Alchemy Emperor of the Divine Dao c1-1294

by Flying Alone 孤单地飞

  Ling Han couldn’t help bursting into laughter, but then the sound of pa, pa, pa was heard from the courtyard door. He went over to open the door, and saw Li Weiwei standing in the doorway with her hands on her waist, bearing an expression as if she was going to gobble someone up.

  “Stupid blockhead, where have you been the past seven days? Do you know that I have been coming here to look for you every day until my legs have become sore? You are just my follower, yet you dare to make me run around looking for you, not to mention making a few wasted trips… Are you trying to rebel?”

  She rattled on with her complaint, showing the bossy nature of the crafty and unruly young mistress that she was.

  Ling Han quickly raised his hands in surrender and smiled. “My sincere apologies, something had cropped up a few days ago. Aren’t I back now? Right, you are so excited, has the sales channel for the ingredients been opened?”

  “Obviously. With me paving the way, what problems could there be?” Li Weiwei harrumphed. “All the ingredients you gave me already sold out. However, because it was merely for them to try, we didn’t earn even a single True Origin Stone.”

  Ling Han nodded. Had it not been for Li Weiwei and Ji Yun’er, ordinary people wouldn’t have been able to send food into the households of influential officials. However, since they had eaten the food, it would now be his turn to have the final say.

  He took out a lot of food and passed it to Li Weiwei, who was getting very excited. Soon, there would be True Origin Stones recorded in their accounts. Although this amount wasn’t much, she had earned it by her own hands, which made her feel exhilarated beyond measure.

  Ling Han nevertheless shook his head—such a business couldn’t be maintained too long.

  There was no other way. How could he explain the origin of these ingredients?

  The capacity of a spatial Spirit Tool was limited. If he were able to endlessly supply these foods, he would certainly be suspected. After all, these foods were extremely delicious; it would be difficult to guarantee that no one would be curious.

  Although Li Weiwei’s identity was very noble, Ling Han was just a fallen emperor. To be honest, had he not still retained this identity, which cultivator of Mountain River Tier would have held him in high regard?

  So what if you were bullied, insulted, or even killed!

  This was just quick money. Its purpose was to accumulate True Origin Stones while refining the Replenishing Spirit Pill without a hitch—this was the correct path to make a fortune. Otherwise, there was no way that one would be able to catch up with the earnings from the sale of Replenishing Spirit Pills from a single furnace even if one was to press on with the food business for a whole month.

  After sending Li Weiwei off, Ling Han began to concoct alchemical pills, but this time it wasn’t done within Black Tower, but within the courtyard itself.

  The big fat cat, having eaten and drunk its fill, was lying on its stomach on the wall of the courtyard, bored. But, with it there, likely no one would dare to come and disturb Ling Han. They ought to know that this white cat was raised by the Head of Scarlet Heaven Academy, an elite of the Heavenly Body Tier—would they dare to provoke him?

  Concocting pills outside of the Black Tower was slightly more difficult. After all, the control of the fire’s temperature was no longer as he pleased, but Ling Han still made progress— pa, pa , two sounds rang out when he opened the furnace’s lid. This time, only three alchemical pills burst to pieces.

  Two alchemical pills were concocted successfully.

  One shouldn’t look at it as merely getting just one more pill—this was actually a great improvement. If it was any other alchemist, it might take them months or even years to obtain such results. But, Ling Han was the Alchemy Emperor, and Level Ten alchemical pill was still within his ability, so such progress was not at all unusual.

  However, there was still no tribulation brought about by the concoction of alchemical pill.

  ‘Could it be that the level here is so high that even a Level Ten alchemical pill wouldn’t trigger a tribulation?’ Ling Han guessed. He couldn’t think of another possibility.

  ‘If there is no pill concoction-triggered tribulation, then so be it. Let’s do this again.’

  In his ninth attempt, he harvested three alchemical pills from the furnace, while on the tenth attempt, he harvested four.

  He ran out of ingredients at that point.

  ‘If I could refine one more furnace’s portion, then perhaps I could achieve perfection,’ Ling Han thought to himself.

  He had already harvested ten Replenishing Spirit Pills; even if he could only exchange seven pills for one True Origin Stone, he had already earned back his investment. The other True Origin Stone had been used to purchase more seeds.

  “Hehe, alchemy is still the most profitable business—I had chosen the right profession!”

  Ling Han smiled as he went out. He intended to sell the seven pills and buy ingredients. This time, he actually spent another three days, so engrossed in alchemy that he didn’t even have time to cultivate any techniques.

  ‘The lack of manpower really makes me feel that time is not enough!’

  Ling Han sighed. Now that he had to start from scratch with alchemy and martial arts, it would seem that he had to also make a choice, and choose the main area to focus on. If he were to try to manage both, he really wouldn’t be able to handle it.

  “I’ll walk the road of martial arts!” Ling Han quickly made up his mind. No matter how glorious alchemy was, it would merely act to serve martial arts. The respect that alchemists had received was also accorded to them by cultivators.

  If an elite cultivator had no respect for you, could you manage to beat him up?

  Therefore, at the end of the day, making one’s own strength as powerful as possible was truly the path to dominance.

  He went to the big pharmacy from previously, and offered the seven Replenishing Spirit Pills for sale. The shop assistant didn’t know that it was Ling Han’s first time refining, and merely thought that he was a veteran. He could not help but shake his head. ‘Small-time alchemists like you should find some backing. Although a share of your earnings would be taken, there is also protection. It’s unlike now—if there is even a slight mistake, you can’t even get back your cost.’

  The shop assistant kindly advised Ling Han then. After all, alchemists were a rare breed, and an alchemist who could concoct the Replenishing Spirit Pill was also not that simple.

  Ling Han just smiled, and allowed the other party to give him ten more portions of ingredients, which he kept in the Black Tower and left.

  “Oh?” As Ling Han walked out of the pharmacy, Luo Lie just came from around the corner. He stared at Ling Han’s back, and could not help but feel odd. He thought that Ling Han was merely a lowlife from a small world—what was he doing here?

  He walked into the pharmacy, called over the shop assistant who had previously served Ling Han, and asked, “That person earlier, what did he come here for?”

  The shop assistant, being aware that this was the young master of the Luo Clan, didn’t dare to not answer. Besides, this wasn’t anything shameful. “The customer sold seven Replenishing Spirit Pilsl, and in addition—”

  “What!?” Luo Lie immediately interrupted the other party’s words, his eyes shining, and said, “Are you sure?”

  The shop assistant nodded—could he even make a mistake about this?

  Luo Lie immediately smirked—the academy strictly prohibited its students to sell the alchemical pills they were granted as well as techniques, martial arts, and the likes. Hahaha, he had been cracking his head as he was unable to find any weakness of Ling Han, but had not expected the other party to present one himself.

  It was just that… how did the other party obtain seven Replenishing Spirit Pills?

  This thought merely flashed across Luo Lie’s mind for a moment, and he immediately discarded it. As long as Ling Han had sold the alchemical pills bestowed to hi
m by the Academy, then it would be a serious offence!

  He was so excited that he didn’t even bother to buy any medicine. He turned around and directly returned home.

  The irony of it was that if he had queried the clerk more, he would be able to deduce that those Replenishing Spirit Pills were concocted by Ling Han. Of course, he might still obstinately persist in going about things the wrong way, and firmly refuse to believe the possibility that a young cultivator from a small world could actually practice both alchemy and martial arts.

  Chapter 909 - Black Market

  Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

  Luo Lie hurriedly returned home, and raced to find Luo Ba. He knew he was not as clever as his elder brother; if he allowed Luo Ba to handle things, they would cause the greatest strike to Ling Han.

  “Brother! Brother!” he called out, panting heavily. The descendants of important nobles like them would not usually remain in the Academy. The conditions for cultivation were even better in their own home, and they merely had to go to the Academy once every five days to attend a lecture.

  He recounted what he had previously witnessed.

  When Luo Ba heard all he had to say, he immediately erupted into great laughter. “Ling Han, Ling Han, this time you’ve fallen into my hands. Just see how I will deal with you!”

  “Brother, what do you plan to do?” Luo Lie quickly asked. He, too, bore a deep-seated hatred towards Ling Han.

  Luo Ba thought for a moment, then said, “A thief must be caught red-handed. Have someone stand guard, and the next time Ling Han appears, we’ll catch him together with his loot!”

  “Brother, that guy might have seen me. Perhaps he would switch to another place to sell off the alchemical pills next time.” Luo Lie was still quite clever.

  Luo Ba nodded, and said, “We’ll prepare for both eventualities. We’ll wait until just before this month’s monthly assessment, and if we still have yet to catch him red-handed, then we’ll directly tell on him. Anyways, with that shop assistant as a witness, Ling Han would similarly not be able to escape punishment!”

  He hummed for a while, then said, “For this matter, we have to request Seventeenth Clan Elder’s help. He is an elder by rotation of the Northern Institution, and with his cooperation, it would not be difficult to execute Ling Han for this crime!”

  “That’s right, he has to die!” Luo Lie exclaimed with bloodshot eyes. He, the honourable young master of the Luo Clan, had actually been beaten onto the ground and forced into submission; what great humiliation was this? As long as Ling Han was still alive, he would not be able to sleep soundly at night.

  Luo Ba smirked coldly; merely the sale of alchemical pills was not enough to cause Ling Han to lose his life. After all, the latter was a Four-Star genius, and that was something rarely seen in history. However, rules were still rules. With Seventeenth Elder stepping out to exert pressure and turning the small matter into a big one, it would be enough to expel Ling Han from the Scarlet Heaven Academy.

  Furthermore, without the backing of the Scarlet Heaven Academy, what would a little cultivator of the Shattering Void Tier from a small world be worth? A careless stomp and he would be dead.

  “To actually dare to steal the limelight from me… This is the price!” Luo Ba’s eyes shone with a cold light. The first one was Ling Han, and the second was Ma Xing. He would deal with both of them.

  Unfortunately, though the power of the Cheng Clan was not on par with the Luo Clan, Cheng Haofei was not someone that he could just deal with as he desired, so he could only spare him. Otherwise, he’d eliminate all three!

  Meanwhile, Luo Lie was satisfied with just dealing with Ling Han. He snickered maliciously, and was impatient to see the scene in which this great enemy of his would be trampled underneath his foot.

  ***

  When Ling Han returned to the Academy, he just happened to bump into Li Weiwei and Ji Yun’er. The first batch of food ingredients was completely sold out, and had been sold off for a total of 36 True Origin Stones. Ling Han gained half the share, which was 18 True Origin Stones, whereas Li Weiwei and Ji Yun’er each earned nine True Origin Stones.

  In truth, this could actually be considered a great sum of money. One had to know that even if Ling Han and Ji Yun’er were two of the top three prodigies, they were each only given two True Origin Stones from the Academy, so it could be seen how valuable they were.

  Li Weiwei was even more pleased. Although she definitely did not lack these nine True Origin Stones, they were earned with her own effort, which made her extremely happy.

  “Oh, right. You’ve already missed two classes with Big Sister Shui. Big Sister Shui is very angry, so you can just wait to be killed!” Li Weiwei said, delighting in his misery. Cooperating with Ling Han to earn money and being unhappy with Ling Han were two different things.

  To mess with Ling Han was a thought that had never vanished from her mind.

  Ling Han sighed. He had been busy with concocting alchemical pills these few days, and he still had to concoct alchemical pills for a few more days. No matter what, he would have to finish off the medicinal ingredients he had just bought, right? Furthermore, for the sake of earning money, he could only concoct alchemical pills. Who asked him to be born without a father who was the Left Minister, or a mother that was the Right Minister?

  After the two women enjoyed a meal, and played around with the big fat cat, they took a whole spatial Spirit Tool’s worth of food ingredients each and left. They did not ask how Ling Han’s spatial Spirit Tool was so big, and how much stuff was actually stored inside.

  After all, neither of them was foolish.

  Ling Han once again began to concoct pills. In 200 years of his last life, he had been an alchemist, and this identity had seeped deep into his bones.

  One day, two days, three days. Time passed very quickly. This was Level Ten alchemical pill, and even Ling Han would not be able to speed up the concoction time by much. Concocting a whole furnace’s worth of pills, no matter what, would need at least half a day; thus, after concocting these ten batches, another five days passed.

  However, his rewards were colossal. Aside from the beginning two furnaces, which only had four successful pills each, the following eight attempts had reached the perfect standard of five pills respectively.

  This was how the Alchemy Emperor should be.

  Ling Han was also very satisfied. This time, he had a total of 48 Replenishing Spirit Pills, and even if seven pills could only be sold off for a single True Origin Stone, he could still earn seven True Origin Stones, which was six times his costs.

  Great profit, this was really great profit.

  Of course, this was only limited to an Alchemy Emperor like him. In the case of an ordinary alchemist, it would be considered quite impressive if they could only earn 20-30% profit, just like Ling Han’s first attempt of concocting this pill.

  He did not plan to head to the pharmacy to sell these. Seven pills in exchange for a single True Origin Stone was too much of a loss!

  The Scarlet Heaven Academy had a black market, and students would head there to sell and exchange items. Everyone was masked in the black market; the only consideration was the goods, and no questions about the seller or customer’s identity would be asked. If one was interested, they’d just pay and the transaction was done. Absolutely no one would get to the bottom of things.

  Ling Han was confident that even if he sold five pills for a single True Origin Stone, there would be others fighting just to buy from him.

  The reason was very simple… because this was concocted by his hand!

  He had tasted one, and the Replenishing Spirit Pills he himself concocted were at least 30% more effective than the Replenishing Spirit Pills the Academy granted.

  Furthermore, these five pills were only sold for a single True Origin Stone; it would be strange if they didn’t sell out like mad.

  When night arrived, Ling Han found a cloak along with a black scarf.
After he left, he covered himself with the cloak and scarf in a corner, and came to the foot of a small mountain.

  The Imperial Capital was too big, and the Academy was too big as well. There were three mountains in the Academy itself, and this was the smallest one. As soon as night arrived, there would be stalls set up in this place, but everyone would be hiding their identities here.

  Who knew when this tradition had begun? In any case, the Academy did not bother with them, so it could be said that the Academy had given tacit approval for its existence.

  The black market naturally started at night. It was very dark here; the only light came from the moon. There was absolutely none of the commonly used Stored Light Crystals—an item used to provide light in the Immortal Realm. It could exude bright light in the midst of darkness, and one could adjust its brightness’ degree, which made it very practical.

  But here, not just Stored Light Crystals, not even a single torch was present.

  Low-key and mysterious was the main theme of this place.

  Ling Han arrived in a corner and sat down. He set upright a wooden plaque in front of him, on which was written: “Replenishing Spirit Pill, sold in batches of five, one True Origin Stone, extraordinary quality.”

  He sat down, but as black-cloaked people passed one after another, they merely gave him a passing glance. Some would even humph lightly in disdain.

  Those that bought things here were aiming for either cheap prices or rare items. Otherwise, if the price was similar, then why should one not buy it outside? It would be safer. Moreover, if any problems came up, one could still find the seller.

  Why should they really consider it extraordinary quality with just a declaration of ‘extraordinary quality’?

  Ling Han sat down for two hours, and finally saw a person with incredibly well-built figure walk over. Even his cloak could not conceal his sturdy figure; it was really too amazing.

  The person stood in front of Ling Han, and said, “Where’s the goods? I want to take a look.”

  Ling Han nodded, took out a pill bottle, and tossed it over. There was only a single Replenishing Spirit Pill stored inside.