Chapter 168: Starting with Mountain Collapse, refining the Tongyou Pill (Ten thousand words requested for monthly tickets!)

Time flew like a shuttle, and in the blink of an eye, three days passed in a hurry.

After finishing the refining of the Jade Marrow Pill in the afternoon, Luo Chen didn't go to the wasteland under Huiye Mountain to practice spells.

Instead, he stayed in the Pill Hall to watch Mi Li refine the Grain-Bigu Powder.

With a large supply of raw materials, Mi Li's Grain-Bigu Powder refining technique could now be considered to have entered the hall.

Out of ten times, she could succeed two or three times.

If it were placed in the system, it would at least be an evaluation of skilled to perfect.

Luo Chen was very satisfied with Mi Li's progress.

The profit of Grain-Bigu Powder wasn't high, and the market competition was exceptionally fierce.

The purpose of refining Grain-Bigu Powder wasn't to make money, but to satisfy the current internal use of the Luo Tian Society.

Winter had arrived, and the activities of cultivators were greatly affected.

Although the Lianyun Alliance took the opportunity to occupy the market of the original Spirit Source Pavilion and transported a lot of spirit rice from other places for sale.

But as far as the current situation was concerned, it still couldn't satisfy the ten thousand loose cultivators remaining in Dahe Square.

In the Luo Tian Society, many cultivators were also deeply affected.

Under these circumstances, the Pill Hall could provide Grain-Bigu Powder at a low price, which was very popular.

Compared to grains and cereals, Grain-Bigu Powder, which contained a little spiritual energy and could satisfy hunger, was much better.

After Mi Li, it was Tang Quan's turn to refine the Myriad Wonder Pill.

At this time, Mi Li, who had washed her hands clean, was holding a little boy and standing in the corner watching.

Luo Chen stood with his hands behind his back, his expression calm.

"How many times is this?"

"I don't know, but it must be at least a hundred times!"

"So many times of refining, and not a single success? Is he really capable?"

"Who knows? After all, Uncle Tang Quan is an elder of the Zeng Wen, holding a high position."

"But wasting so many medicinal materials, won't the president feel heartache?"

Fine discussions came from the medicine apprentices and fire workers who were helping.

Even though Tang Quan was already used to it, he felt a bit dejected at this moment.

This was the last batch of raw materials for the Myriad Wonder Pill in the Pill Hall, right?

If he failed again, I'm afraid the president, Luo Chen, wouldn't bother with this pill anymore in the future.

Everyone knew that the current focus of the Luo Tian Society was entirely on the Jade Marrow Pill.

Thinking about these things, Tang Quan began to refine the Myriad Wonder Pill.

Halfway through, a slightly burnt smell came out.

It was so familiar!

Tang Quan's heart sank.

At this moment, Luo Chen pulled him to the back.

"Watch carefully, this is how the Myriad Wonder Pill is refined."

"I will only demonstrate this last time; if you fail again in the future, it will prove that you really have no talent for pill refining."

After taking over from Tang Quan, Luo Chen injected a strand of spiritual power into the Purple Cloud Copper Furnace.

As the spiritual power entered the furnace, it first stopped the further disintegration of the medicinal power.

Separate first, then fuse!

Luo Chen's hands and ten fingers flew like flowers, elegant and freehand.

It made everyone feel dazzled, feeling that it was a world of difference from Tang Quan before.

Luo Chen didn't care about these; his mind was entirely on the pill furnace, and he struck out spiritual power from time to time.

The fire worker on the side was also under his command, increasing or decreasing the size of the fire.

About a cup of tea later, a refreshing pill fragrance flew out from the copper furnace.

"Rise!"

The furnace lid floated up, and Luo Chen reached out and grabbed.

In a flash, ten deep red pills, each imprinted with three cloud patterns, fell into his hand.

The scorching temperature seemed to be non-existent.

Luo Chen threw them casually, and Tang Quan caught them in a flurry.

"Top-grade!"

Mi Li exclaimed from the side, "President, your pill refining technique has improved again!"

Looking at those pills, Tang Quan was shocked beyond measure.

It wasn't a secret that the president could refine top-grade Myriad Wonder Pills.

However, this batch just now was already on the verge of failure!

In such a dire situation, he was able to reverse the failure and finally condense them into pills with ease, and the finished product was top-grade!

What kind of profound pill refining technique was this?

After the shock came incomparable bitterness and a sense of defeat.

Did he really have no talent for pill refining?

While he was in a daze, Luo Chen had already bypassed him and walked outside.

Passing by the door of the pill room, Luo Chen paused for a moment.

He rubbed Qu Lingjun's little head and asked with a smile, "Have you understood the Hundred Herb Atlas thoroughly?"

Qu Lingjun held his head high, looking at Luo Chen with admiration.

He nodded excitedly.

"I've memorized it all, and my understanding is also up to standard; Sister Mi Li can testify!"

Luo Chen looked at Mi Li, who nodded gently.

"I've tested him a few times; there were mistakes at the beginning, but now he's basically all correct."

"When it comes to the understanding of the Hundred Herb Atlas, even among a group of medicine apprentices, he is at the forefront."

It seems he is indeed a smart and good child!

It's a pity that his talent is a bit poor.

Luo Chen swept a glance, and there was a faint spiritual power fluctuation on his body.

This was a sign of having just entered the first level of Qi Refining.

However, the spiritual power fluctuation was too weak, almost non-existent.

According to what he knew, Qu Lingjun had started cultivating a month ago.

As the only seedling of the Qu family who could cultivate, Qu Hancheng certainly wouldn't treat him poorly.

But after a month, was this the only extent?

Luo Chen thought of Yuan Xiaoyue; it only took her a month to go from the second level of Qi Refining to the third.

After thinking about it, Luo Chen took out a small bottle.

"Very good, you perfectly completed the task I gave you; this is your reward."

Qu Lingjun took it happily and wanted to open it, but was stopped by Luo Chen.

"Open it when you get home!"

That deep look made Qu Lingjun understand the meaning immediately.

He was a sensible child and bowed to thank him immediately.

Luo Chen didn't care and turned to leave the pill room, leaving a group of people to clean up the mess.

Qu Lingjun, like a little adult, followed the crowd, cleaning the pill furnace, repairing the fire pit, and replacing the fire-avoiding bricks.

When he encountered residual medicine dregs, he even collected them carefully.

Mi Li asked him gently with a smile, why he still collected these medicine dregs which were generally useless and usually taken to the wasteland to be buried?

Qu Lingjun just opened his big eyes and said that these were the medicine dregs that had succeeded, and collecting them to compare with those that had failed might also find other differences between success and failure.

Outside the pill room, Luo Chen, who was about to return to the stone house, paused for a moment.

He also had such a habit, drawing lessons from failure after failure.

However, he seemed to have never paid attention to the medicine dregs left over from successful pill refining.

It was like doing a math problem.

Many people got the wrong answer and would go to find out which step was wrong.

But very few people, after getting the correct answer, would go to study the meaning of each step in the calculation process.

Because people were immersed in the joy of success.

Whether it was pill refining or doing problems.

"Although it's better than nothing, it indeed opened up a new line of thinking for me."

Luo Chen chuckled and stopped paying attention.

After returning to the stone house, he activated the formation and went down to the mine tunnel to the Changyin Mountain.

The Earth Mountain Art and the Wave Art had both reached the perfect level.

In the evaluation of cultivators, it was considered between small success and great success, and could already be operated as one wished.

Today, he wanted to try the second-tier spell "Mountain Collapse" derived from the combination of the Fireball, Earth Mountain, and Wave arts!

"Lingjun, stop playing with mud, it's time to cultivate."

"Grandpa, I'm not playing with mud!"

Qu Hancheng smiled helplessly and dotingly, pulling the dirty Qu Lingjun up from the side of the basin.

He lowered his head and took a look, smelling a burnt smell mixed in the fragrance.

"Are these medicine dregs?"

"No, these are not ordinary medicine dregs!"

Qu Lingjun smiled proudly, "These are medicine dregs between failure and success!"

"Hmm?"

"Forget it, Grandpa, you're old and don't understand these things."

"Cut it out, you brat, go wash up."

While Qu Lingjun was washing up, Qu Hancheng looked at the gradually darkening sky, his eyes looking toward the former Dahe Inner City.

Now, it was a ghost city.

And all his descendants, his son and daughter-in-law, and two little grandsons without spiritual roots, had all died inside.

"De Xian, rest in peace! I will definitely cultivate Lingjun into a powerful cultivator."

Firm in his heart, Qu Hancheng took out two jade bottles from his storage bag.

The former was a low-grade Jade Marrow Pill, which he had purchased and hoarded at an internal price when he was in the Poshan Gang.

It was very suitable for Qu Lingjun to use at this realm.

The latter was the Qi-Nurturing Pill, which he had recently purchased at a high price from the black market in the south of the outer city.

This was produced by the Medicine King Sect, with mild efficacy and no sequelae.

"Taking too many low-grade Jade Marrow Pills will have the sequelae of dantian jade-ification."

"Logically, I should let Lingjun take the Qi-Nurturing Pill, but I..."

Qu Hancheng thought that he didn't have many years to live and had once been seriously injured, so he really didn't have many years to live.

Working as a fire worker deacon in the Pill Hall, even though the president had raised his treatment several times, the spirit stones he earned in a month were barely close to those of a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

"The Qi-Nurturing Pill is getting more and more expensive, and my spirit stones can't buy many."

"Let's save these bottles first; when Lingjun reaches the middle stage of Qi Refining, stop using the Jade Marrow Pill, and then use this Qi-Nurturing Pill!"

After making the decision, Qu Hancheng put away the Qi-Nurturing Pill bottle very preciously.

When Qu Lingjun finished washing up and ran out naked, he scolded him with a smile and told him to put on his clothes and cultivate.

Unexpectedly, Qu Lingjun stood on the bed, shaking his little bird, and said loudly with reason:

"No!"

"I heard the president say two days ago that being close to nature and experiencing the Great Dao is the foundation of cultivation."

"Cultivating while wearing clothes will make it hard for me to absorb the spiritual energy of the outside world."

Qu Hancheng was dumbfounded; was there such a saying?

It was just a layer of close-fitting outer clothing anyway.

But thinking it was what Luo Chen said, he couldn't help but half-believe it, and believed it for the time being.

"Fine, follow your heart. This is the pill to be used today; swallow one before cultivating."

While speaking, the old man lit a fire basin in the corner.

The charcoal fire burned, bringing a touch of warm heat to the room.

He opened a crack in the window, letting a trace of the cold wind and air from outside seep in.

He couldn't let his little grandson freeze, but he couldn't let him suffocate in the room either.

It was hard for this little old man.

However, looking back, he found that Qu Lingjun didn't cultivate directly.

Instead, he squatted on the bed, looking blankly at a pill in his hand.

"It's just a low-grade Jade Marrow Pill, what's so good to look... at."

Qu Hancheng was stunned.

Because the pill in the child's hand clearly had three cloud patterns, which meant it wasn't a low-grade Jade Marrow Pill.

It was a top-grade Jade Marrow Pill!

He snatched the pill, his face nervous. "Where did you get it?"

Qu Lingjun pouted, "The president rewarded me today, saying I memorized the Hundred Herb Atlas well."

Given by the president!

Originally, he was worried that Qu Lingjun had stolen it, but hearing it was given by Luo Chen, the big stone in his heart fell.

Our Qu family, whether in the Poshan Gang or the Luo Tian Society, relied on being honest and doing things with dedication to stand out from many loose cultivators step by step.

Stealing things was a big taboo!

It must never be touched.

After relaxing, Qu Hancheng reacted.

"Top-grade Jade Marrow Pill!"

"Heaven!"

"Has the president's pill refining technique actually improved to this extent? How long has it been, and he has actually refined a top-grade Jade Marrow Pill."

"If the old gang leader Mi were still alive, he would probably be ecstatic."

While he was talking to himself, Qu Lingjun pulled him.

"Grandpa, this matter cannot be told to outsiders!"

"Hmm?"

Qu Hancheng didn't understand; the president's pill refining attainments had another breakthrough, why couldn't it be told to outsiders?

Qu Lingjun tightened his little face, imitating the demeanor of Luo Chen during the day, his eyes staring at his grandfather.

He said seriously, "Absolutely cannot tell outsiders, this is the president's meaning!"

Qu Hancheng opened his mouth, actually a bit unresponsive to his little grandson's demeanor and tone.

In a trance, there was actually a trace of Luo Chen's charm.

Since that was the case, he also put away the idea of promoting the president's reputation to outsiders.

It wasn't good to flatter the wrong way.

It was just that, he hesitated.

Should he let his grandson use the low-grade Jade Marrow Pill, or the top-grade one?

"The top-grade one!"

"Since the president rewarded a bottle, he must have considered Lingjun's realm."

"And he seems to like this child quite a bit; letting Lingjun reach the realm early can also help with things, and maybe he will be reused."

"These low-grade Jade Marrow Pills, I'll keep them for myself; anyway, I haven't eaten many pills in this lifetime."

Finding a reason for himself to enjoy, Qu Hancheng urged his grandson to cultivate.

He stood at the door, leaving the air in the room to Qu Lingjun, so that the spiritual energy wouldn't be shared by him.

Facing the biting cold wind, Qu Hancheng pulled a tobacco pipe from his waist.

Skillfully lit the tobacco bag with a fireball spell and took a puff.

He only felt that the tobacco leaves, which used to be choking, actually had a trace of sweetness.

A sorrowful face climbed onto his face.

Luo Chen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and drank a small sip of the Pulse-Moistening Liquid.

He lowered his head and looked at the small mound of earth not far away.

"Is this the power of a second-tier spell?"

"Damn!"

"The Zhenlong Black Market wouldn't sell pirated fake goods, would they!"

After complaining and complaining, Luo Chen recalled the situation at that time.

According to the secret manual, as long as the three spells all reached the small success level, one could start cultivating "Mountain Collapse."

He now had Fireball at Great Perfection, Earth Mountain at perfect level, and Wave at perfect level, already exceeding the small success level.

But, the three arts actually couldn't be combined!

"Where did the problem go?"

The basic conditions were all met, why did it still fail?

Luo Chen didn't doubt his spell talent.

Even compared to the pill refining technique that Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators coveted, his spell talent was the real deal.

He had learned so many spells, and none of them relied on the system to enter entry-level.

It was all by himself, through bitter cultivation.

In constant thought, Luo Chen looked at that small mound of earth.

This was the effect of the Earth Mountain Art.

If he exerted his full strength, it should have been several tens of meters high.

But when he released it just now, the spiritual energy in his body was chaotic, and there was a moment of runaway.

Not only did the spell fail, but it also caused a small injury to his meridians.

Fortunately, he had the Pulse-Moistening Liquid obtained from Gao Tingyuan's inheritance, otherwise, he would have gained more than he lost today.

"What about water?"

"I also urged the Wave Art, why didn't I see a single drop of water, and didn't even notice any water-attribute spiritual energy."

"It couldn't be that the Earth Mountain Art and the Wave Art haven't been practiced to the point, right!"

In doubt, Luo Chen suddenly reacted.

Perhaps, it wasn't that he hadn't practiced these two prerequisite spells to the point.

But that the attainments of the Fireball Art were too high.

The Great Perfection Fireball Art, when urged to the extreme, was even comparable to the second-tier fire-attribute Flaming Yang Art.

The combination of the three arts spoke of balance, and then explosion.

If one couldn't reach balance first, how could one speak of explosion?

As a result, there was only premature detonation.

And premature detonation hurt the caster!

"So, what I need to do is to improve the two prerequisite spells."

"Or, control the spiritual energy input of the Fireball Art?"

The former two required grinding away, at least calculated in the unit of "month."

And the latter was easy to handle.

For the past few months, he had been optimizing the Fireball Art.

The Great Perfection Spirit Eye Art made him like a tiger with wings.

Until now, the optimization of the Fireball Art had reached a very profound level.

If it were combined again to form the Flaming Yang Art, the power would be three points stronger than before.

Even if given enough time to squeeze out all the spiritual energy in his body, he would inevitably be able to release a brilliant blow.

If it was just controlling the spiritual energy input, this wasn't difficult to solve.

Luo Chen wanted to continue practicing spells, but his eyes narrowed slightly.

Under the night, an old wolf exuding a powerful aura was climbing to the top of the mountain from a hundred miles away.

In a flash, a miserable and low wolf howl resounded through the ancient forest of the wasteland.

"It's not good to continue practicing this art today."

"Forget it, since I've found the general problem, I'll be able to master this art sooner or later."

Without hesitation, Luo Chen turned and left.

The Carefree Wind-Riding Art unfolded, the wind howled, and there were even black clouds to hide his figure.

In a flash, Luo Chen disappeared without a trace from Changyin Mountain.

Returning to Xieyue Valley, Luo Chen didn't cultivate directly.

Over the past few days, the processing of the Tongyou Pill's raw materials had been completed.

Ten portions of processed main materials were placed in his storage bag.

"Forget it, the means of protecting the Dao are ultimately just for protecting the Dao; cultivation is the foundation."

"Refine the Tongyou Pill first and increase cultivation!"

System, enter entry-level!

Without the slightest hesitation.

Ten achievement points were wiped from the panel.

And on the attribute panel, an extra entry appeared.

【Tongyou Pill 1/100】

According to past experience, this extra "1" represented that he, Luo Chen, already had one successful experience.

That was why it was evaluated as entry-level.

Don't underestimate this "1."

Without this "1," no one knew how many failures would be experienced before this.

At least Luo Chen recognized the sense of defeat brought by not being able to succeed even once from Tang Quan.

For Tang Quan to enter entry-level for the Myriad Wonder Pill, the number of refining times had already exceeded a hundred.

Calculated at five spirit stones per cost, he had already wasted five hundred low-grade spirit stones.

What kind of concept was this?

If it were when Luo Chen started from scratch, his total assets wouldn't have been more than fifty spirit stones.

Five hundred spirit stones would require him to start from scratch and make a comeback ten times!

Even then, he wouldn't see a glimmer of hope for success.

Only by succeeding that one time could he record the most wonderful memory and draw more successful experience from the successful memory.

In a word, the successful are always successful!

Faint thoughts flashed by, and Luo Chen released the Four Symbols Cauldron.

This was the magic tool he was most familiar with now, even more so than the Purple Cloud Copper Furnace, the Xuanyun Cauldron, and the Divine Wood Cauldron.

"Old man Mi, I really miss you!"

After mourning, Luo Chen lit the fire himself and then put in the medicinal herbs one by one.

"Zhanxing Grass, Bamboo Yellow..."

"Illusion Ghost Grass, interval Blue Citrus Grass juice..."

"Finally, the Snow Fox Monster Blood, so it should be... no!"

Only for a moment, Luo Chen woke up from his trance.

And it was this trance that caused the pungent, fishy smell to hit his face.

He soared into the air, overlooking the situation in the big cauldron.

A large amount of snow-white solid-liquid mixture flowed inside.

The pungent, fishy smell came from this.

Luo Chen's face was gloomy; he failed!

It didn't even reach the stage of medicinal power fusion, and it failed.

Not to mention the step of combining pills.

"Just stimulating the Snow Fox Monster Blood caused a hallucinogenic feeling that made me indulge for a moment."

"And it was this moment that caused the refining to fail."

"This is the only time in my many years of pill refining that I have encountered a counterattack from a pill."

This situation was rare.

Or rather, it existed!

But it only existed in high-level pills.

For example, in the refining process of some high-level pills that take living things to refine, one must face the counterattack of the pill's raw materials.

Unexpectedly, even a mere Tongyou Pill would have such a situation.

"It might be because the pill formula I completed didn't inhibit the hallucinogenic ability in the Snow Fox Monster Blood, which led to this."

"But it has already entered entry-level, and it's too late to temporarily change and optimize the pill formula."

"I have to find a way to keep myself from being hallucinated while refining pills."

If there is a problem, solve the problem!

Luo Chen didn't lose heart; he had experienced failure many times.

Without these failures, where would more successes come from?

It was just that this short day, experiencing spell failure and pill refining failure, made him mentally exhausted.

"Perhaps it's also related to being too tired during this period."

"It just so happens that the meridians are slightly damaged today and need to be recuperated."

"Don't cultivate today, just take the Golden Jade Liquid and Tongming Liquid, and then go to sleep!"

Luo Chen understood the principle of going too far is as bad as not going far enough.

He chose to go to sleep very decisively.

Don't say, this sleep was quite peaceful.

(End of chapter)

. ===== CHAPTER 169 =====