66: Chapter 66 The Path to Advancement for Alchemists

In just three days, Xia Shaoxin had completely adapted to his new, busy life.

There were hundreds of Pill Formulas in the Danfang Pavilion. As he flipped through the ledger, he saw strange names for each Pill Formula and found it hard to guess what the Medicinal Pills were actually for.

Accidentally, when he reached out to touch a Pill Formula, he inexplicably felt a faint, whisper-thin voice murmuring beside his ear.

In fact, he had felt this sensation the first time he studied the qi gathering pill, but he hadn't paid much attention to it.

His intuition told him that this voice came from the Danfang Pavilion Manager Token.

He hurriedly picked up the token and held it in his palm; some strange knowledge flashed through his mind.

It turned out that this token was actually a Magical Artifact passed down from ancient times.

The holder of the Danfang Pavilion Manager Token could bypass the Formation Restrictions of the Danfang Pavilion and glimpse partial information about the Pill Formulas.

He calmed his mind and used the hand holding the token to touch a Pill Formula beside him.

The name of that Pill Formula was very strange, and he had no idea what it was for: Li Gong Divine Pill.

"In his early years, the Immortal Liao Ming traveled in the mortal world, but suddenly suffered from Qi Deviation. His lower limbs became paralyzed, leaving him trapped in the mountains. Fortunately, a physician named Li Le entered the mountains to gather herbs and used a variety of medicinal plants to treat him, eventually curing him."

"After returning, he studied the drugs used by Li Le intensively and created this Pill Formula to specifically treat the symptoms of bodily imbalance after Qi Deviation, naming it the Li Gong Divine Pill."

No wonder this Pill Formula's name didn't indicate its medicinal use; it was meant for commemoration.

A resistance arose from the Pill Formula, repelling his hand.

Between his eyes, at the center of his brow, a force lingered for a long time, making him want to vomit.

He knew he couldn't pry for too long.

This information was enough; it was just a Medicinal Pill specifically for treating Qi Deviation, which was truly useless.

He guessed that its Materials were also precious; who would refine this kind of Medicinal Pill and keep it around for no reason?

Those in the Qi Refining Realm weren't even qualified to suffer from Qi Deviation; at most, they would get "diverted Qi" while Cultivating, which wouldn't kill them.

Only great cultivators, supposedly those above Foundation Establishment, would suffer from Qi Deviation. The higher the cultivation base, the more dangerous the Qi Deviation, and even with a Medicinal Pill, it would be too late to save them.

After resting for a moment, he went to pry into another Pill Formula.

By the end of the day, he had pried into over a dozen, and the more he pried, the more astonished he became.

This was no ordinary place for inheriting Pill Formulas; it was fundamentally the path of advancement for an Alchemist's Cultivation!

In less than two months, he had finished prying into all the Pill Formulas in the Danfang Pavilion.

The path of an Alchemist in the Chiyan Sect was clearly displayed before him.

Just as Senior Brother Liang Ruoran said, for the Lower Stage of Qi Refining, the first and second layers, eating a qi gathering pill was enough.

When reaching the Third Layer of Qi Refining, one switched to eating a lingyuan pill.

To break through the major barrier between the Lower Stage and the Middle Stage, one needed to eat three more Advanced types: the tongming pill, qingling pill, and feiyun pill.

The medicinal power of these three types of Medicinal Pills was the same; the only difference was the Materials.

Fortunately, the Chiyan Sect cultivated the Materials needed for these, so there was no need to worry.

When reaching the Qi Refining Upper Stage, one needed to eat several types such as the shanhai pill and tianjing pill. The Materials could not be entirely self-produced and had to be bought and sold externally. The yield was unstable, and even the Elders didn't have enough to eat.

From then on, there were corresponding Pill Formulas for what to eat at the Foundation Establishment stage, all clearly arranged up to the Golden Core cultivation base.

After cultivating to the Golden Core, there were no more Pill Formulas for what Medicinal Pills to take.

Probably because the highest cultivation base in the history of the Chiyan Sect was Golden Core.

For Xia Shaoxin, Golden Core was still a very distant matter, and he didn't need to consider it for now.

Although there seemed to be hundreds of Pill Formulas in this room, fewer than ten were truly related to Cultivation.

The effects of the other Pill Formulas were bizarre, and he couldn't imagine when they would ever be useful.

Among them, the Pill Formula he needed most right now was the "three-corpse three-insect body refining pill".

This Medicinal Pill had a similar effect to the three-flower spirit gathering pill; both could improve a person's physical condition, making it easier to absorb and refine Spiritual Qi.

However, the three-flower spirit gathering pill was temporary and had to be eaten while Cultivating, effectively enhancing the cultivation effect.

Whereas the three-corpse three-insect body refining pill permanently enhanced the human body's ability to absorb Spiritual Qi.

The price of this Pill Formula was particularly high, requiring thirty Spirit Stones.

He had to sell two furnaces of qi gathering pills consecutively to scrape together enough to acquire it.

After finishing his study, he was greatly astonished.

This recipe was composed almost entirely of Poisonous Insects, and there were several types of Poisonous Insects that were not produced in Dawu Mountain, which he had never sacrificed.

Moreover, this Medicinal Pill wasn't something you could just take one or two of; it required long-term consumption.

It didn't specify to what extent one needed to eat it.

He sighed inwardly, thinking this Pill Formula was a bit of a trap, and he didn't know if he could gather enough Poisonous Insects.

Converting Poisonous Insects would consume qi and blood, and refining the Medicinal Pill would consume not only qi and blood but also True Qi.

The qi and blood pill he used to eat was already useless, but the Danfang Pavilion did have a "secret method for refining qi and blood pill," which was worth twelve Spirit Stones.

The Pill Formulas in the Danfang Pavilion were generally ten Spirit Stones or more.

He had to acquire the qi and blood pill in a few days; then his path of Alchemy advancement would form a closed loop.

He still had to eat the three-flower spirit gathering pill for now to help absorb Spiritual Qi while Cultivating.

He had to refine even more qi gathering pills; not only to eat, but also to sell.

He didn't dare to keep selling Poisonous Insects because he couldn't explain their origin, which could easily cause unnecessary trouble.

He would take some time to check out the Tengyun Peak Market; the Chiyan Sect did not allow precious items to be sold to outsiders, so he would see if he could find a way.

For the three-corpse three-insect body refining pill, one was to be taken every three days. He didn't know how many pills a single furnace would produce, but if the yield was the same as the qi gathering pill, he would refine one furnace a month.

If he added the qi and blood pill, he would have to refine a furnace of Medicinal Pills every few days.

Running back and forth between the two places, he was truly very busy.

According to the rules of the Baotong Tower, transactions had to be submitted on the same day.

In the afternoon, after producing the new three-corpse three-insect body refining pill, he took the thirty Spirit Stones to see Deacon Tao.

"Eh? What Pill Formula did you buy? Is it that expensive?"

Xia Shaoxin could only report the truth.

"Oh, who bought this Pill Formula?" Deacon Tao was very surprised. "This formula has been stored in the Danfang Pavilion for five hundred years; I even forgot what it was called."

The faces of various Alchemist Disciples appeared in his mind.

Seeing Xia Shaoxin's eyes flickering and him stuttering, he was suddenly startled: "You are also an Alchemist; could it be you?"

"It is me."

Deacon Tao pondered for a moment and said: "I remember, this pill can improve one's Physique, making it easier for people to absorb Spiritual Qi. It was taken by Seniors from ancient times in pursuit of the ultimate cultivation effect."

Xia Shaoxin said: "That's right, why don't people eat it now?"

"It's not that they don't want to, it's that they can't afford to." Deacon Tao sighed. "I don't know what its Materials are, but they must be very expensive, and it requires long-term consumption; it's not something where you just eat one or two and be done with it."

Deacon Tao glanced at him sympathetically and said while suppressing a laugh:

"I know you came from the Poisonous Swamp Mountains. You thought that by refining a furnace of such Medicinal Pills to eat, you could improve your Physique, and that the price you had to pay was just a Pill Formula and a furnace of Materials, and that you could just grit your teeth and get through it, right?"

Xia Shaoxin wore a miserable expression.

"The Pill Formula is just a small pit; the big pit is behind it! Hehe..."

Deacon Tao finally couldn't help but laugh out loud.

He concluded that Xia Shaoxin definitely couldn't afford such Medicinal Pills.

He suddenly thought of a question: "Hey, how do you have so many Spirit Stones? Thirty of them!"

"I sold two furnaces of qi gathering pills."

Deacon Tao couldn't control his laughter even more.

"You are too crazy. Alchemy is originally a matter of great loss. Instead of eating a few yourself to make up for it, you actually take them to sell, just to buy a useless Pill Formula!"

Looking at him with great sympathy, he accepted the Spirit Stones and kept shaking his head and sighing.