Traveling through time to cultivate immortality: a life and death test

In a matter of minutes, Liu Xing arrived outside an alchemy room. The arrow on his token vanished, replaced by a flickering light, signaling his destination. The alchemy room had a thick, closed stone door, encased in what appeared to be a formidable barrier. He unleashed a spell, transforming it into a massive cone of ice and striking the barrier, expending 30% of his magic power. With a bang, the barrier merely swayed. Its defense was indeed impressive, at least impenetrable to even a Qi training cultivator. He nodded in satisfaction. A small wooden sign hung on the stone wall to the right of the door, reading "Superior Class C." He turned and surveyed his surroundings, noting that the alchemy rooms in this area were sparsely populated, their spacing widely spaced, resulting in a relatively quiet environment. Further out, the alchemy rooms appeared incredibly crowded, likely lower-grade. A higher price tag certainly had its advantages, he thought. At the same time, he once again lamented the importance of money to the path of cultivating immortals. He had only been in Binhai City for one day, and he had already spent more than a thousand spirit stones, which was equivalent to a top-grade magic weapon. This might be the entire fortune of a cultivator of the same level. How could ordinary people dare to squander like him?

He activated the token and sent a stream of spiritual energy towards the barrier, unlocking it and the stone door to the alchemy room. Liu Xing walked in leisurely, and with a wave of his hand, the stone door and barrier automatically closed. He surveyed the alchemy room carefully. It was approximately 40 square meters, constructed from a type of massive stone known to be heat-resistant and sturdy. The room was square and bare, save for a fire outlet shaped like a carp's mouth in the center of the floor. A thick barrier enveloped the room, soundproofing it and preventing interruptions or prying eyes from observing the alchemy process. A button on the carp's body triggered a slow eruption of underground fire. He felt the temperature and it was surprisingly high; it was indeed top-grade underground fire. After a long period of testing, he felt the fire remained stable. The button on the carp's mouth was shaped like a round bead and could be rotated to adjust the fire power. Liu Xing carefully studied the fire outlet and its operation, and only stopped when he felt he had mastered it. At the same time, he felt the quality of the underground fire. As Manager Qian had said, the fire was very stable, with no fluctuations, and it remained steady as the alchemist controlled it. Liu Xing was very satisfied with this alchemy room and felt that it was worth the money.

So, he sat down on the ground, closed his eyes, and meditated. Fleeing from the demon tribe had drained him of his mana. Since entering the city, he'd been on the run all day, and now he could finally rest. After a day, his fatigue finally dissipated, and his spirit and mana were back to peak condition. So, he set about experimenting with alchemy.

Liu Xing had never personally refined an elixir, so he was a bit apprehensive. The ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill were too precious to waste. He considered the idea of ​​seeking help from another alchemist, but after careful consideration, he gave up. The Foundation Establishment Pill was too scarce and important. If this information leaked, he would not only fail to refine the pill himself, but also cause endless harm. Ultimately, he decided to take the risk and refine the pill himself. He prepared more than a dozen ingredients himself, hoping for a better chance of success. Fortunately, he had previously studied alchemy and had a wealth of theoretical knowledge. He had also exchanged ideas with other alchemists and understood the key techniques. He just lacked practical experience and needed to practice and gain some experience.

So, to be on the safe side, he decided to practice refining other elixirs first, so as to increase his success rate as much as possible. During his trip to the secret realm and the demon tribe crossing, he had harvested a large amount of spiritual herbs, and gathered a lot of raw materials for elixirs, which was now a perfect time to practice.

First, he refined some basic healing pills. The medicinal materials used were not very valuable, so they were just right for practicing. So he took out a medicine book and studied the several pill recipes on it. Then, he selected them based on the medicinal materials he had on him.

"It's you." Liu Xing finally chose the bone-setting pills to practice.

Only four spiritual herbs were needed for the bone-setting pills. He took out the necessary herbs and set them aside. He then took out the high-quality alchemy furnace he had just purchased, placed it on the carp's mouth, and started preheating the earth fire. Then, according to the recipe, he began to follow the alchemy steps step by step. The first step was to purify the spiritual herbs. Each herb was placed in the furnace, and the earth fire was controlled to remove all impurities from the herbs. The key to this step was to inject spiritual energy into the furnace, combing the meridians of the spiritual herbs, selecting the essence and impurities, and guiding the earth fire to burn away the impurities while preserving the essence. Liu Xing performed this step relatively well. His spiritual power was special, having previously helped Dongfang Qing cleanse her meridians and marrow. Although he was originally a human body and now a spiritual medicine, the human body was clearly far more complex than spiritual medicine. Therefore, by learning from this experience, he was able to purify the spiritual herbs quickly and effectively. The second step was to place the purified spiritual herb essences into the furnace one by one according to the recipe's prescribed amount and steps, while carefully controlling the furnace's heat. This step was the most challenging, requiring both control of the heat and timing. With one hand, he controlled the button on the carp's mouth to control the fire, while with the other, he channeled his spiritual energy to ensure the elixir powder in the furnace blended thoroughly and evenly. He was intensely focused, not missing a single detail. The elixir powders interacted with each other, and the appropriate treatment required a combination of their pharmacological properties to achieve the desired effect. Otherwise, the furnace would explode. The third step, opening the furnace, was the most challenging and a test of the alchemist's skill. Opening it too early would cause the elixir powder to not fully blend, resulting in a furnace explosion. Opening it too late would also result in a furnace explosion if the fire wasn't removed in time. Liu Xing had a firm grasp of the principles and precautions of steps two and three; now he simply needed to practice more to improve his proficiency.

Ten days passed quickly, and the furnace exploded more than a dozen times. With each failure, he spent half a day summarizing his experience, carefully reviewing every step of the alchemy process, identifying any shortcomings and improving them for the next attempt. His efforts paid off, and he finally succeeded once, yielding a small bone-setting pill. However, the medicinal material's spiritual energy was significantly depleted, and the pill's surface was bumpy and unattractive. Its effectiveness was estimated to be only half that of a normal bone-setting pill. But Liu Xing was not discouraged. This success actually gave him a glimmer of confidence. After all, success at last gave him hope. Over the next ten days, his previous experience paid off, and he succeeded several times, yielding more than a dozen bone-setting pills, which finally gave him a glimmer of confidence.

Next, he gradually increased the difficulty, attempting to refine Qi Gathering Pills. These were commonly used by Qi Condensation cultivators to enhance their cultivation. They were extremely precious, requiring raw materials over a century old. His storage bag only contained enough herbs for two batches. After the first batch failed, he carefully summarized his experience and successfully started the second batch, yielding six Qi Gathering Pills. This was a very good harvest, with a 50% success rate, which was quite high. Liu Xing was very satisfied. The sale of these six Qi Gathering Pills yielded a high price, worth five times the cost of the raw materials.