NOVEL WEB Chapter 334: Fat Profits
"Alchemy is good. Alchemy is money."
With time to spare, Han Yu walked back down to the Exchange Pavilion, almost skipping.
The same disciple was still manning the counter. Han Yu casually handed over the jade boxes containing the new pills.
"Oh? Back again? You're on fire today," the disciple said, half-joking.
Han Yu just grinned. "You could say that."
The array scanned the pills, and after a moment, it emitted a pleasant bell tone. The disciple stared at the results, his expression changing to mild surprise again.
"Huh… Six pills, and most are mid to high quality. You even got a bonus pill in here. Your total this time is… 7,000 merit points."
Han Yu had to take a moment to process the number. Then his brain translated it into profit:
Cost: 4,000 merit points
Return: 7,000 merit points
Net Gain: 3,000 merit points
All in eight hours of work.
He wasn't just recovering his losses anymore—he was starting to make a serious profit. His mind immediately began imagining a big fat golden merit token bursting at the seams.
"I should start wearing a pouch just to keep this from bursting."
He pocketed the jade token and walked out of the pavilion with a self-satisfied smirk.
As he walked back toward his temporary lodgings, Han Yu mused aloud:
"If I can maintain even a 70–80% success rate on these mid-grade pills… I could make tens of thousands of merit points every month."
That kind of merit income was more than enough to fund his other pursuits—Soul cultivation, rare herbs for experimentation, and maybe even custom alchemy tool set for himself.
But more than the coins and pills, it was the sense of progress that lifted Han Yu's spirit. No longer was he merely trying to survive schemes and dangers. He had a solid path now—one that was his own.
"Alchemy Peak… I think I'm going to enjoy it here."
And deep inside, he knew this was just the beginning.
The next seven days passed in an intense blur.
For most disciples, a week meant training, a few short missions, perhaps one or two attempts at pill refinement… and ample breaks in between.
For Han Yu, it meant nothing but fire, herbs, and cauldrons.
From sunrise till late into the night, he practically lived inside the basic pill refining room. The only times he left were for short five-hour rests—just enough to keep his body and mind from collapsing—and quick trips to the Herb Pavilion or Merit Exchange.
His daily rhythm became as sharp and precise as the pills he was crafting.
Eat. Refine. Sell. Buy. Refine again.
And with each successful Flesh Mending Spirit Pill condensed within the warm, flickering glow of the flame array, his smile grew wider and his momentum stronger.
If the earlier thrill had been dopamine, this was addiction.
"I'm practically printing merit points," Han Yu muttered to himself late on the fifth day, as he carefully plucked a newly refined pill from the cauldron using wooden tongs.
Even when minor problems cropped up—like a herb coming slightly damp, or the cauldron needing spiritual cleansing—he handled them swiftly and efficiently. The repetition and rhythm made each session easier than the last.
By the end of the week, he had completed a staggering forty-eight successful batches, with just four total failures. Even better, several batches had double condensations, pushing his pill count to more than sixty.
He wasn't just maintaining his success rate—he was slowly improving the purity of each pill as well.
When he finally wrapped up on the morning of the eighth day, his merit token was so full of new entries that it took several seconds to load the log.
"Materials… rental fees… commissions… that's…" Han Yu ran some rough calculations in his head.
After subtracting the cost of herbs (48,000 merit points), pill room rentals (22,000 merit points), and various miscellaneous expenses like robes and tools (around 3,000), his final profit stood at an impressive:
22,100 merit points.
And that was in just one week.
He nearly laughed out loud right there inside the Merit Exchange Pavilion.
Striding across the sect grounds like a fat-pocketed emperor, Han Yu made his way toward the Outer Court Pill Hut where Li Mei resided. The late morning breeze rustled his newly cleaned robes, now finally free from burn marks or herbal stains. The Alchemy Peak bronze insignia gleamed against the white fabric like a seal of wealth.
He pushed open the bamboo door to find Li Mei scribbling something furiously at her table, a stack of jade slips piled beside her.
She didn't look up at first. "If you're here to test pills again, Han Yu, I already told you not to come in before—"
She paused mid-sentence as her eyes lifted and landed on his face.
That smirk.
That obnoxious, unbearable, gleaming-with-self-satisfaction smirk.
"What?" she asked, squinting suspiciously. "You look like you robbed the sect vault."
Han Yu tried to look modest, but he just couldn't help the tilt of his head. "Oh, nothing much. Just had a little success. Thought I'd share my progress with my beloved mentor."
"Ugh," she groaned, pinching her brow. "You're about to brag, aren't you?"
"Would I?" he grinned. "Tell you what, why don't you check for yourself?"
He casually tossed his identity token to her, the spiritual artifact glowing faintly with the dense cluster of logged transactions and activity records.
Li Mei caught it with a single hand and narrowed her eyes. She placed her hand over it, sending in her spiritual sense with his implicit permission.
Seconds passed.
Her expression remained neutral.
More seconds.
Still neutral.
But then, her fingers twitched.
And a small, barely audible "Huh?" slipped from her lips.
She scrolled further, eyes narrowing. She scrolled again. Her pupils twitched. Then her mouth parted slightly.
By the time she reached the breakdown of his final profit count, Li Mei's entire posture had shifted. She sat up straighter, shoulders rigid.
"You earned how much?!"