During the second half of the celebration banquet, the rest of the people at the Second Division's table were caught in an awkward atmosphere.
Only Xiao Chen and Ye Fei were busy stuffing their faces, as if nothing was wrong.
After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Steward Chen simply made an excuse and left, leaving the rest to their own devices.
There was a temporary trade fair afterward, and at Jiang Sixuan's invitation, Ye Fei stayed behind.
Xiao Chen, however, was completely uninterested. He headed straight back to the Second Division to continue his cultivation, not wanting to waste any time.
From Li Sibao's unusual behavior that day, he had sensed a strange yet unmistakable hostility.
Especially the venomous glare Li Sibao had given him as he left; it was a clear signal to Xiao Chen that this matter was far from over.
'Where the hell did I piss him off? This makes no sense.'
Honestly, before today, he and Li Sibao weren't total strangers, but they were nodding acquaintances at best.
Besides that one time in the valley when he was in disguise, they had exchanged maybe three sentences in total, and all of them had just been polite greetings.
When things were this strange, there had to be a reason. Something was definitely up with Li Sibao.
But right now, Xiao Chen had no way to investigate the cause of all this.
Fortunately, he was already on the verge of the seventh level of Qi Refining, just one step away from a breakthrough.
'Things being what they are, I'll just focus on cultivating for now.'
No matter the situation, increasing his own strength was the most important thing.
With enough strength, he could handle whatever came his way.
So, Xiao Chen sat cross-legged, cleared his mind of distracting thoughts, and immersed himself in his cultivation.
Early the next morning, a dewdrop hung from Xiao Chen's eyebrow after a full night of cultivation.
It was September, and the autumn air had grown cool, but he hadn't noticed at all.
As the first ray of morning sunlight broke through the horizon, purple qi rose from the east.
Xiao Chen's eyes snapped open. A flush spread across his face as clouds of hot, white vapor billowed from his body.
'Done! Staying up all night was worth it.'
Feeling the surging Magical Power within him, a pleased expression appeared on Xiao Chen's face. He had successfully broken through to the seventh level of Qi Refining, stepping into the late Qi Refining Stage.
The next moment, three gleaming golden cards appeared before him, presenting three options.
[Hardship First, Sweetness Later: Lose 50 years of your lifespan to gain four random Magical Artifacts.]
[Meditation I: As long as you are not carrying any Magical Artifacts, you recover one point of Magical Power every fifteen minutes.]
[Buy One, Get One Free: For every batch of Elixirs you successfully refine, you gain an additional, identical batch.]
"Huh?"
Seeing the first Augment, Xiao Chen rubbed his eyes, thinking he must be hallucinating from lack of sleep.
'What the hell "Hardship First, Sweetness Later"? Who's going to care about a few Magical Artifacts fifty years from now?'
Honestly, at his current cultivation speed, Xiao Chen felt it wasn't impossible for him to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm within five years.
So the first option was immediately out.
The second option, Meditation, seemed quite powerful.
Although it had a restriction, he could easily bypass it by simply stowing away his Magical Artifacts during normal times.
The only problem was that he already had the Featherweight Augment, so his Magical Power recovery rate was already sufficient. Picking another one felt like a waste.
The third Augment, Buy One, Get One Free, was, judging by its description, exclusively for Alchemists.
It seemed very powerful, but the problem was that Xiao Chen didn't know Alchemy yet.
After being promoted to an Inner Sect Disciple, he would be able to choose one of the Hundred Skills of Cultivation to study on the side.
However, each skill came with its own set of considerations.
Among the Hundred Skills of Cultivation, the four most popular and well-known were Alchemy, Artifact Refining, Talisman Making, and Array Formation.
Array Formation was extremely demanding, with the highest barrier to entry, the most expensive learning curve, and the slowest path to proficiency. That was out.
There wasn't a huge difference in status between Artifact Refining and Alchemy, but since the current Augments were only related to Alchemy and Talisman Making, Artifact Refining was out too.
Thinking of Talisman Making, Xiao Chen recalled how during the Outer Sect trials, a senior from the Inner Sect had set up a stall selling Talismans, effortlessly earning a large number of Spirit Stones.
He had even thought about learning Talisman Making himself after joining the Inner Sect.
The advantages of Talisman Making were its low cost and how easy it was to pick up; of the four great skills, it had the lowest barrier to entry.
Since Talismans were consumables, the market for them was huge, making it the ideal choice for most Qi Refining Stage Cultivators.
Its disadvantage was also its accessibility, which led to fierce competition. Most of the time, profit margins on Talismans were driven to rock bottom.
Furthermore, finished Talismans had an expiration date and would become useless, so buyers tended to purchase them only when they had an immediate need.
If he chose Talisman Making, then Meditation was the perfect Augment for it.
Every attempt at crafting a Talisman, whether successful or not, consumed a Cultivator's Magical Power.
Cultivators with lower Cultivation couldn't make many attempts each day before exhausting their Magical Power.
With Meditation, he could make many more attempts, giving him an advantage whether he was practicing or selling his work.
In other words, Meditation greatly raised the floor for Talisman Making.
In contrast, pairing Buy One, Get One Free with Alchemy undoubtedly had a much higher ceiling.
Being an Alchemist was widely recognized as the most lucrative profession. In theory, a qualified Tier One Alchemist could earn several times the wealth of a Talisman Master.
Of course, Alchemy also had very obvious drawbacks.
Ordinary Cultivators first had to face the problem of access; every legacy of Alchemy techniques was incredibly expensive.
Fortunately, as an Inner Sect Disciple, if Xiao Chen chose Alchemy, he could receive a Pill Book for free.
Then there were the extremely high learning costs.
An Alchemist's skill, it could be said, was forged from countless Wasted Pills.
Until one successfully mastered a certain Elixir, this learning process was akin to burning Spirit Stones for firewood.
Most Cultivators simply couldn't afford it and were forced to choose other skills, like Talisman Making.
Fortunately, Xiao Chen had saved up a large sum of Spirit Stones from the trial, which should be enough for the initial investment.
Besides, with the Buy One, Get One Free Augment, he could acquire more Elixirs in less time.
The difficulty of breaking even would be reduced by more than just a little.
Finally, Alchemy had one more potential downside: the process itself was incredibly time-consuming.
When refining Elixirs, an Alchemist often had to tend to the Pill Furnace for hours on end, adding ingredients at the right moments, adjusting the Spiritual Fire, and employing various Alchemy Secret Techniques.
Typically, the higher the tier of the Elixir, the longer the process took.
On top of that, one had to spend a great deal of time learning different Pill Formulas.
Many Alchemists spent their entire lives refining pills. While they made great contributions to their Sect or family, they had little time left for their own cultivation.
Although they could advance their Cultivation Realm by consuming Spirit Pills, this would inevitably lead to a lack of proficiency in Magic, causing them to fall behind their peers in Magical Combat.
Normally, an Alchemist's status was revered, and few would be willing to offend them.
But life is unpredictable, and sometimes, only personal strength can help one overcome disaster.
Luckily for him, Xiao Chen had the Featherweight Augment. While it didn't make him invincible among those of the same Realm, he could at least remain undefeated.
'Looking at it this way, I can actually solve all three of Alchemy's major problems.'
'Talk about being a natural-born Alchemist!'
Xiao Chen mused to himself and decisively chose "Buy One, Get One Free."