Immortal Cultivation: Starting from a Pharmacy Apprentice

Bai Mo forced himself to endure as he memorized as much of the vein map as he could.

According to the bamboo slip, to extract the essence of the Celestial Azure Grand Flower, one must first force it to gather in a specific area.

Then, one must manually sever that part.

Clearly, Bai Mo didn’t have many options.

The petal before him was the best target.

To do this, he needed to memorize the network of veins that transported its nutrients.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Bai Mo, his mind feeling as if it had been ravaged by a storm, was forced to stop.

The vein map in his mind had already reached an astonishing level of complexity, yet its boundaries were nowhere in sight.

The map was far more unexpectedly intricate than the physical petal suggested.

At that moment, several portly youths arrived.

Seeing Bai Mo resting with his eyes closed, they didn’t make a sound to disturb him.

They just sat in a circle to the side, talking in hushed, buzzing tones.

Liu Tong glanced at them from a distance, and the senior brother beside him chuckled.

"Junior Brother Liu, don’t worry. They know their place."

Liu Tong shook his head.

"It’s not that. I just don’t want Junior Brother Bai to get entangled with them."

"Junior Brother Bai is new to the sect and has the Eldest Brother looking out for him. He has a great chance of becoming an official disciple."

He said seriously, "He learned the essence extraction technique in just a few days. I tell you, in the future, Junior Brother Bai will be far more than just a Daoist Child!"

The expression of the senior brother who had been speaking grew complicated.

"The Eldest Brother is looking out for him?"

"He’s the Daoist Child the Eldest Brother mentioned?"

’So that’s why,’ he realized. ’No wonder it was Liu Tong who went to pick him up.’

’When it came to strength, even though Liu Tong was his junior brother, he would have to yield if they were to truly fight!’

’Rumor has it that Liu Tong’s progress with the Geng Metal Sword is astonishing.’

’I just wonder how far he’s come.’

’The Sword Form stage? Or is he already aiming for Sword Resonance?’

Liu Tong, unaware of his senior brother’s thoughts, simply said:

"You know their reputation, Senior Brother. Their masters and their masters’ masters owe the sect far too much..."

The senior brother nodded and said after a moment of thought:

"It’s fine. It’s to be expected. We’re all working on this together, so some interaction is inevitable."

"It’s not like he’ll get entangled in their karmic debts."

"..."

When Bai Mo opened his eyes, he saw the several portly youths beside him.

These were all senior disciples of the sect.

Bai Mo stood and offered a respectful salute.

"Greetings, Senior Brothers!"

The youths immediately beamed.

"You’re too kind, Junior Brother! Too kind!" 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

They exchanged names and made some small talk before one of the youths asked a question.

"You seemed completely absorbed just now, Junior Brother. Did you make any discoveries?"

Bai Mo shook his head.

"I’ve only just begun to perceive the petal’s vein network. Even a small part is so complex I don’t know where to begin."

The youths chuckled.

"It is, after all, a rare and exotic plant, one shrouded in legend. It’s not surprising that you can’t figure it out at a glance."

Bai Mo frowned.

"The plant is right here before us, its veil lifted. How can there still be talk of legends?"

Hearing this, the youths exchanged a look, and one of them said in a low voice:

"We’ve heard that this Celestial Azure Grand Flower is deeply connected to the land where it grows. In some folktales, it’s said to wield the authority of a god!"

"We believe we should be more cautious with this flower. That’s the only way to avoid any... unforeseen events."

They seemed very casual, not taking their task seriously at all.

"If we can’t figure it out, then we can’t figure it out."

"Perfect. We’ll just drag this out until it withers, and then no more trouble will come of it!"

Bai Mo didn’t pay much mind to their words.

If the flower were truly that mystical, the sect wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to send them here.

The sect was aware of the fleshy fetus within the flower’s pistil.

If something truly went wrong, the sect would be there to handle it.

As Bai Mo listened to the youths joking around, a spark of inspiration seemed to flash in his mind, but it vanished before he could grasp it.

Just then, another group of people arrived from outside.

Their leader was a Cultivator Bai Mo recognized.

Qin Yu. He had once accompanied Shui Ziming to Immortal Arrival City.

He had just pushed through the undergrowth when he saw Bai Mo surrounded by the youths.

"You lot!"

"Stop filling his head with all that nonsense!"

He seemed frantic as he strode over and pushed the youths aside.

"You! Don’t listen to a word they say. These guys are the resident weirdos of the sect!"

The youths were clearly used to this, as their expressions didn’t change much. They just smiled and prepared to leave.

But Bai Mo shook his head.

"What these Senior Brothers said isn’t entirely without reason."

"I came from the city streets myself, and I’ve heard plenty of strange tales about Cultivators who went into the mountains to gather herbs."

Bai Mo feigned a look of recollection.

"Some of the stories might be exaggerated, but so many people tell them. Who’s to say they’re all false?"

Qin Yu was stunned to hear this.

The youths stopped in their tracks, looking utterly astonished.

They knew their own personalities well; calling them timid and afraid of trouble wouldn’t be an overstatement.

As such, they knew their usual words weren’t well-received.

They never thought they’d meet someone who actually listened.

"You really think so, Junior Brother!?"

Bai Mo shook his head.

"The principle is sound, but you Senior Brothers are not Pill Masters, so you don’t know the intricacies."

"When a Pill Master performs Alchemy, sometimes what they refine is the very spirit within the plant! Without this spirit, the Pill cannot be formed!"

A look of longing appeared on Bai Mo’s face.

"That’s another realm entirely. Though it’s beyond our reach, one can’t help but yearn for it."

The youths said anxiously, "But that’s a Mountain God, and this is Celestial Barrier Mountain!"

Bai Mo just waved his hand dismissively.

Immortal Arrival City was full of people who scraped a living from the mountains.

"But you, Brother Qin... why are you here?"

Bai Mo recalled that Qin Yu’s cultivation focused purely on speed, leaving him with little ability to protect himself.

Qin Yu immediately started to stammer.

"It’s a family matter. Don’t ask."

’Ah,’ Bai Mo realized, guessing it was some kind of training expedition to pad his resume.

Looking at the people who had arrived with Qin Yu, he saw several individuals with dense Pill Qi make a beeline for the Celestial Azure Grand Flower.

One of them, a black-robed Cultivator, was greeting Liu Tong and the others, but was clearly keeping part of his attention on Qin Yu.

"Um... do you still have any of those Pills?"

Qin Yu asked in a hushed voice, turning his head away.

Bai Mo paused for a second before he understood.

"Ah, the Fire Marrow Pill. It sells quite well, so I don’t have any on me right now."

Qin Yu looked disappointed.

On his last trip out, though there had been many mishaps, his cultivation progress hadn’t been slow thanks to the Fire Marrow Pills.

After he returned to the sect, his master had praised him profusely when checking his progress.

’That’s why I got the chance to come out again!’

He had told his mother about it, and after some deliberation, his family concluded it was simply because the Pill was highly compatible with him.

Qin Yu deeply agreed.

Back then, when he held the Pill, it was as if a Heart Demon had taken root in his mind, making him swallow it in a daze.

’Thinking back on it,’ he mused, ’it really did seem like the Pill was a perfect match for me. Otherwise, it never would have affected me like that.’

Seeing his expression, Bai Mo smiled.

"It’s not that hard to get Fire Marrow Pills. Next time you’re in Immortal Arrival City, Brother Qin, just come and ask me for some."

With that, he asked about Qin Yu’s route into the mountains.

Qin Yu immediately began to pour out his woes.

"We had to take a huge detour to get here. It was just..."

He wasn’t someone who couldn’t endure hardship, so his current demeanor suggested he had truly been put through the wringer.

As Bai Mo listened to him describe the winding path, that spark of inspiration flashed through his mind again.

Gradually, his expression turned serious.

’That network... it’s like a topographical map of the mountain range!’