Have you ever thought about becoming a pill refiner?

Li Jun held out his hand towards the cat. A sliver of raw flesh dangled between his fingers, and he waved it toward the black kitten's nose.

Although weeks had passed, another interesting feature he didn't know was that whatever he stored within his universe bag wouldn't rot. He still had a mountain of meat from killing the beast king. He tried to eat as much as possible but had grown bored of the taste.

As the black kitten sniffed at the beast king's flesh, it sneezed and blew mucus all over the meat. Then, it shook its head and retreated a few steps.

"You don't want to eat it?" Li Jun frowned. Since he had learned that spirit beasts could grow from spiritual energy, he thought that the cat would go crazy for beast king meat.

The cat stared at him, unmoving, as Li Jun tossed the meat away. He didn't want to contaminate the rest of it with cat mucus, so he could only waste it.

Another idea came to mind, although he felt a little reluctant. He reached into the universe bag once more and pulled out the spirit stone he had been using to help him cultivate. Upon seeing the spirit stone, the kitten's eyes opened wider, and it took a deep breath.

As the kitten filled its lungs with air, a giant vortex sucked in spiritual energy from the stone. In just a single moment, the spirit stone's white glow vanished, and it crumbled to dust.

Li Jun looked down at the pile of dust in shock. He couldn't believe just how quickly the cat could absorb spiritual energy.

'No wonder it didn't want the meat. The little energy it contained wasn't even enough to tempt it.' He thought.

He wondered what would happen if he let the cat absorb the rest of his spirit stones. Would it turn into an unstoppable monster that could destroy the world? As the thought entered his head, he quickly got rid of it. The spirit stones he had were extremely valuable, he didn't want to destroy future opportunities of buying techniques or magic swords.

The black kitten looked at him with dissatisfaction. That gigantic amount of spiritual energy wasn't enough to satisfy it. Li Jun hesitantly pulled out another spirit stone and watched it drain of life in front of him.

Just as the spirit stone was about to be completely extinguished, the black kitten fell onto its back and rolled over with what appeared to be a smile, if cats could smile.

Li Jun looked at the dim spirit stone and began to cultivate into the night. The moment he awoke, a pile of dust drained from his palm, and he felt full of energy. He felt terrible about the wasted spirit stones but still had two hundred and ninety-seven left.

As he went about his morning practice of his palm and sword techniques, someone rang the bell from the gate. Li Jun stopped and went to see who it was. As he opened the gate, a young man in a white robe bowed respectfully and presented a letter.

"I bring a message from Grandmaster Mao from the pill tower." He announced as Li Jun took the letter from his hands.

"Thank you," he said, dropping a couple of silver coins into the young man's hand before closing the gate. He opened the letter.

"Dear respected benefactor," the letter read. "I believe my pill tower owes you an apology for what happened the last time you were here. If you have the time, please stop by, and I will make it worth your while."

The letter was stamped with a golden cauldron. Li Jun had almost forgotten about the trouble that happened. It had been a couple weeks, and he hadn't gone back since he had enough pills to last him. He checked his universe bag and noticed he had one of each pill remaining.

"That sneaky old man." Li Jun laughed. "He kept track of how many days it had been and timed it with how long it would take me to consume the pills."

Li Jun looked down at the kitten that was still laying on the floor and thought about leaving it there while he went to the pill tower. However he still didn't trust it and didn't want to let it leave his sight.

Instead, he opted to shove it into his robes again, but as he picked the kitten up into his arms, it stabbed its claws into him and crawled up his robes. Li Jun tried to reach behind his head to pull it off, but the kitten perched itself firmly on his shoulder. It refused to let go, no matter how hard he tried to pull it down.

As he was about to use spiritual energy to boost his strength, the kitten hissed into his ear. Li Jun knew then that it had claimed his right shoulder. If he tried to fight it anymore, it would almost certainly attack him.

He let out a sigh and without delaying any longer, Li Jun made his way to the pill tower. He had been busy with training so he didn't make another trip there during the past three weeks. But nothing had changed, the line to the main desk stretched far beyond the entrance. But knowing that martial artists had special privileges within the pill tower he walked past them and up the stairs.

Two guards stood at each side of the staircase, they watched carefully as Li Jun walked past them and they each bowed slightly. Both of them was at the first stage of body refining, meaning Li Jun was their senior since he had reached the second stage.

Surprisingly, hardly anyone noticed the kitten on his shoulder, and those who did simply gave him a questioning stare before continuing on with their work.

As he climbed his way up to the third floor, a slight commotion took place between two workers.

"Master Su, I wasn't expecting you to be here." Said a man as a young woman in purple robes entered from the door behind the counter.

"I have received word that a very important customer is on his way. It's only natural for me to be here to greet him," the young woman said as the doors opened.

Li Jun walked in and looked around. He spotted the young woman he had seen beside Grandmaster Mao the last time he was here. Upon their eyes meeting, the woman smiled brightly and bowed.

"Welcome, respected benefactor. How can we help you today?" she said. The man beside her looked shocked to see her bow to a teenage boy at the second stage of body refining but didn't say anything. He, too, followed her lead and bowed his head.

Li Jun stared with confusion. He figured that the woman was important because she was standing beside Grandmaster Mao the last time he had seen her. It was certainly no coincidence that she was here to greet him.

"I think we both know why I'm here. Did he have my pills prepared in advance?" He asked as he made his way over to the counter.

The woman smiled politely, disregarding his attitude, and presented three jade bottles. "You are very perceptive, great benefactor."

At that moment, Li Jun sensed that the young woman was at the eighth stage of body refining. It made him feel a little uncomfortable that she talked so respectfully toward him.

"Please stop with the formalities. Just use my name." He let out a sigh, collected the three bottles from the counter, and dropped a leather pouch containing gold coins that he had prepared just before heading out.

He was still upset about Grandmaster Mao's attempt to use him to pay back some debts.

The woman's smile tilted slightly as he began to walk towards the exit.

"Li Jun." She said suddenly in a serious tone.

He turned and looked back at her. He finally felt as if the conversation was going somewhere. The excessive politeness was clearly a cover for whatever scheme Grandmaster Mao had come up with this time.