Ch. 1 - A friendly, bright neighbor.

Where am I?

Whose body is this?

Dressed in a snow-white robe and barefoot, a pair of slightly dazed eyes fall on the simple furnishings of the house. A table, a chair and a couch. The furnishings are somewhat old and exude a faint sense of decay.

Kong Wuying looks around, the movement of his head is slow and stiff, like a wooden puppet. His muscles feel odd and unfamiliar.

Interestingly enough, Kong Wuying is now attached to a young man who just died.

Judging by the paintings hanging on the walls and the style of furniture, he likely isn’t in the Yeying continent any more. It may be the Mingguang continent, a friendly neighbour to his homeland.

Mingguang is far away from his native land of Yeying, and their customs are quite different. However, the people here are known to be simple, kind, warm-hearted and sincere. The continents have been friends for many years and have done business with each other for even longer.

Even if Kong Wuying has abruptly found himself in this new place, it isn’t too much of a problem. After he rebuilds his strength he can leave for his homeland soon after. Kong Wuying checks the body’s physical condition and feels satisfied.

A blue light suddenly flashes in front of him and then a voice speaks up, “Bonding successful! Congratulations on becoming the second host of the Pill Emperor system. This system will escort you and help you to become the new emperor of the Mingguang continent!”

Kong Wuying’s expression blanks and he instinctively reaches out to grasp the strange stone hanging around the body’s neck, where the voice is coming from.

The speaker is triumphant. "Don't panic! Don't panic! This system is not a bad person, it is a blessing that you would need eight lifetimes to cultivate to get this system! As long as this system is here, even if your talent is poor, you will be able to dominate the entirety of Mingguang!”

Kong Wuying raises his eyebrows at the interesting little thing and gropes around the stone to examine it. He separates a trace of spiritual power from his core and explores the interior as well. This is a very interesting gadget.

The voice has no idea that it’s being examined so thoroughly and instead continues the propaganda reel for the host according to routine indoctrination.

"What? You don’t believe it?” the voice says cheerfully. “You are the second host of the system. As for the first host, I believe you must have heard of his name! He is one of the three Mingguang kings, the famous and powerful pill emperor, Chu Liyuan. I believe that no matter how ignorant you are, you will know the Emperor Chu!”

This voice is confident and blatantly bragging. Kong Wuying searches through his memory and clicks on the file for the name Chu Liyuan.

Oh, it’s that young man. He was a very energetic child.

The voice huffs. "Of course, your qualification is far from Chu Liyuan, but it doesn't matter. With the help of this system, you will be able to gain strength and achieve emperor-level. At that time, you can attack the Yeying continent, which has been our evil adversary for so many years!"

"Attack Yeying?" Kong Wuying echoes in bemusement.

Why? Isn’t the theme of today’s world about peace and development?

“Coward!” the voice cries dramatically. “When you hear that you want to attack Yeying, are you afraid? Three years ago, Kong Wuying died and now his twelve godsons are fighting each other for territory. It’s a great time to counterattack! Do you want us, Mingguang, to be a colony of Yeying forever?”

Kong Wuying is getting more confused. What colony? Have they not always adhered to the policy of peaceful diplomacy and friendly exchanges? Aren't Minguang and Yeying like family?

There seems to be a misunderstanding.

The voice gasps. "You don't really believe what those hateful Yeying people say, that we are brothers and friends, right? Ridiculous! For thousands of years, that demon Kong Wuying has forced us to pay tribute every year as a ‘protection fee’ just like common brutes. Our army is so small, how can we fight back? How many precious resources has Yeying plundered from Mingguang?”

It's not a tribute, it’s peaceful diplomacy and trade. Yeying has also taken out their most precious night shadow stone in exchange for Mingguang’s resources.

The system also says, "What's most irritating is that those shameless Yeying even have the gall to call it trade and commerce. They give us some dumb pebbles, and not even enough of them to pave a road!"

Kong Wuying is speechless. A large piece of Night Shadow stone is expensive enough to buy a city! Let’s see you dare to pave a road with them.

The system’s criticisms for Yeying are an endless flood. “The Yeying people are despicable and vicious through and through, they are animals! My first host Chu Liyuan once bravely challenged Kong Wuying in a one-on-one duel for the sake of Mingguang. That despicable devil couldn't beat Chu Liyuan so he sent a beauty to seduce him and ended the life of an emperor in such a disgusting way. Shameless! Foul! Monsters!"

Kong Wuying: “...”

A while back, Chu Liyuan rather abruptly proposed a duel to the death. Although Kong Wuying didn’t quite understand, he guessed it must be a Mingguang tradition of hotblooded chivalry. Out of respect for their cultural customs, Kong Wuying readily agreed and sincerely put his all into challenge. He sent his most beautiful and excellent soul puppet to deal with Chu Liyuan.

Everything ended well, so how did the event become a symbol of his despicable nature here? Isn't it normal to poison or to seduce someone as an assassination method?

"In short,” the system sighs, finally coming to the end of its tirade. “Yeying is a bad place and we must work together to resist their atrocity and save Mingguang! Work hard host!”

Kong Wuying slowly retrieves the sliver of spirit he used to examine the stone. The so-called Pill Emperor system is compositionally similar to the soul puppets of Yeying. The material of the outer structure has been roughly made, but it contains some knowledge and skills that Kong Wuying doesn’t understand yet. How interesting...

With the recovery of his mental strength, a faint smile appears on Kong Wuying’s new face. The body is beautiful and well taken care of, but his quiet smile is a bit sharp at the edges.

The Pill Emperor system shivers slightly. From the very beginning, there’s been a strange feeling of someone observing it with a cold gaze. Is it because the system has been wandering for too long and has not been nourished by the host? Is the system a little weak?

Fortunately, the feeling soon disappears.

Seeing that Kong Wuying is unmoved by the monologuing, the system decides to demonstrate its capabilities.

"Tomorrow is the day when you’ll fight with Master Huang Xun. Although his alchemy is trash, he’s still a full master. You can't even make a strength pill right now so it would be impossible for you to win the Master's Oath competition. But wait, because with this system, it's different! You can make a big splash, smash Huang Xun, and protect your baby apprentice!”

Master’s Oath competition?

Although Kong Wuying isn’t from Mingguang, he reads extensively and has a general understanding of the local conditions and customs of the continent.

A disciple can only follow one mentor in their entire life. However, when the disciple strongly feels that the teacher is wrong for them, the Master’s Oath competition is a solution. Two teachers can fight for the right to teach a disciple, the challenge can’t be refused, and whoever wins will be the mentor.

Of course, if the challenger fails, they have to pay a huge amount of compensation to the challenged teacher. With no consequences, the competition would be a mess of everyone participating when it caught their fancy and the sacred disciple-master relationships would mean nothing.

The original owner of this body must have a gifted disciple if they can bring about a Master’s Oath competition.

Kong Wuying really doesn’t think that trash has the right to challenge him but - when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Seeing that the host is focused on the competition, the system strikes while the iron is hot. “In order to help you improve your alchemy as soon as possible, this system kindly presents a gift pack; an Alchemy for Dummies manual. This information packet contains the essence of alchemy, which is very different from the general information taught in Mingguang."

After the explanation, a cloud of blue light is shot into Kong Wuying’s forehead.

Kong Wuying's spirit is like a vast and calm ocean, but when it feels the invasion it surges up into ferocious waves, ready to devour the audacious intruder and drown it in icy depths. Kong Wuying quickly forces it back down. He wants to see what happens.

A lot of information flies into Kong Wuying’s mind.

Alchemy for Dummies manual, instructions for use:

1. This product must not be used in conjunction with other alchemy techniques.

2. Patients with a heart condition, mental illness or epilepsy should not use this product.

3. Children under the age of twelve must be accompanied by their parents or guardians.

4. If you experience any discomfort within four hours of using this product, please stop using it and seek medical advice from your doctor.

5. The right to distribute this product belongs to the manufacturer, but all users are responsible for their own care and safety.

Fortunately, the text after the instructions is finally normal. A lot of information pours into Kong Wuying's mind but the flood is organised and assimilated quickly, allowing him to understand it instantly.

Seeing Kong Wuying open his eyes, the system orders, "Okay, go and try to make a pill. "

Kong Wuying nods and checks the house for an alchemy lab. The room is located next to the residence and is only a metre and a half squared with very simple equipment.

The system sees the equipment available and sighs in its heart. Blue cupola jars, a coal fire, unfiltered water, and some shriveled herbs that are obviously of poor quality at only less than three years old.

The new host is really poor! It misses Chu Liyuan’s big alchemy room that’s as big as a farm, and misses those rare medicinal materials that are all hundreds of years old, and definitely misses the heavenly pill furnace...

No matter, everything is difficult at the beginning. You either make it or you don’t, the system just needs to try its best.

The new host is moving quickly though. The pill furnace is opened and lowered over the coal fire, then Isatis root, Niuli grass, and Fengyuanghua petals are added one after the other.

The system can tell that this Invigoration pill’s quality will be high grade, so the effect of replenishing energy will be even stronger. The host is only an intermediate-level alchemy apprentice, not a full master, so he couldn’t refine high grade quality pills before. However, with the instruction manual, success is guaranteed!

Hmm...the host has finished mixing now, and the technique is exactly the same as in the manual with no issues. Next is the injection of wood energy from the host, which will take about an hour.

Alchemy has always been a time-consuming and laborious process. High level pills need to be refined for months! This is a low level pill, and the time has been further lessened thanks to the great manual, so this is the shortest time possible to make such a pill - especially one with a quality that’s high grade.

If an alchemist manages to create this Invigoration pill in less time, then this system will offer itself up as material for the next pill!

Kong Wuying withdraws his energy and opens the lid of the furnace. “Not bad.”

System: “...”

No, wait. Something is wrong here.

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