Yin-Yang Separation Spirit Control Art

Juxuan Pavilion, seventh-floor private room.

Manager Liao knocked on the door. "Reporting to the Pavilion Master, I have an urgent matter to report!"

An icy voice came from within the room.

"Enter!"

Only then did Manager Liao carefully push open the door and enter.

"Reporting to the Pavilion Master."

"Fellow Daoist Qin came to the shop just now to purchase spirit materials."

"He is preparing to advance to Intermediate Alchemist."

Gu Qingzhao had been holding a scripture and sipping tea. At those words, she abruptly straightened, her willow brows drawing together as she looked at Manager Liao. "What?!"

Manager Liao hurriedly bowed and recounted the entire matter from beginning to end without leaving out a single detail.

"You handled this matter very well. I will mark down a great merit for you."

"Once Cloudmarsh City is completed, there will be a place for you in the pavilion."

"Continue building goodwill with Fellow Daoist Qin. If he comes to the shop again, report directly to me." Gu Qingzhao's starry eyes flickered as though she were pondering something.

Qin Ming left Juxuan Pavilion.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea,

he made his way, familiar with the route, to Su Yuqing's residence.

"Brother Su, this is Spirit Bamboo Wine. It tastes quite good, so I brought you a jar to try." Qin Ming took out the Spirit Wine from his Storage Bag and handed it to Su Yuqing.

Su Yuqing's face brightened. He accepted the Spirit Bamboo Wine and opened the seal. In an instant, an incomparably rich and fragrant aroma of Spirit Wine filled the entire room.

"Fine wine! Brother Qin, you truly have no shortage of good things! Then I'll gladly accept it."

He had only two great loves in his life: one was alchemy, and the other was Spirit Wine and Spirit Tea.

Su Yuqing could not wait to take out two wine cups and have a taste.

Seeing this, Qin Ming raised a hand to stop him. "Brother Su, I came today to borrow the Alchemy Room to refine pills. I already drank some earlier, so I won't be drinking any more."

"Fine, go ahead. I'll savor this Spirit Bamboo Wine properly." Su Yuqing nodded. Then, carrying his wine cup, he was about to head into the courtyard when he suddenly recalled something and casually asked, "What kind of pill are you planning to refine?"

"Spirit Gathering Pill," Qin Ming answered without hesitation.

"Oh~" Su Yuqing acknowledged him at first, then suddenly reacted, his voice rising sharply. "What did you say?!"

"Spirit Gathering Pill? Are you sure?"

"This pill is one of the hardest to refine among all intermediate-grade spirit pills."

Qin Ming answered with utmost certainty, "I'm sure. It is this spirit pill."

He had his reasons for choosing the Spirit Gathering Pill. At present, it was the spirit pill with the best effect for improving his cultivation of spiritual power.

This time, merely preparing the ten portions of spirit materials needed to refine Spirit Gathering Pills had cost him several hundred Spirit Stones.

"All right, then. Brother Qin always likes challenging high difficulty." Su Yuqing was no longer surprised by this, and he promptly went off hugging the wine jar to enjoy his drink.

Next,

Qin Ming entered the Alchemy Room, cast aside all distracting thoughts, and began refining pills with complete focus.

The pill formula for the Spirit Gathering Pill, as well as its refining process, had been recorded in great detail in Su Yuqing's notebook.

He had rehearsed it countless times in his mind; it had long since been engraved in his memory.

After Qin Ming's soul had been strengthened once more,

the two steps of extracting medicinal embryos and preparing the spirit medicine went exceptionally smoothly.

He opened the fire valve beneath the pill furnace.

Boom!

Scorching earthfire erupted fiercely.

Qin Ming began controlling the flames, heating the pill furnace evenly.

Once the heat was about right,

he raised a hand, and one portion of the prepared spirit medicine flew from its vessel into the pill furnace.

What followed was the most crucial step.

Relying on his powerful soul, Qin Ming carefully controlled the earthfire on one side while fusing the spirit medicine within the pill furnace on the other.

A long while later,

Pfft!

A burst of choking black smoke rose from the pill furnace.

His first attempt had clearly failed.

Qin Ming had expected such a result. After all, refining intermediate-grade spirit pills was far more difficult than refining low-grade spirit pills.

Succeeding in one attempt was nothing more than a fool's dream.

Expressionless, Qin Ming began clearing the medicinal residue from the pill furnace, summing up his experience as he prepared to refine another batch.

Time passed.

From within the Alchemy Room, muffled explosions of failure rang out without cease.

He failed seven times in a row.

At last, Qin Ming's expression could no longer remain composed.

"Where exactly is the problem?"

"I clearly followed every step. There was hardly the slightest discrepancy." He could not make head nor tail of it, and for a time, he fell into a deadlock.

If he could not understand the crucial reason behind it, then no matter how he continued refining like this, the outcome would remain the same. Success would be difficult to achieve.

Outside the Alchemy Room,

"How did it go?" Seeing Qin Ming covered in soot and dust, Su Yuqing wore an amused smile as he entered the Alchemy Room with his hands behind his back.

He casually picked up one of Qin Ming's failed pills and gently crushed it between his fingers, then carefully began examining the blackish-gray medicinal residue.

He brought it to his nose and sniffed it as well.

After a long while,

Su Yuqing furrowed his brows slightly, looking thoughtful. He pondered for a moment before asking, "How long have you been trying to refine this Spirit Gathering Pill?"

Qin Ming was somewhat puzzled. Whenever he came here to refine pills, Su Yuqing had always left him entirely to his own devices. Yet today, Su Yuqing had unusually taken the initiative to come in and even ask him a question.

His spirits immediately lifted, and he truthfully replied, "I only started refining it today. I've refined it seven times in total."

Su Yuqing: "."

"You reached this level in just seven attempts?"

"Are you messing with me?"

Su Yuqing rubbed the medicinal residue in his hand. As the black-gray outer layer fell away, an almond-sized, greenish semi-finished pill was revealed at its core.

"You're already about one-third of the way to success."

Qin Ming stared at the failed pill and spread his hands. "That really might have been a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse."

He then broke apart the remaining medicinal residue and discovered that only the one in Su Yuqing's hand was a semi-finished product.

Seeing this,

a conflicted expression appeared on Su Yuqing's face. After hesitating for a long time, he let out a heavy sigh.

"Forget it, Brother Qin. To be honest, among all the Spirit Planters I've seen, you have the highest talent for alchemy."

Qin Ming: "?!"

He could not help but think to himself, If not for Affix greatly strengthening my soul, forget talent—I'd probably still be struggling with basic Detoxification Pills right now.

"The steps and process you used to refine the Spirit Gathering Pill were actually not wrong."

"You were merely missing one thing," Su Yuqing said slowly.

Qin Ming's heart leaped with joy. It seemed he was finally about to obtain the answer that had baffled him so thoroughly.

He asked in confusion, "What am I missing?"

"I'll demonstrate it only once. Watch carefully." With that, Su Yuqing walked toward the table.

His entire bearing immediately became completely different.

Then, he began refining a Spirit Gathering Pill.

Under his masterful technique, the spirit materials were swiftly broken down. His movements flowed like drifting clouds and running water, completed in one seamless sweep, every step effortless and assured.

In merely the time it took to drink half a cup of tea,

Chirp!

A clear cry of pill formation rang out from the pill furnace.

Twelve deep-blue Superior Spirit Gathering Pills emerged fresh from the furnace.

Su Yuqing made a beckoning gesture, and the pills flew into his hand.

Qin Ming had been utterly dumbfounded just now. His own half-baked technique simply could not compare.

"It seems there was a difference in the pill-refining technique." Qin Ming hesitated before voicing what he thought.

Qin Ming had clearly seen that, during Su Yuqing's final step of fusing the spirit medicine, the pill that formed should have been only a Common-quality Spirit Gathering Pill.

Yet Su Yuqing used a peculiar art, causing the medicinal liquid that had nearly taken shape into a pill to separate again before fusing once more, adjusting it until it reached perfection.

Only then had he refined Superior Spirit Gathering Pills in a single stroke.

Su Yuqing smiled faintly and nodded. "That's right. This Yin-Yang Separation Spirit Control Art is my unique pill-refining technique. It is also a set of insights I have distilled over my many years of studying alchemy, and it is still constantly being innovated and perfected."

"As for the art of pill fusion within it, I dare say that aside from myself, even alchemists above the second rank would be unable to comprehend it."

"You've watched by my side for so long, but in truth, you only learned the outer shell. You never grasped its true essence."

Qin Ming suddenly understood. "So that was it."

"I can pass this Yin-Yang Separation Spirit Control Art on to you, but you must swear never to pass it on to anyone else." Su Yuqing suddenly spoke to Qin Ming with an extremely solemn expression.

Qin Ming froze the instant he heard that!

Amid his wild delight, he was also deeply astonished. How could Su Yuqing so easily impart something this important to him?

Could it be that—