Alchemy

"Qi Gathering Pills are common elixirs for cultivators in the Qi Refining stage, and they are often in short supply. Today, I will teach you how to refine them," the refined man said directly, without intending to introduce himself. A group of rogue cultivators in the Qi Refining stage were not worth the attention of a Foundation Establishment stage alchemist like himself.

"The main ingredient for refining Qi Gathering Pills is Spirit Gathering Grass, which needs to be at least twenty years old. There are twelve auxiliary ingredients, all requiring at least ten years of age. They are Green Leaf Vine, Three Leaf Flower..."

The refined man introduced them while taking out spiritual herbs one by one and placing them on the table. Then, he took out a bronze cauldron and a piece of spirit charcoal.

He lit the spirit charcoal and began the alchemy process while explaining to everyone.

He put the spiritual herbs into the furnace one by one, cast a spell, and the flame immediately surged higher. Wisps of smoke began to rise from the cauldron.

"This is to remove impurities. The next step is to extract the medicinal power."

"..."

An hour later, the cauldron lid flew off, and a medicinal fragrance filled the air. Five finger-sized pills were spinning at the bottom of the cauldron.

A full batch from the cauldron was ten pills. A 50% success rate was neither high nor low, just average.

Wang Hong pondered that after this period of learning, he should be able to start refining pills himself.

Wang Hong went to the Gao family's artifact refining workshop as usual. As soon as he entered, he saw Gao Yue's smug smiling face.

"Brother! What wind blew you here?"

As soon as the guy approached, he grabbed Wang Hong's sleeve. Wang Hong shook him off, suspecting the guy had some peculiar hobbies.

This guy was a natural social butterfly. Wang Hong had only visited a few times.

"I plan to buy an alchemy furnace this time. Do you have any?"

"Yes, of course. Our Gao family's artifact refining workshop has been focusing on artifact refining for two hundred years. Although alchemy furnaces are difficult to refine and don't sell well, we still have some in stock," Gao Yue introduced proudly. This was the foundation accumulated over generations of his family.

Soon, he brought out an alchemy furnace the size of a millstone and placed it in front of Wang Hong.

"Phoenix Pattern Bronze Furnace, low-grade Magic Artifact."

Then he went back in and brought out a slightly smaller red furnace.

"Crimson Copper Double Ear Furnace, mid-grade Magic Artifact."

Then came a flurry of introductions (self-praise). Wang Hong let it go in one ear and out the other. He took both furnaces and carefully examined them.

Finally, he spent two thousand Spirit Stones and bought the mid-grade furnace.

On the way, he bought a simpler Formation Disk. Alchemy created too much commotion; it was better to conceal it with a formation.

After returning to his residence, he set up the formation and Wang Hong calmly reviewed everything, thinking through the entire process.

He placed the alchemy furnace, lit the spirit charcoal, and began to warm the furnace. After a few breaths, he started adding spiritual herbs and then covered the lid. All his actions were meticulous.

Fifteen minutes later, black smoke began to rise, carrying a burnt smell. He opened the lid to find that all the spiritual herbs inside had turned to charcoal.

After cleaning the alchemy furnace, Wang Hong did not rush to refine the second batch. Instead, he calmly thought for a long time, summarizing the reasons for his failure.

The second batch didn't burn, but the impurities were not completely refined, resulting in a sticky mess.

Wang Hong thought and summarized for another half hour.

The third batch exploded.

He thought and summarized.

The fourth batch was ruined.

The thirtieth batch was ruined.

Wang Hong was not discouraged. Through continuous summarization, he knew he was getting closer to success.

The thirty-seventh batch. He opened the cauldron lid, and two finger-sized, pure white pills came into view.

"Hahaha! I finally succeeded! I'm a genius!" At this moment, a figure, blackened by smoke, was excitedly rolling around the room.

After a moment of excitement, Wang Hong slowly calmed himself and prepared to continue refining.

He took out some homemade dried meat to eat. Cultivators had Grain Abstinence Pills, which could sustain them for several days without hunger after one consumption. Wang Hong had tried it once and found it unappetizing; he preferred eating meat heartily.

However, the meat of Fierce Beasts no longer helped him much in improving his cultivation. Wang Hong was even considering hunting some Demonic Beasts to eat.

After eating the dried meat, he picked and ate a few raspberries. He then pondered and summarized his experience before starting the next round of alchemy.

With the experience of his first success, his success rate in subsequent refining increased greatly. Initially, one out of every five batches was successful, then one out of four. By the time he used up two hundred sets of materials, he only failed occasionally.

In the end, he obtained one hundred and eighty Qi Gathering Pills. On average, his success rate didn't even reach ten percent. An alchemist needed to reach a twenty percent success rate to break even.

He had clearly lost money. These two hundred sets of spiritual herbs were worth four thousand Spirit Stones, but he had refined them into pills worth only one thousand eight hundred Spirit Stones. Wang Hong couldn't help but sigh that cultivating alchemists was indeed too resource-intensive.

He called Zhang Chunfeng and Skinny Monkey over and gave each of them a bottle of pills. Both of them were currently at the second layer of Qi Refining. However, Zhang Chunfeng should be breaking through to the third layer of Qi Refining soon. Skinny Monkey, due to his aptitude, was still a bit behind.

In the past two years, with the help of the pills he distributed, all forty-odd soldiers under his command, except for those who had converted spiritual energy, had reached the Xiantian Stage.

Wang Hong planned to cultivate several practical spells after he broke through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining. Then, he would lead his subordinates to hunt Demonic Beasts outside the city to test their combat effectiveness and summarize their strengths and weaknesses.

The cultivation world was far more dangerous than the secular world, with constant conflict. Without strength, one could die at any moment.

Wang Hong began to cultivate diligently again, refining one Qi Gathering Pill each day. On the tenth day, he finally broke through to the fourth layer.

Reaching the fourth layer finally allowed him to project his spiritual sense outwards. When projecting his spiritual sense, even with his eyes closed, he could sense everything around him, more clearly than if he were seeing it with his own eyes.

He could sense a worm burrowing through the soil, a fly buzzing past, and he could even sense that the last leg on the left side of this fly was injured.

Wang Hong discovered that his spiritual sense could extend two zhang, while the books recorded that cultivators who had just broken through to Qi Refining Layer Four could only project their spiritual sense one zhang.

A powerful spiritual sense offered a significant advantage in combat, alchemy, talisman crafting, artifact refining, and formations. For instance, in combat, one could attack from a greater distance. Others could only use their spiritual sense to assist in precise attacks within a one-zhang range, while you could launch precise attacks from two zhang away, naturally giving you a complete advantage.

Wang Hong suspected it might be related to the Mysterious Space. The spiritual sense body that appeared in the space could possibly be his Nascent Soul. Wang Hong didn't understand the Nascent Soul very well yet. However, by frequently performing various tasks in the space, he could clearly feel his spiritual sense body strengthening over time.

Upon entering Qi Refining Layer Four, many spells could finally be practiced.

What Wang Hong yearned for most was naturally the Artifact Control Technique. Legends spoke of immortals beheading people from a thousand miles away using this technique. The Artifact Control Technique was a method of using spiritual sense to control Magic Artifacts to attack enemies from a distance.

Wang Hong took out the Magic Artifact spear and injected spiritual power into it. After absorbing two-thirds of his spiritual power, the spear slowly rose into the air. It only flew crookedly for two breaths before Wang Hong's entire spiritual power was depleted. With a "clang," the spear fell to the ground.

With the spiritual power of Qi Refining Layer Four, he could barely manage one attack. No wonder the fat Daoist they had killed that day never used his Magic Artifact for long-range attacks. He simply couldn't afford the spiritual power cost.

Wang Hong drank a few mouthfuls of Spirit Wine to replenish his mana and practiced again.