Once again, thanks to Blood-Weeping Baxia for the reward. Each pill was roughly the size of a baby's thumb, forty-nine in total. The jade vessel Yuan Tian took out was shaped like a Gourd. Influenced by his hobbies in his previous life, Yuan Tian had always favored Gourd-like objects. He had never had the chance to obtain one in his previous life, but now that he could forge artifacts himself, he naturally wanted to make a Gourd. Thus, he now possessed this Jade Gourd.
Although the Jade Gourd looked only palm-sized, thanks to its spatial formations, it could expand or shrink. Yuan Tian had also divided its interior into countless spaces. One could say there was another world within the Jade Gourd; storing a mere forty-nine pills was absolutely no problem.
After putting away all the pills, Yuan Tian poured another one out from the Jade Gourd. He carefully examined the first medicinal pill he had ever refined. The round, green pill looked so adorable. Its quality had reached seventy percent, and after Yuan Tian's careful appraisal, he discovered that its efficacy was no weaker than that of a sixth-grade spirit pill. This was truly an unexpected delight. Although most of the credit belonged to precious medicinal ingredients such as thousand-year ginseng, Yuan Tian was still extremely pleased. Achieving such results on his first attempt at alchemy was indeed both joyous and greatly encouraging.
Half a day later, Yuan Tian finally placed the pill in his hand into the Jade Gourd and prepared to refine other medicinal pills. He needed to keep experimenting and learning, so that he could better grasp the properties of all kinds of medicinal herbs and the medicinal principles behind pill formulas.
Next, Yuan Tian began refining sixth-grade spirit pills, then seventh-grade, eighth-grade, and even ninth-grade spirit pills. Starting from spirit pills with seventy percent quality, he summarized his experiences and sought ways to improve their quality, refining eighty-percent spirit pills. After successfully refining those, he found ways to produce ninety-percent spirit pills, until at last he refined perfect spirit pills with one hundred percent quality. In this way, a thousand years passed. It could be said that Yuan Tian could now refine any spirit pill below the Immortal Level with a flick of his hand, and every pill was practically flawless. This was the result of Yuan Tian's thousand years of effort—an enormous and gratifying harvest.
Over those thousand years of alchemy, Yuan Tian's understanding of the medicinal properties of every herb he had used, as well as the medicinal principles behind pill formulas, became far more thorough. Those thousand years had allowed him to take a solid step forward on the path of alchemy, laying an incomparably firm foundation for the Golden Cores he was about to refine.
Naturally, those thousand years of alchemy had also caused Yuan Tian's medicinal ingredients to be consumed and diminish at a visible rate. They had already been reduced by twenty-five percent. That figure might not sound like much, but considering the mountain-like pile of medicinal materials, it was utterly terrifying. Yuan Tian's current alchemy level had truly been piled up with vast quantities of herbs.
There was nothing left below the Immortal Level for him to refine. Yuan Tian was about to refine Golden Cores above the Immortal Level. Golden Cores had nine turns, though Yuan Tian could currently refine only the lowest grade, the First-Turn Golden Core. Refining Golden Cores placed greater demands on the alchemist, and naturally required higher-quality medicinal ingredients as well. Fortunately, the quality of Yuan Tian's enormous stockpile of materials was absolutely beyond question.
Yuan Tian naturally had the formula for the most basic First-Turn Golden Core in his mind. However, the Golden Core formulas in his memories could reach at most the Seventh-Turn Golden Core. As for the Eighth-Turn Golden Core and Nine-Turn Golden Pill formulas, he did not have them. After all, although Yuan Tian had reached the realm of an Alchemical Grandmaster in his previous life, his cultivation had only reached the Daluo Golden Immortal realm. To refine Eighth-Turn Golden Cores and Nine-Turn Golden Pills required not only insight into the path of alchemy, but also a very high level of cultivation from the alchemist. Back then, Yuan Tian had no chance whatsoever to formulate an Eighth-Turn Golden Core recipe himself, nor had he obtained one from anyone else. As for the even higher Nine-Turn Golden Pill formula, he had never possessed that either.
In this life, Yuan Tian's starting point was undoubtedly higher. He had better opportunities to learn all kinds of things, and he naturally would not give up such opportunities.
In his previous life, he could only become an Alchemical Grandmaster capable of refining Seventh-Turn Golden Cores. In this life, he wanted to become the greatest Alchemical Grandmaster. Otherwise, he would be letting down the identity of a reborn man. Yuan Tian placed all the precious materials required for a First-Turn Golden Core—ten-thousand-year vermilion fruit, hundred-thousand-year seven-leaf ganoderma, and more—into the Xuanchen Cauldron. He began his alchemical journey once more. With a thousand years of alchemy experience already under his belt, Yuan Tian was extremely familiar with every step of the process.
Out of habit developed over a thousand years, Yuan Tian used his Primordial Spirit to observe the vitality and medicinal properties of every herb within the cauldron. He analyzed the unique characteristics of each ingredient's vitality, and studied the countless changes produced when the different active properties within these herbs were catalyzed by the power of fire. Different herbs always seemed to undergo different transformations. Seeing those changes gave Yuan Tian the satisfaction of learning knowledge. Yes, the satisfaction of learning knowledge. The thrill of mastering knowledge was unparalleled, a feeling that could only be understood but not put into words. It was simply too wonderful.
Another one hundred and twelve years passed just like that. Yuan Tian's first Golden Cores were about to emerge. He did not dare relax for even a moment. The closer he came to this point, the less he could afford to relax. The slightest lapse could lead to the furnace being destroyed and the pills ruined. This was no idle exaggeration. Golden Cores were far more powerful than spirit pills, each one immensely formidable. Furnace destruction and pill ruin were entirely possible. Yuan Tian had heard of far too many such incidents in the Cultivation World during his previous life. Even he himself had experienced such things before. Therefore, Yuan Tian had to focus all his attention and mental strength on refining the pills.
At last, the time arrived. With a clear ding, the Xuanchen Cauldron floating in midair came to a halt. Then, with a bang, its lid shot into the sky. Dazzling golden light burst forth from within the cauldron, and golden pills the size of pigeon eggs rose from it, swiftly scattering in every direction. A captivating fragrance accompanied the Golden Cores, instantly spreading from the mouth of the cauldron. All of this showed that the Golden Cores had been successfully formed.
Yuan Tian had taken out the Jade Gourd the instant the cauldron lid shot skyward. According to the records in his memories, Golden Cores were extremely spiritual. Once the refining process ended, they would spontaneously burst out of the cauldron. If one was unprepared at that moment, then sorry—this round of alchemy would likely have been wasted. The Golden Cores would all fly away, so what use would it be even if the refinement succeeded? Perhaps the only benefit would be gaining more alchemy experience. Other than that, there seemed to be nothing else. It would truly have been a futile effort.
It was precisely because Yuan Tian knew that newly refined Golden Cores possessed this trait that he had taken out the Jade Gourd from the very beginning. There were twenty-four pills in total, not one fewer, and Yuan Tian stored every single one in the Jade Gourd. It was a fairly good harvest.
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