Chapter 21: First Attempt at Alchemy

After returning to his room!

Ye Qingxuan activated the formation of the small courtyard to prevent anyone from disturbing him again.

Although his exchange with Su Daobin had provided Ye Qingxuan with much information, it did not alter the path he had already planned.

The turmoil of the outside world had nothing to do with him; he only needed to absorb useful information and integrate it into his planned path.

He would not change his path because of others.

In the end, one must walk the path oneself. The only one to trust is oneself; others' experiences can only serve as reference!

With his heart returning to calm, Ye Qingxuan took out the purchased alchemy furnace and began to refine it.

After spending half a day refining and mastering the medium-grade magic treasure-level alchemy furnace, it was already late at night.

Ye Qingxuan did not rush to refine elixirs; instead, he sat cross-legged and began meditating to restore his consumed spiritual power and spiritual sense!

By the next morning, after a night of breathing exercises, Ye Qingxuan had adjusted his state to its peak and only then took out the alchemy furnace again to begin refining elixirs.

Qi Refining cultivators have cultivation bases that are too low to condense Dao Fire.

Therefore, for use by low-realm cultivators like Ye Qingxuan, the bottom of magic treasure-level alchemy furnaces contains a fire seed, and the inner walls are inscribed with formations to assist in control.

When used, one only needs to inject spiritual power to activate it, which can then ignite the Dao Fire to assist in elixir refining.

Ye Qingxuan placed a set of spirit herbs for the Qi Guidance Elixir beside him, then channeled spiritual power to activate the Dao Fire in the furnace, and finally used the Fire Control Technique he had learned not long ago to slowly control the Dao Fire.

He did not rush to put the spirit herbs in for refining; instead, he used the Fire Control Technique to slowly maintain the Dao Fire and nourish the furnace!

The method for refining the Qi Guidance Elixir was already firmly memorized in Ye Qingxuan's mind, so although this was his first time refining an elixir, his heart remained incredibly calm!

Once the furnace was sufficiently nourished, Ye Qingxuan used his spiritual power to sequentially draw the spirit herbs for the Qi Guidance Elixir into the alchemy furnace.

At the same time, Ye Qingxuan extended his spiritual sense into the furnace to observe the entire process of the spirit herbs melting.

Ordinary cultivators below the late stage of Qi Refining do not possess spiritual sense; refining elixirs relies solely on spiritual power perception and experience to control the heat.

Therefore, cultivators below the late stage of Qi Refining, no matter how talented they are at alchemy, cannot avoid making multiple mistakes.

The early emergence of spiritual sense was Ye Qingxuan's advantage and one of the foundations of his confidence in attempting to refine elixirs so early.

Sky Blue Flower, Purple Spirit Grass, and Spirit-Attracting Flower—the three spirit herbs used to refine the Qi Guidance Elixir—have different heat resistance, so the order and timing of their entry into the furnace are crucial.

After all, at Ye Qingxuan's current realm, he could not create different temperatures in different areas within the furnace with such precision.

Under the observation of Ye Qingxuan's spiritual sense, the three spirit herbs were slowly refined by the Dao Fire, impurities were expelled and fell away one by one, leaving only the essences of the three herbs rising and falling within the furnace's Dao Fire.

Seeing this, Ye Qingxuan felt a surge of joy in his heart!

Seeing the time was ripe, Ye Qingxuan split his focus: on one hand, he controlled the three streams of herb essence to slowly approach and merge; on the other, he increased the flow of spiritual power and used the Fire Control Technique to slowly raise the temperature of the Dao Fire.

As time passed bit by bit, the three streams of herb essence inside the furnace began to intertwine and merge, and the entire furnace started absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy to infuse the nearly merging herb essences.

"It seems it is almost done!"

Just as the Qi Guidance Elixir was about to take shape and Ye Qingxuan thought success was imminent.

Unexpectedly, the Dao Fire controlled by Ye Qingxuan flickered slightly, causing the temperature inside the furnace to change instantly.

The nearly formed elixir, affected by the Dao Fire, suddenly had its internal balance broken, and the entire herb essence began to riot.

Seeing this, Ye Qingxuan urgently increased the intensity of his Fire Control Technique, attempting to salvage the situation.

But while Ye Qingxuan was using the Fire Control Technique, he discovered he could no longer control the Dao Fire inside the furnace.

Realizing the situation was beyond repair, Ye Qingxuan stopped forcing it and calmly watched as the herb essence was burned away completely by the Dao Fire.

Watching the black smoke rise above the alchemy furnace, Ye Qingxuan felt no discouragement nor regret over the loss of the spirit herbs; instead, he began to reflect on himself.

This failure in alchemy was not caused by Ye Qingxuan not fully mastering the refining process of the Qi Guidance Elixir.

On the contrary, through this attempt, Ye Qingxuan knew that thanks to his astonishing comprehension, the refining process he had memorized and understood in his mind was flawless!

The main reason for this failure was his own excessive arrogance.

He thought that with his early-emerging spiritual sense and the extraordinary comprehension brought by the transformation of his soul origin, he could easily refine elixirs.

But Ye Qingxuan had overlooked his own control over the Fire Control Technique and his spiritual power!

The Fire Control Technique is a spell within the alchemy inheritance; Ye Qingxuan had only practiced it a few times, reached the entry level, and then hurriedly went out to buy a furnace to prepare for refining.

Furthermore, Ye Qingxuan's control over his spiritual power was equally crude.

During his five-year seclusion, Ye Qingxuan had basically focused entirely on meditating to increase his cultivation base, having hardly polished his spiritual power or strengthened his control over it.

This was the main reason for the failure of this alchemy attempt:

An error in the output of spiritual power caused the Dao Fire to fluctuate, breaking free from Ye Qingxuan's control and gradually rioting.

And the entry-level Fire Control Technique could not control the rioting Dao Fire, leading to his inability to salvage the out-of-control situation!

After realizing the source of his problem, Ye Qingxuan reflected:

"Sharpening the axe does not delay the woodcutting; it seems I must plan before acting in the future! Let me proceed slowly!"

A fall into the pit is a gain in wit; although the problems exposed this time were minor, they must serve as a warning.

Otherwise, this time it was the loss of one batch of spirit herbs; next time, who knows what might be lost...

Putting the alchemy furnace into his storage ring, Ye Qingxuan did not attempt to refine a second batch of elixirs.

Now that he knew the cause of his failure, what he needed to do naturally was to remedy his shortcomings!

Thus, for the following month, Ye Qingxuan did not attempt to refine elixirs again.

Apart from daily meditation and cultivation, Ye Qingxuan spent the rest of his time practicing the Fire Control Technique, Sword Control Technique, and Spring Breeze and Nourishing Rain Technique!

The Fire Control Technique and Sword Control Technique were spells Ye Qingxuan needed to use immediately, so their practice was prioritized.

The Spring Breeze and Nourishing Rain Technique was prepared by Ye Qingxuan for the future development of his blessed land; since it was not needed for now, he only cast it a few times daily without spending much time practicing it!

While practicing the spells, Ye Qingxuan's control over his spiritual power continued to improve constantly.

Thus, for the following month, Ye Qingxuan was either meditating and practicing the Fire Control Technique in his room!

Or practicing the Sword Control Technique and Spring Breeze and Nourishing Rain Technique on the peaks surrounding the Fuxiu Academy!

The Xuantian Mountain Range is vast, and there are no one building cave dwellings around the Fuxiu Academy, so Ye Qingxuan was not worried about disturbing anyone.

In just one month, Ye Qingxuan's proficiency in the three low-grade spells he had mastered advanced by leaps and bounds.

Sword Control and Fire Control had reached the realm of perfection, while Spring Breeze and Nourishing Rain had also achieved minor mastery.

It must be said that although Ye Qingxuan was hindered by the shackles of his spiritual root, causing his cultivation speed to be extremely slow, his comprehension was truly astonishing!

One month later!

Ye Qingxuan lit the furnace to refine elixirs once again.

This time, the refining of Qi-Inducing Pills proceeded very smoothly; under Ye Qingxuan's perfect-level Fire Control, success came as naturally as water flowing downhill.

From the first batch of pills, Ye Qingxuan produced five pills!

From the second batch of pills, Ye Qingxuan produced six pills!

From the third batch of pills, Ye Qingxuan produced six pills!

However, since pill refining consumes spiritual power immensely.

To avoid affecting his own cultivation, Ye Qingxuan would only refine three batches of Qi-Inducing Pills per day.

After spending ten days, Ye Qingxuan finally refined the twenty-nine portions of Qi-Inducing Pill ingredients into elixirs.

A total of 230 Qi-Inducing Pills were produced!

The reason so many Qi-Inducing Pills were produced was that, as Ye Qingxuan's refining proficiency continuously improved, he had stabilized the output of a single batch at ten pills over the last few days.

Thus, Ye Qingxuan's endeavor in pill refining finally stepped through the first threshold!