Qi Condensation Pill

"Ugh, exhausting." Chen Zhuo felt thoroughly drained. He truly hadn't expected that a specialized course would literally consist of a lecturer droning through slides! It felt just like being back in an easy blow-off class in college. Except back then, Chen Zhuo hadn't cared at all, casually playing on his phone under the desk. Now, however... Chen Zhuo genuinely wanted to cultivate properly! That was precisely why, even as a mortal without a spiritual root, he had taken the examination to earn the qualification for an artificial root implant. No wonder tuition was free. Chen Zhuo let out a long sigh. "Elixir appraisal is the craft of analyzing and evaluating the quality of medicinal pills through one's own senses and meridians, combining scientific methodology with artistic perception..." At the podium, the lecturer read expressionlessly from the presentation slides. This Foundation Establishment cultivator was clearly just putting in the hours for a paycheck, caring neither about conflicts among the students nor whether anyone understood him. Either way, another day of work meant earning another day's worth of immortal Dao potential. Chen Zhuo had listened attentively at first, but once he realized it was merely introductory theory, he began browsing his spiritual communication jade slip under the desk, pondering how to convert his illicit loot from the Spirit Bead World into tangible spirit stones. Truth be told, killing that sinister old man yesterday had yielded a substantial haul. Between the storage bag, the black net magic tool, and the physical spirit stones, it was worth a fifth of an artificial root. Yet on closer inspection, the only things he could realistically sell were the three and a half physical spirit stones. Storage bags were controlled supplies and exceedingly rare; putting one on the market would easily attract the attention of regulatory authorities. As for the black net magic tool, it was probably worth only a hundred-odd spirit stones at best. Selling it would be a losing proposition, not to mention Chen Zhuo genuinely needed it for self-defense. Spirit stones were also a controlled resource, but Chen Zhuo had only three and a half—an insignificant amount. Converted into virtual currency, that was only worth about forty spirit coins. While that was a respectable sum for someone in the early or middle stages of Qi Refining, it meant little to a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, let alone the law enforcement departments overseen by Foundation Establishment experts. It was just like his past life, where no tax authority would bother auditing someone for privately flipping tens of thousands of yuan worth of second-hand goods. In theory it wasn't legal, but no one was going to launch a full investigation over scraps. Selling a storage bag, by contrast, was akin to trafficking strategic, restricted-grade resources. Selling the black net magic tool was like hawking an unlicensed, homemade zip gun. "Sigh. Immortal Mansion, oh Immortal Mansion, why do you have to regulate everything so tightly?" Chen Zhuo felt utterly stifled. It felt like having a billion dollars fall from the sky, only to realize he couldn't cash it out. Still, having it was better than nothing; he would wait for the right opportunity. In any case, his debt wasn't massive—only fifty-four hundred spirit coins. If he brought back six storage bags from the Spirit Bead World, he would even have six hundred spirit coins left over... provided he could actually sell them. Increasing his own strength came first! Once he reached Foundation Establishment—or even just the late stage of Qi Refining—he could openly bring out certain items to sell without fear of being investigated. Twenty years was more than enough time! Just as Chen Zhuo was calculating how to utilize the resources from the Spirit Bead World, the lecturer at the front paused. The lecturer glanced at the time displayed on the lectern. Seeing that the class period was nearly over and that he had secured another slice of supplemental income, he spoke up at once. "Alright, that concludes today's theoretical lecture." Clearing his throat, the teacher swept his gaze across the freshmen still in the Qi Refining stage. "Next, we have some practical coursework." At the word 'practical,' the dozing students instantly sat up straight. Chen Zhuo set his thoughts aside and looked curiously toward the lecturer. A practical session had to be more interesting than reading slides, right? "As everyone knows, our academy trains a large number of alchemists each year," Lecturer Wang Yanqing said, retrieving an antique wooden box from his storage bag. As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he naturally had the right to carry one. "Among the pills they concoct, some succeed and some fail. The failed batches are what we refer to as 'waste pills.'" The lecturer opened the wooden box to display the contents. Chen Zhuo leaned in to look closely. Inside the box lay around fifty brownish pills. To be frank, these pills looked remarkably unimpressive, even plain. If nobody mentioned what they were, one might easily mistake them for brown maltose candy drops. They were plainly far from top-grade. "These are Qi Condensation Pills refined by second-year students from the alchemy department next door," the lecturer explained with a yawn. "According to the academy's assessment standards, this batch has a failure rate of ninety-eight percent." "Ninety-eight percent?!" Chen Zhuo raised an eyebrow in disbelief. That passing rate was truly tragic. Seeing that the students around him showed no surprise, however, he kept his expression relaxed, feigning equal indifference to the number. "Under the Immortal Mansion's Regulations on Minor Cultivator Management, substandard products like these ought to be centrally incinerated," the lecturer said. "However, considering the current resource shortages, the Immortal Mansion encourages material conservation. Therefore, it has been decided that these will serve as your practical assignment for the month." Hearing that, Chen Zhuo suddenly had an inkling of what was coming. "Each of you will choose a pill from the box and compose a comprehensive appraisal report," the lecturer instructed. "Your report must detail the types and concentrations of any pill toxins present, as well as the adverse reactions and spiritual qi growth experienced after ingestion. "The deadline is thirty days from now. Those who pass review will receive a stipend of two spirit coins." With that, the Foundation Establishment lecturer stifled another yawn. "After all, these are waste pills, so side effects are inevitable. But don't worry—a mere Qi Condensation Pill won't kill you. At worst, it will damage your meridians and leave you unable to refine qi for a few days. More likely, you'll just suffer abdominal pain, diarrhea, and disordered spiritual qi." With a flick of his wide sleeve, the pills flew out, landing evenly in front of each student. 'Wait, weren't we supposed to pick one ourselves?' Chen Zhuo stared at the brown Qi Condensation Pill on his desk, speechless. Having distributed the pills, the Foundation Establishment lecturer didn't waste a single second. He called out, "Class dismissed," and was the first out the door. Long after his departure, complete silence lingered in the classroom. Nearly a minute passed before an innate-root student cursed in indignation, "What the hell? This Qin guy... isn't Teacher Qin being way too crooked?! My third uncle's nephew's neighbor's younger brother has a high school classmate in the alchemy department, and he said the academy charges five spirit coins per test subject! How does it drop to two by the time it reaches our hands?!" "Count your blessings. The upperclassmen said Teacher Zhou was in charge last year, and Zhou didn't pay them a cent—in fact, he charged them a fee..." someone consoled. "..." The innate spiritual root students were all well-informed. Having graduated from standard Immortal Mansion high schools, they had plenty of connections and knew the pricing inside and out. Alchemy was notoriously expensive, so those enrolled in the Elixir Appraisal department were essentially the poorest students in the entire academy, largely relying on serving as 'human guinea pigs' to earn money and cultivate. It wasn't unwarranted, really. They ingested waste pills and wrote summary reports for the alchemists so the makers knew the flaws and could optimize the next batch. How could that not count as human experimentation? In return, the appraisal students received spirit coins and a free chance to ingest pills; if the toxins weren't severe, it was effectively a net gain. Indeed, Elixir Appraisal was a highly sought-after major. Countless poor cultivators fought tooth and nail to get in. Back when Chen Zhuo was in the mortal preparatory class, the major had accepted only three applicants! Among the top three candidates across all of Taiqing City, the first-ranked Liang Ningwan and third-ranked Chen Zhuo had both chosen this path, while only the second-place candidate had gone to the Artifact Refining Academy. Chen Zhuo let out a long sigh, tucked away the Qi Condensation Pill, and looked toward Liang Ningwan, who sat in the back row not far away. Liang Ningwan hailed from a Foundation Establishment family. Now that she had secured an artificial root implant, she surely had avenues of her own, didn't she? With that thought in mind, Chen Zhuo hesitated briefly, then resolved to sell his spirit stones to Liang Ningwan. He would see whether she had the means to take them off his hands.