Chapter 9

"Ah? It's bad..."

Jiang Yi plopped down on the ground. This batch of pills was quite numerous, at least fifty, and most importantly, they were all high-grade Human Rank Spirit Mind Pills! He had heard that these high-grade Human Rank pills sold for at least ten taels of silver each. In other words, if all the pills inside exploded, he would have destroyed pills worth five taels of purple gold...

"Whoosh!"

A brown figure shot out from the side hall, the oppressive aura making Jiang Yi unable to breathe. Elder Liu's bulging eyes were filled with anger, and he glared fiercely at Jiang Yi. With one hand, he lifted the lid of the pill furnace and immediately began to investigate.

Jiang Yi held his breath, silently praying that not too many of the pills inside had exploded. Otherwise, if Elder Liu flew into a rage, even if he beat him to death, the family wouldn't say anything...

"You damn brat, almost all the pills in this batch exploded. How did you manage this?"

Elder Liu's face turned even angrier as he looked, his gaze like a knife slicing across Jiang Yi's face. Red essence energy rolled out of his hand, and he was about to strike Jiang Yi with a palm.

"It's over!"

Jiang Yi closed his eyes, waiting for death. Although Elder Liu was in charge of pill refining, his combat strength ranked among the top ten in the Jiang family. Would he really be beaten to death by this palm?

"Huh?"

Suddenly, a hint of surprise flashed in Elder Liu's eyes, and he retracted his palm. He looked at the two remaining pills in the pill furnace with a puzzled expression, feeling that they seemed... different from the original Spirit Mind Pills?

Jiang Yi narrowly escaped death, quickly wiping the cold sweat from his forehead and nervously watching Elder Liu's every move.

"These, these pills..."

Elder Liu completely ignored Jiang Yi, his bulging eyes wide open. He grabbed the two black pills from the pill furnace, his face full of surprise: "Aren't Spirit Mind Pills supposed to be white? Why are these two black? It seems... the medicinal power has increased?"

"Black? Two?"

Jiang Yi's eyes flickered, his mind racing. Suddenly, a bold idea came to him: "Could it be because I injected two threads of black essence energy, causing the pills to explode? The two remaining pills not only didn't explode but also turned from white to black? Could it be because of these two threads of black essence energy?"

"The medicinal power has indeed increased a lot!"

Elder Liu's eyes grew brighter as he examined the pills, muttering to himself: "This color, this medicinal power, it's very similar! I've been refining pills all my life, could it be... I've finally refined two Earth Rank pills?"

"Earth Rank pills?"

Jiang Yi's heart raced. He remembered that last night, when he was healing, the black essence energy had strangely amplified the medicinal power of the Yellow Ginseng Pill by four to five times. Considering the current situation, he was quite confident that the explosion of the pills and the transformation of the two pills into Earth Rank were definitely due to the black essence energy...

"Rumble!"

As Jiang Yi was deep in thought, Elder Liu suddenly grabbed one of the black pills and swallowed it, then sat down with his eyes closed. After a moment, he opened his eyes, his bulging eyes filled with excitement and joy: "Hahaha, these are indeed low-grade Earth Rank pills! After thirty years! I've finally refined Earth Rank pills, I'm no longer just a first-grade pill refiner..."

Jiang Yi pursed his lips, thinking to himself that it wasn't Elder Liu who refined them...

However, he didn't dare to speak up, standing obediently and hoping that Elder Liu's good mood would spare him.

Sssss!

At this moment, light footsteps were heard outside the pill room. A young man sneaked in, glanced at Jiang Yi, and then walked over to Elder Liu with a fawning smile, bowing and saying, "Congratulations, Elder, you've finally refined a world-class pill..."

"Slap!"

Elder Liu's face suddenly changed, and he slapped the young man, sending him flying out of the door. He then coldly snorted, "Jiang Song, you can leave now. You don't need to come to the pill room anymore. You lazy good-for-nothing!"

Jiang Yi shrank back, thinking that Elder Liu was indeed a strange person, just moments ago he was overjoyed, but now he had turned on a dime...

Seeing Jiang Song holding his swollen red face and leaving in fear, Jiang Yi didn't dare to stay any longer. He bowed and said softly, "Elder Liu, you're busy," and quickly retreated.

"Wait!"

Unexpectedly, Elder Liu barked, his gaze locking onto Jiang Yi. Jiang Yi could only stop with a pained expression, "Elder, what else do you need?"

Elder Liu suddenly smiled, walked over a few steps, and patted Jiang Yi's right shoulder, grinning, "You're a good kid, a lucky charm for me! Hmm... I don't want that good-for-nothing Jiang Song anymore. There's no one to help me for now, so you'll help me refine pills from now on."

"What?"

Jiang Yi trembled, immediately shaking his head like a rattle, and firmly refused, "No, Elder Liu, I don't know how to refine pills, I can't do anything, and... I'm still working in the medicinal fields. If I help you, I won't be able to explain to Manager Rong."

Elder Liu's temper was so strange; if he offended him one day, he might be beaten to death, and there would be no place to appeal...

"Explain to hell!"

Elder Liu's mood changed faster than turning a page, and he glared angrily, "If I want someone, even the head of the internal affairs department, Jiang Yunshe, wouldn't dare to say no. Go talk to your manager, if he dares to disagree, I'll tear him apart. As for not knowing how to refine pills, you can learn gradually, but you can't be lazy like Jiang Song. Otherwise, I won't forgive you... It's settled, come back tomorrow morning, I need to study this pill, hahaha, Earth Rank pills..."

Elder Liu held the remaining black pill, swaying his head as he walked away, leaving Jiang Yi with a worried and almost tearful expression.

But then he thought, if he worked here, he wouldn't have to go to West Mountain? Jiang Ruhu and the others wouldn't dare to attack him here or at his courtyard? He would have time to study the black essence energy.

"Black essence energy?"

Suddenly, a thought flashed in his mind, his eyes brightening like stars. His black essence energy could enhance the medicinal power? The high-grade Human Rank Spirit Mind Pills might have become Earth Rank pills because of the black essence energy.

If... he worked here, he could secretly refine pills, using the black essence energy to refine high-grade pills and sell them without anyone knowing!

A high-grade Human Rank pill was worth five taels of silver, ten pills would be fifty taels, and a hundred pills would be five hundred taels. If he could refine two hundred high-grade Human Rank pills in a month, he could easily pay off his huge debt to the Wind and Moon Tower. If he refined an Earth Rank pill, he might be able to sell a few for ten taels of purple gold...

"Haha!"

Jiang Yi was secretly overjoyed, the heavy burden on his heart finally lifted. He was now more than willing to work under Elder Liu.

"Alright, I'll go talk to Manager Rong first."

Jiang Yi quickly walked out, but as he reached the door, he suddenly remembered his purpose. Thinking that Elder Liu seemed to favor him, he hesitated for a moment and then slowly walked toward the side hall.

"Haha, Earth Rank pills? This batch of Spirit Mind Pills actually refined Earth Rank pills? There must be some mystery here. I need to study this..."

In the side hall, Elder Liu sat on the ground, facing Jiang Yi, his hands emitting fiery red essence energy, completely engrossed in studying the remaining black pill, ignoring Jiang Yi.

"Elder Liu."

Jiang Yi stood for a while, but Elder Liu still ignored him. He had to grit his teeth and bow, "I want to take one Yellow Ginseng Pill and one Essence Energy Pill..."

Elder Liu finally noticed, glanced at Jiang Yi, and said impatiently, "Go to the other pill room and take as many as you want, don't bother me... Huh? The components in this Spirit Mind Pill are the same as before, there's nothing else? How did it suddenly become an Earth Rank pill? Strange, strange..."

"Take as many as I want?"

Jiang Yi's mouth twitched. So working in the pill room had this benefit? He immediately bowed and left the side hall, returning to the inner hall. He saw two more rooms, both doors closed.

Jiang Yi pushed open one door and scanned the room, seeing it was full of herbs, likely collected from the West Mountain medicinal fields. He didn't dare to look further and retreated, entering the other room. As soon as he opened the door, a strong medicinal aroma filled the air.

"So many pills..."

The pill storage room was spacious, with two large three-tiered counters filled with bottles and jars of pills.

"Essence Soul Pills, Spirit Mind Pills, Black Ginseng Pills, Essence Energy Pills, Yellow Ginseng Pills..."

Jiang Yi's heart raced. Elder Liu had said he could take as many as he wanted, which meant he could take a few more pills, even high-grade Human Rank pills?

"No, I can't be too greedy..."

Suppressing his greed, Jiang Yi honestly took one low-grade Essence Energy Pill and three low-grade healing Yellow Ginseng Pills, then hurriedly left the pill room and headed to Manager Rong's office.

"Hmm, this Jiang family descendant has a good nature, not greedy!"

After Jiang Yi left, the gray-haired Elder Liu walked out of the side hall, checked the pill room, and nodded in satisfaction, muttering, "Good, I'll study this 'accidentally refined' Earth Rank pill again..."

...

Jiang family's East Courtyard, Manager's Office.

Manager Rong saw Jiang Yi walk in and coldly said, "Jiang Yi, have you finished counting the herbs in Field Number Five?"

Jiang Yi bowed obediently, "Manager Rong, not yet..."

"Waste of space!"

Manager Rong snorted heavily, interrupting him, "If you haven't finished, why are you here? This is no place for you. Go back to West Mountain and finish counting!"

Jiang Yi touched his nose, smiling awkwardly, "Manager Rong, it's not that I don't want to go, but Elder Liu asked me to help him..."

"Damn!"

Manager Rong saw that Jiang Yi wasn't leaving and was trying to argue, so he got angry. Before Jiang Yi could finish, he slammed the table and stood up, ready to scold him. But he suddenly paused, his eyes widening, "What did you say? Who asked you to help? Elder Liu? The Elder Liu from the pill room?"

"Yes!"

Jiang Yi was speechless; there was only one Elder Liu in the Jiang family...

"Oh?"

Manager Rong's face changed, and he quickly forced a smile, leaning in to ask, "Good, Jiang Yi, you're quite capable, to be noticed by Elder Liu? Be honest... do you have any talent in pill refining? That's why Elder Liu noticed you? Elder Liu is very strict, Jiang Song's father begged for a long time to get him in."

"I have no talent at all."

Jiang Yi thought to himself, smiling bitterly and shaking his head, "I don't know why Elder Liu noticed me."

"Alright, go then. Work hard in the pill room, the family won't treat you badly. I'll report to the head of the internal affairs department and double your monthly allowance."

Manager Rong patted Jiang Yi's shoulder affectionately, his attitude a complete 180 from before. Elder Liu's special status in the Jiang family had raised Jiang Yi's status as well. This small manager now dared not offend Jiang Yi, or he might lose his position if Elder Liu said a few words...

Jiang Yi nodded and turned to leave, planning to go home to heal, but Manager Rong suddenly said, "By the way, Jiang Yi, since you're working in the pill room, hand over your token. Don't go to West Mountain for no reason."

"Token!"

Jiang Yi's face changed. The token given by Manager Rong was pledged to the Wind and Moon Tower. What could he hand over now?