Chapter 35: Hundred Herbs Pill Completed, Cultivation Breakthrough

After an hour.

The giant fire Alchemy Furnace gradually fell into calm, and the spiritual liquid inside had already condensed into a solid.

This step is very important; condensing into a solid does not mean the pill refining succeeded. Chen Chuyang knows that at this point, the more critical it is, the less he can rush; whether the Hundred Herbs Pill succeeds depends on this attempt.

Chen Chuyang kept both hands in place, not daring to move at all.

Chen Chuyang controlled his breath, not allowing even a hint of disturbance in his true qi; this step, the most important step, is also the most critical step of the Alchemy Furnace—whether the repaired formation will work and whether the final extraction will succeed? It concerns the success and completion of the pill; do not underestimate this step, pill quality is very important.

Pills of the same grade can differ in appearance and effect; the best pills are those that produce pill patterns, whose effects cannot be matched by pills without patterns, containing stronger medicinal properties and being more easily absorbed by the body. Next are high-quality pills, then medium-quality, and finally low-quality pills.

For his first pill refining, Chen Chuyang didn't have high expectations; just succeeding was enough, after all it was his first try—regarded as practice. If he succeeded, it would show his talent for pill refining is not lacking; this step is also the most crucial, concerning the path Chen Chuyang will take in the future.

On Longshe Shan, spiritual herbs are not lacking, but spiritual energy, as his cultivation rises, is still insufficient; overall, resources are still scarce, among which pills are the most scarce—the Chen Clan itself doesn't have enough, and for Chen Chuyang to obtain pills for cultivation is also difficult, even though his parents are more inclined toward him.

Self-reliance is the best.

After Chen Chuyang became a pill refiner, he no longer needed to worry about pill supplies, nor did he have to watch the expressions of those sects and the Great Qi Dynasty; his Chen Clan could also take the opportunity to grow, after all, Longshe Cheng faces internal and external troubles, and war could break out at any time.

Enemies stare covetously, ready to strike at the Chen Clan at any moment; Chen Chuyang also wants to quickly raise his cultivation so he can have self-defense ability.

'Hum.'

The giant fire Alchemy Furnace stopped.

A fragrant aroma of pills wafted out; Chen Chuyang excitedly opened the lid, and several pills appeared inside the alchemy furnace. He scooped them up, catching several pills—five in total. The pills were black in shape, ugly in appearance, though their medicinal fragrance was rich. Soon, these five pills changed, and the fragrance quickly disappeared.

In its place came a foul smell, that of the Item.

Chen Chuyang blinked, staring in astonishment at the pills in his palm.

"Succeeded? Or not? Why is the appearance so strange?"

"Where is my fragrant pill?"

"Why did it become foul?"

"Which step exactly went wrong?"

Chen Chuyang recalled a moment; it seemed there was no mistake, and if there were, the pills shouldn't have condensed.

Chen Chuyang racked his brains to no avail, staring at the five pills, lost in thought.

"Why not try a taste?"

"The pills I refined shouldn't taste much different."

"At least, they're not poisonous."

"What if…"

Chen Chuyang was also afraid—if he tried it himself, the risk would be too great; why not find someone to test it?

My sister-in-law Shang Hongxue? Or my brother-in-law Shang Yue? Or perhaps my older brother and father? If not, my younger sister could also work?

In an instant, many people appeared in Chen Chuyang's mind, all suitable for testing the pill.

They were either not his friends but his relatives, and using them to test the medicine seemed…

"Cough cough cough, why not let me try it?"

After all, they're all relatives, can't…

"Cough cough cough."

Chen Chuyang wanted to stuff it into his mouth, but stopped.

That smell is hard to take in; really, the smell is truly… awful.

"I really don't want to die again."

"Hundred Herbs Pill, my own researched formula—could it be?"

It's a shame to throw it away; these are pills Chen Chuyang refined using a lot of spiritual herbs, and they're quite valuable.

Throwing away so much money, what a pity.

But on Longshe Shan, there's no one to test the medicine.

Chen Chuyang's head ached for a while, but in the end he still collected the pills.

The first batch of pills failed.

Chen Chuyang was not discouraged.

Chen Chuyang recovered on the spot.

After two hours.

Chen Chuyang opened the furnace again for a second pill refining; this time he made some modifications—there were issues with the formula, so he changed a few of the spiritual herbs, and also altered the order.

The successful refining of the Hundred Herbs Pill shows there's no problem; overall direction needs no modification.

After everything was ready, Chen Chuyang began the second pill refining.

"The order of the spiritual herbs is correct."

"The Alchemy Furnace has no problem."

"The formation is normal."

"The true qi input is normal."

Every step was normal; for the second pill refining, Chen Chuyang no longer had the tension and worry of the first attempt, and instead relaxed quite a bit.

Adding the pills also required no hesitation; his courage grew considerably.

Chen Chuyang recorded each step, and there were no problems.

The smelting also had no problem.

The extraction of the spiritual liquid also had no problem.

All had no problem.

Each step proceeded normally.

The final condensation of the pills also had no problem.

After the giant fire alchemy furnace trembled, it returned to calm.

The second batch of pills also succeeded.

This success rate is truly terrifying.

One hundred percent.

If other pill refiners found out, they would surely curse him as a monster.

The first time refining pills, no matter how good your talent, you will basically fail; the failure rate is as high as ninety-nine percent, and those who succeed twice in a row are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

Throughout the Great Qi Dynasty, such a person cannot be found.

Chen Chuyang had no idea how good his pill-refining talent was; his thoughts were all in the alchemy furnace, he quietly opened the lid, this time he was very careful, wrapping the pills in true qi so they wouldn't touch the air.

Then.

His face quickly fell.

The pills, still five of them, were pitch-black, like burnt charcoal, completely black, and in no way looked like pills.

That smell was still there, and Chen Chuyang was somewhat dumbfounded.

He stared blankly for a long time.

"Did it succeed? Fail? I seem to be somewhere between the two."

"It doesn't look like success, nor like failure; this situation has Chen Chuyang completely bewildered."

Looking at the pills, he let out a sigh.

"Ah."

"Can these pills be eaten?"

After asking himself, Chen Chuyang finally gave up taking the pills and chose to sit in meditation cultivation.

He circulated the Hunyuan Dao Scripture, absorbing heaven and earth spiritual qi, and his consumed true qi quickly recovered.

At the same time, his cultivation method showed signs of activity.

Chen Chuyang was overjoyed and quickly made a breakthrough.

"Hum."

The Hunyuan Dao Scripture broke through, from the early stage of the second layer to the middle stage of the second layer, taking a small step.

This step may seem insignificant, but in fact Chen Chuyang's strength increased manyfold.

The amount of true qi increased more than tenfold; this terrifying increase left Chen Chuyang overjoyed.

"The Hunyuan Dao Scripture at the middle stage of the second layer, true qi increased tenfold—my god, this is too terrifying."

"I absorbed more than half of the spiritual qi accumulated on Longshe Shan, nearly destroying the entire Longshe Shan spirit-gathering formation."

Besides the Flowing Water Mist Formation on Longshe Shan, there is also a huge spirit-gathering formation that collects heaven and earth spiritual qi, altering the environment and spiritual qi concentration of this place.

Chen Chuyang's breakthrough this time absorbed more than half, nearly causing the spirit-gathering formation to collapse.

These spiritual artifacts contain a lot; even condensing pills cannot absorb one-tenth, yet Chen Chuyang alone absorbed more than half, merely breaking through a minor realm.

The value of the Hunyuan Dao Scripture goes without saying.