Breakthrough Essence Pill

New Peace City.

With nothing eventful along the way, Qin Huaian went straight to the cave dwelling he had rented last time and renewed the rent for another half year at the rental office.

Sitting cross-legged in the cultivation room, Qin Huaian considered his future plans for earning Spirit Stones.

First, he would deduce the refining of the Breakthrough Essence Pill to a higher grade, then refine Breakthrough Essence Pills. He would use up the Essence-Breaking Herbs exchanged from the sect. If he could no longer buy Essence-Breaking Herbs later, he would refine Essence Cultivation Pills to accumulate Spirit Stones.

After roughly thinking it through, Qin Huaian began cultivating wholeheartedly, waiting for Basic Swordsmanship to finish being deduced. Then he could deduce the Breakthrough Essence Pill.

Six days later, Minor Achievement Grade Basic Swordsmanship had finished being deduced.

"Deduce the Breakthrough Essence Pill!"

[Consume 800 Spirit Stones. The Mirror Body can deduce the Breakthrough Essence Pill to Mastery Grade, requiring 2 days; consume 1,600 Spirit Stones to halve the time.]

"Consume 800 Spirit Stones for the deduction."

Qin Huaian then went into the small courtyard, took out his flying sword, and began practicing the Basic Swordsmanship that had just reached Minor Achievement Grade.

Although this courtyard was not as large as the sect's, it still had enough space for his own practice so long as it was not a spar between two people.

Half an hour later, Qin Huaian had completely mastered Minor Achievement Grade Basic Swordsmanship. Last time in the Trial Tower, he had failed to pass the Puppet at the sixth Qi Refining Layer on the third arena.

Now that Basic Swordsmanship had reached Minor Achievement Grade, Qin Huaian recalled the Puppet's swordsmanship on the third arena. It should also have reached the Minor Achievement Grade.

Swordsmanship could reach Minor Achievement Grade as early as the third floor. He wondered just how formidable the swordsmanship on the ninth-floor arena would be.

Qin Huaian now attached great importance to swordsmanship. It was an effective way to directly improve his own hard power. The Cultivation World was still far too dangerous; he had to improve his ability to protect himself.

Every day, Qin Huaian spent half his time cultivating the Supreme Unity True Formula and the other half cultivating the Spirit Tempering Formula.

After the Breakthrough Essence Pill had been deduced to Mastery Grade, he spent another 1,600 and 3,200 Spirit Stones respectively to deduce it to Great Achievement Grade. Since Essence-Breaking Herbs were rather rare, he had to ensure a high success rate. Great Achievement Grade Breakthrough Essence Pills had an 80% success rate.

Why had he not optimized it to Perfection Grade? Don't ask. If you asked, the answer was that he had no Spirit Stones.

To deduce Breakthrough Essence Pills, other pills, or cultivation techniques to Perfection Grade required ten times the Spirit Stones needed to deduce them to Great Achievement Grade.

This was because Perfection Grade could not be attained merely by cultivating a technique step by step. It was the optimal, most perfect grade optimized after deduction had reached its limit, combined with one's own circumstances.

"Deduce the Spirit Tempering Formula!"

[Consume 20,000 Spirit Stones. The Mirror Body can deduce the Spirit Tempering Formula to Mastery Grade, requiring 20 days; consume 40,000 Spirit Stones to halve the time.]

"Consume 20,000 Spirit Stones for the deduction."

That was right! The Mirror Body could not sit idle. After it finished deducing the Breakthrough Essence Pill, Qin Huaian had it continue grinding away at the Spirit Tempering Formula.

Qin Huaian carefully reviewed the refining method for the Breakthrough Essence Pill in his mind, then took out the Essence-Breaking Herbs, the pill furnace, and the supplementary medicinal ingredients, and began refining.

Refining a Breakthrough Essence Pill was far more difficult than refining a Qi Recovery Pill. Qin Huaian carefully controlled the heat and fed the herbs into the pill furnace one by one. By the halfway point, his mind already felt somewhat exhausted.

Fortunately, his recent cultivation of the Spirit Tempering Formula had strengthened his mind considerably. Otherwise, he might not have been able to hold on.

Six hours later, as the last supplementary ingredient entered the pill furnace, the spiritual liquid slowly began to merge. Finally, with a sweep of Qin Huaian's spiritual power, two smooth, round pills landed in his hand. Success!

Qin Huaian took out the Breakthrough Essence Pill he had obtained from looting last time and compared the two. He found that the Breakthrough Essence Pills he had refined had a purer color. The alchemy techniques deduced by the Mirror Body truly were extraordinary.

Having refined from daylight into the night, Qin Huaian knew he definitely could not continue refining.

He then sat cross-legged in meditation and cultivated the Spirit Tempering Formula. The Spirit Tempering Formula truly had remarkable effects. By early the next morning, Qin Huaian was already brimming with vigor, and his Divine Sense seemed to have improved slightly as well.

Qin Huaian began refining the second batch, but his luck was not as good today. He failed to maintain control at the crucial moment of collecting the pills, and the refinement failed.

After resting for a night, Qin Huaian began refining the third batch of Breakthrough Essence Pills. This time, there were no mishaps, and he successfully refined two Breakthrough Essence Pills. At this point, he had five Breakthrough Essence Pills in total.

Early the next morning, Qin Huaian left and headed toward Lin Family Elixirs, but this time, he did not intend to sell the Breakthrough Essence Pills to Lin Family Elixirs.

Qin Huaian had read in the geographical records of East Dawn Peak's Library Pavilion that New Peace City had a special market in both the Eastern District and Western District. Everyone in these markets wore a mask Dharma Artifact.

These Dharma Artifacts could conceal a cultivator's appearance and aura, allowing cultivators to trade freely without revealing their identities. Cultivators called them Ghost Markets.

The Ghost Markets were operated by the Yellow Mountain Sword Sect, so many cultivators traded there without worry.

The Ghost Market in the Western District generally had more low-level cultivators, mainly those in the Qi Refining Stage and Foundation Establishment Early Stage. High-level cultivators generally went to the Ghost Market in the Eastern District.

The Ghost Market opened on the first and fifteenth of every month. Qin Huaian calculated that today was the twelfth, leaving three days until it opened.

He did not know the Ghost Market's exact location, so he planned to ask at Lin Family Elixirs. He could also buy some Spirit Grass for refining Essence Cultivation Pills while he was there.

Lin Family Pill Shop.

"Senior Lin! Brother Fu!" After entering, Qin Huaian saw Lin Zhenglan and Fu Jingwen both inside and stepped forward with cupped fists in greeting.

"Little Friend Qin has come." Lin Zhenglan replied with a smile. Then he paused slightly before smiling again. "Congratulations, Little Friend Qin, on breaking through to the Late Qi Refinement Realm."

Hearing this, Fu Jingwen also looked at Qin Huaian in surprise. As an alchemist himself, refining pills consumed a great deal of his time. He had relied on pills to break through to the Seventh Qi Refining Layer at the age of twenty-five.

Yet Qin Huaian looked even younger than him. He was also an alchemist and did not seem to have the support of a Lineage, yet he had broken through to the Seventh Qi Refining Layer so quickly.

Fu Jingwen also spoke up. "Congratulations on your breakthrough, Brother Qin!"

"Thank you, both of you. I merely broke through by luck." Qin Huaian was modest for a moment, then said, "Senior Lin, this junior would like to purchase some Spirit Grass for refining Essence Cultivation Pills."

"Oh? How much does Little Friend Qin need?"

"One hundred sets."

Lin Zhenglan then had a clerk bring over the Spirit Grass. It cost a total of 8,500 Spirit Stones. After paying, Qin Huaian had only sixty-five Mid-Grade Spirit Stones and a few dozen Low-Grade Spirit Stones left.

After purchasing the Spirit Grass, Qin Huaian clasped his fists and said, "This junior would like to ask about something. Senior Lin, do you know where the Ghost Market in the Western District is located?"

Before Lin Zhenglan could speak, Fu Jingwen said, "Brother Qin, you are probably still not very familiar with New Peace City. I have a map of New Peace City here. The important shops and markets in the city are all marked on it. I'll give this map to Brother Qin."

As he spoke, he took out a rolled map from his storage pouch and handed it to Qin Huaian.

"Thank you, Brother Fu!" Qin Huaian hurriedly accepted the map and expressed his thanks.

"Haha, no need to be polite. Among this batch of disciples, aside from Qingxuan and Brother Qin, I am not very familiar with the others. This is fate between us."

"By the way, a few days ago, I returned to the sect to undergo trials in the Trial Tower. Qingxuan even asked me about how you were doing in New Peace City."