Alchemy

After cultivating through the night, Gu He emerged full of energy once more. This time, however, he did not immediately fly off to battle magical beasts. Instead, he leaped onto the hillside. Looking at the uneven slope, Gu He smacked his lips in dissatisfaction before using his Dou Qi Wings to fly into the air.

Gu He planned to level the top of the hillside so it would be more convenient for alchemy.

Gu He activated his Dou Qi, and powerful Dou Qi immediately radiated outward as though it were tangible before gathering entirely in his hands. Gu He clenched both fists and aimed them at the slope below.

"Tang Cao Fist!"

Visible shockwaves surged from Gu He's fists toward the hillside. Upon contact with the shockwaves, the small hill began compressing downward as if crushed beneath a massive weight. Gaps within it were filled by the surrounding earth and stone under the force of the shockwaves, and the slope visibly lowered at a rapid pace.

Gu He adjusted the strength and angle of the shockwaves, pressing the entire hillside down by four meters. He stopped only once its peak had become completely level. At that point, the hill was less than ten meters tall.

Gu He withdrew his Dou Qi Wings and descended onto it. He stomped on the ground a few times and found it had become far more solid. Even if a Dou Master attacked with all his strength, he would likely only blast out a small pit.

"Tang Cao Fist is quite useful for handling everyday matters," Gu He remarked sincerely.

This was a High-grade Profound Dou Technique. It was said that once mastered to a profound level, it could shatter an entire mountain. However, Gu He estimated that its user would need at least the strength of a Dou Emperor. For a Dou Emperor to shatter a mountain with a High-grade Profound Dou Technique was perfectly normal.

Over the past two months, because he needed combat to consolidate his Dou Qi, Gu He had thoroughly reviewed the Dou Techniques he had already learned. From the Dou Techniques others had paid him with in exchange for alchemy, stored within his Ring, he selected several suitable ones to study. After careful consideration, Gu He decided that at his current stage, he would mainly cultivate two Earth-grade Dou Techniques: the Intermediate Earth Grade Thousand Flame Sword Qi and the Low-grade Earth Cloud Tearing Sword Qi, while supplementing them with several Profound-tier Dou Techniques.

Tang Cao Fist was one of the techniques he cultivated as a supplement.

After confirming that the hillside was suitable for alchemy, Gu He brushed his Ring, and a crimson Medicine Cauldron appeared before him. The cauldron was rather sturdy and stood as tall as a person. Faint flame patterns carved across its surface flickered brightly and dimly, as though it were breathing.

Gu He's Medicine Cauldron was naturally not one of the famous cauldrons listed on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking, which alchemists across the Dou Qi Continent coveted. Still, it was an excellent high-quality Medicine Cauldron.

If he needed to refine pills for an entire day, this cauldron could save roughly four hours of refining time. Gu He had paid a considerable price for it back then, and in the end, he had only obtained it with the help of the Misty Cloud Sect. Thus, his feelings toward the Misty Cloud Sect were quite complicated. Logically, as an alchemist, he should leave this faction that had ties to the Soul Hall as soon as possible. Yet not only had this faction shown him kindness, but the woman he liked was also its sect leader.

Gu He shook his head, temporarily casting aside these troubling matters as he prepared to begin alchemy.

Now that he had enough time for alchemy, Gu He planned to practice with the rather famous Fourth-grade pill of the Dou Qi Continent, Qi Gathering Powder. After all, since coming to this world, he had never refined any pills above the fourth grade. Though he had occasionally refined pills to rest during the previous two months, his main focus at the time had been battling magical beasts. He could not spend a great deal of time refining high-grade pills, so he had mainly refined Qi Restoration Pills, which could quickly restore Dou Qi.

Gu He poured Dou Qi into the Medicine Cauldron, and tangible flames immediately ignited within it. The flames continuously churned and burned. With experience refining Third-grade pills such as Qi Restoration Pills, and a success rate close to one hundred percent, Gu He had sufficient confidence in refining this batch of Fourth-grade pills.

Gu He calmly placed the required medicinal ingredients into the Medicine Cauldron one after another, controlling the flames within at different temperatures to extract the medicinal properties of each ingredient. At the same time, he constantly watched for changes in the ingredients. After all, the temperature required to extract an ingredient's medicinal properties differed at every stage. Even Gu He found it somewhat taxing to simultaneously manage the extraction of four ingredients.

After carefully controlling the essence of the Ink Lotus and the essence of the Snake Saliva Fruit to merge, a rough pill embryo could already be seen within the flames. He then fused the essence of a second-tier Water Attribute Magic Core with the essence of Spirit Gathering Grass, forming a mass of pale-blue, gentle energy that floated inside the Medicine Cauldron. As the pill embryo approached the pale-blue energy, it completely absorbed that energy with the assistance of the flames. Its pitted surface was smoothed until it became round and glossy, while a faint blue sheen emerged over the pill's surface, making it exquisitely beautiful.

Seeing that the pill had taken shape, Gu He did not immediately stop. Instead, he nourished it in the flames for more than ten minutes before slowly withdrawing his Dou Qi. The flames inside the Medicine Cauldron gradually went out as well.

Once the flames vanished, Gu He opened the cauldron with Soul Power, took out a jade bottle from his Ring, and placed the emerald-green pill with a faint hint of blue, which floated within the Medicine Cauldron, inside it.

"Not bad." After taking a Qi Restoration Pill to replenish the Dou Qi he had expended, Gu He was satisfied with his condition.

"Next, let's see if I can refine a fifth-grade Qi Cultivation Pill."

Since Qi Cultivation Pills were fifth-grade consumable pills, they could somewhat accelerate the recovery of Dou Qi even for Dou Emperors and Dou Zongs. They were relatively high-grade consumable pills. Over the past two months of fighting magical beasts, Gu He had used up nearly all the stock in his Ring, so he planned to see whether he could refine some to replenish it.

Gu He used Dou Qi to sweep up the remaining medicinal impurities from the Medicine Cauldron, creating a fierce gust that blew them beyond the hillside.

He then sat down cross-legged again and repeated the process of refining Qi Gathering Powder. This time, however, Gu He did not overestimate himself by extracting several ingredients at once. Instead, he waited until one ingredient had been fully extracted before placing another into the Medicine Cauldron. After following the steps in his memory and extracting all the ingredients, Gu He began fusing their medicinal essences.

Refining a Qi Cultivation Pill required twenty-two medicinal ingredients. After merging some ingredients with similar or complementary properties, only four differently colored masses of medicinal essence remained within the Medicine Cauldron. However, these four masses could not be fused in pairs. He needed to merge all four masses in an instant while controlling the optimal flame temperature for it to count as a success. Otherwise, if even one condition was not met, only a lump of medicinal sludge would appear in the Medicine Cauldron.

Gu He solemnly sensed the medicinal properties within the four masses of essence, deducing the temperatures he would need during the fusion process. After all, even identical medicinal ingredients could have somewhat different essences depending on their growing environment. Therefore, Gu He's memories of refining Qi Cultivation Pills could only serve as a reference and were not entirely applicable to what lay before him.