Chapter 80: A One-in-a-Million Alchemical Genius

Li Mu had no particular feelings about descending the mountain to subdue demons.

No reason!

It's simply boring!

Anyway, for him it's just a formality, enough to get it over with!

On the way back, Li Mu also took advantage of the many dormant demon beasts nearby and seized both the beasts and their lairs in one go!

Thus, with the Vengeance Blade in his left hand and the Earth‑Dragon Mountain‑Piercing Sword in his right, he marched forward, killing all the way!

"Ding ding dang dang…" He had to hustle for half a day!

Li Mu's empty pack became bulging again.

"Not bad, not bad…"

"Although this inner peak isn't like the Yunshan Secret Realm."

"There are so many high‑rank demon beasts like black‑scaled demon pythons and Crimson Flame Giant Tigers, the level of Demon General."

"Or exquisite Heavenly Treasures like Zhu Yunzi Grass!"

"But along the way I've refined plenty of Grade‑1 and Grade‑2 low‑level pills without any problem."

"Perfect!"

"Before descending the mountain, brew a few batches of pills to carry—better safe than sorry!"

"At the same time, this also counts as firing up the Dragon‑Pattern Purple‑Gold Cauldron!"

An ordinary man is innocent, but one who holds a jade is guilty.

Li Mu had learned this principle well after thirteen years of scraping by in the secular world.

Back in the Yunshan Secret Realm, Qian Wen led a group of top‑grade spirit artifacts that made Shao Wenqiang and the other junior peak disciples covet them, eager to kill him!

If even Ziyang Sect disciples acted like that, imagine the mountain‑bottom monsters and spirits!

Following the maxim that fewer tasks are better than more.

Li Mu still decided to prepare the pills he needed before the mountain‑subduing mission.

After descending, he won't need this furnace unless absolutely necessary!

Thinking so, Li Mu casually found an empty spot nearby.

When he flipped his right hand, a thumb‑sized bronze cauldron appeared in his palm.

"B‑B‑B!"

As Li Mu murmured softly, the thumb‑sized Dragon‑Pattern Purple‑Gold Cauldron seemed to understand human speech, radiating vigorous purple‑gold light outward.

In just a moment.

The palm‑sized cauldron in Li Mu's hand began expanding at a visibly rapid speed.

Finally, with a "Bang!" it landed heavily on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Looking at the magnificent cauldron encircled by a purple‑gold dragon, Li Mu's eyes flashed with heat.

When he first saw his Dragon‑Pattern Purple‑Gold Cauldron, he was already eye‑greedy for its two special abilities.

【Skill 1: Purple‑Gold Dragon King's Alchemical Blessing.】

【Skill 2: Purple‑Gold Dragon King's Wonderful Protection.】

Whether it's the Purple‑Gold Dragon King's Alchemical Blessing or the Purple‑Gold Dragon King's Wonderful Protection,

these two skills attached to the Dragon‑Pattern Purple‑Gold Cauldron are, for any Alchemist in the Qian Kun Realm, undeniably coveted.

Ask yourself!

As an Alchemist, who doesn't want each refinement to increase potency, upgrade quality, and raise the chance of forming a pill?

As an Alchemist, who doesn't want each refinement to accelerate one's cultivation speed on the alchemical path?

Use one effort to gain double joy, then crush fellow cultivators!

But now!

The two abilities Alchemists dream of most have been perfectly realized by Li Mu with the Dragon‑Pattern Purple‑Gold Cauldron before him!

Those cauldron skills can only be seen under system identification!

If the secret leaks and others find out!

In the Qian Kun Realm, countless Alchemy masters, supreme beings, and alien powers would go crazy over this mere Dragon‑Pattern Purple‑Gold Cauldron!

Key!

This cauldron not only boasts these two god‑defying skills,

but also possesses its own spirit!

If I can later awaken the cauldron's spirit, the benefits will be so many that I might even wake up laughing in my dreams.

"Good!"

"Let me first brew a batch of Qi‑Blood Pill, start a furnace!"

Soon, Li Mu found the Qi‑Blood Pill recipe from Yao Mengzhen, and following the ingredient ratios, he tossed it straight into the Dragon‑Pattern Purple‑Gold Cauldron.

Then he activated Samadhi True Fire to begin refining!

On the System Virtual Screen before him, Byte Entries stacked up one after another.

【Ding!】

【System has identified the host refining a Grade‑1 Qi‑Blood Pill, granting Tenfold Heavenly Dao Blessing!】

【Ding!】

【Dragon‑Pattern Purple‑Gold Cauldron Skill 2 Purple‑Gold Dragon King's Wonderful Protection triggered, host's alchemy harvest increased by 100%!】

【Congratulations host, obtained Twentyfold Harvest!】

【Ding!】

The Dragon-Patterned Purple Gold Cauldron's Special Skill 1, the Purple Gold Dragon King's Dan Dao blessing, was triggered, greatly increasing the host's Qi‑Blood Pill effect!

Ding!

System detected the host using Samadhi True Fire to refine pills, granting Hundredfold Heavenly Dao Blessing!

Congratulations, host, you have successfully raised Samadhi True Fire to lv: 12

……

Watching the continuously updating system Byte Entries, Li Mu simultaneously drove the Samadhi True Fire and eagerly looked at the Dragon-Patterned Purple Gold Cauldron before him, where purple vapors swirled at the cauldron's mouth—truly marvelous.

About a incense‑stick's time later.

The Dragon-Patterned Purple Gold Cauldron gradually calmed, and Li Mu impatiently lifted the cauldron lid.

He saw nine active pills, their whole bodies flashing dazzling red light, round and quietly lying inside the cauldron.

What delighted Li Mu even more was that each First-Grade Blood‑Activating Pill bore a Dan Pattern on its body!

A pill with a Dan Pattern is undoubtedly not just a top‑quality item, but a symbol that the pill's potency and quality have reached the Extreme Realm!

So, it was so easily refined by Li Mu?

"Sss……"

"Is this the Purple Gold Dragon King's Dan Dao blessing?"

"This is just too strong!"

"Compared to the unextractable, filtered Poison Pill I previously refined with a High‑Pressure Pot, I can't tell how many times stronger this is!"

"Not only that!"

"The Purple Gold Dragon King's Dan Dao protection stacked with the Heavenly Dao Blessing reward directly gave me a twentyfold harvest this time!"

Li Mu looked at the nine fragrant Blood‑Activating Pills in his hand, each engraved with a Dan Pattern.

He recalled his first time refining pills with a High‑Pressure Pot, a past he could not bear to revisit.

Li Mu's smile on his face just wouldn't stop!

"Maybe in a past life, people often talked about the 'equipment faction', the equipment faction!"

"The temptation brought by swapping this bird gun for a cannon—how many people in this world can resist it!"

"How about it!"

"Shall we try again, a Second‑Grade Pill?"

Because until now, Li Mu had never touched the art of pill refining at all.

Li Mu's only knowledge of pill refining was limited to the book *Dan Dao Introductory True Explanation* that Yao Mengzhen gave him.

Therefore, he himself was unsure which rank of Alchemist he currently belonged to.

Unless he participates in an Alchemist assessment!

"But that's like never having seen a pig run; could it be that he hasn't even eaten pork?"

At least for the current Li Mu, he can effortlessly refine both First‑Grade Qi‑Blood Pills and Body‑Tempering Pills with ease.

Just need to mix ingredients, ignite, and fire up the furnace!

Then he can wait for the pill to form, and it will be the kind with a Dan Pattern!

Precisely because this pill refining became too easy!

This left Li Mu somewhat unsatisfied with only refining First‑Grade Pills!

Li Mu rummaged through the pill formulas Yao Mengzhen had given him last time, and quickly found the formula for refining a Second‑Grade Qi‑Returning Pill.

Hmm…

This Qi‑Returning Pill formula indeed looks considerably more complex than the Qi‑Blood Pill and Body‑Tempering Pill Li Mu previously refined.

But the complexity is only limited to the ratios of the spirit herbs and spirit medicines required for refining.

Yet in the refining process, Li Mu felt there wasn't much difference compared to his previous First‑Grade Pill refinements.

Basically still those three steps: mix ingredients, ignite, fire up the furnace!

Then…

Li Mu opened the cauldron lid!

"Pill formed!"

Li Mu opened the cauldron lid again!

"Pill formed again!"

……

He repeated this a dozen times, each result the same!

Pill formed, pill formed, still pill formed!

Moreover, what astonished Li Mu even more was that.

Not only his First‑Grade Pills bore Dan Patterns, his Second‑Grade Pills did as well!

Right?

Is my pill‑refining level really that high?

Even the casually refined pills have top‑tier efficacy and potency!

At first, Li Mu wondered if this was just his luck being too good…

Just a coincidence?

But later, Li Mu repeatedly refined several batches of Second‑Grade Qi‑Returning Pills using the same method.

Yet without exception, they were all Dan‑Patterned top‑quality goods!

"Hahaha…"

"Dao Elder, I've become one, Dao Elder, I've become one!"

Watching the cauldrons of Second Grade Returning Qi Pills marked with alchemical symbols, Li Mu went berserk, flailing his arms and legs.

Before, when using a High-Pressure Pot to refine pills, Li Mu wasn't this excited!

After all, that thing was damn hard to swallow!

Taking a bite felt like being sentenced to execution!

The point is, besides Li Mu himself daring to eat it,

giving it away for free to others not only gets no takers, but might even get you beaten!

But now it's different!

Li Mu has genuinely and properly refined a batch of top‑quality pills, which is naturally a stark contrast to the joy the Poison Pill once gave him!

Could it be!

Am I truly a one‑in‑a‑million alchemical prodigy?

Yet after the initial elation, Li Mu quickly calmed down.

He naturally also knows!

The pills he refined are utterly ridiculous—so ridiculous they could open a door for absurdity, ridiculously perfect, alright?

At the very least…

In his previous life, he also read novels, right?

Just judging by his current alchemy success rate,

even if the so‑called Flame Emperor or Pill Emperor from those novels showed up,

it still wouldn't work against Li Mu!

As for…

Why is his alchemy so effortless?

After some research, Li Mu can roughly guess the reason!

If he were to make a simple analogy,

this alchemy is actually like a lottery; if you hit the jackpot, the pill naturally forms!

Even the most skilled Alchemist can only increase the chance of hitting the jackpot.

But for Li Mu,

what he boosts is not the probability, but the number of alchemy attempts!

Under Heavenly Dao Blessing, each time Li Mu refines, he gains tenfold, even hundredfold, the number of attempts!

Quantity change brings qualitative change!

As long as you don't refine blindly, ten or a hundred tries will eventually succeed at least once, right?

So on the surface, Li Mu only refined a pill once.

But in reality, he refined ten, even a hundred pills!

It's just that the system registers the successful attempt as reality.

This explains why Li Mu's pill‑formation rate is terrifyingly higher than that of ordinary Alchemists!

Moreover, even under Heavenly Dao Blessing, Li Mu's own success rate is already absurdly high!

Not to mention, on top of that, adding the Dragon‑Pattern Purple Gold Cauldron's special skill: Purple Gold Dragon King's Pill Dao Blessing!

This further boosts his already absurd pill‑formation chance by an extra twenty percent!

Meanwhile, the fire he uses for alchemy is the Samadhi True Fire!

In terms of grade, that surpasses even the Ten‑Grade Celestial Stage of the Qian Kun Realm's divine arts!

Refining pills with Samadhi True Fire is like using a cannon to kill a mosquito!

It can be said that…

With Li Mu's Alchemist divine attire, divine technique, and the triple boost of divine fire,

making him forge these low‑grade First‑Grade and Second‑Grade pills?

How is that any different from a max‑level Six Divine Attire going to a newbie village to kill chickens?

It's a textbook dimensional‑reduction strike!

Seeing a pile of First‑Grade and Second‑Grade pills before him, Li Mu shrugged helplessly!

"There's only so many pills; I can't even eat them all myself!"

"Looks like after finishing the inner sect assessment, I'll still have to figure out a way to sell some."

"Perfect, my finances have been a bit tight lately!"

Li Mu thought this through in his mind.

Later.

Li Mu first tucked the Dragon‑Pattern Purple Gold Cauldron into his palm, packed the pills into his satchel, and, seeing nothing missing, set off straight for the Inner Peak Dojo.

But as soon as he arrived, Li Mu felt something was off!

All the Named Disciples who came for today's Inner Peak assessment were, at that moment, gathering in small groups, eyes anxiously fixed on one direction.

Clearly they were fearing something.

"Brother!"

"Why did you only just arrive?"

Li Mu had only just arrived.

Then Qian Wenyi bounced over, running this way.

"Isn't today the Inner Peak assessment? Why are so many Named Disciples gathered here?"

As he spoke, Li Mu patted Qian Wenyi's shoulder and raised his hand, pointing toward the center of the Inner Peak Dojo.