Popping Pills

Having succeeded in refining pills on his very first attempt, Qin Huaian was overjoyed. Through his unrelenting efforts, not only had his cultivation reached the fifth level of Qi Refinement, but he had also become a first-tier alchemist.

Only now did Qin Huaian feel that he had a sliver of hope of gaining a foothold in the world of cultivation.

To test the medicine's effects, Qin Huaian swallowed one. It felt no different from the Qi Recovery Pills he had bought at Rosy Cloud Pavilion.

Taking advantage of the pill's effects, Qin Huaian circulated the Azure Splendor Art, and the spiritual power depleted by his recent alchemy rapidly recovered.

Qi Recovery Pills could not only restore spiritual power quickly, but also increase cultivation speed. According to the basics of pill refinement, they could accelerate cultivation by up to five times.

The lower one's cultivation, the greater the increase in cultivation speed. Of course, it also had something to do with one's cultivation technique.

Furthermore, the duration of a Qi Recovery Pill's effects varied according to one's cultivation level. The higher one's cultivation, the shorter the duration.

After taking several Qi Recovery Pills in succession, Qin Huaian found that a single pill now lasted around two hours for him, and his cultivation speed was only about one and a half times what it had been before—not much of an improvement.

Qin Huaian guessed that it was because his Azure Splendor Art had already been optimized to the perfected level based on his own circumstances.

A perfected Azure Splendor Art was already six or seven times faster than the beginner level. For the Qi Recovery Pill to increase that by another one and a half times was already remarkable.

Qi Refinement cultivators with ordinary aptitude generally only cultivated their basic techniques to the beginner or proficient level. If they took Qi Recovery Pills, their cultivation speed would increase far more.

Even if it could increase their speed manyfold, ordinary Rogue Cultivators could not possibly use Qi Recovery Pills for cultivation on a regular basis. A bottle of ten Qi Recovery Pills cost one hundred spirit stones and would be used up in a day or two. Forget Rogue Cultivators—even ordinary sect disciples could not afford it.

His current level of refining Qi Recovery Pills was only beginner-level. He decided to improve his alchemy level, thereby increasing the pill success rate and lowering the cost.

"Deduce Qi Recovery Pills."

[Consume 200 spirit stones to allow the mirror body to deduce Qi Recovery Pill refinement to the proficient level, requiring 12 hours; consume 400 spirit stones to halve the time required]

"Consume 200 spirit stones for the deduction."

Before heading to the mining area, he had bought two bottles of Qi Recovery Pills from Rosy Cloud Pavilion, and he still had eleven left. Together with the pills he had just refined, Qin Huaian had roughly twenty. While the mirror body carried out the deduction, his main body cultivated while popping pills.

A day later, Qi Recovery Pill refinement had been deduced to the proficient level. Qin Huaian then spent another 400 spirit stones, taking twenty-four hours to deduce Qi Recovery Pills to the minor accomplishment level.

At the proficient level, the pill success rate for refining Qi Recovery Pills was sixty percent; at the minor accomplishment level, it was seventy percent.

After reaching minor accomplishment, Qin Huaian took out the spirit herbs and pill furnace and began refining Qi Recovery Pills.

This time, he could clearly feel that his control over the heat had become more skilled, while his timing for adding ingredients had grown more precise and composed. The spiritual power consumed during refinement had also decreased somewhat.

Though he still needed to concentrate, his forehead was no longer beaded with sweat like it had been the first time. Refining one batch took less than two hours.

He refined three batches of Qi Recovery Pills in a row.

While refining the second batch, he made an error during the pill-forming stage and failed that batch. Still, he obtained another twenty Qi Recovery Pills.

After refining three batches in succession, Qin Huaian was already feeling somewhat tired. Refining with spirit fire consumed far too much spiritual power. It would have been nice if he had earth fire.

After finishing, Qin Huaian swallowed a Qi Recovery Pill. His main body and mirror body each held spirit stones in their hands and began cultivating simultaneously.

Afterward, Qin Huaian refined all his remaining spirit herbs into Qi Recovery Pills. His luck was good, and he successfully refined five batches.

And so, he refined pills while cultivating.

Half a month later, Qin Huaian had finished all of his Qi Recovery Pills. The spirit stones consumed for deducing Qi Recovery Pills and cultivating came to nearly four thousand low-grade spirit stones when converted.

He opened the status panel again:

Cultivation: Qi Refinement (Level 5, 46/100)

Cultivation Technique: Azure Splendor Art (Perfected)

Fireball Technique (Perfected)

Spirit Eye Technique (Major Accomplishment, can be optimized)

Skystride Hundred Transformations (Major Accomplishment, can be optimized)

Skills: First-tier Alchemist (Qi Recovery Pills: Minor Accomplishment, can be deduced)

Pills plus cultivation with spirit stones produced remarkable results. The remaining spirit stones would likely only support him until he reached the sixth level of Qi Refinement.

Qin Huaian now had only forty mid-grade spirit stones and around one thousand low-grade spirit stones left. He needed to keep some low-grade spirit stones for purchasing materials; if he bought everything with mid-grade spirit stones, he would stand out too much.

He would first refine more Qi Recovery Pills. If he ran short of spirit stones, he could sell the pills then.

Qin Huaian went to the inner city to purchase the spirit herbs for refining Qi Recovery Pills. To avoid making Shopkeeper Xue suspicious, he did not go to Rosy Cloud Pavilion this time.

It was not that Shopkeeper Xue harbored any ill intent. On the contrary, Shopkeeper Xue had always treated Qin Huaian very well. The main reason was that Qin Huaian was purchasing a fairly large quantity this time, and it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Qin Huaian visited several pill shops, never buying more than ten sets of ingredients from any one of them. He also bought some from stalls selling spirit herbs. In the end, he gathered enough herbs to refine one hundred batches of Qi Recovery Pills.

Without Shopkeeper Xue's discount this time, these hundred sets of ingredients cost Qin Huaian more than 2,300 spirit stones.

After returning to his cave abode, Qin Huaian continued his secluded cultivation. Every day, he refined three batches of Qi Recovery Pills, spending the rest of his time cultivating with pills.

Cultivation knew no passage of time. One day, Qin Huaian sensed that his dantian was nearing its limit. Holding the few remaining mid-grade spirit stones in his hands, he used the perfected Azure Splendor Art to guide spiritual energy in a ceaseless assault against an invisible barrier.

Suddenly, his dantian seemed to break through some obstruction and rapidly expanded. The spiritual energy around him surged madly into Qin Huaian's body. As the Azure Splendor Art circulated, the external spiritual energy he absorbed transformed into streams of his own spiritual power, filling his dantian.

Half an hour later, Qin Huaian had stabilized his realm. He slowly opened his eyes, delight written across his face. The sixth level of Qi Refinement!

Qin Huaian silently calculated that more than a month had already passed. Only one month remained until the sect's recruitment.

During this time, he had used up all one hundred sets of spirit herbs and successfully refined seventy-two batches of pills. After deducting what he had consumed for cultivation, he still had fifty bottles of Qi Recovery Pills left.

Qin Huaian did not have many spirit stones left. Recently, he had not cultivated with spirit stones all the time; sometimes, he had relied on absorbing spiritual energy on his own. Now, he had only a little over four hundred spirit stones remaining, reserved for emergencies.

He had used up most of his resources in just over two months, but feeling the surging spiritual power within him, Qin Huaian believed it had all been worth it.

It was still the middle of the night outside, so Qin Huaian decided to grind a while longer.

Compared to the chubby kid, he felt his aptitude was far too poor. Only by relying on the mirror body and training the basic cultivation technique's proficiency to the perfected realm had he managed to speed up his cultivation so much.

But in the original owner's memories, it was said that sect disciples who reached the late stages of Qi Refinement before thirty were everywhere. Some geniuses had even become Foundation Establishment experts in their twenties.

He was already twenty-two, soon to be twenty-three, yet he had not even reached the late stages of Qi Refinement. He could not help feeling a keen sense of urgency.

Early the next morning, Qin Huaian opened his eyes and stopped cultivating.

"After the sixth layer of Qi Refinement, the effect of Qi Recovery Pills has dropped considerably. Previously, taking one could increase my cultivation speed to around one and a half times what it was before. Now it's only 1.3 times."

"Could it be drug resistance? Or has my cultivation risen to the point where Qi Recovery Pills are no longer high-grade enough?"

"According to the records in the fundamentals of alchemy, the higher one's cultivation, the weaker the effects of Qi Recovery Pills indeed become. It should be that the pills' grade is no longer sufficient."

"Where can I find more effective pills?"

After cultivating all night, Qin Huaian had discovered that the Qi Recovery Pills had become less effective. For Qin Huaian, who planned to cultivate by spending money and swallowing pills, this was a pressing problem that needed solving.

He prepared to go out and pay Shopkeeper Xue a visit. Of everyone he knew, Shopkeeper Xue was the most knowledgeable.