thrown in two batches of carrots along with a cup of seasoning. How did that also turn into pills?

The youth faced the tray with an expression of longing. All he wanted was a decent meal. Why was it so hard to get something to eat around here?!

….

Standing off to the side, proctor Ming was unsure of whether to interrupt the youth’s train of thought or not. She had never seen someone with such talent for pill concoction.

This guy was peerless genius, a one in one thousand talent! Surely, with some guidance, he would become a tier two alchemist within a year, perhaps even a tier three within a decade or so!

Ming Xiwei noticed the youth’s expression darken at the sight of the metal tray, as if he had expected a different result from what had come out. The proctor crossed her arms and silently nodded to herself. Of course, that disappointment is only natural. The road to becoming a true martial alchemy god is fraught with difficulty and hardship. Heaven-defying talent can only be molded through hard work and dedication.

....

Sean was faced with a dilemma. As he stared down into the empty cauldron in front of him, a blue screen that only he could see appeared. It listed all the item he could make with the ingredients he had on hand.

Item Name

Level Requirement

Chance of Success

Qi Circulation Pill

[Alchemy: Level 0]

[Tier 1: 83%]

[Tier 2: 17%]

Bone Refining Pill

[Alchemy: Level 0]

[Tier 1: 56%]

[Tier 2: 8%]

Qi Enhancing Pill

[LOCKED]

????

Body Tempering Pill

[LOCKED]

????

Soul Imprinting Pill

[LOCKED]

????

Blood Expansion Pill

[LOCKED]

????

Page 1/???

Nowhere on this light blue screen did he see anything resembling a dish. It was all fucking pills! What the fuck!

[I want food, damn it! Why couldn’t this system have been one of those gourmet cultivation ones? I want to eat. This pill refining stuff is useless to me!]

“There is no need to worry. Your pill alchemy is quite impressive. Keep at it and don't give up. With your skills, I am sure you will pass the entrance exam in the coming months.” Proctor Ming put one hand the youth’s shoulder as if to console him.

Sean turned to look at her with a complicated expression.

[Dear Proctor, you are mistaken! I am not crying because my pills are subpar!]

…