Qin Yuan's furnace opened.
The medicinal liquid inside had stabilized perfectly.
A notification appeared.
Three-Path Medicinal Compatibility Talent Unlocked.
Three-Path Medicinal Compatibility Talent — Level 1.
Pill Mastery Talent Experience +1.4
Comprehension Talent Experience +0.9
Fine Control Talent Experience +1.2
Qin Yuan dismissed the screen.
Elder Su leaned forward.
"Again."
Qin Yuan nodded.
The day passed like that.
By evening, the private chamber no longer looked pristine.
Empty ingredient trays lined the side table.
The furnace had gone through twelve cycles.
Elder Su's tea had gone cold three times.
Qin Yuan's robe carried faint traces of ash and herb scent.
His points bracelet flashed repeatedly as association contribution points were added for completed training refinements.
Clearbell Eastern Three-Path Pill Association Contribution Points Updated.
Instruction Refinement Credit Added.
High Efficiency Bonus Added.
Special Talent Observation Bonus Added.
Qin Yuan glanced at the number.
Useful.
Very useful.
Points could be exchanged for pills, ingredients, training room time, restricted recipes, and foundation-enhancing resources.
He needed all of them.
Elder Su noticed his gaze.
"Already thinking about what to buy?"
"Yes."
"At least pretend you care about my teaching more than the points."
"I care about both."
"That was the least comforting honest answer you could have given."
Qin Yuan looked at her.
"Your teaching gives me points faster."
Elder Su stared at him.
Then she laughed again, this time with genuine amusement.
"Go home, Qin Yuan. Before I start charging you for emotional damage."
Qin Yuan cupped his hands.
"Thank you, Elder Su."
She waved him off.
"Don't thank me yet. Tomorrow, we start failure diagnosis. If you keep passing everything, I'm making the furnace explode on purpose."
Qin Yuan paused at the door.
"Is that allowed?"
"No."
"Then?"
"I'm an elder."
Qin Yuan nodded once.
"That makes sense."
He left.
Behind him, Elder Su watched the door close.
For a long moment, she sat silently.
Then she picked up her phone and called Elder Mu.
The projection opened.
Elder Mu's face appeared, smiling gently.
"Well?"
Elder Su looked at him with dead eyes.
"You undersold him."
Elder Mu coughed lightly.
"I thought saying he was monstrous would sound unprofessional."
"He is worse than monstrous."
"Oh?"
"He learns like the world is apologizing for making him wait."
Elder Mu's smile widened.
"So you agree?"
Elder Su leaned back and looked at the ceiling.
"Yes."
Her voice lowered.
"Protect him."
Elder Mu's expression became serious.
"We already are."
"No." Elder Su's eyes sharpened. "Protect him properly. If Jadefall City realizes what he is too quickly, idiots will start thinking with greed instead of fear."
Elder Mu nodded.
"I'll speak with the branch head."
Elder Su ended the call.
Then she looked at the six red-gold pills Qin Yuan had refined.
Especially the Perfect Common pill.
A 1st layer Spirit Opening youth.
One attempt.
Perfect Common Warrior medicine.
Elder Su exhaled softly.
"What kind of thing did we pick up?"
The next few days passed quickly.
Qin Yuan fell into a rhythm.
Morning lessons with Elder Su.
Afternoon refinement practice.
Evening point exchange.
Night cultivation.
Repeat.
The Clearbell Eastern Three-Path Pill Association was more than a simple alchemist guild. It was a small city inside a building.
The lower floors handled public sales, injury consultations, apprentice registration, and recipe licensing.
The middle floors contained practice rooms, ingredient storage halls, pill quality inspection offices, and medicinal theory classrooms.
The upper floors were restricted.
Private teaching chambers.
Origin Core alchemist labs.
Arcane medicinal research rooms.
Body pill testing halls.
Formation-sealed vaults.
Qin Yuan quickly learned that every path had its own kind of arrogance.
Martial alchemists liked balance and tradition.
Medicinal Wizards liked formulas, rune arrays, and diagnostic precision.
Warrior pill masters liked anything that worked even if it smelled terrible and made the patient scream.
Elder Su forced him to study all three.
"You are not allowed to become one of those narrow idiots who says 'I only refine for cultivators,'" she said on the second day. "That kind of alchemist gets rich early and useless later."
Qin Yuan stood before three furnaces, controlling different temperatures with thin strands of Spirit Qi.
"I understand."
"No, you don't. You agree. Understanding comes after you make mistakes."
"I haven't made many."
Elder Su pointed at him.
"That attitude is exactly why I want you to make one."
Qin Yuan adjusted the left furnace.
The medicinal liquid inside stabilized.
Elder Su looked offended.
"Stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Being correct while I'm complaining."
Qin Yuan remained silent.
He had discovered that silence made Elder Su complain more, but also teach more.
So he let her.
By the fourth day, his talents had risen again.
Pill Mastery Talent — Level 14.
Medicinal Pattern Recognition — Level 13.
Fire Mastery Talent — Level 12.
Fine Control Talent — Level 10.
Three-Path Medicinal Compatibility — Level 8.
Warrior Medicine Understanding — Level 7.
Failure Diagnosis Talent — Level 6.
Pill Impurity Suppression — Level 5.
Every harder task gave more experience.
Every correction opened a new branch.
Every branch made later refinement easier.
The system did not simply reward him for doing things.
It rewarded him for understanding them.
That difference was everything.
His association points also increased rapidly.
Not enough for precious Earthen resources.
But enough for Perfect Common foundation pills.
That was his current goal.
His foundation was still too poor.
An eight-grade spiritual root was still among the lowest true cultivation talent.
Bronze Flesh Gates were barely usable.
His dormant Eighth-Rank Magical Core was not something he could touch yet.
Trying to cultivate too quickly on bad foundations would be foolish.
If he rose too high, changing them later would become more expensive and dangerous.
So Qin Yuan bought foundation pills.
Not flashy combat pills.
Not temporary strength pills.
Foundation.
Root cleansing.
Flesh gate strengthening.
Meridian stabilizing.
Bone-density support.
Blood refinement.
Slow improvements.
Quiet improvements.
The kind no one noticed until it was too late.
On the fifth day, Elder Su noticed his exchange list.
She looked at the tablet.
Then at Qin Yuan.
"You're buying foundation pills?"
"Yes."
"No offensive pills? No fire-control tools? No apprentice furnace upgrade?"
"Those can wait."
Elder Su tapped the list.
"Perfect Common Foundation Pill. Gold Flesh Strengthening Pill. Meridian Cleansing Liquid. Root Purifying Dew. These aren't cheap."
"I have points."
"You earned points like a criminal avoiding tax records, yes. That's not the issue."
Qin Yuan waited.
Elder Su's voice softened slightly.
"You're still early enough to fix your foundation."
"Yes."
"Most people in your position would rush. They'd think the association badge means their future is set."
"That would be stupid."
"It would be common."
"Then common is stupid."
Elder Su stared at him.
Then she smiled faintly.
"Good. Keep thinking like that."
That same afternoon, Qin Yuan heard the news.
Han Ziyue had passed.
Shen Moxu had passed.
Luna Veyne had passed.
Lin Xiaowan had also passed.
They had not passed like him.
But they had passed.
Within the applicant circle, this was already considered impressive. The Clearbell Eastern Three-Path Pill Association was not generous with acceptance. Many young talents from families, academies, and sects failed their first attempt.
Qin Yuan listened while sorting Frost Thread Leaves in a public ingredient hall.
Two apprentices at the next table whispered loudly enough for half the room to hear.
"Han Ziyue passed with fifth-star evaluation. Not bad at all."
"Not bad? That's amazing for his age."
"Shen Moxu got sixth-star, right?"
"Yeah, but he almost burned out his second furnace. Still passed though."
"What about that Veyne girl?"
"Luna Veyne? Fifth-star, but her mana diagnosis score was crazy high."
"And Lin Xiaowan?"
"Fourth-star. But the proctor said she has clean technique."
"Honestly, this batch is kind of stacked."
"Stacked? Bro, this batch had a seventh-star monster. Everyone else looks normal now."
Qin Yuan placed another leaf into the correct tray.
He did not react.
Han Ziyue.
Shen Moxu.
Luna Veyne.
Lin Xiaowan.
They were names to remember.
Not threats yet.
Not allies yet.
Just people moving along their own paths.
Qin Yuan returned to his work.
Sorting herbs gave points.
Points gave pills.
Pills improved foundation.
Foundation improved everything.
That was more important than gossip.
Two days later, Qin Yuan ran into Lin Xiaowan again.
It happened in the association's eastern exchange hall.
The hall looked more like a luxury bank than a pill warehouse. Wide white counters curved around floating display screens. Sealed pill bottles hovered inside transparent security cases. Apprentices moved between counters, checking prices, contribution discounts, and ingredient availability.
Qin Yuan had just exchanged points for another bottle of Perfect Common Foundation Pills when someone called his name.
"Qin Yuan?"
He turned.
Lin Xiaowan stood near a display counter, holding a small box of medicinal needles.
She wore the association's apprentice robe now. The robe was pale blue with silver trim, clean and simple, but it made her look more official than when they had first met in the waiting room.
Her face showed surprise first.
Then recognition.
Then disbelief.
Her eyes dropped to the badge on Qin Yuan's chest.
Seven stars.
For a second, she looked like her thoughts had crashed into each other.
"It really was you."
Qin Yuan nodded politely.
"Lin Xiaowan."
"You remember my name?"
"You spoke to me before the exam."
"I mean, yes, but…" She glanced at the badge again. "Most people who become rumors stop remembering normal people."
"I'm not most people."
She laughed softly, then shook her head.
"No. You really aren't."
Her gaze remained on the badge.
The seventh-star emblem was not large, but it carried weight.
A young apprentice with four stars could be praised.
Five stars could be recruited.
Six stars could be watched.
Seven stars made elders personally interfere.
Lin Xiaowan had heard the rumors.
A terrifying youth had passed the seventh-star apprentice evaluation in one attempt.
He had refined pills across multiple difficulty levels.
Elder Mu personally inspected him.
Elder Su had taken over his instruction.
At first, she had thought it was exaggerated.
Then she remembered the calm 1st layer Spirit Opening youth sitting alone in the corner of the waiting room.
The one everyone dismissed.
The one she had spoken to because she felt a little bad for him.
And now he stood in front of her with a seventh-star badge like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Lin Xiaowan let out a breath.
"I thought you were brave for taking the test at 1st layer Spirit Opening."
Qin Yuan placed the pill bottle into his storage bracelet.
"Brave?"
"Yeah. Or crazy. Maybe both."
"It was just a test."
"Qin Yuan, people cried during that test."
"Then it was difficult for them."
Lin Xiaowan stared.
Then she burst out laughing.
A few apprentices glanced over.
She quickly covered her mouth.
"Sorry. Sorry. It's just—wow. You really say things like that with a straight face."
Qin Yuan waited calmly.
Lin Xiaowan looked at the medicinal needle box in her hand.
Then hesitated.
"Actually… since you're here, can I ask you something?"
"If I can answer."
She brightened.
"Really?"
"You helped me before. You had good intentions."
Lin Xiaowan blinked.
For some reason, that simple sentence made her feel more embarrassed than praise.
"I didn't really help much."
"You gave useful context."
"That counts?"
"Yes."
Her smile became warmer.