Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation.

Chapter 129 The Foundation Building Pill is Completed
The second-level alchemist inheritance that Yan Qingwan had obtained from somewhere was not very advanced. However, like the inheritance of Alchemist Mo back then, Li Ji'an used it as a basis and made many optimizations and improvements.

Ever since the Fire Spirit recovered to its peak and became comparable to the second-level Dan Fire, he had tried and adjusted it more.

He also simulated the foundation-building pill refining process many times in his sea of consciousness.

Although this is the first time, I don’t feel unfamiliar with it.

Li Ji'an sat cross-legged, holding his breath and concentrating, urging the power of the Fire Spirit. As the Fire Spirit's original spiritual flames emanated from the furnace, Li Ji'an followed the steps, adding the herbs one by one, adjusting the temperature, controlling the spiritual pressure, and refining the essence of the herbs...

Half a day later, all the auxiliary medicines were refined and the essence was extracted.

This is almost half the time recorded in the tradition and what Li Ji'an expected.

Refining the essence of medicinal materials mainly depends on the power of the pill fire and the control method. It takes at least one day for an ordinary second-level pill fire to refine all the essences of this kind of auxiliary medicine.

Moreover, the longer it takes to refine the essence of medicinal materials, the more likely it is that the essence of the medicinal materials will be lost. This is also the reason why second-level pills cannot be refined due to insufficient pill fire and the quality of the finished pills cannot be guaranteed.

This step gave Li Ji'an a pleasant surprise. The shortened time allowed the essence of these auxiliary medicines to be almost preserved, which was of great help in the subsequent smelting of the essence of the main medicine into pills.

"The power of Xiaohuo's spiritual flame is much stronger than the recorded spiritual flames of heaven and earth!"

He was overjoyed and put in the most crucial main ingredient, half a plant of Nine-Star Poria, with great anticipation.

Nine-Star Poria is the second-level main medicine. It takes nearly two days for ordinary second-level elixir fire to refine the essence of it.

After another half day, the main ingredient Nine-Star Poria was initially refined, and all medicinal properties were activated. It only needed another half day of refining, and the essence would be further concentrated before the next stage of smelting could be carried out.

At the same time, the three people outside the cave next door all had happy expressions on their faces.

In the mirror, they clearly saw that Master Zou had completed the refining of all the auxiliary medicines and had now begun to add the main medicine.

"Master Zou Dan is indeed very experienced. He handles every step with such ease."

"It's still half an incense stick away from one day. Master Zou's skills have obviously improved." Smiles appeared on the faces of the two people who came to seek the elixir.

Xie Gui was also proud of this: "Haha, you are really blessed. To be honest, Master just refined a fire-attributed spiritual object recently. The elixir fire is indeed three times stronger. This time there is almost no worry."

"God bless you, God bless you." The two people seeking pills were overjoyed. They were the core descendants of two foundation-building families in the southwest of Jinhuang Immortal City who had been friends for generations. After more than twenty years of accumulation, they had worked together to gather the materials for the foundation-building pill. This time they were not looking for surprises, but only asked for a low-grade foundation-building pill for each person as a guarantee, so that they could continue the hundreds of years of friendship between the two families.

Xie Gui smiled and nodded, then looked towards Li Ji'an's cave next door.

He had been on the list for more than ten years and he had learned about Li Ji'an specifically.

He didn't care about it in the first few years. After all, his age was there. In his opinion, without decades of indulgence, how good could a helpless and independent alchemy practitioner's skills be?

It is most likely that it is promoted by the Jiuding Chamber of Commerce that backs it.

However, after several rounds of selection for the Alchemist Ranking, he found that the number of customers who had previously come to him privately to buy elixirs was increasing, and he eventually discovered that many of them had become Li Ji'an's customers.

After asking around, I found out that many customers thought Li Ji'an's pills were better than his.

He disagreed with this, and thought that Li Ji'an was as famous as him at such a young age, and because of his young age, he had greater potential in the eyes of others.

He firmly doesn't think Li Ji'an's alchemy skills are better than his.

When we met today, he actually wanted to refine top-grade elixirs. Just as his master taught him, he was really too ambitious.

He has been deeply engaged in alchemy for decades, but he has never imagined that he could refine top-grade elixirs.

After carefully sensing, there was no special change above Li Ji'an's cave. Xie Gui shook his head and no longer paid attention.
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"The most critical step!" Half a day later, Li Ji'an's face was solemn, and all his consciousness was concentrated in the alchemy furnace, carefully sensing the fusion of the essences of several medicinal herbs.

This is the most critical step. It not only requires the overall adjustment of the Dan Fire according to the essence of the medicinal materials, but also requires the division of the Dan Fire and local temperature control according to the subtle differences in the locations of the medicinal materials. It is almost equivalent to dividing the Dan Fire into several parts in an instant. The power released by each part of the Dan Fire is different due to the different temperature tolerance of the essence of various medicinal materials.

In addition, the spiritual pressure and humidity in the furnace also need to be precisely controlled, and timely fine-tuned according to the fusion of the essences of several medicinal materials.

Spiritual awareness plays a big role at this time. If spiritual awareness is insufficient and changes cannot be detected in time, all efforts will fail.

Similarly, the quality of the furnace also plays a key role at this time. Refined sensitivity control can greatly reduce the difficulty of operation for the alchemist.

After an hour, the essence of all the medicinal herbs were successfully integrated into one.

Completion of the most critical step theoretically determines whether the elixir can be successful.

Obviously, it was inevitable that Li Ji'an would succeed in refining the first batch of foundation-building pills. The difference lay in the number and quality of the pills.

Another hour later, the liquid medicine in the furnace slowly rose under the action of spiritual pressure, and was gradually squeezed into a ball.

When making pills for the first time, Li Ji'an did not ask for too much. He did not ask for the number of pills or the quality of the pills. He only selected the most core medicinal liquid and discarded the rest of the marginal medicinal liquid that might cause impurities in the pills.

"Bang~"

Half an hour later, the spiritual pressure collided, making a slight sound.

It indicates that this furnace is successful.

Taking a deep breath, Li Ji'an opened the alchemy furnace and used his magic power to lift a milky white, round pill with almost no impurities to his eyes.

"This is the foundation-building pill that 90% of the practitioners in this world dream of but cannot obtain."

After a rough examination, he stopped looking at it, took another Spirit Replenishing Pill and a Qi Replenishing Pill, and began to regulate his breathing and recover.

At the same time, use magic power to nourish the fire spirit in the dantian.

Fortunately, the fire spirit is still full of energy at this moment. After all, the power of the spiritual flame just now is normal for it. The real difficulty lies in Li Ji'an's precise control.

"It's still a bit conservative. The essence of the discarded medicinal liquid is enough to condense another one." After a while, Li Ji'an's soul and magic power recovered, and he felt a little regretful.

But I don’t regret it. After all, it’s my first time, and being able to produce an authentic product is already a success.

Not long after, Li Ji'an communicated with the Fire Spirit again and immediately began refining the second furnace.

"This time, I'll do my best to release more of my spiritual energy."

If an ordinary alchemist only uses his own elixir fire as the source, refining a foundation-building pill will almost use up all the magic power in his dantian. Many alchemists even need to take qi-replenishing pills in the middle of the process.

Moreover, the more difficult it is to refine the elixir, the greater the consumption of spiritual energy required.

Li Ji'an used spiritual flame to refine it, which consumed very little of his own mana. As long as the fire spirit was not consumed too much, he could continue refining at any time.

As for the soul, because of the high precision of the alchemy furnace, the consumption is actually less than when using a first-level medium-grade alchemy furnace to refine late-stage fine elixirs. Now that he has taken the soul-replenishing pill, he is still in his prime.

Of course, the most critical thing is that the Nine-Star Poria is divided into two parts. If it cannot be used as medicine in time, it is easy to cause the loss of medicinal efficacy.

When refining the elixir this time, although all the external conditions were almost the same as last time, and even because half a day had passed since the main medicine was cut, the conditions were not as good as the first time, but the mentality was completely different.

I already have a genuine foundation-building pill as a backup, so there is no pressure anymore.

Another day and a half later,
The three people outside Master Zou Dan's cave all looked nervous.

"Master Xie, it's been... three days. How come Master Zou..." someone asked tentatively.

Xie Gui's eyelids twitched slightly. Normally, the pill should have been formed an hour ago, but there was still no movement.

"Could it be..."

"Pfft! Stop talking nonsense! We should trust Master Zou Dan." Someone hurriedly stopped him. Xie Gui was suspicious for a moment, then after careful observation, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"This is... Could it be that Master wants to seek a higher rank?"

Master Zou Dan has been refining foundation-building pills for more than fifty years. He has always sought stability and tried his best to ensure the number of successful pills. In recent years, he has become more stable, with two low-grade pills in each furnace. Occasionally, if he is lucky, he will produce three pills.

But no mid-grade foundation-building pill has ever been produced.

This time the elixir fire has gone a step further, and I'm afraid it is trying to obtain a mid-grade foundation-building elixir.

This made Xie Gui ecstatic.

If Master Zou Dan could refine a mid-grade foundation-building pill, he would surely become famous, and then his value as a disciple would naturally rise to a higher level.

While feeling delighted, his eyes inadvertently glanced towards the cave next door.

"What kind of elixir is this kid refining? He hasn't finished it in three days?"

"Zheng~" At this moment, a sound of metal clashing suddenly rang out.

Then Xie Gui felt the spiritual energy around him riot.

“This is… done!”

Not only Xie Gui, but also the two people around him who were seeking elixirs were suddenly excited.

Although the sound just now was short, it was also the famous sound of the alchemy furnace in the cultivation world.

The pills that can make this kind of sound are either the best among the first-grade pills, or the best and above of the second-grade pills.

However, top-grade pills are too rare, and most of these pills are second-grade pills.

"How is this possible? Could it be that Master has refined a top-grade foundation-building pill?" Xie Gui was shocked.

The other two people who were asking for pills changed their expressions drastically. They had originally only asked for two low-grade pills because they needed to be shared between two people and because they knew Master Zou's pill making skills.

If a top-grade pill really comes out, then there can only be one. After all, the improvement of quality will definitely sacrifice quantity. Two mid-grade foundation-building pills may appear, but only one of the top-grade or above can appear. This is the consensus in the cultivation world.

They were ecstatic at first, and then both of them looked at each other warily.

The foundation-building stage is related to the great path. Once the foundation-building fails, the path to immortality will be farewell forever. An extra 10% success rate means an extra hope of pursuing the path to immortality. Who doesn't want to use a foundation-building pill of higher quality?
As for old friends, they are nothing but clouds in the face of the path to immortality.

"Oh, that's not right. Master hasn't opened the furnace yet!" At this time, Xie Gui saw that the master in the mirror was still in the final stage of condensing the pill.

"Then this is..." The atmosphere between the two of them suddenly relaxed.

The three of them looked at Li Ji'an's cave almost at the same time.

"Could it be possible that he could actually refine a top-grade pill?" Xie Gui looked as if he had seen a ghost.

Once the news that Li Ji'an had refined a top-grade pill spread, he would definitely be ranked first in future alchemist competitions, even if he had the endorsement of his master, a second-level alchemist.

"Bang~" At this moment, another light sound was heard from the mirror.

Master Zou Dan’s furnace was also successful.

After a while, Master Zou Dan finished regulating his breathing and slowly walked out of the cave.

"Hahaha, congratulations to Master Zou for reaching a new level in his alchemy skills and refining a high-grade foundation-building pill. Congratulations!"

As soon as Master Zou Dan came out of the cave, a voice of congratulations came from not far away.

"Congratulations, Master Zou Dan."

"Come on, come on, let's all open our eyes."

……

Immediately afterwards, many monks of status from the inner city who had come because of the spiritual energy riot and the sound of the elixir gathered around. They had already rushed over when they just sensed it, but they were worried about affecting Master Zou Dan, so they waited from afar. Now that they saw Master Zou Dan coming out of retreat, they rushed over to congratulate him.

"Huh?" Master Zou Dan looked at the people who congratulated him with a confused look on his face.

"Thank you, Manager Qi, and thank you all fellow Taoists, but... why do you say that?"

Seeing his expression, everyone immediately joked, "Master Zou, are you still going to hide your incompetence from us? Your elixir just resounded through the heavens and earth, and with the spiritual energy surging, you can't hide it anymore."

"The elixir resounds in heaven and earth? The spiritual energy surges? Is that true?" Master Zou Dan was even more confused, and then looked at his disciple Xie Gui and the other two people who came to ask for the elixir.

The three looked at the seniors from the inner city who had gathered around them, wanting to say something but stopping themselves.

Xie Gui's face flushed even more, and he kept glancing towards Li Ji'an's cave, but he didn't know how to start.

"Are you all speechless? Xie Gui, tell me, was there really a sound of alchemy just now?" Master Zou Dan became more and more anxious.

Today he really wanted to improve the quality of the pill, so the final pill-condensing step took a little longer.

But after just one try, I felt that if I forced the pill to condense, not only would I not be able to guarantee a mid-grade foundation-building pill, it might even cause another pill to fail. In the end, I chose to play it safe and still produced two low-grade pills.

However, when he heard that there was a sound of elixir ringing in the sky and even spiritual energy surging, he immediately regretted it.

Maybe if you just give it a try and make a final push, you might be able to get something of medium quality.

"Oh, that's not right, Danming Tiandi..." Suddenly, he came back to his senses. He had only tried the middle grade, and the middle grade would not have Danming Tiandi.

"Master, and all the seniors, there was indeed Danming Tiandi just now, but... it was not Master's cave, but Master Li Dan's cave." Xie Gui mustered up his courage and finished speaking in one breath.

"What? That kid..." Master Zou Dan finally understood why these people surrounded him and suddenly looked towards Li Ji'an's cave.

"Master Li? In this fairy city, I don't even know the quasi-Alchemy King who can refine top-grade foundation-building pills?" Someone didn't pay attention to the ranking of first-level alchemists.

"I remember that Xiao Li is not a first-grade alchemist? How could he refine a pill that can produce a sound...hiss, could it be that he has refined a top-grade first-grade pill?" The manager of the City Lord's Mansion knew Li Ji'an.

"Someone in the Immortal City actually managed to refine a top-grade elixir? Today, I'm truly enlightened!"

"Top-grade pills require inspiration from heaven. To be able to refine top-grade pills requires great fortune."

……

They originally thought it was a top-grade foundation-building pill, but at this moment, the situation suddenly changed. It was almost certain that it was a first-grade top-grade pill. Although it was not as valuable as a top-grade foundation-building pill, it made a group of inner city cultivators also look forward to it.

In the cave,
Li Ji'an dispersed the isolation formation and sensed the situation outside the cave, frowning!
In the previous alchemist selection, it was not a big problem to become a little famous. After all, he was just a first-level alchemist, and most of the attention was paid to him by casual Qi-cultivating practitioners. By the time he "rejuvenated" in his next life, they would have all passed away.

However, if he became famous enough to attract widespread attention from cultivators at the foundation-building stage, it would be detrimental to his "rejuvenation".

At least, the hope of "rejuvenating" in the fairy city has been completely extinguished.

The most important thing is that once the foundation-building pill in his hand comes out, he can't guarantee that he can keep it!

"I've underestimated the power of the Holy Spirit of Heaven and Earth. This is completely different from the Heaven and Earth Spirit Flame mentioned in the records!"

(End of this chapter)