Once Ye Xue left the runesmith shop, he felt relieved. It was his first time engraving a weapon and he did not know if he was going to succeed after the first try or not. Although he trained his qi manipulation every day, he was not sure that he could perfectly shape the qi energy as he wanted to on his finger. Fortunately, everything went well.

After leaving the commerce’s district, Ye Xue has already spent more than 1300 gold coins. He bought several useful things such as a large bag, an apprentice alchemist cauldron, silver needles, aged blank papers, a sledgehammer, an anvil, medicinal herbs, empty vials, and a low-tier storage ring.

They were expensive purchases but it was worth buying them. The apprentice alchemist cauldron and the medicinal herbs were necessary, allowing him to practice pill forging. The silver needles were used for medicinal purpose and the empty vials were used for poison and elixir concoctions. As for the sledgehammer and the anvil, they were both needed for blacksmithing.

The low-tier storage ring alone cost him 300 gold coins. He almost hesitated to not buy it but he needed it to store the anvil and the apprentice alchemist cauldron. The other items were put inside the large bag.

Heading back to the Snowy Humble Inn, Ye Xue saw Yuan Xiang who was waving his hand, calling for him.

Sitting on a seat on the other side of Yuan Xiang, he asked.

“Did you registered us?”

“Yeah, without any problem. The only and hardest objective now is to reach the middle-stage of the Intermediate Qi Gathering before two months and we should probably be accepted without any problem.”

They were talking about the registration for the Snowy Mountain Academy. To successfully register for the academy, one needs to register a month before the test started. They also need to be older than 14 years old and pay to registration fees of 50 gold coins.

After arriving at Snowy Mountain City, they only had both 120 gold coins. It was the money they collected before departing from their village and kept for the registering fees. They were completely broke after the inscription and while Yuan Xiang was registering, Ye Xue was supposed to earn money through the medicinal herbs they collected during the travel.

“What about your side?” Yuan Xiang asked.

Smiling, Ye Xue said. “I did not sell the medicinal herbs but I have made a better deal.”

“What do you mean?”

Ye Xue slowly explained. “A young lady was looking for someone to enchant her weapon. I succeeded to earn 1500 gold coins by promising to enchant it.”

Hearing his words, Yuan Xiang’s eyes widened. What was 1500 gold coins? When he was about to ask if his big brother made a mistake on the numbers, Ye Xue continued. “But I already spent 1300 gold coins to buy several things. I have only 220 gold coins that remain.”

“What?!”

Yuan Xiang’s soul almost came out from his body hearing Xe Yue’s words. Looking at the large bag next to Ye Xue, he asked.

“What did you bought?”

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Shrugging his shoulders, Ye Xue said. “Nothing much, just some materials to help us cultivating as well as earning money.”

‘Nothing much? You have just spent 1300 gold coins!’ Yuan Xiang wanted to scold his big brother but restrained from doing so. After all, it was him who earned all that money and he understood how much expensive cultivating pill cost. He could only hope that these pills were worthy of their price.

Seeing Yuan Xiang sighing with a depressed expression, he tried to cheer him up.

“Don’t worry. We are definitely going to make a huge amount of money soon enough. We won’t need to worry about money anymore.”

Recalling how he earned the money, Yuan Xiang worriedly asked. “By the way did you just said that you promised to enchant a weapon? Since when did you know something regarding runesmithing?”

Avoiding eyes contact, Ye Xue explained. “I happened to learn it back then in the village after meeting a grandmaster runesmith. He noticed that I had enough talent to become his disciple and teaches me how to enchant weapon and forge pills.”

Looking at Ye Xue’s eyes, Yuan Xiang knew that he was lying. He was his big brother since childhood after all. Since his big brother did not want to say it, he did not say anything. He was not going to force him because he noticed that he was telling the truth. He once doubted him and it turned out that his big brother was really knowledge about medicinal plants.

With a sigh, Yuan Xiang said. “I see. I hope that you can one day tell me what you are hiding to me.”

“Sorry... I will, definitely.”

Since Yuan Xiang figured that he was lying, he could only apologize to him. He did not want to hide it from him but he did not want to endanger Yuan Xiang. He feared that one day, someone will see through him and he did not mind. But as long as he was not confident enough to protect him, he could not tell him the truth about his ancestor’s knowledge.

Ye Xue felt a little awkward. After all, they were childhood friends and both of them considered each other as their own blood but that was the reason why they never lied to each other. Thankfully, the food which Yuan Xiang ordered arrived.

Noticing what Ye Xue felt, Yuan Xiang said, trying to change the subject. “Let’s forget it and eat our food.”

“Yeah, right.” Nodded Ye Xue with a smile.

Finishing their dish, Ye Xue taught a good cultivation technique for Yuan Xiang before heading to his room. Entering his room, he started unpacking his stuff and decided to practice pill forging.

Although he has the knowledge of his ancestor, Ye Xue never forged once a pill. He did know how to use the cauldron but did not have the experience necessary to forge a good pill. Using the few basic medicinal herbs he has, he tried to forge one of the most basic pills, the Regenerative Pill. It was one of the first pills an apprentice alchemist learn when forging pill.

After several hours of training, he slowly got used to forging pill. After he succeeded the 30th Regenerative Pill, he decided to try to forge the Qi Awakening Pill.

The Qi Awakening Pill was a pill that was extremely useful for cultivators below Elementary Qi Condensing. It helps one to absorb a massive amount of qi, increasing one’s foundation to an astonishing level. It could only be used once but it was one of the best pills for cultivating.

Succeeding to forge the Qi Awakening Pill on his first try, he produced 10 pills before stopping. Right after forging the pills, he headed to Yuan Xiang’s room and gave him a pill, recommending him to take it before cultivating. He then returned to his own room and used the Qi Awakening Pill before starting to cultivate.

The moment he swallowed the Qi Awakening Pill, he could feel the surroundings qi energy entering his body. Concentrating, he started to gather the qi energy using the Ice King Cultivation Technique.

Without knowing exactly when the sleepiness appeared, he directed towards his bed and started sleeping. He was satisfied by the huge effect the Qi Awakening Pill gave him. Because not only did it helps him to cultivate more efficiently, it also helps him to gather the qi energy when sleeping which means that even if he slept, his qi energy will also increase even if it’s half the effect when one is cultivating.

Feeling that he was about to break through, he realized how effective the Qi Awakening Pill was only on the next morning.

Because not only did he break through the middle-stage of the Elementary Qi Gathering, he was also almost going to break through to the late-stage of the Elementary Qi Gathering as well.