23: Chapter 23 Foundation Establishment Level 3!

As the night grew quiet and deep, Shendan Peak was shrouded in a thin layer of moonlight.

Baili Yunche returned to his own small side room, closed the door, and properly secured the window lattice.

Until confirming there was no longer any probing Divine Sense around, he sat cross-legged on the futon, and took out the Storage Pouch snatched from Zhu Yue's waist from his bosom.

The Storage Pouch was dark gray, with a circle of dark silver patterns embroidered around the pouch mouth, faintly revealing the spiritual light of a Restriction.

Its quality was more than a notch better than the one he bought from the man in black.

"Fei Yangyang's lackey is indeed well-off."

Baili Yunche's mouth curved up slightly, his fingertips condensing a wisp of Pure Yang spiritual power, effortlessly erasing the Divine Sense branding remaining at the mouth of the pouch.

Zhu Yue was only at the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining, so this kind of crude Restriction was as good as useless before him.

His Divine Sense probed inward.

The next moment, his pupils suddenly constricted.

"This is..."

Instead of directly taking out the items, he turned the mouth of the Storage Pouch downward and gently shook it.

"Swish, swish—"

Spirit Stones poured out like flowing water, piling up into a small milky-white hill on the ground.

The soft halo of the moonstone shone upon it, refracting layers upon layers of spiritual light, dazzling one's eyes.

Baili Yunche's breathing slightly stagnated.

It was not as if he had never seen Spirit Stones before.

Previously at Yunwu Market, the Spirit Stones that passed through his hands numbered in the thousands.

But those were transaction exchanges, rewards traded for Medicinal Pills, accounts calculated with absolute clarity.

Yet this pile before him was purely gained for free, considered wealth obtained from his own acts of chivalry.

He steadied his mind and began to tally them.

100, 200, 500, 1000...

The more he counted, the greater his astonishment within his heart.

When the last Spirit Stone fell into his palm, the number finally settled at 9,527 Spirit Stones.

9,527 Low-Grade Spirit Stones!

These Spirit Stones were entirely enough to buy a Spiritual Artifact of extremely excellent High Grade quality, and also enough for an ordinary Outer Sect Disciple to save up for twenty years without eating or drinking.

Baili Yunche pinched a Spirit Stone and suddenly chuckled softly.

"Fei Yangyang, oh Fei Yangyang..."

He muttered to himself in a low voice, his tone carrying a trace of mockery:

"If you knew that the person you sent to cause trouble for me was carrying so many Spirit Stones, and in the end they all went into my pocket, would you be so angered as to spit blood on the spot?"

He picked up the Spirit Stones one by one and reloaded them into the Storage Pouch. He planned to use this sum of Spirit Stones to go to Yunwu Market again and buy some treasures for self-defense.

Fei Yangyang was at the Foundation Establishment Ninth Layer, and behind him was the Xiao Dan Alliance.

Today he beat Zhu Yue and snatched the Storage Pouch; Fei Yangyang would definitely not let the matter rest.

Although it could be said that Fei Yangyang wouldn't personally make a move against a Utility Disciple like himself at the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining, what if he did?

He had to be on guard!

He must make exhaustive preparations.

Besides the Spirit Stones, there were also more than ten bottles of spirit gathering pill in the Storage Pouch, all of which were Low Grade.

In addition, there were a few Magical Artifacts with ordinary appearances, a few Jade Slips recording ordinary Cultivation Techniques, and a crumpled copy of Internal Regulations of the Xiao Dan Alliance.

Baili Yunche casually flipped through those internal regulations; the handwriting was sloppy, and the contents were nothing more than rules for exploiting newcomers, so he threw it aside with waning interest.

Afterwards, he took out a diyuan pill from his own Storage Pouch.

The dragon-eye-sized Medicinal Pill circulated white gloss throughout its entire body, its four pill patterns clear and well-proportioned, with extremely good quality.

The moment he pulled out the bottle stopper, a medicinal fragrance that was refreshing yet carried traces of scorching heat drifted out, faintly resonating with the True Essence within his Dantian.

The diyuan pill, a second-grade Medicinal Pill, was the most commonly used auxiliary cultivation item for Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Among the waste pills he accumulated in the Waste Pill Room, the quantity of diyuan pill waste pills was practically inexhaustible.

After being purified by the creation divine cauldron, he already had no less than a hundred top-grade diyuan pills in his hands.

Without the slightest hesitation, he tilted his head back and swallowed it.

The Medicinal Pill slid down his throat, transforming into a warm yet not turbulent spiritual power, like melting snow in a spring stream, slowly seeping into his limbs and bones.

Baili Yunche closed his eyes and circulated the Pure Yang Indestructible Scripture, guiding this spiritual power to travel, settle, and refine within his Meridians.

Inside the Dantian, that phantom of the golden sun slightly vibrated, absorbing and transforming the medicinal efficacy of the diyuan pill thread by thread.

Time passed silently.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already the morning of the third day.

Baili Yunche withdrew his technique and gently exhaled a breath of turbid air. Inspecting his Dantian internally, he found that the accumulation of Pure Yang True Essence within his body had increased by another fraction.

"Refining one diyuan pill in a day, according to this refining speed, in at most a month, I can advance to the Foundation Establishment Second Layer."

A faint light flickered in Baili Yunche's eyes.

After Awakening the Pure Yang Holy Body, although the Cultivation speed was greatly accelerated, correspondingly, the consumption of resources was also extremely terrifying!

Because the Pure Yang Indestructible Scripture was an Immortal-grade Cultivation Technique, the Dantian it opened up was several times larger than that of ordinary people, so the resources consumed were naturally several times that of ordinary Cultivators.

However, he was not worried either. Anyway, with the creation divine cauldron purifying waste pills, he had endless pills to take, completely without needing to worry about resource issues.

Time flowed like water, quietly and silently.

In the blink of an eye, Baili Yunche had already spent a full two and a half months at Shendan Peak.

And he, under the supply of the diyuan pills, had successfully made a Breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Third Layer.

Aside from his cultivation level, his progress on the path of Alchemy was also visible to the naked eye, and he was already able to refine multiple kinds of first-grade Medicinal Pills.

For the past two and a half months, his daily routine gradually fixed into a stable rhythm.

Getting up every day at the Mao hour, sitting in meditation to Cultivate for one hour.

At the Chen hour, together with Lin Maomao, he headed to Pill Refining Room Number Five of Yi Zi, tidying up the medicine racks, checking the Earth Fire Formation, and waiting for Su Bingqing to arrive.

Su Bingqing usually arrived at three quarters past the Chen hour.

He became increasingly familiar with the Alchemy process; whether it was controlling fire or processing Spiritual Plants, he handled it with ease.

Such days of continuous study lasted for a month, and Su Bingqing finally began to teach him real Alchemy techniques.

"First-grade spirit gathering pill, the simplest introductory Pill Formula." Su Bingqing handed him a Jade Slip, "Read it first, and ask me if you don't understand."

Baili Yunche was so excited that he gestured wildly with his hands and feet; he was finally going to get in touch with Alchemy techniques!

He gratefully received the Jade Slip, and subsequently, without stopping a moment, began learning the refining technique of the spirit gathering pill in his mind.

As the most common first-grade Medicinal Pill, the spirit gathering pill was the primary choice for learning Medicinal Pills for many Alchemy Boys.

The refining of the spirit gathering pill was not complex: one main ingredient, the Spiritual Plant, and six auxiliary ingredients. The seven Spiritual Plants were thrown in according to order, the heat changed successively, and finally the pills were condensed and the juices gathered.

He looked at it no less than dozens of times, remembering all the steps in his heart.

Then he started the Pill Furnace.

The first time, the order of the ingredients thrown in was wrong by one, and the medicinal liquid directly carbonized, a burnt smell drifting out from the Pill Furnace.

The second time, the heat control was not good, being three breaths late when transitioning from gentle fire to fierce fire; the medicinal liquid boiled excessively, pill liquid splattered, and half a furnace of Spiritual Plants was scrapped.

The third time, the fourth time, the fifth time...

Failure is a common occurrence, and Baili Yunche was not anxious.

If Medicinal Pills could be refined well in just once or twice, wouldn't everyone be able to become a respected Alchemist?

What he studied in his past life was engineering; what complex formulas had he not derived?

If deriving once didn't work, then ten times!

If ten times didn't work, then a hundred times!

Cultivating immortals in this lifetime, even a poor Spiritual Root could be forged into the Pure Yang Holy Body, so failing a few times in Alchemy, what was that?

Through his continuous adjustments, attempts, and readjustments, finally, during the fourteenth Alchemy session, he finally refined the spirit gathering pill!

When the Pill Furnace emitted a familiar buzzing vibration, the furnace lid lifted on its own, and three cyan-white Medicinal Pills rolled into his palm, Baili Yunche lowered his head and looked at them for a long time.

On the surface of the Medicinal Pills, there was a faint pattern.

Low Grade spirit gathering pill.

He cupped those three Medicinal Pills in his palm, feeling the warmth coming from them, and suddenly chuckled softly.

"Done."

Lin Maomao poked his head out from behind the medicine rack, saw the Medicinal Pills in his palm, froze for a moment, and immediately burst into a cheer:

"Baili Yunche, you succeeded! You can do Alchemy! You you you..."

He was so excited that he became incoherent, happier than if he himself had successfully refined a Medicinal Pill.

Baili Yunche looked at the dancing Xiao Pangzi, and the corners of his lips couldn't help but curl up.

In the days that followed, Baili Yunche's Alchemy techniques progressed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

From forming one pill, to forming two or three.

From Low Grade spirit gathering pill, to occasionally being able to refine a Medium Grade one.

"Have you really never learned Alchemy before?"

One afternoon, Su Bingqing leaned against the window of the Pill Refining Room, watching Baili Yunche proficiently control fire, throw in medicines, and condense pills, and couldn't help asking.

Baili Yunche shook his head, stared into Su Bingqing's peerlessly beautiful eyes, and said: "No."

"Then your talent..." Su Bingqing paused, seeming to weigh her wording, "Is much better than I expected."

Baili Yunche smiled and said modestly: "It's thanks to Senior Sister Su's good teaching."

Su Bingqing glanced at him and did not pursue the matter further.

These past six months, she increasingly felt that this boy coming from Miscellaneous Chores Peak was not simple.

His cultivation level was clearly only at the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining, yet he could continuously refine several furnaces of spirit gathering pills without feeling a trace of fatigue!

This was very abnormal!

Because the magical power of the Qi Refinement Stage was fundamentally insufficient for high-intensity refinement of Medicinal Pills; generally, after refining one furnace, one had to stop and rest to recover magical power.

Could he be a Foundation Establishment Cultivator?

This thought flashed through Su Bingqing's mind.

But immediately afterwards, she shook her head.

These past few days, she had also gone to Miscellaneous Chores Peak to investigate Baili Yunche, learning that Baili Yunche was a naturally disabled body with blocked Meridians.

In this lifetime, it would be impossible to break through the Foundation Establishment Stage. Otherwise, he wouldn't still be at the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining after entering the sect for a dozen years!

The thought that he had secrets on him flashed through Su Bingqing's mind.

But she had no intention of probing into it.

Everyone has secrets.

Her own secrets had never been told to anyone either.