Becoming an Apprentice in the Path of Alchemy

Chapter 172 Becoming an Apprentice in the Path of Alchemy

Fang Shi's arrival was a sudden and delightful surprise, which made Zhu Huan'e very happy. Without even taking out the pills from the furnace, she sat down next to Fang Shi and said, "Young Master, why did you take so long? I calculated your travel dates, you should have been back long ago."

Fang Shi replied, "I did not return directly to Emerald City, but instead traveled around the surrounding mountains and fields."

He also recounted the story of the mythical beast destroying the village, which made Zhu Huan'e sigh.

"That's been the case for the past few years, especially this year. Business at my alchemy shop has increased by several times. Not to mention cultivators, even the Ministry of War has purchased a lot more healing pills. There might be even more in the next few years. You can learn some pharmacology from me; it will come in handy eventually."

"Since the proprietress values ​​me so highly, I should naturally keep my promise." Fang Shi stood up and stood in front of Zhu Huan'e, bowing to her. "I am Fang Shi, and I am honored by your appreciation. Today, I have returned to formally acknowledge you as my alchemy master."

Zhu Huan'e was overjoyed. She even forgot about the custom of serving tea when she became a disciple and pulled Fang Shi back to his seat. She spoke to him affectionately, saying, "Good disciple, I will call you Xiao Fang from now on."

"Uh—okay." Fang Shi noticed that his master had suddenly gotten very close, so he quickly moved a little to the side.

Although the two became master and apprentice, Zhu Huan'e was still a great beauty, and he, a young man full of vigor, could not resist being too close to her.

Zhu Huan'e noticed his subtle movement, a hint of displeasure flashing between her brows. "Xiao Fang, am I that scary?"

"It's not scary—"

"Then why are you hiding? Are you perhaps worried about the difference between men and women?"

"Yes," Fang Shi said frankly. "Master, you are so young and a great beauty; such closeness is really putting me to the test."

Unexpectedly, Zhu Huan'e didn't mind at all. Instead, it resolved Fang Shi's previous reluctance to avoid her, and she said cheerfully, "Haha, there's no need to worry about such small formalities. Do you still remember what I said before? Although you have excellent five senses, you lack the power of profound energy. If you want to refine pills, you'll need a companion. Since I'm going to accompany you, we'll inevitably spend a lot of time together in the future. It's just a physical body; you'll get used to it soon enough."

"I hope so."

This ambiguous situation made Fang Shi feel guilty and look away. He noticed that it was getting late outside the window and quickly got up and walked towards the door.

"Master, it's getting late. I'll go find a place to stay first, and I'll come back to learn alchemy from you early tomorrow morning."

"Now that you've become my disciple, why do you need to live outside? If others hear about it, they'll laugh at me."

Zhu Huan'e took a few steps forward and stopped Fang Shi from running away, making it clear that he couldn't escape. She led him to the guest room opposite the alchemy room, the one where he had slept before.

"You can rest here from now on. If you don't understand anything, you can come upstairs and ask me. Don't worry about it."

Zhu Huan'e pointed to several books on the table in the room and said, "I have had the basic books on alchemy arranged and placed by your bedside. Read them whenever you have time. Don't be impatient when you first start learning alchemy. The important thing is to accumulate knowledge. Without knowledge as a foundation, even if I wanted to teach you techniques, I wouldn't be able to."

"Yes, Master, I will definitely study it all night long."

"Why would you need to strain your eyes like that? I'm not forcing you to rush things. As they say, haste makes waste. You can read those three or four books slowly over the next month. If you feel free, come help me at the shop, or do some odd jobs in my alchemy room. If you do well, I can even give you some extra money."

Zhu Huan'e left with a smile, but Fang Shi always felt like he had fallen into a spider cave, where spider demons were drooling over him.

Undeniably, given Fang Shi's physique, if he could be sensed by mystical beasts, his flesh would be the top choice for all of them.

At this moment, Zhu Huan'e is the big bad wolf who accidentally discovered "Tang Monk's flesh". So do you think Fang Shi could stay in this alchemy shop without being targeted?

The next morning arrived in the blink of an eye.

Last night, Fang Shi put the alchemical book into his spiritual space and read it carefully in the evening. When he woke up early this morning, he felt quite relaxed, so he decided to help with some chores.

He didn't dare go upstairs to find his master directly, fearing that he would run into his master's less-than-ideal appearance so early in the morning. Instead, he went downstairs to find the boy who had taken him upstairs yesterday and asked him what kind of work was available.

Upon hearing this, Dan Tong chuckled and said, "Young master, you're quite amusing. You've already become our boss's apprentice, so why are you still trying to compete with us servants for work? If you really need to do some chores, you should go to the boss's wife and assist her. Not only can you improve your skills, but you can also appreciate the boss's wife's beauty. So many people outside would love to have something like that."

"Oh, Brother Dan Tong, what are you saying? My master and I are now master and disciple, how could I think about such fancy things? Yesterday I read a lot of alchemy books, but I found there were many things I didn't understand, especially some of the complex spiritual herbs that I'd never even seen before. Our alchemy shop buys a lot of spiritual herbs every day, so there must be some experienced masters I can consult. That's why I wanted to come and learn as soon as possible, right?"

Dan Tong was quite surprised: "I didn't expect the young master to be so diligent and eager to learn. The place where spiritual herbs are collected is full of stench and blood. Even we laborers don't want to go there. If you're willing to go, I'd be happy to. Hey, it's that little door over there. Just go to the back and ask the people you meet."

"Thank you very much, Brother Dantong."

Fang Shi bowed politely, ran to the back, crossed a narrow path, and arrived at a place full of filth and stench.

"Hey, who are you? What are you doing in the back? If you want to buy pills, go to the front."

A gaunt old man yelled at him and waved him away. After Fang Shi explained his purpose, the old man's small eyes widened as he looked at him with curiosity and said, "So you're the boy the landlady has been thinking about all the time. You're really lucky."

"Not at all, I just happened to have a little talent and learned some alchemy skills from the landlady."

"Really? You're quite diligent getting up so early this morning, wanting to learn how to identify spiritual herbs? That's not difficult. Come, come, let's unload the spiritual herbs we collected today first. After we're done, I'll explain the ins and outs to you."

The old man with small eyes was shrewd and immediately ordered Fang Shi to do his work for free. But as Fang Shi walked past him, he subtly followed his gaze and stared at Fang Shi's back.

"Good lad, your talent is indeed extraordinary, even better than the one we found that night—"

"Master, aren't you going to help? This cargo box is too big, it's inconvenient for me to do it alone." Fang Shi, who was in front, didn't notice the old man's mutterings and even called on him to work.

Fang Shi had worked for a few years in his previous life, and he had encountered this kind of old fox several times. If he really worked hard for him honestly, he would just suffer in silence.

"Coming, coming." Perhaps to hide his strangeness, the old man quickly put on a much warmer smile and stepped forward.

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