During this time, Yi Shuyuan had already read the Peerless Elixir Art. He had skimmed through it the first time, then taken it out to browse whenever he had a spare moment.
The book embodied the painstaking efforts of generations of sorcerers within a single lineage. Most of its contents were actually sound: strengthening the five elements and replenishing yin and yang, restoring innate primordial essence, and nurturing the spirit within the body.
But quite a few aspects were utterly absurd. Using a zombie's last breath as an ingredient, for instance, was far too ridiculous. Its excessive pursuit of the unusual had also driven its choice of elixir ingredients to extremes.
From an immortal cultivator's perspective, however, Yi Shuyuan could identify many of its errors at a glance and readily think of proper ways to resolve them.
The formulas also listed various probabilities of successfully producing an Immortal Elixir.
Among them, the so-called "guaranteed formula" listed a whole slew of outlandish ingredients, such as Zenith Golden Lotus Seeds, the Snow Python Gallbladder, and Resurrection Grass.
To ordinary people, these were all exceedingly rare treasures. Many existed only in legends; whether they even existed at all was uncertain.
This supposedly guaranteed formula could be skipped outright. It depended entirely on balancing the allotments of fate.
The later formulas, on the other hand, had their merits. Quite a few even made Yi Shuyuan's eyes light up, and the book had gone so far as to deduce certain patterns in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Indeed, sorcerers themselves generally found it difficult to perceive fluctuations in spiritual energy. Even when some of their spells drew on it for assistance, they did not bring about those changes through anything they could truly perceive and control.
Yet by drawing on practical experience, the