Chapter 22: Success

After purchasing the spirit seeds, Li Zhirui headed toward the family shop. He glanced outside and noticed that business was quite good; there were cultivators in the shop almost every moment.

Seeing that his two elders were busy attending to customers, Li Zhirui did not go in to disturb them and instead turned to leave silently.

What Li Zhirui did not expect was that upon his return to Great Banyan Island, a pleasant surprise would be waiting for him.

Regarding the Water-Method Pill Formula that Li Shiqing had previously promised him, the Patriarch had already sent someone to the market to buy it. Moreover, he had purchased five formulas at once, along with the corresponding fifty portions of spiritual herbs.

"Thank you, Grandfather Patriarch!" Li Zhirui said with a face full of joy.

Li Shiqing shook his head and said, "This is something you deserve."

"I hope that once you have learned it, you can record your insights and deposit them into the Scripture Pavilion." Seeing that Li Zhirui's expression remained steady, Li Shiqing continued, "From then on, for every time a clansman borrows it, half of the contribution points they pay will be credited to you."

"Alright. Once I have mastered it, I will send my insights to the Scripture Pavilion," Li Zhirui agreed readily.

Although he was making an investment, it was not without gain. Furthermore, as the family became wealthier and more powerful, Li Zhirui, as a member of the clan, would reap even greater benefits. Besides, the Water-Refining Method was not something easily learned.

"Mhm. You may head back then."

Li Zhirui bowed and then turned to depart.

Returning to his small courtyard, Li Zhirui did not rush to flip through the pill formulas. Instead, he entered his space, intending to plant the spirit seeds in his possession while using spirit stones to accelerate the growth of the dozen or so second-grade spiritual herbs.

Li Zhirui chose the Golden-Edged Flower, which had the shortest maturation time. As spirit stones were buried into the soil one by one, the Golden-Edged Flowers rapidly sprouted from the seeds, grew, produced buds, and finally bloomed completely!

It took only a quarter of an hour for a single second-grade spiritual herb to go from seed to maturity, though this was achieved at the cost of over one hundred and fifty spirit stones.

"A single Golden-Edged Flower sells for one hundred and forty spirit stones on the market. If I force its growth, I actually lose over ten spirit stones," Li Zhirui murmured.

He had previously accelerated the growth of first-grade herbs and knew that forcing second-grade herbs would certainly result in a slight loss of spirit stones, but he hadn't expected it to be as much as ten or more.

"Sigh, I'll just plant them slowly." He wasn't in a hurry, and he didn't need second-grade herbs immediately. He would just accelerate the growth of one plant of each herb to expand his scale.

Li Zhirui carefully extracted over a dozen seeds from the heart of a Golden-Edged Flower. After sealing the flower in a jade box, he planted the seeds in the nearby area.

Following the same method, Li Zhirui processed the other second-grade seeds, but in just half a day, he had spent two to three thousand spirit stones!

Li Zhirui felt a sharp pang of heartache, but for the sake of future alchemy, he could only comfort himself that his current sacrifices were for a bright future.

After Li Zhirui had finished accelerating the growth of all the second-grade seeds, he took the opportunity to plant the first-grade seeds he had previously lacked. As he walked, he arrived at the spiritual fields by the side of the Spirit Lake.

"Huh?"

Li Zhirui had keen eyesight; his first glance caught sight of a tiny sprout just poking its head out beyond the ridge on the opposite side of the Spirit Lake. "Is that a spirit seed I accidentally dropped here?"

Because Da Qing often played and rested by the Spirit Lake, Li Zhirui had not planted any spiritual items within ten feet of the lake. Therefore, this solitary herb could only be due to that reason.

Li Zhirui originally intended to pull it out—it was only a first-grade herb after all—but he ultimately gave up. Since it had already grown and was near the spiritual fields, it wouldn't interfere with Da Qing.

It was already several hours later by the time he finished handling the trivial matters in his space.

Only then did Li Zhirui take out the five pill formulas, preparing to carefully select which one he would study next.

"Qinghe Pill: used to calm the mind and gather Qi. Required herbs: Clear Dew Fruit, Mist Leaf..." This was a supplementary cultivation pill that could accelerate the absorption of spiritual energy.

However, the reason cultivators coveted the Qinghe Pill was not for cultivation assistance, but for its ability to calm the mind.

"Blood-Generating Pill, Spirit-Nurturing Pill..." The other four pills each had their own unique characteristics. It was evident that the family had put significant thought into their selection; otherwise, they wouldn't be so comprehensive.

If one included the two formulas Li Zhirui had purchased, the Li family would have coverage in various aspects such as increasing mana, assisting cultivation, healing, and replenishing mana.

Except for one extremely special category of pill: Barrier-Breaking Pills!

"Barrier-Breaking Pill" did not refer to a single specific pill, but rather a category of pills. For example, the well-known Foundation Establishment Pill belonged to this category, and even higher tiers included Gold-Core Pills and Nascent Soul Pills.

From this, one could see that Barrier-Breaking Pills were extremely precious. Their formulas were nowhere to be found in the outside world; it was only natural that the Li family could not obtain them.

Li Zhirui pulled the Qinghe Pill formula from the five options, deciding to learn this method first. Once he had mastered it, he would consider the remaining formulas.

However, while reviewing the formula, Li Zhirui encountered a problem: refining the Qinghe Pill required one more incantation than the Jade Spirit Pill or the Replenishing Spirit Pill.

"Pill-Nurturing Incantation?" Li Zhirui frowned deeply. He had never heard of this incantation. While the literal meaning was easy to understand, he had no idea how to actually perform it.

Li Zhirui put the formula away and stood up to walk toward the alchemy room; he wanted to ask Li Shihe if he knew of this method.

"I have heard of this method. It is said that pills refined using this incantation have an efficacy one or two points higher than ordinary pills. However, you know the family's past situation; we simply couldn't collect such precious techniques," Li Shihe said, his face full of helplessness and regret.

"This..." After receiving the answer from Li Shihe, Li Zhirui frowned. He hadn't expected the Pill-Nurturing Incantation to have such a benefit, but at the same time, he realized how precious it was. Setting aside the cost, whether it was even available on the market was a question in itself.

"You want to refine the Qinghe Pill, don't you, kid?" As the family's Alchemy Elder, Li Shihe knew Li Zhirui's thoughts immediately, but he could only advise, "You should refine the other few types of pills first."

"Mhm, I know." What else could Li Zhirui do besides agree? He did not yet have the ability to figure out a pill incantation on his own.

One could not blame the clansman who had purchased the formulas. After all, when purchasing them, one could not see the full contents of the formula. If someone had slightly tampered with it to hide this detail, how could one possibly know?

After returning to his courtyard, Li Zhirui carefully read through the other four formulas, and fortunately, no similar situations occurred.

"I'll start with the Blood-Generating Pill." Like the Replenishing Spirit Pill, this was a very popular pill and was guaranteed to sell.

Perhaps because of his experience refining the Jade Spirit Pill and the Replenishing Spirit Pill, Li Zhirui took only a few days this time to fully grasp the Blood-Generating Pill formula, committing the entire process to memory.

On the fifth morning, Li Zhirui rose early. Casting aside all distractions, he set to work cleaning the alchemy furnace and then poured in spiritual water.

"Blood Deer Antler, White Ginseng..."

The five herbs required for the Blood-Generating Pill were taken out one by one. Li Zhirui extracted the essence from each and then cast them into the spiritual water. As his fingers flew, he executed the alchemy incantations one after another, and the originally distinct essences began to merge.

Li Zhirui maintained a steady mindset and timed everything perfectly, completing every step properly.

Half an hour later, a wisp of pill fragrance drifted from the furnace. Li Zhirui's expression remained unchanged as he slowly withdrew his incantations before reaching out to retrieve the pills.

"Five pills produced!" A bright smile appeared on Li Zhirui's face. Not only had he succeeded on his first attempt at refining the Blood-Generating Pill, but the yield was also quite substantial!

However, Li Zhirui was well aware that his success was due not only to the hundreds or thousands of times he had practiced alchemy over the past few months but also to the relatively low difficulty of the Blood-Generating Pill.