Chapter 270: Chapter 270: If the Lips are Gone, the Teeth will be Cold, A Salted Fish’s Dream

Things were quite peaceful in Qing State. However, Yang Chan heard that the border regions near the Jin Meng Empire were not so stable. The Jin Meng Empire’s army had appeared on the border, and while no major battles had broken out yet, they frequently plundered the borderlands for wealth and food.

This was all happening while the two nations were negotiating a marriage alliance, so there was some restraint. Still, the situation naturally made many people uneasy, and some even suspected the Jin Meng Empire was looking to start a war.

If a major war broke out between the two countries, his peaceful life would likely be affected. The Court would surely conscript soldiers and order the major sects to send people to join the fight.

As the hegemon of Qing State, the Cyan Yuan Sect would naturally be included. This was also a means of protecting their interests. After all, if they lost the war, every state would be affected. If the battlefield were to shift into their own state, the impact would be even more severe.

The major sects naturally understood this interdependence; if one falls, the others are at risk. Otherwise, so many sects wouldn’t have gotten involved with the No-Life Evil Cult in Yu State. They had sensed a threat and knew they had to join forces to nip it in the bud.

Therefore, Yang Chan was paying close attention, hoping the marriage alliance would be finalized. Once the two sides were joined by marriage, it would usher in at least a decade of relative peace, and the Cyan Yuan Sect would be largely unaffected.

Even an expert like Xu Chuan, the Vice Alliance Leader of the Pharmacist Alliance and a Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster, had died. This made Yang Chan feel that even being a Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster wasn’t completely safe. Naturally, he wanted more time. ’Once I achieve the first stage of being unrivaled in the world, then I’ll be out of danger.’

’I can take my time with the remaining two steps to becoming unrivaled.’

So, whether it was Princess Ninety-Nine or Princess Lan Yue, he just hoped the marriage alliance could be settled as soon as possible.

With these thoughts in mind, Yang Chan slowly rose from his reclining chair. He hadn’t needed to report to the Medicine Preparation Institute for tasks the last couple of days, so he had some leisure time.

He had yet to take the examination to become an Intermediate Pharmacist. He’d told Gu An that he wasn’t confident enough and wanted to gain more experience first.

In response, Gu An had told him not to rush, saying that at eighteen, he was still a young man with plenty of time.

After all, the Pharmacist Exchange Conference that Yang Chan and the others had attended in White Jade City had been cut short. Gu An naturally assumed Yang Chan hadn’t gained much from the trip. According to Xu Gaocen, who had also gone, they had gained nothing at all, except for a constant sense of dread.

Gu An naturally assumed the same was true for Yang Chan. They hadn’t seen any Advanced Pharmacists in action, let alone Top Level Pharmacists, nor had they received much guidance. Instead, the constant fear throughout the journey had taken a toll on their minds and bodies, so Gu An could only offer a few words of comfort.

Seeing his chance, Yang Chan naturally went along with it and didn’t rush his promotion to Intermediate Pharmacist. However, he never stopped refining elixirs, which was a major reason why Gu An didn’t press him.

After all, Yang Chan was constantly improving his elixir refining, and the skills he demonstrated were already outstanding. There was no need to put any more pressure on him.

Furthermore, the Cyan Yuan Sect was busy preparing the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill for Sect Leader Liu Xuan. The incident in White Jade City had made the Sect’s upper echelons feel threatened, and with the Jin Meng Empire stirring up trouble on the border, they were even more eager for Sect Leader Liu Xuan to break through to the Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster realm.

Some other sects might have hidden Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmasters, but the Cyan Yuan Sect certainly didn’t. Their last one had died over thirty years ago, so they urgently needed a new Grandmaster to maintain their standing.

This was crucial to prevent other sects from targeting them.

Gu An was also spending most of his time on these matters. Currently, the only person in the Cyan Yuan Sect capable of refining the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill was Elder Hua, Hua Yongnian, who was their last remaining Advanced Pharmacist.

Furthermore, due to the disappearance of Elder Yan, Yan Jinfeng, the other Intermediate Pharmacists in the Sect were given a greater share of Cultivation Resources. Xu Gaocen received the most, all in the hopes of nurturing another Advanced Pharmacist.

Yang Chan also received considerable support, which was one of the reasons he could quickly refine Guiyuan Pills and Qi Replenishing Pills. Otherwise, gathering the materials for these elixirs would have taken far longer.

Yang Chan was currently preparing to refine the Three Revolutions Nourishing Viscera Pill, but unfortunately, he still hadn’t gathered all the required materials.

Even Intermediate Pharmacists had to wait to refine this elixir. It required numerous ingredients, and the main herbs had to be exceptionally old, so collecting them was naturally a time-consuming process.

Furthermore, as a Basic Level Pharmacist, Yang Chan’s access to materials was a tier below that of an Intermediate Pharmacist. He had been gathering the ingredients for a month but was still missing two advanced herbs, both of which were several hundred years old. This made them significantly harder to obtain.

To gather these ingredients, Yang Chan was not only using the Cyan Yuan Sect’s channels but had also arranged for the Han Family to search for them.

After his return to the Cyan Yuan Sect, his trade relationship with the Han Family had deepened. He acquired some of the materials for his Guiyuan Pills and Qi Replenishing Pills from them, and their transactions naturally came to include some rare medicinal ingredients as well.

The same went for the various poisons Yang Chan required. He had never stopped refining poisons because they were simply too useful.

’Besides, even if I don’t use them, I need to understand them. That way, if I’m ever poisoned, I can quickly analyze it and take the right antidote.’

One had to prepare for such eventualities from multiple angles. Yang Chan knew he had to be exceptionally thorough in this regard. ’After all, I only have one life.’

As a transmigrator, he wasn’t about to pin his hopes on something as baseless as being transmigrated a second time.

With the materials for the Three Revolutions Nourishing Viscera Pill still missing, there was nothing Yang Chan could do. There were no other suitable elixirs for him to refine. The effects of lower-level elixirs overlapped, meaning they no longer provided Potential Points. Having confirmed this through trial, he wasn’t about to waste any more time on them.

Only the Three Revolutions Nourishing Viscera Pill remained. Its effects were far superior to the First Revolution Nourishing Viscera Pill. Though their names were similar, their ingredients were vastly different, so Yang Chan wasn’t worried about their effects overlapping. The fact that the Cyan Spirit Pill, Guiyuan Pill, and Qi Replenishing Pill had all provided undiminished Potential Points was proof enough.

Naturally, Yang Chan could only set his sights on more advanced elixirs. They were a crucial source of his Potential Points and the key to pushing his daily collection past the 5-point mark.

A daily collection of 4.7 Potential Points was not low, but Yang Chan preferred a collection of over 5. Each additional Potential Point per day would make him that much happier.

The comprehensive improvement in his cultivation gave Yang Chan a great sense of security, a feeling he naturally wanted to make permanent.

After all, Yang Chan was no slacker. He might have envied the carefree life of one, but his current situation didn’t permit him to act like one. ’Once I achieve the third stage of being unrivaled,’ he mused, ’then I can finally afford to be a slacker!’