Success, an Important Task

The medicinal liquid inside the Pill Furnace began to separate.

The single mass split into five smaller blobs of medicinal liquid.

Immediately afterward, the five blobs began to boil.

Li Yunjing did not dare relax in the slightest.

He watched the situation inside the Pill Furnace with his Divine Sense.

At the same time, he controlled the formation in the Alchemy Chamber, reducing its consumption of spiritual power to lower the heat.

Gradually, the five blobs of medicinal liquid began to solidify.

About a quarter of an hour later,

All five blobs had completely solidified.

They turned into five plump, round spirit pills that gave off steam.

Li Yunjing executed the pill-collecting Method Formula.

The five Yellow Sprout Pills flew out of the Pill Furnace.

Quick of eye and hand, Li Yunjing took out a jade plate and caught the five pills.

Several clinks rang out.

All five pills landed neatly on the jade plate.

The jade plate was specially made to hold pills.

Freshly refined pills were full of heat.

They had to be left to sit for a while to let the heat dissipate.

Li Yunjing glanced at the five pills.

They were plump and smooth, and their medicinal fragrance filled his nose.

They qualified as Fine-Grade Yellow Sprout Pills.

Li Yunjing immediately broke into a smile.

He had not expected that, after going so long without refining pills,

His skills had not only remained sharp but had stayed remarkably consistent.

Li Yunjing had been able to refine Fine-Grade Yellow Sprout Pills before.

He managed to refine Fine-Grade Yellow Sprout Pills in about two out of every ten attempts.

That success rate was already quite good.

A single Fine-Grade Yellow Sprout Pill sold for thirty-three Low-Grade Spirit Stones on the market.

Meanwhile, a set of spirit medicines needed to refine Yellow Sprout Pills

Cost only around twenty-five Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

With one successful attempt, Li Yunjing could refine about five Fine-Grade Yellow Sprout Pills.

At that success rate,

By refining pills,

Li Yunjing could earn at least eighty Low-Grade Spirit Stones from ten attempts.

The more times he succeeded, the more he earned.

Of course, if he only refined ordinary Yellow Sprout Pills, he would earn somewhat less.

When he succeeded in refining the pills, a notification box also appeared before Li Yunjing.

Li Yunjing silently willed it to upgrade.

The Alchemy Chamber upgraded from lv0 to lv1.

[Alchemy Chamber (lv1)]

[Lv2 spiritual effects: pill refinement success rate +30%, pill refinement experience accumulation +30%, chance of refining premium pills +20%.]

[Upgrade requirements: Pill Furnace accessory set ×1, Fire Cloud Stone ×10.]

A new effect increased the chance of producing premium pills.

Li Yunjing was delighted.

With this effect,

Refining pills would be more efficient in the future, and he could earn more Spirit Stones.

Li Yunjing planned to refine spirit pills himself for a while to tide him over and earn Spirit Stones.

Selling Pure Spiritual Qi was not a sustainable solution.

Once or twice, Li Yunjing could still make excuses.

He could say it was old stock from the Luozhen Sect.

Li Yunjing was now selling off ancestral property.

That way, outsiders would not suspect anything.

After all, Li Yunjing had sold off ancestral property many times before.

But once he did it too often,

Anyone would start to doubt Li Yunjing's story.

Li Yunjing did not want to attract too much attention.

Selling spirit pills was a different matter.

Although outsiders did not know that Li Yunjing could refine pills,

The pills he refined could not be faked.

Alchemists could determine when a pill had been refined from the heat remaining in it.

If Li Yunjing brought out recently refined pills to sell,

There would be no problem; it would establish his identity as an Alchemist.

And once his identity as an Alchemist became public,

Li Yunjing might even become widely famous.

After all, an Alchemist's status in the cultivation world was by no means low.

Many cultivators wanted to befriend an Alchemist.

Li Yunjing was so young, only twenty years old.

He still had plenty of time ahead of him and a chance to become a higher-ranked Alchemist.

Having thought it through, Li Yunjing came back to his senses.

He put away the five Yellow Sprout Pills.

Of the five Yellow Sprout Pills, Li Yunjing planned to sell three.

He would give the remaining two to Zhang Hanpeng.

He glanced at the Alchemy Chamber's upgrade requirements.

Pill Furnace accessories and Fire Cloud Stone.

There were many Pill Furnace accessories.

For example, brushes for cleaning the Pill Furnace,

Monitors for the temperature inside the Pill Furnace, and so on.

Only with the full set of accessories was a Pill Furnace complete.

However, missing accessories did not mean it was impossible to refine pills.

This Pill Furnace had once had accessories too,

But Li Yunjing had sold them all.

If Li Yunjing's master had not strongly opposed it,

Li Yunjing would have sold the Pill Furnace as well.

Buying a complete set of Pill Furnace accessories was not difficult, and they were inexpensive.

Fire Cloud Stone, meanwhile, was a grade-one ore.

It could burn, and its temperature was extremely high when it did.

It was generally used as fuel for refining pills or crafting artifacts.

It was produced in large quantities and was not expensive.

There would be no difficulty in upgrading the Alchemy Chamber to lv2.

He walked out of the Alchemy Chamber. Now only the Spirit Field remained to be upgraded.

Li Yunjing walked toward the Spirit Field.

Zhang Hanpeng had already seen Zhang Hongzhi and the others off.

He was practicing the Earth Spike Technique around the Spirit Field.

Zhang Hanpeng formed a Method Formula with both hands,

And three earth spikes burst from the ground with great speed.

Zhang Hanpeng was delighted.

He did not even notice Li Yunjing's arrival.

"Hanpeng." Only when Li Yunjing called out did Zhang Hanpeng come back to his senses.

"Greetings, Sect Master!"

Zhang Hanpeng hurriedly saluted Li Yunjing.

"Mm, come here. Today I'm handing out the outer disciples' benefits," Li Yunjing said.

Zhang Hanpeng's face immediately lit up with delight.

Outer disciples got benefits too?

Li Yunjing brought out the Fine-Grade Yellow Sprout Pills he had just refined.

He took out two and put them in a new pill bottle.

Then Li Yunjing took out ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

"Here, take these."

Li Yunjing then handed both items to Zhang Hanpeng.

"Thank you, Sect Master!"

Zhang Hanpeng immediately saluted and thanked him.

Li Yunjing nodded slightly.

He had already given the outer disciples' benefits plenty of thought.

Although the Luozhen Sect was only just getting started again,

It could not fall behind in this respect.

Disciples who joined the Luozhen Sect had an obligation to uphold its reputation and protect it.

Naturally, the Luozhen Sect could not leave its disciples without rewards.

Li Yunjing envisioned setting the outer disciples' monthly benefits at one bottle of pills and ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones for the time being.

As for any other benefits, Li Yunjing would consider adding them later.

"Hanpeng, I have a task for you."

Li Yunjing looked at Zhang Hanpeng with a serious expression.

Seeing this, Zhang Hanpeng immediately put away his smile and stood up straight.

"The Luozhen Sect has only you as a disciple right now. I can't stand to see it, so go out and recruit a few disciples."

Li Yunjing spoke.

After hearing this, Zhang Hanpeng immediately asked,

"Sect Master, are there any requirements for the disciples I recruit?"

Li Yunjing thought for a moment and said,

"No special requirements. They just need to be upright and of good character.

"As for talent, being able to cultivate is enough. I don't care about Root Bone.

"Of course, the better their Root Bone, the better.

"If you can complete this task, I'll reward you with fifteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones and one Minor Merit."

Zhang Hanpeng was delighted at first, but then he grew puzzled.

"Sect Master, what is a Minor Merit?"

Li Yunjing explained, "Minor Merits are Merit Points I specifically established. One Minor Merit can be exchanged for three Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

"One hundred Minor Merits can be exchanged for one Major Merit.

"Aside from Spirit Stones, Minor and Major Merits can also be exchanged for other treasures.

"For example, pills, Law Artifacts, spirit talismans, and so on."

Minor and Major Merits were part of a reward system that had existed in the Luozhen Sect before.

But after the Luozhen Sect fell on hard times, the reward system was no longer used.

Li Yunjing had merely made a few improvements and put it back into use.

Zhang Hanpeng was excited when he heard this.

It all matched! Every bit of it!

In the storybooks Zhang Hanpeng had read,

Cultivation sects were just like this.

"Yes, Sect Master! I won't let you down!"

Zhang Hanpeng assured Li Yunjing.

Then Zhang Hanpeng could hardly wait to leave.

Before he left, Li Yunjing specifically instructed Zhang Hanpeng not to go far.

He only needed to look around the area near Xunxian Town.

The area around Xunxian Town was quite safe.

Once he went too far away, that was another matter.

Zhang Hanpeng nodded, then quickly gathered his things and left at once.

As soon as Zhang Hanpeng left, Li Yunjing was living alone again.

Looking at the deserted Luozhen Sect,

Li Yunjing turned and headed straight for the Sect Grand Hall.

Making the most of his time to cultivate and reaching Foundation Establishment as soon as possible was what mattered. He had no time to feel sad.