Do You Know of Yun Zhonghe?

"Why have the frost wolf packs been coming out to the perimeter lately?" "Such rotten luck. What a waste of those two Rank 1 demon beasts we hunted—we didn't even get the chance to butcher them and pack them into our storage bags." "It might be that time again in the Howling Moon Mountain Range when they contest for the wolf king. Supposedly it happened once several hundred years ago, and many packs fled out to the perimeter to avoid the disaster." "Forget it, forget it. Let's head back to the market to rest up first. We've been exhausted lately." "Yeah. As long as everyone's safe, that's what counts." A few brief remarks carried both flustered exasperation and the relief of surviving a close call. Several cultivators walked from the plain toward the center of the market. Passing Luo Chen's home, they paused for a moment. Then a crisp, straightforward woman's voice drifted over. "Fellow Daoist, things probably won't be peaceful out here lately. If you have the means, you'd best move closer to the inner city!" Luo Chen did not reply. If he had the means, he would have moved long ago. Besides, an area merely close to the inner city wasn't the inner city itself—how could that count as safe? Those rogue cultivators lived lives of licking blood off blade edges. Waylaying someone under cover of darkness was far too common. More than once on the road into town, he had seen bloodstains and skeletal remains on the ground. Although this place was dangerous, cultivators from the market set up a beast-deterrent cordon along the plain every year. Low-rank demon beasts instinctively stayed out, and slightly stronger Rank 2 demon beasts didn't dare approach human settlements. Relatively speaking, living here was still fairly safe for the time being. On top of that, he usually came across as utterly destitute, scraping together a few spirit stones a month to get by; hardly any cultivators would bother looking twice at him. "Huiniang, why are you bothering with that kid?" "Soaking in the creek and pinching mud in broad daylight—probably just a newcomer who just arrived at Dahe Market!" "Come on, let's head home." Perhaps hearing no response, the people outside grumbled a few words and left together. Listening to them depart, Luo Chen couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Compared to demon beasts, he feared human cultivators even more. Still, what that Huiniang said made sense. Times changed, and if unusual movements really were stirring in the Howling Moon Mountain Range, this southwestern sector, being the closest, truly would become hazardous. "My state of mind is about settled now—neither too relaxed nor too tense. Tomorrow I'll formally begin alchemy!" "This time, I will succeed!" ... After a full day and night of rest, both his body and his mind were in optimal condition. At dawn, after circulating the Eternal Spring Art once, Luo Chen put on his dusty grey apron and walked to the kitchen window. A clay figurine with a long beard holding a wooden saber stood there, featuring phoenix eyes, lying-silkworm brows, and a touch of red painted on its cheeks. "Lord Guan, bless me with success!" Calming his mind, he set the pot, added water, stoked the firewood, and sparked the flame with a Fireball Art. First he simmered the secondary ingredients, then dry-roasted the mineral components, poured in broth to bring it to a boil, and added the fleeceflower root, jade yam, fire hound whip, and other materials in order. After simmering for roughly three shichen, he added the final water-attribute spirit herb, conpoy, to harmonize yin and yang. Throughout the process, he regulated the heat, alternating between high and low flames. Two shichen later, he uncovered the pot! A pot of light reddish paste sat pooled in the bottom. Poking it with a fresh wooden spoon, it wobbled just like jelly. Bouncy and springy! Yet it was still a failure. According to the pill formula, the finished paste was supposed to be deep crimson; only then would the Myriad Wonders Pill possess maximum potency for boosting virility. Though he had failed, Luo Chen felt little annoyance. Clearly, this batch was already very close to success. At least it congealed well and achieved a bouncy, elastic texture. For a cultivator, if someone didn't fear the medicinal toxins and swallowed this entire pot, it would probably still work. Of course, the aftereffects would certainly be severe. So Luo Chen didn't plan on taking it out to sell; doing that would easily get him beaten to a pulp. After tasting a tiny dab to gauge the shortfall in potency and reviewing the process in his memory once more, Luo Chen nodded, then dumped the medicinal dregs on the other side of the creek. Night brought cultivation and sleep as usual. The next day, he paid homage to Lord Guan on schedule, then began refining. Failure! On the third day, he paid homage to Lord Guan on schedule, then began refining. Success! Yes, exactly—success! Looking at that large pot of brilliant red jelly, Luo Chen felt that sweetness had finally come after bitterness, and his eyes grew moist. "Eight sets of materials wasted, which equals roughly forty spirit stones lost. Factor in the forty bottles of Fasting Powder I could have refined over these eight days, and that's another eight spirit stones in lost earnings. "Ugh, I nearly lost my entire net worth." Luo Chen hurried to scoop out all the paste. Disregarding the scalding heat, he used a bamboo knife to slice the paste into chunks and rolled them into round balls with his hands. After letting them air-dry overnight, the task would be accomplished! One batch of ingredients remained; he could make another attempt tomorrow. Rising the next morning, Luo Chen could hardly wait as he rushed to the chopping board in the kitchen where he crafted pills. Sure enough, those ten round lumps had shrunk to the size of longans. Moisture was all that evaporated; what remained was pure essence. A single pill would be enough to send any man soaring! Carefully placing the little red pills into a jade bottle, Luo Chen bowed before Lord Guan once more. "Lord Guan, you're truly looking out for me. Even though I transmigrated, you're still watching over me. Once I make it big, I'll definitely build you a temple and cast a golden statue in your likeness!" After paying his respects, Luo Chen tied on his apron while giving a fierce pump of his fist. "As expected, I'm a goddamn genius of alchemy, born to refine pills! "I'll definitely make a name for myself in the future. I've already thought of my moniker: Pill God of the Eastern Wastelands—every bit as imposing as that Pill Saint of the Central Continent!" After firing himself up, Luo Chen set back to work. Inside the smoke-filled kitchen, a sweltering yet cheerful atmosphere permeated the room. Yet when the bright sunlight spilled inside, what it illuminated was an utterly expressionless face. "Heh heh, even horses stumble, and people slip. When the Pill Saint was young, he must have blown up cauldrons refining Rank 1 pills too. "Next time I'll definitely succeed, definitely!" Though he said so, Luo Chen's heart still ached. A single set of raw ingredients cost five spirit stones! He had lost so much he was numb! "No way. This single bottle of Myriad Wonders Pills has to sell for a high price, or I won't even recoup my costs!" ... Dawn was just breaking. Heaven and earth seemed draped in a veil of white mist, while the Million Mountains loomed like an abyssal maw gaping wide toward Dahe Market. A young man wearing a faded low-grade robe dashed like the wind through the muddy shantytown of rogue cultivators. A female cultivator stepping out in the morning to empty a chamber pot saw this and couldn't help but chuckle scoldingly: "Kid's running pretty fast! Got a dog chasing you or something?" Fast—he truly was fast. Luo Chen seemed to genuinely share some affinity with martial arts; in just a few days, he had advanced that Carefree Wandering from Entry level to the Practiced rank. Not only did it grant him an achievement point, but its speed bonus had doubled as well. In the past, at absolute best, he could run a hundred meters in nine seconds. Now, in just a few strides, he covered more than a hundred meters. The trek into town usually took an hour and a half on foot, and running would normally take thirty to forty minutes! Today, when he reached the town gates, barely twenty minutes had passed! Luo Chen had never experienced the Wind Riding Art, but he felt Carefree Wandering wasn't bad at all. Besides, this was only the Practiced rank; ahead lay Adept, Perfect, and Grandmaster. There was immense potential to tap! When he reached the southwestern rogue cultivator quarter, day had yet to break. This time, Old Daoist Chen Xiuping hadn't arrived before him. Across the sprawling stall area, only a sparse handful of people had set up. Luo Chen looked around and didn't display his pills right away, instead wandering over to a ground stall. "Brother Wang, you're here early!" Wang Yuan glanced at him without speaking. Luo Chen chuckled, unbothered, and squatted down to flip through the few books there. "Don't touch Five Essential Spells for the Qi Refining Stage. That costs money." "How much?" "Two mid-grade spirit stones." "Why don't you just rob someone?" "I did rob someone for this!" "Uh, forget I said anything." Wang Yuan was at the seventh level of Qi Refining—precisely the kind of person Luo Chen constantly described as living with their blood on blade edges. He had taken part in more than a few skirmishes and highway robberies. Luo Chen couldn't afford to provoke him, and Wang Yuan looked down on Luo Chen; they only chatted occasionally when setting up stalls. Oh, back when Wang Yuan was down on his luck and forced to hunt in the Guyuan Mountain Range, Luo Chen had fronted him a few bottles of Fasting Pills on credit. So the two actually went back a bit. "Don't touch that one either. It records a sinister, wicked art." "Hey, your hands are pretty grabby, kid. Be careful, or I'll rob you once you leave the inner city!" "Here, you can read this one as much as you like. If you want to buy it, I'll give you half off and take five spirit stones." Why buy when you can read for free? No matter how wealthy someone was, that wasn't how to spend money! Luo Chen excitedly picked up that Record of Customs Across the Six Domains and read with relish. That reading lasted an entire shichen. Only when the foot traffic in the market picked up did Luo Chen reluctantly set the book down. "Brother Wang, I'm heading over to my spot now. This bag of spicy beef jerky is for you—eat it when you want a snack." Wang Yuan glared at him. "Get lost!" Looking at the bag of beef jerky, he swallowed almost imperceptibly, then squeezed his buttocks together. Returning to his bluestone slab stall, Old Daoist Chen was already arranging talisman skins and talismans. "Uncle Chen, do you know of Yun Zhonghe?"