Cultivation Begins with Daily Intelligence Reports

62: Becoming an alchemist is very difficult”Brother! Where did you go? It’s raining so hard, why didn’t you even open a Protective Spiritual Shield?”

Lin Jingxia looked at Lin Jingyu, who was soaked to the bone with water dripping from his hair, her small face turning pale with fright.

The Earth Spirit Rat ”Little Ash” in her arms was vigorously gnawing on a bright red wild fruit. When it looked up and saw Lin Jingyu, its small, dark eyes instantly widened.

Its two small paws ”swish” and tightly protected the fruit in its arms as it warily shrank back, looking like a coward saying, ”Don’t steal my food.”

Lin Jingyu rolled his eyes at the sight, though he was also surprised by the Earth Spirit Rat’s intelligence.

Wiping the rainwater from his face, with droplets trickling down his chin, he sighed helplessly and flicked his sleeves with a feigned air of depth:

”A straw raincoat amidst the misty rain, living my life as I please—do you understand? If I can’t even handle this bit of wind and rain, how can I survive in the cultivation world later?”

He paused, his voice carrying a hint of tired hoarseness:

”I’m going to sleep. Don’t bother me unless it’s important.”

After saying that, he dragged his wet body toward his room, leaving watery footprints with every step.

His silhouette appeared somewhat thin in the dim light, yet it exuded an indescribable stubbornness.

This trip had almost cost him his life; the process had been too dangerous.

There was no need to tell his sister and make her worry for nothing... Changing into dry, old cloth clothes, Lin Jingyu took a deep breath, opened the secret door to the underground chamber, and jumped down.

The warm night-luminescent pearl above cast a soft light, making the small space appear serene and warm.

Faint Spiritual Qi, like a thin mist, swirled around him, making him feel as if every pore in his body was opening up.

He sat cross-legged on the cold prayer mat, closed his eyes, and tried to clear his chaotic thoughts.

After a good while, he finally felt his tense nerves relax slightly.

He carefully took out that heavy ”brick Jade Slip” from the Storage Pouch in his bosom.

A cold, rough sensation came over him, as if he were holding an eternal, stubborn stone.

”Come on, let me see what other tricks you’re hiding in this ’brick’.”

He muttered under his breath and once again pressed the Jade Slip firmly against his forehead.

Time passed bit by bit.

Only the sound of his light breathing filled the secret chamber.

His expression changed constantly as he ”read,” sometimes with his brows furrowed as if he had encountered a monumental problem.

At other times, he couldn’t help but grin like a fool, as if he had picked up some treasure... then he toughed it out and ”gnawed” through who knows how many tens of thousands of words of nonsense.

Things like ”The Dao of Alchemy is the Heavenly Dao,” ”Alchemists are the bridge communicating between Heaven and Earth,” ”Only with awe in one’s heart can one glimpse the true essence of the Dao of Alchemy”... It made his head buzz, his temples throb, and sparks fly before his eyes.

”Damn! It’s still all this empty talk; it’s completely useless. Can we get some actual substance!”

Lin Jingyu complained wildly in his heart, feeling like a miserable student who had been stuffed with a pile of philosophy papers.

After gnawing through another few hundred thousand words of useless introductory prefaces, just as he was about to be tormented into a Soul Emergence by these ”introductions.”

He finally saw the table of contents!

There were over ten thousand entries in the table of contents, but 99.99% of them were hidden in the mist. The only one he could see was the first one—

A clear, large heading jumped out—Trainee Alchemist Chapter!

Lin Jingyu’s spirits lifted, feeling like he saw the dawn of hope.

”Holy crap, I finally see something useful!”

He couldn’t wait to ”flip” down.

Under this large heading, dozens of small entries were densely listed.

”Complete Analysis of a Trainee Alchemist.”

”What should one do and prepare to become a Trainee Alchemist?”

”The 18,000 common Spiritual Plants a Trainee Alchemist must know, each with a recorded image catalog!”

”The 108 Fire Control Techniques a Trainee Alchemist must master, teaching you fire control starting from the very first hand seal!”

”Seven methods for a Trainee Alchemist to cultivate Mental Energy, there’s always one that fits you! To become an Alchemist, your Mental Energy must far exceed that of ordinary people!”

...”Whew...”

Lin Jingyu let out a long, long breath of turbid air.

Although it was still just a table of contents, at least it looked much more reliable, unlike those previous things shrouded in clouds and mist.

He clicked on the first small entry to see what the requirements were to become a Trainee Alchemist.

As it turned out, it would have been better if he hadn’t looked; upon seeing it, he almost fell apart on the spot.

The Four Iron Rules of becoming a Trainee Alchemist:

Rule One: Splitting your mind three ways is the foundation!

What did that mean? It required you to control the fire for Alchemy while simultaneously accurately grasping the state of dozens of medicinal Materials inside the furnace.

You also had to set aside a portion of your mind to watch if the Pill Furnace would explode!

This level of difficulty was equivalent to having you draw a circle with your left hand, a square with your right, while reciting Pi!

Lin Jingyu’s vision went dark; he could barely manage to split his mind two ways.

Back in the day, when he was reading novels in class, he wouldn’t even react when the teacher walked up beside him.

Rule Two: Completely master a set of Fire Control Techniques!

This ”mastery” wasn’t just playing around with flames.

It required you to use spiritual power hand seals to accurately control the temperature, shape, and even the attributes of the flame!

If you were off by a hair, the entire furnace of Medicinal Pills could turn into charcoal or waste residue.

Lin Jingyu felt that his greatest achievement in playing with fire was when he was a kid and set fire to a neighbor’s woodpile, burning a tree to death, and then went home to a meal of ”bamboo shoots stir-fried with meat slices”.

Rule Three: Also master a complete set of Pill Control Techniques, from adding Spiritual Plants to the final pill production!

Alchemy isn’t like cooking a big stew where you just throw the ingredients in and stew them until they’re done.

Different spiritual Materials must be added at different times and temperatures, and they must be kept in different states—solid, liquid, solid-liquid mixture, gas... finally, special techniques are used to guide the Fusion of medicinal properties.

The precision of this thing was like carving the ”Along the River During the Qingming Festival” onto a single strand of hair.

Lin Jingyu felt that his hands simply couldn’t handle such delicate work.

Rule Four: Completely memorize 18,000 types of Spiritual Plants in your mind!

Upon seeing this number, Lin Jingyu felt his brain go ”buzz” and it immediately crashed.

18,000 types!

The medicinal properties, characteristics, growth environment, harvesting techniques, processing methods, and compatibility taboos for each Spiritual Plant... how the hell is a human supposed to memorize that?

Back then, memorizing an English vocabulary list felt like it would be the death of him.

Now they want him to memorize this? Might as well just give him a quick stab and end it!

”Trainee Alchemist? This damn thing is only for a Trainee Alchemist?”

Lin Jingyu yanked the ”brick” off his forehead, almost unable to resist smashing it on the ground.

He stared at this heavy lump of iron in his hand, his eyes filled with self-doubt.

”Isn’t this threshold a bit ridiculously high? It’s not like I’m reaching the heavens in one step and can directly refine all sorts of Medicinal Pills?”

”How is this an introduction to being an Alchemist? This is clearly a selection for immortal reserves!”

A huge sense of disappointment surged up like a tide, instantly drowning him.

The ”Fourth-Rank Legacy” he had fought so hard for, nearly losing his life to obtain.

Was it really just a ”brick” that looked good but was useless?

A painted cake that can only be looked at but not eaten?