Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 41 The whole story
The man's face turned ecstatic and he said, "What do you want from me, my friend?"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not interested in your appearance. I'm interested in your alchemy skills. I don't know what difficulties you've encountered, and it has nothing to do with me. One thousand spirit stones is not a small amount. If I give it to you, you must repay me with your alchemy skills."

"Let me formally introduce myself. I am Song Xian, the headmaster of the Hunyuan Sect. I would like to invite you to join our sect. These one thousand spirit stones are your advance salary. According to the salary of our sect's disciples, with your level of cultivation, you can receive a monthly salary of thirty spirit stones. One thousand spirit stones is equivalent to thirty-three months' salary."

"Besides that, I will provide you with spiritual medicine for alchemy. You will also get a certain percentage of the profits from the refined spiritual medicine. How about this condition? Please consider it."

The man immediately said, "Don't think about it, I agree."

"You have to think clearly. Agreeing to this condition does not mean that you can leave after joining the sect for three years and using your salary to repay the 1,000 spirit stones. Without my permission, you cannot leave the sect."

The man didn't hesitate at all: "I have thought it through clearly. As long as you can give me a thousand spirit stones right now, I will be willing to be a slave, not to mention joining the sect."

"When will you need these 1,000 spirit stones?"

"I want it now."

Song Xian only had more than 200 spirit stones in his pocket, and he couldn't take out that much. But after a moment's thought, he came up with a solution: "Pack the things and follow me."

The man put all the pills into the inner room in a bag, picked up the bag and followed him.

Song Xian found Zhong Wenyuan and Zhang Ningyuan who were also strolling in the street, and came to a secluded place.

"Let me introduce you. This is Fellow Daoist Qi Xiaobai, an alchemist. He's in urgent need of a thousand spirit stones and has agreed to advance a salary of a thousand spirit stones in exchange for joining our sect."

Hearing this, Zhang Ningyuan immediately showed a look of surprise, and spoke in amazement. He never expected that in such a short time, Song Xian had pulled a cultivator from nowhere to join the sect, and asked for a deposit of one thousand spirit stones. This was simply too much of a joke.

A look of surprise flashed across Zhong Wenyuan's face, and he coughed slightly: "Master, please move aside and talk."

"Friend Qi, wait a minute." Song Xian turned around and walked to the right with him.

"Master, I think this decision is ill-considered," Zhong Wenyuan said straight to the point. "We don't know this person's identity or background, so how can we just let him join the sect? Qingyun Sect has always trained disciples from a young age within the mountain gate, and we never recruit independent cultivators of unknown origin. What if he has a grudge against a major faction? Wouldn't that be a burden to the sect?"

Song Xian had guessed what he would say: "We are no longer in the Qingyun Sect. The old framework should be discarded and abandoned. It should not hinder the development of the sect. I have investigated this person. He is not only an alchemist, but also highly skilled. He is a rare talent. That is why we want to bring him into the sect."

"Has the Master known him before?"

"I don't know him. He's a vendor on this street. I just talked to him and saw the pills he made. They were of very good quality. Talents like him are rare."

Zhong Wenyuan asked doubtfully, "When did the headmaster learn to make pills? I remember you were always making talismans with the old headmaster, weren't you?"

Song Xian was really stumped by his question. "Um... although I don't know how to make pills, I have read a lot of books on pills in the past few years and have some understanding of the subject. It's like saying you've never eaten pork, but you've never seen a pig run. Brother Zhong, trust my judgment. I'm right. I dare say that the alchemists in Qingyun Sect are far inferior to him."

"Even if he does have talent in alchemy, what does the Sect Master know about him? How can you so casually recruit an outsider into the sect? With all due respect, this is too rash. Recruiting disciples is a major event for the sect. A disciple's spiritual roots, character, family background, and details must be thoroughly investigated."

"He's a casual cultivator, I've already asked him about it. As for his family background and details, it won't be too late to ask him in detail later."

"If he had offended some powerful faction and was hiding here, wouldn't it be asking for trouble if the Sect Master recruited him into the sect? It might even bring disaster to the sect."

Song Xian was speechless after hearing his words. They did make sense. He hadn't really thought too much about it at the beginning. He was just excited to see such a talented alchemist, so he was eager to bring him into the sect. Now it seems that he was a bit reckless.

"He's not that unlucky! Out of so many independent cultivators, he's the only one who's offended a powerful force. Besides, he's just a nobody at the fifth level of Qi Refining, how could he possibly offend a powerful force? I truly believe he has an exceptional talent for alchemy, so I want to bring him into the sect and have him contribute to our efforts. How about this! Let's ask around. If there aren't any more problems, we'll settle the matter."

"What if he doesn't tell the truth? How can the Sect Master tell?" Song Xian pondered. "I don't think he's that kind of person. For a sect to develop, the most important thing is to recruit talented people. We can't be too hesitant and worry about gains and losses. My meeting him is destined. A talent like him would never join our sect for a mere 1,000 spirit stones unless he had urgent matters. We can't miss this opportunity."

"Even if, as the Sect Master said, he has outstanding alchemy skills and is even gifted, our sect has no income at all right now. How can we train an alchemist?"

"Well! We can talk about the future later, let's get the person first."

Zhang Ningyuan, who had been silent the entire time, spoke up at this moment: "Master, you just said that he urgently needs a thousand spirit stones. We don't have any on hand right now. Do we have to go back and get them? The sect only has a little over two thousand spirit stones in total right now. If we take out another thousand, there will be even less left. And adding one more person means an extra salary."

Obviously, he also did not agree to accept Qi Xiaobai into the sect.

"I've already thought about this. I won't use the sect's existing spiritual stones. Besides, he's in a hurry to get them, and I don't have time to go back and forth to get them for him. I have a mid-grade magical weapon here. I'm afraid it's still a little short of what I can get. I wonder what my two senior brothers can come up with? If we pool our efforts, it should be enough."

The two were shocked when they heard that he wanted to sell off the mid-level magic weapon.

Zhong Wenyuan said, "Master, how can you do this? That's your only mid-grade self-defense weapon. How can you sell it? And if you sell it, you'll definitely lose a lot of money."

"I've made up my mind on this matter. No need to say more. I'm just worried that this mid-grade magical weapon won't fetch that many spirit stones." Song Xian untied the Dragon Swimming Sword from his waist and handed it to Zhang Ningyuan: "Brother Ningyuan, take this sword to the shop first and sell it to see how many spirit stones you can get. If it's not enough, we can discuss it later."

Zhang Ningyuan remained silent, but was deeply touched. As the sect leader, Song Xian had sold his only mid-grade magic weapon in order to recruit a highly skilled alchemist into the sect for the sake of its development.

"Ah!" Zhong Wenyuan sighed. "Forget it. Since the Sect Master has made up his mind, I won't say anything. But as the Sect Master, how can you not even have a mid-level magical weapon? I have a mid-level magical weapon with twenty layers of restrictions. Sell it! It's worth more than the Wandering Dragon Sword."

As he spoke, he took out a fiery red fan from the storage bag at his waist and handed it to Zhang Ningyuan.

"How can this be? Senior Brother Wenyuan, how can you sell your magic weapon?"

Zhong Wenyuan waved his hand and said, "This mid-level magic weapon was originally given by the headmaster, one for each person. I already have a high-level magic weapon, so I don't need this mid-level magic weapon much. Take it!"

Song Xian was not a hypocritical person. After hearing this, he did not argue and nodded: "Then let's do as Senior Brother Wenyuan said. No matter how many spirit stones we sell, we will deduct them from Qi Xiaobai's salary and return them to Senior Brother Zhong."

Qi Xiaobai watched the three people go away, knowing that they must be discussing his own affairs. He couldn't help but feel uneasy, fearing that the 1,000 spirit stones would be lost again. Seeing the three people coming back, he hurriedly went to greet them: "Fellow Daoist Song, when will you give me the 1,000 spirit stones?"

"Don't worry, Fellow Daoist Qi. I have a few more questions I'd like to clarify. Fellow Daoist Qi, I trust your character, and please answer truthfully. Do you have any enemies here?"

"I said, I'm a casual cultivator and I don't have any enemies."

"Could you please tell me why you're so anxious to get those 1,000 spirit stones? We're not interested in your privacy, but we need to know the truth. If you've offended someone or gotten into some serious trouble, and we recruit you into the sect, it might bring trouble to our sect as well. I hope you can understand."

Qi Xiaobai sighed slightly, his expression somewhat sad: "Do you fellow Daoists know anything about the Blood Flame Snake?"

Song Xian shook his head: "I've never heard of it."

Qi Xiaobai said, "This is a demon beast from the Muhe Grassland. The venom it spews out is extremely corrosive. Even a little bit of it on the skin will cause it to fester and ooze pus. This is not so bad. It can be healed with some flesh and bone regeneration pills."

"But a friend of mine was accidentally splashed in the eye by the venom of this blood-flaming snake, causing the eyeball to gradually corrode. Now he suffers every day. Once the eyeball is completely melted, he will become completely blind, and there will be no way to save him. Currently, there is only one thing that can cure it: Tianshan Snow Lotus, which is over a hundred years old. Before the eyeball is melted by the venom, drinking a decoction made from Tianshan Snow Lotus can restore his eyesight."

"This medicinal herb is extremely valuable. I've already found out where I can buy it and have sold all my belongings, but I'm still short of a thousand spirit stones."

"If I can't raise enough spirit stones to buy that Tianshan Snow Lotus in three days, my friend will never be able to regain his sight."

(End of this chapter)