304: Chapter 304 Concentrating Resources to Accomplish Major Tasks

On the inner wall of the qiankun creation furnace, the Dao Rhyme ebbed and flowed like the tide.

His Divine Sense adhered to it, syncing with the Dao Rhyme. A wisp of cyan light flowed along his Meridians toward his Dantian. From the Sea of Consciousness to the Dantian, about twenty percent of the Dao Rhyme was lost.

After being routed through the dao foundation furnace in the Dantian and outputted to the Meridians, another fifteen percent was lost.

From the arm Meridians to his fingertips, another ten percent was lost.

From his fingertips to the furnace chamber of the wanbao mirror, the final ten percent was lost.

The total attenuation exceeded fifty-five percent. This meant that less than half of the Dao Rhyme he channeled from his Sea of Consciousness reached the furnace chamber.

The total amount of Dao Rhyme required for the nine golden patterns was more than his supply—he could only provide enough for six or seven. The gap of those two or three patterns was the distance between a failed pill and a supreme grade one.

Su Cheng recorded the simulation results in his mind, then changed his perspective: instead of increasing the supply, reduce the demand.

What if the first six golden patterns didn't require Dao Rhyme? Let the medicinal power spontaneously condense the first six, and only channel all the Dao Rhyme into the final three golden patterns and the closing step?

This idea was rejected as soon as it crossed his mind. The medicinal power needed time to spontaneously condense the patterns. By the time the first six were finished, the remaining medicinal power would have cooled by more than half, making it impossible to condense the last three.

Then, try another way. Use the method from the first furnace for the first six golden patterns, letting the Qi of Creation guide the medicinal power to condense spontaneously without consuming Dao Rhyme.

When the seventh golden pattern began, pour all the Dao Rhyme in at once.

"Concentrating strength to accomplish great things?"

Su Cheng pondered for a moment and simulated the feasibility of this plan in his mind.

It was theoretically feasible, but there was a fatal risk in the operation: a quality gap would form between the first six golden patterns and the last three.

The first six were spontaneously condensed, so their quality was equivalent to Low Grade; the last three were bolstered by Dao Rhyme, so their quality approached supreme grade.

If the quality inside a single Medicinal Pill was inconsistent, it would easily collapse during the closing phase.

Unless... he could make the Dao Rhyme backtrack during the closing phase to complete the quality of the first six golden patterns.

This required more precise control, greater consumption of the Divine Soul, and higher risk.

But it was still better than sitting around waiting for death.

Su Cheng recorded this plan and immediately started the third furnace.

The Spirit Medicine for the third furnace was laid out in Su Cheng's hands. He re-infused the nine Spirit Medicines with the Qi of Creation.

The previous steps were familiar: purification, decomposition, Fusion, all the way to the pill condensation stage.

This time, Su Cheng operated according to the new plan, not introducing Dao Rhyme initially, letting the Qi of Creation guide the medicinal power to condense the patterns spontaneously.

The condensation speed of the first six golden patterns was slightly faster than in the first furnace; after all, he had accumulated the experience of two furnaces in the feel of this Medicinal Pill.

After the sixth golden pattern took shape, Su Cheng concentrated all his Divine Soul power, drew out all the available creation dao rhyme from his Sea of Consciousness, and poured it all into the furnace chamber of the wanbao mirror.

Transmission attenuation still existed, but this time he pressed all the Dao Rhyme into the last three golden patterns and the closing step.

The seventh golden pattern condensed rapidly under the support of the Dao Rhyme, the lines deep and full.

The eighth, complete.

The ninth, the Dao Rhyme was exhausted.

It lasted two patterns longer than the last furnace, but when the ninth golden pattern was seventy percent condensed, the cyan light broke.

The ninth golden pattern was crooked and repelled the eighth.

But this time it was different from the last furnace; the last furnace collapsed starting from the seventh pattern, and the chain reaction affected all the previous golden patterns. This time, only the ninth had a problem; the structure of the first eight golden patterns remained intact.

A breath before the golden patterns collapsed, Su Cheng made a judgment: he gave up on the ninth golden pattern.

Giving up didn't mean stopping; it meant drawing back all the remaining medicinal power of the ninth golden pattern, breaking it up, and evenly supplementing it into the first eight golden patterns, then forcefully pressing them together.

The eight golden patterns converged toward the center, the medicinal power colliding, merging, and solidifying. A pill floated in the furnace chamber, with only eight golden patterns on its surface.

The standard for a nine-aperture golden spirit pill was nine golden patterns; eight was clearly not enough.

The luster on the surface of the pill dimmed. The spirituality of the eight golden patterns dissipated rapidly after leaving the furnace fire, and the structure of the entire pill disintegrated from within within three breaths.

It shattered, another failed pill.

Su Cheng looked at the pile of powder in his palm and remained silent for a long time.

Eight was okay, nine was not; it was one short.

He collected the powder and didn't start the fourth furnace immediately, but sat down to rethink his approach.

There wasn't enough Dao Rhyme, and there was no solution to this problem in the short term.

The total amount of Dao Rhyme he could call upon in his Sea of Consciousness was fixed; unless he achieved a Breakthrough in cultivation or made further progress in his understanding of the creation furnace, it would not increase.

Achieving a Breakthrough in cultivation within the three-month competition limit? Impractical.

Improving transmission efficiency? He had been working on it for three months; everything that could be done had been done.

Su Cheng's options were becoming fewer, but there was actually only one effective plan: in the last two furnaces, push the utilization rate of the Dao Rhyme to the limit.

He closed his eyes and repeatedly simulated the condensation process of the third furnace in his Sea of Consciousness.

Eight were successful, the ninth was short by the last thirty percent.

The gap of thirty percent Dao Rhyme, converted into the loss during the transmission process, was approximately the portion lost in the Meridians from his Dantian to his fingertips.

What if he didn't output the Dao Rhyme from his fingertips, but directly from his Dantian?

Not going through the arm Meridians? After being routed through the dao foundation furnace, the Dao Rhyme would be released directly from the Dantian, bypassing the upper limb Meridians, and covering the Pill Furnace in the form of a spiritual power shield?

When this idea popped up, even Su Cheng felt it was absurd.

Using spiritual power to wrap around the Pill Furnace would cause the control precision to drop off a cliff, much rougher than the contact-based output from his fingertips.

But Dao Rhyme didn't need precision.

The Dao Rhyme was something that "moistened things silently"; it would soak in by itself after entering the medicinal liquid, and Su Cheng didn't need to use spiritual power to guide it.

What needed precision was the control of heat and the diversion of medicinal power during the Alchemy process; these were handled by the Abyssal Purple Fire and the Qi of Creation.

The Dao Rhyme was only responsible for "gilding" the golden patterns in the final step of pill condensation.

Su Cheng thought for two days and simulated every detail of this plan in his mind over a hundred times.

Then he started the fourth furnace.

Outside the square, time had reached the seventieth day.

The light and dark on the fifty grid screens were uneven; some Disciples in the grids were still burying their heads in hard work, while others had already stopped.

As of this moment, a total of eleven Disciples had successfully refined finished Medicinal Pills.

Shen Qing's three furnaces: Low Grade, Low Grade, Medium Grade. Three of the five portions of Spirit Medicine had been used, and he was resting and adjusting.

Wu Chen's three furnaces: failed, Low Grade, Medium Grade. He had also used three portions and was researching the plan for the fourth furnace.

Zhou Mingyuan's three furnaces: Low Grade, Low Grade, Low Grade. All three were Low Grade; the quality was stable, but he had never broken through to Medium Grade.

Wei Tian's two furnaces: failed, Low Grade. The configuration of the fire spirit body plus Purple Lotus Heart Fire was enough for Low Grade pills, but it still lacked a bit of effort to go higher.

Lin Ruoshui's three furnaces: failed, failed, failed. The third furnace was a failed pill; the quality didn't meet the standard, but at least the pill shape was condensed. At this rate, there was a good chance for a Low Grade in the fourth furnace.

Chen Yuan's situation was the most special; his first three furnaces all failed, each failing faster than the last.

But starting from the second furnace, he added different combinations of micro Formation Flags around the Alchemy table, the number rising from the six of the first furnace to the fourteen of the third, and the layout also upgraded from a simple gathering Formation to a three-layer nested Formation of gathering spirits - stabilizing medicine - locking patterns.

After each furnace failed, he would calmly remove the Formation Flags, compare the state of the residue in the furnace, modify the Formation parameters, and re-arrange them.

That persistent attitude made Elder Qingmu shake his head, but although he said nothing, the smile in his eyes could not be hidden.

The other Disciples who refined Low Grade pills each had their own skills, some relying on unique Alchemy techniques, some on the feel and pharmacology foundation accumulated over a hundred years, or some on certain rare auxiliary Medicinal Pills to temporarily improve their state; the methods were varied.

As for Su Cheng, the third furnace was a failed pill, the fourth...

There was hardly anyone in the viewing area watching Su Cheng's screen anymore. The continuous failed pills meant his ranking was not very high, and although he had refined five pills in the first furnace, his subsequent success rate was too low.

The radiance of Wu Chen and Shen Qing's Medium Grade pills was too bright, suppressing everyone else.

Su Cheng's fourth furnace began on the seventy-second day.

"He's at it again, he's started the furnace again." A Disciple in the corner glanced at the light screen and quickly looked away. "Forget it, let's watch Wu Chen's side; maybe he'll use some new method in his fourth furnace."