Cultivating immortality through titles, without bottlenecks.

It's not just a promise, but also a veiled indication that there will be further training in the future.

Of course, this training is not aimed at cultivation level, but at a series of cultivation skills such as medicine making and alchemy.

"Senior sister wants me to be junior brother's medicine bag for life, but unfortunately..."

Wei Zhong chuckled and looked up at Gu Xue and Meng Qian:

"You two presume you intend to stay inside?"

Gu Xue remained silent; the other party's attitude towards Wei Zhong was still hostile. Meng Qian, however, responded:

"Indeed, Qingya Sect is a sect supported by perfected Qi cultivation, and its strength and foundation are much deeper than those of my family."

"Staying in the sect and spending some spirit stones to improve your skills isn't a bad deal."

All eyes turned to Gu Xue, who merely gave a soft snort:

"I have only one goal: the position of her successor."

Gu Xue is indeed an ambitious person, but it's unclear whether the other party has the necessary capabilities.

After all, Qingya Sect recruits countless disciples, but only a handful of them truly advance to the mid-stage of Qi Refining and are accepted as personal disciples.

"Then we'll offer our early congratulations to Senior Sister Gu!"

"..."

The congratulations from the crowd finally made "Senior Sister Gu" look much better.

The banquet ended.

Wei Zhong couldn't help but sigh as he recalled the flattering words and actions of some people at the banquet.

"Thus, the different classes were divided."

"The Qingya Sect brought everyone to a certain level, but a year later, they all returned to their respective classes."

The poor remain poor, and the rich remain rich.

"The poor have no means to cultivate and can only sell their lives to survive. On the other hand, the wealthy have plenty of spirit stones to pursue higher realms."

Wei Zhongnian thought about himself:

"If it weren't for the Qi-Nourishing Powder and my parents' business acumen, I'm afraid I would have..."

What good can come of a child abandoned by his family?

Returning to the small hut, they encountered Yang Chupei, who warmly approached them, disregarding any distinction between men and women, and directly grabbed Wei Zhong's hands:

"Junior Brother Wei, have you made up your mind?"

Wei Zhong looked at the voluptuous woman before him and almost couldn't speak. He coughed lightly.

"How could I, junior brother, refuse such generous terms offered by my senior sister?"

"Very good!"

Yang Chupei smiled excitedly, grabbed a parchment from her waist, and handed it to Wei Zhong.

A Brief Explanation of Alchemy

This was precisely the other party's promise: an introductory guide to alchemy.

It wasn't personally taught by Yang Jingting; at most, it was just his alchemy notes.

However, in the eyes of independent cultivators, it was already considered an extremely precious treasure.

Wei Zhong took it; inside were records of his master Yang Jingting's many insights into alchemy, and even the formula for the Qi-Nourishing Pill.

"Thank you so much, Senior Sister!"

Wei Zhong expressed his gratitude with delight, and Yang Chupei patted Wei Zhong on the shoulder:

"Junior brother, work hard and don't let Father look down on you."

Master Yang Jingting didn't care about Wei Zhong's mediocre skills, but this Senior Sister Yang was quite enthusiastic and unwilling to let go.

"I will certainly live up to my senior sister's expectations!"

Upon returning to his room, Wei Zhong immediately began studying "A Brief Explanation of Alchemy".

The initial reading was obscure, and Wei Zhong skimmed through it, only managing to discern a few parts.

Upon seeing the final prescription, his brows furrowed even more.

"In alchemy, the control of fire is paramount. Fire, in its application, can be either gentle or strong; control, in its order, must be precise..."

"fire?"

The fire here is not the ordinary fire that Wei Zhong used to make medicine, but a spiritual fire.

There are many kinds of spiritual fire, including the magical fire of cultivators, the flames formed by burning spiritual wood, the spiritual fire naturally generated by heaven and earth, and the foundation-building spiritual flame of foundation-building cultivators, etc.

Most Qi Refining cultivators use spirit wood fire when refining pills.

"Ordinary spirit wood won't do. Fire is divided into civil and military types; it needs to be controllable and easy to use."

"Common types include oak, red pine, and ironwood. These types of wood produce a pure flame with less smoke and are more stable when burning."

"Master often uses oak charcoal for alchemy, which is charcoal formed by specially burning oak wood. The raw material is produced in Qingya Mountain, but the price..."

Wei Zhong couldn't help but twitch his brow:

"The cost of alchemy is far too high!"

Taking the Qi Nourishing Pill as an example, each batch of charcoal requires half a spirit stone, and with other materials added, it comes to a total of three spirit stones.

Although a single batch can produce multiple pills, this is a skill only experienced individuals possess.

For beginners, most of the pills they refine are useless. Even if they manage to make a pill by chance, they only manage to produce one, barely breaking even.

To earn profits, at least two pills must be produced in one batch.

"With such costs, it's no wonder Master isn't enthusiastic about training alchemists. With the Qingya Sect's wealth, they'd probably go bankrupt just by training one alchemist..."

Wei Zhong was not ignorant. Families like the Wei family were good at running small businesses and industries, and rarely dabbled in cultivation or other arts.

As for the possibility that a small family produced an alchemist? That's simply impossible.

"The cost of training alchemists is so high that even if I had the ability to obtain a permanent certificate, the initial investment would still be quite staggering."

"Having failed six times in medicine making, how about alchemy..."

Wei Zhongyi rubbed his forehead, completely unable to bear the thought.

"Moreover, alchemy requires an alchemy tool—an alchemy furnace. Such tools are much more expensive than regular magic tools, often costing twice as much as a magic sword of the same rank—around forty spirit stones."

"The investment is too large!"

Wei Zhong frowned:

"Moreover, my cultivation level is also a problem. My meager magical power at the second level of Qi Refining may not be enough to support a batch of pills."

"I need to advance to at least the third level of Qi Refining before I can try again."

The next day, several fellow disciples took off their Qingya Sect robes and went down the mountain.

All four joined the Meng family, either to guard the house or to escort goods for them.

In short, everyone has started to work hard for their own spiritual practice.

The rest of the people who remained at Qingya Gate were summoned by Yang Jingting.

"The sect's one-year training period for you has ended. You will now need to pay spirit stones to continue your cultivation within the sect."

"If you don't have spirit stones, you can also take on sect missions to exchange for 'cultivation time'..."

"There are currently twenty-six registered disciples in the sect. Adding you and the other four, that makes thirty..."

The size of Qingya Gate was smaller than Wei Zhong had expected.

This number is even smaller than that of a typical small Qi-refining family.

However, upon remembering that these people were at least at the second level of Qi Refining, Wei Zhong instantly came to his senses.

"Including the personal disciples at the mid-stage of Qi Refining and the elders at the later stage, not counting the Perfected Ancestor behind them, the Qingya Sect could easily wipe out the surrounding cultivation families."

"The likes of the Wei family are no different from ants in their presence."

"In addition, there will be a mandatory mission issued every six months within the sect, which cannot be refused. You should cultivate diligently and not lose your lives when the mission comes."

"Disciple understands!"

After the meeting, Wei Zhong returned to his hut and received a letter from down the mountain.

Upon seeing the interior, Wei Zhong's eyes narrowed:

"So that's how it is. Wei Fangfei actually joined the Foundation Establishment sect, Biluo Sect, and even became a Daoist couple with the son of an elder."

"The father relied on his daughter's power, which is why the second branch of the family rose to prominence, swallowing up the share of my fourth branch, and even starting to plot for the position of head of the family..."

"But... the Biluo Sect has never had a good reputation..."