Masterful Pill Crafting

By the time the next afternoon rolled around, it had already come and gone.

"Hah..."

With a solid surge of Dao Power sinking into his dantian, Chen Xian opened his eyes and let out a long breath of turbid qi.

Sword Disciple, third rank—he had made it.

Sure enough, with the aid of the Qi Induction Pill, skipping the process of breathing in and refining the Dao Qi of heaven and earth, his cultivation speed had more than doubled.

The third rank was a small hurdle.

Every major realm had nine minor ranks, and breaking through every three minor ranks was what cultivators called breaking through a single Heaven Stage.

It meant that every time one crossed three minor ranks, their strength would undergo a leap, a difference as vast as heaven and earth.

The first Heaven Stage of a Dao Disciple was the entry level, allowing one to use their physical body to channel Dao Power in battle.

The second Heaven Stage was the advanced level, enabling one to use force to control tools—it was also the minimum threshold for practicing the art of sword control.

The third Heaven Stage signified that a cultivator had touched the threshold of a Dao Master and could begin attempting to learn techniques and secret manuals.

"I need to break through to the second Heaven Stage as soon as possible and learn to fly with the sword. Otherwise, it's a bit embarrassing to keep hitching rides on other people's Tailwind Swords every day."

Chen Xian muttered to himself, stood up, and poured himself a glass of cold boiled water.

The system panel appeared in his mind.

[Realm: Dao Disciple, Third Rank (Dogged Sword)]

[Lifespan: Two years and seven months]

[Skills: Candied Hawthorn Making (Mastery), Clothing Mending (Proficiency), Crop Planting (Proficiency)]

[Equipped Traits (4/5): Mystic Jade Sword Bone (Mystic), Sword Genius (Mystic), Few Illnesses and Disasters (White), Gossip Ear (Mortal), Empty]

(Note: Realm breakthrough, secondary trait slot expanded +1. Next expansion requires Dao Disciple, Sixth Rank)

[Replaceable Traits: Natural Pill Heart (Yellow), Longevity and Old Age (White), Hundredfold Sobriety (Mortal), No Constipation (Mortal), Swift as Flying (Mortal), King of Verbal Combat (Mortal), Little Sleep (Mortal), Widow's Friend (Mortal)]

[Copy Points: 12 (+1 point/year obtainable through recycling)]

[Refinement Points: 640 (+1 point/month obtainable through point washing)]

"Oh?" A look of delight spread across Chen Xian's face. The trait equipment slot had actually gained an extra space.

He could now equip five traits.

Without delay, he equipped the newly copied Yellow-grade trait, "Natural Pill Heart."

Now his trait slots boasted two Mystic and two Yellow—quite the dazzling sight.

After admiring his shiny trait slots for a while, he furrowed his brow again.

Because his copy points were running low.

He could only copy one more Yellow-grade trait.

And what were these "recyclable" and "washable" points on the counter?

His attention landed on the newly appeared functions.

[Currently recyclable copied traits (Mystic 2, Yellow 1, White 2, Mortal 7). Select the trait you wish to recycle. Refund 50% of copy points.]

Chen Xian tried selecting [Recycle / Widow's Friend (Mortal)].

[Ding! Copy Points +0.5!]

"That's way too shady! A secondhand cut in half?"

Chen Xian cursed angrily, his brows and beard trembling with fury. His vision went dark, and he nearly gave himself high blood pressure from rage.

He then looked at the point-washing function.

[Currently washable traits (Mystic 2). Select the trait you wish to wash. Refund 50% of copy points. Trait quality will decrease accordingly.]

"Rip-off!"

He didn't even want to try this function. Washing Mystic Jade Sword Bone back to Yellow and only getting 5 refinement points in return? He'd have to be out of his mind to do that!

After downing three glasses of cold boiled water in a row, Chen Xian finally calmed down.

After a short silence, he gritted his teeth and recycled almost all the White and Mortal traits in his trait library.

He kept only King of Verbal Combat.

When selling things, a sharp tongue was essential, and arguments with customers were unavoidable.

This Mortal-grade trait was extremely useful.

Relying on King of Verbal Combat before, he had held his own in a verbal battle against all the old women in the village without losing ground.

[Recycling complete! Copy Points +8. Current balance: 20.]

Seeing that he could now copy two Yellow-grade traits, Chen Xian felt a bit better.

To him, two Yellow traits were as good as two Mystic ones, after all, washing a Yellow to Mystic only cost 10 refinement points.

He still had plenty of refinement points left.

So his equipment panel now looked like this:

[Equipped Traits (4/5): Mystic Jade Sword Bone (Mystic), Sword Genius (Mystic), Natural Pill Heart (Yellow), King of Verbal Combat (Mortal), Empty]

With a thought, ten refinement points were deducted.

[Congratulations! Natural Pill Heart (Yellow) has been upgraded to Masterful Pill Crafting (Mystic)]

[Masterful Pill Crafting (Mystic): You possess extremely high talent in the art of pill refining. As long as the materials are correct, your success rate for forming pills is nearly one hundred percent (quality depends on your proficiency level). Additionally, you have a certain chance of integrating pill refining techniques into other skills.]

"Not bad! Not bad! Another great talent."

Chen Xian was quite satisfied.

A one-hundred-percent pill formation rate—just that alone was outrageously powerful.

Once his cultivation advanced later, he could start learning some knowledge in the Dao of alchemy.

Qi Induction Pills cost ten Contribution Points each, but refining them himself definitely wouldn't require that many Contribution Points' worth of materials.

At that point, he could produce and sell his own stock, skyrocketing straight up!

He closed the panel.

Now that his realm had broken through and his traits were refined, it was time to start making candied hawthorns to earn money.

He turned his gaze to the iron pot beside him.

This iron pot was borrowed from the small kitchen on Mystic Cloud Peak.

The Xuanyun Sword Sect was a large collective; from top to bottom, everyone ate from the same big pot, all gathering at the Dining Hall for meals.

But each inner sect peak also had its own small kitchen, used for private gatherings and cooking within the peak.

Now, it was convenient for him.

Making candied hawthorns indoors wasn't safe, so Chen Xian first built a stone platform in the courtyard, then began splitting firewood and starting a fire.

Candied hawthorns weren't hard to make—just four steps.

Pick the fruit, wash it, and dry the surface moisture. Then boil the sugar syrup, dip the fruit in it, and finally let it cool and set.

As long as you paid attention to the heat and the dipping time, it would basically work out.

He had already processed the fruits he bought from the Dining Hall when he came back yesterday.

The hawthorns were pitted, the strawberries had their stems removed, and the surface moisture was dried.

Step one: boil the sugar.

"This sugar... well, it should work, right?"

Chen Xian's gaze fell on the cloth bag beside him.

The bag's mouth was open, revealing small, light-red transparent chunks inside.

Back in Chang-le Village, the villagers used a crop similar to sugar beets to make cane sugar.

But the Xuanyun Sword Sect didn't have that.

Apparently, there was some in the city at the foot of the mountain, but with his old legs, going up and down the mountain would take at least two or three days.

So he made do with the sect's sugar instead.

The stuff in the cloth bag, which looked like red crystals, was a type of sugar called Rattan Blood Sugar.

It was said to be made from a blood vine at the second realm of Dao Disciple as the raw material.

This small bag, less than two catties, cost him a whole five Contribution Points!

Because this stuff was one of the ingredients for pill refining, used to remove the bitterness of medicinal herbs and to bind pills.

He asked the part-time disciple at the General Store Hall:

"After high-temperature dehydration, can this sugar form a high-concentration sugar melt? When rapidly cooled, will the sugar molecules crystallize? Finally 'freezing' into a transparent, hard, brittle, non-crystalline glassy solid?"

The part-time disciple: "?"

Unfortunately, that disciple's knowledge of physical chemistry wasn't very good, so Chen Xian had to test it himself.

It turned out it could indeed be used as a substitute for the rock sugar or powdered sugar needed to make candied hawthorns.

"Everything's ready, so let's begin!"

Chen Xian rubbed his hands together and poured the Rattan Blood Sugar into the pot.