Chapter 187: Second-level Alchemist

Li Xuan looked at the already robust Earth‑Flame Golden Lotus, nodded with satisfaction, knowing that this would become his Fourth Soul Ring in the future.

Then, with a sudden shift of mind and spirit, Li Xuan left the space of the Sky‑Grasping Bottle.

After returning to Ladi Canyon, Li Xuan thought for a moment, took out a carriage, sat in it, and drove toward the interior of Ladi Canyon; now that there was no pressing matter, he could take a walk around the territory behind Ladi Canyon.

As the heavy water of the Mysterious Pool was drawn up by the hammer, the soil behind Ladi Canyon regained its normal fertility, and new plants began to sprout on the once barren land.

The soil's fertility here should be ample, making it ideal for planting Dragon Tooth Rice.

After venturing a bit deeper into the canyon, Li Xuan saw that the slaves he had just purchased had already begun working.

These slaves were excavating foundations, a task that is relatively simple and thus well suited for them.

As for the Yellow Turban Warriors, some served as supervisors, while others handled the carving and processing of delicate building materials; the division of labor was clear, enabling the Yellow Turban Warriors to maximize their value.

While he was away, the Yellow Turban Warriors had already finished planning the entire Ladi Canyon; with sufficient slaves, it should not take long to complete the construction.

This time he went out and returned with a large quantity of building material; although insufficient to build the entire Ladi Canyon, establishing a basic foundation is now no issue, so he won't need to purchase more supplies in the near future.

After taking a tour around Ladi Canyon, Li Xuan returned to the house at its entrance.

Now that the building materials inside Ladi Canyon have been largely procured and the hired slaves are sufficient, the further construction of Ladi Canyon no longer requires Li Xuan's direct oversight; after all, he lacks building experience, and trying to manage it himself could easily lead to chaos.

Thus, Li Xuan handed all affairs over to the Yellow Turban Warriors and ceased to involve himself.

This left Li Xuan with nothing else to do.

"Since I have nothing to do, that means I finally have time to practice Alchemy. My Alchemy level has been stuck at Level 1 for a long time; only after breaking through to Level 2 will the pills I forge be useful to me," Li Xuan noted. He is now a Level‑1 Alchemist, and the Level‑1 Alchemy Pills he creates can only benefit soul masters below Level 20, so now that he is Level 34, after advancing to a Second‑level Alchemist, the pills he makes will be useful to himself.

Moreover, Li Xuan himself is very interested in Alchemy; not only can he forge pills that enhance cultivation, but he can also train his ability to control fire.

After countless cycles of forging Alchemy Pills, Li Xuan's control over fire can boost his combat power by at least fifty percent.

However, before Alchemy, Li Xuan opened his attribute panel; during this time he had never had a chance to examine it, so he does not know what changes it has undergone.

【Ordinary Attributes】

【Name: Li Xuan】

【Age: 7 years】

【Martial Soul: Sky‑Grasping Bottle, Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus】

【Soul Power Level: Level 34 (Third Soul Ring)】

【Soul Bone: None】

【Special Flames: Burning Heart Divine Flame, Filthy Flame, Nirvana Fire】

【Domain: Killing Domain】

【Survival Points: 6474】

【Secondary Profession: Herbal Farmer (folded) Alchemist (folded)】

Li Xuan has now been on the Douluo Continent for over a year, transforming from a blank slate at the start to this lavish panel now.

A seven‑year‑old Soul Elder on the Douluo Continent can already be counted among the top tier; even someone like Tang Chen is no match for Li Xuan. Undoubtedly, Li Xuan should be able to become the youngest Title Douluo on the Douluo Continent.

Of course, even an ordinary person who ingests three Immortal Grade spirit plants can attain respectable cultivation, but that is merely drinking poison to quench thirst, whereas Li Xuan truly masters the power of these Immortal Grade spirit plants.

Regaining his focus, Li Xuan carefully studied his panel.

There is little left to view on the attribute panel; diligent cultivation will raise it. Beyond the shaping panel, the next focus is the secondary profession panel.

"The herbal farmer secondary profession... can grow in the Sky‑Grasping Bottle's space the herbs required for second‑ and third‑grade Alchemy Pills. The Sky‑Grasping Bottle, like the Bing Huo Liang Yi Yan, offers ten times the growth speed, so harvest comes quickly, perfect for refreshing the secondary profession's level. After all, the higher the secondary profession level, the more points one can earn daily," Li Xuan said, rubbing his chin.

After the Sky‑Grasping Bottle absorbed the dragon pearls of the Ice Dragon King and the Fire Dragon King, the space it opened also possessed the same special effects as the Bing Huo Liang Yi Yan.

With tenfold accelerated growth, and if paired with Green Spirit Liquid, Li Xuan can make these plants mature in a single day! That would grant him a huge amount of herbal farmer experience, enabling the herbal farmer profession to quickly advance to higher levels, and consequently increase the daily points Li Xuan earns even further.

In addition to the herbal farmer secondary profession, Li Xuan also has an Alchemist secondary profession.

Compared with a basic secondary profession like herbal farmer, advancing the Alchemist secondary profession is considerably more difficult.

Herbal farmer needs only ten experience points to advance from Level 1 to Level 2, while Alchemist requires ten thousand experience points to do the same!

More importantly, only when the quality of an Alchemy Pill reaches a certain threshold does the system award Alchemy experience; if the pill is substandard, no experience is generated, and if the quality is insufficient, an entire batch yields no experience for Li Xuan.

The huge experience requirement and difficulty in acquiring it have caused Li Xuan, despite producing many Alchemy Pills, to remain stuck at Level 1 Alchemist, never reaching Level 2.

Li Xuan opened the Alchemist secondary profession panel, and the blue Light Screen gradually unfolded.

【Secondary Profession: Alchemist】

【Level: Level 1 (9871/10000)】

【Talent: Innate Fire Vein (possesses a fire‑type martial soul, enabling finer fire control, increasing pill‑making success rate, and slightly granting special attributes to pills)】

【Skill: None】

Li Xuan's Alchemist talent is fairly ordinary; because his martial soul is fire‑type, he has this talent attribute, but Li Xuan possesses three top‑grade flames, giving him a huge advantage when forging pills.

"Over nine thousand experience already! Just one step away from Second‑level Alchemist!" Li Xuan said, his eyes lighting up upon seeing the Alchemist experience progress, realizing he is close to becoming a Second‑level Alchemist.

Li Xuan then lowered his head, silently calculating how much time the remaining experience would require to complete.

"Twenty days should be enough; my soul power level has risen considerably since the last upgrade, and with Nirvana Fire's boost, the Alchemy speed should improve," Li Xuan thought, nodding. Without delay, Li Xuan opened his belt and retrieved a large quantity of herbs.

After departing the City of Slaughter, Li Xuan began cultivating Kongming Crystals and Void Pearls, filling every empty slot in his belt with them; his belt now contains roughly a hundred thousand cubic meters of storage space, capable of holding a huge amount of supplies.

Otherwise, Li Xuan would not have enough space to acquire that many building materials.

While in Star Luo City, Li Xuan purchased a substantial amount of herbs, intending to forge Alchemy Pills to raise his Alchemist level.

Sorting the herbs and arranging them nearby, Li Xuan began Alchemy right in his room.

After all, the affairs in Ladi Canyon no longer required Li Xuan's direct hand, allowing him to devote himself entirely to Alchemy.

Li Xuan circulated his soul power, and the Nirvana Fire formed into a vivid red fire lotus that floated before him.

Now the Nirvana Fire in Li Xuan's hand is at its highest temperature and the most difficult to control, so he plans to use the Alchemy opportunity to enhance his mastery of the Nirvana Fire.

In the subsequent Alchemy process, Li Xuan was already adept, but his first attempt using Nirvana Fire to forge pills was somewhat uncontrolled, yet he still produced eight pills.

【Congratulations, Host, for successfully forging "First Grade Superior Yunling Pill" ×8, gaining 8 points of Alchemist secondary profession experience】

Li Xuan smiled, shook his head, then took a bottle from a Void Pearl and filled it with all the Yunling Pills.

Now Li Xuan's soul power level has reached Level 34, more than double the previous total, so now Li Xuan can craft at least ten batches of Alchemy Pills at once.

Li Xuan recalled his control over the Nirvana Fire while just crafting the pills, summed up the shortcomings, and then began the next batch of Alchemy Pill production.

……

Thirteen days later.

Covered in grime, with his hair a tangled mess, Li Xuan's eyes were blood‑shot as he stared unblinkingly at the fire lotus formed from the Nirvana Fire before him.

Within the lotus were exactly ten Yunling Pills; unlike ordinary Alchemy Pills, their surfaces bore a floral pattern and emitted a strong pill fragrance.

This was Li Xuan's first time producing ten Alchemy Pills in one batch; if this batch succeeds, Li Xuan's Alchemist level will rise to 2.

As Li Xuan finely controlled the distribution of flames within the fire lotus, the pills underwent even more precise tempering.

Suddenly the pill fragrance receded, the scent that had filled the whole space vanished instantly, the Alchemy Pills were completed!

"Done!"

Li Xuan looked at the pills in the lotus with delight, his eyes full of excitement.

This was Li Xuan's first time producing ten Alchemy Pills in one batch; now the pills have been successfully crafted, and their quality is the highest‑ranked pill Li Xuan has produced in this period.

【Congratulations Host for successfully crafting "One‑Grade Top‑tier Yunling Pill" ×10, gaining 10 points of experience in the secondary profession "Alchemist"】

【Alchemist level increased by 2, gaining 2 points】

"Finally reached level 2! All my hard work these past days wasn't in vain!" Li Xuan excitedly jumped up from the ground.

But because he had been sitting cross‑legged for too long, Li Xuan's legs lost feeling, and he fell to the ground as soon as he stood up.

"Dong, dong, dong…"

As Li Xuan fell, the fire lotus instantly dissipated, turning back into soul power that returned to his body; stripped of the flame's enclosure, the ten Alchemy Pills clattered onto the floor.

During these thirteen days, Li Xuan ate a Fasting Pill whenever he was hungry; the rest of the time he either crafted Alchemy Pills or restored his soul power, exhausting himself to raise his Alchemist level to 2.

【Congratulations Host for raising the secondary profession "Alchemist" to level 2, system rewards: Second‑grade Alchemy Formula "Xuan Ling Dan", Second‑grade Alchemy Formula "Second‑grade Detox Pill", Second‑grade Alchemy Formula "Tempering Body Pill"】

"The system is as stingy as ever; reaching Alchemist level 2 only gave three alchemy formulas, but they cover a wide range—cultivation, detoxification, and body training," Li Xuan said, nodding approvingly at the description on the Light Screen before him.

The next second, the Light Screen shattered, turning into three Scrolls that fell into Li Xuan's hands.

These three Scrolls are the three alchemy formulas.

"I hope I have enough medicinal material seeds; Second‑grade Alchemy Pills should let me breakthrough to Level 40 a month or two early," Li Xuan said, then crushed the three Scrolls in his arms; the Scrolls turned into specks of white light that entered his mind.

A modest yet unusually clear stream of information entered Li Xuan's mind; subconsciously, Li Xuan closed his eyes and began to absorb the formula information from the Domain Scroll.

After a while, Li Xuan slowly opened his eyes; by then he had essentially mastered the crafting methods of the three Alchemy Pills. However, the process for Second‑grade Alchemy Pills is several times more cumbersome than that for First‑grade Alchemy Pills, requiring at least thirty different medicinal materials, whereas First‑grade pills need only a handful to a few dozen.

Beyond the materials, the techniques for crafting Second‑grade Alchemy Pills demand higher standards of an Alchemist, so having just become a Second‑grade Alchemist, Li Xuan lacks sufficient information on whether he can produce enough Second‑grade Alchemy Pills.

"Sigh, the burden is heavy and the road long; making Second‑grade Alchemy Pills is more complex than I imagined," Li Xuan muttered, rubbing his chin.

Li Xuan recalled the formula, then took a table and several sheets of paper from the Void Pearl, beginning to copy down the required medicinal materials.

Then, with a shift of mind, Li Xuan entered the space of the Sky‑Grasp Bottle.

Within this space stood a cabinet at least two meters tall and over ten meters long; each drawer contained a type of medicinal material, some being herbs, others being seeds.

These are all the seeds and medicinal materials Li Xuan has gathered during this period in Tian Dou City, Star Luo City, and Flower Sea.

Li Xuan took the list of materials and began extracting each seed, setting them aside; soon he will cultivate these seeds into herbs and then complete their alchemical processing.

Half an hour later, Li Xuan, carrying a pile of boxes, arrived at a plot of land near the Bing Huo Liang Yi Yan, and began tilling the soil to prepare for planting herbs.

Li Xuan was lucky; among the stored seeds were all the medicinal materials needed for Second‑grade Alchemy Pills, so he only needed to grow them into herbs.

Li Xuan tilled the land while planting herbs, then used diluted Green Spirit Liquid to accelerate their maturation.

He thought it wouldn't be long before Li Xuan had enough herbs to craft Second‑grade Alchemy Pills.

(End of Chapter)