LZR Chapter 6 Part 3) Xiaguang Town

Heaven’s Pavilion was a circular building with three floors. The bottommost floor had a roof that stuck off from the building that had large red poles that held it up. The doors were crafted in an arch and had two phoenixes carved into them. As I walked through them, I was greeted by a young woman with a purple robe and long black hair. “Miss, may I help you?”

“Yes I am here to sell some pills.” I took a porcelain bottle from my chest and held it out to the woman.

The woman took the bottle and opened it before taking a whiff. She raised an eyebrow before looking at me. I could tell she was being very suspicious of me. She handed the bottle back to me as she said: “You should not take what is not yours. I do not know how rough your life is but you should not steal. If you go now I will not call the guards over.”

“Umm… I made those…” I replied while holding out my hand and creating a pill flame. At this, the woman’s eyes opened in surprise and shock.

“Wait here!” She did not even give me a chance to say anything before running off to the back room.

A few seconds later, a loud explosion was heard, followed by an old man’s bellow. “You crazy woman! Why the hell did you just open my chamber door!?”

“Grandpa, you need to come here now! You have to see this!” the second voice was the woman who had just run off.

I stood there in somewhat of a daze as the woman and an old man, now with soot covering his face and his hair all in disarray, came running over to me. “This is here.” The woman said, causing the old man to look down at me.

“Little one, is it true you have a pill flame? Show it to me.” The old man asked. He seemed kind of flustered.

I could only nod my head and show him the pill flame. As I did, he pulled on his soot-covered beard and smiled widely. “Amazing! Amazing! You, kneel and call me master! I will take you as my disciple!”

I couldn’t help but frown slightly. I wanted to reject, but Little Nine stopped me. “Master, it will be good to have the old man as a backer. He is at least a purple-grade alchemist, which should be quite high for this area. If you take him as a master, you will have a decent backing.”

“Little Nine are you sure?” I asked back. I had my memories, so I figured I would not need someone to teach me alchemy. Although the idea of having a backer did sound quite good.

“Yes. Don’t miss this chance.” Little Nine replied.

I took a deep breath and looked at the old man, who seemed to be stroking his beard nervously. It seemed as if he was worrying that I might reject him. I chuckled inwardly before putting my pills away, kneeling down, and bowing my head. “Ruo’er greets Master.”

“Good! Good! I have been looking for someone to take in as a disciple for so long and now I finally have someone worthy. You can call me Master Gu. My full name is Gu Xuan. Little Rou’er what is your family name?” Master asked with a bright smile. He seemed over the moon with how his eyes seemed to sparkle looking at me.

“Zhi. Zhi Ruo.” I replied, raising my head. Master helped me to my feet and dusted off my knees, all the while nodding his head.

“Little Rou’er, you came to sell pills right? Let me see them.” I took the pills back out and handed them to Master.

He opened the bottle and smelled it before raising an eyebrow. “A genius! Genius! Can you make another batch of pills? I want to see how you do it.”

I nodded to him before he pulled me along to the back room. Past the front end of the pavilion was a short hallway that led to a few pill-refining rooms. One had black smoke still pouring out of it, which was probably the room Master had just been in. I was ushered into another room where a smaller pill furnace was located.

He sat me down and handed me a set of herbs that were already processed and ready to be used for refining qi pills. It was a good thing this pill furnace was of a normal size. Otherwise, I would have a hell of a time getting things into it. The only issue is I will need to concentrate fully since I will need to get up to place the herbs into the furnace.

I lit up my pill flame and sent it into the furnace before taking the first few herbs and tossing them in. I slowly refined them until I had extracted their essence before adding the rest of the herbs. Sweat dripped from my forehead as I pushed myself to my limits once more. Trying to concentrate while under the watchful eyes of others was not easy.

Luckily, my memories of refining helped me through it, and I was finally able to form the pill. Three pills, to be exact. “Done…”

“Good! Amazing! A little rough but amazing for someone your age. To even be able to refine pills at all as a stage one qi gathering cultivator. This is really impressive. So young and already a genius at cultivation and pill refinement.” I can tell what Master was thinking at this time. He was over the hill with happiness because he got someone who was so young and had already reached such a high stage of cultivation for her age.

To be honest, I was slightly proud of myself seeing Master fill with pride. It proved my hard work was not for nothing. The suffering I endured for my training was worth it.

“Little Ruo’er do you have a place to stay?” Master suddenly asked, to which I shook my head.

“Master, I planned to get a room at an inn after I sold my pills. I will be taking the test for the academy in a months time.” I still planned to join the academy even if I was Master’s disciple. They had things I did not have and would need later on, so I could not waste the chance Bai Yu gave me.

“Mmm… Tiandao Academy is a good place for you. Alright, since you are my disciple, you can sell your pills here and take the small courtyard out back. But, what about your family?” Master seemed slightly worried, and I couldn’t help but get a warm feeling in my heart.

“My mother is not far from here. She is not fully well so she is resting near the inn down the street.” I explained. A lie, but I could not reveal Little Nine to anyone.