Xuan walked to the front of the pagoda where the voice came from. Most of the people who were reading earlier were now standing in a line, waiting for someone to give them a number so they could go upstairs.

Though...

"You’re too puny to be an Alchemist!"

"You’re too hairy! Shave and try again tomorrow!"

"I wouldn’t buy potions from you! Next!"

The person giving all these numbers was a little unreasonable. Xuan couldn’t see who it was from here, but from the giant hat constantly leaning side to side, Xuan guessed it was some kind of masochistic old man.

And when he got to the very front, his suspicions were confirmed. The man who was speaking all that shit was a cultivator in his late 60s with a brown beard and a fierce expression.

Seeing Xuan, he wasn’t too impressed either.

"You seem like someone who’d much rather visit a brothel than brew a potion."

Xuan’s brow twitched. "Shouldn’t you be in a retirement home by now, old man?"

"Retirement?" The man froze. No one had even remotely dared to utter those kinds of words to him, and yet this man went ahead and muttered something so rude.

"You lack tact and charm. How do you expect to be an Alchemist without those features?"

Xuan just stared at him for a moment, then decided to plop something down on the table, something he had yet to use, as he was planning to give this to Yuelan when she really needed it.

—

<Vermilion Blood Essence Pill>

<Rank: Mortal> 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

<Pill Purity: 99%>

<Description: Refines the user’s bloodline by infusing it with purified elemental vitality. Temporarily boosts physical regeneration by 500%. Due to nearly perfect Pill Purity, upon consumption, your physical regeneration permanently increases by 15%>

—

"How do I expect to be an Alchemist with those features? Well, because I know how to brew a pill, old man."

As the old man inspected the pill, his eyes widened, turned to shock, and then his whole expression changed to one of terror. A pill like this could be sold for several hundred thousand Spirit Stones.

But a man without tact who walks around like a playboy, would he really give the Alchemy Association a good look?

"Oh, I can mass produce this pill if I have the right ingredients."

...The answer was yes.

"Boy, what’s your name?"

"Xuan."

The old man gave him a toothy grin. "You may call me Alchemist Yuan. I recognize your boldness, but rules are rules. Here’s a ticket. Go upstairs and show it to the grumpy-looking woman. She’ll give you a random recipe, and you must brew it."

Xuan tilted his head. "Can I choose what kind of Alchemy I want to do? I’m not that good at Potion Alchemy. Pill Alchemy is more my thing."

"Obviously. Heh. There are many things in life you shouldn’t be picky about, but your Alchemy path isn’t one of them. You’ll be given ingredients depending on which type you pick," Alchemist Yuan replied.

Of course, there were some cultivators that could do both Pill Alchemy and Potion Alchemy. They were known as the golden geese of the Alchemy Association, since they’d produce a bunch of money.

But if they could only produce 90% Purity on average, what good were they? The difference in price between 90% Purity and 91% Purity was nearly double. Even higher, the price became exponential.

So a person who could produce a pill at 99% Purity was far more valuable than those golden geese. This was a diamond goose!

"Go there now, and you might not need to come back tomorrow to do some extra exams. Good luck, young Alchemist Xuan." Yuan cupped his hands and then told Xuan to move along, which he did.

Obviously, he’d much rather get things sorted here quickly, so he strode over to the staircase, glancing back at Sierra to make sure she was fine. As if feeling his gaze, she just waved at him to go.

So, not wasting any more of his very precious time, Xuan ran up the staircase and found himself in the back of a long queue.

His old self told him to just wait it out and do nothing, but his cultivator-self, which was very, very impatient, pushed aside the cultivators and cut in line. The cultivators could do nothing but stare in awe at the shitty person that was Xuan.

And so, by the time Xuan arrived at the very front of the queue, standing in front of a door, he had made the entire Alchemy Association his enemy.

"Guards! Someone throw that bastard out!"

"What’s his name? What’s his affiliation!? Do you even know whose son I am!?"

"Hmph. Wait until my ancestor hears about this. You’re dead, you bastard."

Safe to say, the people loved him.

<Xiao Yuelan: Food here is pretty meh. I tried the crab, but it’s almost like people don’t know how to cook here.>

Xuan raised a brow as he filtered out the mean comments behind him and waited for the test inside to conclude.

<Xiao Xuan: Why don’t you become the Saint of Cooking? If they’re so shit, you can start your very own restaurant chain and be the greatest cook in this world, heh.>

<Xiao Yuelan: I have chicken fingers when it comes to making anything but a boiled egg. Maybe they’d dig it?>

Yeah... Xuan had his doubts. He kind of forgot Yuelan was the worst cook he had seen in his 22 years of being alive. He remembered eating her boiled eggs, which had sand in them. There wasn’t a single desert or beach anywhere near them.

That month, Xuan had diarrhea for three weeks.

Anyhow, the two of them continued to chat about random stuff, such as Yuelan accompanying Hanbi for the time being, and Xuan getting the favor of that old man downstairs. Eventually though, the door creaked open as one candidate stepped out, his eyes filled with tears as he ran past everybody.

Xuan let out a sigh at that poor fella. Still, he knew what awaited him.

"Next!"