Fresh from the Furnace
The ten Foundation Establishment Pill inside the furnace, still not fully formed, trembled slightly. Yue Qianchou was startled; there were countless examples throughout history of failed attempts! He quickly regained his composure and carefully tended to the ten precious pills. His cultivation level was low; refining pills Qi Refining stage was already a forced effort, unlike the monstrous cultivation of Grandma Ma Jiu, who, even by the sea, could control the pills in the Pill Furnace with ease using her Divine Sense.
Before long, a wisp of smoke rose from the top of the furnace, accompanied by the aroma of medicinal Pill Furnace wafting out.
"It's done?" Although Yan Zixia knew it was almost done, she couldn't help but be surprised. She had taken Foundation Establishment Pill before and was familiar with this fragrance; it was indeed the aroma of Foundation Establishment Pill, seemingly even stronger than the ones she had taken. She secretly wondered, "I wonder how many pills he can make in this batch?"
"Rise!" Yue Qianchou shouted, his voice trembling with excitement. As he cleaved open the furnace lid with a palm strike, he quickly withdrew his Divine Sense and saw several purple figures burst out from the suffocating airflow inside the furnace.
Yue Qianchou sprang up quickly, pulling up the hem of his long robe to catch all ten purple shadows. After landing, he unfurled the hem, releasing an alluring aura. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and couldn't help but burst into laughter, "Freshly made! Freshly made Foundation Establishment Pill! I've succeeded!" His smug expression was utterly obnoxious. It was no wonder he was so excited; after pursuing it day after day, achieving it in a single day would excite anyone.
Yan Zixia strode over, reached out and pulled open her clothes, revealing a few purple pills hidden inside. After counting them, she exclaimed in surprise, "Ten pills!"
She couldn't resist reaching out her slender fingers to pinch one out. It was still slightly hot to the touch and quite substantial. She held it to her nose and smelled it. The color, aroma, and taste were all very pure. The pill had a faint purple glow on its surface, indicating that it was a very successful batch of pills.
Yan Zixia's surprise was tinged with envy. Even with her cultivation level, even if she were given a dozen or more portions of the nine kinds of spiritual herbs to refine pills, she couldn't guarantee she could produce ten Foundation Establishment Pill per batch. There would definitely be a few defective pills, not to mention she didn't know the specific steps and methods for refining Foundation Establishment Pill. Just now, when the pills came out of the furnace, she clearly saw exactly ten pills, no more, no less. And now, right before her eyes, there wasn't a single defective pill.
"Qianchou, who taught you this alchemy method?" Yan Zixia asked, putting the pills back in her hand.
Yue Qianchou was grinning foolishly at the pills. He hadn't expected that a dozen or so portions of spiritual herbs could be used to refine a batch of pills. He had originally planned to use dozens of portions to make one batch, so this was quite a surprise. Hearing her words, he put the pills into his Storage Bag, touched his nose, and laughed, "I figured it out myself. Didn't you see that I used more than a dozen portions of spiritual herbs to experiment with it?"
"Ah! You figured it out yourself!" Yan Zixia didn't doubt his words and said urgently, "Qianchou, you must quickly memorize the steps and methods of your alchemy, and you must not forget them."
Yue Qianchou asked in surprise, "Why?"
"Don't you know? Although the same spiritual herbs are used, the steps for alchemy vary from school to school. A good formula is priceless..." Yan Zixia poured out everything she knew.
After hearing this, Yue Qianchou was overjoyed. The pill formulas of the Pill Sect Pill Formula truly extraordinary. Even a simple formula for a Foundation Establishment Pill was treasured. Liu Zhengguang's castration was well worth it!
He failed to consider that every Pill Formula, every refining step, and every method in that Pill Formula disc of pill recipes was the culmination of generations of the Pill Sect' hard work. Otherwise, how could his second-rate skills possibly yield a perfect batch of ten pills? Even if he managed to refine one batch, it would be a miracle if most of them were ruined. It seems he hasn't yet witnessed the scene of ruined pills, completely oblivious to his own limitations.
Yue Qianchou wasn't ready to tell her about the Pill Formula yet. He nodded seriously and said, "Okay! Zixia, thank you for reminding me. I understand. I'll think about it carefully now. By the way, Zixia, could you get me something to eat? I'm a little hungry." He had been so focused on refining pills that he hadn't eaten or drunk anything for two days.
"Okay, I'll go back and get it for you now." Before leaving, Yan Zixia reminded him, "You must remember that."
After she left, Yue Qianchou muttered, "Remember my ass! I remembered it a year ago. Now I need to figure out what to do. I wonder if this girl can keep her mouth shut. No, ten Foundation Establishment Pills are not enough. Besides myself, there are Guan Yu, Chen Feng, and Xiao Tian. There might be even more underlings waiting for me to recruit in the future. Moreover, I don't even know how many pills I need to successfully Foundation Establishment. It seems I can't rush to Foundation Establishment now. I should refine all the spiritual herbs I have into pills first. If anything changes, I can just run away."
Yan Zixia flew back and forth alone, so she returned quickly. She brought not only the roasted meat that Yue Qianchou liked, but also a bottle of wine, which seemed to be a way of celebrating for him.
After Yue Qianchou finished his meal and drinks, he patted his stomach and said, "I've memorized it all. Now let's check how well it works."
After a successful experience, refining them became much more time-saving and labor-saving. When batch after batch of Foundation Establishment Pill came out of the furnace, Yan Zixia was amazed. Every batch had ten pills, and not a single one was a waste. The success rate was too high. Even if her Great-Grandmother were to do it, she might not be able to achieve it.
After refining more than a dozen batches, having consistently used the same type of elixir, he had become adept at handling the crucial points. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. By the fiftieth batch, he had established a fixed pattern, making the manipulation of the spiritual liquid within the furnace effortless. He also knew how to leverage the heat flow within the furnace, and surprisingly, a single batch of elixirs produced did not require the use of a single Spirit Stone.
If others saw this, who would believe that this was a Qi Refining stage disciple refining pills? However, no one else would use a pile of precious spiritual herbs and high-grade Spirit Stones to practice like him.
As he refined the pills, batch after batch produced Foundation Establishment Pill, but his face remained expressionless, devoid of any joy or sorrow. He had become numb, as if refining Foundation Establishment Pill was as simple as eating, nothing extraordinary. Even Yan Zixia, standing to the side, was becoming somewhat numb.
After refining a full one hundred portions of spiritual herbs, a full ten days had passed. During that time, one batch of pills was destroyed due to negligence. Counting the ingredients, ninety-six portions of the one hundred portions of spiritual herbs were successfully refined. With ten pills in each portion, he had refined nine hundred and sixty Foundation Establishment Pill.
The earth fire that had been burning under the Pill Furnace for more than ten days was finally sealed off. Yue Qianchou clapped his hands and exhaled, "That's it."
Yan Zixia had forgotten to count how many batches he had refined, and came over to ask, "Aren't you refining anymore?" To be honest, watching someone do the same thing every day with a known outcome was really boring.
"I'm not going to refine it anymore. I've memorized the method. It seems the Pill Formula I figured out is passable," Yue Qianchou said with a smile.
Yan Zixia rolled her eyes at him. Let him say what he wanted. She had thought it through. No matter how good the prescription was, she was too embarrassed to ask for it. If she asked and the other party refused, wouldn't she be so ashamed? After all, it wasn't an ordinary Pill Formula. Even if the other party gave it to her, she would owe them a huge favor. How would she ever repay it?
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