Alchemy and Talisman Crafting

The actions of the Myriad Spirit Sect and the Crimson Sun Palace left everyone in the Wang Family bewildered, unable to comprehend their motives.

Upon learning that the cultivators who participated in the battle at Returning Goose Valley were still fighting in Golden Goose City, and that Wang Daoyuan had not found any trace of the Patriarch, it was highly probable the Patriarch was still engaged in combat there. This brought a measure of relief to everyone.

After the meeting, Wang Daoyuan returned to his cave dwelling.

Jade Dragon Spring was the spiritual eye of Jade Spring Peak's spiritual veins, boasting abundant spiritual energy. The Jade Dragon Stream originated from Jade Dragon Spring, and the stream water also contained a considerable amount of spiritual energy. Consequently, the vast majority of cultivators' cave dwellings were situated along the Jade Dragon Stream, and Wang Daoyuan's was no exception.

The land near his cave dwelling was perpetually moistened by the stream water, and the soil contained a small amount of spiritual energy. While it couldn't be considered a Spirit Field, it was sufficient for planting low-grade spiritual herbs, though their growth might not be optimal.

However, Wang Daoyuan paid little heed to this. He casually sowed some Crimson Blood Ginseng, Yellow Cloud Grass, and other herbs on the flat ground near his cave dwelling, not expecting any significant harvest. His primary objective was to avoid attracting attention.

Back when he first discovered the Spirit Pearl Space, after receiving spiritual herb seeds from his Twelfth Uncle, he had been worried about failing to cultivate them and thus hadn't wasted any seeds near his cave dwelling. Now, the spiritual herbs had propagated for several generations within the space, yielding an inexhaustible supply of seeds, so he no longer held back.

With the current chaotic battles among the three major sects in Zhao Kingdom, it was a period of significant upheaval. In such turbulent times, the prices of resources like pills, Magic Tools, and Talismans were bound to skyrocket. If not now, then when would be a better time to craft and sell Talismans?

It wasn't just Talismans; the spiritual herbs for Spirit Gathering Pills, which he cultivated in his space, had already been harvested several times. It was time to find someone to refine Spirit Gathering Pills.

He had initially intended to ask his Twelfth Uncle to help with the refining, but unfortunately, his Twelfth Uncle had met with misfortune. He would have to rely on the family's current best alchemist – his Seventh Uncle, Wang Shouhong.

With Wang Shouhong's alchemy skill, he was not far from becoming a Second-Tier Alchemist.

The threshold for becoming a Second-Tier Alchemist was to refine a Second-Tier pill with a success rate of no less than thirty percent.

For a First-Tier Alchemist to cross this threshold, they typically needed to refine First-grade High-grade pills with a success rate exceeding fifty percent. Wang Shouhong was only a step away from meeting this standard.

Therefore, his Twelfth Uncle had always opposed his attempts to refine Second-Tier pills. After all, the spiritual herbs required for Second-Tier pills were extremely costly. Forcing the refinement without meeting the standards would simply be burning Spirit Stones.

Previously, the alchemy materials provided by the family were mostly from their own Spirit Fields, with a small portion purchased externally. The family's Spirit Fields were limited, and a significant portion had to be allocated for Spirit Grain. The remaining Spirit Fields were prioritized for cultivating Second-Tier spiritual herbs.

The alchemy materials Wang Shouhong could access were very limited; otherwise, he would have become a Second-Tier Alchemist long ago.

He possessed the technical skill but lacked the practice materials, while Wang Daoyuan had the materials but lacked the skill. They were, in a sense, natural partners.

Wang Daoyuan presented a portion of the spiritual herbs stored in his Spirit Pearl Space, enough for approximately one hundred batches of Spirit Gathering Pills. Each batch of alchemy materials could yield up to ten pills. With Wang Shouhong's alchemy skill, he should be able to produce around five hundred pills.

Inside his cave dwelling, Wang Shouhong was contemplating how to further improve his alchemy techniques to meet the minimum standard for refining Second-Tier pills. He hadn't heard the knock on his door at all.

Wang Daoyuan used his Spiritual Sense to confirm someone was inside and that the cave dwelling's restrictions were active. He then used an Earth Escape Talisman and directly entered the cave dwelling.

The commotion from the Earth Evasion startled Wang Shouhong. The moment he turned around and saw Wang Daoyuan, he was taken aback and chided, "If you have something to tell me, why didn't you knock?"

"Seventh Uncle, I've been knocking for a quarter of an hour, and you didn't hear me, so I had to resort to this."

"I was rather absorbed in my thoughts. Did the Elders need me for something?"

"No, that's not it. I need you for something. I want to discuss a business deal with you."

"What kind of business deal? Seventh Uncle doesn't have many Spirit Stones, nor is he good at business. Don't try to trick your Seventh Uncle."

"How could I! I have a batch of alchemy materials and want to ask you to help refine pills. How about we split the profits three-seven?"

"How many materials do you have?" Wang Shouhong asked, a hint of excitement in his voice.

Seeing the excited expression on Wang Shouhong's face, Wang Daoyuan inwardly thought he had a good chance and quickly replied, "Materials for one hundred batches of Spirit Gathering Pills. If you need more, I can get some."

Wang Shouhong was overjoyed and said, "Seventh Uncle won't hide anything from you. I'm still a bit short of breaking through to become a Second-Tier Alchemist, and I've been racking my brain on how to bridge this gap.

You know, the family's supply of spiritual herbs has always been insufficient. The path of alchemy is thirty percent talent and seventy percent resources. Without spiritual herbs for practice, how can one improve?

These hundred batches of materials from you are a huge help to me. To my embarrassment, Seventh Uncle has never even seen so many alchemy materials before. I won't ask for any share; I'll refine them for you for free."

"Seventh Uncle, please don't say that. I'm asking you to refine them because the current situation is volatile, and the prices of various cultivation resources are soaring. I want your help to refine pills for profit. If you refine them for me for free, I won't have the face to ask you again in the future."

After some back and forth, they finally settled on a two-eight split.

Wang Daoyuan couldn't just stand idly by either. He still had several hundred sheets of First-grade High-grade Talisman Paper, and the Spirit Ink he purchased last time was still ample.

Wang Daoyuan had only cultivated water-attribute techniques. When crafting water-attribute Talismans, while drawing the runes, he would use his Spiritual Sense as a guide to infuse his own Spiritual Power. If there were no errors, a Talisman would be completed.

However, if he were to craft Talismans of other attributes, Wang Daoyuan, lacking the corresponding attribute Spiritual Power within his body, would have to draw spiritual energy from the surroundings while drawing the runes and inject it into the Talisman.

Drawing spiritual energy from the surroundings was vastly different from providing it himself. Not only did it add the process of drawing spiritual energy, increasing crafting time, but it also led to a higher failure rate and increased depletion of Spiritual Sense.

Drawing Spiritual Power from Spirit Stones consumed much less Spiritual Sense and was faster, but the cost was not negligible, and Wang Daoyuan was reluctant to waste it.

When crafting First-grade High-grade water-attribute Talismans, without compromising the success rate, he could produce at most twenty-five to twenty-six sheets per day, with a success rate of no less than sixty percent. When crafting Talismans of other attributes, he could produce at most twenty sheets per day, with a success rate of only about fifty percent.

However, because water-attribute techniques were not particularly strong in either offense or defense, Wang Daoyuan had to craft a large number of Talismans of other attributes.

Of course, this was for his own use, requiring him to maintain a balance and have Talismans of various attributes. For Talismans sold, there was no need to go through such trouble. He would primarily focus on water-attribute Talismans, supplemented by a small number of other attributes, saving both time and effort.

Wang Daoyuan's success rate in crafting First-grade High-grade Talismans was already no lower than his Ninth Uncle, Wang Zhide, and his Spiritual Sense was comparable. However, he was completely unable to craft Second-Tier Talismans.

Due to his cultivation realm limitations, his control over Spiritual Power was insufficient. The amount of Spiritual Power Wang Daoyuan could mobilize at once was not enough to create a single low-grade Second-Tier Talisman. Furthermore, Talisman crafting required a continuous flow of energy; insufficient Spiritual Power would directly lead to crafting failure.

Generally speaking, the minimum cultivation required to become a low-grade Second-Tier Talisman Master was Qi Refining Peak. However, Wang Daoyuan's Spiritual Sense had already reached the level of an ordinary Qi Refining Peak cultivator. The strength of his Spiritual Sense could, to some extent, compensate for the deficiency in his cultivation realm.

By the time he reached the eighth level of Qi Refining, his Spiritual Sense would surpass that of most Qi Refining Peak cultivators, allowing him to barely mobilize enough Spiritual Power to craft low-grade Second-Tier Talismans.