BAB 1 : Junior Alchemist

Wind City, the residence of the Lu family.

"Haha!"

A faint sound came from within a dilapidated pavilion house.

In the pavilion, a young man in green stared blankly at the transparent jade in front of him. To be precise, he wasn't looking at the jade, but at the liquid inside. At this moment, a plume of white smoke with a pungent odor slowly spread out from the liquid.

That man was Lu Chen, the son of the Lu family.

"Failed again!"

"Heh, I still can't become an intermediate Alchemist," Lu Chen shook his head slightly and said softly. A wry smile slowly appeared on his face.

Lu Chen was a junior Alchemist. Since eight years ago, Lu Chen successfully refined junior medicine and became a junior pharmacist. For the past eight years, Lu Chen worked hard to improve his refining skills to be appointed as an intermediate alchemist, but so far he has not succeeded.

It wasn't that Lu Chen wasn't talented at concocting medicine, but rather, he was an ordinary person!

On the Dragon Continent, people without physical attributes were actually ordinary people. Ordinary people couldn't embark on a cultivation path, and thus couldn't become powerful cultivators.

Generally speaking, one of the prerequisites for becoming an Alchemist was that he must become a cultivator. It was just a coincidence that Lu Chen could become a junior Alchemist with no physical attributes. If Lu Chen really could be lifted to became an intermediate Alchemist, then his status in the Lu family would also increase.

Unfortunately, it was impossible for an ordinary person with no physical attributes to become an intermediate Alchemist.

In fact, several years ago, many people persuaded Lu Chen to give up his dream of becoming an intermediate Alchemist. Because Lu Chen had wasted too many herb materials. If Lu Chen hadn't wasted his money buying herbs to refine mid-grade medicine, the wealth he had accumulated so far would be enough to make a lot of people jealous.

It was because of this too much spending money on his failed Alchemy that Lu Chen now had almost no savings. All he had were a few gold coins. However, a Body Refinement Medicine ingredient costs around a hundred gold coins.

"Tap, tap...

Just then, there was the sound of footsteps.

Inside the pavilion, Lu Chen's brows twitched slightly, then a smile appeared on his face. Quickly, he opened the door and walked out, and happened to see a gray figure walking in from outside the pavilion door.

"Grandpa!" Lu Chen saw a gray figure who had just walked in.

The gray figure was Lu Chen's grandfather, Lu Tianxing, who was one of the nine elders of the Lu family.

"Making medicine again?" Lu Tianxing sniffed lightly, then said to Lu Chen in a gentle tone. He clearly smelled the aroma of herbs in the air.

"Well, I was concocting a Body Refining Medicine. And I failed again," Lu Chen said helplessly.

The Body Refinement Medicine was a basic intermediate tier medicine. If Lu Chen succeeded, he would be promoted to become a mid-level Alchemist.

"Don't be discouraged. Intermediate pill isn't that easy to make. As long as you don't give up, there is still hope. You will succeed one day," Lu Tianxing said with a smile. Lu Tianxing didn't really expect Lu Chen to be able to make a Body Refining Medicine, because he knew very well how unlikely it was for an ordinary person to succeed in trying to make an intermediate grade pill.

However, he would not persuade Lu Chen to give up, even if Lu Chen kept failing. Because, compared to Lu Chen's ability to be an intermediate Alchemist, he valued Lu Chen's tenacious spirit even more, which was invaluable.

Because of Lu Tianxing's support, Lu Chen was able to continue trying to make Body Refining Pills. If it wasn't for Lu Tianxing giving him materials so often, Lu Chen wouldn't have had so much money to buy so many materials.

"I will definitely work hard, Grandfather!" Lu Chen looked at Lu Tianxing with determined eyes.

"Good!" Lu Tianxing nodded, he suddenly changed the topic and said in a deep voice, "Grandpa has already discussed with the Great Elder, and he promised to speak for you at the upcoming coming-of-age meeting. you should be able to stay in this family residence."

"Great Elder is willing to help me?" Lu Chen looked at Lu Tianxing in shock.

This year, Lu Chen was sixteen years old, and he also had to attend the coming-of-age assembly held by the family this year. After the coming-of-age ceremony, Lu Chen will become an adult.

And according to the rules of the Lu family, the family's children, whether they were direct descendants or branch descendants, if they had no physical attributes and were unable to cultivate, they would have to leave the family when they reached adulthood. Children who do not have these physical attributes are usually sent to remote places to continue serving the family.

Once they are sent out, their future will be bad. And they barely had a chance to return to the family. Therefore, none of the family members who are willing to leave the family to take positions in those remote places.

Originally, as an ordinary family member with no physical attributes, Lu Chen didn't have the opportunity to live in the family residence compound. But because Lu Chen was a junior Alchemist, and his grandfather was one of the family elders, Lu Chen had a glimmer of hope in living in the family residence compound. Now that the Great Elder was also willing to speak for Lu Chen, Lu Chen's chances of staying in the family residence would greatly increase.

Of course, if Lu Chen could be promoted to inintermediate Alchemist before the meeting takes place, that would be another story. An intermediate Alchemist is extremely important to a family like the Lu family.

Currently, there were only three intermediate Alchemist and one senior Alchemist in the entire Lu family.

It can be said that if Lu Chen could become an intermediate Alchemist, even if he wanted to leave the family, his family might not let him go. However, only half a year remained until that coming-of-age meeting. There was no way for Lu Chen to become an intermediate Alchemist in half a year.

"Yes, Great Elder spoke to me yesterday. At the coming-of-age assembly, he will help you." Lu Tianxing smiled and nodded as he looked at Lu Chen.

"Grandpa, thank you!" Lu Chen looked at Lu Tianxing and said solemnly. Although Lu Tianxing didn't give away too many details, Lu Chen knew how much effort Lu Tianxing had to put in to get the Great Elder's favor. Without sufficient benefits, it would be impossible for the Great Elder to help Lu Chen.

"No need to thank me," Lu Tianxing said scornfully relaxed as he smiled and waved his hand.

The next day, at the Treasure Pavilion.

"Huh? Isn't this Lu Chen?" A sharp voice sounded from ahead.

Lu Chen's eyes narrowed slightly, looking forward.

He was a young man in white robes. This youth was Lu Yan, and he was the grandson of the Great Elder. Unlike Lu Chen, Lu Yan's status in the Lu family was very high. He is also sixteen years old this year, but he's already a cultivator in the higher body refinement realm height.

He was considered a first-rate talent in the entire Wind City after breaking into the higher realm of body refinement at the age of sixteen.

In the process of cultivation, the first is the refining of the bones, and then the refining of the body. After the refining of the body, the next is the refining of the marrow. After the refining of the marrow, the cultivator would enter the formidable Heaven Innate Realm. Throughout Wind City, cultivators in the Heaven Innate Realm were regarded as true warriors. In the entire Lu family, there are not many Innate Realm Sovereign Swordsman, and the Lu family were one of the three major families in Wind City.

After breaking into the higher body refinement realm at the age of sixteen, it was very likely that he would become an Innate Realm Sovereign Swordsman in the future. How could the Lu family not focus on cultivating an outstanding son like Lu Yan? Not to mention that Lu Yan was also the grandson of the family's Great Elder.

"Lu Chen, what are you doing in this Treasure Pavilion?"

"Haha, is the Treasure Pavilion a place where a loser like you can come? Can trash that can't even enter the Bone Refining Realm come to the Treasure Pavilion?" The two children accompanying Lu Yan also mocked Lu Chen with harsh words.

The relationship between Lu Yan and Lu Chen has always been very bad, because Lu Yan's father was injured by Lu Chen's father Lu Yizhou. Therefore, Lu Yan had always held a grudge against Lu Chen. If not for Lu Tianxing, Lu Yan might have fought Lu Chen long ago.

"Mind your own business! What I'm doing here has nothing to do with you," said Lu Chen as he frowned when he looked at the three people in front of him.

"Hey, it has nothing to do with us? Lu Chen, are you stupid? Don't you know what the family's Treasure Pavilion is? Did you get permission from the leader to come here?"

"Lu Chen, to be honest, you are just trash with no physical attributes. You will never be able to embark on a cultivation path in your entire life, and you will never be able to step into the Bone Refining Realm! How about you show off your power now? If you can step into the Bone Refining Realm, I promise not to stop you from entering this Treasure Pavilion!" Lu Yan viciously said.

In truth, Lu Chen had not come to the Treasure Pavilion to read martial arts books. He just wanted to read alchemy books. Even though he knew it was impossible for him to be promoted to become an intermediate Alchemist in half a year, Lu Chen would never give up easily. Lu Chen wanted to find inspiration to make medicine from ancient books. He didn't expect that Lu Yan would come here too and stop him from entering the pavilion.

"Lu Yan, I'm not as good as you now, but I might be able to surpass you in the future. Now you are so arrogant. When I surpass you, let's see if you can still laugh to the end." Lu Chen looked at Lu Yan, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

Even though Lu Chen couldn't cultivate, and so far he couldn't even step into the bone refining realm, Lu Chen never gave up. He couldn't make any breakthroughs in martial arts, so he put a lot of effort into improving his alchemy skills. If he becomes Intermediate Alchemist first, and then senior pharmacist, the whole family would respect him, even if he couldn't step into the bone refining realm.

"Hahaha, you are so funny. I have never seen someone as shameless as you in my life!" Lu Yan laughed out loud, as if he had heard a big joke. However, behind his smile, there was an evil hidden in his eyes. In fact, Lu Yan was furious at this time, and the reason for his anger was Lu Chen's indifference.

"Lu Chen, get out of the way quickly, otherwise, I can't guarantee what I will do!" said Lu Yan in a gloomy voice. He was so angry that he really wanted to punch Lu Chen.