Tongyang County

Tongyang County

Li Ditu impatiently inspected the results of the refinement.

Of the five pills, two had successfully become Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills, while the other three were ruined pills.

"Very good. Two were successfully made. Among the three ruined pills, one only had a flaw during the fusion of the spirit herbs, judging by its color. If the handling had been a little better, it could very likely have become another Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pill."

As Li Ditu spoke, the smile on his face never faded.

As long as two Qi Gathering Pills came out, Li Qianqing's talent had fully met his expectations.

And it was not merely a matter of successfully producing two pills. The condition of the third pill had already surpassed his estimates, making this a most pleasant surprise.

Li Qianqing possessed high Alchemy Talent and worked hard as well. Combined, those two qualities would make him even more formidable.

"Whew, that's a relief." Li Qianqing stepped forward for a look and was also quite satisfied with the result of his refinement. "By the way, Second Grandfather, were there any problems during my refinement process?"

"Generally speaking, there were no problems. You only need to improve your control of the fire during the dissolution of the spirit herbs, and many of the finer details were not handled well enough. But that is normal for you, because those details require sufficient experience. Once you refine more pills in the future, you will certainly do better!"

When refining Fasting Pill, Li Ditu had still had room to guide Li Qianqing during his earliest attempts.

But now that he was refining Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills, Li Ditu realized that there seemed to be no need for guidance during the process. It would instead affect Li Qianqing's performance.

"I understand, Second Grandfather." Li Qianqing nodded.

"Take these spirit herbs for refining Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills back with you. If you encounter any difficulties, or any points that leave you torn during the refinement process, come find me again."

"You no longer need any special guidance during refinement. What matters next is believing in yourself. Once you have used up these spirit herbs for Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills, I think you will at least reach a level of four successes out of five."

Li Qianqing indicated that he understood. After putting away the spirit herbs, he bade his Second Grandfather farewell.

Li Ditu stood at the doorway, watching Li Qianqing leave.

The smile on his face still had not faded.

As long as Li Qianqing could continue growing, perhaps the Li Family would one day become a Core Formation Clan.

Across the entire Zhao Kingdom, there were not even ten Core Formation Clans, while the number of Foundation Establishment Clans had reached three digits.

The Li Family was merely one of the hundreds of Foundation Establishment Clans.

After returning to his residence, Li Qianqing planned to first refine one furnace of Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills, then cultivate.

Refining pills alone was different from refining them under Li Ditu's watchful gaze.

When alone, he had to uphold the basic principle of an alchemist: balance efficiency with pill success rate and maximize his own gains.

At present, the best choice was to use two portions of spirit herbs for Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills in a single furnace.

After taking out the Alchemy Furnace and the corresponding spirit herbs, he began refining Qi Gathering Pills.

One portion of spirit herbs for refining Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills cost about three Low-Grade Spirit Stones, while one Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pill sold for two Low-Grade Spirit Stones. In other words, producing two Qi Gathering Pills from one furnace using one portion would turn a profit.

Unless one possessed astonishing talent, refining pills in the beginning was always done at a loss to cultivate an alchemist's experience.

For lineages that had alchemists, most spirit herbs were planted and harvested by the lineage itself for their own alchemists' use. Only cultivation lineages without alchemists would choose to sell the spirit herbs they grew.

Therefore, possessing a good alchemist was extremely important to a lineage. They could turn spirit herb resources into even better pill resources.

The sun sank in the west.

Li Qianqing also finished refining two portions of Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills in one furnace.

"Only nine. I still haven't found the best feeling." Li Qianqing was clearly not very satisfied with the result of this furnace.

His requirement for himself was ten Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills, without wasting even a trace of spirit herbs.

"Forget about three portions in one furnace for now. I'll wait until I reach the Qi Refining Sixth Layer."

Other alchemists were limited by experience, while he was limited by his realm.

After putting away the furnace, he immersed himself in cultivation.

Before beginning cultivation, he first swallowed one Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pill.

For cultivators in the Mid-Stage Qi Refining, it was best to take Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills. Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills were not very effective, but given Li Qianqing's current circumstances, he could only make do with them.

Within three years, he would have no opportunity to place his stored pills into the Clan Treasury.

The medicinal potency of Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills began gradually declining after three years, and after ten years, their potency vanished completely.

After setting aside enough Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills to match his Alchemy Talent, he would consume and refine all the remaining pills.

For the next several months, he experienced the pleasure of popping pills.

Although Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills were not very effective for Mid-Stage Qi Refining cultivators, and he was not continuously cultivating and refining pills, they still greatly accelerated Li Qianqing's progress toward the Qi Refining Sixth Layer.

Compared with his astonishing Alchemy Talent, the minor anomaly of his cultivation speed being somewhat faster would only make the core senior members of the lineage think it was even better.

Judging from his performance thus far, the core senior members of the lineage had already regarded him as the Li family's future hope.

Understanding this, Li Qianqing knew how to conceal the big things while revealing the small ones.

Tongyang County.

Cultivator Market.

This was the largest Cultivator Market in Xiangshui Prefecture, gathering the forces of every cultivation lineage in Xiangshui Prefecture, as well as some Foundation Establishment cultivation lineages from Other Prefecture.

Tongyang County had been able to develop to its current scale mainly because of its three Micro Spirit Veins.

Normally, a Qi Refining lineage had to occupy at least one Micro Spirit Vein, while a Foundation Establishment Clan had to occupy at least three Micro Spirit Veins as cultivation grounds.

Tongyang County's circumstances were already enough to support the development of a Foundation Establishment Realm lineage.

The spiritual energy from the three Micro Spirit Veins was mainly supplied to the Cultivator Market, though other parts of Tongyang County could also catch a tiny share. Naturally, the closer one lived to the Cultivator Market, the better the spiritual energy conditions became. Many Rogue Cultivators who could not afford to live within the Cultivator Market chose to reside in the nearest surrounding ring, obtaining a small amount of spiritual energy for cultivation.

"Ninth Aunt, this is the latest batch of Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills sent over."

Li Dixing accepted the junior's Storage Bag and took out all the Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills inside for inspection.

The number of Qi Gathering Pills in this batch was clearly lower, but the number of high-quality pills was also clearly higher.

"The Qian Generation has produced an outstanding alchemist. He is even more exceptional than Second Brother." Li Dixing quickly learned whose hands had produced the bulk of this batch of Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills. "Sell the average-quality ones for two Low-Grade Spirit Stones. When someone purchases three Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills at once, make sure one of them is a high-quality Qi Gathering Pill."

After examining the Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills, Li Dixing came up with a simple sales strategy.

As the manager of the shop, she wanted the goods sold here to be converted into spirit stones as quickly as possible, but without sacrificing too much profit.