First-Grade Qi Gathering Pill

After returning home, Xiao Jin had no intention of refining the Qi Gathering Pill that day. Today had exhausted him.

He had been worked like a beast of burden in his previous life. No matter what, he was not going to grind himself to the bone in this one. Cultivation was impossible—he had no plans to cultivate in this life. With the system, all he needed to do was refine pills in his spare time, sell them for money, and level up.

The next day, Xiao Jin was still asleep when his door was slapped loudly. "Good grandson, get up and eat! Hurry up!" Xiao Ying shouted from outside.

"Coming." Xiao Jin sluggishly crawled out from under the covers, threw on an outer robe, opened the door, and walked out. "Grandpa, why are you up so early today? Didn't you go to the family?"

Xiao Jin spoke with a lazy expression.

"What time do you think it is? You're still sleeping! What have you been doing at night lately? You sleep until noon every day, and I haven't seen you cultivating properly either. Don't think you can rest easy just because you've reached the seventh stage of Dou Qi. Let me tell you, pride goes before a fall. If you don't cultivate diligently, others will surpass you sooner or later!"

After accompanying Xiao Jin for the test yesterday, he had gone to inspect the family Marketplace and only returned this morning. Hearing from the servants that Xiao Jin had not been cultivating, he had been so angry that he came to settle accounts with him before even eating breakfast.

"Grandpa, you don't know?" Xiao Jin froze. He had thought that his defeat of Jia Lie'ao yesterday was already known throughout Wutan City.

"Know what?" Xiao Ying looked utterly confused. "Grandpa, I've already broken through to Dou Zhe." As Xiao Jin spoke, he spread open his hand. Golden-red Dou Qi slowly swirled in his palm, radiating rolling waves of heat.

"How is that possible? You were only at the seventh stage of Dou Qi yesterday. How could you be a Dou Zhe today? And you've even cultivated a cultivation method—where did you get it?"

Within the Xiao Family, each clan member could only enter the Dou Technique Pavilion after passing the family's attribute test following the Coming of Age Ceremony, where they could choose a cultivation method suited to them. Cultivating a method that matched one's own attribute could yield twice the result with half the effort.

"Grandpa, didn't I tell you before? About how I dreamed of a Dou Sheng expert passing down his cultivation to me. I told you, but you didn't believe me." Xiao Jin looked helpless. He absolutely could not tell anyone about the system, not even his own grandfather.

Xiao Ying stared blankly at Xiao Jin. He did not know whether Xiao Jin was telling the truth, nor could he imagine what heaven-reaching abilities a Dou Sheng expert possessed. But it did not matter. All he needed to know was that the person before him was his grandson and his only family. He believed that the boy before him would not harm him.

"So that's how it is." Xiao Ying gave Xiao Jin a deep look. Jin'er has secrets. The Dou Qi he displayed earlier was accompanied by waves of heat. That is definitely not power an intermediate Xuan Rank cultivation method could possess. At the very least, it is an advanced Xuan Rank method, perhaps even an Earth Rank one. Could what he said be true?

Xiao Ying began to half-believe him.

"By the way, Grandpa, I had a conflict with Jia Lie'ao yesterday while buying medicinal ingredients at the Marketplace. I defeated Jia Lie'ao." Seeing Xiao Ying's doubtful expression, Xiao Jin hurriedly changed the subject.

"Really?" Xiao Ying's face was filled with shock. Jia Lie'ao was the son of Jia Lie Bi, the Jialie Family Patriarch. Though his talent was mediocre, he definitely cultivated an Xuan Rank method and certainly lacked no Xuan Rank Dou Techniques.

The fact that Xiao Jin could defeat him could only mean that he cultivated a method at least at the advanced Xuan Rank. Xiao Ying began to believe Xiao Jin's words.

After all, the highest-ranking cultivation method in all of Wutan City was the intermediate Xuan Rank Mad Lion Fury Aura. This was the Xiao Family's finest cultivation method. Xiao Zhan had become the Xiao Family Patriarch by relying on this method and the low Xuan Rank Dou Technique, Lion Mountain Split.

Moreover, Xiao Jin had never left Wutan City since childhood, so it was impossible for him to possess a higher-level cultivation method. Therefore, the method he was cultivating now had to have been passed down by that Dou Sheng expert. That was what Xiao Ying thought.

Xiao Ying was overjoyed. "Other than passing down a cultivation method to you, what else did that senior say?" he hurriedly asked. If the Dou Sheng expert had given other instructions and Xiao Jin had failed to carry them out, Xiao Ying did not even dare imagine the consequences.

"He did not give any special instructions. He only said that we were fated, that he wanted to take me as his disciple, and that I should cultivate properly. Once I break through to Dou Zong, he will come for me and personally teach me." Xiao Jin began making things up.

"Really?" Xiao Ying was ecstatic. Since a Dou Sheng expert had said so, it meant Xiao Jin could at least cultivate to Dou Zong. A Dou Zong! There was not a single Dou Zong expert in the entire Jia Ma Empire. What an honor it would be for the Xiao Family to produce one!

"By the way, Grandpa, when Master passed down the cultivation method to me, he also passed down an Alchemy Technique and told me to practice it properly. I went to the Marketplace yesterday to buy medicinal ingredients precisely to practice alchemy. I left in too much of a hurry yesterday and forgot my money pouch, so I told those stall owners to come find you. When they arrive later, remember to pay them."

Xiao Jin's words interrupted Xiao Ying's wild fantasies. "You can become an alchemist too?!" Xiao Ying cried out in disbelief. Then his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

Xiao Jin hurriedly stepped forward to catch Xiao Ying and examine him. Only after discovering that Xiao Ying had merely fainted from the shock did he relax.

After taking Xiao Ying back to his room, Xiao Jin wolfed down breakfast and headed toward his own room.

Back in his room, Xiao Jin locked the door from the inside and sat cross-legged on the bed. With a wave of his hand, an exquisite Alchemy Furnace appeared on the floor. He then took out Qi Gathering Grass and several supplementary herbs, preparing to refine pills for the first time in his life.

Xiao Jin pressed one palm against the furnace. With his current Dou Zhe strength, he could not condense flames from thin air. He could only inject the Dou Qi within his body into the Alchemy Furnace and use the furnace's own formation to generate flames, thereby refining pills.

The Dou Qi in Xiao Jin's Dantian streamed endlessly into the Alchemy Furnace. With a bang, a mass of golden-red flames blazed fiercely within the furnace. Xiao Jin looked at the flames, then sensed the rate at which his Dou Qi was being consumed and smiled faintly. At this rate of consumption, it isn't even as fast as my recovery.

Xiao Jin's Soul Power enveloped the entire Alchemy Furnace. He grabbed the Qi Gathering Grass beside him and tossed it into the furnace, then began changing hand seals according to the techniques in his inherited memories. He carefully controlled the temperature inside, afraid that he might accidentally burn the herbs to ash.

The herb within the furnace rapidly melted into liquid, releasing an enticing medicinal fragrance. Xiao Jin was delighted. This proved that the first step had succeeded. He tossed the remaining supplementary herbs into the furnace as well. Surging Soul Power enveloped the Alchemy Furnace, sensing the changes in the medicinal ingredients within while his hand seals continued to shift. As one hand seal after another changed, the several herbs within the furnace swiftly melted into liquid.

Xiao Jin took a deep breath, and all the Soul Power in his body surged into the Alchemy Furnace. He frantically kneaded the several masses of medicinal liquid together while increasing the flow of Dou Qi into the furnace. Within the blazing flames, the mass of medicinal liquid rapidly fused and spun. Before long, a white pill slowly took shape.

Xiao Jin was overjoyed. He had succeeded. Normally, pill refinement was essentially complete at this stage. All that remained was to let the pill mature within the Alchemy Furnace for a while before opening it and retrieving the pill. Ten minutes later, Xiao Jin slapped the top of the furnace, and a snow-white pill shot out. He caught it in one hand.

Looking at the pill in his hand, Xiao Jin wore a smug expression. "As expected of an Alchemy Technique produced by the system. The success rate is remarkably high."

Xiao Jin took out a Pill Bottle, placed the pill inside, then continued stoking the fire and refining.