Zhican Valley, in a certain attic for storing pills, on the first floor lobby, Qin Ran was sitting calmly to one side, holding a cup of tea in his hand, gently blowing the tea leaves.
The tea was sent by Elder Sun, and like the sobering soup this morning, it contained poison. He drank it very happily.
Meanwhile, Elder Sun was standing to the side, glaring with anger written all over his face.
However, it was unclear what he was angry about. Was he angry that his disciples had made a mistake? Or that important guests from Dao Sword Sect were slighted? Or that Qin Ran had dared to say the pills had issues? Or that this task had not been completed?
So it could be said, those who understood, understood.
Elder Sun had already arranged for people to go replace the problematic pills and medicinal ingredients.
He calculated silently in his heart. The market price of a low-grade flawed Gathering Original Pill was 70-90 low-grade Spirit Stones. A qualified low-grade Gathering Original Pill was 110-120 low-grade Spirit Stones. A mid-grade Gathering Original Pill was around 300. A top-grade Gathering Original Pill was 500 and up.
Originally, he could have sold large quantities of flawed Gathering Original Pills to Dao Sword Sect, but now he had to replace all these flawed Gathering Original Pills with low-, mid- and even top-grade Gathering Original Pills.
So with this transaction, the Spirit Stones he lost could be counted in the tens of thousands.
Elder Sun's heart was bleeding! As he pretended to be angry, occasionally the look he gave Qin Ran already revealed killing intent.
It didn't take long, perhaps Elder Sun had made preparations already, and his disciples brought new pills and medicinal ingredients. Qin Ran carefully examined them one by one, and finally confirmed there were no mistakes.
Facing Elder Sun's smiling dagger-behind-a-smile expression, his elegant face revealed a shy smile, and he said, "I've made Elder laugh. This is my first time doing something like this, sometimes I may be offensive, I hope Elder can be magnanimous about it."
He even sighed exaggeratedly, "Alas! I was afraid there might be mistakes."
Elder Sun replied, "Of course, of course. Us Elders do it all for our disciples, it's not easy on anyone. Elder Qin is exceptionally responsible!"
"You flatter me!" Qin Ran said modestly.
He took out a temporary Universe Bag, and after some quick calculations, took out some Spirit Stones. He handed the entire Universe Bag to Elder Sun, and said, "The Spirit Stones are all in here, Elder please calculate if the amount is correct."
Elder Sun accepted the Spirit Stones, and said, "Do I still not trust Elder Qin? What's there to check!"
Then he spent a lot of time carefully counting the Spirit Stones in the Universe Bag, and double checked it against his ledger, before confirming there were no mistakes.
"Elder is so diligent, admirable!" he smiled at Qin Ran.
Qin Ran exchanged a few pleasantries with him, then took out the Spirit Stones he had set aside earlier, and said, "We're already at such an alchemy holy land like Zhican Valley, as an alchemist, it wouldn't be proper to leave without some of Zhican Valley's specialties - spiritual ingredients and herbs."
He earnestly explained to Elder Sun, "Recently I've been researching pills for physical strength, repairing constitution, and nurturing spirit beasts. I'm in need of some medicinal ingredients, I hope Elder Sun can sell me some."
"So Elder is researching pill formulas by himself?" Elder Sun exclaimed. In his heart he thought, truly fearless from ignorance. Half a bottle of water making waves, even daring to mess with pill formulas. As expected, he's close to death. He said to Qin Ran, "The medicinal ingredients you need for those pills are extremely precious, the valley may not have them."
"It matters not..." Qin Ran laughed and said, "The ingredients I need won't be too precious, just five hundred year old Ling Ginseng, hundred year old Lingzhi Mushrooms, Jade Dew Immortal Grass, Golden Leaf Peaches..."
Qin Ran listed a bunch of names, and finally said to Elder Sun, "Elder, just sell me some randomly, I'll keep them as mementos."
Elder Sun said it was no trouble, and arranged for a disciple to prepare them for Qin Ran.
Then, Elder Sun brought Qin Ran and Feng Feiyan out of the attic, to tour the valley and see the sights.
Of course he wasn't showing Qin Ran their spirit herb farms and disciples' alchemy learning areas. He was just slowly walking from the valley's center towards the outskirts - equivalent to seeing off a guest.
The meaning was, once his disciples send over the spiritual ingredients Qin Ran requested, Qin Ran could directly get lost.
As the few people walked, they came again to the small plaza they passed yesterday, the one where disciples were exhibiting outdoor alchemy processes. Qin Ran was surprised to see it happening today as well.
He asked Elder Sun, "Does this kind of alchemy exchange happen every day?"
"The sect does not prohibit alchemy exchanges..." Elder Sun smiled and said, "Actually, the pill formulas are right there, but those who can successfully produce pills are still the minority. Zhican Valley has thousands of disciples, but only a hundred odd can actually concoct pills in the end."
"Truly an alchemy holy land that inspires yearning!" Qin Ran sincerely exclaimed in admiration.
Elder Sun looked at him, suppressed the urge to kill, and extended the invitation again, "Elder Qin is such an alchemy genius, if you joined Zhican Valley, you will definitely become a master of the generation."
"Haha..." Qin Ran shook his head, smiling as he declined, "You flatter me too much, Elder. Dao Sword Sect raised me and guided me onto the path of cultivation, she has treated me well, how can I betray her?"
Who could have thought he would say such heartfelt words deep in enemy territory?
"Elder knows kindness..."
As the two spoke, they unwittingly approached the Zhican Valley disciple concocting pills.
Today's alchemist was using fire techniques to refine a common Foundation Establishment Pill.
He could be seen controlling his own flames, activating the public alchemy furnace in the plaza, skillfully pouring prepared ingredients into the furnace, then covering the furnace and concentrating on controlling the flames...
"His fundamentals are great!" Qin Ran praised.
"Just an ordinary disciple." Elder Sun said modestly.
Just then, someone in the crowd gossiped, "It's got to be a direct disciple of an inner sect Elder, this pill concocting technique is almost dao manifestation realm..."
And so Qin Ran and Elder Sun were rendered speechless for a time.
As the disciple nurtured the pill, suddenly, Qin Ran sensed an icy gaze. He hurriedly looked up to trace the origin of the gaze, and saw two sword scars slicing across the clouds in the sky.
That was from supreme sword cultivators riding their swords in flight.
Qin Ran's heart sank. He followed the sword scars and looked towards the depths of Zhican Valley, where two familiar black and red figures disappeared into the shadows of the trees.
"Boundless Sword Sect!!!" His memory was excellent. Just from the two back views, he recognized the visitors. That man in black had argued with him when competing for the Dao Fruits after the death of the Devouring Demon Willow.
"What are people from Boundless Sword Sect doing at Zhican Valley at this time?"
Perhaps realizing Qin Ran had discovered the people from Boundless Sword Sect, Elder Sun smiled and said, "People from Boundless Sword Sect come to exchange knowledge and buy pills too."
Despite Zhican Valley having many alchemists, was it possible they would have two major sects come to purchase pills on the same day?
Qin Ran knew what was going on.
He nodded at Elder Sun and said, "I see, so that's how it is... Those two are old friends of mine."
After watching the disciple concoct pills, the group continued outwards. Not long later, Elder Sun's disciple brought the spiritual herbs and ingredients Qin Ran had requested.

m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!

【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)

esick Sect? Well, at least it's considered a respectable orthodox sect. Wait a minute— What kind of vibe are you all giving off? Shouldn’t this be a love-struck, romance-obsessed sect? Why does everyone here sound more like demonic cultivators? "Master, today he’s getting married. This disciple wishes to descend the mountain and crash the wedding, then toy with him to death right in front of his wife..." "Elder, I only got into your sect through connections, so why won’t you teach me anything?" "Because I also became an elder through connections." Thankfully, Su Ji was just an outer sect labor disciple. Surely, nothing too crazy would— "Junior Brother, you’ve broken through to Qi Refining. Once you sever your useless spiritual root, you can officially become an outer sect disciple." "The Great Dao is merciless. Don’t let a worthless spiritual root waste your essence and spirit, hindering your cultivation." Is this really the Lovesick Sect? ... Three years later, Su Ji sat in the seat of the Lovesick Sect’s sect master, sighing with emotion. His rise to this position all started when his junior sister adamantly insisted on preserving his "spiritual root." "Mmm... Senior Brother, what’s our relationship now?" "Stop talking. Keep going." "By the way, that newly promoted top-tier sect—didn’t they come to buy our Love Beans?" "One top-grade spirit stone per Love Bean—is that really so expensive?" "I suspect they’ve eaten too many Love Beans." "Now they’re lovesick." Well, this really is the Lovesick Sect after all.

d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!