Cultivation: From Menial Laborer to Immortal Venerable

The wedding banquet concluded, and Zhou Xun sought out Wang Erniu privately, gifting him a copy of "The Art of the Bedchamber."

This caused Wang Erniu to blush profusely.

Seeing this, Zhou Xun let out a hearty laugh and returned.

After Wang Erniu got married, he moved out of Zhou Xun's alchemy room.

As the Lin family's son-in-law, he naturally couldn't be made to feel wronged.

A high-grade alchemy room was specially arranged for him, a privilege only genuine alchemists were qualified to use.

And through Warden Lin's arrangements, no new occupants were moved into Zhou Xun's previous alchemy room, thus allowing Zhou Xun to have an alchemy room all to himself.

This drew the envy of everyone else.

Time flew by, and four months passed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, they had learned all the fundamental theories for refining basic pills.

Next was the practical application.

The person responsible for guiding them was precisely the eldest daughter of the Lin family.

The pill they were to refine this time was the Pigu Pill.

The refining method for the Pigu Pill was simple, and the ingredients were inexpensive.

Spirit Rice, or even Spirit Grain Bran, could be used as the primary material for its refinement.

It was suitable for beginners to practice with.

Inside the alchemy room, Zhou Xun sat before a bronze alchemy furnace.

He held a token used to control the Earth Fire.

He slowly infused Spirit Energy into the token, and a crimson flame erupted. This was the first step in refining a pill: warming the alchemy furnace.

Next, he proceeded to process the materials. He carefully took out a large bag of Spirit Rice and, at a steady pace, began to pour handfuls of it into the alchemy furnace.

As the Spirit Rice was refined by the flames, it emitted a unique fragrance that permeated the air, bringing a sense of refreshment and joy.

Gradually, the flames in the furnace began to change, shifting from red to light red, and then from light red to golden yellow. Each color change represented a variation in the flame's temperature, a crucial stage in the alchemy process.

The final step was the condensation and collection of the pill.

Zhou Xun formed hand seals and chanted incantations.

This was the most common pill-forming technique, suitable for refining basic pills.

A spell was cast upon the alchemy furnace, and the liquid formed from the Spirit Rice inside quickly took shape.

The liquid divided into nine portions, coalescing together, gradually forming a mass.

Soon, the aroma of pills wafted out, a sign that the pills were about to be formed. At this stage, the success rate had already reached ninety percent.

At the very last moment of pill formation, Zhou Xun seemed to recall something.

He immediately ceased the flow of Spirit Energy to the token.

Without the token's control, the Earth Fire surged dramatically.

With a poof from within the alchemy furnace, the nearly formed pills instantly dispersed, turning into a wisp of green smoke.

The refinement had failed!

Zhou Xun walked out of the alchemy room, his head hung low, looking dejected.

When he emerged, quite a few people were already standing outside, all with their heads drooping, clearly having failed their refinements as well.

"It's normal to fail on your first attempt at refining, Brother Zhou, please don't be too disheartened!" Wei Shangyi approached and comforted Zhou Xun.

"I succeeded in refining it!" Suddenly, a voice filled with surprise rang out.

The door of an alchemy room was pushed open forcefully, and a person walked out, holding a dull gray pill in their hand. It was Wang Erniu.

Lin Xueying glanced at it and said indifferently:

"Too much pill toxin, it can barely be considered a low-grade pill! However, for your first attempt, you show some talent!"

Pills refined by alchemists are generally classified into several grades based on their quality upon completion: waste pills, low-grade pills, standard pills, and fine pills.

Waste pills refer to pills that are completely ruined during refinement. Although they possess the shape of a pill, they have lost all their efficacy and can only be discarded as waste.

Low-grade pills are inferior quality pills that retain some of the pill's efficacy but contain a large amount of pill toxin. They can be barely consumed, and this is what rogue cultivators outside Red Leaf Square take.

Standard pills are the most common pills sold in major shops, possessing the complete medicinal properties of the pill with pill toxin controlled at a very low level.

Fine pills are those refined through an alchemist's exceptional performance, possessing efficacy beyond that of the original pill.

For a pill like the Spirit Gathering Pill, which can help cultivators in the middle stages of Qi Condensation break through.

Standard pills generally offer a thirty percent chance of breakthrough, while low-grade pills only offer twenty percent, or even ten percent.

Fine pills, on the other hand, can offer a forty percent or even fifty percent chance.

For Wang Erniu to refine a low-grade pill on his first attempt was already considered exceptional talent.

Even Lin Zhishan had only produced waste pills on his first attempt.

After everyone emerged, Lin Xueying answered their questions and was about to leave.

"Alright, practice more from now on. The Earth Fire in the Alchemy Room will remain open!"

"If you have any questions, ask me next class!" With that, she floated away.

"Big Brother, I succeeded!" Wang Erniu, still boyish and excited, beamed.

"I didn't expect you to have such outstanding alchemy talent, Erniu!" Zhou Xun genuinely felt happy for him.

"Yeah, Erniu, you're amazing!" The others also gathered around, offering their congratulations.

They all knew that Wang Erniu would most likely become a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the future.

Wei Shangyi was also among this group.

Currently, he was quite unremarkable among the people from Danbao Pavilion.

His alchemy talent was truly mediocre.

After a brief chat, everyone dispersed, returning to the Alchemy Room to continue practicing.

Zhou Xun took out the Spirit Rice and repeated the previous alchemy process.

Soon, a fragrant aroma rose.

"Up!"

A spell was cast towards the alchemy furnace.

After a while, the lid automatically flew open, and ten golden-yellow Pigu Pills flew out, landing precisely in the medicine bottle in front of Zhou Xun.

"Ten perfect-grade pills!"

Zhou Xun smiled slightly.

This batch of Pigu Pills consumed five catties of Spirit Rice.

He obtained ten perfect-grade Pigu Pills.

A bottle containing ten Pigu Pills was sold for over 4 Spirit Essence.

"Alchemy is truly lucrative!"

And this was just for basic pills.

If it were cultivation pills like Qi Induction Pills or Aura Concealing Pills, the profit would be even higher.

Zhou Xun continued to refine Pigu Pills.

Each batch produced at least ten pills, occasionally eleven with exceptional performance.

In one day, Zhou Xun refined a total of six batches of pills.

The reason he could refine so many was twofold.

Firstly, Pigu Pills were simple to refine, with each batch taking only half an hour.

Secondly, Zhou Xun's Divine Sense was strong, and his Spirit Energy was abundant, allowing him to sustain the process for longer.

However, six batches were his limit.

By the end of the day, he had obtained sixty-two Pigu Pills.

Their value exceeded 24 Spirit Essence.

After deducting the 10 Spirit Essence cost, his net profit was fourteen Spirit Essence.

If he refined like this every day, in a month, he would earn four hundred and twenty Spirit Essence.

This income was more than ten times what Zhou Xun earned at Mystic Talisman Pavilion before.

The wealth of an alchemist was truly terrifying!

"I can't let Danbao Pavilion know about my alchemy yet!"