Bia Yuzhen's first pills weren't going anywhere outside the Bia estate, not yet anyway. He wasn't about to let Mingzu City get too much information too quickly. The Chen and Xu families had already made their moves, and the Yu family was observing the city's dynamics with their usual quiet intensity. If word got out now that he'd also jumped into alchemy, every single one of his actions would draw even more scrutiny.
He was recovering. He was back to cultivating. He'd be heading to the Southern Region gathering soon. That was already plenty for the city to chew on; no need to give them more. So, for the time being, the pills were staying put within the Bia family. It was safer. Cleaner. And sufficient.
By this point, Yuzhen had pushed past the worst of his failures. The furnace still wasn't exactly cooperating, but at least it wasn't actively fighting him anymore. His heat control had improved, his timing was better, and even his hands, which had initially been way too stiff and hesitant, were starting to move with a bit more instinct. Not perfect, not natural, but way less like he was carefully tiptoeing across a frozen lake.
In Xiaoren's opinion, that improvement wasn't worth much. "You've gone from totally hopeless to barely tolerable," the little jade ginseng commented, hands clasped behind its back as Yuzhen opened the furnace.
Yuzhen reached in with a cloth-wrapped hand and pulled out the pills one by one. "Your praise is as heartwarming as ever."
"I know."
The tray next to him held four new Spirit-Replenishing Pills. Two were clearly low-grade. One looked good at first glance but had an uneven medicinal flow upon closer inspection. And the last one— Yuzhen picked it up, examining it under the faint light of the pendant space. Its shape was neater, its scent more stable, and its spiritual aura felt more contained.
Xiaoren glanced at it and gave a short nod. "Medium quality."
Yuzhen looked up immediately. "This one too?"
"What do you mean, 'too'?" Xiaoren asked. "Did you think the heavens personally crafted the first one out of pity for you?"
Ignoring the jab, Yuzhen focused back on the pill. So, he was slowly getting there. Not making high-quality pills yet, not even close, but medium quality had appeared twice now. That meant it wasn't just a fluke. That mattered. He placed the pill into a separate jade bottle and started cleaning the furnace.
The scent of herbs still lingered around him. The spiritual land nearby pulsed with a soft glow. Beyond the fields, the library buildings stood silent and sealed, their upper levels still inaccessible. They wouldn't just open up because he wanted them to; his cultivation and mastery needed to advance first. That was fine. He'd stopped expecting any shortcuts from this place. The pendant space offered opportunities, not instant results. Results were still his own doing.
When he finally emerged from the space, the afternoon sun outside had barely budged from the western edge of his window. Time moved differently inside, but the room he returned to was as still as ever. The furnace by the wall looked ordinary. The herb boxes were neatly stacked. Nothing in the quiet courtyard hinted at a treasure space, a hidden spirit, or an inherited legacy. Good. That's how he liked it.
A knock sounded at the door. Yuzhen set the jade bottle down and said, "Come in."
Bia Anhe entered first without waiting, a plate of sliced fruit in one hand and the unmistakable air of someone who definitely wasn't here for purely official reasons. Behind them followed Bia Lanyue, who looked far more composed and therefore far more intimidating.
"I told them not to rush in," Lanyue said.
Anhe set the fruit down. "And I ignored you."
Yuzhen looked from one to the other. "Should I be worried?"
"Yes," Anhe chirped cheerfully.
"No," Lanyue stated at the same time.
Yuzhen expected nothing less. Anhe's eyes immediately zeroed in on the furnace, then the small jade bottle near Yuzhen's hand. Their whole face lit up. "Did it work?"
Yuzhen didn't answer right away. That alone was enough. Anhe dragged a chair over and sat. "Show me." Lanyue remained standing, but her gaze was also fixed on the bottle.
Yuzhen considered for a moment, then opened it and tipped the medium-quality pill into his palm. Anhe leaned in so quickly it was almost impolite. Lanyue moved closer too, though with more restraint. For a beat, neither spoke. Then Anhe said, "That looks better than the last one."
Yuzhen looked at them. "You're comparing it to the one I made before?"
Anhe blinked. "Of course."
"You remember it?"
"It was memorably ugly."
Lanyue made a soft sound that might have been agreement. Yuzhen closed his fingers slightly around the pill. "You two really don't know how to offer encouragement."
"That wasn't discouraging," Anhe insisted. "This one is obviously better."
Lanyue finally spoke. "How many can you make now?"
Yuzhen answered honestly. "Not many."
"Enough to use?"
"Yes."
"Enough to sell?" Anhe blurted out immediately.
Lanyue turned to look at them. "That was quick."
"It's a practical question."
"It's a greedy question."
"Both can be true."
Yuzhen sat down by the table and returned the pill to its bottle. "For now, only within the family."
Anhe leaned forward. "So you've thought about it."
Yuzhen poured tea. "I think about many things."
"That sounded suspiciously profound."
"It wasn't meant to."
Lanyue ignored them both and asked, "Why only within the family?"
Yuzhen slid a cup toward her. "Because if outsiders find out too soon, they'll start calculating how fast I'm progressing."
She took the cup and nodded once. "That's reasonable."
Anhe sighed dramatically. "You two are so cautious. Sometimes I feel like the only lively person in this courtyard."
"You are," Yuzhen said.
Lanyue added, "That isn't praise."
Anhe grabbed the remaining cup without asking. "I never asked for praise."
Yuzhen glanced at the bottle again. He'd made enough lower-quality Spirit-Replenishing Pills over the past few days that hoarding them all would be pointless. The Bia family wasn't exactly short on common pills, that was true, but that wasn't the real issue. What mattered was practice, and practice yielded results. If those results just sat in a box, they were wasted twice – once in herbs, and once in effort. Selling them within the family would solve that. It would also earn him spirit stones. And spirit stones mattered. More than Anhe or Lanyue realized.
Anhe must have noticed something on his face because they put their cup down and asked, "How many are you thinking of?"
"Not many," Yuzhen replied. "A few at a time. Nothing unusual."
Lanyue rested a hand on the table. "Who would even buy from you?"
"Family disciples getting ready to travel. Stewards with juniors heading out. Maybe some outer branch youths." He paused. "People who need a little extra support before the gathering."
Anhe's eyes lit up immediately. "That's easy."
Lanyue looked less impressed. "Nothing is easy when it involves keeping people quiet."
Anhe waved a hand. "Inside the family is different."
"Inside the family," Lanyue countered, "is exactly where people get careless."
Yuzhen listened to their back-and-forth for a moment, then said, "I don't need many buyers." That got their attention. He continued, "Just a few. Quiet ones. The pills are basic anyway."
Anhe folded their arms. "Still. If word gets out within the family, it'll reach the city sooner or later."
"Yes," Yuzhen agreed. "But it's one thing for the city to hear I'm dabbling in alchemy. It's another if they hear too much, too soon." That was the key. Trying alchemy was believable. Showing a little success was also believable, especially with his wood-fire roots and the Bia family's resources backing him. Succeeding too fast, however, was dangerous.
Lanyue said, "You want this to become known gradually."
"Yes."
Anhe tilted their head. "Enough to build your name, but not enough to attract trouble."
Yuzhen looked at them. "You actually understand things sometimes."
"That was rude."
"It was accurate."
Lanyue took another sip of tea, then said, "I can think of three people who would buy and wouldn't blab carelessly."
Anhe immediately looked offended. "Only three? I had at least five."
"You count poorly."
"I count generously."
"Which is another way of saying poorly."
Yuzhen almost smiled. This was easier than dealing with the front hall. Easier than navigating Mingzu's market streets. Easier than watching old family ties reveal their weaknesses behind polite words. Here, at least, things stayed small and real. A furnace. Some herbs. A handful of cousins who cared more than they let on. A path that was actually moving forward.
In the end, they settled on a straightforward plan. Three lower-quality pills would be discreetly passed to trusted Bia disciples preparing for the trip. One medium-quality pill would be set aside for later, unless someone within the direct family line needed it first. No one would mention the source of the pills outside their small circle. If asked, the explanation would remain vague: family stock. A quiet arrangement. Nothing worth making a fuss about. Whether that story would hold up for long was another matter.
By evening, the first three pills had already found buyers. Not outsiders. Not even opportunistic members of the outer branches. Only Bia people. Bia Wenxiu bought one and clearly tried his best to act like he was doing Yuzhen a favor. Bia Shuyin bought one, inspected it in silence, and simply stated, "It's decent." The third went to an older cousin traveling with the junior group, who paid immediately and asked no foolish questions.
When Anhe returned with the spirit stones, they dropped the small pouch onto Yuzhen's table with the satisfied air of someone returning from a successful mission. "There," they said.
Yuzhen opened it. Low-grade spirit stones, of course. That was the common currency on the lower continent. Nothing out of the ordinary there. But the amount still gave him pause. Not because it was large, but because it was *his*. Earned from his own pills. From effort he'd personally invested.
Anhe clearly relished his silence. "You look moved."
"I'm counting."
"You can be moved while counting."
Lanyue, who had entered behind them, dryly remarked, "For Yuzhen, I'm not sure that's true."
Yuzhen tied the pouch shut and stood. Anhe looked up immediately. "Where are you going?"
"To put these away."
"That sounds secretive."
"It is."
Anhe narrowed their eyes. "You've really become more interesting lately."
Yuzhen gave them a calm look. "You say that like I used to be dull."
"You used to be tragic."
Lanyue turned her face slightly, clearly trying to hide a smile. Yuzhen opted for dignity and walked into the inner room without a word.
Once alone, he immediately entered the pendant space. The jade spring flowed as gently as ever. He crouched beside it and fed the spirit stones in one by one. The water swallowed each stone without resistance. A faint glow spread beneath the surface, then slowly deepened. He watched intently. The first few times he'd done this, the reaction had been so subtle that only a keen observer would have noticed. But now he knew the signs better. The spring brightened. The mist over the fields thickened slightly. The spiritual land emitted a stronger pulse. Not a drastic change, but a change nonetheless. At the far edge of the herb field, the soil seemed to shift almost imperceptibly. Not enough to reveal a new section. Not enough to make him wildly hopeful. But enough to confirm the space had accepted the stones well.
Xiaoren, who had been sitting on a nearby rock as if expecting this exact moment, opened one eye. "Happy now?"
Yuzhen looked at the spring. "A little."
"Greedy."
"Yes."
That made Xiaoren snort. Yuzhen stood there for a while longer, surveying the land, the spring, the libraries, and the small patch of life that had become the center of everything he couldn't share. Then he murmured quietly, more to himself than anyone else, "Not enough."
Of course it wasn't enough. Not yet. He still needed more pills. More herbs. More practice. More spirit stones. More cultivation. The path ahead still held the lingering tensions of Mingzu, the Southern Region gathering, the long flight by airship, and the sect that stood at the continent's heart. But at least now he had proof of one thing. He wasn't just recovering anymore. He was already building something.