Purple Cloud Copper Furnace

"Xiang Xiang, can an iron pot refine pills too?"

In a waterside pavilion at Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion, Gu Cai Yi lay sprawled across the table, watching Yu Xiang apply her makeup.

Under the servant girl's slender, delicate hands as she dabbed and blended, Yu Xiang's already beautiful face became even more dazzling.

Sometimes, Gu Cai Yi could not understand it. Yu Xiang had clearly become an Inner Disciple of the Joyful Union Sect, so why did she still come to a filthy place like this?

Yu Xiang closed her eyes and let the servant girl apply rouge to her face.

"A pot? If it is an iron pot infused with Spirit Ore, then naturally it can refine pills."

"Hm?"

Gu Cai Yi did not understand. She asked doubtfully, "Don't you Pill Refiners all use cauldrons to refine pills?"

"Hehe, that is where your understanding has gone astray."

Yu Xiang chuckled. "The Alchemy Dao is broad and profound. There are water-refining methods, fire-refining methods, blood-refining methods, living-refining methods, and many others."

"And as for pill-refining tools, there are even more varieties."

"Because a cauldron can withstand sufficiently intense flames, hold more medicinal ingredients, and nurture the pills after they take shape, locking in more pill potency. That is why cauldrons became the most mainstream pill-refining tool."

"But in truth, pots, furnaces, sacrificial vessels, and kettles are all relatively common pill-refining tools as well. I have even heard of demonic cultivators who use people as cauldrons, employing living-refining methods to produce great Human Dao pills."

Gu Cai Yi was left dumbfounded.

She had never imagined that the Alchemy Dao held so many intricacies.

And from the meaning Yu Xiang had left unspoken, there were likely even more secrets within it.

"Then can even the lowest-quality iron pot from Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion be used to refine pills?" Gu Cai Yi still found it rather unbelievable.

Yu Xiang did not know much about it. "Just how poor is that sort of pot?"

"Miss, that kind of pot contains only a trace amount of Mystic Iron. It can barely lock in the spiritual energy that escapes while Spirit Rice is steamed. It sells for one Low-Grade Spirit Stone."

The servant girl beside them answered the question.

"Ah!"

Her small mouth slightly parted, Yu Xiang opened her eyes in surprise.

"I am afraid a tool like that cannot refine good pills!"

"Yes, that is why I was so astonished. I even wondered whether my decades of cultivation had been lived in vain."

Through the smooth, clear Glazed Glass Mirror, Yu Xiang looked curiously at Gu Cai Yi, who was lying atop the table in the reflection.

"The person you mentioned, the one refining pills with a shoddy Spirit Iron Pot—could he be that Pill Refiner neighbor you mentioned last time?"

Gu Cai Yi nodded.

Yu Xiang said with a hint of amazement, "A Mid Qi Refining Stage cultivator has little spiritual power to begin with, yet he uses such a poor Spirit Iron Pot containing only a little Mystic Iron to refine pills. Your neighbor is either extraordinarily gifted in the Alchemy Dao, or his foundations are incomparably solid. He knows medicinal ingredients inside and out, and his control over the heat at every stage is flawless."

"Whichever of those two it is, he would be considered a pill-refining seedling pursued by small families and minor factions alike."

Gu Cai Yi was both startled and doubtful. "Is he really that impressive?"

"Yes, very impressive." Yu Xiang nodded heavily, and then her face was ruined.

The servant girl sighed helplessly and could only redo her makeup.

"I spent three years as a Fire Watching Disciple in the Joyful Union Sect's Pill Room, five years as a Medicine Mixing Disciple, and another twenty years personally refining pills before I built a decent foundation. Even then, it was only because I possessed some Alchemy Talent that the sect was willing to cultivate me along the path of a Pill Refiner."

It was rather hard to imagine such a graceful, quiet woman spending years watching fires and mixing medicine.

Gu Cai Yi only felt that her neighbor seemed genuinely formidable.

He was only at the Mid Qi Refining Stage. Though he had a Storage Bag, his living conditions were clearly poor, and there was no force behind him to nurture him.

Yet he had forcibly honed pill-refining skill that ordinary cultivators would not even dare dream of under such harsh conditions.

"Still, Cai Yi, there is something I think you ought to warn that neighbor of yours about."

"What is it?"

"If he has the means, he should still replace his pill-refining tool with a better one! A poor Spirit Iron Pot greatly affects the grade of a pill after it takes shape. And it is very easy for the pot to explode. One careless mistake could leave him severely injured, or even dead."

Why had pill cauldrons become the mainstream pill-refining tool?

Beyond all the advantages Yu Xiang had mentioned before, their greatest advantage was safety!

Even if a batch of pills was ruined and the Earthfire burned too fiercely, a pill cauldron would not easily explode.

"He is so poor that he probably cannot afford any good pill-refining tool."

Gu Cai Yi curled her lips, then suddenly thought of something.

"Xiang Xiang, don't you have an extra pill-refining furnace?"

The days spent refining All Wonders Pills were always dry and tedious.

Or rather, any repetitive work would feel much the same after being done for too long.

But Luo Chen did not!

The rise in proficiency and the foreseeable Spirit Stone profits constantly spurred him to persist in refining pills without yielding.

And lately, he had gained some other "entertainment" as well.

Watching a bucket containing nearly fifty catties of water rise steadily out of the well, Luo Chen could not help grinning smugly.

The Attraction Art had reached minor accomplishment, and its level had also reached the Proficient Level.

The reason he had improved so quickly was that he had drawn inspiration from the scene of Gu Cai Yi fetching water that day.

There was actually no need to strictly follow the cultivation method of the Attraction Art.

This spell could be applied to every aspect of daily life.

From small tasks like getting dressed and sweeping the floor to larger ones like moving heavy objects, as long as he released spiritual power whenever he had the chance, the Attraction Art naturally became more and more familiar.

At the Proficient Level, the Attraction Art could already effortlessly control that set of Jade Knife Magic Tools.

Besides the Attraction Art, Luo Chen had recently learned two more spells.

The Wind Riding Art and the Spirit Eye Art.

He had picked up the former quickly. It was probably related to his nearly Perfect Grade Carefree Wander; in any case, he had gotten the hang of it within the time it took to burn an incense stick.

The latter was somewhat difficult.

It involved his fragile eyes, while spiritual power was too powerful. A moment of carelessness could easily turn him blind.

Thus, only after the Attraction Art had leveled up did Luo Chen dare manipulate spiritual power and attach it to his eyes.

It had to be said that before spiritual power entered his eyes, Luo Chen had been looking forward to it.

In an urban fantasy novel, this would count as a superpower, right? Asking for x-ray vision would not be excessive at all!

Yet when Luo Chen opened his eyes to look at the world, he was greatly disappointed.

There was no x-ray vision.

All he felt was a glaring sensation, like staring at the sun. If he looked for too long, his eyes became extremely sore.

The drawbacks were huge!

But there had to be a reason this spell was listed among the five essential foundational spells for Qi Refining Stage cultivators.

The Spirit Eye Art observed qi and discerned spiritual energy, seeing through hidden evil.

What affected low-level cultivators' survival was not their low cultivation realm, nor their lack of powerful backing, but ignorance.

Provoking an enemy who seemed ordinary but was actually profoundly powerful, failing to recognize an area inhabited by demonic beasts, or encountering ghosts while walking at night could all easily cost them their lives.

But the Spirit Eye Art could avoid such problems quite well.

Though it had its limitations, it could at least let cultivators know whom they could not afford to provoke and which places they could not enter.

Filthy places could be seen through at a glance and avoided from afar.

"Still, I cannot use this spell carelessly. If I look at someone I should not, offending them would be troublesome."

It was fine for those of a higher realm to look down on those of a lower realm, but if someone of a lower realm looked upon a cultivator of a higher realm, there was a strong chance they would be noticed.

Peeping was inherently liable to cause misunderstandings.

Of course, the higher and lower realms mentioned here referred to major realms.

Such as Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment, or Foundation Establishment and Golden Core.

Within the same major realm, aside from those cultivating special Cultivation Methods, one generally could not detect another's scrutiny.

Splash!

Under the guidance of spiritual power, a bucket of water poured into the large water vat. Luo Chen activated the Spirit Eye Art and peered carefully inside.

The Buddha said that a single drop of water contained forty-eight thousand insects.

Modern biology also said that water contained vast numbers of microorganisms.

So why could a grand cultivator like me not see anything at all?

"This newly Entry Level Spirit Eye Art is not even as useful as a microscope."

After muttering a few words, Luo Chen looked at the thirty jade bottles arranged before him.

These were the fruits of his half month of work. Not only had he produced three batches of finished pills, he had also raised his All Wonders Pill proficiency to the Proficient Level.

Twenty-five portions of the raw materials he had prepared earlier remained. If he wanted to refine them all, it would take at least nearly a month.

What Luo Chen was considering now was when to sell the All Wonders Pills.

What Gu Cai Yi had mentioned about Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion being especially busy at the beginning of every month made him notice a problem with his sales.

"Putting them all up for sale at the market each time might save me more time for pill refining, but I would actually earn less."

High-quality pills never lacked a market.

But if he wanted to establish an unending stream of profit, he had to ensure the pills remained constantly present on the market, so consumers could notice them at any time and buy them whenever they wished.

Why were Qi Nourishing Pills so popular among low-level cultivators?

One had to know that Qi Nourishing Pills were far from the only pills capable of increasing the spiritual power of Qi Refining Stage cultivators.

The reason was that Spirit Medicine Pavilion always had Qi Nourishing Pills available for sale.

They used enormous distribution volume to forcibly squeeze out the living space of other pills of the same type.

There were not many competing products for All Wonders Pills at present, but he should still take this issue into consideration.

He would raise production as much as possible, but ensuring that All Wonders Pills always had a presence on the market was also necessary.

"Decided. From now on, I will set up a stall three times a month!"

Twice at the small market and once at the large market.

Luo Chen was alone and could not split himself in two. For now, this was all he could barely manage.

However, this plan was shaken the very next morning.

"A Tier 1 Lower-Grade Dharma Artifact, the Purple Cloud Copper Furnace?"