There was a crowd heading out of the tent city, some to Shichang, others hitting the road, and others stuck with nowhere to go out to scavenge, harvest, and hunt anything that might get them out. Wen Zixin joined the last group and headed into the plains outside Shichang to try and harvest some herbs. Along the way he bought a knife suitable for herb harvesting from the Mortal Items Menu discreetly to avoid the attention of the people close enough to see him. He also checks his xp to see if the night of cultivation actually gave him some xp like the description said.
User has 19 xp
Once he gets out into the plains, he spends the day until the evening harvesting what mortal herbs he could find. Given that he had a lot of competition with little to no knowledge or skill that were just ripping out plants wholesale, he didn’t bother leaving any useful bits of the herbs behind so that the plant could recover. With his competition and the area being open plains with rolling hills rather than a forest sheltering the herbs from sight he was unable to find much.
User has 46 xp
Frustrated with the low gains he heads back to the tent city to sell the herbs. As he was walking back, he tried to think of other ways he could earn more money and came up with something. When he was in the medical tent, he hadn’t seen too many processed medicines, just one or two of the most well-known medicines. There might be a chance he could earn some coin making more medicine if the clan member running the tent didn’t know how to make other medicines. As he reached the tent, he heard some yelling from inside and decided to wait outside rather than walk into the middle of whatever this was.
“Sicong you can’t just order one of the few intact teams our fighting forces have back to the ruins of our home because you want some BOOKS!”
“Actually, I can Yuze, I am an ELDER of the Hou Clan now and am in charge of all things related to alchemy including delegating some of our forces to restore some of our lost knowledge.”
“Don’t try and pull that Elder. The only reason you’re an elder at all is because you know more about medicine than anyone else left alive in the clan. I know you sent that team to retrieve the old elder’s books because YOU KNOW LESS THAN ANY RANDOM MEDICAL SHOPKEEPER IN SHICHANG! If you insist on being called Elder Sicong then you can call others by their titles as well including myself.”
“Don’t you dare try to question my motives Elder Yuze. We have lost our ancestral lands, and if we don’t try to recover what we can it will take even longer before we regain our strength.”
“We’ll see what the other Elders think of your decision. I know one that will oppose this, and we’ll convince the rest of the Elders. You’ve gotten too arrogant for someone with no cultivation.”
An older mortal man with bushy white hair and goatee stormed out of the tent and pasted Wen Zixin heading towards the communal tent that was used as a tavern. Wen Zixin gave it a moment before heading into the tent. Inside was a mortal man around Wen Zixin’s age shuffling through some scrolls on a table in the back and muttering under his breathe. Hearing someone come into the tent he turned around to face the entrance with a frown.
“Yes, what do you want?”
“Honored Elder of the Hou Clan, I have some herbs to sell and would like to ask a favor.”
Hou Sicong lost the frown as Wen Zixin spoke his title and lost some of his agitation. Sicong came forward to a small counter on the left of the tents entrance.
“Let us see the herbs and sort that out first young man.”
Wen Zixin nodded and took what he had collected and placed them on the counter. While he didn’t find a lot, he was still able to cover the entire counter because of the counter’s size. Sicong looked over the herbs in what looked like deep concentration. However, Wen Zixin could tell while Sicong might recognize the plants as all medical herbs he didn’t have the knowledge of what to do with most of them.
“You do good work for a harvester. Alright I’ll pay you twenty-seven copper for the herbs and hear what favor you want.”
“Thank you Honored Elder, I will take the money, and as for the favor, I happen to know some things about making medicine and would like to earn some more money while keeping my skills from getting rusty.”
Sicong’s eyes lit up for a moment before he went back to acting like a wise elder.
“Well, I’m not opposed to the idea, but I'll only pay for successfully made medicines. No failed products! I’ll also need to look over your recipes to make sure they are up to my standard.”
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Wen Zixin smiled amicably and nodded his head at Sicong. SCEMINGARROGANTASSHOLE.
“Of course, Elder. Do you have a scroll that I could use to write down the recipes I would like to practice?”
“Yes, I should have one you can use. Here is the money for the herbs, take a look at what we have in stock and see if we have what you need before writing anything down.”
Taking the money, Wen Zixin went and looked over what other herbs that Sicong had available and thought up one or two recipes he could use to get the most out of. Sicong handed over a blank scroll, brush, and ink. Wen Zixin wrote down the recipes he had in mind. One was a tincture that someone could drink to help accelerate the healing process. The second was a powder to use on open wounds to keep it from getting infected. After writing down the recipes and instructions he handed it to Sicong. Looking the scroll over with undisguised glee Sicong forgot Wen Zixin for a moment before returning to the present.
“I approve of these recipes. I’ll watch make a few of each just to be sure there are no problems and I'll even be willing to pay you five coppers for every batch of powder and dose of tincture you can successfully produce.”
“Thank you for your generosity Elder. I’ll start right away.”
Wen Zixin walked to the back of the tent and began working. He knew Sicong was trying to take advantage of him, but he would earn xp for every medicine made and considering his last job got him five coppers for a day of work, he didn’t mind the scheming. Wen Zixin spent the rest of the day and night using up all the supplies Sicong had. Sicong would spend most of his time closely watching for “quality assurance” purposes and rush any other business that came up while Wen Zixin worked.
“You did good young man. Unfortunately, not everything you made was up to snuff so I can only give you a silver for your work. If you ever want to try other recipes, come back again and I’ll help mentor you. Now off you get it’s late and you need your sleep.”
Sicong didn’t give Wen Zixin a chance to reply as he shoved a silver into his hand and practically shoved him out of the tent before closing the entrance. DOUCHE. While the work was worth closer to two silvers Wen Zixin didn’t really mind while looking at his xp.
User has 246 xp
In one day, he had earned enough coin to enter Shichang, the xp for the amulet, and enough extra coin and xp for food while he spent however many days needed to reach the First Step of Qi Condensation Stage. Heading back to the edge of the tent city he set up what he had. He had noticed some people at the edges of the tent city just sitting around and not doing anything. He wasn’t sure what they were doing but they were left alone. So, he imitated them and once he was comfortable started cultivating. This time since he wasn’t pretending to sleep, he had his eyes open and was able to watch the qi flow into him as he breathed. He lost himself to the cultivation, watching the qi flow from everything around him and fall into him like the center of a whirlpool, feeling the qi within and molding it back through its natural cycle until there was only the Primordial Chaos, and releasing a breath free of qi only to repeat the whole thing over again. He was startled out of his trance after letting out a breath by his stomach growling. Looking around he saw that it was sometime around noon. He backed up his stuff while checking his xp to see if it had been a day or two.
User has 251 xp
Consciously checking his Core to see what progress he had made he found if he kept this pace and only stopped to eat, he might reach the First Step in the next three or four days. The Spirit Root and Cultivation Method truly shined here in areas with an assortment of qi rather than a specialized area like a volcano. While he gave himself a pat on the back for his previous choices, he headed to the tavern tent to spend some of the extra copper he had on a good meal. Going inside the tavern was really just a bunch of pillow seats arranged around several low tables. It only had one meal, a bowl of rice, with a decent amount of meat from some animal on the plains and cost ten coppers. After today he would use his rations up first and save coming here as a way to celebrate just before he hit the Qi Condensation Stage. The next three days involved Wen Zixin sitting around the outskirts of the tent city and cultivating. When his stomach reminded him, he would pause and eat but otherwise lost himself to the world of qi. On the fourth day he could tell all he needed was one more session to break through. So, he backed up, had a meal at the tavern tent, and left to find a private spot within eyesight of the road where he could cultivate in peace before throwing away whatever he was wearing, clean the tar that would be expelled, and act like an independent cultivator coming to Shichang for the first time. He found the perfect spot in a small corpse of trees. It was close enough to see the road but was a half hour walk away and had a small stream. The stream was only big enough to dip a towel in, but it would work for cleaning up the aftermath. He set his supplies a little distance away but decided to keep what clothes he was wearing on. He still had an extra set of clothes in his pack and the ones he was wearing were worse for the wear from his travels. Once everything was put down or out and ready to use, he sat down and cultivated. As he his Core slowly filled up the last little bit, it started to glow golden as the Primordial Chaos qi saturated it and then it was spinning. Threads of golden Primordial Chaos weaving throughout his body touching every part of him before turning back to reconnect with the Core. He is on the First Step of Qi Condensation Stage of cultivation. His muscles are taunt like springs ready to primed and ready. His hearing sharpened to just beyond human. His sight enhanced to where he thinks he can see new shades of colors. His nose... BLARGH! It's so much worse... BLARGH! Then the time before. He works like a man... BLARGH! possessed to throw away his clothes and wipe... BLARGH! the tar off. Wen Zixin quickly dresses and packs up what hasn’t touched the tar before opening the Menu and purchasing the Defective Qi Mask. With it on his neck and hidden under his clothes he sends a little qi into it to activate. Now he is emitting ethereal unaspected qi of the First Step of Qi Condensation Stage and is ready to enter Shichang and see what this new city has to offer a cultivator.