Walking back to the counter, Cao Yun saw the same woman. When he first saw her she seemed very relaxed, but now she was depressed. As soon as Cao Yu talked to her, she faked a smile.

"Brother Chen, I hope you can forgive me. When I saw that you were a first-year, I sincerely thought that someone was messing with you by telling you to go see your appointed instructor. It's really not how I behave usually."

"No harm done, Senior. I'd like to ask you a question."

"Of course, go ahead, ask me anything. I'll answer as best as I can."

"How can I get a furnace in my personal chambers?"

"Well..." The poor woman seemed distressed as she was going to announce more bad news. "You need 500 points to request a furnace and a ranking on the alchemy scroll. For that, you must officially register as an alchemist and have an alchemy master observe you as you refine a pill. Then, the pill will be judged by its rank, its refinement difficulty and its quality."

"500 points... Senior, what ranking would a 68% Frozen Heart Pill get?"

"I'm not too sure, but I think you'd be in the lower ranks. Right now, there are 62 alchemist registered on the scroll. I'd say this pill could rank you around 40th and 45th. Beyond 10th, all alchemists are able to forge Pure 5-star Earth pills. Between 10th and 20th, they are alchemists able to forge Perfect 5-star Earth pills."

"As for the points, can I earn some by forging pills?"

"Technically yes, but it's very difficult if you don't join my Dragon's Fire Faction." Understanding that it could be misinterpreted, she quickly added "I'm not trying to threaten you or anything. It's just that my faction is the leading one in term of alchemy. So every alchemist who's not affiliated with us still sells us their pills. If you make very high-quality or rare pills, you could also sell them to the sect itself but unless it's a Human rank pill or higher, they probably won't buy it. And you could sell the pills to outer disciples. That's how we make a lot of profit. It's possible to exchange your points with someone, so some disciples use them as currency. But our faction almost has a monopoly on the sales and few people will risk offending us by buying from someone else unless the pills are worth it."

"I also know that I can earn points by doing menial tasks."

"Well... Once again, outside of a faction it will be difficult. You see, the low-skilled tasks are performed by servants, the high-skilled tasks are performed by older disciples or even inner disciples or instructors. So you really can only apply for intermediate tasks, for example managing a reception. But you need to have experience. And you'll also get reviewed by others, that's when the faction comes in handy. First of all, they'll tell you exactly what's expected of you and this will make things smoother. But they will also have people who already perform the tasks and if they don't want you in, you'll have a hard time getting the task.

If I take my task for example, I was interviewed by five disciples and an instructor. Four of the five were from my own faction, and one of them was even the senior who had coached me for the interview. So it's not impossible to get in as the instructor will be fair and impartial. But if all the disciples are against it, then there's no way you can work properly as a team, so you'll get rejected either way."

Right now, Cao Yun realized the unfair advantage of being part of a faction. As a first-year, all his opportunities to earn points were being destroyed if he was unaffiliated. He could only try to rank higher on the scrolls or advance his cultivation. These were the only two things that could give him points.

Each time you moved up in the ranking, even by a single place, you earned some points. And even if you went down afterwards, your points were secured. Your instructor could also award you points for advancing in your cultivation.

He was also interested by the idea of selling pills. Cao Yun had to admit that he got hooked by this session. When he first read 'Four Seasons Cycle Classic', he was not that passionate about alchemy. He still thought it was interesting but not as much as learning from Feng Yingyue in the woods. However, after having practiced himself, it definitely was something he liked. It reminded him a lot of martial arts.

In a fight, you had to analyze your opponent at every moment to determine what they wanted to do and act before them. In a similar way, with a flame, you had to anticipate as much as possible to control it, as it really was alive and ever changing. Even without touching it, the flame would change all the time.

When he refined his first pill, he only followed the example of Xiao Xuefeng and was mechanical in his approach. Today he had realized that this was a kind of fight and that every refinement was different even for the exact same pill. He really hoped that he could work on his Flame Control tonight but his points would not allow it.

"Wait! I have an idea! Please, wait an instant, Brother Chen."

The woman hurriedly ran toward a corridor and disappeared behind a door. After five minutes, she walked back with Zhong Ling.

"Brother Chen, if you can accept it, I can gift you an old furnace of mine. It's in a sorry state but you should mostly be practicing 'Nurturing the Dragon', so it should be fine. When you have enough points, you should definitely get a new one though. What do you say?"

"Senior, I can't accept..." Cao Yun realized that just as Xiao Xuefeng had told him, he immediately started by rejecting the gift without even thinking about it. You should never punch a gift horse in the mouth. "Thank you, Senior Zhong. I'll gladly accept your kind offer, and I'll remember it."

"It's really nothing. When you see my old furnace, you won't be as happy I fear... I'll get it sent to your room by the evening."

"Its state doesn't matter given my poor level, Senior. Thank you again." Cao Yun then turned toward the other receptionist. "Thank you as well, Senior."

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In her mind, she heaved a sigh of relief, she had salvaged her own mistake from earlier. She had probably said some things that her faction would like hidden, but no one had heard her and this boy did not seem like the stupid kind who would scream it everywhere.

Feeling very satisfied, Cao Yun was ready to head out, but he remembered. "I almost forgot. Instructor Meng is busy 'working' in the training room. He's been a really good help, so could you let him 'work' some more?"

Both women burst into laughter. "Do not worry, Brother Chen. Instructor Meng is really competent, it's just that he seems to love sleeping even though he probably doesn't need to that much. It's pretty quiet today, so we won't need the room for a while, he can 'work'."

The first impression of a lazy teacher Cao Yun had was completely replaced by that of an eccentric genius.

-

It was already late and Cao Yun had nothing to do. For now, he decided to head home. Joining a faction seemed like the only way to advance faster within the sect. If he did not, he would probably have a very rough time and stagnate a lot. So he had to think about the different factions and make his choice.

The Dragon's Fire Faction was out of the question. Although he had loved practicing alchemy, he didn't want to be a full-time alchemist. First of all, he still loved martial arts more. But maybe even more importantly he needed to be strong enough to kill the murderers of his family with his own hands. As an alchemist he could probably have people do it for him, but that's not what he wanted. He wanted to track them down himself and end them in the name of his parents, his brother and his sister. But alchemy could also be a great way to get information.

Then, he only had four choices: Red Cliff Faction, Purple Northern Cloud Faction, Hidden Orchids Faction and Heavenly Swallow Faction.

The Enshrouding Temple Faction was focused on array formations and he knew nothing at all on it. The Lake Turtle Faction was about various activities he did not care for such as blacksmithing, poetry, painting and so on. Finally the Coiling Silk Faction was mostly composed of women practicing artistic performances. He was still not clear on what they were doing exactly but he thought that it would probably be a nefarious affair given the way Ling Hui talked about them. If it was something he could not talk with Feng Yingyue in his letters, he probably should just abstain from it. But was Ling Hui reliable on the matter?

No matter what their actual activities were, art wasn't part of Cao Yun's considerations so this faction was a no-go anyway.

He didn't know much about the Hidden Orchids Faction, but it seemed to be very low-key and yet still had a bad reputation. Preferably, he should stay away from them, just in case.

The two top factions had both given him preferential treatment, but it was still quite strict. He would have to give them 23% to 25% of all his resources and if he wanted to leave, he had to gift them 750 more points. This meant that he would still have to work for them even after leaving, just to pay off this debt. In other words, as soon as he accepted their offer, he would be trapped.

Being a first-year, he wasn't sure what kind of treatment he would get. It was a risky gamble. And to be honest, his dealings with the Red Cliff members had been terrible until now. Although he couldn't judge the entire faction by the acts of a few, he had a negative opinion of these big factions nonetheless. If some people among them had this bad temper, it meant that at some level it was enabled. Still, the Red Cliff Faction's leader seemed like a sensible man. Cao Yun had even heard about the harsh punishments he had dealt out, especially the expulsion of Luduo Bu. If that man was still in the faction, Cao Yun would have flat out refused on the spot.

On the other hand, the Heavenly Swallow Faction gave a pretty good condition. Even the fact that in his second year he would have to take care of their faction. In fact, it meant that he would de facto become the leader of their faction. The only negative was their small size. It probably wouldn't be a problem to gain access to the facilities though.

Every faction had a certain daily quota and the other members of the faction would probably be out to earn points outside quite a lot. In other words, he would be the only one to use their quota. The problem could be concerning the points precisely. The members would not give him their hard-earned points so easily, and being in a small faction, earning points was going to be hard.

The only way he could think of was selling his pills. He probably would not be able to make high-quality pills to sell to the sect. And trying to build a pill business for the outer disciples seemed quite complicated with this monopoly of the Dragon's Fire Faction. There was still the scroll rankings way of earning points. But advancing through the rankings was not that easy once you had achieved a rank high enough.

In any way, he would have to talk to Zhi Yin again to dispel some of his doubts. Right now, the Heavenly Swallow Faction appeared as the best choice though.

While deep in thinking, a servant brought the old furnace of Zhong Ling into his room. It was amusing to see the small Huang Cixi carrying it effortlessly into the room. Having been warned beforehand, she had already prepared a spot for the furnace.

It was indeed in a sorry state. There were many scorch marks and traces of old ingredients. There were even scratches and dents at some places, almost as if someone had hit it with a hammer and cut it with a cleaver.

Anyway, Cao Yun tested it and the flame ignited without any problem. It didn't seem to be altered by anything so he could work with it.

From his earlier training, he had kept some powders in a pouch. He probably had enough to work for a week and then he would have to ask his instructor for some more.

Huang Cixi was impressed seeing him manipulate the flame so expertly. She was very confident that he had never engaged in alchemy before joining the academy and yet he was already so good. As she had had long dealings with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, Huang Cixi knew quite a lot about alchemists. She was able to easily recognize a master from an amateur. And, although Cao Yun still had the traces of a novice, his talent was obvious to her. The part that impressed her the most was his mind state.

Indeed, with both Yi and Zhi at the Perfection stage, being focused on every tiny details for hours was not a problem for Cao Yun. Without that unfair advantage, learning alchemy would have taken him months, not days.

While practicing, he soon realized that as faint as Shen the Fire Spirit was, it still seemed to help him control Yi and Zhi better. Shen was like a general and Yi and Zhi two military advisors. They obeyed but they also guided and gave new perspectives.

Having played with his new furnace long enough, Cao Yun dined with Huang Cixi.

Then he went back to his routine, he cultivated, trained 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' in his mind and advanced 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks''s Shen character. His comprehension of 'Azure Dragon's Seven Piercing Stars' was really in a stalemate for now and the Shen character only advanced by one repetition and two or three strokes more.

Tomorrow he had to go see Zhi Yin and try to get into the Warrior Dream array formation to test out his spearmanship in a simulated battle. He could also go to the martial art pavilion to train some more. And he needed to get his alchemy ranked as well to earn some points.

Every day, his schedule was becoming busier and busier.

Later in the evening, Mei Ying came in to play with him and he indulged her. This time, he had her try to hit him with the spear for a while and then sparred gently with a wooden stick. This little girl was full of energy and laughed quite a bit as she was fighting. It was very refreshing and calming.