Golden Core (Part 1)

Once again, thanks to Blood-Weeping Baxia for the generous tip. 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 been rather fond of gourd-like objects. He had never had the chance to obtain a gourd in his previous life, but now that he could refine artifacts himself, he naturally had to make one. Thus, Yuan Tian now had this Jade Gourd.

Although the Jade Gourd looked only palm-sized, thanks to spatial formations, it could grow large or small. Yuan Tian had also divided the inside of the Jade Gourd into countless spaces. It truly held another world within; 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. It was round and green, looking utterly adorable. The pill's quality had reached seventy percent. After Yuan Tian's careful appraisal, he discovered that the efficacy of these pills was actually no less than that of a sixth-grade spirit pill. This was truly an unexpected delight. Although most of the credit should go to precious medicinal ingredients such as the thousand-year ginseng, Yuan Tian was still extremely happy. Achieving such results on his first attempt at alchemy was indeed something worth celebrating, and greatly encouraging as well.

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 principles behind pill formulas.

Next, Yuan Tian began refining sixth-grade spirit pills. After the sixth-grade spirit pills came seventh-grade, eighth-grade, and even ninth-grade spirit pills. He started by refining spirit pills of seventy-percent quality, then summarized his own results and sought ways to improve their quality, producing eighty-percent spirit pills. After refining eighty-percent spirit pills, he worked out how to produce ninety-percent ones, until at last he refined perfect spirit pills of one-hundred-percent quality. And so, a thousand years passed. It could be said that Yuan Tian could now refine any spirit pill below the immortal grade with a casual wave of his hand, each one flawless enough to be called perfect. These were the fruits of Yuan Tian's thousand years of labor—immense and gratifying achievements.

Over those thousand years of alchemy, Yuan Tian's understanding of the medicinal properties of every herb he had used, as well as the principles behind pill formulas, had become far more thorough. A thousand years had allowed him to take a solid step forward on the path of alchemy, laying an incomparably firm foundation for the Golden Core he was about to refine.

Of course, those thousand years of alchemy had also caused Yuan Tian's medicinal herbs to be consumed and depleted at a visible rate. By now, they had decreased by twenty-five percent. That figure might not seem like much, but compared with the mountain-like pile of medicinal ingredients, it was truly terrifying. Yuan Tian's present level of alchemy had genuinely been piled up with vast quantities of medicinal herbs.

There was nothing left to refine below the immortal grade. Yuan Tian was about to refine Golden Cores above the immortal grade. Golden Cores had nine turns, though Yuan Tian could currently only refine the lowest level, the First-Turn Golden Core. Refining Golden Cores placed even greater demands on the alchemist, and naturally required medicinal ingredients of higher quality. Fortunately, the quality of Yuan Tian's ocean-like stockpile of medicinal materials was absolutely beyond question.

Yuan Tian naturally possessed the formula for the most basic First-Turn Golden Core in his mind. However, the Golden Core formulas in his memories only went as far as the Seventh-Turn Golden Core. As for formulas for the Eighth-Turn Golden Core and Nine-Turn Golden Pill, 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 Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal realm at its highest. To refine Eighth-Turn Golden Cores and Nine-Turn Golden Pills required not only insight into the Dao of alchemy, but also extremely high cultivation from the alchemist. Back then, Yuan Tian had no opportunity to formulate an Eighth-Turn Golden Core recipe himself, nor had he obtained one from anyone else. As for a recipe for the even higher Nine-Turn Golden Pill, he had none at all.

In this life, Yuan Tian's starting point was undeniably higher. He had better opportunities to learn all kinds of things, and Yuan Tian 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 would become the greatest Alchemical Grandmaster. Otherwise, he would be doing the identity of a reborn man a grave disservice. Yuan Tian placed all the precious materials needed for a First-Turn Golden Core—ten-thousand-year Vermilion Fruit, hundred-thousand-year Seven-Leaf Ganoderma, and more—into the Xuanchen Cauldron. Once again, Yuan Tian began his journey of alchemy. With a thousand years of alchemical experience already under his belt, Yuan Tian was thoroughly familiar with every step of the process.

A habit formed over a thousand years made Yuan Tian instinctively use his Primordial Spirit to observe the vitality and medicinal properties of every herb within the cauldron. He analyzed the distinctive traits of each herb's vitality and studied the various changes produced when the different active properties contained in those herbs were catalyzed by the power of fire. Different herbs always seemed to undergo different transformations. Seeing these changes gave Yuan Tian the satisfaction of learning knowledge. Yes, the satisfaction of learning knowledge. The thrill of mastering knowledge was beyond compare, a feeling that could only be understood, never put into words. It was simply too wonderful.

Another one hundred and twelve years passed just like that, and the first Golden Core Yuan Tian had refined was about to emerge. Yuan Tian did not dare relax for even an instant. The closer he came to this moment, the less he could afford to loosen up. The slightest lapse might result in the furnace being destroyed and the pills ruined. This was no idle alarmism. Golden Cores were far more powerful than spirit pills, each one immensely potent. Furnace destruction and pill ruin were far too likely to happen. In his previous life, Yuan Tian had heard of countless such incidents in the cultivation world, and even Yuan Tian himself had experienced them. Therefore, he still needed to focus all his attention and spiritual power on refining the pills.

At last, the time came. With a clear ding, the Xuanchen Cauldron floating in midair came to a stop. Then, with a bang, the cauldron's lid shot skyward. Dazzling golden radiance burst from within, and golden pills the size of pigeon eggs rose out of the cauldron, swiftly scattering and flying in every direction. A bewitching 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 highly spiritual. Once refining was complete, they would automatically rush out of the furnace. If one was unprepared at that moment, then sorry, all the work of this refinement would likely have been for nothing. The Golden Cores would all fly away—what use was successfully refining them then? Perhaps the only benefit would be gaining more alchemy experience. Other than that, there seemed to be nothing else. It would truly be a wasted effort.

Because Yuan Tian knew that newly formed Golden Cores possessed this trait, he had taken out the Jade Gourd from the very beginning. There were twenty-four pills in total, not one fewer, and every last one was stored in the Jade Gourd. It counted as quite a good harvest.

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