Chapter 39

Many factors determine the success rate of alchemy!

Besides these, there is also the spiritual root!

Yes, the spiritual root!

Theoretically, cultivators possessing the Metal, Wood, and Fire spiritual roots have the highest alchemy success rates.

According to ancient texts, possessing a Metal spiritual root allows better perception of the cauldron’s nature and condition; possessing a Wood spiritual root makes it easier to control the essence of plants and herbs; possessing a Fire spiritual root enables finer control over flame properties and more precise regulation of flame variations.

He Pingsheng has not yet deeply studied any of these.

Forget it, continue alchemy.

As long as there are failed pills, it’s all the same to him.

For the next dozen days, He Pingsheng passed through this monotonous routine.

He finally completed refining all forty batches of herbs.

He produced twelve successful batches, totaling one hundred forty-four pills.

The quality of these twelve batches was nearly identical: eleven were entirely low-grade, and only the final batch yielded four mid-grade pills and eight low-grade pills.

Twenty-eight batches were failures.

Fortunately, none exploded into powder—each was at least a failed pill.

Now it was simple: simply toss the failed pills into the Treasure Accumulator and strengthen and double them.

He strengthened while also cultivating.

These twenty-eight failed batches and twelve successful batches totaled forty batches; after He Pingsheng’s Treasure Accumulator strengthened and doubled them, they became eighty batches of supreme-grade 【Juqi Pills】.

He Pingsheng bought porcelain bottles in several batches and upgraded them to jade bottles, then stored all the pills away.

Later, since there were simply too many to store, he buried some of the pills in the soil beneath his bedroom.

Before he knew it, several months had passed.

He Pingsheng daily practiced the 【Lihuo Zhenfa】, and his cultivation base broke through from Qi Refining Stage Four to Qi Refining Stage Five.

He encountered no great difficulties along the way.

While cultivating, He Pingsheng did not sit motionless like a wooden idol—he alternated between seated meditation and spirit refinement.

Thus, when his cultivation base reached Qi Refining Stage Five, his 【Xuanmen Jingxin Zhenjue】 also reached its fifth level.

He Pingsheng’s spiritual sense grew significantly stronger; with a single thought, it could now cover a radius of eighty zhang.

This distance was already quite far.

Open the door!

Leaves fell, rustling.

It was autumn again.

Unconsciously, more than two years had passed since He Pingsheng began cultivating.

“It’s time to restock at the Outer Sect Hall!”

He had nearly consumed all the spirit rice and other supplies at home.

This time, He Pingsheng planned to purchase materials needed for the 【Grain Bigu Pills】.

If he could refine those Grain Bigu Pills, one pill would last a month; one batch would last a year.

It would save him the trouble of lighting a fire and cooking every day.

He Pingsheng closed his door and walked slowly toward the hall.

Today, the Outer Sect Hall was unusually crowded—nearly packed with people.

He Pingsheng swept his spiritual sense inside.

He quickly assessed the cultivation levels of the surrounding cultivators.

His spiritual sense could now scan an eighty-zhang radius; its stealth was excellent, so those scanned rarely noticed it, and even if they did, they wouldn’t know it was He Pingsheng’s.

So, no need to fear.

“Hmm…” With a single thought, He Pingsheng was startled: Such high cultivation levels!

There were cultivators at Stage Five, Six, Seven, and Eight.

Those at Stage One, Two, or Three were almost nonexistent.

This was far too unusual.

The crowd had split into dozens of small lines, waiting in orderly queues for something.

He Pingsheng grew curious. He bowed to a nearby cultivator and said: “Brother, may I ask why you’re all queuing? Is there something important happening?”

“I don’t know!” The man glanced at He Pingsheng, then shook his head coldly.

He Pingsheng was baffled: You don’t know?

You’re standing in line and you don’t know?

Fine… It seemed this one didn’t want to talk.

But it didn’t matter—if he wouldn’t say, someone else would.

He Pingsheng asked several more, and finally got the answer.

Selection!

More precisely, the Grand Void Gate’s Inner Sect selection had arrived.

Within the Grand Void Gate, the Outer Sect had a massive population, while the Inner Sect was comparatively small; occasionally, they would select talented, high-cultivation Outer Sect disciples to enter the Inner Sect.

The requirement for entry was Qi Refining Stage Five or higher.

But having Qi Refining Stage Five did not guarantee entry.

It depended on your bone age, spiritual root, and skills.

Of course, also on your luck.

This Inner Sect selection had only twenty slots.

Yet here in the hall, thousands of disciples waited in line—clearly, the competition was fierce.

He Pingsheng now understood why others had answered him coldly: every additional applicant was another competitor.

So the question arose: Should he join?

Of course he should.

Inner Sect disciples held extremely high status and had easier access to resources.

Though entering the Inner Sect meant getting closer to the greats, He Pingsheng was not afraid—his Treasure Accumulator could now be absorbed into his body and would not normally be exposed.

Moreover!

The benefits of the Inner Sect went beyond this—it allowed participation in various missions and trials.

For example, the Dozen Sect Alliance jointly controlled two secret realms.

Periodically, they organized disciples from each sect to enter these realms for treasure hunting and trials.

Only Inner Sect disciples could participate.

Outer Sect disciples?

Dream on.

So now that this opportunity had arisen, He Pingsheng was determined to seize it.

He joined a random queue and waited his turn.

The line moved quickly.

About an hour later, it was his turn.

Before him stood a table, behind which sat two people—a man and a woman—both wearing Inner Sect robes: black, with golden trim at the collar and cuffs, and bearing the Grand Void Gate’s unique cloud patterns.

Outer Sect robes were dark green.

“Elder!” He Pingsheng bowed respectfully.

“No need for such formality!” the woman nodded. “Call us Brother or Sister. What’s your name? What’s your spiritual root?”

He Pingsheng replied: “He Pingsheng. Five-element spiritual root.”

“Oh!” The woman looked at him in surprise. “To reach Qi Refining Stage Five with a Five-element spiritual root—you must have great perseverance and immense fortune, Younger Brother!”

He Pingsheng smiled but said nothing.

The woman asked: “How old are you?”

He Pingsheng bowed: “Seventeen.”

He had lied by one year—he was actually only sixteen and a bit, though if counted by traditional age, seventeen was acceptable.

“What?” The male disciple could no longer sit still: “Seventeen? Five-element spiritual root? Qi Refining Stage Five?”