Chapter 166 - 162: Qi Replenishing Pill
Li Yuan and Old Sun continued eastward, finding the shop with the Wang family’s sign in the third row.
The storefront was modest: a stone house with a semi-open awning. A wooden sign hung by the entrance, bearing two words: "Wang’s Shop."
The wooden sign was newly carved. The characters were neat, and the lacquer hadn’t fully dried.
There was already someone in the shop.
A Cultivator in his thirties sat behind the counter. He had a square, honest-looking face and wore the Wang family’s gray cloth robes, with a Token tucked into his waist. Seeing Li Yuan and Old Sun enter, he stood up.
"My surname is Wang. Name’s Wang Zheng. I’ve been stationed here for almost two months."
He glanced at the bundles on Li Yuan’s and Old Sun’s backs.
"There are two empty rooms in the back. Put your things away, and then we’ll talk."
The two of them carried their luggage into the back rooms.
The rooms were small, each with a wooden plank bed, a table, and a chair. It was much cruder than the stone rooms at the Talisman Hall, but it was better than living in a tent on the outskirts.
After they settled in and came out, Wang Zheng gave them a general overview of the shop’s situation.
"The Loose Cultivators around here are mainly here to scour the Secret Realm for treasures. A few of them gather herbs and hunt Demon Beasts in the outer mountain ranges. Consumables sell the fastest—Fireball Talismans, Vajra Talismans, Rejuvenation Talismans, and Blood Replenishing Talismans. We get inquiries every day. Pills are also in high demand, with Qi Replenishing Pills and Replenishing Essence Pills being the most sought-after."
He pulled a thin booklet from under the counter.
"Previously, all the Talismans were shipped from the marketplace. The journey takes over a day, and we might run into Demon Beasts along the way, so shipping costs aren’t low. Pills are even more troublesome; their efficacy drops if storage conditions are poor."
He pushed the booklet across the table.
"These are the sales records for the last half-month. Take a look so you have an idea of the numbers."
Li Yuan flipped through a couple of pages. Fireball Talismans sold the most, followed by Vajra Talismans and Rejuvenation Talismans. The prices were 30-40% higher than in Yunyang Marketplace and 50-60% higher than in Qinghe Marketplace.
Demand far outstripped supply.
Wang Zheng then explained a few rules for the outer region. The Primordial Yang Sect’s patrol team made two rounds a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, and would immediately arrest anyone they found fighting. Brawling was forbidden within the stone pillars, as well as within a thirty-li radius outside them. But beyond thirty li, no one cared.
"You’ll work in the shop during the day. Be careful at night. Even though the Primordial Yang Sect has people in the outer region, it’s best not to go wandering around in the middle of the night."
Li Yuan nodded.
That afternoon, Li Yuan set up a table under the shop’s awning, spread out his talisman paper, and began making talismans.
He rotated between four types: Fireball Talismans, Vajra Talismans, Rejuvenation Talismans, and Blood Replenishing Talismans. Since his Talisman Making Skill reached Minor Achievement, his success rate was extremely high. His failure rate for Tier One Low Grade Talismans was less than ten percent, and when he was working quickly, he could produce seven or eight in two hours.
The awning provided no cover, so any passing Loose Cultivators could see at a glance that someone was making talismans inside.
In less than an hour, someone approached.
"How much for a Fireball Talisman?"
"Three Spirit Stones each," Wang Zheng answered from behind the counter.
The Loose Cultivator hesitated for a moment, then took out his Spirit Stones and bought three.
Over the course of the afternoon, another seven or eight people came by. He sold twelve Fireball Talismans, five Vajra Talismans, and three Rejuvenation Talismans.
As evening fell, Old Sun also started to work.
He set up his old iron Alchemy Furnace by the window in his room. He had brought the furnace himself. It was a size larger than the one Li Yuan had previously bought, and there were no hidden characters on its walls—it was just an ordinary old furnace.
Li Yuan leaned in and asked a couple of questions about the method for making Qi Replenishing Pills.
"Let me see that recipe of yours for Qi Replenishing Pills." Old Sun wiped down the furnace and held out his hand to Li Yuan.
Li Yuan took the beast-skin booklet for the Qi Replenishing Pill from his storage pouch and handed it over.
Old Sun took it, flipped through a couple of pages while muttering something to himself, and then handed the booklet back to Li Yuan.
"Simple. The Qi Replenishing Pill is the most basic Tier One Low Grade pill. I’ve refined plenty of them before. If you want to learn, I can teach you."
He paused for a moment.
"I won’t charge you. Just consider it a favor you owe me."
Li Yuan glanced at him.
Old Sun tossed a handful of Cyan Spirit Grass into the furnace. As he channeled Spiritual Power into the base of the furnace, he said with a smile,
"I have a feeling you’ve got a bright future ahead of you. Think of this as an early investment."
He said it casually, as if discussing some trivial matter.
Li Yuan didn’t refuse.
"Alright."
Old Sun began his explanation, first demonstrating the complete process of refining a Qi Replenishing Pill.
He started with the Cyan Spirit Grass, heating it with Spiritual Power until the leaves softened and released their juices. Then, he added astragalus root. The root required a higher temperature to extract its active ingredients, but if the heat was too high, it would evaporate the liquid from the Cyan Spirit Grass.
"Here’s the key part." Old Sun tapped the furnace wall with his fingertip.
"The two herbs have different temperature requirements, so you need to heat them in separate zones inside the furnace. Higher temperature at the bottom for the astragalus root, and a lower temperature up top to preserve the Cyan Spirit Grass liquid."
"Spiritual Power control is fundamental. Your precision should be good enough, but the control required for Alchemy is different from Talisman Making. Talisman Making is about refinement; Alchemy is about coordination. You have to simultaneously manage the heat, the state of the herbs, and the concentration of the medicinal liquid. All three things are changing at once, and you have to watch them all."
Old Sun added White Atractylodes Slices and poria powder in sequence.
"Divine Soul perception is crucial at this stage. You can’t see the state of the herbs inside the furnace; you can only probe them with your Divine Soul. But this furnace..."
He tapped the furnace wall.
"It’s a bit lacking. The iron walls are thick, and Spiritual Power doesn’t conduct through it well. A lot of your Divine Soul perception is lost passing through the wall. A good Pill Furnace is transparent to Spiritual Power, allowing your Divine Soul to pass right through and see what’s happening inside. This one of mine won’t do that. You can only rely on the ’feel’ of your Spiritual Power control to judge."
Li Yuan nodded.
The ’Alchemy Dao Insights’ entry was still with him. Every key point Old Sun mentioned felt faintly familiar, as if he had seen similar descriptions somewhere before. The insights that had flooded his mind when he equipped the Pill Furnace were now being corroborated by Old Sun’s explanation.
After Old Sun finished his demonstration, he gave the furnace to Li Yuan.
Li Yuan placed the Cyan Spirit Grass into the furnace and channeled Spiritual Power from his palm into its base.
Controlling the heat was more delicate than he had imagined. When making talismans, Spiritual Power followed a fixed path guided by Spirit Patterns. In Alchemy, the Spiritual Power was dispersed within the furnace with no path to follow; it all came down to feel.
Old Sun watched from the side, offering occasional reminders.
"Lower the heat a bit; the liquid is about to burn."
"You added too much poria powder. Use five percent less next time."
The medicinal liquid began to congeal.
Li Yuan slowly withdrew his Spiritual Power, and the temperature inside the furnace gradually dropped.
He opened the furnace lid.
At the bottom of the furnace was a clump of dark cyan paste. It was irregularly shaped with a pitted, uneven surface.
It was a far cry from the smooth, round shape a proper pill should have, but the aura of its medicinal effect was definitely there.
"You’ve barely managed to create something," Old Sun said, leaning in for a look. "Its efficacy is reduced, probably only 60-70% of a normal Qi Replenishing Pill. Your heat control is still a bit off, and you need to adjust the amount of poria powder."
He scraped the paste out of the furnace and rolled it between his fingertips.
"However, to succeed on your first try is pretty good. You really do have a solid foundation in Spiritual Power control."
Li Yuan stored the paste in a porcelain vial.
A panel popped up.
[Tier One Alchemy - Uninitiated (8/100)]
At the same time, the effects of the ’Alchemy Dao Insights’ entry were partially activated during the Alchemy process.
The rate of increase in his Divine Soul’s strength nudged slightly above its base value.
It wasn’t much, but he could feel that the clarity of his Divine Soul perception had improved a tiny bit.
Li Yuan then refined two more batches in a row.
The second batch was much better than the first; the paste was nearly round and its surface was smoother. The third batch was an even greater improvement. The paste could now be called a pill—a dark cyan sphere that rested in his palm, emitting a faint medicinal fragrance.
Old Sun took it, sniffed it, and nodded.
"This batch is usable. Its efficacy is about 80-90% of a normal Qi Replenishing Pill. You’ll get it with a few more practice runs."
Li Yuan stored the finished products from all three batches separately.
He had now grasped the refining process for the Qi Replenishing Pill. All that remained was to practice repeatedly, honing his precision with heat control and ingredient ratios.
Outside the window, the sky had already darkened. The lights of the outer settlement flickered sporadically, and occasionally, the low roars of beasts could be heard from the distant mountain range.