Inside a Second-Tier Cave Abode rich with spiritual energy.
Zhou Qing sat cross-legged before a pill furnace, repeatedly forming seals to gather the pills.
The furnace spun continuously, spiritual flames burning beneath it, fueled by spiritual charcoal.
Ideally, an Alchemist needed a source of earthfire to refine pills.
But the cave abode Zhou Qing had rented offered limited facilities and had no dedicated source of earthfire.
That was why he used spiritual charcoal instead.
Refining pills with spiritual charcoal naturally fell short of using earthfire, but Zhou Qing was not making any rare pills, only ordinary mid-grade and high-grade pills.
Even without earthfire, his skill on the Alchemy Path was infinitely close to that of a Second-Order Alchemist, allowing him to achieve a success rate of nearly one hundred percent.
Earthfire and pill furnaces were merely external aids to pill refinement.
What mattered most was the Alchemist's own skill.
Zhou Qing had once heard of a high-level Alchemist who used a scorching volcanic crater stretching thousands of miles as a furnace, drawing on the power of heaven and earth to refine wondrous immortal pills.
"The pills are ready."
Zhou Qing swiftly formed a series of seals.
The spinning furnace slowly stopped, its lid flew up, and seven perfectly round pills floated out.
The fragrance of pills wafted through the air.
"Three standard-quality pills, four ordinary ones..."
Zhou Qing glanced them over before putting them away.
Over the past six months, Zhou Qing had naturally done more than study the alchemy inheritance.
He had also refined pills himself, gaining insight into the perfect fusion of their medicinal powers during Pill Condensation.
Of course, Zhou Qing only refined the pills. He did not take them.
As for selling them? He would wait until a simulation to do that.
That way, he could reap several meals from a single pill.
As long as Zhou Qing did not sell them in reality, he could sell them once in every simulation.
Although Zhou Qing only refined mid-grade and high-grade pills, even a mosquito had meat on its bones.
Naturally, Zhou Qing would not turn that down.
Over those six months, Zhou Qing had refined no fewer than a hundred high-grade pills alone.
He had made even more mid-grade pills.
And that was with Zhou Qing holding himself back.
After all, he did not need to cultivate in reality and had plenty of time.
As for becoming a Second-Order Alchemist...
Zhou Qing could feel that he was very, very close to becoming a Second-Order Alchemist. He could cross that threshold at any moment.
A Second-Order Alchemist could independently refine second-tier pills, whose ingredients included various second-tier spiritual herbs and other materials.
Second-tier spiritual herbs contained far greater spiritual energy, and merging the medicinal properties of different second-tier herbs was more difficult as well. The slightest carelessness could cause the pill to explode.
This put an Alchemist's control to a stern test.
In six months, I've gained a basic grasp of both the Beast Taming Path and the Talisman Path, reaching the low-grade level...
Zhou Qing thought to himself.
This was the advantage of pouring water from a lofty roof.
Back when Zhou Qing had first sought to enter the Alchemy Path, he had spent several decades as Pill Master Yun's apprentice.
Part of that was because, as an apprentice, he had not received Pill Master Yun's wholehearted instruction. But it was also because gaining a foothold in alchemy was difficult.
Now, however, as a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, both his divine sense and his comprehension far surpassed those of the Qi Refining Stage. Studying ordinary skills could not have been simpler.
A Core Formation True Person would comprehend them even faster.
Every skill was built upon a cultivator's own cultivation realm.
I can run countless simulations. There's no need to confine myself to any one skill. If one hits a bottleneck, I'll study another. If that one stops progressing, I'll move on to something else. More skills never weigh a person down, and they might all come in handy in future simulations.
Zhou Qing pondered this.
Whether a bottleneck in cultivation or in a skill, heaven only knew how many years it might trap a cultivator.
Rather than battering his head against it, he might as well seek another path.
Of course, this approach only suited Zhou Qing.
For other cultivators, only by overcoming their bottlenecks could they enter a new level and gain more years of life.
If they could not overcome them, what good would mastering more skills do? Once their lifespan ran out, they would still vanish into ash and smoke.
Until my simulation count refreshes, there are still...
Zhou Qing gathered his thoughts and looked at the illusory text at the bottom of his vision.
[Name: Zhou Qing] [Race: Human] [Strength: Foundation Establishment, first level] [Skills: High-Grade Pill Master, Low-Grade Beast Tamer, Low-Grade Talisman Master] [Age: 17] [Talents: Pill toxin bane, unyielding will] [Simulations remaining: 0]
His gaze focused on the simulations remaining field.
"Twenty days left..."
Looking at the illusory countdown, Zhou Qing learned exactly when his simulation count would refresh.
I'm already seventeen...
Zhou Qing looked at the age field again.
When he had begun his first simulation, he had only been sixteen.
I'll keep waiting, then.
Zhou Qing continued studying the formation inheritance.
Over the past six months, Zhou Qing had yet to gain even a basic grasp of formation arts.
This had to do with the formation inheritance being more difficult than his other skill inheritances.
The reason Zhou Qing had become interested in formation inheritances was that he had seen the enormous formation enveloping the entirety of Azure Moon Immortal City.
Even an ordinary True Person would be unwilling to clash head-on with that terrifying power covering hundreds of miles.
Although formation arts came with considerable limitations, their effects were terrifying once their conditions were met.
Time flowed by.
Twenty days passed in the blink of an eye.
As Zhou Qing waited, the illusory countdown finally reached zero.
"I can simulate now!"
Zhou Qing's eyes lit up.
During this time, he had done nothing but refine pills without eating a single one, and he was honestly feeling a little hungry for them.
In his previous two simulations, Zhou Qing had eaten pills as though they were meals.
Whoosh-
The illusory text began changing rapidly.
"Hm?"
Zhou Qing's expression shifted slightly.
Compared with the previous two simulations, this one featured a new change.
An "anchor point" selection had appeared.
"Anchor point?"
Information about anchor points immediately surfaced in Zhou Qing's mind.
An anchor point was the point in time at which a simulation began.
Simulation anchor points came in two types: the current anchor point and the initial anchor point.
As its name suggested, the current anchor point used Zhou Qing's present moment as the starting point of the simulation.
The initial anchor point, meanwhile, was fixed. He needed to select a moment in the past to use as the beginning of a simulation.
Once the initial anchor point was selected, it could not be changed.
Now I need to select my initial anchor point?
Zhou Qing thought to himself.
At present, the earliest moment he could choose as his initial anchor point was the instant he had transmigrated into this world.
As for any point before his transmigration... those could not serve as his initial anchor point.
Did entering the Foundation Establishment Realm and transforming the very essence of my life unlock more simulation functions?
Zhou Qing's thoughts turned. Neither his first nor his second simulation had featured such a change. The greatest difference between the third simulation and the previous two was that he was now a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.
That was why Zhou Qing had come to this conjecture.
"Then I'll use the moment I first transmigrated into this world as my initial anchor point."
Zhou Qing made his decision.
Since this was his initial anchor point, naturally, the earlier the better.
As for the initial anchor point's purpose, Zhou Qing felt it was meant to keep him from going down the wrong path.
For instance, if he discovered in the future that the Mountain Sea Art he cultivated had some enormous hidden flaw that prevented him from entering the Nascent Soul Realm, he could select the initial anchor point for a simulation and make different choices.
His initial anchor point began when he had just transmigrated into this world. At that time, Zhou Qing had not cultivated any immortal cultivation technique at all. He was a completely blank sheet of paper.
Everything was ready.
Zhou Qing's expression grew solemn.
"Begin the simulation from the current anchor point."
With a slight stir of Zhou Qing's thoughts.
The illusory text began changing rapidly.