I imitate others' cultivation, and I will never reason with you.

Chapter 161 Compensation for Non-Competition

The two followed Cen Zhong out of the corner tower, turned a few corners, and arrived at a waterside pavilion.

Ruan Xing originally thought that the owner of the second floor was a mysterious person, but when he met her, he found out that she looked as kind as a grandmother next door.

At this moment, he was sitting on a cloud chair, wearing a green robe, with his silver hair tied into a simple bun, and looking at them peacefully and kindly.

"Second floor master." Cen Zhong leaned forward slightly and stood beside her.

Ruan Xing and the other two also hurriedly bowed, "Greetings, Senior."

"Good, both are good." The second floor owner smiled and said, "I have seen the pills you two have made. You are both outstanding in alchemy. On behalf of Wanbaolou, I invite you to become my apprentices. I will do my best to train and teach you, but in return, you must repay the building after you have achieved some success in alchemy. Every year, you will supply a portion of pills to be sold by Wanbaolou. Of course, Wanbaolou is not a sect, we are just a chamber of commerce. You can choose to terminate the contract and leave Wanbaolou at any time, but you need to compensate the building according to the terms of the contract."

The male cultivator next to him could not hide his excitement and immediately said, "I am willing to take the Second Floor Master as my master and serve you for the rest of my life!"

"It's an apprentice, not a disciple." The second floor owner smiled and shook his head, correcting.

She will not accept any apprentices. These apprentices are only needed for the cooperation in the building.

The male cultivator was a little disappointed after hearing this. The second owner of Wanbao Tower had a great reputation among alchemists. She was a sixth-rank alchemist. If he could become her disciple and learn some skills from her, even if they did not work together in Wanbao Tower in the future, he would be treated as a guest of honor by other forces when he went out.

However, even though we don't have the master-disciple relationship, it would be good to get some guidance. The alchemists who come to participate in the exchange meeting basically have no foundation or background, and Wanbao Tower is the best place they can choose.

He continued to nod, "Of course I am willing to do so."

"Okay, from now on, you will stay here and learn alchemy from me." The second floor owner said, "Cen Zhong, take him to arrange accommodation."

Cen Zhong responded with a "yes" and took the male cultivator out.

Ruan Xing and the second floor master were the only ones left in the pavilion. The second floor master looked at Ruan Xing and said softly, "What you refined in the competition was the Boundary Breaking Pill. The recipe for this pill is a secret recipe agreed upon by all the sects and forces. It will not be easily passed on without a year or two of observation. If you can learn this recipe, why did you come to Wanbao Tower?"

Ruan Xing didn't hear any malice in her tone, and she knew in her heart that whether she was willing to say it or not, Wanbaolou would reach a cooperation with her, but... she couldn't make up any good reasons for the time being, and she couldn't tell anyone about the simulator.

Frowning slightly, Ruan Xing asked, "Is this important?"

"It doesn't matter. The fact that you have come to Wanbao Tower has proved your choice. No matter what the past is, Wanbao Tower will not be afraid." The second floor master implied that even if Ruan Xing was a traitor to a certain sect, Wanbao Tower would help her cover up.

But if Ruan Xing didn't tell the truth, Wanbaolou would not know where to start even if they wanted to help her.

Her smile faded a little. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. The building has investigated you before. The first time you appeared was in Fengtian City. You stayed there for seven or eight days, and then suddenly disappeared. The second time was when you came to Canghai City. It seems that you are very confident in your concealment skills and don't need the help of the building. So, what do you need?"

"I need spirit stones and the fifth and sixth level pill recipes in your hand." Ruan Xing said directly.

The second floor owner agreed immediately, "No problem, but you should understand the rules of the contract?"

The two most important clauses in the contract are that high-level elixirs must be provided to the building every year, and that if the contract is terminated, a new alchemist must be trained for Wanbao Building.

Ruan Xing's experience in alchemy mostly comes from simulators. If she were asked to teach others, she might not be able to do so.

But she had not actually considered this problem. If she was providing spirit stones to Wanbao Tower for alchemy, she would be a fool to think about leaving. With a simulator being a gold-eating device that needed to be maintained, the more spirit stones the better.

Ruan Xing nodded in agreement, and the second floor owner also breathed a sigh of relief. When Cen Zhong came back, he took her to sign the contract.

"What does this ten thousand spirit stones mean?" Ruan Xing asked, pointing to a clause in the contract.

Cen Zhong replied, "This is an additional reward, and it is also compensation for agreeing not to publicly sell the pills you refine, so a certain amount of spirit stones will be provided free of charge every year. You are a third-level alchemist, so it is 10,000 spirit stones per year."

Isn’t this the compensation for the non-compete agreement?

Ruan Xing raised his eyebrows. Does that mean that the price of a fifth-level alchemist is higher?
Just now at the second floor master's place, he implied that she was an alchemist who had left a certain force, so Ruan Xing didn't say much. Instead, he followed her idea and skipped the fourth level and directly asked for the fifth or sixth level pill recipe.

After thinking for a moment, Ruan Xing quietly simulated it in his mind. After confirming that it was okay to expose his true level, he said, "Change it. I am actually a fifth-level alchemist."

"What should I change?!" Cen Zhong opened his mouth in shock.

He couldn't help but suspect that he had heard it wrong, and repeated it to confirm, "Level 5?"

"Yes."

"Please wait a moment. I'm going to ask the second floor owner." Cen Zhong ran back with the contract.

When the second floor owner learned the news that Cen Zhong brought back, he did not doubt it, but nodded naturally and said: "Then let's change it."

Although the amount of spirit stones in the contract has increased, the quality of the pills that Ruan Xing needs to provide has also increased accordingly, so the second floor owner is not worried that Ruan Xing will cheat in this matter.

Moreover, the contract is also a special magical instrument, which contains a trace of the power of heaven as notarization.

The second floor owner sighed, "What kind of power could force a fifth-level alchemist to rebel... and there is no news or information. I haven't even heard of a fifth-level alchemist appearing anywhere."

“In the world of cultivating immortals, perhaps only the Hidden Sect is so mysterious.” Cen Zhong guessed.

The last of the three major sects is the Hidden Sect.

However, the actions of the Hidden Sect are extremely mysterious and unpredictable. No one even knows where the mountain gate is. The Hidden Sect has appeared on the rare occasions when there have been major changes in the world of immortal cultivation. They claim to be the agents of Heaven, maintaining the stability of the world of immortal cultivation. However, when the world of immortal cultivation seems to be peaceful and prosperous, they will disappear.

"Do you think she is from the Hidden Sect?" A trace of doubt flashed in the eyes of the second floor owner, and then he shook his head. "Although her transformation skills are somewhat in line with the Hidden Sect's methods, since she has come to Wanbao Tower, we must treat her as one of our own. We must not mention the Hidden Sect in front of her. The importance of a fifth-level alchemist, I don't need to tell you, you should also know."

Cen Zhong nodded heavily, "Yes."

"I was originally worried that after I returned to the ruins, the business in the building would be cut off. Now that she is here, I feel relieved." The second floor owner half-lay down tiredly, propping up his forehead with his hand, and the cloud chair floated up and floated into the room deep in the waterside pavilion. "When I sort out the recipes she wants, you can send them to her. However, don't give them to her all at once."

Cen Zhong lowered his head slightly and saw that the second floor owner's cloud chair had passed the threshold and disappeared around the corner. Then he went back and replaced the contract with a new one.

In this way, Ruan Xing's annual compensation became 50,000 low-grade spirit stones.

Ruan Xing signed the contract happily, and asked Cen Zhong, "The exchange meeting should be over, when will the rewards for the top three be distributed?" She was still thinking about the spirit stones sold for the Boundary Breaking Pill and the rewards for the top three.

Cen Zhong smiled and said, "It has been prepared a long time ago. It is a medicine cauldron made by the weapon refiner in the building. It has reached the level of a top-grade magic weapon. It also has a wisp of True Flame Fire. The combination of the two reduces the risk of failure when refining high-level elixirs."

Ruan Xing didn't have to worry about failure as her success rate was ridiculously high. However, she was still quite satisfied with the reward. The rank of the strange fire was higher than that of the earth fire, and its service life was also longer. It was really troublesome to have to replace a wisp of earth fire after one or two years. With the strange fire, she wouldn't have to worry about this problem for at least a dozen years. She didn't know much about the types of strange fire, but the True Flame Strange Fire had a name, so it should be considered top-notch among the strange fires.

"By the way, does the second floor owner have any hidden illness?"

She was very curious just now, why the second floor host had been sitting on the cloud chair without moving, and had not stood up after chatting for a long time. She did not think that the second floor host was arrogant, on the contrary, she felt that the second floor host was unable to get up.

And her appearance...No matter what level of cultivation the female cultivators in the world of immortality have, most of them will pay attention to their bodies. Even if they don't use anti-aging pills to maintain their beauty, they will keep their bodies young. Only those who are about to die or are about to expire will allow themselves to grow old.

She couldn't see through the second floor owner's cultivation level, which proved that the other party was at least in the late Nascent Soul stage. He had experienced the reconstruction of his body and it was impossible for him to die of old age. The only possible cause was injury, poisoning, etc.

It's impossible that she has a special hobby and when she reshaped her body she gave herself the body of an old lady?

Ruan Xing felt that this possibility was very low.

Cen Zhong's body froze when he heard this, and he replied: "You think too highly of me. I am just an alchemist apprentice serving the Second Floor Master. How could I know such a secret matter?"

He said it humbly, but since he was able to work beside the second floor master with his low level of cultivation and reach the level of a third-level alchemist, he still had a certain status beside the second floor master.

Ruan Xing did not comment.

There were more than one hundred alchemists participating in this competition, but in the end they all signed the contract and left. Only Ruan Xing and the first-level alchemist remained.

There are not many apprentices under the master of the second floor, and they all live together, very close to the master's pavilion. However, perhaps in order to express special respect for Ruan Xing, she was given a separate courtyard as a residence.

The medicine cauldron and the strange fire were placed in the alchemy room in the courtyard. Ruan Xing was excited to see the prey and was ready to show off his skills, so he told the waiter, "I want to get familiar with the temperature and feel of the strange fire. Go get some materials for the third-level elixir."

After hearing this, the waiter quickly brought her five sets of materials for the Boundary Breaking Pill.

Perhaps because he didn't know what kind of elixir recipe Ruan Xing knew, he only gave her the elixir she had made during the competition.

But this is exactly what she wants. The Boundary Breaking Pill is the most expensive of the third-level pills.

After entering the alchemy room and refining the new strange fire, she threw the old earth fire aside, and Ruan Xing began the process of refining a new batch of alchemy.

It was not until Cen Zhong came to visit a few days later that Ruan Xing came out of the alchemy room.

Cen Zhong had already known from the waiter that Ruan Xing was testing the effect of the strange fire, "How is it? Are you satisfied with the strange fire?"

"It's really good. The pill-making speed has become faster." Ruan Xing said with a smile.

She took out a jade box and gave it to Cen Zhong. "Inside is the Boundary Breaking Pill I made these days. Take it to the building and sell it together."

Cen Zhong opened it and saw that there were twenty-three pills inside. After a rough estimate, he was surprised and said, "The success rate is nearly 90%?"

Although it was a waste of talent for a fifth-rank alchemist to refine a third-rank pill, Ruan Xing was originally experimenting with the strange fire, and only one out of five ingredients failed. In Cen Zhong's opinion, this was already amazing.

Ruan Xing touched his nose and said, "It was just luck. I find this strange fire very easy to use."

In fact, she refined a total of twenty-nine Boundary Breaking Pills... and not a single batch failed.

But she was worried that the success rate was a bit scary, so she secretly ordered six pills.

In the future, you can give it to your sect's subordinates, or sell it to other places under a different identity.

"By the way, what are you doing here?" She changed the subject.

Cen Zhongcai remembered the purpose of his trip and took out a storage bag and a jade slip. "In the storage bag are 58,000 spirit stones, and the jade slip is part of the fifth-level pill recipe. Take a look."

Ruan Xing took it, probed his spiritual sense into it, and swept it through.

She had learned most of them in the simulated middle school, and there were only a few recipes that she had never seen before, including the Infant Transformation Pill that she had always wanted.

It seems that Wanbaolou trusts her quite a bit and even gave her the recipe for the Infant Transformation Pill directly.

After carefully reading it, Ruan Xing looked up and asked, "Why is there no longevity pill?"

As the flagship fifth-grade elixir, the Longevity Pill is useful to Guixu Immortal Lord.

"As far as I know, Wanbaolou does not have the recipe for the longevity elixir." Cen Zhong replied.

"But I remember that longevity pills appeared in several auctions held by Wanbaolou." Ruan Xing frowned.

When she was paying attention to the fifth-level pill recipe in the simulation before, she paid attention to this part of the information.

Cen Zhong said uncertainly: "Maybe it was purchased from other forces or alchemists. I have never seen the second floor owner refine the longevity pill."

However, he did not participate in the business of the building. He only served the second owner and helped manage his apprentices. He had no idea where the goods for the auction came from.

"Forget it." Ruan Xing said somewhat disappointedly.

Maybe she is not destined to get the elixir of longevity. If she gets this priceless recipe, she will be financially free.

After sending Cen Zhong away, Ruan Xing asked the waiter to get the materials, and she returned to the alchemy room. She was going to try to refine the Infant Transformation Pill.

According to the contract, she needs to provide Wanbao Tower with at least ten fifth-grade pills every year, and she can first make up this year's share.

Thanks to the fat guy who jumped off the 18th floor for his monthly ticket~
Thanks to book friend 20240127064302660 for the monthly ticket~
(End of this chapter)