Your Pill Fire Was Learning Alchemy on Its Own

After seeing this, Chen Xuan began cultivating in seclusion.

The Floating Cloud Trial had awarded him ten bottles of First-Rank Peak-Grade Qi Gathering Pills. Naturally, he intended to use them all.

Qi Gathering Pills were particularly well suited to increasing the spiritual energy of cultivators in the Qi Gathering Realm.

Each bottle held ten pills. Ten bottles meant a hundred pills.

Chen Xuan took out a bottle, poured out one pill, and swallowed it.

He wanted to see what would happen when he took a pill while cultivating the Flowing Cloud Technique in his Cultivation Chamber.

The pill reached his stomach.

Its medicinal power instantly turned into spiritual energy, which the Flowing Cloud Technique absorbed and converted into Chen Xuan's own.

[Your technique, "Flowing Cloud Technique," is cheering!]

[Now we're talking! Give me a few more!]

Chen Xuan hesitated.

Ordinarily, a cultivator needed time to refine even a low-grade Qi Gathering Pill.

He had not expected to absorb its medicinal power almost instantly.

But... the Flowing Cloud Technique would not lead him astray. He had indeed felt the pill being completely refined in the blink of an eye.

Chen Xuan took another pill.

He swallowed them one by one, waiting until he felt his body had absorbed all the medicinal power before taking the next.

For a while, every pill was digested almost as soon as he swallowed it.

Good grief. Cultivating like this was far too easy.

Pill after pill went down.

Chen Xuan's cultivation began to soar.

Fifth level of Qi Gathering!

Sixth level of Qi Gathering!

Seventh level of Qi Gathering!

Before he knew it, he had finished all ten bottles of peak-grade Qi Gathering Pills.

At the same time, his cultivation had shot straight from the fourth level of Qi Gathering to the seventh.

"Taking pills feels this good... I really do need to learn Alchemy."

Chen Xuan could not help marveling at it.

He had not expected awakening his technique's spirit to help so much with refining pills.

Then again, it made sense. The Flowing Cloud Technique had helped him reach the third level of Qi Gathering after only three months of cultivation in Hundred Herb Valley. With denser spiritual energy and peak-grade pills available now, it would have been strange if it absorbed them more slowly.

His cultivation boost was over for the time being.

Chen Xuan took out the Mystic Spirit Armor, refined it, and put it on.

Next, he needed to learn Alchemy.

Chen Xuan got up and left his residence.

The Library Pavilion.

This was the Library Pavilion on Danxiao Peak. It held no cultivation or Dao Techniques, only books and jade slips related to Alchemy.

To master Alchemy, he first needed to find some introductory books and study them on his own.

Otherwise, he would not understand a word even if he went to the Lecture Hall.

The Library Pavilion kept its introductory Alchemy books and jade slips in one area, making things convenient for disciples who wanted to learn.

Once inside, Chen Xuan began reading.

He opened a basic text, Introduction to Pill Fire.

[Your Dao Technique, "Purple Imperial Dragon Flame," is studying Introduction to Pill Fire.]

Chen Xuan stared. "?"

Wait... hold on... No way...

Something suddenly occurred to him. The Purple Imperial Dragon Flame had intelligence now, and Alchemy required him to use it.

So... he did not need to learn Alchemy himself? The Purple Imperial Dragon Flame could learn it?

The possibility seemed very real.

Still, if it was going to learn, he had to come here and read.

After all, the Purple Imperial Dragon Flame could not come and read books by itself.

Either way, he would know once he tried.

Chen Xuan patiently read through Introduction to Pill Fire.

When he finished the book, a message appeared.

[Your Dao Technique, "Purple Imperial Dragon Flame," has mastered Introduction to Pill Fire.]

Chen Xuan also felt he had gained considerable insight into controlling flames and judging heat.

It really worked.

His special ability was useful indeed.

Chen Xuan borrowed several more books from the Library Pavilion.

Record of Hundred Herbs, Spiritual Herb Manual, Comprehensive Understanding of Medicinal Properties, True Interpretation of Flora, Cloud Sea Pill Canon: First Volume, and Collection of Common Pill Recipes.

Mastering a craft was never simple.

These were the basic books Danxiao Peak recommended to disciples who wanted to learn Alchemy. Including Introduction to Pill Fire, there were seven in all.

And these were only the introductory texts.

Chen Xuan brought the books back to his residence.

Then he began flipping through them.

He tried skimming one without reading it carefully.

[Your Dao Technique, "Purple Imperial Dragon Flame," has mastered Record of Hundred Herbs.]

The entire contents of Record of Hundred Herbs were imprinted in Chen Xuan's mind.

It really worked.

Time to plow through the rest.

[Your Dao Technique, "Purple Imperial Dragon Flame," has mastered Spiritual Herb Manual.]

[Your Dao Technique, "Purple Imperial Dragon Flame," has mastered Comprehensive Understanding of Medicinal Properties.]

[Your Dao Technique, "Purple Imperial Dragon Flame," has mastered True Interpretation of Flora.]

[Your Dao Technique, "Purple Imperial Dragon Flame," has mastered Cloud Sea Pill Canon: First Volume.]

[Your Dao Technique, "Purple Imperial Dragon Flame," has mastered Collection of Common Pill Recipes.]

[Your Dao Technique, "Purple Imperial Dragon Flame," has successfully mastered First-Rank Alchemy.]

[You have successfully mastered First-Rank Alchemy.]

It had taken only half an hour.

The Purple Imperial Dragon Flame had completely mastered the contents of the books, and knowledge of Alchemy was pouring into Chen Xuan's mind.

In just half an hour, Chen Xuan had become an alchemist.

Not merely a First-Rank Low-Grade Alchemist, either, but a First-Rank Peak-Grade Alchemist.

With the Purple Imperial Dragon Flame's current abilities, and with his cultivation now at Late-Stage Qi Gathering, he could already try refining a First-Rank Peak-Grade Pill.

Chen Xuan went out again.

Now that he had mastered Alchemy, he naturally needed to buy materials and start refining pills in earnest.

If he had enough pills, he could raise his cultivation to Qi Gathering Perfection as soon as possible, then prepare to break through to the Spirit Sea Realm.

This time, Chen Xuan left Danxiao Peak and went to Cloud Sea Peak.

Cloud Sea Peak was not one of the Nine Firmaments, but it was no less important than those nine peaks.

The Sect Main Hall and the sect square stood there, as did the important Dao Technique Pavilion and Technique Pavilion, along with the Pill Hall, Artifact Hall, Contribution Hall, and more.

The peak stood at the very front of the sect. The Cloud Sea Sect's main gate lay a short distance down the mountain to the north.

At the mountain's foot, a Sect Market wrapped around Cloud Sea Peak to the east, south, and west.

That Sect Market was Chen Xuan's destination.

The Cloud Sea Sect's Sect Market was large and bustling. Shoppers could pay with either sect Contribution Points or Spirit Stones, the universally accepted currency.

Chen Xuan had no Spirit Stones, but he had plenty of Contribution Points.

After arriving at the Marketplace, Chen Xuan found a shop selling spiritual herbs.

The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man.

"Senior Brother, I'd like to buy some ingredients for Qi Gathering Pills," Chen Xuan said as he entered.

The shops in the Sect Market were all run by Cloud Sea Sect disciples.

"How many sets do you need, Junior Brother?"

The middle-aged man asked.

"Fifty to start with," Chen Xuan said after a moment's thought.

If everything went smoothly, one set of ingredients could yield as many as twelve peak-grade Qi Gathering Pills.

He was at the seventh level of Qi Gathering. Judging by how much his cultivation had risen from taking pills earlier,

he would need roughly thirty more bottles to reach Qi Gathering Perfection.

That meant three hundred peak-grade Qi Gathering Pills.

By that calculation, he actually needed only twenty-five sets of ingredients.