Ye Fan and Lou Yuehua chatted for more than ten days, and finally left at Bai Yunxi’s urging.
“Then we’ll leave first. See you another day,” Ye Fan said with some unfinished thoughts.
Lou Yuehua had rich experience in alchemy and had given Ye Fan a lot of inspiration. After chatting with Lou Yuehua, Ye Fan felt that his alchemy skills had improved a lot.
Lou Yuehua nodded and said, “Okay!”
Lou Yuehua put his hands behind his back and watched Bai Yunxi and Ye Fan leave from a distance.
“President, these two guys were really strange.” Li Yan looked at Lou Yuehua and said.
“What was so strange about them?” Lou Yuehua asked.
“They didn’t even know you.”
Lou Yuehua: “…”
“It’s nothing if they don’t know me. That alchemist’s alchemy skills are probably not inferior to mine,” Lou Yuehua said.
Li Yan frowned and said, “President, you are joking! You are a heaven-level alchemist! I think that guy is all talk and no ability*.”
Lou Yuehua shook his head and said, “There are some things that cannot be said by someone who only knows the theory and has never put it into action. I think I can retreat for a while after we go back. Listening to the words of a wise person is better than reading a hundred years of books. I vaguely feel that I can break through my alchemy bottleneck.”
Li Yan was full of surprise and said, “Senior, is that guy so impressive?”
Lou Yuehua nodded and said, “He’s very impressive. I don’t know which old monster taught such a disciple. It seems that there are countless capable people in the world. It’s not that there are no experts, but that the experts are all living in seclusion.”
…
Ye Fan looked at Bai Yunxi and said with confusion, “Yunxi, what’s wrong with you? You kept urging me to leave.”
“I was afraid you would be killed by that alchemist,” Bai Yunxi said.
Ye Fan said in confusion, “Is it possible? That guy is a Golden Core. If we really fought, we might not lose.”
“That guy isn’t a Golden Core. He’s a Nascent Soul,” Bai Yunxi said angrily.
Ye Fan looked at Bai Yunxi in confusion and said, “No way, it should be Golden Core! I sensed that he had Golden Core cultivation base.”
“That’s Nascent Soul!” Bai Yunxi said through gritted teeth.
“Was he hiding his cultivation? No wonder I thought this guy was not like an ordinary Golden Core cultivator. A Golden Core cultivator wouldn’t have such knowledge. I thought he was as talented as me. He turned out to be a Nascent Soul. However, Yunxi, how could you tell? Your eyesight is better than mine!” Ye Fan asked in confusion.
“My eyesight is not as good as yours, but I know that guy is a Nascent Soul cultivator. There is only one heaven-level alchemist in the entire Eastern Continent, and that is Lou Yuehua, the owner of Yuehua Pill Building and the president of the Alchemists Association.” Bai Yunxi didn’t recognize Lou Yuehua at first, but when he thought about it later, he couldn’t help but break out into cold sweat for Ye Fan.
Ye Fan glanced at Bai Yunxi and said, “Don’t be so nervous. It’s just Nascent Soul! Look, aren’t we fine now?”
Bai Yunxi: “…”
“Lou Yuehua’s reputation is not bad, and he has some relationship with you,” Bai Yunxi said.
Ye Fan said suspiciously, “What’s the relationship?”
“Back then, when you broke into the twelfth floor of the Pill Pagoda, Lou Yuehua once spread rumors that he would accept the person who entered the twelfth floor of the Pill Pagoda as a disciple.” Ye Fan had too many secrets on his body, and he was not short of inheritance of alchemy skills, so Bai Yunxi did not tell Ye Fan about this back then.
Ye Fan touched his chin and said, “He wants to be my Master! He’s still a little short of that.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Ao Xiaobao looked at Ye Fan and said, “If Tianyi Sect finds out that you are in Pill Capital, I think you would have no life to feel proud and would still have to flee as usual.”
Ye Fan said with displeasure, “Are you kidding? I am a Golden Core now!”
Ao Xiaobao curled his lips and said, “You’re just an early stage Golden Core, but they have Nascent Soul cultivators.”
Ye Fan: “…”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “It’s fine to go to Pill Capital, but you have to keep a low profile.”
Bai Yunxi secretly thought: He and Ye Fan had already advanced to Golden Core. After core formation, the cultivation resources required were incomparable to those in the Foundation Establishment stage. An ordinary small town couldn’t meet the daily cultivation needs of him and Ye Fan. Pill Capital was a big city with countless cultivators coming and going. With Ye Fan’s ability, he should be able to earn a lot of spirit stones.
…
Ye Fan counted the spirit stones on hand and said, “We have to earn more spirit stones.”
Bai Yunxi spent almost 2 million spirit stones to advance to Golden Core, while Ye Fan spent nearly 12 million spirit stones to advance to Golden Core. Adding on the spirit stones the two of them had used for regular cultivation over the years, they didn’t have many left.
Ao Xiaobao looked at Ye Fan and said, “You are too good at wasting money.”
Ye Fan looked at Ao Xiaobao and said, “Shut up.”
Ao Xiaobao rolled around on the boat and said, “Even if I shut up, it doesn’t change the fact that you are a waste who only wastes spirit stones. Which guy would use up so many spirit stones to form a golden core? Which sect would dare to raise you?!”
Ye Fan grabbed Ao Xiaobao’s neck and stuffed Ao Xiaobao into the ghost banner.
Ye Fan gnashed his teeth unhappily. Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan and comforted, “It’s okay. Spirit stones earned are meant to be spent. Only those who know how to spend spirit stones can earn spirit stones.”
…
Bai Yunxi and Ye Fan’s boat approached the coast. They got off the boat and Ye Fan put the boat away.
A young man jumped out and stopped in front of Bai Yunxi and Ye Fan.
“Hello, two Immortal Masters, blessings to you both.” The young man was thin and had clear and bright eyes, which looked a bit clever.
Ye Fan looked at the young man and said with confusion, “Is something wrong?” Ye Fan was a little confused. Could it be that his identity had been exposed? It shouldn’t be!
“Hello, two Immortal Masters. This little one’s* name is Song Bao, a native here. Two Immortal Masters are new to Pill Capital. This little one grew up in Pill Capital and knows the area well. Whether the two Immortal Masters are looking for a place to live, buying medicinal pills, opening a shop, etc., this little one can assist you. The two Immortal Masters only need to pay a few spirit stones,” Song Bao said.
“How many spirit stones?” Ye Fan asked.
“One a day,” Song Bao said.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Okay.”
Ye Fan originally thought that he only had just over two million spirit stones left, and he was quite poor. When he heard Song Bao’s quoted price, he suddenly felt like he was still a rich man.
Things were expensive in Pill Capital, and the price of one spirit stone a day was not high. Ye Fan casually threw out ten spirit stones, and Song Bao quickly took them.
This was not Ye Fan’s first time coming to Pill Capital. However, not long after his last visit, he met Mu Xue from Hundred Flames House. He was quickly targeted by Hundred Flames House. In order to avoid unnecessary complications, Ye Fan later kept a low profile in Pill Capital. Thinking about it, Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi were not very familiar with Pill Capital.
“I want to open a pill shop here. Do you know where I can rent a suitable pill shop?” Ye Fan put his hands behind his back.
Song Bao glanced at Ye Fan unexpectedly and felt a little excited. If Ye Fan really wanted to rent a pill shop, he could get a certain commission.
“There is a Clear River Shop here, and there are many shops for rent and sale there. Immortal Masters can go there and take a look. However, if Immortal Master wants to open a pill shop, you need to have an alchemist badge issued by the Alchemists Association,” Song Bao said.
“I don’t have a badge. Does this work?” Ye Fan took out a token, and Song Bao’s eyes widened.
“It works, it works! Immortal Master knows Senior Lou?” Song Bao said with surprise.
“We’ve chatted,” Ye Fan said. “After we chatted, he gave me this token.”
“Senior is really awesome. This is Senior Lou’s special VIP token. It is given to close friends. It is said that there are ten of them in total. With this token, it will be much more convenient to do things in Pill Capital. I have only heard about it before. I didn’t think I would be lucky enough to see it one day,” Song Bao said with a blush on his face.
Ye Fan said in surprise, “Really? Is this token so useful?”
Song Bao nodded solemnly and said, “Of course, Senior Lou Yuehua is the soul of our Pill Capital. All the alchemists in Pill Capital worship him.”
“Senior Lou not only has high cultivation, superb alchemy skills, but also good character. Senior Lou has researched many medicinal pills that benefit the cultivation world. In the past few years, because of Ye Fan, many people with evil intentions entered Pill Capital. Senior Lou stood up and had a big fight with the Sect Master of Tianyi Sect, forcing the cultivators of Tianyi Sect to retreat and restoring the peace of Pill Capital. Senior Lou is the role model for all alchemists in Pill Capital.”
Bai Yunxi raised his eyebrows. Tianyi Sect was known as the leader of the righteous path, but Song Bao’s tone didn’t seem to be very respectful.
As the saying went, there was no room for two tigers in one mountain. In Pill Capital, because of Lou Yuehua, Tianyi Sect had not established much influence.
Ye Fan stopped at the door of Hundred Flames House and said, “This shop seems to have been renovated recently!”
“This was originally a place where you could buy fire seeds, but something happened to Hundred Flames House, so Hundred Flames House was taken over,” Song Bao said.
“What happened?”
“Hundred Flames House’s peak* Golden Core ancestor died. Miss Mu Xue failed to form a golden core. Hundred Flames House had no backer, so it naturally collapsed,” Song Bao said with some regret.
“Mu Xue failed to form a golden core?” Ye Fan raised his eyebrows and thought to himself: Mu Xue’s qualifications were very good, but this woman actually failed to form a golden core. It was really surprising.
Ye Fan secretly suspected that Mu Xue’s failure in forming a golden core was due to inner demons. The ancestor of the Mu family died, and Mu Xue must have been under a lot of pressure*. Of course, it was also possible that this woman was plotted against when she was trying to form a golden core.
…
Ye Fan followed Song Bao to Clear River Shop.
Clear River Shop listed a lot of information about shops for rent. Ye Fan felt that Clear River Shop was a bit like a sales office on Earth.
In the shop, many beautifully dressed female cultivators walked around, and there were many spiritual fruits placed on a table.
Not long after Ye Fan sat down in the shop, a female cultivator in green came to entertain him.
Bai Yunxi looked at the female cultivator in green and raised his eyebrows. The reception ladies in the store should be divided into different levels. This female cultivator in green only had a cultivation base at the third level of Qi Refining and seemed to be a novice.
Because he and Ye Fan hid their cultivation, the people in this shop didn’t seem to take him and Ye Fan seriously.
“Senior, what kind of shop do you want? Please let me know the desired size, rent budget and location requirements.” The female cultivator looked at Ye Fan and asked.
Ye Fan tilted his head and said, “I want a cheap shop in a prime location.”
The female cultivator in charge of reception smiled reluctantly and said, “None of the shops in prime locations are cheap.”
Ye Fan took out Lou Yuehua’s VIP token and said, “Is it cheaper with this token?”
The female cultivator looked at the token that Ye Fan took out, was shocked, and said, “Senior, wait a moment, I’ll call the manager.”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Oh.”
The female cultivator ran away in a panic and almost tripped.
Ye Fan curled his lips and thought to himself: This female cultivator’s psychological quality was not very good! She was frightened like this by a token.
Seeing Ye Fan take out the token, several guests around them looked at Ye Fan.
“Fellow Daoist, this seems to be Senior Lou’s VIP token.”
Ye Fan shrugged and said, “The alchemist who gave me this token is surnamed Lou.”
As soon as Ye Fan said this, there was an uproar in the shop. Several cultivators who wanted to rent or buy a pill shop were no longer in a hurry to talk about the shop. They rushed over and surrounded Ye Fan.
“Senior, you must have a very close relationship with Alchemist Lou.”
“It’s not very deep. We just chatted a bit,” Ye Fan said lightly.
“What did Senior and Alchemist Lou discuss?”
“We just talked about how to refine alchemy.”
Ye Fan said this calmly, but the cultivators on the side felt that Ye Fan was getting more and more unfathomable.
…
Soon, one of the managers of the store came out, his attitude extremely respectful. Bai Yunxi discovered that the manager’s cultivation level was not low, and he was also a Golden Core.
“Senior, can you show me the token?” The manager asked.
Ye Fan took out the token and handed it to the manager.
The manager took the token, checked it, and handed it back to Ye Fan. He said with envy, “Senior can receive the favor of Senior Lou. What a blessing!”
As soon as the manager’s words came out, everyone no longer doubted the authenticity of the token, and looked at Ye Fan with more intense eyes.
Ye Fan smiled involuntarily.
The manager provided Ye Fan with a shop and rented it to Ye Fan at one-third of the original price.
***
T/N: I know updates have been less frequent lately, but unfortunately it’s taking me longer and longer to translate and edit each chapter as the story goes on due to me having to back-reference due to typos and inconsistencies. The chapters are also getting longer, so it takes me longer.
*纸上谈兵 (zhi shang tan bing) – literally talk about military strategy on paper; someone who can only theorize, but not put theory into practice.
*He calls himself 小人 (xiao ren), literally small/little person. It’s a way for those in a lower position to refer to those in a higher position.
*These inconsistencies are going to be the death of me. Usually if it’s an obvious typo like a wrong name, I just fix it directly without explaining, but if I’m not sure then I’ll usually leave it to be true to the raws. Anyway, my point is that originally in Chapter 199 it said the Mu family’s ancestor (Mu Hong) was only late stage Golden Core (and I was confused because it makes no sense to retreat and try to advance to Nascent Soul at that stage), but now it’s suddenly peak stage Golden Core… anyway, since peak stage makes way more sense, I’ve gone back and edited Chapter 199.
*Huh what? While I’m sure she faced a lot of pressure, when the author mentioned inner demons, I thought they were going to say that Mu Hong’s death created an inner demon for Mu Xue and that’s why she failed to form a golden core (remember, Mu Hong had to come out of retreat to save Mu Xue in Chapter 199, completely wiping out any hope of advancing to Nascent Soul. If he had advanced, he wouldn’t have died of old age because Nascent Soul cultivators can live to around 2000 years old while Golden Core cultivators can generally only live to 500 years old). Anyway, I do feel bad for her – she acted against the main characters, but never did anything too outrageous.
💃🏻 😇 💃🏻
💊 💊 💊
I don’t dislike Mu Xue but there is also nothing to like about her.
Thanks for the hard work randomHPfan1🌸