The junior relatives of several Cultivators approached, one of them carrying a gift box wrapped in bright red silk.
Since they had come on business, Bai Mo felt it was no longer appropriate to continue the discussion.
Bidding farewell to his fellow Daoists with a smile, Bai Mo ended the enjoyable discussion and headed toward the registration area.
On the streets ahead, most of the people they saw were alchemy apprentices. They spoke eloquently and passionately, their conversations filled with matters of alchemy, leaving Lanshan utterly astonished.
"There aren't any actual Pill Masters here, are there?"
Bai Mo shook his head. "What would a Pill Master be doing here with nothing better to do?"
From what he could see, none of the Cultivators before them had an overly dense Pill Qi about them.
Lan Ru looked around and whispered, "I wonder if there's anyone here from our Immortal Arrival City."
The alchemy apprentices chattered away noisily in various accents. The further they walked, the more skilled the apprentices who dared to speak so grandly seemed to be.
There were almost no empty talkers.
Someone who only spouted nonsense couldn't make a place for themselves here.
Just then, Bai Mo saw a man get interrupted mid-sentence. Someone had jumped out and refuted his points so thoroughly that he was left speechless, eventually covering his face in shame and anger as he fled.
The registration point was a three-story pavilion with all its doors and windows closed.
Although the pavilion was only three stories tall, it was built to be exceptionally large and imposing, with a simple yet grand air.
It sat there with a majestic and powerful presence.
In front of the pavilion was a raised platform some forty or fifty feet long.
A few Cultivators sat behind it, grinding ink and holding brushes, helping the arriving Cultivators register.
Occasionally, when they encountered a novice who had clearly never refined more than a few batches of Pills, their expressions would turn sour, and they would register the person with ill-tempered reluctance.
They would even scold them a little.
Bai Mo happened to be in line behind one such Cultivator, and only stepped up after the person retreated.
Seeing Bai Mo, the Cultivator in charge of registration finally relaxed his expression a bit.
"Fellow Daoist, are you also here to register for the Pill Master certification?"
Bai Mo nodded.
"Greetings, fellow Daoist. I'll have to trouble you to register me."
Bai Mo could tell that these Cultivators, who seemed to be doing menial work, actually possessed considerable Alchemy Skill.
The Cultivator before him seemed a little surprised, apparently noticing Bai Mo's youth.
He sized Bai Mo up carefully before speaking.
"Please state your name, fellow Daoist."
Bai Mo gave his name and also mentioned where he was staying.
The Cultivator noted it all down and said:
"Please extend your hand, fellow Daoist."
Bai Mo did as asked and held out his hand. The registering Cultivator grabbed it and gave it a squeeze.
Bai Mo winced in pain, realizing the man was testing his bone age.
"Do you need to be so thorough?"
The registering Cultivator chuckled.
"Of course. People who blossom late are a minority, after all. Pill Masters with greater potential are naturally screened and noted separately."
In the end, Bai Mo received a black wooden token with a red border. It was impossible to tell how many hands it had passed through. On it were the characters "Yi-Seven."
"The certification begins on the fifteenth. You should arrive a bit early, fellow Daoist."
Bai Mo agreed. Seeing no one behind him, he ventured another question.
"If I may ask, have any other alchemy apprentices from Immortal Arrival City come to register for the certification?"
The Cultivator was taken aback for a moment, then thought carefully.
"Besides you, fellow Daoist, there have been no others."
"Historically, very few alchemy apprentices from Immortal Arrival City come for certification. Your Alchemy Dao isn't very developed over there."
Bai Mo had to agree with that.
He had been thinking that if there were people from his hometown, he might pay them a visit and build some connections.
'Now I don't have to worry about that.'
"No wonder Pills are so expensive in Immortal Arrival City," Lanshan muttered.
"And those few Pill Masters there are notoriously black-hearted. There are rumors going around that..." Lan Ru also whispered quietly.
Normally, Bai Mo would have been happy to listen to some gossip about his peers.
But in a place like this, heaven knew if someone might jump out to defend their honor.
'Gossip you can't enjoy in peace isn't good fun.'
With a tug, Bai Mo pulled the two siblings away from the registration area in a hurry.
By the time they finished their business and returned to the inn, it was already evening.
Lanshan hadn't bought anything else on the way back.
The money he had left was for Lan Ru to use for smoothing things over after she entered the sect.
They had just ordered food in the inn's main hall and were sipping hot tea when the old man from the caravan returned.
The old man was empty-handed, but his face was wreathed in smiles.
"How did your business go?" Lanshan asked after greeting him.
"Thanks to all of you, everything went well."
"Business in the city is always good before and after the Pill Master certification. Many people were interested in the goods we brought. It only took a bit of running around to get things settled."
The old man himself was surprised; he had been prepared to spend several more days on it.
After exchanging a few casual words with Lanshan, the old man turned to Bai Mo.
"While I was out, I heard many people say that if an alchemy apprentice wants to participate in a good Pill Assembly, they need to make a point of showing off their skills in public to attract attention."
"A merchant guild I met with is looking to hire an alchemy apprentice to draw a crowd. They'll handle the promotion."
"Brother Bai, are you interested?"
Bai Mo said, "No, thank you. The best Pill Assembly isn't necessarily the most high-end one, but one where you can actually learn something."
"The Ren family's Pill Assembly should be enough."
'I don't want to waste the effort.'
The old man didn't mind. The Pill Assemblies in Celestial Mountain City were a mixed bag; heaven knew what kind of event his business partner was organizing.
After chatting a bit more about the day's events, everyone returned to their rooms.
At that moment, the guards from the large common room were just beginning to emerge one by one, calling for food.
After asking an attendant to bring some spare candles, Bai Mo pushed open the window, moved a stool over, and sat down by it.
The *Jia Chen Alchemy Skill* manual lay open in his hands. Bai Mo rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling a little tired.
'I probably won't be able to read for much longer tonight.'
His conversation with those Cultivators earlier today had given him many new insights.
Now was the perfect time to cross-reference them with what was written in the book.
The Alchemy Dao was built up bit by bit, just like this.
The sun set, and the light in the room shifted from dusk to the glow of candle and moon.
Near midnight, the window was closed and the candle extinguished. The night passed quietly.
「The next day, just as the sky was beginning to brighten.」
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Two soft knocks sounded at the door. Bai Mo woke up, still a bit groggy.
He opened the door to see Lanshan, with Lan Ru by his side.
Lanshan's face was alight with excitement, a complete contrast to the poorly rested Bai Mo.
"Shopkeeper Bai, I'm taking Ru'Er out now. We're going to meet the esteemed master from the Xuandao Sect."
Bai Mo's spirits lifted, genuinely happy for Lan Ru.
"In that case, I wish Miss Ru'Er success in all her endeavors!!"
Lanshan laughed heartily.
"I hope your auspicious words come true, Shopkeeper Bai! But I actually came to ask, is there anything you want?"
He pointed a finger upward.
"The esteemed master from the Xuandao Sect has chosen to meet people at Mingding Tower. It's a famous commercial pavilion in Celestial Mountain City."
"It's difficult for ordinary people to even get in. Since I have this chance, I can help Shopkeeper Bai bring something back..."
Bai Mo wanted to see what the Pill Books in Celestial Mountain City were like.
But he figured Lanshan wouldn't know the first thing about them.
"To be honest with you, Brother Lanshan, my qi guiding technique is just some run-of-the-mill version from the markets of Immortal Arrival City."
"Could you help me bring back a decent qi guiding technique manual?"
As he spoke, Bai Mo hurried back into his room, retrieved thirty Spirit Stones, and pressed them into Lanshan's hand.
Lanshan put the Spirit Stones away safely.
"Thirty Spirit Stones... it's unlikely I'll be able to get a top-tier qi guiding technique."
"But I'll use my judgment and do my best to pick out a good one for you, Shopkeeper Bai."
Bai Mo nodded repeatedly.
'It's just a qi guiding technique for cultivating during the Qi Refining Stage.'
'Besides those from prominent families or Sect Disciples, no one would be thinking about pulling far ahead of others at this stage.'
Watching the Lanshan siblings leave the inn in high spirits, Bai Mo yawned, went back to his room, and flopped onto the bed.
"I'll just grab a little more sleep before getting up for good."