Alex arrived back at the shop late afternoon after having left just a few hours ago. There was a line of customers waiting for his arrival, all of them here to show one issue they had or another. Fang Yuxie sat behind her chair, while Wang Yanwei couldn’t be seen at all.

She was most likely looking after the patients with what little knowledge she had

Alex thought of it as little, but to a regular cultivator, it would be a vast amount of knowledge.

Fang Yuxie perked up after seeing him. “You’re back!” she said. “How did it go?”

Alex gave an awkward smile. “I didn’t expect them to take a thousand spirit stones for it,” he said.

“But you did get registered, right? They didn’t immediately ban you?” she asked.

“Yes, I registered,” Alex said. “The preliminary entrance test will be held in the city, apparently, about half a year from now. You should’ve tried to enter too. Just taking the exam wouldn’t have mattered at all.”

Fang Yuxie shook her head. “The people that get accepted by that monstrous sect are special, and I have nothing going for me. I would be easily rejected,” she said. She had no hopes of ever joining the Blue Silk sect.

“I’m weaker than you, and I’m still trying,” Alex said.

“You’re an Immortal who just recently broke through and is already a Superior Immortal Alchemist. The difference between you and me is too enormous.”

Alex shook his head. “Don’t sell yourself short. You’ll soon be a Superior Alchemist too. You just have to continue training,” he said. “I’ll go help sister Wang in the back.”

Fang Yuxie shrugged and said no more.

Alex arrived at the room in the back and watched her check the patient’s body to find his issue. She was so focused on the person that she didn’t even turn to look at Alex.

The air smelled slightly sweet in the room, confusing Alex. He didn’t remember Wang Yanwei wearing this sort of perfume, if any. It was light enough that Alex wondered if it had been one of the patients that came beforehand.

The patient sitting on the bed, a slightly fatter man with Saint realm cultivation, turned to look at him and Alex looked back at him. He had a slightly yellow complexion, clearly not healthy from something.

A thought came to Alex. “Do you drink a lot of Spirit wine?” he asked the man.

The man gave a surprised look. “Y-yes,” he said. “How did you know?”

“You must like it quite a lot,” Alex said with a simple laugh. “Do you go for high-end ones or the cheaper ones?”

“Anything I can get my hands on,” the man answered, looking rather ashamed when he did so.

Wang Yanwei stopped and looked back at Alex. “Is that his issue?” she asked.

She had been trying for a while and hadn’t managed to find what the problem was with the man. She had decided to check him because he was only a saint but then had been completely stumped by the issue. 𝒻𝘸𝘦𝓿.𝑐𝘰

“Yellow skin is a clear sign of his liver having some sort of issue,” Alex said. “And I could smell the odor of some sweet wine coming from him the moment I came inside. Move aside so I can make sure that is the problem.”

Alex sat where Wang Yanwei first sat and quickly took the man’s arm, looking through his entire body. It became clear to him within moments that it was in fact his liver that had any sort of problem.

“Am I going to die?” the man asked, worried.

“It’s nothing serious. The toxins from the bad wine you drink have just affected your liver. You need a specific pill to get rid of those. Once you eat that pill, it should clear within the hour.”

Alex took out a talisman and wrote everything down for the man and handed it over to him. “There is no need to worry whatsoever.”

The man sighed in relief. “Thank you, Alchemist Dawn.”

Once the man left, Wang Yanwei finally gave herself the permission to sigh. “Ugh! I’m so bad at this,” she said. “I need to study a lot more.”

Alex nodded. “It’s just a matter of having knowledge. Study some more and you can get there too, sister Wang.”

She turned around to look at him. “How did the registration go? Any issue?”

“No, I registered successfully. I’ll be taking the upcoming entrance test soon,” Alex told her.

“Good luck,” Wang Yanwei said and walked out the door.

“Send the next patient in please,” he shouted as she left.

Alex quickly dealt with the many patients that had been waiting for him. Thankfully, there was nothing serious about any of the issues that needed him to work more than he needed to.

The store had stopped accepting customers at some point, so once Alex was done with the last one, they were done for the day.

Alex walked out of the room, stretching his arms, and sat down on one of the many chairs.

Wang Yanwei was ready to leave, but she needed to wait for a while longer so she could get her share of the ingredients to make some more pills. Not all people who commissioned pills from her came with their own ingredients, so she had to ask Alex for some.

Only, Alex was also out of most Immortal ingredients, so they had to wait for their new supply that would be coming any time now.

“Wasn’t I late today?” Alex asked, looking at the sky outside that was steadily turning purple. It was nearing sunset. “That kid should’ve been here by now.”

“He’s never been this late,” Fang Yuxie said from the side. “Was there another random event in the city today?”

Alex shrugged. “Nothing I noticed,” he said. “But the cities are also so large that it is impossible to tell.”

“I need to leave,” Wang Yanwei complained, pacing around the room as the sun continued dipping on the horizon, and darkness filled the room.

Alex sighed. “Sister Wang, you should go home. I can make the pills for you once the resources arrive. You don’t have to wa—”

The door opened as Alex spoke and everyone turned their head.

“Finally!” Fang Yuxie said in an exasperated voice when she saw the young man with a Saint realm cultivation. “Do you know how long we’ve been waiting?”

Alex stood up. “You were quite late today,” he said. “Was there a problem?”

As he asked, he saw the discomfort in the young man’s face, as though he was struggling with something. “Are you sick?” Alex asked. “Do you want me to check what is wrong—”

“No, senior. I’m fine,” the young man quickly said and gritted his teeth a little.

As the rest wondered what was happening, the young man bowed down quickly. “I’m sorry, seniors, but our shop can no longer sell to you. Please find another alchemy store to purchase your ingredients.”

Alex looked at the young with a confused look, while Fang Yuxie was simply too taken aback to say anything.

However, Wang Yanwei’s face was a look of pure hatred.

“They’ve finally started coming after this store too.”