Ye Fei felt that the quality of his first batch of pills was far too poor.
Although bottom-grade pills still counted as medicinal pills, they were only a little better than failed pills. Their medicinal potency was weak, and their pill toxins were considerable.
Taking them over a long period could even affect cultivation.
This was also why many rogue cultivators struggled to advance.
He clearly remembered that when he formed the Alchemy Formula hand seals, the pills had already reached the limit of what they could hold. How could their quality still be so poor?
Moreover, this batch of Qi-Replenishing Pills had taken quite a while to refine-nearly an hour.
I'll try another batch.
Putting away the pills in his hand, Ye Fei took out another set of ingredients.
With one successful batch under his belt, Ye Fei processed the ingredients much faster this time.
In just over fifteen minutes, he reached the fifth step.
Bang!
But at the final, crucial moment of pill formation, the cauldron exploded.
Did I overload them?
Looking at the blackened mess before him, Ye Fei could not help frowning.
The previous batch had been poor in quality, so this time he had tried adding a few more formations to the pills to improve them.
He had never expected the cauldron to explode outright.
Again!
Undeterred, Ye Fei took out another set of ingredients.
This time, he was much more cautious. Rather than rushing for results, he slowed down considerably.
Nearly an hour later, Ye Fei successfully refined another batch of Qi-Replenishing Pills.
Three bottom-grade pills and three low-grade pills. A little better than last time.
Looking at the quality of the six pills before him, Ye Fei was not too disappointed.
Perhaps I just need more practice.
After consoling himself, Ye Fei continued refining without stopping.
Two days later, when Ye Fei emerged from the stone chamber, his face was haggard.
Yet he could not conceal the joy on his face.
Through relentless effort, Ye Fei had refined sixty batches of Qi-Replenishing Pills in two days.
His pill-refining techniques had become thoroughly practiced. Now, he needed only fifteen minutes to refine a batch of Qi-Replenishing Pills.
The quality of the pills had also improved significantly.
His final batch had yielded six pills: four low-grade pills and two middle-grade pills.
Ye Fei stopped refining because the drain on his divine sense had become more than he could bear. He needed a good rest.
After returning to his cave abode, Ye Fei lay down on the stone bed and fell fast asleep.
"This boy's talent for alchemy is no worse than Sister Luo Yue's."
Having watched Ye Fei for two days, Jiang Mengyun's beautiful eyes gleamed.
"The Yinluo Banner is in his hands, and so is the Azure Dragon Sword. If it were hidden inside the Azure Dragon Sword, then could it..."
Sitting cross-legged in the stone chamber, Jiang Mengyun murmured to herself, seemingly wrestling with a difficult decision.
Meanwhile, Ye Fei was sound asleep on his bed, completely unaware.
Ye Fei slept for a full day and night before finally waking.
After such a long rest, his divine sense had returned to its peak condition.
Next, it's time to refine Skin Refining Pills.
Ye Fei left his cave abode and returned to the Earthfire Chamber.
By now, his pill-refining techniques were quite proficient.
Following the instructions in the Body Refinement Pharmacopoeia, he willed five stalks of Shipi Grass out of the Azure Dragon Sword at once.
Once Shipi Grass left the soil, its medicinal properties would slowly fade.
Ye Fei therefore dared not delay. He immediately tossed all five stalks of Shipi Grass into the Medicine God Cauldron and began refining Skin Refining Pills.
Fifteen minutes later, as waves of medicinal fragrance drifted from the Medicine God Cauldron, Ye Fei's first batch of Skin Refining Pills actually succeeded.
Three low-grade pills and three middle-grade pills.
Looking at the three pale-green pills and three yellow-green pills, Ye Fei nodded in satisfaction.
The quality of this batch was even better than before.
Putting the pills away, Ye Fei began refining another batch of Skin Refining Pills.
Three hours later.
After finishing his final batch of Skin Refining Pills, Ye Fei rose from the ground.
Since the first crop of Shipi Grass consisted of only fifty stalks, he had refined just ten batches, using them all.
Although there were only ten batches, every one had succeeded, yielding sixty pills in total.
Twenty low-grade pills and forty middle-grade pills.
"Martial Nephew Ye, come with me."
Just as Ye Fei was about to leave, Jiang Mengyun appeared at the stone chamber's entrance.
With Jiang Mengyun calling for him, Ye Fei dared not hesitate and hurried after her.
Outside the cave abode, Jiang Mengyun lightly raised her delicate hand, and a flying ship emerged from the storage ring on her slender finger.
In the blink of an eye, it expanded to roughly twenty feet in length.
"Come. I'll take you somewhere."
Jiang Mengyun waved her hand, and in a flash, she and Ye Fei were standing on the flying ship's deck.
Then the ship streaked away like lightning, vanishing into the horizon.
In less than half an incense stick's time, the ship stopped before a mountain peak roughly two thousand feet tall.
The peak was extremely steep and peculiar.
Straight as a pillar, it towered among the Free and Easy Gate's vast mountain ranges.
At its summit lay a sizable sky lake that occupied almost the entire mountaintop.
On the lake's southern side, near the mountain's edge, was an opening about two feet wide.
Lake water poured through this opening, plunging straight down to form a waterfall nearly two thousand feet high.
As the water fell, mountain winds stirred up layers of mist, shrouding the entire waterfall in white from top to bottom. It was a magnificent sight.
The flying ship paused there only briefly before tilting downward and reaching the foot of the peak within a few breaths.
Before them lay the spot where the waterfall landed.
It was an enormous, dark-green boulder.
Water plunging from two thousand feet should have struck with crushing force, yet upon hitting the boulder, it seemed to be absorbed, without raising even the slightest splash.
The water seemed to vanish into thin air. There was not even any flowing water beneath the boulder, making the sight deeply strange.
"This is Falling Waterfall Peak, and that is the Waterfall-Welcoming Stone. If you want to practice Body Tempering, the top of that stone is an excellent place."
After stepping off the flying ship, Jiang Mengyun pointed at the enormous boulder.
"Practice Body Tempering here?"
"Wouldn't my body be unable to withstand it?"
Ye Fei's expression turned somewhat grim.
Forget his flesh and blood-even a lump of iron would have a hole blasted through it by that waterfall's force.
"Without the impact of this waterfall, how would you withstand the Skin Refining Pill's overpowering medicinal potency?"
Jiang Mengyun shook her head lightly and smiled.
Clearly, she knew a great deal about the Skin Refining Pill's effects.
"The Skin Refining Pill's potency is overpowering?"
Jiang Mengyun's words left Ye Fei stunned.
He truly had not known that.
"Overpowering is an understatement. If you swallowed one outright, the pain would probably kill you."
"Otherwise, there would already be tens of millions of Body Tempering cultivators in this world."
Jiang Mengyun sighed.
"So that's how it is. Thank you for your guidance, Uncle-Master Jiang."
Only after hearing her explanation did Ye Fei understand, and his gratitude toward Jiang Mengyun deepened.
If Jiang Mengyun had not warned him, and he had foolishly swallowed a Skin Refining Pill outright, he might well have lost his life.
"Go ahead. I'll stand guard here."
Jiang Mengyun smiled calmly, then moved in a flash and sat cross-legged on a stone slab.
Seeing this, Ye Fei pushed off with his toes and leaped onto the edge of the enormous boulder.
Then he took out a Skin Refining Pill and placed it in his mouth.
The instant the Skin Refining Pill entered his mouth, it dissolved into medicinal liquid and flowed into Ye Fei's abdomen.
"It hurts!"
In an instant, Ye Fei could not help crying out in pain.
Unable to care about anything else, he darted to the center of the boulder and plunged beneath the falling water.
The moment the Skin Refining Pill's potency had spread, a surge of excruciating pain had swept across every inch of Ye Fei's skin.
A swelling sensation instantly filled his entire body, as though he were about to explode.
The pain pierced deep into his marrow, like flesh being sliced and bones being scraped. Ye Fei could hardly endure it.
That was why Ye Fei had jumped into the waterfall without hesitation.
Fortunately, the instant he stood beneath it, the waterfall's fierce impact noticeably eased the agonizing pain in his body.
But it did not disappear. It still pierced him to the heart.
Fortunately, this was a level of pain Ye Fei could endure, and he gritted his teeth through it.
Although he could bear the pain, another, rather embarrassing problem left Ye Fei caught between advancing and retreating.
Not long after he stepped beneath the waterfall, all his clothes were shredded by the rushing water and fell onto the boulder.
As his clothes fell away, he was left standing stark naked beneath the waterfall.
Jiang Mengyun, seated nearby, saw every inch of him.
How did this happen?!
Ye Fei wailed inwardly.
But under these circumstances, he had no choice. He could only steel himself and remain there, enduring the waterfall's impact.
"Hurry and circulate the Body Tempering formula. Don't waste the Skin Refining Pill's potency."
As Ye Fei wrestled with his embarrassment, Jiang Mengyun's slightly bashful voice reached him.
She really did see everything.
Hearing Jiang Mengyun's voice, Ye Fei nearly fell apart.
At first, he had still been able to deceive himself with the excuse that Jiang Mengyun would not bother looking at him.
But now...
Ah!
Ye Fei could only sigh inwardly and silently begin circulating the Body Tempering formula within himself.
Only then did he realize that the waterfall's violent impact had nearly stripped away all his skin.
But as he circulated the Body Tempering formula, its guidance channeled the Skin Refining Pill's overpowering medicinal potency, allowing his skin to regrow little by little.
Yet no sooner did a little skin grow back than the fierce waterfall tore it open again.
What a rotten deal.
Ye Fei was utterly speechless at this result.
Helpless, he could only keep circulating the Body Tempering formula, consuming the Skin Refining Pill's potency to continually restore his skin.
Growth-tearing, tearing-growth...
In this way, Ye Fei endured this inhuman torment for four full hours.
Four hours later, the Skin Refining Pill's potency slowly faded, and Ye Fei's skin could no longer regrow as quickly as it was torn away.
"I can't take it anymore!"
Ye Fei shouted and ran straight out from beneath the waterfall.
Thud!
Once out of the waterfall, Ye Fei could hold on no longer. He collapsed at the edge of the boulder and fainted.
Four hours was essentially his limit.
The constant, bone-gnawing agony was truly beyond what an ordinary person could endure.
That he had lasted four hours was already remarkable.
"What am I supposed to do now?"
Looking at Ye Fei lying naked on the boulder, Jiang Mengyun was momentarily at a complete loss.
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