Mid-Grade Marrow Cleansing Pill

However, after practicing his cultivation technique to the fourth level of the Spirit Movement Stage, Lin Xuan encountered a problem: the efficacy of the Marrow Cleansing Pill had diminished significantly, causing his cultivation to become arduous once more and slowing his progress.

The path of immortality grows increasingly difficult as one advances. Clearly, as Lin Xuan's cultivation level rose, the Low-Grade Marrow Cleansing Pill could no longer satisfy his needs.

Normally, if the quality of a pill is poor, one could compensate by consuming a larger quantity. However, the Annotations on Pills stated quite clearly that the number of Marrow Cleansing Pills consumed daily should not exceed nine.

This presented a dilemma.

After careful consideration, Lin Xuan had no choice but to make a decision: he would attempt to purify a Mid-Grade Marrow Cleansing Pill once again.

According to the Annotations on Pills, while the daily limit for Marrow Cleansing Pills was nine, it did not specify the grade. In other words, one could take up to nine Low-Grade Marrow Cleansing Pills a day, and one could likewise take nine of the more effective Mid-Grade Marrow Cleansing Pills.

Since the low-grade pills could no longer meet his requirements, he had no choice but to set his sights on the mid-grade ones. Although Lin Xuan had attempted to use the miraculous Blue Star Sea to purify a mid-grade pill when he first discovered its utility, the process had been grueling and ultimately ended in failure.

But the situation was different now. Back then, he was only at the second level of the Spirit Movement Stage; now, he was at the peak of the fourth. Furthermore, the Blue Star Sea grew in tandem with his spiritual power. With his increased cultivation, the volume of the Star Sea had expanded significantly. While Lin Xuan dared not claim a one-hundred-percent chance of success, with the efficacy of the low-grade pills waning, purifying a mid-grade pill was his only option.

Having made his decision, Lin Xuan began his attempt. He rested for a while, waiting for his spirit, mana, and the Star Sea within his dantian to recover to their optimal states.

Lin Xuan then sat cross-legged and poured a Low-Grade Marrow Cleansing Pill from a jade bottle. Holding it in his hand, he released his divine sense. Now at the fourth level of the Spirit Movement Stage, not only had his spiritual power surged, but his divine sense had also strengthened considerably. When fully unleashed, it could shroud a radius of ten meters, revealing every minute detail; even the crawling of an ant or the sound of a needle hitting the ground could not escape his grasp. It was a truly marvelous sensation.

Of course, this was nothing compared to the legends of high-level cultivators whose divine sense could scan a hundred miles, or those in the Nascent Soul Realm who could roam the Taixu with their spirits. Naturally, those were merely legends, and given Lin Xuan's current strength, he had no chance of encountering such masters.

The pressing matter at hand was the purification of the mid-grade pill.

With this thought, Lin Xuan began to mobilize the Blue Light Spots within his body. Countless blue lights gathered together, forming a beautiful blue ribbon that moved along his meridians. Previously, this process had been extremely difficult and taxing, but now it was much easier. After all, Lin Xuan had already purified thousands of waste pills; practice makes perfect. Moreover, as his cultivation improved, his meridians had become stronger and more resilient, so the process no longer felt as strained as it once had.

Soon, the light spots moved along his meridians to his right wrist. Lin Xuan focused his divine sense entirely upon the pill.

Suddenly, a wondrous phenomenon occurred. The Marrow Cleansing Pill was magnified several times over in his mind, and Lin Xuan's divine sense easily penetrated the interior of the pill, seeing the essence and the impurities with absolute clarity.

Carefully controlling the flow rate of the light spots, he allowed them to enter the pill in sequence, and the purification began. Inside the snow-white pill were scattered black substances; these were the impurities affecting the pill's efficacy. Purification meant removing them.

This process was incredibly difficult because these impurities were tightly intertwined with the essence. However, the Blue Light Spots were capable of the task. When they encountered the white essence, they passed through without obstruction; when they encountered the black impurities, they pushed them outward by a certain distance.

Unlike the process of purifying waste pills into low-grade ones—where the impurities were powdery and solid, making them easier for the light spots to push—these impurities were thick and semi-liquid, making it very strenuous for the light spots to separate them from the essence.

For impurities of the same volume, it previously took only one light spot to push them; now, it required at least three, or even five. His previous failure had been due to the insufficient energy of the Blue Star Sea within him. The question now was whether the volume of the Star Sea could sustain him until the purification was complete.

One had to understand that the purification process could not be interrupted. That is to say, one could not purify half today and continue tomorrow. It was either a total success or a complete waste. He had to be aware that if the pill were ruined under these circumstances, Lin Xuan would have no way to purify it again; it would truly become trash.

However, before attempting this, Lin Xuan had calculated that with the current energy of his Star Sea, there was over a seventy percent chance of success, provided there were no unforeseen circumstances.

Up to this point, Lin Xuan had purified many low-grade pills, but this was only his second attempt at a mid-grade one, and the first had ended in failure. Thus, he could not be certain if unexpected situations would arise.

But even if they did, it would be of no consequence. He had plenty of Low-Grade Marrow Cleansing Pills, so it would not be a pity if the purification failed. He could simply continue to summarize his experience and try again. Eventually, he would succeed. Just as when he first started purifying waste pills into low-grade ones—the process had been awkward and the success rate low, but now he found it easy and comfortable. It was a process of familiarization and mastery.

With this mental preparation, Lin Xuan did not fear failure and proceeded with the purification boldly.

The beginning went smoothly. Although pushing the semi-liquid impurities required more light-spot energy, the current volume of his Star Sea should be sufficient.

However, as the impurities were gradually separated from the essence and pushed to the edge of the pill by the light spots, they refused to move any further. In other words, they could not be expelled.

How could this be?

He had never encountered this situation when purifying low-grade pills. Lin Xuan frowned, but he did not panic. Anxiety would not solve the problem; when a situation arose, one had to analyze it calmly.

He focused his divine sense to examine the edge of the pill. He saw that, unlike the interior, the edge of the pill also appeared to be semi-liquid.

"So that's it." As Lin Xuan maintained the flow of blue light, he began to analyze. When purifying waste pills into low-grade ones, the impurities were powdery solids, making them easier to push out. But when purifying into mid-grade pills, the impurities were semi-liquid and more viscous, making them difficult to expel.

That must be it!