Alchemy

The Bright Light Lamp in his hand flickered, and his spiritual sense followed the candlelight to the Spirit-Nurturing Cauldron. His magical power flowed, the bronze cauldron hummed softly, and azure flames quietly rose from its belly.

With a thought, Meng Yaoguang and Meng Yaohua, who were guarding the quiet room, immediately put the prepared spiritual medicines into the cauldron in batches, according to the instructions transmitted through their consciousness.

The medicinal herbs were placed into the cauldron, where a light blue flame swirled, and the fragrance of the herbs, infused with Spiritual Qi, slowly spread out.

Lin Xu focused his mind into his sea of consciousness, guiding the flames according to the patterns inside the cauldron. The Fire Control Formation moved with his thoughts, and the temperature rose and fell precisely without the slightest error.

The Spirit Gathering Formation on the cauldron slowly gathers the surrounding Spiritual Qi into trickles, which flow upwards from the cauldron's legs and seep into its belly, providing a continuous stream of spiritual power to support the furnace fire.

In a state of Thought Overclocking, time seems to stretch out, and every change in the heat is as natural as breathing. The medicinal power is gradually extracted and condensed in the blue flames, while impurities turn into ash and quietly settle.

With a slight thought, Lin Xu accelerated the flow of the Fire Control Formation, causing the temperature inside the cauldron to rise instantly. Several main medicinal herbs melted simultaneously, their medicinal vapors merging into a spiritual elixir.

The spiritual elixir continued to condense, gradually forming small, blue pills the size of longan fruits, with subtle spiritual light appearing on their surfaces.

Lin Xu dared not relax in the slightest, continuing to control the fire with his spiritual sense until the pill was completed. With a soft shout, the Fire Control Formation suddenly contracted, locking the last trace of medicinal energy into the pill.

The azure flames died down, and a clear, melodious sound emanated from within the cauldron, releasing a refreshing fragrance. He opened his eyes, a sharp glint in them. "The first batch of Spirit Gathering Pill is complete!"

Item: Spirit Gathering Pill

Grade: Cyan (Excellent)

Type: Elixir

Effects: After consumption, it can gather the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, accelerate the circulation of spiritual power, and increase cultivation efficiency by 15% for one hour.

Description: The elixir is pale blue, enveloped in a thin layer of spiritual mist. It requires the collection of morning dew to condense into powder, making it the first choice for beginners in cultivation to Foundation Establishment.

Three Spirit Gathering Pill lay quietly in the jade plate, their spiritual light flickering like morning dew.

The first attempt at alchemy was a success, and three pills were produced at once!

The moment the pill was formed, Lin Xu's sea of consciousness trembled slightly. His insights into alchemy surged and reorganized under the effect of his Thought Overclocking, and the originally obscure mysteries of the pill formula were instantly understood.

The blue "Basic Alchemy" skill, which recently appeared on my personal skill panel, has been upgraded from [Beginner] to [Expert].

Without pausing, Lin Xu immediately took out the second portion of spiritual medicine and activated the Spirit-Nurturing Cauldron once more. The azure flames reignited, their light illuminating his calm face, and the flow of the pill formula within his sea of consciousness became increasingly skillful.

This time, his control over the heat was even more precise, and the Spiritual Qi drawn by the Spirit Gathering Formation was perfectly in harmony with the cauldron fire.

The melting speed of the medicinal liquid increased by 30%, impurities were extracted more thoroughly, and a faint light appeared when the pill was condensed, with the quality of the finished pill subtly surpassing that of the previous batch.

As the azure flames died down, the elixir within the cauldron emitted a clear and melodious sound. Five Spirit Gathering Pill floated quietly above the jade plate, their spiritual light swirling and their fragrance pure and refreshing.

As his understanding of alchemy deepened within his sea of consciousness, countless fragments of inspiration were repeatedly disassembled and reconstructed under the influence of his Thought Overclocking. The threads of alchemy techniques intertwined in his sea of consciousness, and the originally scattered knowledge points were now linked together into a complete system.

When Lin Xu opened his eyes again, his eyes were clear and bright. His "Basic Alchemy" skill had jumped to [Grandmaster] and had been upgraded from cyan to blue.

"It's basically reached the limit at this stage..." He stared at the five pills in the jade plate, their color as warm and lustrous as jade, radiating a very subtle spiritual light.

The quality of the pills refined this time is even better, increasing cultivation efficiency from 15% to 20%, and extending the duration to two hours.

Activating Spirit Eye reveals that several spiritual pills are shimmering with extremely subtle runic light on their surfaces, slowly absorbing the omnipresent Spiritual Qi in the air.

This is a miniature Spirit Gathering Formation. In the "Essentials of Alchemy," the author once jokingly said that if the wonders of array formations and talismans were combined with alchemy, it might be possible to create a new lineage in alchemy.

For most alchemists, this conjecture is worthless, because they have already exhausted all their energy just to be able to refine pills, let alone research new alchemy techniques.

However, after Lin Xu read the author's conjecture and used his Thought Overclocking to dissect alchemy, formations, and talismans, he discovered that this method was theoretically feasible.

Therefore, when he was refining the Spirit Gathering Pill, during the final pill-combining process, he used his "Ultra-Precise Alchemy" to inscribe the Spirit Gathering Formation on the surface of the pill, forming a special outer layer.

With a thought, Lin Xu picked up a spirit pill and examined it closely. The tiny, almost invisible talismanic characters on the surface of the pill formed a simple, miniature Spirit Gathering Formation.

Once the pill formation is complete, it naturally activates, constantly drawing upon trace amounts of Spiritual Qi energy from the air to nourish the pills.

Generally speaking, except for a very few pills made with special materials, most elixirs are at their most effective after being refined, but their efficacy gradually diminishes over time.

However, with this pill array membrane, the elixir can slowly gather Spiritual Qi, gradually nourishing it. Over time, the elixir's quality can also be gradually improved.

"Not bad~"

He opened his mouth and inhaled, the Spirit Gathering Pill entered his stomach, and the rich Spiritual Qi spread out, filling his body.

With eyes closed and mind focused, magical power flows through the meridians and acupoints, absorbing and transforming the dissipated Spiritual Qi. It ascends through acupoints such as Mingmen, Guanyuan, and Baihui, all the way to the Divine Aperture, transforming into spiritual light that illuminates thousands of realms.

In an instant, the human body seemed to transform into transparent glass, revealing numerous hidden acupoints, meridians, and even nerve lines in this endless light.

Limited by the spiritual awareness and wisdom of cultivators, most people can only see so much after illuminating their Divine Aperture, simply because the amount of information is too much or their consciousness "crashes," thus their spiritual awareness subconsciously shrinks the scope of observation.

But this didn't stump Lin Xu. When he was in a state of Thought Overclocking, almost all the secrets within his body were revealed to him.

With a thought, magical power flows, absorbing and refining the abundant Spiritual Qi within the body.

A phantom lamp lit up in the sea of consciousness, its boundless radiance spreading throughout the body. Nourished by the spiritual energy, the body gradually strengthened.

"The efficiency is too slow; I wonder when we'll be able to gather all the gods of the heavens..."

A thought flashed through Lin Xu's mind, and he focused his attention on the nerves in his brain.

The natural energy gathers and nourishes the subtle nerve endings, in the microscopic realm invisible to the naked eye, gradually activating and optimizing the neural networks in the brain.

Time passed slowly, and two hours flew by. When Lin Xu came back to his senses from his meditation, his "Intelligence" attribute on his personal panel quietly increased by 1, reaching 17 points.

Prolonged nourishment of the Brain Deity further enhances his thinking speed, which is especially noticeable in a state of Thought Overclocking.

Sensing the changes in his sea of consciousness, Lin Xu secretly estimated his own condition. "At today's cultivation speed, I should break through in another two or three days."

Level 5 is the first hurdle that cultivators encounter. Once they cross it, they become intermediate-level professionals, who form the backbone of the Spirit Realm's cultivators.

In a real-world Night Watchers organization, such a person would be qualified to serve as a bureau chief at the county or city level, protecting the peace of a region.