「The next day.」

Early in the morning, smoke was already rising straight up from Bai Mo’s residence.

Many people saw it.

The clerk from the pastry shop felt a little disappointed as he passed by on a delivery.

Lately, Bai Mo had taken a liking to his shop’s pastries, and he always tipped well for home deliveries.

He had just saved up a little and wanted to buy a copper hairpin for Qingmei.

Now, it looked like there would be no extra earnings for the next few days.

"Hey, kid! The Shopkeeper is lighting his furnace for Alchemy. Come back in a few days!"

His neighbor called out from a short distance away, a toothpick dangling from his mouth and a devil-may-care look on his face.

The clerk hurriedly waved his hands.

"Ah, I’m not..."

The neighbor waved his hand dismissively.

"What’s the big deal? A youngster scraping together some Spirit Stones to secretly buy Qi Absorption Pills and cultivate on the sly—it’s completely normal!"

"If you don’t have ambitions like that, can you even call yourself a youngster!?"

The clerk was stunned.

"Cultivation?"

The neighbor was surprised.

"Why are you so clueless? Still don’t get it? If you don’t cultivate, how are you ever going to live a good life?"

"Remember this: if you ever run into trouble in the future, come to me and buy a Talisman. It’s a powerful tool for protecting your path!"

The clerk left, feeling somewhat bewildered.

Nearby, Li Hu had been listening to their conversation, but his gaze returned to the letter in his hand.

’Why is Dad in such a hurry?’

’But with Shopkeeper Bai suddenly going into seclusion, he’s probably getting ready for that Spirit Stone business. I should probably let Dad know first... I can get ready to leave!’

He scratched his chin, thinking to himself.

...

Inside Bai Mo’s house, the doors and windows were shut tight, making it stuffy and hot.

Smoke swirled and spiraled up toward the ventilation holes.

The Pill Furnace and the bronze pot were both over the fire, flames roaring as heat transferred into the metal.

Bai Mo’s gaze never left the firewood, the Pill Furnace, and the bronze pot.

He expertly tossed the herbs in his hands into the pot, hardly even looking at them.

Two hours later, Bai Mo decisively pulled out the firewood and extinguished it in a few quick moves.

He waited a moment for the heat to subside slightly before lifting the lid of the Pill Furnace.

A blast of hot air rushed out, and Bai Mo’s hand was already in front of his face before it arrived.

The hot air hit his hand, scalding hot.

Inexperienced apprentices could easily get caught by this when opening a furnace.

A blast of hot air to the eyes would cause tears to stream down, blinding them for several minutes.

Once the air from the furnace dispersed, a rich Pill Fragrance wafted out.

Bai Mo moved his hand away and took out two large pills from the Pill Furnace.

[Pill Master: Bai Mo]

[Realm: Qi Refining Third Layer]

[Identity: Pill Disciple (2/900)]

[Aptitude: A single glimpse reveals the whole picture, innate understanding now apparent]

Bai Mo paused for a moment, then applied pressure with his hands, crushing the outer shells of the two pills.

The shells crumbled away. As expected, one of them contained only a puddle of semi-liquid.

After a moment of thought, Bai Mo placed the round, perfect Fire Marrow Pill into a pill vial.

As for the flawed one, Bai Mo sniffed it and caught a light, fresh scent.

’This should be good stuff, too. I’ll keep it for now.’

Finding a smoothly polished bamboo tube, Bai Mo dropped the flawed product inside and put it away safely.

He sat cross-legged on the bed, meditating and guiding his qi for a while. Only after his mental energy had recovered a bit did Bai Mo get busy again.

’I feel like my cultivation has progressed a little.’

’Once this batch of pills is finished, I’ll focus my efforts on breaking through.’

Qi Refining Fourth Layer was by no means a low realm.

Many members of the Demon Hunting Teams in Celestial Barrier Mountain were only at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.

Of course, their combat strengths were not at all comparable.

The Demon Hunting Team members tempered themselves through sheer force, advancing with courage and vigor. Among Cultivators of the same realm, their strength was in the upper echelon.

Even Cultivators from sects, despite their arrogant expressions, wouldn’t dare to be anything less than fully vigilant when facing them.

Heaven knew what kinds of tricks those people had picked up from slogging through the mountains.

The smoke billowed from morning till night, almost without pause.

Occasionally, when the ventilation holes weren’t enough, Bai Mo would briefly open a window to air the place out.

Whenever this happened, a rich Pill Fragrance would burst out and linger in the surrounding area for a long while before gradually dissipating.

Many passing Cultivators would point and comment.

His neighbor simply opened his own window, moved a stool over, and sat there.

When he saw curious Cultivators sneaking closer and looking around furtively...

...he would shout at them, arrogantly chasing them away.

"Hey, you scoundrel! Do you have any idea what place that is?"

"That’s the residence of a Pill Master! If you keep sneaking around, believe it or not, a group of burly men will show up and tear you limb from limb!" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He didn’t need to say much; the title of Pill Master was enough to drive most people away.

The neighbor, for his part, would occasionally get lost in thought while sniffing the Pill Fragrance.

"Damn it all, those are Tier Two Pills!"

"So many people go their whole lives without ever eating one... Is there really some rich young master in Immortal Arrival City popping Tier Two Pills for fun?"

But after three to five breaths, his thoughts would drift to his own past escapades, filling him with fresh longing and anticipation.

"My day will come too!"

As days turned into nights, the constant Pill Fragrance became a familiar presence for the neighbor and others.

The other local residents simply treated it as a topic for gossip.

Bai Mo, however, grew increasingly haggard and had become visibly thinner.

Finally, on the fourth day, he had managed to produce twenty Fire Marrow Pills.

[Identity: Pill Disciple (21/900)]

Bai Mo let out a genuine sigh of relief.

Then he rubbed his eyes hard and put all the pills into the vial.

It was just that even with the "pill within a pill" technique, he had ultimately failed to achieve the feat of producing two pills from a single furnace.

On the other hand, he had collected another ten-some portions of the semi-finished product, which Bai Mo stored in the bamboo tube.

After swallowing a Qi Absorption Pill, Bai Mo sat cross-legged to meditate for a moment before collapsing heavily onto his bed.

He didn’t stir until the sun was high in the sky on the fifth day.

After breakfast, Bai Mo felt the Spiritual Qi stirring restlessly within his body.

’Strike while the iron is hot!’

He took another Qi Absorption Pill and began to meditate.

The room was a complete mess, and there were even embers still glowing in the firewood, but he couldn’t be bothered with any of that now.

Meanwhile, outside.

The neighbor, who had been watching for four days and nights, saw the smoke gradually dissipate and finally realized something.

"Looks like he’s about done. Something’s come up outside. I need to get the others over here first."

...

Bai Mo was unaware of the commotion outside.

At this moment, however, he felt that something was wrong.

It was true that the Spiritual Qi inside him had grown stronger; as it circulated, it stretched his meridians to the point of pain.

But he still couldn’t break through to the next realm.

After thinking it over and over, Bai Mo could only attribute it to his body having reached its limit.

Perhaps that was why his body couldn’t adapt to the burgeoning Spiritual Qi and expand his meridians.

’But the concentration of Spiritual Qi is sufficient. I just need to let my body recover, and then I can break through.’

Thinking it all through, Bai Mo sighed.

’I can’t do this again.’

’The toll on my body is too great. Who knows how long it’ll take to recover? What a waste of time.’

But this time, it was all to gather three hundred Spirit Stones, so he hadn’t had the luxury of considering so much.

Just then, a rustling sound came from outside.

Bai Mo snapped back to his senses.

’What time is it now?’

Looking out the window, he was startled to realize the sun was gone. It was already night.

’I tried to break through a few times... I can’t believe I wasted so much time.’

He had just reached the door.

When Bai Mo heard deliberately hushed voices.

"Why are we coming at this hour? We look like a bunch of thieves..."

"Nonsense! Doesn’t everyone do it this way? Have you no shame? Think about the business we’re in!"

"Even if you’ve got the thick skin for it, you think you can take a beating from your dad’s iron rod?!"

Bai Mo’s face twitched. He knew at once they were his neighbor’s companions.