Breakthrough, Alchemy

As the Great Dao's suppression loosened, Old Ancestor Styx immediately felt his cultivation stir restlessly. Without further hesitation, he sat cross-legged atop the Twelve-grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus and began a closed-door breakthrough...

As Old Ancestor Styx entered seclusion, time slowly passed. After Styx broke through to Mid Heavenly Immortal and had just stabilized his cultivation, he felt the suppression of Heaven and Earth loosen once more. He did not hesitate and continued cultivating. After breaking through again to Late Heavenly Immortal, he turned to break through in body cultivation. After all, his physical body had been stuck at Mid Heavenly Immortal for a long time! This time, his accumulated foundation bore fruit, and he directly broke through to Peak Heavenly Immortal. His realm also quietly reached the threshold of Peak True Immortal; one more step would bring him to Profound Immortal. Having made too many breakthroughs this time, Old Ancestor Styx spent a great deal of time stabilizing his cultivation so it would not affect his future progress!

Once Old Ancestor Styx had thoroughly stabilized his cultivation and emerged from seclusion, he discovered that the Great Wilderness had already evolved into the Mid Fourth Tribulation. The Great Wilderness had also become increasingly stable...

After finishing his seclusion, Old Ancestor Styx no longer had any desire to continue cultivating. Once he had sorted through the insights gained during this seclusion, he took out the Forging Platform and Forging Hammer, intending to forge an Alchemy Furnace and a Vessel Cauldron.

After failing seven or eight times, Old Ancestor Styx finally forged the furnace and cauldron. They barely reached the grade of Acquired Spiritual Treasures!

It seemed that the improvement in his cultivation had also improved his artifact-refining skill. He upgraded the Forging Platform and Forging Hammer to Acquired Spiritual Treasures as well! Normally, Old Ancestor Styx's current artifact-refining level had only reached the stage where he could forge Magic Tools and Magic Treasures. However, thanks to the feedback from being the first to create the Houtian Forging Dao, together with the high grade of the spiritual materials he had chosen, he was able to forge these four Spiritual Treasures. After organizing the insights he had gained from forging Spiritual Treasures,

Old Ancestor Styx began selecting Spiritual Herbs, preparing to embark on his first journey into alchemy. First, he recalled the Pill Dao Demon God's understanding of the Alchemy Dao. From that lofty perspective, he then connected it with the understanding of alchemy from novels in his previous life. Naturally, bringing things like pill formulas and experience into the Great Wilderness would be utter nonsense!

Yet the understanding of Medicinal Properties, the combinations of different medicinal ingredients, and imaginative concepts such as Monarch, Minister, Assistant, Envoy greatly inspired Old Ancestor Styx!

Old Ancestor Styx began studying the Medicinal Properties of the weeds scattered across the ground. After all, even a single blade of weed from the Great Wilderness would be a rare supreme treasure if placed in a Small World.

Following principles such as the Five Elements, Yin Yang, and Monarch, Minister, Assistant, Envoy, Old Ancestor Styx began combining Medicinal Properties. He summoned the Alchemy Furnace and, rather than using Red Lotus Karmic Fire, transformed his own Mana into True Fire to heat the furnace and purify the Medicinal Properties.

At the beginning, he could not properly control the heat and ruined many medicinal ingredients. After all, medicinal ingredients were more fragile than spiritual materials. However, Old Ancestor Styx was not discouraged. The process of refining medicinal ingredients was also a process of mastering his own Mana. Since his cultivation could not improve for the moment, if he could control his Mana down to the finest detail and precisely command every inch of it, he would gain a greater advantage over others in future battles or anything else. Using one inch of Mana to unleash the power of three inches was also an indirect improvement to his own strength.

Returning to the matter at hand, Old Ancestor Styx began another round of refinement with these medicinal ingredients. He had plenty of time, materials covered the ground, and the process could improve him as well, so why should he hurry?

Old Ancestor Styx was not in a rush to refine them into pills. He simply refined all kinds of herbs over and over again, placing them into Jade Bottles he had forged on the spot according to their differing Medicinal Properties.

Once Old Ancestor Styx could skillfully and precisely wield his own Mana, he felt that the power he could unleash had increased by nearly Thirty Percent. This made him very happy!

After becoming familiar with his current condition, Old Ancestor Styx began his first attempt at forming pills. He first selected several medicinal liquids with compatible properties and placed them into the Alchemy Furnace. Using the power of his Nascent Soul to keep them apart, he began fusing each portion of medicinal liquid according to the sequence he had deduced.

Thanks to the powerful strength of his Nascent Soul and his meticulous control of Mana, the pill-fusing process proceeded in an orderly manner. The powerful force of his Nascent Soul allowed Old Ancestor Styx to easily detect conflicts within the medicinal liquids and adjust them in time.

Soon, the first batch of Medicinal Pills emerged successfully. Nine smooth, round pills flew out of the Alchemy Furnace and were placed into a prepared Jade Bottle by Old Ancestor Styx.

He poured out one and placed it in his mouth. It melted upon entry, and he could feel a trace of Mana spreading from the pill. Though it was of little use to Old Ancestor Styx, it was an Elixir and Heavenly Medicine for those below the Xian Realm. Old Ancestor Styx smiled in satisfaction and inscribed a name on the pill bottle: Qi Refining Pill!

Afterward, Old Ancestor Styx sorted the medicinal liquids he had refined over the years according to their different effects, combining and refining them into pills. Healing Pills, Soul Nourishing Pills, Body Tempering Pills, and other Medicinal Pills useful below the Xian Realm—even some with effects on Earth Immortals—were all refined...