Ever since learning pill crafting, Chen Xian had stayed indoors for three days straight.
He was like a man possessed, keeping watch over the Bronze Pill Furnace day and night.
His once-clumsy control of the flames had become as natural as breathing after hundreds of repetitions.
"Burn!"
In the courtyard, Chen Xian called out in a low voice. His Dao Consciousness spread through the formation, wrapping around the inside of the furnace like a fine spiderweb.
At that moment, three batches of Qi Induction Pill ingredients were suspended inside the furnace at once.
The flames roared, scorching the ingredients until they crackled as medicinal liquid continued to seep out.
But Chen Xian remained perfectly calm, controlling the heat with precision.
The furnace trembled slightly, but stayed well within his control.
If the disciples of Pill Peak had witnessed this scene, their jaws would have hit the floor.
He was refining three batches of ingredients at once without the slightest sign of disorder.
Such terrifying control was beyond the ability of a first-grade Pill Disciple.
Only a Pill Master of at least third grade would dare refine three batches of first-grade pills at once.
"Separate the liquid, combine the pills, and collect!"
Chen Xian drew back his hands. Looking through the furnace opening, he saw fifteen round, jade-like Qi Induction Pills floating quietly inside as they underwent their final tempering over the residual flames.
Ten of them were suffused with a faint green sheen—the Water Emerald Pattern, a sign that they had reached mid-grade quality.
"Phew... Refining three batches at a time makes the quality a little hard to control. With two batches, they'd all be mid-grade."
Chen Xian wiped the fine sweat from his forehead. His eyes showed no trace of weariness; instead, they sparkled with energy.
And over these three days, he had discovered something remarkable.
Pill refining could actually temper Dao Consciousness!
Every precise extraction of medicinal liquid, every suppression of conflicting medicinal properties, even every division of the liquid into separate portions, consumed his Dao Consciousness like crazy.
Whenever his Dao Consciousness was nearly depleted, he would take a Consciousness Returning Pill.
Nourished by its cool medicinal power, his exhausted sea of consciousness would recover its Dao Consciousness like parched land receiving a long-awaited rain.
This cycle of draining and recovery had made his Dao Consciousness increasingly solid, while allowing him to maintain his inner vision for longer and longer.
"The four hundredth Qi Induction Pill, and the two hundredth Foundation Building Pill... I've finally finished refining them all."
Chen Xian glanced at the countless medicine bottles in his Jade Ring, and the corners of his mouth lifted uncontrollably.
The ingredients issued by the Mission Hall had included two extra batches to account for the expected loss rate of one in three.
But with Masterful Pill Crafting's hundred-percent success rate, he had not only completed the task quickly.
He had also used the surplus ingredients to refine an additional four hundred Qi Induction Pills and two hundred Foundation Building Pills.
And all those extra pills were his to keep.
Chen Xian was delighted. He could finish the task and get free pills on top of it—he loved this kind of work.
By then, night had fallen.
He sat cross-legged on his bed, preparing to break through to the Seventh Layer Dao Disciple.
In just three days, the length of time he could maintain his inner vision had risen from three hundred and eighty breaths to nine hundred and fifty.
He was now only a step away from the Seventh Layer Dao Disciple.
"Tonight, I'm breaking through!"
He took out his last three Consciousness Returning Pills and held them in his mouth. As their medicinal power slid down his throat, a crisp explosion rang out from his Spirit Platform, where the power had tripled.
His Dao Consciousness expanded in an instant. It was no longer a threadlike wisp, but a surging, ceaseless river!
As it flowed through his body, he could clearly perceive the movements of his organs, the flow of Dao Qi through every meridian, and even the fine markings on his Xuanyun Sword Bone, as distinctly as if they had been engraved in his mind.
His breathing rang out like a bell, long and unbroken, as Chen Xian silently counted the breaths.
Nine hundred and ninety-eight... Nine hundred and ninety-nine!
"Seventh Layer Dao Disciple, break through!"
As he reached the final breath, Chen Xian's heart bellowed like an enraged old bull.
At that moment, his sea of consciousness trembled violently, as if chaos itself had just begun to part.
His once-illusory Dao Consciousness finally solidified, becoming a perception that was almost tangible.
It spread across every corner of his body, precisely grasping each subtle change in his flesh and blood.
Chen Xian felt his control over his body multiplying. Every bone and every muscle was under his command.
At every moment, his body adjusted itself to its optimal condition.
"So this is the Third Realm Heaven of the Dao Disciple stage?"
Chen Xian opened his eyes. Their former cloudiness had cleared, leaving them bright as stars. He felt as though he had slept wonderfully, refreshed from head to toe.
This sense of absolute control over his body made him want to burst out laughing.
"Sword Control Technique... I can finally learn the Sword Control Technique!"
Early the next morning, Chen Xian walked toward the Mission Hall with his hands clasped behind his back, his steps light.
Liu Yuanbao was still sweating profusely from his work.
Beside him, Chen Xian spotted Elder Qiu, who had also made the rare decision to sit nearby and help inspect the pills.
"Well, Deacon Liu, Elder Qiu. Good morning."
Chen Xian walked up with a beaming smile and waved his hand. Row after row of jade bottles instantly covered the task submission table.
"Yuanbao, here are a hundred Qi Induction Pills and a hundred Foundation Building Pills. Take a look."
Liu Yuanbao's hand jerked, and he nearly dropped the ledger he was holding. "Granduncle Master? You... you've finished all your tasks?"
He opened the bottles. Nearly every smooth, round pill inside shimmered with a faint green glow.
"They all have patterns?"
Liu Yuanbao sucked in a breath and looked at Qiu Daowen. "Elder Qiu, what do you think of this quality...?"
Qiu Daowen picked up a pill and held it to his nose, then let out a long sigh. His tone was complicated. "The medicinal power is pure and rich, and the Pill Poison is weak. They're all fine mid-grade first-tier pills."
"Uncle-Master... your talent really puts us pill cultivators to shame. What a pity—if only you'd been younger..."
Qiu Daowen's expression was complicated. A few days earlier, Liu Yuanbao had gone to Sect Master Peak to report that Uncle-Master Chen had accepted a pill-refining task and completed everything in a single day.
The Sect Master had refused to believe it, so he had sent someone from Pill Peak to investigate.
Qiu Daowen had happened to speak with Uncle-Master Chen during morning lessons three days earlier, so he had volunteered to handle the matter. Today was the day Uncle-Master was due to turn in his task, so he had stayed here to wait.
Uncle-Master had really come!
And he had completed the pill-refining task.
Two hundred first-grade pills, not a single one missing—and they weren't even ordinary quality. Every one was a patterned, mid-grade first-tier pill.
The Sect Master wouldn't believe it if he heard, and neither would Qiu Daowen!
"Hey, Elder Qiu, stop right there!"
Chen Xian hurriedly waved his hand. "I'm an old man now. I can't stand hearing those two words, 'what a pity.' Since I can refine pills, it's enough to do my bit for the sect."
"Besides, I may be eighty, but that doesn't mean I'm worse than a twenty-year-old. What makes you think I can't become the Pill Saint of my generation?"
Qiu Daowen was taken aback, then smiled. "Uncle-Master is absolutely right!"
Liu Yuanbao's face was wreathed in smiles. "Granduncle Master, these pills are better than the task requires. According to the rules, I can award you an extra half a Contribution Point for every Qi Induction Pill!"
"Fine, do as you see fit. I'll take these few tasks. Just send the ingredients to my courtyard."
Chen Xian waved dismissively, then plucked two red task plaques off the wall. "By the way, where can I get the Sword Control Technique?"
"Right here on Morning Sun Peak. Just go to Ten Thousand Sword Hall. Anyone whose Sword Path has reached the Seventh Layer Dao Disciple stage can claim it for free," Liu Yuanbao replied respectfully.
As he spoke, he glanced at the two task plaques now missing from the wall.
If he remembered correctly, those were tasks to refine second-grade Spring Return Pills, weren't they?
It had only been a few days. Was Uncle-Master already planning to refine second-grade pills?
Before he could ask, Chen Xian had already tucked away the task plaques and strode out through the door.
As Chen Xian walked along, he noticed that Morning Sun Peak was unusually lively today.
Many unfamiliar faces had appeared in the sect's entrance plaza.
They were a group of spirited young people whose attire didn't look like that of outer sect disciples.
Most wore long robes embroidered with intricate patterns—cloud designs, golden lions, and the like. Their bearing was extraordinary. They were obviously scions of Aristocratic Clans.
They pointed at the Sword Sect's gates, their brows carrying the distinctive arrogance of clan scions.
Chen Xian noticed that some of them wore robes patterned with copper coins. Every one of them looked extravagantly wealthy, and the other youths had gathered around them, making them the center of attention.
"The Qian Family came too?"
Chen Xian stopped to observe them for a while. Remembering the clothes he had seen at the Qian Family's estate, he wondered silently.