Learning Alchemy at the Daoist Sanctuary

"Congratulations to Senior Disciple Brother on attaining the Great Luo!"

With the three Saint masters gone, the Jie Sect disciples once again offered their congratulations to the senior brother.

Standing on the high platform, Xian Junyu watched the growing crowd of junior brothers and sisters. Instead of feeling pleased, his worry deepened.

Judging by the situation between Second Martial Uncle Yuanshi and Master today, their relationship had already grown somewhat delicate.

He didn't need to think twice to know that the sect had been stirring up trouble on Mount Kunlun over the past two thousand years, and Second Martial Uncle had caught wind of it.

If this continued, leaving Mount Kunlun was only a matter of time. And leaving this first home—Xian Junyu was certainly reluctant.

There were too many memories here for him.

"What's there to congratulate? Disperse, all of you. Go back and cultivate properly!"

After saying this with a hint of displeasure, Xian Junyu walked straight into his master's Daoist sanctuary.

Seeing that the senior brother seemed to be in a foul mood, everyone exchanged puzzled looks. In the end, they summed it up with the same old line: the senior brother's temperament was strange and unpredictable...

Duobao and the others didn't dwell on it. Since the senior brother had already broken through to the Great Luo, they, as personal disciples, couldn't afford to fall too far behind. So they promptly returned to go into seclusion.

Inside the Daoist sanctuary, Xian Junyu went directly to his master's Scripture Pavilion. His [Upper Clarity Sword Art] had been found there.

The Saint's Scripture Pavilion was off-limits without the Saint's permission, even to Jie Sect disciples.

Of course, Xian Junyu was the exception.

He had copied and reproduced countless battle techniques, cultivation methods, Body Refinement Arts, Divine Powers and Spells, and more from within. As for what he did with those copies, only he knew.

Once inside the Scripture Pavilion, Xian Junyu didn't forget that he still had unclaimed cultivation from the system's return.

"Come on, System Bro, give me my cultivation return!"

Instantly, the system's notification chimes rang out in succession.

[Ding! Jin Ling's cultivation has broken through to Late-stage Grand Unity Heavenly Immortal!]

[Ding! Wu Dang's cultivation has broken through to Mid-stage Grand Unity Heavenly Immortal!]

[Ding! Duobao's cultivation has broken through to Mid-stage Grand Unity Heavenly Immortal!]

[Ding! Gui Ling's cultivation has broken through to Grand Unity Heavenly Immortal Initial Stage!]

[..., Random multiplier: returning host cultivation of Initial Stage Seventh Layer Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal!]

All four personal disciples of the Jie Sect had broken through to the Taiyi Realm, and Duobao had even caught up to Jin Ling.

"Initial Stage Seventh Layer Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal—a minor increase of six layers of cultivation. Not bad."

Feeling the cultivation within him, Xian Junyu wasn't dissatisfied.

Six minor layers might not seem like much, but compared to the disciples in the sect, it was enormous. The gap between Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal and the Taiyi Realm was vast.

If the cultivation progress of the sect's disciples was like a small stream, then his was a vast ocean.

Under such a massive disparity, still gaining six layers of cultivation meant the system's random multiplier had been quite generous.

"Looks like, for a while, making any major leaps in cultivation won't be possible. Oh well, it's still faster than cultivating on my own."

Compared to that, he wasn't worried at all. As long as his junior brothers and sisters raised their cultivation, the cultivation returned to him would still be substantial.

He just needed to wait a little longer.

After receiving the cultivation returned by the system, Xian Junyu began wandering around the Scripture Pavilion.

"Alchemy, alchemy... let me see where the jade slips on alchemy are..."

The interior of the Scripture Pavilion was like a towering building, layer upon layer, vast in scale. Finding anything was no simple task.

Xian Junyu floated through the air, searching floor by floor.

His Artifact Refining was already sufficient for now. He planned to thoroughly study alchemy. Originally, he had intended to go directly to First Senior Uncle Laozi to learn.

But after what happened last time, Master Tongtian said he had some research in this area himself, so Xian Junyu decided to first study on his own within the sect.

Once he had learned enough, he would go to First Senior Uncle to study further. By then, he would surely make rapid progress.

Finding a large pile of jade slips on alchemy, Xian Junyu began reading them directly. As before, he first mastered the theoretical knowledge before moving to practical application.

He had originally thought that, like Artifact Refining, he could memorize everything in about a hundred years. But Xian Junyu soon realized he was wrong.

The properties of spiritual materials—whether they were fire-aligned or water-aligned, how to combine them, how much to add, when to use high heat and when to use low heat—none of it could afford the slightest carelessness.

This was several times more troublesome than Artifact Refining.

If Artifact Refining's difficulty and complexity were rated a five, then alchemy was a fifteen—three times as troublesome.

Xian Junyu spent a full three hundred years just completing the foundational theoretical knowledge.

With that foundation, he asked the Water-Fire Daoist Children for an alchemy furnace and began refining pills directly in his master's Daoist sanctuary.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

"Damn! Why did the furnace explode again? Where did I go wrong?" Xian Junyu once again checked the book in his hands.

He had already conquered pills below the Seventh Grade; though he hadn't reached the peak grade, he had achieved the middle grade. Yet as soon as he started refining Eighth-grade Pills, the furnace kept exploding, and he was completely baffled.

"The formula, the dosage, the heat—none of them are wrong. So why does it still explode? Where exactly am I going wrong?"

"Let me try again. I refuse to believe I can't find the problem!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

He kept testing and kept blowing up furnaces. The entire Daoist Sanctuary sounded like it was celebrating New Year's with firecrackers—the explosions never stopped.

Finally, after this had gone on for several days, Tongtian couldn't take it anymore.

"What in the blazes is that brat up to? Refining a pill is one thing, but why is he making such a racket? And it's been days!"

His quiet cultivation had been completely disrupted by this fellow. Tongtian immediately went to the Alchemy Chamber and kicked the door open.

He roared in anger: "Xian Junyu, you wretched brat, what the hell are you doing? Are you never going to stop?!"

Before he could finish, Tongtian looked at the smoke-filled Alchemy Chamber and was utterly stunned. The room was thick with black smoke everywhere; he could barely see anyone.

Was this his clean Alchemy Chamber?

Everything was black and grimy—not a trace of its former clean and tidy appearance remained.

He waved his hand to dispel the black smoke, and when he saw Xian Junyu, who looked like a piece of charcoal, Tongtian was left completely speechless.

If he didn't know the kid was refining pills, he'd think he was developing some kind of powerful spiritual artifact.

"Eh? Master, why are you here?"

"Disciple greets Master!"

Putting down the Jade Slip in his hand, Xian Junyu quickly stood up and cupped his little black hands in salute.

Tongtian looked at the charcoal-like Xian Junyu, then at the ruined Alchemy Furnace beside him, and his entire face darkened.

It was one thing to waste his Spiritual Materials, but now he was wrecking his Alchemy Furnace too. What kind of pill required such a furnace-killing process? Was this even alchemy?!

This was clearly just wasting his stuff.

Tongtian opened the furnace and looked at the black, lumpy mess inside. He immediately spotted the problem.

He turned to Xian Junyu and said: "Don't you know that for pills above the Eighth Grade, ordinary flames can no longer satisfy the fusion of medicinal power? Wasting my Spiritual Materials and furnace—are you doing this on purpose?!"

Hearing this, Xian Junyu looked utterly confused.

"Pills above the Eighth Grade can't be refined with ordinary flames? But this Jade Slip doesn't mention that at all!"

He picked up the Jade Slip and flipped through it again, but still found no such note.

He had memorized this Jade Slip backward and forward. He was absolutely certain it didn't contain that clause. If it did, there was no way he would have missed it.