Chapter 176: Refining the Foundation Establishment Pill

Generally speaking, before alchemists refine relatively important Spirit Pills, they will refine a furnace of ordinary Spirit Pills to warm the furnace, which also serves to collect their essence, Qi, and spirit to reach a working state.

However, Xu Chen does not need this process.

He has the Blue Light Treasure Bottle guarding his soul, and at the same time possesses Divine Sense as powerful as the Danyuan Realm and a terrifying reserve of Yuan Qi; he basically does not need to do much preparation, and after simply adjusting his breath and feeling his soul settle down, he waits for the furnace fire temperature to be appropriate, then with a sweep of his Yuan Qi, he tosses all five types of Spirit Medicine into the pill furnace at once.

For a Danyuan Realm powerhouse to refine a First-grade Spirit Pill is a complete waste of talent.

And for a Spirit Transformation Great Cultivator like Xuanchen Zhenjun to refine a First-grade Spirit Pill, he does not even need a pill furnace; he can directly use his Divine Sense as a furnace and Spirit Qi as fire, refining the Spirit Medicine and completing the entire process of Pill Refining and Pill Nourishing out of thin air, which is even better than what ordinary cultivators refine using a pill furnace.

Originally, according to Xu Chen's current state, he could completely refine the Spirit Medicine for the Guiyuan Pill in one furnace, but to be on the safe side, he still tried to be as careful as possible.

After all, the Seven-Star Golden Toad Slough is too scarce, and refining a furnace to waste would make his heart drip blood for several days.

Very quickly, the five types of Spirit Medicine were slowly refined within the pill furnace, and after a quarter of an hour passed, they all turned into Spirit Medicine essence suspended inside the pill furnace.

Xu Chen swept his Yuan Qi and tossed in five more types of Spirit Medicine to continue refining.

The Guiyuan Pill consists of eighteen types of medicinal materials in total, but Xu Chen intended to directly incorporate the Seven-Star Golden Toad Slough to enhance the medicinal efficacy, so after adjusting the three most important main medicines, he removed one of the poisonous medicines that replaced the Seven-Star Golden Toad toxin; although it was still eighteen types, Xu Chen believed that after success, the efficacy would be even better than the enhanced version of the Guiyuan Pill from Yuqing Hall.

Su Zhao sat far away, more than a zhang away from the pill furnace; although he still felt the soul palpitations brought by the Spirit Fire aura released by the pill furnace, he forcibly endured it, his face full of reverence as he watched without blinking.

Every time Xu Chen refined pills, he felt incomparably excited.

In fact, ever since Xu Chen saved the master and disciple duo at the foot of the mountain back then, and led them to fly through the sky and tunnel through the ground to hunt down the Soul Beast that was ravaging the small town, a seed had been planted in his heart.

He swore that he would be like Xu Chen, and after achieving success in his cultivation, he would go down the mountain to slay demons and eliminate devils to maintain peace in the mortal world.

And ever since Xu Chen returned to the mountain this time, after discovering that Xu Chen also possessed magical alchemy, his reverence became like a flooding river that could not be stopped, and he completely regarded Xu Chen as the idol he worshipped for his entire life.

Today, he finally gathered the courage to request to become a disciple, and he did not expect Xu Chen to agree so easily.

"Master, rest assured, this disciple will definitely not let you down!" Su Zhao clenched his fists tightly, secretly swearing in his heart.

Xu Chen, however, was unaware of the excited mood of this little disciple he had picked up on a whim but could not get rid of, and was instead fully focused on refining the pills.

Soon half an hour passed, and the previous seventeen types of Spirit Medicine were all refined; only then did Xu Chen truly become serious, hooking his Divine Sense from the Dazzling Gold Bracelet, and a piece of golden toad slough with bright green spots fell into the pill furnace.

A scorching white Spirit Fire rose into the air, instantly wrapping the toad slough inside, and it trembled slightly within a red Array.

Toad toxin is fire-attributed and needs to be slowly roasted using a Fire-Type Array, so as to ensure the maximum medicinal efficacy.

Moreover, the toad slough is also relatively delicate, unlike plant or mineral-type Spirit Medicine, so the control of the Spirit Fire needs to be even more careful, and one cannot be negligent in the slightest.

Xu Chen was therefore also very cautious and careful, preferring to be slow rather than waste the toad slough, and he did not even want to lose the slightest bit of medicinal property.

This piece of toad slough was refined in the pill furnace for a full half hour before the residue was burned away by the Spirit Fire, finally leaving behind a green, vibrant mass of toxin the size of a mung bean.

Xu Chen's Divine Sense focused on this mass of toxin, and he felt a slight stinging sensation in his soul.

If this mass of toxin were swallowed in one gulp, it is estimated that someone in the Kaiyuan Realm would immediately have their intestines pierced and stomach rotted, with their meridians and dantian all poisoned to the point of rotting and collapsing.

Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Zhenyuan Realm would likely lose half their life.

The Seven-Star Golden Toad is not only a rare Spirit Beast but also a highly poisonous Demon Beast that takes no responsibility for killing people.

At Yuqing Hall, the cultivators specifically tasked with feeding the Golden Toads are each extremely cautious and dare not provoke the Golden Toads, both for fear of stimulating them to spray toxin and causing a great loss of medicinal efficacy, and also for fear of being poisoned to death by the toxin themselves.

According to the old Daoist's words, once this toxin is sprayed, the Golden Toad is basically ruined and will definitely degenerate significantly; additionally, the sprayed toxin will turn into poisonous mist, and even Spirit Qi and Yuan Qi will be corroded, so inhaling one breath will directly cause soul confusion and loss of control over Yuan Qi, which can be called the most potent poison among First-grade Spirit Pills.

In history, quite a few cultivators at Yuqing Hall who raised Golden Toads have been poisoned, almost in every generation.

However, they would never imagine that Xu Chen is actually keeping such a poisonous spirit creature in a wild, free-range state.

Seeing that the refining of the Golden Toad slough was complete, Xu Chen slowly exhaled a breath, feeling much more relaxed in his heart, and after calming his mind and spirit for a moment, he activated the Combining Pill Array.

Soon, accompanied by the activation of a green spiral-shaped Array at the bottom of the furnace, the Yuan Qi began to rotate, and one by one, the already refined Spirit Medicines were poured into the vortex in the order of pill combining and began to slowly fuse.

In the blink of an eye, another half hour passed, the Yuan Qi vortex in the pill furnace slowly stopped, and a mass of pigeon-egg-sized crimson medicinal paste appeared, while at the same time, a wisp of misty medicinal fragrance that made the soul palpitate seeped out of the pill furnace.

At this point, this furnace of pills was already eighty percent complete.

As for the final level of the pill's efficacy, it depends on the degree of fusion of the Spirit Medicine during the Pill Nourishing process.

However, looking at the aura and smelling the medicinal fragrance, Xu Chen knew that the efficacy should not be worse than the two three-fold enhanced Guiyuan Pills that Lan You gave him.

Next, Xu Chen carefully controlled the Spirit Fire, spending a full hour slowly roasting it; as the increasingly thick pill fragrance wafted out, Su Zhao could no longer withstand the stimulation of this medicinal fragrance, his face turning pale and his whole body soaked in sweat, but he still insisted on sitting and watching carefully.

Xu Chen could not help but reveal a trace of a satisfied smile.

The character of this disciple he picked up is still very good; if it were himself facing this situation, he would have long since patted his butt and left to watch the fun outside the door.

Next was the Pill Dividing and the subsequent Pill Nourishing to collect the medicinal properties.

After another two quarters of an hour, Xu Chen lightly patted the pill furnace, and three small-finger-sized crimson Spirit Pills wrapped in Spirit Fire pill energy sprayed out of the pill furnace; Xu Chen swept his Yuan Qi and collected the Spirit Pills into his hand, while simultaneously closing the furnace fire Array.

A furnace of Foundation Establishment Pills was successfully produced.

The entire process took over two hours.

Compared to other First-grade pills, this is already a very long time.

However, everything is worth the price.

Xu Chen carefully examined the three Spirit Pills; they were round and smooth like red spirit crystals, their surfaces lustrous and seamless, emitting a bright spirit light, and regardless of color or aura, they were undoubtedly of top quality.

Xu Chen satisfiedly took out a Jade Bottle to store the Spirit Pills, waved his hand, and another pile of Spirit Medicine appeared on the ground, and while closing his eyes to rest, he instructed Su Zhao to organize the medicinal materials.

A quarter of an hour later, Xu Chen opened his eyes, and Su Zhao had already opened all the Spirit Medicine and neatly placed them on the stone table.

"Well done, the aura of this next furnace of pills is something you probably won't be able to withstand, so go outside and wait first!"

"Yes, this disciple takes his leave!" Su Zhao respectfully bowed and exited the alchemy room, then sat cross-legged outside the door, still watching the pill furnace.

The corners of Xu Chen's mouth curled up, but he did not remind him again, instead quickly lighting the furnace fire and tossing in five types of Spirit Medicine to begin refining.

He refined this furnace according to the prescription of the Guiyuan Pill.

Most of the Spirit Medicine was the same, but the main medicine changed significantly, mainly configured to fully stimulate the toxicity of the complete Seven-Star Golden Toad Slough.

However, the current Seven-Star Golden Toad Slough did not have sufficient medicinal properties, so Xu Chen did not have much certainty, and all his hopes were placed on being able to use the white Qi to refine the toxicity of the toad slough once more, forcibly enhancing the medicinal efficacy.

As for whether it could succeed, it could only depend on heaven's will.

Soon an hour passed, and all the Spirit Medicine had been refined.

This time, not only did Xu Chen not relax, but he took a deep breath, flicked his finger, and the Dust-Avoiding Bead floated above his head, emitting a faint light.

To him, the effect of the Dust-Avoiding Bead was already very weak.

However, to ensure the success of this batch of pills, not even the slightest flaw could be permitted.

The Combining Pill Array was activated, and soon the Spirit Medicine began to mix; once all the Spirit Medicine had blended together, Xu Chen moved his Divine Sense, and a wisp of white Qi appeared inside the Pill Furnace, being drawn into the medicinal paste as the Combining Pill Array rotated.

"Boom—"

The furnace fire erupted violently as if a shark had caught the scent of blood, the incandescent white flames surging up a full two feet, instantly swallowing the array and the medicinal paste.

Xu Chen remained unmoved, his Divine Sense guarding the array firmly as he poured rolling Qi into the Pill Furnace to suppress the restless Spirit Fire, while the medicinal paste, already beginning to fuse, shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye, with furnace ash drifting down to the bottom of the furnace.

At the same time, a wisp of cyan-white Pill Cloud mist began to condense above the Pill Refining Room.

Introducing white Qi into pills was already a familiar process for Xu Chen.

He had refined at least a hundred batches of First-grade Spirit Pills infused with white Qi, so he felt no ripples of emotion regarding the restlessness of the Spirit Fire or the changes in the Pill Furnace; after his successful Foundation Establishment, he could even accurately judge the degree to which the Spirit Fire was burning the medicinal potency, thereby controlling the Spirit Fire and the array to strive for the best medicinal effect.

Inside the Pill Furnace, the fire blazed fiercely, and a faint charred fragrance accompanied by a dense medicinal aura erupted from the furnace, shrouding the entire Pill Refining Room until Xu Chen's figure was almost invisible.

Su Zhao, sitting outside the door, had felt nothing at first, but the moment the white Qi entered the pills, she felt as if her soul had been slapped, letting out a grunt as she nearly face-planted onto the ground; in terror, she scrambled and crawled away into the courtyard, looking with a pale, nervous face at the Pill Refining Room where thick mist churned and the cyan-white Pill Cloud billowed on the roof.

A phantom image of an illusory cyan lotus flower appeared and disappeared within the Pill Cloud.

By this time, the commotion from Xu Chen's pill refining had already alerted the entire Taiyuan Sect.

However, after a few strands of Divine Sense swept over to investigate, they quickly retreated.

Xuanhe Zhenren and a group of senior brothers and sisters all knew that Xu Chen was refining the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill again; this situation was already very familiar to them, so they did not pay it too much mind.

Only the powerful Xuanhe Zhenren had a somewhat solemn expression.

The aura of the Pill Cloud today seemed even more powerful than in the past, and the illusory cyan flower image also seemed significantly clearer.

This indicated that the Spirit Pill Xu Chen was refining today was likely of a much higher grade than his previous ones.

However, when it came to pill refining, Xuanhe Zhenren could no longer keep up with Xu Chen, so he did not dwell on it, feeling both gratified and deeply conflicted instead.

This Disciple of his was performing more and more miraculously, making him increasingly unable to fathom him.

(End of this chapter)