Chapter 35: Alchemy 2

After settling in, Lu Xiaotian once again took out the pill furnace, cleaned the impurities and waste from within the cauldron, and relit the fire to begin refining again.

The most difficult aspects of pill refining were controlling the heat and timing the opening of the furnace. Typically, refining a single batch of Qi Gathering Pills took nearly two hours. Lu Xiaotian had to maintain constant attention to the intensity of the flame; if the heat was too high, he would remove some spirit wood charcoal, and if it was too low, he would add more.

However, these two points relied entirely on the refiner's experience; one could not easily produce pills simply by possessing a recipe.

Even a junior alchemist was highly sought after in Moon Viewing City, precisely because alchemy was not only difficult but also an extremely resource-intensive profession. Beginners often had absurdly low success rates, sometimes failing several or even a dozen batches before achieving a single success. Improving the yield required long-term practice and the accumulation of experience.

Ordinary rogue cultivators simply could not afford such a burden in their early stages. Most alchemists in Moon Viewing City were trained by the families that controlled various pill workshops, utilizing their family resources for cultivation.

Once trained, these alchemists were required to serve their respective family workshops. Usually, the pills sold externally were low-grade; higher-quality mid-grade or even high-grade pills were reserved for talented members of the cultivation families or appeared in auctions, fetching staggering prices. Consequently, those from cultivation families often possessed greater strength than ordinary rogue cultivators.

Setting aside time for daily cultivation, Lu Xiaotian stayed in the courtyard and practiced alchemy for nearly ten consecutive days. He failed seventeen batches in a row, nearly exhausting his remaining spirit stones. Such a high failure rate left him somewhat discouraged; had it not been for the fact that the space within the barrier allowed him to cultivate Purple Spirit Grass, he would not have been able to sustain such intense refining sessions.

The value of just seventeen stalks of Purple Spirit Grass in Moon Viewing City was nearly forty spirit stones. When including the auxiliary herbs, the amount of spirit stones Lu Xiaotian wasted over the past ten days was staggering for a Qi Refining stage cultivator.

However, through these many failures, Lu Xiaotian had summarized a method for refining Qi Gathering Pills and gained certain insights into heat control and furnace timing. He stared intently at the glowing charcoal beneath the cauldron.

By now, he was no longer like he was at the beginning, frantically removing charcoal when the heat became too intense. His previous failures had taught him roughly how much charcoal was needed for a given level of heat. This was the kind of experience gained through long-term practice.

Nearly two hours later, the familiar fragrance wafted out once more. Lu Xiaotian's heart tightened; if he failed this time, he would have to sell the remaining twenty talismans in his possession just to continue refining.

Focusing his mind and calming his breath—open the furnace!

As he lifted the cauldron lid, a gentle, familiar medicinal scent rushed to his nose. Inside the small cauldron lay two milky-yellow pills. One of them possessed an exceptionally rich fragrance, and its milky-yellow surface actually featured two fine medicinal patterns.

"I actually refined a mid-grade Qi Gathering Pill!" Lu Xiaotian was instantly overcome with joy. His hard work over the past ten days had finally paid off. The reward felt far more significant than the value of the two pills themselves because of the hardships endured to obtain them.

Once the heat dissipated from the surfaces of the two perfectly round and plump spiritual pills, Lu Xiaotian placed them into separate small bottles.

Strike while the iron is hot. Taking advantage of this successful batch, he decided to refine several more times today.

With sufficient seeds on hand, Lu Xiaotian refined seven more times consecutively until he had exhausted the Purple Spirit Grass within the barrier. He succeeded three times, but each time he only produced a single pill, failing to produce two as he had before.

However, he was quite satisfied with this result. Even among the veteran alchemists in the families of Moon Viewing City with decades of experience, succeeding three to four times out of ten was considered an excellent record.

Alchemy was a craft that placed great emphasis on nuance; heat control and furnace timing were not static. Different stalks of Purple Spirit Grass had different growth stages and conditions.

A skilled alchemist would make a prediction regarding the required heat for the specific spiritual herbs in hand. This judgment could still be subject to error, so alchemists would make slight adjustments to the flame and the timing of the opening during the process. Even the most powerful alchemist could not guarantee a hundred percent accuracy; the slightest mistake could result in a wasted batch.

Thus, even experienced veterans could only maintain a certain success rate.

The reason Lu Xiaotian could achieve such a high yield in such a short time, besides his improving skills, was primarily that he was refining the exact same type of pill repeatedly—something other alchemists might not do. Furthermore, the Purple Spirit Grass grown within the barrier was not subject to external interference like wind or rain, resulting in highly consistent growth. This also improved his success rate.

After refining the last stalk of Purple Spirit Grass, Lu Xiaotian satisfiedly put away the small cauldron. He took out the mid-grade Qi Gathering Pill; good medicine should naturally be reserved for oneself. Now, it was time to test its effects.

Lu Xiaotian sat directly on the stone chair in the small courtyard and swallowed the mid-grade Qi Gathering Pill. The pill dissolved slowly within his body, transforming into a gentle stream of heat that circulated through his limbs and bones.

Previously, it had taken nearly six hours to refine the medicinal power of a Qi Gathering Pill, but now, at the fifth level of Qi Refining, it took less than two hours.

The spiritual energy that his meridians could not contain once again appeared within the barrier. After absorbing the medicinal power from his meridians, Lu Xiaotian's primordial spirit chased after the essence within the barrier. He then scattered the seeds of the Purple Spirit Grass and crushed a spirit stone into powder, sprinkling it onto the soil beside the seeds.

During his previous alchemy sessions, he had been frantic when the Purple Spirit Grass ran out during cultivation, because the spiritual energy dissipating into the air drifted aimlessly and was difficult to direct toward the seeds for absorption. Eventually, out of necessity, he began using spirit stones, discovering that he could use his willpower to control and crush them.

There was a method to using the spirit stones, as he possessed all five elemental types: Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. He only lacked the rare Ice, Wind, and Lightning types. Water was the source of life, but it could not be used excessively, or the soil would become too moist, which was detrimental to the growth of Purple Spirit Grass.

Earth-type spirit stones could enhance the spiritual power of the soil. Wood-type spirit stones were also the fundamental element for Purple Spirit Grass, so using any of these three as fertilizer worked. Generally, however, the Wood-type was most effective, followed by Earth, and then Water.

He had also tested Gold and Fire types, and they were completely ineffective; after absorbing the energy of a Gold spirit stone, the Purple Spirit Grass withered rapidly, while a Fire spirit stone burned the plant directly into black ash.

Overall, one spirit stone could cultivate approximately three stalks of Purple Spirit Grass. Based on his current success rate, he was approaching forty percent. This meant that excluding the wasted portions, once he sold the pills at the price of Qi Gathering Pills, one spirit stone could yield a return of four.

Although the effect of Qi Gathering Pills was somewhat lacking for cultivators in the middle stages of Qi Refining, they were advantageous due to their high volume. With a steady supply of pills, his cultivation speed began to rise sharply, becoming several times faster than relying solely on meditation. Within half a year, having originally just entered the fifth level of Qi Refining, the accumulated essence in his body had nearly reached the halfway mark to the next level.

By now, Lu Xiaotian, dressed in green, had grown considerably taller. His frame remained somewhat lean and he was not particularly handsome, but his face possessed a certain refined elegance. Due to his long period of solitude and the life-and-death struggles he had endured over the past few years, he had acquired a somewhat cold and distant temperament.

*Roar.* The leopard's senses were far more acute than those of an ordinary cultivator. It quickly sensed movement outside the courtyard, and the leopard, which had been lazily basking in the sun, suddenly stood up.

*Bang, bang.* A knocking sound echoed at the door.

"Is Brother Lu in?" Luo Qing's voice called out from outside.

Hearing the voice, the leopard lay back down in its original spot. Over the past six months, the Luo siblings had visited from time to time, and after a few encounters, the leopard had grown accustomed to them.

"Eh? The scent of these Qi Gathering Pills is a bit different from usual," Luo Qing said, sniffing deeply as soon as she entered the door.

"Why are you here so early today?"

Lu Xiaotian smiled at her words, avoiding the topic of the pills. He had been quite lucky just now, actually refining a high-grade Qi Gathering Pill. In the past six months, he had refined pills so continuously that his total number of batches likely exceeded what other alchemists could achieve in decades. After all, even if one grew Purple Spirit Grass in spiritual fields, one could only harvest once a year. It was impossible to harvest herbs continuously as he did, simply by having spirit stones.

Luo Yuan spoke up, "It's like this. In four months, the major immortal sects will begin their annual recruitment of disciples. My sister, a few of our close friends, and I plan to enter the Moon Viewing Mountain Range to look for some spiritual items. If we are lucky, we might even encounter items from other sects' missions. Brother Lu, your strength is quite good, so I wanted to invite you to join our team. With one more person, we will be a bit safer in the mountains."

"Why? Is the Moon Viewing Mountain Range very dangerous?" Lu Xiaotian asked in surprise.

"You may not know, Brother Lu, but the Moon Viewing Mountain Range is not just plagued by demon beasts; the real danger comes from other cultivators. I have been to the mountains several times, and more of my teammates have died from ambushes by other cultivator groups than from demon beast attacks," Luo Yuan said in a heavy tone.

Lu Xiaotian was startled. Having spent half a year refining pills in this small courtyard, he had become somewhat detached from the bloody killings between cultivators.

"Who else is in the group you are inviting? Who has the highest cultivation?" Lu Xiaotian asked, not giving a direct answer.

"Including my sister and me, there are five others. The strongest among them is at the same level as me, the sixth level of Qi Refining. However, Brother Lu is an extremely skilled alchemist. If you join our team, you will have certain priority regarding any spiritual herbs we find," Luo Qing said expectantly. Over the past six months, they had come to understand Lu Xiaotian better. In their eyes, someone who could rent such a large courtyard solely through alchemy while maintaining his daily cultivation was already quite impressive.