Alchemy

Inside Rosy Cloud Pavilion.

"Shopkeeper Xue!" The moment Qin Huaian entered, he saw Shopkeeper Xue had just sent off a customer. He cupped his fists in greeting.

Qin Huaian could now discern the cultivation of cultivators up to three minor realms above his own. Yet he still could not see through Shopkeeper Xue's realm. Shopkeeper Xue had likely already reached the ninth level of Qi Refining.

"Little Friend Qin is here." Shopkeeper Xue smiled, then suddenly froze. "Little Friend Qin, you didn't go to the Red Copper Vein of the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect, did you? I heard the Red Copper Vein was hit by a beast tide. Fewer than one in ten of those who went managed to escape."

"Shopkeeper Xue, I did go there last time, and I encountered the beast tide. Fortunately, my luck was good, and I broke out of it."

"It's good that you came back, good that you came back. I heard that of the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect's three Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, only one escaped alive."

"It was only with the help of the Foundation Establishment experts from Cloudfield Market that the beast tide was defeated. Otherwise, if the beast tide had reached human territory, who knew how many people would have suffered."

"Little Friend Qin, you've broken through to the fifth level of Qi Refining?!" Shopkeeper Xue suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

When Qin Huaian had first entered, he had not paid attention to his cultivation. Only now did he notice that Qin Huaian had gone from the second level of Qi Refining to the fifth in less than three months.

Upon hearing Shopkeeper Xue's words, the clerk Wang Gui also stared at Qin Huaian in shock. Last time, they had both been at the second level of Qi Refining, yet now Qin Huaian had already reached the fifth! He trembled with anger, shaking and chilled!

"Shopkeeper Xue, after escaping the beast tide, I encountered a few fortunate opportunities in the Million Mountains and luckily broke through."

"Hahaha, Little Friend Qin turned misfortune into fortune. Luck is also an important condition for cultivation."

Shopkeeper Xue did not ask further about what opportunities Qin Huaian had encountered. Instead, he smiled and said, "Little Friend Qin, are you here to sell spiritual herbs today, or to buy medicinal pills?"

Qin Huaian had indeed picked some spiritual herbs in the Million Mountains, including a Profound Yang Flower, but he did not intend to sell it. If he gathered enough materials for a Foundation Establishment Pill in the future, he could use it to have someone refine one for him or exchange it for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

"Shopkeeper Xue, I want to try learning alchemy and would like to buy some spiritual herbs for refining Qi Recovery Pills."

"Oh? Little Friend Qin intends to learn alchemy?" Shopkeeper Xue asked in surprise.

Although Qin Huaian had done some work processing medicinal ingredients here before, he had never shown any talent for alchemy. Moreover, alchemy required resources and long periods of polishing.

"Little Friend Qin, alchemy is extremely taxing on both energy and resources. Why not wait until you are older, or until your cultivation advances more slowly, before giving it a try?" Shopkeeper Xue advised. He felt that Qin Huaian was still young and should first spend his resources on improving his own cultivation.

"Thank you for your concern, Shopkeeper Xue. I want to first see whether I have the talent for it. May I ask how many spirit stones one set of ingredients for Qi Recovery Pills costs?" Qin Huaian asked.

"I'll count it as twenty spirit stones per set for you."

"Then I'll buy ten sets first."

"Wang Gui, fetch ten sets of spiritual herbs for refining Qi Recovery Pills for Little Friend Qin." Shopkeeper Xue did not try to persuade Qin Huaian further. He knew that young people would only turn back after experiencing failure firsthand.

Then again, Little Friend Qin had obtained quite a significant opportunity. These spiritual herbs would have been worth a considerable fortune to the old Little Friend Qin.

Wang Gui hurriedly fetched ten sets of spiritual herbs. Though he felt resentful inside, he still respectfully handed them to Qin Huaian.

After paying the spirit stones, Qin Huaian bought some fasting pills as well and was about to bid Shopkeeper Xue farewell.

At that moment, Shopkeeper Xue said, "Oh, right, Little Friend Qin. In three months, it will be time for the once-every-ten-years centralized sect disciple selection. You can give it a try then."

"If possible, you should choose to join a sect. Their cultivation resources are far superior to those of Rogue Cultivators."

"My Rosy Cloud Pavilion is affiliated with the Rosy Cloud Sect. If Little Friend Qin has talent in alchemy, you may also consider joining the Rosy Cloud Sect then."

If Qin Huaian had still possessed his former cultivation at the second level of Qi Refining, Shopkeeper Xue would not have told him any of this. But now that Qin Huaian had reached the fifth level of Qi Refining, he still had some hope of competing for a place.

"Thank you for telling me, Shopkeeper Xue!" Qin Huaian knew of the Rosy Cloud Sect. Within tens of thousands of li, the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect was the strongest, but there were also many small and medium-sized sects.

The Rosy Cloud Sect was one of those small and medium-sized sects. Its strength naturally fell far short of the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect's, but it was still a relatively major sect in the region that focused primarily on alchemy.

After leaving Rosy Cloud Pavilion, Qin Huaian bought nothing else and headed straight out of the inner city.

When he passed Wang Baole's cave abode, Qin Huaian knocked on the little fatty's door.

"Big Brother Qin, you're here." The little fatty opened the door and ushered Qin Huaian inside.

"Fatty, I just received news that in three months, the sects will be recruiting disciples together. Prepare yourself well and strive to enter a major sect."

The little fatty said happily, "Really? That's wonderful! I won't go out anymore these next few months. I'll focus on cultivating here until the day the sects begin recruiting."

Qin Huaian did not stay long with the little fatty. He returned to his own cave abode and prepared to begin refining pills.

Taking out a set of medicinal ingredients, Qin Huaian sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion and placed the pill furnace before him.

The pill furnace had three legs, with an opening in the front and one on each side. The front opening was used to place the ingredients inside, while fire could be fed in through the two side openings.

According to the Basics of Alchemy, there were two commonly used fire sources for pill refinement. One was spirit fire, in which a cultivator transformed their own spiritual power into flames to serve as the fire source. The other was earthfire, which drew upon the fire of the earth veins as the fire source.

Earthfire generally existed at earth-vein nodes, or was drawn from the earth veins by cultivators using formations. Earth-vein nodes were things one could encounter only by chance, while earthfire drawn through formations was something only large powers possessed.

The Basics of Alchemy also recorded that, according to legend, some used the strange fires of heaven and earth as their fire source for alchemy. But such strange fires were even more incomparably precious and rarely appeared in the world.

Naturally, Qin Huaian could only use his own spirit fire to refine pills.

Qin Huaian closed his eyes and reviewed in his mind the steps for refining Qi Recovery Pills, the control of heat, and the points requiring attention. Then he calmed his breath, focused his mind, and began placing the spiritual herbs into the pill furnace one by one while feeding in spirit fire.

Refining pills required one to control the heat according to the properties of the spiritual herbs, gradually extracting their medicinal liquids. Once all the herbs had melted and their essences had been extracted, the liquids then had to be slowly fused into pills.

It sounded simple enough, but every step demanded extremely strong control from the cultivator. A single mistake could result in failure, or even carry the risk of the furnace exploding.

Thus, alchemists generally needed long periods of extensive practice before they could avoid mistakes at every step. Yet even the finest alchemists had a failure rate.

Bamboo yellow, lingzhi, uncaria, green spirit grass... As one stalk after another of spiritual herbs entered the furnace, Qin Huaian concentrated fully on controlling the spirit fire, melting the herbs step by step and extracting their medicinal liquids.

About an hour later, all the spiritual herbs had been added, and fine beads of sweat had appeared on Qin Huaian's forehead. Though he already had the Mirror Body's deduction experience, this state of complete concentration still consumed enormous amounts of energy and spiritual power.

"Collect the pills!" Under the control of his spiritual power, the medicinal liquid slowly condensed into pills, and a rich medicinal fragrance rushed into his nostrils.

"It worked!" With a final sweep of spiritual power, ten smooth, round Qi Recovery Pills landed in Qin Huaian's hand.