Immortal Cultivation: Starting from a Pharmacy Apprentice

Bai Mo ignored Qin Yu, trying to find his own route up the mountain within the map of veins.

As his mental energy drained, Bai Mo’s mind raced.

In just a moment, he truly found a clue and began tracing it back.

Qin Yu, who was mid-sentence, suddenly realized Bai Mo had zoned out.

He couldn’t help but feel a surge of irritation.

’So all my complaining just now was a complete waste of breath?’

’How rude!’

’And to think he has such profound attainments in the Alchemy Dao!’

Just then, Bai Mo’s focus returned, and a look of fatigue crossed his face.

"I’ve found a clue."

"I never thought this Azure Giant Flower would be so intimately connected to the mountain range. This makes things truly mystifying..."

Seeing Bai Mo’s pensive expression, Qin Yu paused, confused.

"Huh?"

The youths standing nearby had already guessed what was going on.

"Junior Brother Bai must have had a sudden insight!"

They exchanged a glance, then scattered to call the others over.

Although these youths weren’t popular, they surprisingly knew a great many people.

"What? One of our brothers has already figured something out!?"

"Which peak is he from!? Take me to see."

"Our top priority is dealing with the Azure Giant Flower. Everyone, set aside your competitive urges for now..."

Soon, the Cultivators who had rushed to the scene gathered around.

The skin on their exposed arms was sallow, a clear sign of long hours spent over the smoke and flames of refinement.

They were a stark contrast to the few fair-skinned youths, and the Pill Qi emanating from them was dense.

However, upon seeing Bai Mo, they all froze.

"Uh, and who might this Junior Brother be?"

"I don’t recognize you. Are you one of the new disciples?"

"A while back, the sect elders did bring in quite a few new recruits..."

Bai Mo was neither deferential nor arrogant. He cupped his hands in salute and said:

"I am Bai Mo, currently serving as a sect Daoist Child. I ask for my senior brothers’ guidance!"

"Oh! So it’s you, Junior Brother Bai!"

As soon as Bai Mo said this, everyone present understood his background.

Yet, not a single person looked at him with contempt.

A Loose Cultivator who could enter the sect as a Pill Master was never a pushover!

"Junior Brother Bai, you are truly talented! What clue was it that you uncovered?"

someone asked.

"It was a chance discovery."

Bai Mo paused, then announced, "The map of veins on the petals is, in fact, a topographical map of Celestial Chasm Mountain!"

"The veins represent the terrain!"

"If you senior brothers are patient enough, you will certainly be able to find the path you took to get here!"

The clearing fell silent for a moment.

Everyone exchanged bewildered glances before a sudden uproar erupted.

"Can that be true!?"

Qin Yu jolted and spun his head back to look at the petals of the Azure Giant Flower.

He couldn’t imagine how a single, mere petal could contain the entire rugged path he had traveled.

His senior brother had led him on numerous winding detours.

’Could that vast region we traversed really be found on a single petal?’

Bai Mo watched the other disciples. They were no ordinary folk; each one immediately submerged their consciousness to verify his claim.

Some even drew closer to a petal, attempting to sense the veins directly.

A flurry of thoughts raced through his mind.

’I don’t know how many miles of Celestial Chasm Mountain the petal’s map covers, but our current location is just a palm-sized corner of it.’

’That alone is astonishing enough.’

’And with this established, verifying the method for guiding the flower’s essence will no longer be a problem.’

’We just need to send someone to follow a corresponding route on the mountain.’

’If the path is clear, it proves the guidance method is viable. If not, then it isn’t.’

"The overlap is too perfect. It’s astounding."

"It’s hard not to read more into it."

Just then, a disciple snapped out of his trance. Whether through luck or sheer speed of thought, he had already found his path within the veins.

Bai Mo’s eyes met theirs, but no one spoke a word.

The group of portly youths watched with their arms crossed, looking smugly pleased, as if they had expected this all along.

One by one, more disciples snapped out of their concentration, their faces alight with excitement.

"Excellent! We can get started right away. With the help of the senior brothers, I’m sure we can complete the sect’s assignment in no time!"

The disciple had barely finished speaking when he noticed Bai Mo and the others staring at him as if he were a fool.

"Er... was I being thoughtless?"

Things having reached this point, there was no need for the disciples who hadn’t yet succeeded to keep trying.

They all gathered to confer.

Bai Mo looked around at the group and asked, "Before you all left, did the sect give any specific instructions about this?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Either the sect didn’t think it was a cause for concern, or they were also unaware of this phenomenon."

"There have been cases of discovering Azure Giant Flowers before, but this is Celestial Barrier Mountain. Perhaps things are different here..."

The disciples broke into a flurry of discussion.

The commotion immediately drew the attention of Liu Tong and his group.

Leaving a few people behind to tend to the roasting Golden Bear meat, the rest of the group walked over.

"What’s going on?" Liu Tong asked.

The disciples all turned to look at Bai Mo, as he was the one who had made the initial discovery.

Bai Mo chose his words for a moment before speaking:

"It’s like this: we discovered that the veins on the petals match the layout of the mountain range."

"In addition, you previously mentioned that a fleshly body, suspected to be a nascent Mountain God, is gestating within the flower’s pistil. It’s all highly suspicious."

"That’s why we’re hesitating..."

"They match!?" Liu Tong and the others exclaimed in surprise.

The few disciples who had served as guides exchanged a look and immediately began conferring in low voices.

However, when Bai Mo saw that they didn’t look particularly worried, he knew this issue probably wasn’t a major obstacle.

Sure enough, after only a moment, the disciples came to a consensus.

Liu Tong turned to reassure everyone:

"Proceed without any hesitation."

"To be perfectly honest, the sect provided us with protective measures before we left!"

With that, he looked over at Bai Mo.

He was about to offer some words of encouragement but stopped when he saw a flicker of eagerness on Bai Mo’s face.

He paused, then asked:

"Junior Brother Bai, do you have something else in mind?"

Bai Mo shook his head.

"With your reassurance, Senior Brother, I can proceed with peace of mind."

"It’s not often an Alchemy Cultivator gets to test their skills on a spiritual plant like this!"

The portly youths, however, were still hesitant.

"Aren’t you worried something unexpected might happen?"

Bai Mo turned and looked up at the towering Azure Giant Flower.

"At worst, it’s merely a primary ingredient for refining a Tier Three Pill."

"It’s unlikely to be as miraculous as we’re imagining. If something starts to go wrong, we can just stop!"

Besides, their goal wasn’t to destroy it, but merely to draw out its vital energy.

At most, they would only damage its fundamental source, harming its ability to branch off and propagate.

But he figured that for a creature born of heaven and earth, it probably had no such need anyway.

Liu Tong said decisively, "Let’s begin!"

The other disciples had no more objections, and the youths no longer held back, readily agreeing. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

By extrapolating from the veins on the petals, the group quickly charted several maps.

The maps’ reliability was only confirmed after they were cross-verified by multiple disciples.

In just half a day, several maps were placed in the hands of Liu Tong and his group.

"Follow the paths on these maps. If you can reach the destination, it proves the route is viable."

"If the path is blocked at any point, there’s no need to continue. Just return."

Soon after, several of the more powerful disciples took the maps, bid farewell to the group, and departed.

Bai Mo, meanwhile, found another petal and once again immersed himself in its map of veins.

Extracting the immense life force from the Azure Giant Flower would require repeating these steps many, many times.

The planning phase alone was incredibly mentally taxing.

Seeing this, Liu Tong and his group quickly roasted the Golden Bear meat over a fire of Spirit Wood and even procured some water from a Spiritual Spring from who-knows-where.

They were taking particularly good care of Bai Mo and the other Alchemy Cultivators.