Chapter 70: Master Alchemist

Two and a half hours later. The jade plate in Su Yuan’s hand now held ten more pills. Their pale cyan color looked different from ordinary Fasting Pills, and they emitted a faint, refreshing fragrance! A faint divine aura, slightly weaker than before, flew out from the pills and merged into the Broken Bowl. Little Qian smacked his lips and muttered, “This flavor really is a bit better.” Beside him, Tao Yaoyao curiously picked up one pill to examine it. “Is this a Fasting Pill? You added a completely new ingredient. Not only did it not affect the medicinal properties, but the number of supreme-grade pills increased to two!” Su Yuan asked, “What do you think, Peak Lord Tao? Does this kind of Fasting Pill have a market?” Tao Yaoyao shook her head. “Not at all. The cultivators who buy Fasting Pills are usually in the Qi Refining Stage. For them, spirit stones are limited, and Fasting Pills are just used to suppress hunger, so the cheaper, the better! You added aromatic leaf grass, which undoubtedly raises the cost. The increased difficulty in refining also reduces the final yield, so the price will definitely rise. Naturally, there’s no market for it!” As an alchemist, she knew well that Fasting Pills tasted terrible. But over the years, many in the cultivation world had tried to improve them, only to find the effort unrewarding since few would buy them. Ultimately, the bitter version had become the norm. Su Yuan pondered and said, “Aromatic leaf grass belongs to the spiritual herb category, so it’s costly. If I add ordinary mundane materials that change the taste without raising the cost too much, it should be fine!” Tao Yaoyao looked puzzled. “Why are you studying this? The profit margin for Fasting Pills is negligible. It’s not worth researching. You could try refining first-rank mid-grade pills instead.” Su Yuan smiled and shook his head. “Thank you for your kindness, Peak Lord Tao. I want to study Fasting Pills a bit more. Sorry for troubling you.” “Call me Sister Tao!” Tao Yaoyao scolded. “Uh, yes, Sister Tao!” “Alright, since you want to research, I won’t disturb you. If you need any materials, just tell the disciple at the entrance!” Tao Yaoyao clearly wasn’t interested in watching Su Yuan refine Fasting Pills anymore. “Farewell, Sister Tao!” She left, unconvinced that Su Yuan’s tinkering would yield any results. Su Yuan continued attempting to refine a new type of Fasting Pill. He kept trying and produced over twenty varieties of Fasting Pills. But the refining efficiency was too low! At this moment, he glanced at the [Work-Rest Balance] entry and found it still counted as resting. This surprised him;apparently, the system regarded his pill refining as rest. “Well, I might as well experiment.” Su Yuan immediately started refining a first-rank mid-grade pill. But halfway through, he stopped. He saw that the [Work-Rest Balance] timer was still running. He continued experimenting until he began refining a second-rank high-grade pill, at which point the work-rest timer instantly reset! His mind instantly cleared. He didn’t continue refining the second-rank high-grade pill;instead, he stopped as before and turned back to contemplate the Fasting Pill refining process. [Mind Echo] activated! In an instant, his consciousness appeared in various refining rooms. He saw many people refining pills, and many mentioned Su Yuan. “I heard a big shot came to the refining room. Even the peak lord went to greet him!” “Who?” “Don’t know, but definitely someone beyond our level. Let’s focus on refining!” “Right!” In various refining rooms, several Qi Refining Stage disciples attempted to refine first-rank low-grade and mid-grade pills. Su Yuan observed each refining process carefully, absorbing and understanding their experiences. He had read much theory but had little practical experience refining. Thus, he needed to learn from others’ methods to improve his own. He saw many ordinary alchemists’ refining attempts and the countless reasons for their failures, many of which he had never considered. Su Yuan returned to refining Fasting Pills. He opened the furnace lid and threw in various materials, quickly reaching dozens of types. “What are you doing?” Little Qian asked in confusion. “I’m refining Fasting Pills,” Su Yuan replied. “But aren’t you adding too many materials? Is this still a Fasting Pill?” Little Qian teased. “This is called adding more without raising the price! No matter how many ingredients, it’s still a Fasting Pill,” Su Yuan smiled. After throwing in a hundred types of materials, he began fusing them together. The process was extremely delicate. He split his divine sense into a hundred parts, controlling each liquid portion to merge. The medicinal properties changed during fusion, but Su Yuan firmly used the essence of Spirit Valley as the core, integrating the auxiliary materials around it. The essence from Spirit Valley grew larger as more materials merged, and its color became strange. Finally, after fusing all auxiliary ingredients into one, the color turned multicolored. Su Yuan spun it and produced a full thousand Fasting Pills. The earthly fire skillfully burned them all once to solidify perfectly. When the furnace lid opened, over a thousand Fasting Pills flew out, piling into a small mountain before Su Yuan. The Broken Bowl flew out, ready to absorb a portion of divine aura, but at that moment, it exclaimed in surprise. “My old master, how did you do this?!” Among the thousand pills, each emitted its own divine aura. Over a thousand auras simultaneously flowed into the Broken Bowl! This wave made Little Qian feel as if he had taken a powerful tonic. A glow flashed across the Broken Bowl’s surface;the previously broken corner instantly repaired itself, and its color brightened, shimmering like a first-rank low-grade magical tool! “How did you do it? This batch should be all one kind of pill, so how did you refine over a thousand kinds?” Little Qian asked excitedly after digesting the divine aura. Su Yuan had already exited cultivation state. He smiled and explained, “I told you, I’m refining Hundred-Flavored Fasting Pills! Each pill randomly produces its own unique flavor! They look similar but have completely different ingredient ratios. So, each is a different type!” “You really are a genius! How did you come up with this idea? Amazing!” Little Qian was amazed by Su Yuan’s approach. Su Yuan was curious. “What effects do you have now after absorbing so much divine aura?” Little Qian immediately said, “I’ve gathered so many Fasting Pill effects that I can release various scents and convert spiritual energy into a Fasting Pill essence liquid. After taking it, one can fast for a hundred days! The effect is strong!” “And then?” Su Yuan asked further. “That’s it.” Little Qian said. “Just that?” Su Yuan was surprised. “… I think I just absorbed the divine aura of the Fasting Pills. Having those effects is normal, right?” Little Qian said quietly. “What’s the actual grade?” “Still first-rank low-grade! Mostly, the divine aura was used to repair the cauldron.” “Alright, I’ll refine another batch.” Su Yuan opened the refining room, asked the disciple at the door for more spiritual herbs, and started refining again, still Hundred-Flavored Fasting Pills. This time, it wasn’t as smooth as before in cultivation state. But he could still refine using eighty kinds of materials. After refining, over seven hundred Fasting Pills flew out of the furnace, forming another small mountain. From the mountain, over six hundred kinds of divine aura flew out, merging into the Ten Thousand Treasures Heaven-Earth Cauldron. On the cauldron’s surface appeared a multicolored pill constantly shifting its colors. Little Qian exclaimed happily, “First-rank mid-grade now! So fast! This speed is incredible!” Su Yuan frowned instead. “Are there repeats so soon?” “Keep going!” “Huh? I’m already at first-rank mid-grade. Refining first-rank low-grade pills now is pointless, right?” Little Qian said. “Can it absorb the aura?” “Yes!” “If it can, then don’t talk!” Little Qian fell silent. Su Yuan continued refining Hundred-Flavored Fasting Pills in the refining room. Seven days passed in the blink of an eye. That day, Tao Yaoyao came to the refining room again. She hadn’t expected Su Yuan to stay inside for seven full days. Knowing he was refining low-rank pills and not wanting to disturb him, she knocked and then entered directly. She saw piles of pill mountains surrounding Su Yuan in the center. She could only see half of his head;the rest was hidden behind the pill mountains! Tao Yaoyao was stunned by the colorful array of pills in the entire refining room. She asked in shock, “Su Yuan, what are you refining?” “Ah? Sister Tao, you’re here! I’m refining Fasting Pills. This is the last batch, almost done.” Tao Yaoyao floated up to Su Yuan’s side. She saw Su Yuan placing various refining materials into the furnace one by one. At a glance, she saw dozens of types! Soon, the number reached one hundred! Then Su Yuan began controlling these materials to fuse together under her shocked gaze. “What grade of pill are you refining? Why do you need so many spiritual herbs?” Tao Yaoyao couldn’t help but ask. “Fasting Pills! Just wait a moment, it’ll be quick! I’m very experienced at refining Fasting Pills now,” Su Yuan said. She saw Su Yuan skillfully ignite the fire, control it, and condense it. His true essence surged endlessly from his body into the furnace. His divine sense seemed infinite, delicately controlling all one hundred materials. The entire process flowed like a master alchemist refining a peerless divine pill! Tao Yaoyao even sensed the fire and wood spiritual energies of heaven and earth fluctuating with Su Yuan’s movements. The two natural forces blended into his refining, enriching the medicinal properties of the herbs. Such changes easily cause refining failures or mutations in medicinal properties, but Su Yuan was instead enjoying it calmly. His refining technique was extremely profound;his divine sense seemed to merge with the essence of metal, like the sharpest, most precise knife delicately carving patterns in the liquid medicine. This process lasted only a quarter of an hour. Su Yuan raised the fire in a final wave, and over a thousand Fasting Pills solidified. He opened the furnace, and a thousand Fasting Pills flew out, which he placed in an empty spot, forming another pill mountain! Only then did Tao Yaoyao carefully inspect the pills’ quality. “Flawless! Flawless! Still flawless!” “Are these… flawless Fasting Pills?” Tao Yaoyao was extremely shocked. Above supreme grade is flawless, meaning pills without any poison. This is the highest grade for low-rank pills. High-grade pills have an additional concept called pill veins, but since Fasting Pills are too low rank, flawless is the best. Most alchemists don’t produce flawless pills more than a few times in their lives, and treasure even one as precious. She often refined low-rank pills that could be flawless, but this whole batch was flawless — something she had never seen before! No, she scanned the entire refining room and found almost all were flawless Fasting Pills!