I Just Won't Play By The Book
chapter-109

After hearing this, the steward’s face turned red. He truly felt that this challenge was too difficult, so he couldn’t even say anything to refute it.

Hearing that even Jiang Beiran said this, the people below immediately jeered, “Heh, the Sect of Masked Moon’s alchemist guild is only a fraud. They actually came up with such a ridiculous challenge. Why don’t they just say that they aren’t willing to give a reward?”

“That’s right. How would an alchemist who is able to dispel the poison from a finished pill come here to participate in your little activity?”

“I’m dying of laughter. It looks like I have to go out and spread the word to my peers. This alchemist guild is so shameless.” Although Yu Guimiao, who was at the front of the crowd, didn’t know why dispel poison from the pill would cause everyone to be so angry, she knew that her Brother Jiang had definitely received unfair treatment, so she also raised her hand and shouted, “That’s right, that’s right!”

Hearing Yu Guimiao’s voice in the crowd, Jiang Beiran suddenly frowned and looked in their direction.

“Hiss… why are these five golden flowers here?”

Jiang Beiran was sure that they definitely didn’t follow him in. Otherwise, he would have noticed them long ago. Therefore, they must have came here when he was concentrating on alchemy.

“It’s an unfortunate fate…”

Moreover, Jiang Beiran guessed that they must have recognized him. After all, he didn’t change the style of his Suit of Blending In.

“Next time, I’ll make it into another style.”

Pushing the box containing the Green Jade Pill back to the steward, Jiang Beiran turned around and left.

Although the Mystic Sun Immortal Herb was a little tempting, it was not precious enough. It was not worth Jiang Beiran’s risk at all.

“Little friend, please wait a moment.”

Just as Jiang Beiran was about to walk out of the counter, a white-bearded elder pushed open the door and called out to Jiang Beiran.

“Is there anything else?” Jiang Beiran asked without turning his head.

“Actually, after three stages, this Mystic Sun Immortal Herb is already yours, young friend. This fourth stage is entirely my personal wish. If I have offended you, I will apologize to you.”

Hearing that the other party’s attitude was not bad, and that the system did not give any more notifications, Jiang Beiran turned around and said, “I’m not offended. You don’t have to apologize either. Then, can you give this Mystic Sun Immortal Herb to me now?”

“Of course, but before that, can I invite you in to have a seat?”

Seeing that the system still did not give any notifications, Jiang Beiran replied, “Alright, since it’s an invitation from an elder, I have no reason to reject it.”

After saying that, Jiang Beiran cupped his hands towards the surrounding people and said, “Thank you for speaking up for me just now.”

When the surrounding people heard that, they also cupped their hands towards Jiang Beiran and said, “You’re too polite. This was originally something that you deserved.”

Cupping his hands once again, Jiang Beiran took out a few porcelain bottles from his storage ring and handed them to the steward and said, “Please help me distribute these Jade Dew Pills to the friends here. It should be enough.”

“Jade Dew Pills!?”

Everyone was shocked when they heard that. These were tier two pills! He gave them away just like that, and he even gave them dozens of pills. This was too generous!

In their shock, everyone quickly cupped their hands to Jiang Beiran and thanked him. “Brother, you are so kind! We will remember this in our hearts!”

Finally, he cupped his hands to everyone and followed the old man into the inner hall.

“How overbearing… he just gives out dozens of tier 2 medicinal pills, such generosity.” “I finally understand what it means to be a true alchemy master. Tier 2 medicinal pills are probably like candy to him.” “I’m convinced… where did this expert come from?”

Hearing the group of people flattering their senior brother, Liu Zijin and the other three became complacent. They thought to themselves, “That’s right, Brother Jiang is much higher than you can imagine!”

There were reasons why Jiang Beiran did this. Firstly, that he was indeed very grateful to the surrounding disciples. No matter what the purpose was, they were all helping him to criticize the alchemist guild. All of them had a sense of justice. Secondly, he wanted to show off his skills and shock this guild. He wanted them to think that there was someone higher up or an organization behind him. They should not treat him as a soft persimmon.

“Please take a seat.”

Jiang Beiran followed the old man to a private room in the inner hall. The old man gestured to Jiang Beiran to take a seat.

“After you,” Jiang Beiran politely replied.

The old man smiled and returned to his seat, he picked up the teapot and asked, “Little friend, do you like tea?”

Jiang Beiran nodded. “Yes, I do.” “Haha, then you must try our Sect of Masked Moon’s specialty, White Moonlight. This tea leaves are collected once a year and is very precious. I won’t make it for ordinary people.” As the old man spoke, he took out a very exquisite wooden carving box from the cabinet below and placed it on the table.

He took out some white tea leaves from the box and placed them into the pot. As the old man filled the pot with water, he introduced himself, “I am the vice president of this alchemist guild. My surname is Qi, and my name is Wenlin.” “So it’s President Qi. Sorry for my rudeness.” “It’s the vice president.” Shaking the teapot, Qi Wenlin asked again, “May I know how to address you, little friend?”

“President Qi, please just call me little friend.”

Knowing that Jiang Beiran was unwilling to reveal his name, Qi Wenlin did not continue to ask, after making the tea, he poured a cup for Jiang Beiran and said, “Although you’re wearing a mask, with my many years of experience, I can tell that you are about 20 years old, but you already have such ability in pill refining. The younger generation is truly formidable.”

“President Qi, you flatter me. It’s just some petty tricks.”

“Hahaha, it’s a good thing for young people to be humble.” After pouring another cup of tea for himself, Qi Wenlin asked, “May I know where you learned it?”

“My master is a hermit. He doesn’t allow me to reveal his name. Please forgive me, President

Qi.”

“I understand, I understand. Come, have a taste of this tea first. It won’t taste good once it’s cold.”

Jiang Beiran nodded, picked up the teacup, and took a sip.

“How is it?” Qi Wenlin asked.

Jiang Beiran smiled slightly and replied, “It’s average.”

“Pfft…”

Qi Wenlin had just taken a sip of tea, and he almost spat it all out. “Cough.” After adjusting his posture and returning to his previous temperament, Qi Wenlin smiled and said, “It seems that you always drink good tea. Sorry for the embarrassment.” “I’m sorry, President Qi. I’m a straightforward person. If I say something wrong, please be magnanimous and don’t hold it against me.” Qi Wenlin, who immediately understood what Jiang Beiran meant, nodded slightly. “Little friend, you’re also a wonderful person.”

“I don’t dare to admit it. May I know why President Qi is looking for me?”

“Since you have asked, then I’ll be straightforward. I wonder if you have joined any alchemist guild before?”

“No, but I don’t plan to join your guild either.”

Qi Wenlin, who had just been choked by Jiang Beiran, was now somewhat prepared, but he didn’t expect Jiang Beiran to reject him so decisively. He even blocked the road before he could speak.

“It’s fine. Let’s just make friend. In the future, if you have any needs, you can cooperate with our guild.”

After a moment of contemplation, Jiang Beiran said, “My master’s birthday is in a month. I want to give a big gift to my master. If President Qi can help me, I will definitely be grateful.”

“It’s good that you show your respect to your master. I will definitely give my full support to your filial piety. What do you want to give

me?”

“Tianluo Cauldron.”

“Pu…”

Qi Wenlin, who had just recovered a little, almost spat out another mouthful of tea.

“Tianluo Cauldron? Since you know the name of this cauldron, you should know its origin, right?”

“Of course I know.”

A hundred years ago, there was a meteorite from outer space that smashed into Qizhou. After that, it was forged into nine cauldrons by a mighty figure, and this Tianluo Cauldron was one of them.

Legend had it that this cauldron was originally called the Heavenly Luo Cauldron. It meant that this cauldron was all-encompassing and could be used to refine anything. However, that mighty figure later felt that the Heavenly Luo cauldron was too unpleasant to hear. He thought that its materials came from outer space, so he changed its name to the Tianluo Cauldron.

These nine cauldrons later recognized as precious cauldrons in the world of alchemy. It was rumored that using it to refine pills was not only twice the result with half the effort, but it could also refine nine-patterned divine pills that could only be refined from these nine cauldrons. It could be said that its divine power was boundless.

“You’re really joking. or… do you know where this Tianluo Cauldron is located?”

“I don’t know.” Jiang Beiran shook his head.

II

11

After a moment of silence, Qi Wenlin cupped his hands and said, “Then please forgive this old man for not being able to do anything.”

He felt that if this little friend in front of him continued to lead the topic away, it would become stranger. This time, Qi Wenlin was the first to speak. “Speaking of cauldrons, we have an exceptionally good one in our guild. If you are interested, I can bring you to have a look.” “That would be best, of course.” Jiang Beiran stood up immediately after saying that. “Hehe, little friend, you are really impatient. Alright, then we will go and have a look first.”

Along the way, Jiang Beiran could not help but sigh at how big this industry was. It was full of twists and turns.

Finally, they came to a door. Before the door opened, Jiang Beiran knew that it was an alchemy room. The smell of the medicine was too strong. He could smell hundreds of medicinal herbs with just a sniff.

After opening the door, Jiang Beiran walked in with Qi Wenlin.

“There are a lot of members in your guild.” Jiang Beiran said as he looked inside. “Haha, after all, we are affiliated with Sect of Masked Moon. Many people came because of the fame of Sect of Masked Moon, and there are also many disciples of the sect.”

Jiang Beiran nodded and followed Qi Wenlin to a small room at the back of the hall.

He took out the key and opened the door. Without waiting for Qi Wenlin to introduce, Jiang Beiran’s gaze was attracted by the emerald-green cauldron inside.

Seeing that Jiang Beiran was very interested, Qi Wenlin didn’t say anything and just watched quietly. Jiang Beiran used his hand to feel the material of the cauldron and said in surprise, “I didn’t expect you have the Peacock Cauldron. It really opened my eyes.”

“Young friend, you can actually tell that this is the Peacock Cauldron at a glance. What an eye-opener.”

“Master taught me to recognize cauldrons in the past, and I remember quite a lot.”

If a cauldron was divided into nine tiers, and the cauldron that Jiang Beiran was currently using was a tier 3 cauldron, then this Peacock Cauldron was a tier 4 cauldron. If one used it to refine medicine, the temperature in the cauldron would be exceptionally high, and it would be able to burn some difficult-to-purify medicinal ingredients into a liquid state.

For example, the soul baby fruit.

“What an unexpected harvest.” Jiang Beiran exclaimed in his heart.

He was originally planning on how to get a better cauldron when he returned, but he did not expect that it would actually come knocking on his door so quickly.

“Are you satisfied?” “Yes, very satisfied.”

“That’s good. If you can do me a favor, I’ll give you this cauldron as a reward.”

[ Option 1: Agree to Qi Wenlin. Reward: Sheng Yang Palm (black grade middle tier)]

[ Option 2: Ask for help. Reward: Bai Lian Yin (yellow grade high tier)]

[ Option 3: Directly reject. Reward for completion: Random basic attribute points + 1]

“Oh? Here we go again.”

The reason why Jiang Beiran chatted some weird topics with Qi Wenlin was because from the option that he had triggered just now. If he exposed too much of his strength in front of President Qi, he would be in trouble.

He had wanted to pretend to be an unworldly expert to scare him, but he did not expect that this person would still push him into the pit.

However, Jiang Beiran was reluctant to give up the opportunity to make a deal with President Qi. After all, such an opportunity was too rare.

It wasn’t that rare Peacock Cauldron was rare, but it was rare to see someone who could talk to him for a long time before activating the option. In the past few years, there were many people with ulterior motives wanted to talk about cooperation with him. They all triggered black grade or higher option with just a few sentences.

Therefore, most of the time, Jiang Beiran could only ask Gu Qinghuan to help him “do some business”, but he could not always order his errand boy. He definitely couldn’t let Gu Qinghuan sell tier 4 elixirs and peerless tier weapons. Otherwise, no matter how smart he was, he wouldn’t be able to avoid being hunted down by masters who were several levels higher than him.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Beiran shook his head and said, “No, I don’t like this kind of trading method.”

[ Chosen quest completed. Reward: Mind + 1]

“Rejected again!?”

If it weren’t for the fact that Jiang Beiran’s potential was too great, Qi Wenlin would have already ordered the guards to kick him out. He didn’t want to suffer any losses at all. How could they talk about cooperation like this?

However, after thinking about Jiang Beiran’s strength of a tier 4 alchemist at such a young age and his reclusive master, Qi Wenlin suppressed his anger and asked, “Then, what kind of trading method do you like?”

“An equivalent exchange.”

After saying this, Jiang Beiran took out two bottles from his storage ring, one blue and one black. He then took out a spirit medicine with a spiral pill pattern from each bottle and placed it in his palm, displaying it to Qi Wenlin.

“President Qi, what do you think of these two spirit medicines?”

Qi Wenlin took a closer look, sniffed it, and finally said in surprise, “Jade Toad Pill and the Mystic-breaking Pill!”

At this moment, the image of the master behind Jiang Beiran in Qi Wenlin’s heart rose again. This was because these two spirit medicines could only be refined by a tier 5 alchemist. Moreover, they had to be of the very experienced kind. Qi Wenlin really didn’t believe that Jiang Beiran could refine them at his age, so he was very sure that these two pills must have been given to him by his master.

“President Qi, you have good taste. It’s precisely these two spirit medicines. Are you interested?”

“If you want to use these two spirit herbs to exchange for the Peacock Cauldron, then I’m afraid…”

“No, two Jade Toad Pills and two Mystic-breaking Pills each. What do you think?”