Collecting Experience Until I Am The Desolation

Great Yue Dynasty, Pingnan City

The blazing sun was high in the sky, and corpse Qi filled the air.

In the three narrow alleys, people squatted in the corners of the walls. They were skin and bones, and their ragged clothes swayed in the wind.

On the right side of the alley, there was a ditch that flowed in the wrong direction. The thick water from the corpses was mixed with the muddy yellow water. There were also a few open toilets with a pungent smell around them. The smell of the alley was even worse when mixed together.

However, no one cared. They scooped up water to cook, washed their bodies, and cleaned their farming tools.

There was a short man in the crowd. He had dark skin and was shirtless. His lower body was wrapped in a short brown sackcloth, and he was wearing a pair of straw sandals. The only difference between him and the people around him was that his eyes were bright and full of energy.

Yang Chen tried his best not to breathe too much. Although he had been here for half a month, he still couldn't stomach the smell. It wasn't that he was pretentious, but the stench made his body strongly resist.

At the end of the alley, a notice was hanging in front of the Liu family's apothecary, which was recruiting apprentices.

On Changlong Street, people were scrambling to be the first.

Yang Chen licked his dry lips, feeling a little restless. "I've been in this world for more than half a month, and I've finally found one."

He was a transmigrator, and in his previous life, he was a social animal who had just graduated from university.

His boss had promised he'd make him a regular employee after their project was completed, so he made Yang Chen work overtime for 29 days in a row. On the day he became a regular employee, he heaved a sigh of relief, and before he knew it, he had arrived here.

In this world, martial arts were respected, demons ran wild, and there were many powerful people.

People who could not practice martial arts were like floating duckweeds, and their lives were like grass.

He was a refugee who had escaped to Pingnan City because of the demons. Along the way, they had seen too many tragedies of people robbing children and losing their families because they were weak. This made Yang Chen decide that he had to practice martial arts in order to live well in this world.

It just so happened that the Liu family's apothecary was recruiting apprentices, and there was no registration f*e for the opportunity to learn cultivation techniques. That was why the queue for registration was as long as a street.

Yang Chen also came to try his luck.

"There are already around forty people in front, but I don't see any of them getting through."

"Is the shopkeeper of the Liu family's apothecary choosing a husband?"

Everyone was anxious and restless, and Yang Chen couldn't help but f*el the same. The registration f*e for the martial arts centers in Pingnan City alone was dozens of taels of silver, and a refugee like him couldn't afford to pay this money.

Did this apothecary take in apprentices for free because they had some special talent?

Finally, Yang Chen reached the front, and before him was a young girl with a mature expression.

"Do you have any special skills?" The young girl looked up. 'This guy would look pretty good after washing his face and changing his clothes,' she thought.

"Does literacy count?" Yang Chen was serious.

This world's language was almost the same as Chinese characters, so Yang Chen, who had gone through nine years of compulsory education, was very confident.

In this world, where not everyone had access to education, literate people were a huge blow to others.

Well, except for the town he had escaped from. It didn't matter if he could read or not, as long as he could help. Therefore, Yang Chen, who couldn't find an opportunity to display his skills, achieved nothing in the first half of the month.

"Oh?" The young girl was surprised. She took out a reference book and placed it in front of Yang Chen, nodding.

"Angelica, wolfberry, ginseng, snake gall, Chinese creeper, and octagonal lotus root." Yang Chen flipped open the table of contents and read out the names according to the places the girl's finger pointed at.

Yang Chen was already confident. Pingnan City was indeed a big city.

"He really can read!" The young girl was shocked, and the smile on her face instantly brightened.

The people behind him were even more incredulous as they looked at Yang Chen, who was dressed almost the same as them, in surprise.

"There's no need to line up anymore. We've found enough apprentices!" The young girl shouted at the top of her voice.

The people at the back dispersed faster than the young girl had shouted. When they heard that Yang Chen could read, they scattered while cursing.

"No matter which world I go to, it's good to be cultured." Yang Chen couldn't help but sigh when he saw how easily he stood out.

…

The girl brought the three apprentices to the backyard.

There was a middle-aged man with a goatee, who was slender and elegant. He wore a gray-black robe with vertical stripes and was sitting at the stone table sipping tea.

This was Liu Changyue, the owner of the Liu family's apothecary.

"From now on, the three of you will be apprentices in my apothecary. You will follow me to memorize some prescriptions, buy medicinal herbs, clean the shop, and do other chores. If you learn it well, I will also teach you a cultivation technique." Liu Changyue rolled up his sleeves. Everything was prepared.

Yang Chen and the other two perked up. The reason why there was such a long line in front of the apothecary was that the cultivation techniques taught here were free of charge.

"What does it take to be considered good?" Gao Cheng, who was the first to arrive, was curious.

"There are two types of apprentices in our apothecary: the chores apprentice and the internal affairs apprentice." The young girl walked up to the three of them. "For the first one, you usually do a series of chores such as grinding herbs, buying meat, transporting medicinal herbs, picking medicinal herbs up the mountain, and so on. You have two meals a day, food and accommodation included, but you don't have a salary. You have to be a chores apprentice for two years."