Beginning to Refine the Inner Divinity Pill

[This day, you returned to the Danxia Sect.]

[You originally planned to find Xie Huide.]

[But you discovered the entire Danxia Sect was deserted.]

[When you went to find Xie Huide, you found he wasn't there either.]

[Moreover, his residence was very messy.]

[Some essential items, like the alchemy furnace, were gone.]

[Xie Huide seemed to have left in a hurry.]

["Did the Danxia Sect go bankrupt? Why didn't anyone notify me?" you wondered, confused.]

[You searched the Danxia Sect several times but couldn't find a living soul.]

[Just as you were stunned,]

[A troop of heavily armed Great Qian soldiers found you.]

[The general leading them was named Hu Zhongxuan, a Grandmaster.]

[He exuded an aura of killing intent; you knew you couldn't defeat him.]

[Hu Zhongxuan informed you that Great Qian had already gone to war with the Golden Yue Kingdom to the north.]

[The entire Danxia Sect had been conscripted to the front lines.]

[They were responsible for treating the wounded and supplying alchemical medicine.]

[You finally understood why there were so many martial artists with external injuries recently.]

[Those people must have come from the battlefield.]

[Commonly known as deserters.]

[Some were injured because they refused the conscription and fought the army.]

[This war was large-scale and far-reaching.]

[You were also conscripted.]

[The others from the Danxia Sect had already departed for various front lines to provide support yesterday.]

[You needed to head to the battlefield with Hu Zhongxuan.]

[After listening to him, you regretted it deeply.]

[If you had returned one day earlier,]

[You could have met Xie Huide and obtained the Inner Divinity Pill formula.]

[If you had returned one day later,]

[You could have avoided Hu Zhongxuan and wouldn't have been conscripted to the front lines.]

[A difference of one day left you with neither advantage.]

[Years of effort were wasted.]

[Now you had to risk your life on the battlefield.]

[Although Alchemists weren't sent to the front lines for direct combat, there was still risk involved.]

[You were very depressed.]

[At this moment, Hu Zhongxuan asked for your name.]

[You replied truthfully: "I do not change my name, nor alter my surname. I am Zhao Tiezhu."]

[Hu Zhongxuan nodded and handed you a large chest.]

[Hu Zhongxuan said this was something Xie Huide specifically designated for you.]

[You found it filled with alchemical formulas and insights on alchemy.]

[There were also a thousand Qi and Blood Pills and five hundred Inner Divinity Pills.]

[The Inner Divinity Pill formula was also right there.]

[Besides the Fourth-grade Inner Divinity Pill, there were formulas for several higher-grade pills, up to Seventh-grade.]

[It seemed like Xie Huide had entrusted you with his life's accumulation.]

[You felt the atmosphere was ominous.]

[Had Xie Huide "kicked the bucket"?]

[You hurriedly asked Hu Zhongxuan: "Xie Hu... is my master dead?"]

[Hu Zhongxuan looked at you strangely: "No, he's on another front line, responsible for refining pills and treating high-level martial artists."]

["Oh, he's not dead."]

[You had thought Xie Huide was dead because everything felt like Xie Huide was passing on his legacy.]

[Hu Zhongxuan, however, felt like you were hoping Xie Huide would die.]

[He felt that the master-disciple relationship in your Danxia Sect might just be this strange.]

[He didn't understand, but he respected it.]

[Not only did you get the Inner Divinity Paste,]

[You also received many elixirs beyond expectations.]

[Plus, Xie Huide's valuable alchemy practical experience can help you avoid many detours.]

[You happily followed Hu Zhongxuan to the front lines.]

[You arrived at Yajiang Pass, a strategic military location in the north near the Azure Mesa Desert.]

[A large number of elite troops are stationed here; it's a land that both countries must fight for.]

[You were assigned to the Military Medical Department, part of the logistics support troops.]

[Your specialty was refining Qi and Blood Paste.]

[The vast majority of soldiers were at the Bone Tempering realm or below.]

[The demand for Qi and Blood Paste was enormous.]

[People in the Military Medical Department didn't need to go to the battlefield.]

[Compared to the soldiers fighting and dying, you faced no life-threatening danger.]

[Tenth Year]

[Your success rate in refining Qi and Blood Paste was too high; you only needed one hour a day to complete your refining tasks.]

[The army assigned you additional refining tasks.]

[Besides Qi and Blood Paste, you were also tasked with refining the third-grade healing elixir, Golden Wound Paste.]

[You deeply understood the profound saying: "If you can work, you'll never run out of things to do."]

[Fortunately, the army covered the material costs for refining.]

[This was a good opportunity for you to improve your third-grade alchemy skills.]

[After half a year of continuous refining of Golden Wound Paste,]

[Your proficiency in refining third-grade elixirs finally reached the Great Accomplishment stage.]

[You became a genuine third-grade Alchemist.]

[You planned to start refining the fourth-grade Inner Divinity Paste.]

[A third-grade Alchemist wasn't particularly amazing within the Danxia Sect,]

[But in the Military Medical Department, you were a very rare high-end talent.]

[There were very few Alchemists in the Military Medical Department.]

[Moreover, most Alchemists struggled even when refining the second-grade Qi and Blood Paste.]

[Getting six or seven pills from a single furnace was enough for them to exclaim, "My god, I've made it!"]

[The Military Medical Department was mostly composed of ordinary physicians.]

[The vast majority of physicians were not martial artists; they were just common people.]

[Alchemists were only responsible for refining elixirs, while physicians were responsible for treating the wounded.]

[The Alchemists in the Military Medical Department generally didn't know medical skills.]

[It just so happened that you were very skilled in medicine.]

[This was a result of the special cultivation system for direct disciples of the Danxia Sect.]

[The scale of this war was too large, and the demand for physicians was equally immense.]

[Many standards were inevitably lowered during conscription.]

[In your group alone, several veterinarians were brought in.]

[These veterinarians thought that since the wounded dared to take the medicine they prescribed, they must know what they were doing.]

[The wounded soldiers thought that since the physicians dared to prescribe the medicine, the physicians must know what they were doing.]

[It was a happy mutual understanding from both sides.]

[Until yesterday, when a veterinarian prescribed a dosage meant for a cow to a wounded soldier.]

[The soldier's eyes immediately turned red, and he mooed excitedly.]

[He felt like a yoke was missing from his neck.]

[The soldier finally calmed down after plowing two acres of land.]

[After this incident, these veterinarians were finally sent for temporary medical training.]

[After this crash course, these veterinarians' medical skills were barely usable, capable of handling minor external injuries without issues.]

[Sometimes, after a battle ended, the number of wounded surged.]

[When these physicians were overwhelmed, you would step in to treat the wounded.]

Hu Zhongxuan discovered you were skilled in medicine, and exceptionally so.

He assigned you to lead a small team on your own.

Hu Zhongxuan was a brigadier general in the army, a rank just below the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief.

He held significant authority, and minor matters like adjusting the military medical department were well within his power to decide.

Hu Zhongxuan assigned you three Alchemists and thirty physicians.

Originally, Alchemists and physicians belonged to separate systems.

Furthermore, Alchemists held a much higher status.

This was because the healing effects of elixirs were far superior to ordinary traditional Chinese medicine.

They were both fast and effective.

All it took was swallowing one elixir, without injections or oral medication, and one could return to work that same day.

Sometimes, physicians would humbly beg Alchemists for the elixirs they needed.

During wartime, the demand for elixirs was immense, and Alchemists couldn't satisfy everyone.

Therefore, elixirs from other teams were prioritized for the most severely wounded soldiers.

However, your team's approach was completely different.

Because your refining efficiency was so high, you never lacked elixirs.

Anyone brought before you, you'd feed a healing elixir without a second thought.

If they recovered, they'd excitedly return to the battlefield to fight.

If they didn't recover, they'd stay and continue taking elixirs until they were full.

Later, it became muscle memory; no matter who was carried in, you'd start with an elixir.

Even soldiers carrying stretchers who weren't injured would inexplicably leave with their mouths full of elixirs.

The three Alchemists in your team also made significant progress under your tutelage.

Two novice first-grade Alchemists were trained by you into proper first-grade Alchemists.

Another who was already a first-grade Alchemist was brought by you to become a second-grade Alchemist.

With their refining capabilities, you could dedicate more time to your own cultivation.

One day, you were cultivating in your residence.

The True Qi within your body suddenly condensed.

Your Ninefold Profound Art had completed its eighth True Qi condensation.

You vaguely felt some subtle changes within your body after this True Qi condensation.

But you weren't sure if it was your imagination.

After a thorough examination of your body, you found no abnormalities.

You frowned and could only temporarily set the matter aside.

You took out your alchemy furnace and refining materials.

Today, you were going to begin refining the Inner Divinity Pill.