First Time Refining Pills

After returning to his room!

Ye Qingxuan activated the formation around the small courtyard, preventing anyone from disturbing him again.

Although his exchange with Su Daobin had given Ye Qingxuan quite a bit of information, it had not affected the path Ye Qingxuan had long since planned out.

The turmoil of the outside world had nothing to do with him. He only needed to absorb information useful to himself and incorporate it into the path he had planned.

He would not change his own path because of others.

In the end, one had to walk one's own road. The only person one could trust was oneself; other people's experience could only serve as reference!

His heart returned to tranquility, and Ye Qingxuan took out the alchemy furnace he had purchased and began refining it.

After spending half a day refining and gaining control over the Mid-grade Artifact Level alchemy furnace, it was already Deep Night.

Ye Qingxuan did not rush to begin alchemy. Instead, he sat cross-legged and began Meditation Cultivation to restore his depleted Spiritual Power and Spiritual Sense!

It was not until the following morning, after a night's adjustment, that Ye Qingxuan had restored himself to peak condition. Only then did he take out the alchemy furnace again and begin refining pills.

Qi Refining Realm Cultivators had cultivation levels that were too low to condense Dao Fire.

Thus, for Low-level Cultivators like Ye Qingxuan to use them, Artifact-level alchemy furnaces all contained a flame seed at the bottom, while their inner walls were inscribed with formations to aid control.

When using one, he only needed to inject Spiritual Power to activate it, and it could ignite Dao Fire to assist with alchemy.

Ye Qingxuan took out one set of Spirit Herbs for a Qi Gathering Pill and placed them at his side. Then he channeled Spiritual Power to activate the furnace's Dao Fire, finally using the Fire Control Technique he had only recently learned at the Entry-level to slowly bring the Dao Fire under control.

He did not hastily put the Spirit Herbs in to refine them. Instead, he slowly maintained the Dao Fire with the Fire Control Technique, warming the alchemy furnace!

The method for refining Qi Gathering Pills was already firmly memorized in Ye Qingxuan's Mind, so although this was his first time performing alchemy, Ye Qingxuan's Heart remained incomparably calm!

Once the alchemy furnace had been warmed sufficiently, Ye Qingxuan used Spiritual Power to draw the Spirit Herbs for the Qi Gathering Pill into the furnace one after another.

At the same time, Ye Qingxuan extended his Spiritual Sense into the furnace, observing the entire process of the Spirit Herbs melting.

Ordinary cultivators below the Qi Refining Realm Late Stage had no Spiritual Sense. When refining Medicinal Pills, they could only rely on their Spiritual Power perception and experience to control the heat.

Therefore, no matter how gifted cultivators below the Qi Refining Realm Late Stage were in alchemy, they could not avoid making mistakes again and again.

The Spiritual Sense that had emerged ahead of time was Ye Qingxuan's advantage, and one of the reasons he dared to attempt refining Medicinal Pills so early.

Sky Blue Flower, Purple Spirit Grass, and Spirit Guiding Flower—the three Spirit Herbs used to refine Qi Gathering Pills all had different levels of heat resistance. Therefore, the order and timing in which they were placed into the furnace were of paramount importance.

After all, at Ye Qingxuan's current Realm, he could not finely create different temperatures in different areas of the alchemy furnace.

Under Ye Qingxuan's Spiritual Sense, the three Spirit Herbs were slowly refined by the Dao Fire. Their impurities were expelled and fell away one by one, leaving only the essence of the three Spirit Herbs bobbing within the furnace's Dao Fire.

Seeing this, joy rose in Ye Qingxuan's heart!

Seeing that the time was ripe, Ye Qingxuan split his attention in two. On one hand, he controlled the three portions of Spirit Medicine Essence as they slowly drew together and fused; on the other, he increased the flow of Spiritual Power, used the Fire Control Technique, and slowly raised the Dao Fire's temperature.

Time passed bit by bit. The three portions of Spirit Medicine Essence inside the furnace began to intertwine and merge, while the entire furnace began absorbing the surrounding Spiritual Energy and pouring it into the Spirit Medicine Essence that was about to fuse.

"Looks like it's almost done!"

Just as the Qi Gathering Pill was about to take shape, when Ye Qingxuan thought he was on the verge of achieving Major Merit.

He did not expect the Dao Fire under his control to flicker slightly, causing the temperature inside the furnace to change in an instant.

Affected by the Dao Fire, the Medicinal Pill that was about to take shape suddenly had its internal balance shattered, and all the Spirit Medicine Essence began to riot.

Seeing this, Ye Qingxuan hurriedly increased the force driving the Fire Control Technique, attempting to salvage the situation.

But as Ye Qingxuan used the Fire Control Technique, he discovered that he could no longer control the Dao Fire within the furnace.

Understanding that it was already beyond saving, Ye Qingxuan no longer forced the matter. He calmly watched as the Spirit Medicine Essence was burned away completely by the Dao Fire.

Watching black smoke rise above the alchemy furnace, Ye Qingxuan was neither discouraged nor regretful over the lost Spirit Herbs. Instead, he began reflecting on himself.

This failure in alchemy was not because Ye Qingxuan had failed to fully grasp the refining process for the Qi Gathering Pill.

On the contrary, through this attempt, Ye Qingxuan learned that, relying on his astonishing comprehension, there had been no problem with the refining process he had memorized and understood in his mind!

The main reason for this failure was that he had been too overconfident.

He had believed that, relying on his prematurely awakened Spiritual Sense and the extraordinary comprehension brought about by the transformation of his Soul Origin, he could easily refine Medicinal Pills.

But Ye Qingxuan had overlooked his control over the Fire Control Technique and Spiritual Power!

The Fire Control Technique was a Spell from the Alchemy Inheritance. Ye Qingxuan had only practiced it a few times, and after reaching the Entry-level, he had hurriedly gone out to buy an alchemy furnace in preparation for refining pills.

Ye Qingxuan's control over his Spiritual Power was likewise extremely crude.

During Ye Qingxuan's five years of Closed-door Cultivation, he had spent nearly all his time in Meditation Cultivation to Improve Cultivation. He had barely tempered his Spiritual Power at all or strengthened his control over it.

This was also the main reason for his failure in alchemy this time:

An error in the flow of Spiritual Power caused the Dao Fire to stir abnormally, slipping from Ye Qingxuan's control and gradually becoming violent.

And the Entry-level Fire Control Technique could not restrain the rampaging Dao Fire, leaving him unable to recover the out-of-control situation!

After Ye Qingxuan recognized where his problem lay, he reflected:

"Sharpening the knife does not delay the cutting of firewood. It seems that in the future, I must Plan before acting! Take it slow!"

Learn from one's mistakes. Though the problem exposed this time was small, it still needed to serve as a warning.

Otherwise, this time he had only lost one furnace's worth of Spirit Herbs. Next time, he did not know what he might lose.

After putting the alchemy furnace into his Storage Ring, Ye Qingxuan did not attempt to refine a second furnace of pills.

Since he knew the reason for his failure, what he needed to do now was naturally make up for his shortcomings!

Thus, over the following month, Ye Qingxuan did not attempt alchemy again.

Aside from his daily Meditation Cultivation, Ye Qingxuan spent all his remaining time practicing the Fire Control Technique, Sword Riding Technique, and Spring Wind and Rain Art!

The Fire Control Technique and Sword Riding Technique were Spells Ye Qingxuan needed to use immediately, so their practice took first priority.

The Spring Wind and Rain Art was something Ye Qingxuan had prepared for developing a Blessed Land in the future. He had no use for it for the time being, so he only cast it a few times each day and did not spend much time practicing it!

While practicing his Spells, Ye Qingxuan's control over Spiritual Power also continued to improve without pause.

Thus, over the next month, Ye Qingxuan was either in his room practicing Meditation Cultivation and the Fire Control Technique!

Or he was practicing the Sword Riding Technique and Spring Wind and Rain Art on the peaks surrounding the Blessed Cultivator Courtyard!

The Xuantian Mountain Range was vast, and no one had built Cave Mansions around the Blessed Cultivator Courtyard, so Ye Qingxuan was not worried about disturbing Other People.

In merely one month, the proficiency of the three Low-level Spells Ye Qingxuan had mastered made Rapid Progress.

The Sword Riding Technique and Fire Control Technique had both reached Perfection, while the Spring Wind and Rain Art had also reached Minor Accomplishment.

It had to be said that although Ye Qingxuan was constrained by his Spirit Root, causing his Cultivation Speed to be exceedingly slow, his comprehension truly was astonishing!

One month later!

Ye Qingxuan opened the furnace and refined pills once again.

This time, refining the Qi Gathering Pills went extremely smoothly. Under Ye Qingxuan's Perfection Level Fire Control Technique, success came as naturally as water flowing into a channel.

For the First Furnace of pills, Ye Qingxuan refined five completed pills!

For the second furnace of pills, Ye Qingxuan refined six completed pills!

For the third furnace of pills, Ye Qingxuan refined six completed pills!

However, because alchemy consumed an enormous amount of Spiritual Power.

In order not to affect his cultivation, Ye Qingxuan only refined three furnaces of Qi Gathering Pills per day.

After ten days of work, Ye Qingxuan finally refined the twenty-nine sets of Qi Gathering Pill Spirit Medicine into Medicinal Pills.

He refined a total of 230 Qi Gathering Pills!

The reason he refined so many Qi Gathering Pills was that, as his alchemy proficiency steadily improved, in the final days he had stabilized the yield of each furnace of Qi Gathering Pills at ten!

At this point, Ye Qingxuan's Alchemy Undertaking had finally crossed its first threshold!