Outer Sect, Pill Peak.
After taking a Foundation Establishment Pill to restore his spiritual power in the plaza outside Deacon Hall, Pei Ling went to the market to buy more ingredients.
When the shopkeeper saw him, he smiled and asked, "Junior Brother Pei, did you use up the ingredients you bought last time?"
"I did." Pei Ling sighed, his face full of helplessness. He cupped his hands toward the shopkeeper and said, "Senior Brother was right. Pill refining is too difficult. I saw Instructor Yan Gu whip through it so effortlessly that I thought it would be easy. Who knew I'd fail as soon as I tried it myself? I lost everything I put in."
With a long, mournful sigh, he asked the shopkeeper to bring him ten more sets of ingredients. "But I just sold a few things at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion and realized pills bring in a pretty good profit. I want to give it another try."
The shopkeeper chuckled. "Don't worry, Junior Brother. Every pill master goes through this. How could you expect to produce a successful pill without refining dozens, even hundreds of batches?"
Pei Ling agreed with him for a few more moments. Then, claiming he had just suffered a loss, he got the shopkeeper to knock off the odd change. Only after that did he put away the ingredients and head straight to the Pill Room.
This time, he steeled himself and rented it for a full day and night.
After entering the pill-refining chamber, he checked everything as usual, then told the system to start refining.
To be safe, Pei Ling placed the remaining Foundation Establishment Pills where they would be easy to grab.
"Ding-dong! The Intelligent Cultivation System is now cultivating [Pill Refining Technique: Bone Quenching Pill] for you..." Accompanied by