I rely on learning to achieve immortality.

Several days after entering the pharmacy, Xu Zhou vaguely realized something.

Senior Brother Ke may not have taken care of him.

The work in a pharmacy is not difficult. It mainly involves managing medicinal materials, storing them in different ways according to their different medicinal properties to prevent loss of their medicinal properties, and keeping good accounts and other miscellaneous tasks.

On weekdays, I have a lot of free time that I can use as I please.

However, as a pharmacy is a crucial location, it bears a significant responsibility.

Although this pharmacy only stores first-tier, inexpensive medicinal herbs, even if a mistake occurs, the worst that would happen is a deduction of contribution points. However, such an error at the Hundred Herbs Hall would have a huge impact. If one is labeled as "careless" from then on, their future path in alchemy will be fraught with setbacks.

Therefore, although there are many benefits to managing a pharmacy, not many people are willing to take the job, making it almost a semi-retirement position.

Ke Yanfeng had a high opinion of Xu Zhou, but even so, he still spent two or three months giving him stern instructions on many matters.

Xu Zhou also put in a lot of effort and thankfully didn't make any mistakes these days.

In the end, although Ke Yanfeng was not completely at ease, he really had no choice and finally handed the pharmacy over to Xu Zhou.

He didn't walk quickly when he left. After all, he would be held responsible if something really happened.

Without Senior Brother Ke by his side, Xu Zhou's days became much quieter.

But he dared not let his guard down.

Aside from a small amount of time spent keeping accounts and managing medicinal herbs each day, he would spend most of his time carefully reading a classic medical text at the counter, only putting the book down when someone came to visit.

Most of the alchemists at Baicaotang usually keep a large number of low-grade medicinal herbs on hand and rarely come to his place.

He spent almost the same amount of time on classical texts as before.

That day, Xu Zhou was engrossed in studying a book called "Basic Alchemy".

This book is no longer considered a medicine manual, but rather a true study of alchemy. Although its content is rudimentary, it is still quite obscure.

He should have started learning from the classic texts while assisting in alchemy. But now that no alchemist would take him in, he could only finish reading the texts first to lay a foundation for the future.

Just as he was fully focused, he suddenly had a slight feeling and was awakened from deep learning.

Through long-term training, he can now sense changes around him even when he is doing deep learning, unlike before when he was oblivious to the passage of time and couldn't detect when someone gets close.

Looking up, he saw that the newcomer was a man with a round face, and judging from his clothes, he should be an alchemist from within the sect.

Xu Zhou dared not delay and immediately closed the book: "Senior brother, is there anything you need?"

The alchemist looked around, then quickly frowned: "Where's Old Ke?"

"Senior Brother Ke is in seclusion refining pills and cannot spare the time."

"When will he be back?" The alchemist frowned even more deeply.

"Well, it depends on his progress. It could take two or three months at most, or as little as ten days or so, he should be back soon."

The round-faced alchemist hesitated for a moment, then seemed to finally accept reality.

He took a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it over, saying, "Prepare a set of the medicinal herbs listed here for me."

Xu Zhou took the paper and skillfully ran towards the medicine cabinet to select the medicinal herbs.

Through long-term practice, his skills in selecting medicinal herbs had become quite proficient, showing no signs of inexperience. Before long, he brought the ingredients requested by the round-faced alchemist.

The alchemist took the medicinal herbs without saying a word and immediately opened them to examine them.

He was clearly worried.

Among the medicinal materials he needs, some are relatively difficult to identify. If a mistake is made, it could ruin the elixir at best, and at worst, contaminate the alchemy furnace, requiring a great deal of effort to clean it afterwards. Therefore, careful inspection is essential.

In particular, the medicinal properties of one ingredient, "Scorpion Tail with Pearls," vary greatly depending on the year, making it extremely difficult to identify. Even he had to take it seriously.

However, upon closer inspection, all the medicinal materials were found to be correct.

The round-faced alchemist couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

The medicinal herbs Xu Zhou selected were not only correct, but their age and weight also perfectly matched the requirements of the paper he was writing on. It could be said that even he himself could not have achieved such precision.

"I'm sorry."

He repackaged the herbs, offered a casual apology, glanced at Xu Zhou's overly youthful face a few more times, and then left.

Xu Zhou didn't care much about it. This kind of thing had happened quite a few times in the past few days, and he was used to it.

After returning to the counter, he opened the book "Basic Alchemy" again and entered a deep learning state to continue studying it.

...

Although Ke Yanfeng handed the pharmacy over to Xu Zhou, he was always uneasy.

Xu Zhou was still only an apprentice and couldn't directly take over the pharmacy. Nominally, he was still in charge of the pharmacy, and he would still have to take responsibility if anything went wrong.

He could have asked Ke Qiaoshu for help, but his younger sister recently broke through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining, and her status has been further elevated. Given their sibling relationship, it wouldn't be appropriate for him to bother her too often.

This alchemy task was assigned by Deacon Yuan, and completing it would bring him considerable benefits. However, the pharmacy was not under Deacon Yuan's jurisdiction, so he would need to handle the related work there as well.

Ke Yanfeng certainly didn't want managing the pharmacy to interfere with his alchemy, but if he had to hand over the pharmacy position to the wrong person, he would also have to bear some responsibility.

None of the fellow disciples of Baicaotang were willing to come to the pharmacy, so after searching around, they finally approached Xu Zhou, their apprentice.

To be fair, Ke Yanfeng's evaluation of Xu Zhou was not low. Xu Zhou gave up cultivation to focus on studying medicine classics, and his knowledge of identifying herbs was already close to Ke Yanfeng's; he was more than qualified to be a pharmacy manager.

But this was still somewhat risky, and given his usual perfectionist nature, he couldn't shake the feeling of unease.

After completing the first stage of his alchemy task, he was able to take a short break, but he couldn't help but worry and decided to go to the pharmacy to check on Xu Zhou's condition.

Not long after I stepped out of the hall, I ran into an acquaintance.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the other party suddenly said, "The new manager of the pharmacy is quite capable."

Ke Yanfeng's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "What's wrong with him?"

"Don't even mention it."

Ke Yanfeng's heart skipped a beat at the other person's words. He said, "A few days ago, I went to pick up the medicine, and the new manager found it for me in just half an incense stick's time. That's incredibly fast."

"It's almost here," Ke Yanfeng's expression changed, and his brows furrowed slightly. "I'll have him be careful."

"That's not necessary."

The man laughed and said, "I also felt something was wrong at the time, so I checked it on the spot. The result was unexpected. The selection of medicinal herbs, their age, and their quantity were all perfect. I wouldn't have been so meticulous even if I had picked them myself."

"what?"

"That's why I said, you, the new manager of the pharmacy, are quite capable."

Seeing the mischievous grin on the other person's face, Ke Yanfeng knew he was being teased.

However, he felt a little relieved.

After saying goodbye to the other person, I ran into another colleague not long after. After exchanging a few words, the other person also mentioned Xu Zhou and praised him repeatedly.

Seeing that both of them were in the same situation, Ke Yanfeng slowed down considerably, and his worries almost disappeared.

A moment later, they arrived at the pharmacy.

Ke Yanfeng entered and saw Xu Zhou engrossed in studying a classic text. Xu Zhou looked up at him before putting the text down and asking, "Senior Brother Ke is back? Have you finished refining the pills?"

"No," Ke Yanfeng said, still as serious and indifferent as ever, "I just came to take a look."

He glanced around the room and saw that it was exactly the same as when he left. After pondering for a moment, he said, "I'll write you a list. You choose the medicine for me according to the list, just like we practiced before."

Since we're already here, why not give it a try?

Xu Zhou felt helpless but didn't say much. He went to get the medicine according to Ke Yanfeng's prescription.

...

Ke Yanfeng was not at ease and continued to check up on him on several occasions afterward.

When I first arrived, I checked everything in great detail. In the following visits, I didn't check as much, but I still repeatedly reviewed the ledgers and carefully compared them.

However, Xu Zhou was indeed flawless.

He abandoned cultivation and devoted himself to studying the classics of medicine. In terms of understanding these medicinal herbs, even ordinary first-grade alchemists might not be able to match him.

As time went on, Ke Yanfeng gradually began to trust him, and the intervals between his check-ups became longer and longer.

For more than half a year, Xu Zhou did not see the other party.

The position in the pharmacy practically became his.

In the days that followed, Xu Zhou continued to study the classics of medicine. Although Ke Yanfeng claimed to have mastered seventy or eighty percent of the classics, Xu Zhou felt that he was still far from having fully learned them.

As long as deep learning can still be triggered, it proves that it hasn't been fully mastered.

However, there are only so many basic medical texts in total. And the longer he studied them, the faster he learned them, thanks to his ability to draw inferences from one instance to another.

He initially struggled to memorize the "Classic of Herbs" for five or six months. But the more he studied the herbal classic, the more he could apply what he learned to other situations. The medicinal properties that he used to have to memorize by rote now became clear at a glance without any need for deliberation.

The library contains dozens of medical classics, which I initially thought would take ten or twenty years to master. Now it seems I could probably do it in less than ten years.

When Xu Zhou had mastered most of the medicinal classics, he began to consider switching cultivation methods.

The [Cultivation Technique] is too basic; its only advantage is that it's less likely to cause qi deviation. However, as long as Xu Zhou can master the technique, he won't suffer qi deviation no matter what he cultivates.

In that case, it would be best to choose a technique that takes a long time to learn but yields great rewards.

Xu Zhou took another opportunity to ask for leave and go to the Sutra Repository.

This time he has the time and contribution points, so he can freely choose any cultivation method from the pavilion.

Xu Zhou found many amazing cultivation techniques, some with profound magical power, others with fierce and deadly attacks; each one was a masterpiece. Anyone else could have chosen any one of them as their life's path.

But after glancing at it a few times, he looked away.

Finally, he looked once again at the "Longevity Technique" that he had discovered while searching for the secret to preserving youth.

He didn't choose to exchange for cultivation at the time because he urgently needed a method to preserve his youth and conceal his abnormality. Now that the problem of maintaining his appearance has been solved, from the perspective of choosing a cultivation method, the "Longevity Cultivation Technique" is a good choice.

The Longevity Technique locks in one's vital energy, thus prolonging life. However, it is difficult to learn, and the magical power cultivated is not very potent. Therefore, even though it can extend lifespan, not many people choose this technique.

But for Xu Zhou, it's a good choice.

Although he can extend his lifespan through learning, no matter how much he learns, his lifespan is not unlimited. If he can extend his life by one or two decades, the actual effect on his lifespan will far exceed his expectations.

As for the fact that the magical power he cultivated was too weak, that was not something he needed to consider.

Compared to other fancy cultivation methods, this longevity cultivation method was the most attractive to him.

He exchanged the "Longevity Technique" for a copy, intending to study the technique while researching the classics of medicine.

This process is destined to take a long time, but he's not in a hurry.

It has been six years since he joined Baicaotang.

His actual age is twenty-six, but his fellow disciples only think he's twenty. However, thanks to his deep learning abilities, his true physical age is only sixteen.

Even if it takes him one or two decades to comprehend it, his bone age will probably be only in his early twenties by then, so it won't be too late for him to cultivate this [Longevity Technique].

Time may pass, but he can afford to wait.

However, his peaceful life was not unchanging.

Several months after exchanging for the cultivation technique, Xu Zhou suddenly heard a rumor.

A deacon spoke at a recent meeting, saying that Ke Yanfeng had not been involved in the pharmacy for a long time, and that the position should be handed over to a more suitable person.