Despite having cultivated for most of the night and sleeping less than three hours, William Clark still arrived at Feiyun Hall on time. In the spacious hall, more than a hundred people were already standing in the shadows— all disciples at the Spirit Movement stage. However, each one’s cultivation was deeper than William Clark’s. His arrival sparked a flurry of discussion, with cold and sarcastic remarks occasionally piercing the air and reaching his ears.

“Did you see? That guy is just a mortal without a spiritual root, yet he still dreams of cultivating immortality.”

“Hmph, he’s not even good-looking. Someone like that staying in the sect is simply a waste of pills.”

“Who says otherwise? I heard he works hard, but how can an ordinary person without a spiritual root compare to us? After three years, he’s still stuck at the first level of the Spirit Movement stage.”

“He doesn’t know his own limits. Does he really think he can break the iron law of the cultivation world that’s remained unchanged for ten thousand years? Mortal cultivation is destined to amount to nothing.”

…

Amid the ridicule and disdainful glances, William Clark’s expression remained unchanged. He treated it as nothing more than mad dogs barking, silently moving to the back of the line.

A burst of ancient-sounding bell chimes rang out. The disciples quickly stopped their discussions and lined up properly. An elder entered the hall with several young attendants, each of whom carried a tray covered with red cloth, from which a refreshing fragrance wafted.

“Uncle Mason!” the disciples bowed in greeting.

“Mm.” The elder raised his head arrogantly. His cultivation wasn’t high—only at the early Foundation Establishment stage—but he was in charge of the sect’s pharmacy, a position of considerable power and status.

In cultivation, aside from talent and personal effort, pills were also indispensable—one could even say extremely important. If one had enough pills during cultivation, progress would be much faster; it was a shortcut. However, the ingredients for pill refining were all rare and precious herbs, so the sect could only provide a small amount of pills to its disciples.

According to the rules, disciples at the Spirit Movement stage could receive two Xisui Pills each month.

Xisui Pills, as the name suggests, could cleanse the body’s impurities, dissolve turbid qi, and stimulate a small amount of spiritual power. Of course, the amount of spiritual power generated varied greatly depending on each person’s aptitude. This pill was only effective for disciples at the Spirit Movement stage.

After the incense ceremony and paying respects to the ancestors, the disciples lined up to receive their pills from the elder. Each face showed expressions of treasuring and joy.

Soon it was William Clark’s turn. Elder Mason glanced at him with a trace of contempt on his face, picked up a jade bottle from the tray, poured out two pills, and tossed them in front of him.

“Thank you, Master Uncle.” Before William Clark finished speaking, his eye twitched as he looked at the two pills in his hand. These were… waste pills?

The path of cultivation encompassed everything: techniques, artifact crafting, pill refining, talisman drawing—each was a vast field of knowledge.

Take pill refining, for example. Besides all kinds of rare ingredients and exotic herbs, one also needed Samadhi True Fire to refine them. The control of heat, the dosage of auxiliary ingredients, the timing of opening the furnace, and the material of the cauldron—all affected the success rate of pill refining.

Even experienced master alchemists often made mistakes, turning a cauldron full of precious materials into useless waste pills.

Waste pills referred to those with excessive impurities. Such pills not only failed to benefit cultivation but actually harmed the body, and were usually discarded with regret.

Although a small sect like Piaoyun Valley only distributed lower-grade pills to its disciples, at least those were still effective spiritual medicine. But these waste pills…

It was obvious the other party was deliberately making things difficult for him. A trace of gloom flashed through William Clark’s heart, but outwardly he remained calm. Offending someone as powerful as this Elder Ma would be unwise.

“Master Uncle, you must have made a mistake. How can these two waste pills be consumed?”

“What’s wrong with that?” The contempt in Elder Mason’s eyes was unmistakable. To him, William Clark was just a low-level disciple to be ignored. He raised his head arrogantly and said, “What, not satisfied?”

“With your aptitude, taking spiritual pills would only be a waste anyway. Waste pills might actually suit you better. Tell you what, I’m not unreasonable—let me give you a few more bottles.”

He picked up two more jade bottles from the tray and tossed them to William Clark.

“Other disciples only get two Xisui Pills each. I’m giving you two bottles. How’s that? Isn’t your Master Uncle treating you well enough?”

“Thank you, Master Uncle!”

To Elder Mason’s surprise, all dissatisfaction vanished from William Clark’s face. He accepted the pills and bowed respectfully before stepping back.

“How could this be?” Elder Mason was instead left dumbfounded, unable to utter a word.

Waste pills, simply put, were trash. Taking them was not only useless for cultivation but actually harmful. Even if you gave two bottles, or even more, they were worthless. Why would William Clark…

This was a completely unexpected reaction. Originally, Elder Mason thought that by treating him so unfairly, William Clark would make a scene, giving him an excuse to punish him for disrespecting his elders and expel William Clark from the sect.

It wasn’t that Elder Mason had a personal grudge against William Clark, but rather that he was naturally snobbish and looked down on mortals without spiritual roots. He felt that letting William Clark stay in the sect was a disgrace, so he racked his brains trying to drive him out.