Top-Grade Pills, Delivering the Commission

"What a shame, the medicinal liquid has too many impurities and the quality is too poor."

The flame in the alchemy furnace extinguished.

Su Hao opened the furnace and looked at the batch of scorched yellow pills inside, which emitted a faint bitter smell.

In terms of quality, they were not even as good as low-grade Pure Qi Pills.

"Right..."

Su Hao raised an eyebrow, took out several Pure Qi Pills, and circulated his spiritual energy to envelop them.

The spiritual energy wrapped around them like water, and the four pills inside rotated accordingly.

Strands of gray-white powder continuously fell off.

After a moment, the pills had shrunk by half, but their texture was smooth and round, exuding a milky white color and a hint of fragrance.

"They're between low-grade and mid-grade, but the medicinal efficacy is insufficient, only half of a normal finished product. However, at least they're presentable. If I were to sell them, I wouldn't worry about finding buyers.

Moreover, if impurities were removed and the medicinal liquid purified from the extraction stage, I imagine the results would be different!"

Su Hao had a sudden idea and directly threw this batch of inferior pills into a box on the side.

He quickly began the third batch of pills.

This time, from the stage of boiling the medicinal ingredients, he began to use his unique spiritual energy to influence the quality of the ingredients.

It was during the purification of the Three-Colored Lotus that he consumed more spiritual energy.

After a round of alchemy, the spiritual energy required for the Fire Control Art was negligible, while purification consumed about one-tenth of his spiritual energy.

Time ticked by.

A rich pill fragrance gradually emanated from the alchemy furnace.

Even before the final fusion into pills, it was already possible to determine that this batch was successful, and its quality would not be poor!

Bang~

As the furnace lid popped open, thick purple and white smoke billowed out.

Inside were 15 Pure Qi Pills, spinning rapidly. Each one was crystal clear and exuded a strange, halo-like luster.

"Top-grade Pure Qi Pills!"

Su Hao's eyes lit up. With just one glance, he made a judgment based on the appearance of the pills.

Top-grade, high-grade, mid-grade, and low-grade were the four tiers, representing the impurity content and medicinal efficacy of the pills. Each quality level had at least a 30% difference in medicinal efficacy.

Top-grade pills meant that the impurities were already close to 0, with almost no waste of the effective components of the medicinal ingredients, and no accumulation of pill toxins.

A bottle of 5 top-grade Pure Qi Pills could be sold for seven to eight times the price and still find buyers.

For someone new to the Pill Dao, attempting it only three times and producing top-grade quality was an unprecedented alchemy genius, even in sects known for their Pill Dao, like the Golden Light Sect!

This batch greatly boosted Su Hao's morale, and his interest grew even further.

He began the fourth batch, the fifth batch...

His success rate in alchemy was over 90%, and the rate of top-grade pills exceeded half!

Each batch consumed one-tenth of his spiritual energy. While it seemed to consume a lot, even Lin Zhi Shan could only refine seven or eight batches a day, as alchemy was not only a skillful art but also a great test of spirit and concentration.

Su Hao, however, felt very relaxed. After all, his current alchemy method, which was akin to cheating, consumed spiritual energy but saved time and simplified the alchemy process.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

Su Hao became increasingly proficient in refining Pure Qi Pills. By the end, he could achieve a decent success rate even with normal alchemy processes without purifying the medicinal ingredients, but it was difficult to produce top-grade pills.

In two days, he failed 5 times and succeeded 22 times.

In total, he produced 260 Pure Qi Pills.

Among them were 100 top-grade Pure Qi Pills, 80 high-grade Pure Qi Pills, 50 mid-grade Pure Qi Pills, and 30 low-grade Pure Qi Pills.

"I won't need until next month; I can complete Heavenly Treasure Pavilion's commission by the end of this month.

However, I can't give them the top-grade Pure Qi Pills, or even too many high-grade ones.

Even with the Hundred Profound Gang Body, Lin Zhi Shan couldn't possibly achieve such a high level of alchemy mastery."

After two days of high-intensity alchemy, Su Hao's eyes were bloodshot. He sorted the pills by quality, put them into different bottles, and divided them into three piles.

Once the initial excitement subsided, he began to worry.

Although Pure Qi Pills were low-level cultivation pills, the profit potential of producing top-grade quality with high probability was enough to make any cultivator envious!

If this were to leak, Su Hao's situation would become even more dangerous!

Controlling the degree was crucial; he needed to be low-key yet demonstrate some value.

Therefore, the pills delivered to Heavenly Treasure Pavilion could not be of high quality; it was better to give them some inferior pills.

"Next, I'll try refining Spirit Gathering Powder. It's a bit more advanced than Pure Qi Pills. The refining method won't be more complex, just that there are more auxiliary medicinal ingredients."

At the end of the month, Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

These days, Su Hao has been engaged in high-intensity alchemy.

He's used up most of the five hundred medicinal ingredients.

In total, he produced 212 bottles of Pure Qi Pills and 100 portions of Qi Gathering Powder.

He kept all the high-grade and top-grade pills for himself.

He then headed to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion with the inferior-grade pills he had selected.

"Well, Nephew Disciple Su, what brings you here today?"

Upon seeing a familiar face among the customers, Huang Shanyu immediately walked out from behind the counter with a smile, personally attending to him.

"Let's talk inside." Su Hao glanced around the counters, noticing the curious gazes from some disciples in black. They seemed to be speculating about his background.

"Right, right, please come inside."

Huang Shanyu slapped his forehead and signaled to a young attendant, telling him to prepare tea and refreshments.

After Su Hao entered the inner room and sat down, he let out a sigh.

"Nephew Disciple Su, have you encountered some troubles?" Huang Shanyu asked with concern.

Su Hao shook his head. "It's nothing much. I'm here this time, first, to settle my debt."

"No need to rush that. Given our relationship, it's fine even if you don't pay it back," Huang Shanyu said, waving his hand magnanimously. In truth, he hoped Su Hao wouldn't be able to repay the spirit stones.

Su Hao brushed his hand across the table, and a pile of spirit stones appeared. "Elder Huang, please count them. It's 200 spirit stones in total."

"Count what? I don't trust you?" Huang Shanyu said this, but the moment he put away the spirit stones, he knew the exact amount. "How long has it been, Brother Su? You've already gathered 200 spirit stones? It seems your Master favors you greatly. Looking around the Outer Sect, I haven't seen any Master so generous, bestowing so many spirit stones upon a disciple."

"Not at all, it's a long story." Su Hao continued to wear a worried expression, playing the enigmatic one. He wasn't afraid of others guessing; he was afraid of saying too much, as too much talk could lead to more flaws.

Just as Huang Shanyu was about to adopt a concerned elder's demeanor again.

Su Hao took out a storage bag. "Master asked me to give this to you. He said he couldn't fulfill the commission with the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion as agreed. He has something to attend to and has to leave. He'll deliver the remaining pills when he returns."

"What happened?" Huang Shanyu's expression changed slightly. He took the storage bag and swept his divine sense inside. It only contained 100 bottles of Pure Qi Pills and 40 portions of Spirit Gathering Powder, less than half of the commissioned amount. He put the storage bag down and stared at Su Hao curiously.

"I don't know what happened this time. Senior Disciple Brother Lin Zhi Shan initially contacted me for a few days, then he disappeared. Not long after that, the array formation at Master's cave dwelling was destroyed. Master also seemed to have sustained some serious injuries. He went into seclusion for a few days and ordered me to manage Heavenly Medicine Mountain. A few days ago, he suddenly came out of seclusion, hastily gave me some instructions, and told me to deliver this storage bag to you. He knew I owed your Heavenly Treasure Pavilion spirit stones, lectured me, and gave me two hundred spirit stones to pay off the debt. Then he disappeared without a trace."

Su Hao sighed and recounted the lie he had already concocted. "I wonder what kind of enemy Master has provoked. With his status in the Outer Sect and his many connections, he wouldn't have to leave like a fugitive, would he?"

Huang Shanyu stroked his beard, occasionally glancing at Su Hao. "You really don't know what happened?"

"How would I be qualified to ask? I usually stay in my room cultivating, afraid of displeasing Master, and also worried that Senior Disciple Brother Lin Zhi Shan might dislike me and cause trouble behind my back..." Su Hao said helplessly.

"That's true. You're just a cultivator at the third level of Qi Refining. How could you know so much?" Huang Shanyu narrowed his eyes and pondered. "To tell you the truth, your Master most likely offended Joy Peak!"

"..." Su Hao was stunned. That's not right. Huang Shanyu knows even this? Could Liu Mei's side have made a move?