Taoist Antecedent of the Yellow Court

Chapter 25: Rights and Obligations

Keeping one of Lu Qingfeng’s Yellow Dragon Pills, Wang Tao returned the remaining 11 to Lu Qingfeng and said, “The guild leader will return in about two days. If you want to refine pills, use these herb handling tables. But it is best if you get into cultivation first, then use the pill furnaces after you gain Chi Control. It will give you twice the yield with half the effort.”

“I’ll listen to whatever you suggest, elder.”

Wang Tao’s arrangements were great, and Lu Qingfeng had no objections.

“Just call me Wang. Luwey and everyone else all call me that.”

Wang Tao was bold and generous. He now looked at Lu Qingfeng and asked, “Do you have any techniques to cultivate in?”

“Yes,” Lu Qingfeng answered.

“Very well then. I’ll get someone to take you down to get some rest. Familiarize yourself with Singularity Mountain during these few days. You can come to my or Yue’s Pill Refining Chambers at any time. When our leader gets back, he’ll build you your own Pill Refining Chamber right away.

“There are a few things that I have to tell you about in advance. I guess Luwey didn’t tell you about these.”

Wang Tao led Lu Qingfeng to the side where they sat down. Naturally, Lu Qingfeng listened carefully to everything he said.

Wang Tao explained, “As you know, they aren’t many players in Singularity. Including you, there are only seven of us. Therefore, our leader has shown preferential treatment for the players. For example, once you enter the guild, you will become an elder. Various guild quests are also not mandatory for us. They are entirely voluntary.

“If you have any questions about cultivation or Pill Refining, you can come to us and raise your questions. The various low-level to top-level pill recipes and preliminary grade techniques in the guild are currently available to players for free.”

When Lu Qingfeng heard the last part of this speech, he couldn’t help but feel happy.

This was not bad at all.

He didn’t care about the preliminary-grade techniques, but the low-level to top-level pill recipes could be of great use to him. This could save him a huge amount of money and, at the same time, save him the time and energy that he would have had to use to find recipes.

In addition, becoming an elder of the Singularity Guild and not being forced to do guild missions wasn’t that bad of a thing.

At least the restrictions of joining a guild weren’t as intense as Lu Qingfeng had imagined.

In Emery Town, players and aboriginals shared everything, and preferential treatment didn’t exist. However, in the Luminous Spirit Realm where there were less than 3,000 players, the Singularity Guild used this method to attract players during its early phases in the world.

When the number of players in the Luminous Spirit Realm had increased, players and aborigines would be treated equally.

Lu Qingfeng listened to him quietly. Seeing that Wang Tao wasn’t finished yet, he remained silent.

Wang Tao talked freely without mincing his words. “Since you get to enjoy preferential treatment, you will naturally have corresponding obligations. Because you are good at Pill Refining, completing the Pill Refining tasks every month will be your duty. The tasks are not difficult, and, with your speed in Pill Refining, you’ll only have to dedicate about two or three days every month to complete them. The guild will purchase these pills at 80 percent of their market value after deducting their costs.

“If you still have any leftover energy, you can help the guild to train some apprentices. First, you can use them as your assistants, and, second, if you manage to turn them into Pill Refining Apprentices, there will be corresponding benefits for you.”

Having said all that, Wang Tao’s mouth moved slightly, and he unleashed the sound transmission technique to speak privately to Lu Qingfeng. “I can tell you the benefits in advance. I’ve been in Singularity for 23 years and brought up a total of 14 low-level Pill Refining Apprentices and two intermediate-level Pill Refining Apprentices. The pills they refined are purchased by the guild at 70 percent of the market price after deducting the costs. As for the remaining 10 percent, it goes into our pockets.

“So, if you bring up a few more apprentices… In the long run, the benefits are quite appreciable.”

When Lu Qingfeng heard him explain all of this, he couldn’t help nodding his head.

It was true.

Getting 10 percent from one or two apprentices might seem insignificant, but for Wang Tao who had brought up 16 Pill Refining Apprentices, the combined profit was pretty considerable.

Lu Qingfeng couldn’t help but feel a little tempted.

He’d accepted apprentices in his previous life and had rich experience in guiding apprentices. He had also brought up some seven or eight Pill Refining apprentices. Now that he had joined Singularity, these experiences might just come in handy!

After Wang Tao and Lu Qingfeng had talked for a while, Wang Tao summoned an apprentice and had him lead Lu Qingfeng to his dwelling, which had long been prepared.

What surprised Lu Qingfeng was that it was a small, independent courtyard. What’s more, there were even dedicated servants for the small courtyard.

These servants were only level 1 in innate talent level. They had hopes to cultivate, but they fell short in meeting the Singularity Guild’s recruitment standards, and, hence, could only start by becoming a servant. If the host who they were serving was kind-hearted enough to give them some meager support, there could be hope for them to actually step into cultivation.

Awaiting Lu Qingfeng’s arrival, there were a total of four servants in the small courtyard, two teen boys and two girls, all of whom were extremely respectful.

“Go on and do your own work. Don’t come near the Cultivation Chamber if there isn’t anything really important.”

Lu Qingfeng waved his hand and walked straight into the Cultivation Chamber.

He’d refined 12 Yellow Dragon Pills in Wang Tao’s Pill Refining Chamber. Wang Tao had taken one pill and returned all the other 11 to Lu Qingfeng. Lu Qingfeng had asked him about that. Wang Tao had said that the one Yellow Dragon Pill was enough to offset the material costs of refining the 12 Yellow Dragon Pills.

Lu Qingfeng had a lot of experience.

In his previous life in Emery Town, the cost of refining a Yellow Dragon Pill was about 20 portions of handled basic medicinal herbs. The market price of an ordinary Yellow Dragon Pill was about 50 portions of handled basic medicinal herbs.

The cost of the Yellow Dragon Pill refined by Lu Qingfeng was 20 portions, but the pill itself was more efficacious.

Besides, to build up a similar amount of cultivation level, due to the fact that people wouldn’t have to consume as many Yellow Dragon Pills if they opted for the pills refined by Lu Qingfeng, the pill toxins they would accumulate over time would be less. Hence, the price was set at around 80 portions.

Based on that amount, the cost of the 12 Yellow Dragon Pills that Lu Qingfeng had just refined was 240 portions. According to the market price, a Yellow Dragon Pill could sell for only 80 portions. Evidently, there was a gap somewhere.

Maybe Wang Tao had supplemented it on his own.

For a top-level Pill Refining Apprentice, 100 or so basic medicinal herbs weren’t that important. This must be one of the reasons that Wang Tao had not mentioned it.

But Lu Qingfeng had to jot it down and remember it.

Entering the cultivation chamber, Lu Qingfeng began his cultivation in this new life.

…

The Verdant Sword Art had already been enhanced to Authentic-Grade. It could be called the top cultivation technique in the world. With the dozens of experiences he had in cultivation from his previous lives, he couldn’t get any more familiar with the process of getting from unblooded to novice.

After consuming a Yellow Dragon Pill, the Verdant Sword Art began. As if his body was a great mill, it pulverized the Yellow Dragon Pill and absorbed it with haste.

Half an hour later…

The power of the Yellow Dragon Pill had been completely refined, and, unconsciously, Lu Qingfeng’s cultivation had risen to Level 1 of the Fetal Phase.

“Normal Yellow Dragon Pills would give me three experience points.

“The Yellow Dragon Pills which I made are five times as efficacious and can give me 4.5 experience points.”

Lu Qingfeng glanced at his experience points and continued refining Yellow Dragon Pills.

After two hours, Lu Qingfeng had refined another three Yellow Dragon Pills. At the same time, his Level was raised to 2. However, he was having episodes of tingling pain due to his body being overwhelmed.

So Lu Qingfeng stopped cultivating, got up, walked out of the Cultivation Chamber, called a random servant, and asked the person to take him around Singularity Mountain.

For the next three days…

Lu Qingfeng repeated this process.

Every single day, he would get up early and cultivate for two hours, walk around Singularity Mountain, familiarize himself with the operations of Singularity, and then go to Wang Tao’s Pill Refining Chamber in the afternoon to refine Yellow Dragon Pills.

During the course of time…

Lu Qingfeng acquainted himself with the other top-level Pill Refining Apprentice on Singularity Mountain, Yue Ran.

Yue Ran’s appearance was more on the mature end. He looked as if he was about 30 years old, even though his actual age was younger than Wang Tao, who had a youthful appearance.

This top-level Pill Refining Apprentice was different from Wang Tao, who had a handsome face but a rough demeanor. He tended to be calmer and quieter.

Towards Lu Qingfeng, he was neither hostile nor friendly.

However, according to Wang Tao, if Lu Qingfeng had been just some ordinary person, Yue would have been quite indifferent. After engaging with him several times, Lu Qingfeng found that it was true.

Even with Wang Tao around, Yue Ran would seldom talk. More often than not, it would be Wang Tao talking loudly by himself.