In the end, Meng Hao couldn’t hold back from adding, “Next time you hire people, it’s one merit point per person. That should be enough.”
Sighing, he turned and headed into his residence.
Of the more than three thousand merit points he had started out with, he now had less than half left. It was quite a blow.
Add to that the fact that later that night, Meng Hao had to duplicate more Spirit Elixir to use on the Nirvana Fruit, and the result was that by the following day, his bag of holding once again seemed sadly shrunken. By that time, Meng Hao truly felt as if he were about to go crazy.
He loved spirit stones, and loved being wealthy. Furthermore, what he loved least was spending his spirit stones….
To him, it felt like draining out his own blood.
At dawn, Meng Hao emerged. When Fang Xi saw him, he stared in shock.
“Coz, what’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.
Meng Hao’s eyes were completely red, and his expression had become somewhat vicious. He took a deep breath and cleared his head. Deep within his eyes, a brilliant light flickered.
“I HAVE to get rich! I HAVE to get merit points!!”
Meng Hao returned to the Dao of Alchemy Division, and to Peak #7191. Yet again, he lectured about plants and vegetation. However, this time, there were actually fewer people than last time, only about nine hundred.
There wasn’t much he could do. In order to get as many merit points as possible, he lectured for an entire day before leaving in exhaustion.
Each time he came after that, there were fewer people. After about a month, there were just over four hundred people who came, causing Meng Hao to sigh. The ones that stayed behind were the original group of apprentice alchemists, the ones whose fervor toward Meng Hao was the most intense.
Among their number was also tier 1 alchemist Fang Qun, who fairly worshipped Meng Hao.
After finishing his lecture, Meng Hao didn’t leave. Instead, he went to Fang Qun’s Immortal’s cave and directly asked some questions.
“Fang Qun, in the Fang Clan’s Dao of alchemy division, how do apprentice alchemists get promoted to full alchemist?”
Fang Qun always treated Meng Hao very respectfully. Despite his surprise about the question, he quickly answered.
“To become a full alchemist, you have to concoct at least a thousand tier 1 medicinal pills, and must also pass through the first level of the Medicine Pavilion.
“The first thing to do is pass through the Medicine Pavilion. That indicates that your skill with plants and vegetation has reached the level of a tier 1 alchemist.
“Unfortunately, it’s very difficult. Anyone in the Dao of Alchemy Division who hasn’t studied plants and vegetation for at least ten years would have a very hard time passing the first level. Take me, for example. I can concoct tier 2 medicinal pills, although my success rate isn’t very high. However, despite my best efforts, I barely passed the examination of the Medicine Pavilion. Due to my lack of skill in plants and vegetation, I wasn’t able to get past the second level, and in the end, I became a tier 1 alchemist.” Fang Qun chuckled bitterly.
“Medicine Pavilion?” asked Meng Hao, his eyes sparkling. “How do you get into it?”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a full alchemist or an apprentice alchemist, anyone can enter the pavilion at any time. The Medicine Pavilion was set up in the past by a Patriarch of the Dao of Alchemy Division. It tests everything that you can think of, and has nine levels, which corresponds to the nine tiers for alchemists.
“Anyone who feels confident enough, can pay one hundred merit points to go to the inner mountains and take the Medicine Pavilion trial by fire.
“It’s extremely hard,” said Fang Qun, lowering his voice. “Of all the apprentice alchemists from Peak #7191, only about seven or eight might be able to attempt it, and that would only be after another ten or more years of study. As for the rest, most would need dozens of years of study before they could even think about trying. If you were to try to brute-force imprint your memory with knowledge, your mental world would burst from being overwhelmed by the infinite possible varieties of plants and vegetation. Unless your cultivation base is at an unfathomable level, of course.”
Meng Hao knew that when it came to plants and vegetation, there were endless variations, which were hard to imprint with spiritual sense. After hearing Fang Qun’s explanation, Meng Hao began to mutter to himself. Then, a plan started to form in his mind.