Chapter 42 – Join the Advent Cult, Win Their Trust!

Chapter 42 – Join the Advent Cult, Win Their Trust!

【You had been waiting for this day for a long time, and so you had prepared well in advance.】

【After one night, sure enough, Wang Qingxuan gave you the first half of the Eternal Spring Art. You did not accept it, and instead proposed that you wanted to join the Advent Cult.】

【Wang Qingxuan hesitated somewhat. She told you plainly that this would plunge you into an endless abyss, but under your insistence, Wang Qingxuan agreed.】

【After you spent an intimate day together, Wang Qingxuan took you to meet an elder from her squad.】

【This elder carefully sized you up. He seemed to think you were merely a lowly Bronze-stage Class User, and so he stated bluntly that your strength was far too insignificant. However, out of respect for Wang Qingxuan, he would reluctantly allow you to join.】

【You knew it was time to demonstrate your value, so you pulled out a cleaver and slashed one of the Advent Cult members standing beside you.】

【Since you had controlled your strength, this cult member was not killed outright. Instead, a massive wound dozens of centimeters long appeared on his arm, deep enough to expose bone.】

【The elder was stunned for a moment, then flew into a rage. He believed you were overestimating yourself and trying to challenge the Advent Cult’s dignity, so he ordered over a dozen cult members to surround you.】

【In the urgent moment, Wang Qingxuan stepped in front of you, wanting to protect you.】

【But you reassured her, gently pushed her aside, then took out a pill and stuffed it into the injured cult member’s mouth.】

【A miraculous scene unfolded—the wound on the cult member’s arm began to scab over rapidly, though his complexion was still somewhat pale.】

【You then fed him an ungraded blood-replenishing pill, and soon, the gravely wounded cult member was back on his feet, lively as ever.】

【The elder was greatly shocked, and the way he looked at you became somewhat peculiar.】

【You stated plainly that you were an alchemist, that this miraculous pill was something you had refined yourself, and that you had long admired the Advent Cult and wished to join.】

【At the same time, you expressed that you wanted to obtain a higher position and did not want to start out as a mere lackey. You told the elder that he wasn’t qualified to decide, and told him to summon someone with more authority in the cult.】

【The elder’s expression shifted between surprise and doubt. Although he felt your claims were somewhat presumptuous, he also recognized your value. A master capable of refining such miraculous healing medicine was absolutely not something he could make decisions about.】

【So the elder took good care of you, while simultaneously arranging people to monitor you. He told you that within three days at most, a Protector-level figure would come to evaluate you, and as long as you passed the evaluation, you could become an elder just like him.】

“Hoo…”

Seeing this, Su Xing let out a turbid breath, his mood somewhat excited.

In this simulation, he had truly burned his bridges, directly exposing his value before the Advent Cult. Perhaps he could reap enormous benefits, or perhaps it would cause this simulation to end in failure!

“But… fortunately it’s just a simulation. Getting the Eternal Spring Art is what matters most!”

Su Xing continued the simulation.

【Three days later, an old man sought you out. He personally verified the effects of the Healing Pill and discovered that it was comparable to some medium-quality healing potions. He immediately understood the value within.】

【But at the same time, this old man seemed very curious about why you could refine such wondrous pills.】

【You stated plainly that your class was Cultivator, and that you had obtained the skill of alchemy through a chance encounter, which allowed you to mass-produce pills. Furthermore, you indicated that aside from Healing Pills, you could also refine several types of even more precious pills.】

【The old man’s face broke into a faint smile upon hearing this, as if he had already known this would be the case. He told you bluntly that you had spoken the truth—if you had lied just now, he would have killed you on the spot without hesitation!】

【He then told you that he could provisionally grant you the position of Vice Elder and would conduct a one-year evaluation period. Once you passed the evaluation, they would give you the official position of Elder!】

Seeing this, a look of understanding crossed Su Xing’s face as he murmured:

“As expected, the Advent Cult definitely knows something about the cultivation world! They even know that what I’m refining are pills specifically for cultivators… So, could they have access to the entrance of a cultivation dungeon?”

Su Xing’s heart surged with excitement. His understanding of the cultivation world was still far too limited.

Especially when it came to cultivation methods—he had no master or lineage, and had fumbled his way forward entirely on his own.

So if he could learn more about the cultivation world through the Advent Cult, that would be an incredible windfall!

Su Xing took a deep breath and continued the simulation.

【You agreed to the Protector’s terms and joined the Advent Cult!】

【Unlike the official organizations that could operate in the open, the Advent Cult was more like rats in the sewers, lurking in the shadows.】

【The old man called himself Protector Shadow. He issued your first month’s task, requiring you to refine five hundred Healing Pills and one hundred Organ Tempering Pills.】

【You indicated that you lacked materials for alchemy and needed more medicinal herbs to refine pills.】

【Protector Shadow agreed to your request, and the next day he had his subordinates deliver a large batch of medicinal herbs.】

【You falsified the quantity of herbs needed, secretly embezzling the vast majority of the materials, then used some scraps and leftovers to refine five hundred Healing Pills and one hundred Organ Tempering Pills.】

【But they seemed unaware of your deception, simply assuming your alchemy skills were at that level. Moreover, they noted that the pills you refined had excellent potency, and so they requested you refine even more.】

【As you continuously supplied the Advent Cult with pills, your status within the cult rose higher and higher. The elder who had previously looked down on you now affectionately called you “brother.” You had become a rising star within the Advent Cult.】

【As your status grew, you also came to learn some of the cult’s hidden secrets.】

【Another half year passed like this. Over these six months, you had provided the Advent Cult with several thousand Healing Pills and nearly one thousand Organ Tempering Pills. The cult’s suspicion of you dwindled further and further, and they had come to regard you as one of their own.】

【And as you continued to prove your value, the cult’s upper echelons provided you with increasingly precious materials, including some spiritual herbs—herbs rare enough to allow you to attempt refining new pills.】

【You secretly pocketed the spiritual herbs and began attempting to learn how to refine a new pill on your own—the spirit nurturing pill!】

Seeing this, Su Xing nodded slightly.

The spirit nurturing pill and the Essence Nurturing Pill were both low-grade pills, but their effects were vastly different. The Essence Nurturing Pill nourished a cultivator’s physique and magical power, and was important for enhancing spiritual energy.

But the spirit nurturing pill was used to enhance a cultivator’s spiritual consciousness. The concept of spiritual consciousness was profoundly mysterious—something akin to a cultivator’s sixth sense.

The Eternal Spring Art had vaguely mentioned spiritual consciousness, stating that it was a technique only Nascent Soul stage cultivators could master.

However, even at the Golden Core stage, consuming Spirit Nurturing Pills could yield tremendous benefits, such as improving one’s control over spiritual energy, among other things.

The only issue was that the spirit nurturing pill’s primary ingredient, spirit nurturing grass, was quite precious—even more precious than Essence Nurturing Grass.

【You swindled over a hundred stalks of spirit nurturing grass from the Advent Cult and began attempting to refine Spirit Nurturing Pills on your own!】