The Third Level of Qi Refining

Five days later.

Late at night, the moon shone bright amid sparse stars, and all was silent.

"Phew~"

Inside his Grade-D cave abode, Lin Changheng swallowed the remaining low-grade Blood Replenishing Pill. After refining it, he had just managed to replenish his depleted vital blood.

But the small box in his hand was now completely empty.

"One low-grade Blood Replenishing Pill costs two spirit stones. That means I've suddenly got twenty-four extra spirit stones' worth of expenses each year."

"Aside from the fixed allotment of spirit rice and spirit tea, the resources provided by the Xu Family also include three low-grade spirit stones each month, along with the ingredients for one batch of Crimson Flame Pills."

The Xu Family had carefully calculated these resources. They were definitely sufficient and could meet the needs of daily cultivation.

For Lin Changheng, they were also extremely generous. The labor of an alchemy apprentice alone could never earn him so much.

But the trouble was the cost of the Blood Replenishing Pills. They left him strapped for cash and short on cultivation resources, and from time to time he had to set aside some alchemy ingredients to trade for a little spirit sand.

During those first few years, Lin Changheng had known he had no chance of succeeding at alchemy, so he had used the ingredients to cover his expenses.

"No wonder I've been unable to break through to the third level of Qi Refining. I can't ignore this reason, either."

It was a chain of compounding negative effects.

Each link had bound the next, weaving a net so tight it let no air through, then dropping over him like a shroud.

"This time, I'll break through! And I can break through!"

Lin Changheng's cultivation technique had advanced, his vital blood was replenished, and he had once again felt an inexplicable stirring deep within.

It was the sign of an opportunity to break through.

The realm that had held him back for so long was finally about to shatter!

Lin Changheng immediately took one of the two spirit stones he had and held it in his hand, while circulating the Flowing Fire Art.

Then he crushed the stone with force. Its spiritual energy dispersed, and a sudden suction burst from his palm, drawing it all into his body.

Time slowly passed.

Lin Changheng sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion with his eyes closed. His breathing remained steady, while spiritual energy gathered inside him, flowing like a ceaseless stream and surging through his meridians.

The Flowing Fire Art circulated more smoothly than ever before, without the slightest hitch. His spiritual power refined faster and with greater efficiency.

The First-Level Origin Treasure Seed's effect was on full display!

As his energy continued to circulate through his body, strands of spiritual energy gradually transformed into spiritual power, mistlike and hazy, before sinking into his dantian.

His dantian grew ever fuller.

The more this happened, the steadier his mind became, calm as still water, neither anxious nor impatient.

At last, Lin Changheng faintly touched a threshold.

"Crack!"

It seemed as if a sound rang out, yet in truth there was none.

Lin Changheng's mind remained as calm as water. Only after he had fully refined and absorbed the little spiritual energy left in the shattered spirit stone did he slowly cease his cultivation.

He opened his eyes.

There was no joy at breaking through a realm, only the unruffled composure of someone for whom it had been inevitable.

The third level of Qi Refining!

Lin Changheng had made his breakthrough. After a brief assessment, he found that the upper limit of his spiritual power had surged by more than half.

This not only meant he could cast low-level spells twice more, but also that he no longer had to worry so much about running out of spiritual power while refining pills.

Everything was getting better.

He rose to his full height and pushed open the window. The bright moon spilled its frosty light across the courtyard.

He couldn't help but smile.

"Everything before this was nothing but a little frost and wind."

Three days later.

Early in the morning, as soon as Lin Changheng stepped into the shop, a clansman who was doing odd jobs came to greet him.

"Big Brother Lin, Guest Elder Mo is looking for you."

Lin Changheng went straight up to the second floor.

On the left was a reception room, and on the right was a cultivation chamber belonging exclusively to Master Mo.

"Master Mo, did you need me?"

Lin Changheng entered the reception room, but it was empty. On the tea table at the head of the room sat two long wooden boxes. At the sight of them, Lin Changheng's pupils immediately contracted.

These were...

"Good. Have a seat."

At the sound of an elderly voice, Master Mo emerged from the cultivation chamber and took the seat of honor.

"Please, give me your orders." After thirty years of hardship, Lin Changheng knew exactly how to comport himself.

Master Mo pushed the two long wooden boxes toward him. They shot forward and landed in front of Lin Changheng, who caught them in both hands.

"A few days ago, didn't I tell you about defective and spoiled pills?"

Lin Changheng nodded at the right moment, without interrupting. Yet he already had a guess, and excitement stirred faintly within him.

"Normally, Xu Hanzhou would be responsible for handling the spoiled and defective pills. But since he's returned to the clan, you'll have to take over."

"After all, you two are the only people I can trust who are capable of doing this."

Lin Changheng immediately forced an excited look onto his face. "I won't let you down, Master Mo."

Then Master Mo handed him an old booklet. "This contains the methods for handling defective and spoiled pills. Take it and study it. Once you've learned the procedures, you can return it to me."

"These pills need to be dealt with within two days. Afterward, you can take them to the Li Family Spirit Meat Shop on the east side of the marketplace, hand them over to the shopkeeper, and settle the account on the spot."

After giving these simple instructions, Master Mo waved him away.

"Yes!"

Lin Changheng clutched the old booklet and held the two long wooden boxes tightly against his chest as he left, but his heart was ablaze with excitement.

The pill room in the back courtyard would be closed today, and no one would be coming around. It would be quiet.

Lin Changheng set the booklet aside and picked up the two long wooden boxes first.

They were made of pearwood and quite heavy. Their design greatly slowed the loss of medicinal potency, making them a common choice for storing low-grade pills.

Precious pills, on the other hand, were stored in specially made jade bottles, or the wooden boxes were covered with Spirit Locking Talismans to reduce the loss of medicinal potency to almost nothing.

He opened the boxes one by one.

Each box had twenty pill slots, for a total of forty.

Only twelve slots were empty, and every pill bore crimson cloud patterns on its surface.

Crimson Flame Pills!

There were a full twenty-eight of them!

That was probably the number of defective pills produced in a month.

Although he didn't know why there were no Wood Origin Pills, Lin Changheng didn't have time to think about it.

He reached out and touched a pill. The Origin Cauldron, which stood silently in his sea of consciousness, reacted at once, and azure light churned above its mouth!

"It really works!"

Lin Changheng confirmed it, and the smile at the corners of his mouth was impossible to suppress.

"Twenty-eight pills. I wonder how many I can Spirit Snatch?"

Though the thought crossed his mind, Lin Changheng didn't act rashly. Instead, he began reading the old booklet on how to handle defective and spoiled pills.

After the time it took to drink half a cup of tea.

Lin Changheng slowly closed the booklet, a thoughtful look on his face.

According to the booklet:

Spoiled pills were easy to deal with. They only had to be ground into powder, thoroughly burned to ash over a fire, and then collected.

The clan would take them back once a year and scatter them in the Black Water River, where they would turn into black mud to nourish the grass.

Defective pills, however, were much more troublesome. A cheap neutralizing method had to be used to soak the pills and remove most of their toxicity. This created a substance that was harmful to people but harmless to beasts, which could then be cut into portions and sold.

"The vital blood in spoiled pills can be fully absorbed, but with defective pills, I'll have to extract only part of it. I can't take it all, or I might give myself away..."