Refining The Foundation-Building Elixir

"As expected of master!" Cheng Xu couldn't help but give him a thumbs up.

Chi Yao Zhenren smiled and asked, "Is there anything you need from me?"=

"It's like this. I've already built my Foundation, but I don't have a good weapon yet. I wanted to ask master where I can get a high-quality flying sword?"

"Of course, the Scorching Sun Sect is the most outstanding when it comes to weapon refinement. I'm planning to go there in half a month. You can come with me," Chi Yao Zhenren laughed.

"Alright. Thanks, master," Cheng Xu said as he nodded slightly. However, he couldn't be idle during the next half a month. He had to make some money by refining medicine so he wouldn't be short of funds.

Speaking of which, it had been some time since he completed the optimization of the Foundation Building Pill. He had been reading a huge amount of Qi-related medicinal books these days, but it didn't improve his [Medicine Refining] application much.

[Alchemy]

[Pharmacology Level: Level 10]

[Refining Ability: Advanced]

His Pharmacology Level had only increased by one level, and his Refining Ability was still at the advanced level. He realized it was getting harder and harder to level up this thing.

Of course, refining the Foundation Building Pill was not a problem. Although he no longer needed it, it was still worth selling for money.

After leaving his master's cave abode, he went all the way to the Merit Hall, where the Medicine Immortal Valley's disciples received orders and earned contribution points.

Cheng Xu made a rough round and checked the orders. There were quite a lot of orders for the Foundation Building Pill, and the rewards were also very generous.

Low-grade pills were 400 merit points each, mid-grade pills were 500 merit points each, and high-grade pills were as much as 800 merit points each. There were a lot of orders, but the materials weren't easy to get.

Then, under the adoring gazes of the junior sisters at the window, he strode away. He went to the Spirit Herb Hall, which specialized in growing spirit herbs, and found the person in charge, Martial Uncle Feng.

At this time, Martial Uncle Feng was studying the medicinal mantra hard, almost in a state of obsession. And it was not only him, but the Sect Leader and other Martial Uncles were also studying the medicinal mantra as best as they could.

He also heard that after Tang Xuan had returned from training, he also started to comprehend the medicinal mantra.

"Oh, Little Cheng, you're here. What do you need?" Martial Uncle Feng greeted him. Cheng Xu didn't waste any time and directly handed over the list of required materials.

Martial Uncle Feng looked at the list and said, "The price of the medicinal herbs you want isn't low. In addition, Martial Uncle doesn't have the second-tier demonic core, but you can ask senior brother Ma. He should be able to get it." 

Martial Uncle Feng stared at the list again and again. The more he looked, the more he felt that something was wrong. "Strange, why do I feel that the medicinal properties of these materials mixed together are somewhat similar to the Foundation Building Pill?"

Cheng Xu was slightly surprised. He didn't expect Martial Uncle Feng to roughly deduce the direction of the final medicinal properties just by looking at the list of materials.

He could only say that the Medicine Celestial Valley was truly worthy of its name. Everyone there was talented.

"Can you tell Martial Uncle what kind of pill you want to refine?" Martial Uncle Feng finally asked.

"It's the Foundation Establishment Pill," Cheng Xu answered.

"What? You can even concoct Foundation Establishment Pills?!" Martial Uncle Feng was shocked, his face filled with disbelief.

Cheng Xu smiled and humbly replied, "Maybe I'm really talented in refining medicine. I can learn a lot of things with just one look."

"Tsk tsk, as expected of the disciple that senior brother Chi Yao has chosen," Martial Uncle Feng commented as he clicked his tongue and nodded. He then frowned and asked, "But then again, can these ingredients really be used to refine the Foundation Building Pill? I feel that the medicinal properties are still far from enough."

"This disciple also blindly figured it out based on an ancient pill recipe. Whether it will succeed or not is still another matter."

"I see..." Martial Uncle Feng nodded, accepting his words. He continued, "In my opinion, it's better not to waste the medicinal ingredients. Why don't you directly use senior brother Chi Yao's Foundation Building Pill recipe to concoct it?"

Cheng Xu smiled and didn't say anything. He spent 2000 merit points to purchase a few sets of Foundation Building Elixir materials from Martial Uncle Feng. As for the level two demonic cores, he didn't need to trouble Martial Uncle Ma. There were a few in the storage bag of the fiend heir from before, and he could use them to refine.

After returning to the cave, he immediately started refining. First, he processed each material according to the system's optimized pill formula. Then, he placed them in the material column on the refining panel according to the order of the pill formula.

He selected [Confirm Refining], and the familiar image of a pill furnace appeared in front of him.

"Good Lord, this progress bar!" Cheng Xu exclaimed. Looking at the unmoving progress bar, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

As expected, starting from the Foundation Building Elixir, the difficulty of these high-level elixir pills began to increase. Judging from the speed of the progress bar, it would take at least ten to twenty hours to finish it. Fortunately, he could make two cauldrons at the same time.

Hence, he repeated the previous process and made another batch. At the same time, Cheng Xu's mental power began to be consumed rapidly.

The next day.

Two successful notifications popped up one after another, and it took nearly a day. But the result was still very satisfactory.

With two middle-grade pills and one high-grade pill per batch, just four middle-grade Foundation Building Pills would be enough to cover their costs. The next batch of pills would be pure profit.

Two days later, Cheng Xu brought the results of his concoction to the Merit Hall and handed them over. He had twelve mid-grade Foundation Building Pills and six high-grade Foundation Building Pills, which totaled 9600 merit points.

At this rate, becoming rich was no longer a dream!

However, the news of Cheng Xu's successful concoction of the Foundation Establishment Pill still managed to alarm the higher-ups of the Medicine Celestial Valley.

That night, he was blocked in the cave by the Sect Leader, Reverend Dan Yang, together with the higher-ups of the Medicine Immortal Valley. His master, Reverend Chi Yao, was also among them.

A group of alchemy grandmasters stared at the pill formula that Cheng Xu had given them, studying it over and over again, but no matter how much they thought about it, they could not figure it out.

His master, Chi Yao Zhenren, also tried using the same materials on the spot. After several consecutive failures, he finally managed to refine a furnace of low-grade Foundation Building Pills.

It wasn't that Chi Yao Zhenren's level wasn't good enough, but he still didn't quite understand the underlying principles of this pill recipe. Once he understood it, with his alchemy skills, the resulting pills would start from high grade.

"You really refined it?"

The Medicine Immortal Valley heavenly group looked at each other in disbelief.

The elder of the Merit Hall, Martial Uncle Ma, calculated the cost and gasped, "Good fellow, the cost is more than 30% lower than that of senior brother Chi Yao's formula. The key is that many of the ingredients can be cultivated."

"Hiss~! Not only has the cost been reduced by 30%, but the difficulty of obtaining materials has also been greatly reduced," Reverend Dan Yang exclaimed. He still couldn't believe it. "If this continues, won't our Medicine Immortal Valley make a fortune?"

In the midst of their bewilderment, their gazes all gathered on Cheng Xu.

"Little Cheng, you... How did you do it?"

Cheng Xu pretended to be flattered. He said, "I tried to make some adjustments according to my own understanding. I didn't expect to succeed."

Reverend Dan Yang and the others exchanged looks and couldn't help sighing with emotion. "That cracked elixir flower was worth it! Such a novel way of refining medicine. He's simply a natural alchemist!"

"Little Cheng, oh Little Cheng, your understanding of the Foundation Building Elixir is probably several levels higher than master's," Chi Yao Zhenren mulled over the recipe of the Foundation Building Pill in his hand, his eyes bewildered and complicated.

The key was that Cheng Xu was basically self-taught. He didn't give him much guidance. It could only be said that for a true top student, a teacher was just a decoration.

Cheng Xu awkwardly scratched his head, pretending to be humble.

...

Late at night, after the Medicine Immortal Valley heavenly group dispersed, Cheng Xu was brought to his immortal's cave by his master, Chi Yao Zhenren.

"These bookshelves are filled with the pill formulas that have been passed down and improved by our Medicine Celestial Valley. Unfortunately, many of the pill formulas are no longer available because the key ingredients have gone extinct," Chi Yao Zhenren began. 

He pointed at the bookshelf and introduced, "From now on, you can enter and leave this room freely. You can study it by yourself. I'm going to study your recipe for the Foundation Building Pill first."

After he finished speaking, he held the pill recipe and walked towards the pill refining room, muttering non-stop.

Only Cheng Xu was left staring at the bookshelves full of precious pill formulas, swallowing his saliva.