Chapter 77: Body Refining Technique

With no flavor value available, Yun Qing picked up a steaming dumpling, gently blew on it, and took a small bite. The hot dumpling split open beneath her teeth, a piece of dumpling skin slipped into her mouth, and she began to chew unconsciously. She found the skin a bit sticky to her teeth, yet it retained the unique sweetness of wheat flour.

Inside the bitten dumpling, the filling of cabbage and pork was revealed, mingled with a bit of broth and clearly discernible pieces of meat.

As Yun Qing savored this rare treat, she listened to the villagers chatting over breakfast:

"That child Hongyun is really quite pitiful."

"Isn't that the truth? He finally found a cultivator relative, inherited a sizable fortune, and yet during this last dark night, everything disappeared. On top of that, he fell into heavy debt for healing his injuries—there's no way he can pay it back here in Yunquan Town."

"I heard he went to the Black Iron Mine."

"No way! That place is infamous for its danger—many go, few return."

"Old Wang’s third son earned a whole storage pouch of gold there last year. Maybe Hongyun wants to try his luck too!"

Black Iron Mine.

A whole storage pouch of gold.

Yun Qing suddenly found the dumplings in her bowl far less appetizing. She pricked up her ears to listen, but the conversation soon shifted, and no one spoke further of the mine.

She quickly finished her breakfast, then went to the general store and spent a few taels of silver on a map.

On the map, the Black Iron Mine was marked, as was the Rogue Cultivators’ City that Little Wolf Ye had mentioned. The Black Iron Mine lay on the way to the city, just a slight detour. Both were outside Lingcang County.

Her cave dwelling needed to be reinforced with ores, so Yun Qing decided to travel alone to the Black Iron Mine to investigate.

Her combat skills were still lacking. After inquiring, she found that even the cheapest martial arts manuals for post-heavenly-stage warriors started at two hundred silver, and the necessary pills and herbs were not cheap either.

She’d have to sell off all her tattered belongings just to scrape together enough money.

Last time, when monsters besieged her cave, she’d barely escaped disaster. She had no intention of using her storage pouch here in unfamiliar Yunquan Town, not until her cave was properly fortified, lest it attract unnecessary enmity.

So Yun Qing casually sold off a few purified medicinal herbs for some silver.

There was no direct transport to the Black Iron Mine; she’d have to go to Lingcang County first. The road from Yunquan Town to the county seat was about fifty miles, with passenger carriages available.

She could hire a private carriage or share a ride, but both options were expensive, and the journey would take half a day.

She could have run the fifty miles in half a day herself, so Yun Qing skipped the carriage. Without lingering in Yunquan Town, she set out on foot for Lingcang County. Perhaps there would be better martial arts manuals in the county.

The road was lined with mountains, fields, and villages, with toxic miasma drifting everywhere. Yun Qing walked, pausing now and then to gather wild herbs and medicinal plants. Occasionally, the Affection Points system would alert her to someone’s increasing goodwill toward her.

"Qiao Qiao Ye’s affection for you +5."

"Iron Hammer Li’s affection for you +5."

"Hai Ye’s affection for you +5."

...

Of course, hatred points were accumulating as well.

"Xia Yu’s enmity toward you +1."

...

"Xia Yu’s enmity toward you +1."

By the time Yun Qing reached Lingcang County, the moon was already hanging above the treetops and the city gates were closed. She found a secluded spot outside the city and entered her cave dwelling to rest.

At last, the basic fabricator and energy converter had finished upgrading. It was time for a lottery draw.

On the lottery screen, Yun Qing silently recited, "I sacrifice a thousand hairs from Xia Yu’s head in exchange for luck—ten consecutive draws!"

Affection Points -800. The pointer spun and landed on ten question marks, which flipped open.

System prompt: "Congratulations, you have received: Body Tempering Technique ×7; Low-grade Alchemy Table ×1; First-Tier Body Tempering Pill Recipe ×1; First-Tier Qi Supplement Pill Recipe ×1."

Seven copies of Body Tempering Technique!

"Liu Liu, did I just pull duplicates? Seven times, no less."

"Only items can be duplicated. Techniques, skills, and recipes will not repeat."

After some checking, Yun Qing found the Body Tempering Collection on her skills page, now containing seven movements, each like an individual skill—one for each draw.

The other three items—the alchemy table, the qi supplement pill recipe, and the body tempering pill recipe—were exactly what she wanted.

Low-grade Alchemy Table: Can craft basic pills. Upgradeable.

First-Tier Body Tempering Pill Recipe: Allows crafting of Body Tempering Pills on the alchemy table.

First-Tier Qi Supplement Pill Recipe: Allows crafting of Qi Supplement Pills on the alchemy table.

The Body Tempering Pill aids cultivation; the Qi Supplement Pill quickly restores inner power during battle—she’d seen Little Wolf Ye consume them.

Though the items were fine, there was nothing mysterious among them. Yun Qing still hoped for something more intriguing.

She had just enough affection for a ten-draw, but even after leaving Ye Family Village, the villagers’ goodwill toward her continued to rise. After the ten-draw, she still had over a hundred affection points left.

Not yet satisfied, Yun Qing silently recited at the central lottery: "Sacrifice Xia Yu’s hair until she’s bald for luck—draw!"

Affection Points -100. The pointer spun and stopped at one question mark, which opened.

A scroll appeared. Yun Qing was delighted—something mysterious! A single draw yielded better than ten.

System prompt: "Congratulations, you have received: Hint Scroll ×1."

Hint Scroll? Yun Qing was puzzled and checked the details.

Hint Scroll: In special situations, activates the system’s hint function.

She didn’t fully understand it yet and had no immediate use for it, so she set it aside and turned her attention to more lucrative pursuits.

The alchemy table was inside her system backpack, but the recipes were nowhere to be seen—presumably, they would appear once the table was set up.

Yun Qing entered her villa, summoned the alchemy table from her system backpack, and tried to place it inside.

System prompt: The alchemy table must be placed in a dedicated pill room.

"Liu Liu, what’s a dedicated pill room?"

"To prevent interference between machines, certain specialized devices require their own rooms."

"What are the requirements for an alchemy room?"

"It just can’t contain any other machines."

"So, if I throw up some wooden walls, I can make an alchemy room? The quality of the room doesn’t affect the pills, right?"

"Higher-quality pill rooms can reduce alchemy time and increase pill yield, but with your current level and resources, you can’t make a good one yet."

That being the case, she would carve out a small room for now and worry about quality later.

Yun Qing rearranged the interior of the villa, then, with a thought, took out several wooden walls from her system backpack. In moments, she had partitioned off a small room within the villa.

She crafted a door with the fabricator and installed it on the new room.

Looking at the alchemy table sitting in the room, Yun Qing said happily, "Liu Liu, I finally have my own pill room! Alchemy is bound to make me rich."

Liu Liu rolled its eyes. "And who’s been complaining about being broke these past few days?"

Breaking through to the post-heavenly stage required money in too many places. Even a thousand taels of silver were far from enough.

"Heh, once I get the hang of this, maybe I’ll strike it rich and never have to worry about silver again."

Once the alchemy table was placed, both the Qi Supplement Pill and Body Tempering Pill recipes became visible.

First-Tier Qi Supplement Pill Recipe: Main herb—ginseng; auxiliary herbs—astragalus, codonopsis, chrysanthemum, yam, honey, and about ten others.

First-Tier Body Tempering Pill Recipe: Main herb—ginseng; auxiliary herbs—notoginseng, pinellia, clove, black beans, high-quality meat, and others.

Yun Qing just managed to gather enough ingredients for a single Body Tempering Pill and prepared to start refining.

System prompt: Level 2 energy insufficient. To craft one First-Tier Body Tempering Pill requires Charcoal ×2, Level 2 energy ×1, Level 1 energy ×10.

Level 2 energy—Yun Qing only had Level 1 energy.