Rapid Advancement

Sudden Rapid Progress

Mengshan City, Northern District, in a courtyard owned by the Mystic Pill Sect.

Han Yi put the silver, round Array Disk into his storage pouch, a satisfied look appearing on his face.

With this Array Disk, he was now the master of this courtyard.

Excluding the open-air backyard, the interior covered at least a hundred square meters. There was one Meditation Chamber and two living bedrooms.

The backyard was likewise around a hundred square meters. A jujube tree of unknown variety stood within it, its branches laden with red dates.

Beside the jujube tree, the stone stools and stone table were covered in fallen leaves and dust.

Yet Han Yi did not mind in the slightest.

After all, for the foreseeable future, this would be his home.

Returning to the Meditation Chamber, Han Yi first took everything out of his storage pouch.

The largest item, a hexagonal copper pill furnace, was placed in the middle of the Meditation Chamber, while the remaining alchemy ingredients and auxiliary materials were set around it.

Before descending the mountain, he had exchanged all the Mind Sharpening Pills, Plague Dispelling Powder, and Beast Nurturing Pills he had previously refined for points. Then, he had spent every last point on materials such as medicinal herbs and spirit charcoal.

Moreover, all the herbs were materials for refining Qi Nourishing Pills—eight complete sets of them.

"Now that my alchemy has reached the First Glimpse level, I wonder what my success rate will be for refining Qi Nourishing Pills."

Han Yi felt a little expectant.

After breaking through to a new level of alchemy on Little Spirit Void Peak, his success rate in refining Plague Dispelling Powder and Beast Nurturing Pills had already approached one hundred percent.

As for Mind Sharpening Pills, though he had only refined two batches, both had succeeded.

So before descending the mountain, he had gone all in and exchanged all his points for materials to refine Qi Nourishing Pills.

After sorting out the materials, he did not immediately begin refining. Instead, he sat cross-legged to cultivate off to one side.

Every Qi Nourishing Pill was extremely important to him. There was no room for error; he had to refine them in his best condition.

Two hours later.

Han Yi opened his eyes. Feeling the spiritual power within him grow full once more, he could not help feeling somewhat helpless.

This body possessed a low-grade Fire Spirit Root. Its aptitude was truly dreadful.

Recovering just a little spiritual power had taken a full two hours.

If his spiritual power were severely depleted, the time needed for recovery would certainly be even longer.

"Forget it. I'll refine pills first, then sell the Qi Nourishing Pills for spirit stones. I'll use those spirit stones to buy alchemy materials and cultivate, then refine more pills, sell them again..."

"Only by continuing this cycle can I become wealthier and wealthier."

"If aptitude isn't enough, spirit stones will make up the difference."

Gathering all his thoughts, Han Yi began refining pills.

First, he channeled a stream of spiritual power into the hexagonal pill furnace.

Then, with utmost care, he evenly placed the measured spirit charcoal into the three openings beneath the furnace. Following the proper steps, he fed the medicinal ingredients into the furnace one by one...

As all the materials entered the pill furnace, Han Yi's expression grew increasingly tense. Both hands pressed against the furnace as he continuously channeled spiritual power into it.

His senses constantly monitored the changes in the many materials within the furnace. He repeatedly increased or reduced the spiritual power, allowing the ingredients to slowly meld together.

At a certain moment, though fine beads of sweat had broken out across Han Yi's forehead from his tension, joy rose in his heart.

It's about to take shape.

The very next instant after that delight arose within him, the writhing mass of black, viscous matter inside the furnace—which had already fused into one and was only a step away from forming a pill—suddenly let out the faintest sound from its surface, like a bubble bursting.

Pop!

Han Yi's expression changed. Before he could make another move, the sentient, writhing black viscous substance inside the furnace let out a series of pop, pop sounds.

Then, no matter how much spiritual power he channeled into it, the writhing black substance gradually flattened and softened, no longer responding at all.

Seeing this, Han Yi withdrew his hands and let out a long sigh.

"Failed."

Then he frowned and began to review the process.

"The earlier steps were all correct. There wasn't the slightest error."

"The problem was in the later stages."

"The materials should be fine, and the amount of spirit charcoal should also be correct. Throughout the whole process, my spiritual power never faltered. What exactly was the reason?"

After thinking for a moment, Han Yi detected no obvious abnormalities.

He glanced once more at the work manual he had renamed the Proficiency Panel.

Alchemy (First Glimpse 12/100)

"From 11/100 to 12/100, progress increased even though the refinement failed."

"Never mind. There aren't enough samples. I'll refine another batch."

This time, it took a full six hours. He consumed a Fasting Pill during that time, and it was not until dusk that Han Yi finally replenished the spiritual power within him.

If he had used spirit stones instead, it would likely have taken only about half an hour.

With spirit sand, it would have taken an hour.

Even without spirit sand or spirit stones, if he were on Little Spirit Void Peak, relying on its second-tier spirit vein, he could recover in no more than four hours.

This showed just how important wealth and location were among the four essentials of cultivation: wealth, companions, techniques, and land.

Once his spiritual power had recovered, Han Yi began refining the second batch of Qi Nourishing Pills.

A quarter of an hour later.

Pill fragrance wafted through the air.

Han Yi looked at the translucent jade bottle in his hand, and boundless delight rose in his heart.

"Success."

Inside the jade bottle were eight white pills, each about the size of a fingernail.

Qi Nourishing Pills.

According to the sect's exchange rules, one Qi Nourishing Pill could be exchanged for ten points. This bottle meant eighty points.

If the deadline had not already passed, Han Yi would only have needed to refine one more batch of Qi Nourishing Pills, or two batches of Mind Sharpening Pills, to meet the requirement of one hundred points.

After his delight subsided, Han Yi noticed that the Proficiency Panel had likewise changed.

Alchemy (First Glimpse 13/100)

Beyond this change, what concerned him more was the difference between the two recent refinement attempts.

"The sequence was exactly the same, the movements were identical, and there wasn't even the slightest difference in spiritual power—yet one batch succeeded while the other failed."

"When refinement fails, there is progress. When it succeeds, there is also progress, and the increase is exactly the same."

"After turning it over in my mind, the only possible explanation is the success rate."

In alchemy, getting every step right did not guarantee success.

There was such a thing as a success rate.

The so-called success rate referred to the probability that an alchemist could successfully refine a pill when there were no obvious or subtle errors.

This probability could not be determined from only a few attempts. It required refinement attempts on a certain scale before any conclusion could be drawn.

For instance, Han Yi had once accidentally refined a successful batch of Qi Nourishing Pills on Little Spirit Void Peak.

Could that mean his success rate in refining Qi Nourishing Pills was one hundred percent?

Of course not.

Because every subsequent batch of Qi Nourishing Pills he refined had failed.

With his alchemy at the time, the actual probability of successfully refining Qi Nourishing Pills was less than ten percent.

"I wonder what my success rate for refining Qi Nourishing Pills is now."

By then, night had fallen. Having taken a Fasting Pill earlier, Han Yi did not feel hungry.

Still, he picked some red dates from the backyard to eat, rested for an hour, then immersed himself in cultivation once more.

The sun rose and the moon set.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

This time, Han Yi paid attention. He no longer sealed off his mind completely as he had during his first cultivation session. Instead, before each recovery of spiritual power, he planted a thought in his mind: once his spiritual power was fully restored, he would come back to his senses.

At this moment.

Inside the Meditation Chamber, the materials for eight batches of Qi Nourishing Pills had vanished, replaced by three bottles of finished Qi Nourishing Pills.

Though they were merely ordinary-quality Qi Nourishing Pills, to Han Yi, they were already a considerable fortune.

"Three batches succeeded. The first produced eight pills, the second produced ten, and the third also produced eight."

"Twenty-six pills in total."

"I'm rich."