Li Ping sat cross-legged in the cultivation room.
Four items lay before him: a green jade slip containing a first-tier upper-grade Pill Refiner inheritance, three fifty-year-old purple essence flowers brimming with spiritual qi, a fist-sized Demon Core with crimson flames burning inside it, and a pile of one hundred low-grade spirit stones.
Since the Inheritance Tree only restricted the grades of spiritual herbs and spiritual flames, not their varieties, Li Ping had chosen the most common and cheapest spiritual items of the required grades.
Through the Meng Family, Li Ping had easily purchased the spiritual flame and herbs he needed for fewer than a hundred spirit stones.
His gaze swept over the four spiritual items on the table. He extended both hands, and the Inheritance Tree's transparent roots swiftly spread out, wrapping tightly around them.
Entwining, absorbing... the four spiritual items slowly disappeared...
Li Ping once again sank into an illusion. In the previous illusion, he had learned talisman crafting from the perspective of a Talisman Brush.
In this illusion, he became a child.
Though he possessed only a five-spirit root aptitude, he was bright and eager to learn. He showed a talent for alchemy from an early age and studied the craft under his lineage's elders.
Identifying spiritual herbs, familiarizing himself with their medicinal properties, studying alchemical principles, practicing flame control... in the blink of an eye, he was nearly thirty, and he finally earned the right to fire up a furnace and refine pills.
Every graded spiritual herb had been obtained through painstaking effort by the lineage and could not be carelessly wasted. To ensure success, they naturally would not let him use them for practice.
Thus, he began by refining ungraded "Body Tempering Pills."
After five years of painstaking study, his success rate with ungraded pills reached ninety percent. Only then did his elders permit him to attempt graded pills.
Ten years later, his success rate with Low-Grade First Tier pills reached seventy percent, qualifying him to refine mid-grade first-tier pills.
Twenty years later, his success rate with first-tier mid-grade pills reached seventy percent, qualifying him to refine first-tier upper-grade pills.
Another forty years passed before his success rate with first-tier upper-grade pills reached seventy percent, making him the most skilled Pill Refiner in his lineage.
By then, he was over a hundred years old!
Realizing that the end of his lifespan was near, he compiled all his insights into alchemy into a book, creating a first-tier upper-grade Pill Refiner inheritance to leave to his lineage's descendants!
"Ha ha... I am Lü Caibai. Let this book be called the Cai Bai Alchemy Canon!"
Li Ping opened his eyes. Lü Caibai's aged laughter still seemed to echo in his ears.
He roughly estimated the time. Fewer than four hours had passed while he was in the illusion, considerably less than he had spent inheriting second-tier mid-grade talisman crafting last time.
Yet in that brief illusion of less than four hours, he had experienced the hundred-year life of the Pill Refiner Lü Caibai!
"With his lineage's support, it took him a hundred years to bring his alchemical skills to first-tier upper-grade." Li Ping reflected on the vast wealth of alchemical knowledge that had appeared in his mind out of nowhere and shook his head slightly.
He did not shake his head because he thought Lü Caibai lacked talent. In fact, Lü Caibai's talent for alchemy was likely quite good.
It was simply that his lineage lacked strength. To minimize losses, they insisted that his success rate reach at least seventy percent before allowing him to refine higher-grade pills. This had undoubtedly held him back.
Normally, taking the cost of spiritual herbs into account, a success rate of thirty or forty percent was enough to attempt pills one grade higher.
Li Ping's awareness turned once more to the Inheritance Tree in his sea of consciousness. Just above the branch representing talisman crafting, a slightly thinner, shorter branch swayed gently, with a line of text appearing on it: [Pill Refiner: first-tier upper-grade].
As Li Ping watched, he also noticed that the Inheritance Tree had grown a little taller.
In just four hours, he had matched a hundred years of someone else's hard work, becoming a first-tier upper-grade Pill Refiner with a one hundred percent success rate in one leap.
A smile involuntarily appeared on Li Ping's lips. He was very satisfied with his "peerless talent."
Li Ping sat cross-legged in the alchemy room he had specially prepared.
He took out the first-tier upper-grade Alchemy Furnace he had purchased earlier from his Storage Bag, along with a large quantity of spiritual herbs for refining Low-Grade First Tier pills.
Unlike Talisman Brushes, Alchemy Furnaces were bulky and complex in design. They cost more than offensive Magic Artifacts of the same grade, with prices comparable to defensive Magic Artifacts of that grade.
The first-tier upper-grade Alchemy Furnace had cost Li Ping over a hundred spirit stones.
As for the herbs used to refine Low-Grade First Tier pills, most were between five and ten years old and did not cost many spirit stones.
Reviewing the memories in his mind, Li Ping chose the "Qi-Boosting Pill," which could improve the cultivation of early-stage Qi Refining cultivators, as the target of his first attempt.
He picked up all six spiritual herbs needed for the Qi-Boosting Pill and tossed them into the Alchemy Furnace at once. Then he opened his mouth and spat out a stream of innate true flame, immediately using its heat to purify the ingredients.
The temperature in the alchemy room rapidly began to rise.
An ordinary Low-Grade First Tier Pill Refiner would carefully purify the herbs one at a time.
But after receiving Lü Caibai's inheritance, Li Ping already possessed over a hundred years of practical alchemical experience. Refining such low-grade pills was as easy as lifting a hand, so there was naturally no need for such trouble.
Half a quarter-hour later, the furnace lid slowly lifted, and the fragrance of medicine wafted into his nose.
Wrapped in the magical power of Li Ping's Marsh Water Life-Nourishing Art, a hazy mass shot out of the Alchemy Furnace, split into twelve, and fell into the jade bottle in his hand.
Li Ping had no time to examine the pills in the jade bottle. After absorbing the "primordial aura" released as the Qi-Boosting Pills formed, the magical power of his Longevity Art had already begun to change slowly.
The previously unremarkable magical power of the Longevity Art now brimmed with vitality.
As the Longevity Art's magical power circulated through his meridians, the deficiencies left by malnutrition during his days as a wandering beggar, the hidden injuries from duels when he roamed the world with sword in hand, the damage to his foundation from battles over resources as a rogue cultivator... all were slowly being repaired by its magical power...
During this process, that wisp of "primordial aura" was gradually consumed...
After a long while, Li Ping opened his eyes, which were filled with delight.
Casually putting the jade bottle of Qi-Boosting Pills into his Storage Bag, Li Ping eagerly picked up another six spiritual herbs and tossed them into the Alchemy Furnace!
The Wang Family Ancestral Grounds.
The Wang Family Ancestor, Wang Qu Yan, and the other Qi Refining cultivators all gazed toward a small courtyard nearby.
Inside that courtyard, the Wang Family's gifted cultivator Wang Xingwei was attempting Foundation Establishment with the Foundation Establishment Pill bestowed upon him by the ancestor.
Suddenly, everyone felt the surrounding spiritual qi fluctuate. Immediately afterward, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth rapidly gathered above the courtyard, forming a vortex dozens of yards across.
At the sight, the members of the Wang Family could not help but beam with joy.
But before they could react further-
The spiritual qi vortex shuddered violently and, with a mournful wail, collapsed outright.
Everyone understood that such a short time was nowhere near enough to gather the spiritual qi required for Foundation Establishment.
Clearly, Wang Xingwei's attempt at Foundation Establishment had failed.