Chapter 24: New Entry

Having completed the preliminary preparations.

Master Su Dan raised his hand and beckoned, causing the prepared medicinal embryos within the vessel to fly into the alchemical furnace.

He formed hand seals with his fingers.

Inside the furnace, the medicinal embryos leaped, tumbling up and down, constantly merging.

Master Su Dan's entire process was clean and efficient, showing he had already mastered every step of refining the 'Marrow-Cleansing Pill'.

From the very beginning, Qin Ming watched with unwavering focus.

Terrified of missing even the smallest detail.

Time passed bit by bit.

Master Su Dan split his attention, controlling the heat on one hand while ensuring the spiritual materials inside the furnace fully merged on the other.

The medicinal embryos inside the furnace gradually began to take shape and condense.

The expression on Master Su Dan's face grew increasingly serious.

It was down to the final step!

Qin Ming held his breath, daring not to make a single sound.

Just then.

From within that purple furnace came a 'puff' sound.

Followed by a wisp of black smoke rising up.

"It actually failed even after all that?!" Qin Ming exclaimed in regret.

Could refining a first-grade to high-grade spiritual pill truly be this difficult? Just the spiritual materials consumed in refining this single batch must have cost several hundred spirit stones, right?

Yet at this moment, Master Su Dan's expression showed little change, as if he had anticipated this all along.

He closed the fire valve and extinguished the earth fire.

He carefully cleaned out all the black medicinal dregs from within the furnace.

Then, unhurriedly, he began the next refinement.

Master Su Dan had prepared over ten portions of spiritual materials for refining the Marrow-Cleansing Pill this time.

If he failed.

A single attempt would mean a loss of several thousand spirit stones.

The second refinement began... and failed.

The third refinement... failed.

The fourth refinement still ended in failure.

It was not until he reached the twelfth portion.

Unknowingly, time had already reached deep night.

Master Su Dan's nerves were taut, sweat constantly seeping down his forehead.

Finally!

Clink! The purple furnace emitted a crisp chime.

From within wafted an extremely rich pill fragrance.

"The pill has formed!"

Overjoyed, Master Su Dan reached out and beckoned.

Six green spiritual pills dropped swirling into his hand.

As a breakthrough pill for the late Qi Condensation stage, any single Marrow-Cleansing Pill was worth a fortune.

Qin Ming gazed longingly at the spiritual pills, swallowing his saliva.

He could not afford these few pills; placed in the auction house of the Qingyang Market, a single one could fetch a sky-high price of over a thousand spirit stones.

This also meant.

Master Su Dan had broken through to become a to high-grade Alchemist! Furthermore, being a young alchemist merely in his twenties, it fully demonstrated Master Su Dan's supreme alchemical talent.

His arrogance was indeed backed by the capital to support it.

"Congratulations to Master Su Dan on successfully refining the pill and becoming a to high-grade Alchemist!" Qin Ming offered his timely congratulations.

Master Su Dan took out an exquisite porcelain bottle and stored the Marrow-Cleansing Pills inside.

He was in high spirits.

Immediately after, he pulled a jade bottle from his robes and tossed it to Qin Ming.

"Since you witnessed it, share in the joy."

Qin Ming's face lit up with delight; he caught the jade bottle, opened it, and saw a single spiritual pill resting inside.

"A Spirit-Gathering Pill!"

"Thank you, Master Su Dan!" Qin Ming cupped his hands in salute.

This spiritual pill, which increased cultivation, was perfectly suited for him.

But compared to Master Su Dan's gift of a pill.

His act of observing the other's pill refinement on-site, witnessing the entire process, had benefited Qin Ming immensely.

This was the truly precious thing.

After closing the fire valve.

The two left the alchemy room.

"Fellow Daoist Qin, for the coming year, I intend to continue refining to high-grade pills."

"To consolidate and improve the success rate and quality of to high-grade pills."

"Continue helping me plant spiritual herbs for me, however..." Master Su stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.

Qin Ming gave an embarrassed smile and said, "Master Su, just tell me directly what spiritual herbs you need me to plant."

He dared not boast about other things, but regarding this kind of spiritual planting, he still had some confidence.

With the attribute panel in hand, he had even forced the maturation of a first-grade top-quality spiritual plant, Xue Huang Mi. Master Su looked at Qin Ming with slight surprise, seeing an air of 'if not me, then who?' about him. He couldn't help but feel relieved, saying, "That's true; Daoist Qin's talent in the path of spiritual planting should not be underestimated."

"Daoist Qin, there is no need to be so reserved from now on."

"Just call me Su Yuqing or Brother Su."

Qin Ming nodded in agreement: "Alright, Brother Su."

"This time, I would like to ask you to plant two types of first-grade medium-quality spiritual plants."

"Mist Smoke Grass and Spirit Candle Fruit."

After speaking, Su Yuqing took two small packets of spiritual seeds from his storage bag and handed them to Qin Ming.

Qin Ming took the spiritual seeds and opened them to look.

One packet contained black grass seeds, numbering only about twenty or thirty grains.

The other packet contained over a dozen fruit kernels resembling peanuts.

"I wonder if Daoist Qin recognizes these two types of spiritual plants," Master Su said with a smiling expression, looking at Qin Ming.

Qin Ming pondered for a moment before saying, "Naturally, I recognize them. This Mist Smoke Grass has extremely wide applications; it can be used in the refinement of almost any first-grade pill."

"However, this Spirit Candle Fruit..."

"The fruit contains deadly poison; its leaves have serrated edges on both sides and will capture and eat insects, requiring poisonous insects and toxic substances as fertilizer to feed it."

"Aside from that, both types of spiritual plants have rather strict requirements for spiritual energy, with a minimum harvest cycle of one year."

Qin Ming paused slightly before continuing, "Within a first-grade spiritual vein, unless one uses the Advanced Spiritual Rain Technique to summon spiritual rain for irrigation..."

"... otherwise, they are extremely difficult to mature."

After Qin Ming finished speaking,

Su Yuqing admiredly patted his shoulder.

"I indeed did not misjudge Daoist Qin."

"How about this?"

"Planting medium-grade spiritual plants requires a great deal of effort and care."

"Regardless of the harvest outcome, I promise to grant you one request, within the limits of what I can accept."

Qin Ming's eyes lit up; without the slightest hesitation,

he chuckled and said:

"Deal!"

The next day.

Qin Ming got up very early.

Hoisting his spiritual hoe over his shoulder, he went to work in the spiritual fields as usual.

For this season,

he now had five mu of spiritual fields that he rented himself, plus another three mu rented by Su Yuqing.

Eight mu of spiritual fields in total.

With his current magic power at the third layer of Qi Condensation, managing these spiritual fields was barely sufficient.

Qin Ming's plan was

to plant three mu of Golden Spirit Rice and three mu of Beast Tooth Rice, leaving the remaining two mu of spiritual fields for those few dozen grains of Mist Smoke Grass and the dozen or so Spirit Candle Fruits.

After all, Golden Spirit Rice yields three harvests a year, so the probability of brushing attributes would be higher.

Beast Tooth Rice could serve as a stable source of spiritual stone income for daily use; besides, he had already promised Shopkeeper Liao.

Having made up his mind,

Qin Ming picked up his spiritual hoe and immediately got to work.

Half a day later,

Qin Ming had finished planting all eight mu of spiritual fields.

He cast the Intermediate Spiritual Rain Technique once over all the spiritual fields, then returned home satisfied.

As for the Advanced Spiritual Rain Technique, that breakthrough was coming soon too.

He had been practicing diligently recently, and with five more instances of casting and the insights gained,

he faintly felt a sensation of impending breakthrough.

The seasons changed; winter passed and spring arrived.

Qin Ming came to his spiritual fields once again.

Like a farmer, he went to check on his small plot of land.

Within the three mu of Golden Spirit Rice fields, two attributes shimmered with golden brilliance:

【Name】: Golden Spirit Rice 【Attribute】: Faint Magic Power (Maturity 2%)

【Name】: Golden Spirit Rice 【Attribute】: Faint Magic Power (Maturity 3%)

Within the three mu of Beast Tooth Rice fields, there were two attributes: 【Name】: Beast Tooth Rice 【Attribute】: Faint Qi and Blood x5 (Maturity 1%)

【Name】: Beast Tooth Rice 【Attribute】: Force Maturation x5 (Maturity 2%)

Within the two mu of Mist Smoke Grass and Spirit Candle Fruit fields, there were three attributes:

【Name】: Mist Smoke Grass 【Attribute】: Faint Soul Power x5 (Maturity %)

【Name】: Mist Smoke Grass 【Attribute】: Force Maturation x5 (Maturity 2%)

【Name】: Spirit Candle Fruit 【Entry】: Regenerative Spirit Seed x3 (Maturity 2%)

"Regenerative Spirit Seed?"

PS: Thanks to 'Grand Minister of Agriculture Niu Laozhi' for the recommendation votes.

(End of Chapter)