Brewing Medicine, Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid

Xiao Yan's excitement did not go so far as to make him lose his head over success.

Even among first-grade medicinal formulas, there were differences in difficulty. Wound-Recovery Pills and Flame-Congealing Pills were relatively easy, while Force-Accumulating Pills were quite difficult. Rejuvenation Powder belonged to the easier category.

Moreover, Xiao Yan cultivated an Advanced Profound Rank technique and had practiced a specialized fire-control method. His starting point was extremely high, so it was not particularly strange that, with his talent, he had taught himself to refine Rejuvenation Powder in one go.

After pouring the liquid from the medicinal cauldron into several crude jade bottles, Xiao Yan immediately began circulating his technique.

Cultivating after expending a large amount of Dou Qi was remarkably effective.

When Xiao Yan practiced First Sun Scorching Sky, the Advanced Profound Rank technique gave him abundant Dou Qi, and his soul power would be unable to endure the expenditure first. The difference in cultivation speed before and after had already shown itself then. Now that his Dou Qi had been nearly exhausted, it should be even faster.

When Xiao Yan opened his eyes again, he packed up the things in the cave and headed down the mountain.

In the days that followed, Xiao Yan practiced First Sun Scorching Sky in the morning, rested and recovered at noon, refined medicine in the afternoon, and cultivated Dou Qi at night. Every day was packed to the brim.

During the process of refining medicine, Xiao Yan expanded the cave to make it easier to use the Palm-Heaven Bottle to ripen medicinal ingredients. There were Blood-Coagulating Grass, Vitality Fruit, and other ingredients that could be used to refine Blood-Clotting Powder, as well as Purple Leaf Orchid Grass and Bone-Washing Flower, the two ingredients needed for Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid.

As Xiao Yan continued refining medicine, the ingredients for Rejuvenation Powder in his Storage Ring soon could not keep up with the consumption, turning into bottle after bottle of medicinal liquid.

At this time, he took out the Blood-Coagulating Grass and other ingredients ripened with diluted green liquid and used them to refine Blood-Clotting Powder.

On the Dou Qi Continent, every alchemist needed to develop their own medicinal formulas. An alchemist without a formula of their own would feel somewhat awkward when exchanging knowledge with peers.

Trying to select suitable medicinal ingredients from countless materials was already extremely difficult. Some formulas even required a Magic Core, whose properties had to neutralize the other ingredients.

Not to mention determining temperature control and practical procedures through experimentation. That was another layer of tediousness, while the consumption of ingredients was also a test of one's wealth.

Xiao Yan did not have a scroll containing the Blood-Clotting Powder formula, but he knew the required ingredients, immediately skipping the difficulty of the first step.

The ingredients needed for Blood-Clotting Powder had no particular age requirements; they only needed to be mature. With green liquid mixed with water, Xiao Yan could quickly ripen large quantities of suitable ingredients.

Taken together, Xiao Yan held an enormous advantage in deducing and recreating the Blood-Clotting Powder formula.

Without worrying about the consumption of medicinal ingredients, Xiao Yan soon refined a finished product. Drawing on that successful experience, he carefully pondered the process, and his success rate in refining Blood-Clotting Powder steadily increased.

After refining Blood-Clotting Powder as easily as Rejuvenation Powder, Xiao Yan began extracting Purple Leaf Orchid Grass and Bone-Washing Flower, setting out to refine Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid.

Unlike researching the Blood-Clotting Powder formula, for which Rejuvenation Powder with the same effect could provide some reference, extracting Purple Leaf Orchid Grass and Bone-Washing Flower began entirely from scratch.

Failure was only natural, but Xiao Yan possessed a great many medicinal ingredients. After plant after plant was burned to ashes, he gradually figured out the temperatures required by the two.

After separately refining their essences, Xiao Yan began fusing them together.

This step was originally extremely difficult. Most alchemists failed during the fusion process, but Xiao Yan had thoroughly understood the medicinal properties of the two ingredients through his previous failures, so he actually failed very few times.

Once he could fuse them perfectly, Xiao Yan took out the five First-Rank Wood-Attribute Magic Cores in his possession.

He had cultivated diligently over the past six years and rarely went out, but whenever he did, he would buy a wood-attribute Magic Core. Now, they had finally come in handy.

The first time he refined a Magic Core, Xiao Yan immediately sensed the difference between it and medicinal ingredients. Its hard outer shell made it exceptionally resistant to burning.

After four months of cultivation, Xiao Yan had relied on his Advanced Profound Rank technique. Although he had no resources to assist him, he cultivated tirelessly and had already broken through to become a Five-Star Dou Practitioner. With more Dou Qi in his body, he was in no hurry.

Under continuous refinement, cracks appeared in the Magic Core's hard shell. A while later, it shattered with a crack, all of it turning to ash and falling away. After some more time, the Magic Core had been burned into a lump of green paste.

Xiao Yan poured in the other two refined medicinal liquids and wrapped them in pale golden flames, allowing all three to fuse and truly become medicine.

Under the baking of the pale golden flames, a streak of white drifted through the diluted green liquid. It seemed alive, charging left and right, utterly incompatible with the rest of the liquid.

Xiao Yan adjusted the temperature up and down, sometimes fiercely scorching it with blazing fire, sometimes slowly baking it with gentler flames, yet he could never grasp the key.

Fortunately, the mixed medicinal liquids were extremely resilient. Had ordinary medicinal ingredients been refined in such a manner, they would have long since become ashes.

Xiao Yan continued exploring. The white within the liquid in the medicinal cauldron gradually diminished, while its volume shrank and it began bubbling like boiling water.

He suddenly sensed that something was wrong and immediately withdrew the flames. At that moment, a bang rang out from within the cauldron. The massive explosion sent the lid flying into the air, where it crashed heavily into the cave ceiling.

Xiao Yan waved away the black smoke rushing toward his face, feeling lingering fear for a moment. He had failed many times while refining medicine, but this had undoubtedly been the most dangerous failure.

Once the thick smoke dispersed, Xiao Yan cleaned the medicinal cauldron, thought for a while, and continued refining.

With the experience from his first attempt, Xiao Yan had gained much better control over the fusion of the three. The most obvious result was that when he failed, only a muffled pop came from the cauldron and its body merely shook once.

Xiao Yan felt that this would not do. He replaced the Purple Leaf Orchid Grass with ten-year-old specimens and the Bone-Washing Flower with one-year-old specimens, drastically reducing the age of the ingredients.

After the medicinal potency was lowered, Xiao Yan immediately felt much more at ease. The three fused into a mottled bluish-green color, though compared to a superior mixture, it could at most be effective for Sixth-Stage Dou Qi.

After bottling the medicinal liquid, Xiao Yan closed his eyes and meditated for a while before raising the ages of the ingredients again.

With one successful experience behind him, Xiao Yan found it somewhat strenuous, but he still fused the three into a crystalline jade liquid that could be effective for Eighth-Stage Battle Qi.

The medicinal liquid was excellent, but it was already useless to him.

Xiao Yan pondered for a while, then took out three hundred-year-old Purple Leaf Orchid Grass plants, two twenty-year-old Bone-Washing Flowers, and used his final Magic Core.

Using three hundred-year-old medicinal ingredients with one First-Rank Magic Core was absolutely extravagant, but Xiao Yan did not care about such things if it meant increasing his strength.

With two successful experiences, although the age of the ingredients had increased drastically this time, Xiao Yan only found it somewhat strenuous and did not fail. He refined them into a single drop of dark green liquid.

Sensing the immense energy contained within the liquid, Xiao Yan bottled it, then dragged his exhausted body down the mountain. He prepared a bucket of clean water and dripped the strange medicinal liquid into it.

Sitting cross-legged inside, Xiao Yan assumed the posture for circulating his technique. The green liquid in the basin transformed into streams of green airflow and poured into his body, accompanied by a great amount of energy from heaven and earth.

Under this frenzied absorption, Xiao Yan's level, already somewhat close to a breakthrough, loosened greatly.

This cultivation session lasted until dawn, all the way to noon.

"Dou Zhe, six stars." Opening his eyes, Xiao Yan's lips curled into a pleased smile. At last, he had not disgraced the name of an Advanced Profound Rank technique or his own talent.

As times changed, the trend of emasculating and diminishing male characters had already infiltrated every field. Even famous male protagonists in novels could not escape it. It was tragic that a genius with extraordinarily high talent had practically been branded as a good-for-nothing.

Fortunately, Xiao Yan understood it himself. Over the same four months, Yao Lao's meticulously prepared spirit liquid had only allowed the Low Yellow Rank Flame Mantra to reach Four-Star Dou Practitioner. An Advanced Profound Rank technique could nearly surpass Yao Lao's level by two stars, so it was absolutely not inferior.

After eating something, Xiao Yan lay on the sunlit grass in the courtyard, his hands pillowed beneath his head as he leaned against a large tree, a medicinal leaf held between his lips. He felt utterly at ease.

With the Upgraded Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid, he too could enjoy cultivation resources.

While Xiao Yan took his afternoon nap, Ya Fei once again set foot in the Xiao Family. Wearing a Storage Ring nearly filled with the items on the list, she sighed inwardly. The family truly valued Xiao Yan, having obtained things far beyond her expectations in one go. With so many valuable items, how was Xiao Yan supposed to pay for them?