Chapter 609: Shi Hao (1/2)

Chapter 609: s.h.i.+ Hao

Li Qiye eventually sighed and uttered: “I’m still alive after so many years.” He was quite dejected and sentimental at the moment, but he had to bury some of these old memories deep in his heart. There were a few secrets, a few people, a few matters that Li Qiye had no choice but to seal and act as their guardian by himself!

Right when Li Qiye had many complicated thoughts, the young man carried a bowl of hot porridge inside: “Come, come.” He was very enthusiastic and spoonfed Li Qiye. With a taste, Li Qiye knew right away that there was some ointment inside, so he asked: “This is a healing porridge, you are an alchemist?”

The youth answered: “Hahaha, I am only a Junior Alchemist. At the moment, I am working as a county envoy for the Stonetreading County.”

Li Qiye drank the porridge while chatting with the young man. He made up an ident.i.ty since he was already used to doing this.

The youth revealed many things about himself. His name was s.h.i.+ Hao, a messenger of the county who was also responsible for growing Jadeblood Bamboo.

A county envoy also had another t.i.tle — alchemy apprentice. However, s.h.i.+ Hao was a Junior Alchemist. His status was much higher than that of an apprentice.

He came from a prestigious clan in the Giant Bamboo Country. Unfortunately, the clan had fallen several generations ago, and there was nothing left from the time of s.h.i.+ Hao’s father. His parents only managed a pharmacy.

Although he was a golem, like he said, one-fourth of his blood belonged to the human race. s.h.i.+ Hao said that his ancestor married a human girl, a great expert.

From this, it was clear that his ancestor was once extremely distinguished. The Stone Medicine World was the land of golems and demons; humans were a rare sight. If one could marry a female human cultivator, especially an expert, then the person must have come from a great clan.

After generations of decline, the clan had become nothing by his father’s time.

s.h.i.+ Hao was the only male child of the clan and also its only inheritor, so he truly wanted to revive his clan. He was very average when it came to cultivation, but he was a bit talented with alchemy so he chose the path of an alchemist.

This path was not strange at all, because the Stone Medicine World specialized in alchemy. It could be said that this world had the most alchemists out of the nine.

Since the start of time, two-thirds of all the Alchemy Emperors had come from the Stone Medicine World. From this, one could see how the path of alchemy flourished in this place.

There was also a saying in the Nine Worlds: if there are ten alchemists, then seven of them came from the Stone Medicine World.

This world’s alchemy was famous everywhere. Countless cultivators had come running to this place in search for medicine.

Although s.h.i.+ Hao had chosen the path of alchemy, finding success was not easy.

First, refining alchemy was very expensive. Whether it was physique pastes, longevity medicines, fate pills, or ointments, each cauldron required many ingredients. A single batch would range from one hundred to one thousand!

In addition to the financial requirement, one also needed the guidance of a teacher. Outside of secret family recipes for ointments, most recipes for longevity medicines, fate pills, and physique pastes were well known. However, doing a good job of refining them was rather difficult. Alchemy was a form of cultivation; flame control, methods of dan refinement, and incubating the cauldrons were all secrets of an alchemist, secrets that would they would not easily part with.

Finally, one required a good Heavenly Cauldron to refine good medicines. A bad one would have a negative effect on the outcome no matter how skilled an alchemist might be.

s.h.i.+ Hao lacked all three. His clan had fallen so they had neither money nor a network. Because of this, he was a mere envoy of the Stonetreading County.

Alas, this was still a chance for s.h.i.+ Hao. Although the Giant Bamboo Country neither had a system for alchemists nor great knowledge of alchemy, it still had several great guest alchemists.

s.h.i.+ Hao wanted to rise step by step. As long as he contributed enough while ama.s.sing experience, he would then have a chance to enter the county government and have the opportunity to meet some of these alchemy masters.

Another reason why he chose not to join an alchemy lineage but the Giant Bamboo government was because he was an only child. If he joined an alchemy lineage, then he would always be a disciple of that sect. However, he was the only male child of his family; he carried the torch of reviving the clan, so he didn’t want to become a disciple of another sect.

Taking a government post was different. This was only a job that required loyalty to the country, so s.h.i.+ Hao could still maintain his lineage and clan.

He was planting Jadeblood Bamboo on this “Jadeblood Mountain”. This place was desolate and not many people came here normally. But now, there was someone to chat with, so the talkative s.h.i.+ Hao revealed everything about his family and more.