Chapter 36: Significant Progress in Pill Refining Arts

Winter has arrived once again in Yunze Dahuang.

Gray, misty clouds obscured the mountain ranges as a biting cold wind blew.

Heavy snow fell within Qingyang Market, yet it failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the rogue cultivators.

The streets were crowded with people, bustling with activity.

Several months ago, the Spirit Feather Sect and Golden Cloud Valley began issuing missions one after another.

Anyone who completed the sects' missions according to regulations would receive the generous rewards promised by those sects.

There were missions to support the front-line war camps and fight desperately against the barbarian cultivators.

There were missions to travel to Five Peaks Mountain to construct Yunze Xiancheng.

There were also missions to surround and exterminate various demonic beasts, as well as to collect various spiritual herbs and materials.

They had even issued a series of high bounties targeting 'Robber Cultivators'; in short, the rewards were extremely generous.

Among these missions, the most tempting was the highest bounty: the legendary 'Foundation Establishment Pill'.

However, the difficulty of completing it was naturally imaginable.

For an ordinary rogue cultivator to attempt such a mission would be no different than seeking their own death.

Yet this did not stop the rogue cultivators from rushing forward one after another to accept the missions, like moths flying into a flame.

Under this wave of mission recruitment, various cultivator groups gradually emerged around Qingyang Market.

They began forming teams to venture out together.

Qin Ming had not the slightest interest in these missions.

He remained as steady as an old dog, cultivating alone in his room.

He quietly gazed at the 【Faint Soul Power】 x10 entry in his sea of consciousness.

He decided to strengthen his divine soul today.

With a thought from Qin Ming, a white leaf-shaped entry vanished.

In an instant.

A painful, unbearable swelling sensation suddenly struck his mind, as if something were tearing violently within his sea of consciousness.

Buzz~ When he came to his senses, his head was covered in sweat.

"I didn't expect the process of enhancing the divine soul to be so painful," Qin Ming gritted his teeth, his face pale.

However, he clearly perceived that his divine soul had indeed strengthened considerably.

"There are still nine left!"

Qin Ming steeled his resolve and continued using the 【Faint Soul Power】 entries.

Three days later.

After using up ten 【Faint Soul Power】 entries, Qin Ming's divine soul power had increased by more than double its original amount.

His current divine soul strength should be two to three times that of cultivators at the same realm.

"I'll go to Su Yuqing's place to try alchemy again."

Feeling his strengthened divine soul, Qin Ming felt as though confidence had returned to him.

In the shantytown, inside Su Yuqing's house.

"Brother Qin, I advise you to give up; your talent truly is not suited for learning the art of pill refining."

"Why must you put yourself through this?"

Seeing that Qin Ming was determined not to turn back until he hit a wall, Su Yuqing kindly tried to persuade him.

Qin Ming smiled faintly in response: "I want to try one last time."

"Fine, then suit yourself, sigh..."

Seeing he could not persuade him, Su Yuqing let him be.

He sat down, brewed another pot of spiritual tea, and began to savor it.

Qin Ming entered the pill refining room.

He laid out all the prepared spiritual herbs and materials on the table.

He then began extracting the medicinal embryos.

This time, he intended to refine a first-rank lower-grade pill—the Qi-Replenishing Pill.

Qin Ming discovered that with the strengthening of his divine soul, the pill refining process was surprisingly smooth.

From the steps of extracting the medicinal embryos to compounding the ingredients, he could clearly feel a great difference compared to before.

It was almost done in one seamless flow.

Qin Ming opened the fire valve.

Boom! Xiong Xiong earthly flames surged up from below.

Qin Ming began using the fire-control technique from the 'Chapter on Fire Control' to heat the pill furnace evenly.

When the fire timing was just right, he waved his hand.

The compounded medicinal embryos inside the vessel flew into the pill furnace following his will.

Qin Ming focused his mind, controlling the fire intensity while beginning to fuse the medicinal embryos.

Time passed little by little.

Outside.

Su Yuqing drank his tea while occasionally glancing at the movements inside the pill refining room.

He was not concerned with whether Qin Ming could successfully refine a lower-grade pill, but rather worried about what would happen if Qin Ming lost control during refining and blew up his house. "Sigh~ What a headstrong youth; why won't he listen?" "Why is his obsession so deep?"

"I've already told you. It's impossible."

Su Yuqing shook her head and sighed for a while, then picked up her cup and took a sip of tea.

Chirp! Just at this moment, a crisp cry rang out from inside the alchemy room! "Poof!"

The tea in Su Yuqing's mouth immediately sprayed out.

A look of having seen a ghost appeared on her face. "No way? It succeeded on the first try?"

He hurriedly stood up and ran into the alchemy room to take a look.

A waft of pill fragrance drifted out from within.

Inside the alchemy furnace, five cyan-colored pills had already formed.

Qin Ming raised his hand and beckoned, and the five Qi-Returning Pills fell into his palm.

"Th-this. This. You actually refined it successfully?"

Su Yuqing could hardly believe it.

One had to know that with his aptitude, back when he was learning to refine low-grade pills, his progress was pretty much the same as Qin Ming's now.

"Hehe, just good luck, that's all!" Qin Ming's face showed delight, his heart surging with excitement! He had finally succeeded! This meant he had officially become a first-rank low-grade alchemist.

Hearing him say this.

Su Yuqing this time showed a look of sudden realization. "That's true too, you've only been learning for how long? It must have been a coincidence."

Qin Ming placed the five Qi-Returning Pills into a jade bottle and put it away.

"Brother Su, I still want to try refining a batch of Qi-Condensing Pills."

Upon hearing this, Su Yuqing's brow furrowed; she felt Qin Ming was being somewhat overambitious.

"Brother Qin, think it through carefully. Qi-Condensing Pills are pills that increase cultivation at the mid Qi Refining stage; their difficulty is not comparable to Qi-Returning Pills."

"Don't be overhasty."

But Qin Ming still insisted: "I still want to give it a try."

"Suit yourself. It's not my spirit stones being wasted anyway."

Having said that, Su Yuqing went back to sipping tea.

Qin Ming cleaned out the inside of the alchemy furnace, preparing to set about refining Qi-Condensing Pills.

The pill formula for Qi-Condensing Pills, as well as the refining steps, had already been deeply imprinted in his mind.

Every procedure was proceeding in an orderly fashion.

……

Su Yuqing held a teacup in her hand, but her attention was entirely focused on the alchemy room.

"Puchi~"

A muffled sound came from inside the alchemy room, followed by a wave of burnt smell assaulting her nostrils.

"Sigh~ I told you so, how could luck be this good every single time? This Brother Qin just wouldn't listen."

"Just one batch of low-grade Qi-Returning Pills, and it gave him confidence."

Su Yuqing shook her head as she spoke.

Inside the alchemy room.

Qin Ming rested his chin on his hand, his gaze fixed on the pill furnace, not showing too much discouragement on his face.

He carefully recalled the entire refining process just now, every detail surfacing one by one in his mind.

Qin Ming narrowed his eyes, a glint of light flashing through them.

He seemed to have figured something out.

Immediately, he began restarting another batch.

One hour passed.

"Puchi~" A muffled sound came from inside the alchemy room.

Su Yuqing stuffed a pastry into her mouth and shook her head helplessly.

"Failed again." Qin Ming's brow furrowed. He raised his hand, drew the few wasted pills from the furnace into his palm, and began examining them.

Suddenly, the corner of his mouth curved up into an arc.

When Qin Ming looked closely, he saw that the pill in his hand had already taken shape for the most part.

"Just a little bit more."

……

Qin Ming's third attempt at refining Qi-Condensing Pills began.

He personally felt it.

With the enhancement of his divine soul power, he had tremendous improvement in precisely grasping the dosage of the medicinal embryo, compounding the herbs, and controlling the fire.

His current extraction of the medicinal embryo and compounding of herbs was also basically accurate on the first try, without the slightest error.

Time passed bit by bit.

Su Yuqing was somewhat bored with idleness, and was just about to get up to cook.

Chirp! An extremely crisp cry rang out, coming from his alchemy room.

Su Yuqing's body was as if struck by lightning, her figure frozen in place, the step she had just lifted unable to move any further.

……

(End of this chapter)