Success rate is too high!
Twenty days passed since Wei Ren's first visit to the Serpent Alchemy Tower. Many things happened in such a short amount of time. Li Jian and Mei Rong left the sect with a group of Alchemists and Healers. Apparently Grand Healer Lu Sheng summoned them to the border of Blue Rose Kingdom. General Wei Tian was also stationed here.
When Wei Ren tried to ask other people he only learned tiny parts of the whole story. He concluded that something must have happened at the border. Asking for Alchemists and Healers means that a strong clash is going on between Blue Rose Kingdom and Golden Crow kingdom.
Right now he was sitting in his immortal cave, observing the newly formed thirteenth meridian in his body. Wei Ren didn't waste his time just because nobody was there to supervise him. He was brought up in the military. Backing down from hard work is not an option.
He spent his day-time in the Serpent Alchemy Tower and studied the Plant Genesis and his night-time to slowly gather qi to make more meridians.
After learning the Devour Spell, he also learned the trick to purify the qi that he absorbed from the atmosphere. This method of cultivation was very slow compared to taking pills and using the Devour Spell. But he didn't dare to use that wretched spell again. Entire mountain was sent into turmoil when he used it the last time. Who knows what complications might arise.
After using up all of the White Grass Pills he had, he accumulated enough qi to make three more meridians.
Thirteen Qi meridians were shining in his body. The amount of qi he could store in his body also increased substantially.
Second stage of Earth Law was practically the same as the first stage. Only this time the meridians he established were supporting meridians. Each meridian has to be connected to every other meridian. When he completes the second stage hIs power would be comparable to a Peak First Stage Qi Streams expert. First level of Earth Law was not able to bridge the gap between first stage Qi Streams expert. But now his cultivation would be comparable to other cultivators.
He also spent a lot of time spinning the Yin-yang marbles. He was still losing control of them. Sometimes they would shoot like arrows and hit the wall, leaving a crack. But after twenty continuous days, he was able to spin them for thirty seconds without losing control. Even such a small improvement allowed him to control his qi much better. There was very little wastage of qi when he used it to cast simple spells.
He spent one whole hour to stabilize his cultivation base and reached his peak mental state.
"Time to concoct pills." He said with a hint of excitement.
A day after his first visit to the Serpent Alchemy Tower, he went to Elder Qian to ask for more jade slips. Elder Qian was surprised to see him ask for so many jade slips. So he gave Wei Ren a giant boulder that was made completely out of jade. Wei Ren could carve out his own jade slips whenever he wanted.
After twenty days he used up ten percent of the huge boulder. One thing still puzzled him. Other alchemists would spend just five or six jade slips for writing down their findings, but he used hundreds for one plant. He studied everything about a plant before moving on to the next time. For some reason he didn't want to rush through this process. The knowledge he gained by doing this was several times more accurate than people who rush through this stage.
Today he decided to try concocting pills for the first time. He prepared the medicinal plants and all the other things required while making pills. He memorized the pill formula and rehearsed the whole process dozens of times.
He waved his hand and an iron Pill Cauldron appeared before him. This was given to every disciple who joined the sect. Although it was of poor quality, concocting Tier One pills was still possible.
He looked inside the iron Pill Cauldron to see if there were any abnormalities in the Cauldron. he used a his qi to wipe the cauldron clean. Even small particles of dust can cause the whole pill concoction to fail.
Next he used a dark brown piece of wood to light a flame inside the Pill Cauldron. This was not a normal piece of wood. The fire used to make pills is not simple. Alchemists use their own qi to light up a Karmic flame in the Pill Cauldron. But only cultivators above Qi Streams experts have the ability to make this flame. One can start using this flame after reaching the River Formation stage.
People below this stage, use a special wood imbued with fire attribute qi to light up a flame with a temperature high enough to melt medicinal plants.
A dark yellow flame danced inside his Pill Cauldron. Next step was to prepare each ingredient.
"A one year old Wither tree branch, three roots of Black Spot Cactus, ten blades of White Grass…" He listed two dozen medicinal plants and threw them inside the Pill Cauldron in a strange sequence.
He was trying to concoct a better version of White Grass Pill called White Root Pill. Using one type of Pill too much causes it to lose its effect. White Grass Pill was Now practically useless for him. Now he needed a stronger pill.
He mastered the first stage of Earth Law with the help of Devour Spell. So he didn't have to use too many pills. But life is not so fair. Ninety percent of his pills were spent while making three meridians of the second stage of Earth Law. The amount of elemental qi required to master the second stage was truly astounding. This pill would save him a lot of time cultivating painstakingly.
He controlled the temperature of the flame and controlled everything inside the Pill Cauldron with his qi. Poor qi control makes it impossible to multitask during pill concoction. Wei Ren was sure that he would fail for the first time.
Every ingredient melted at a different temperature. So he had to isolate some parts of the Pill Cauldron.
One hour later.
Rainbow colored liquid remained inside the Pill Cauldron.
It was time for the most crucial step in pill concoction. He was surprised to see that he hadn't failed.
First step was making the pill mixture, which was successful. Next step is called Pill Condensation.
Three things can happen during Pill Condensation. First outcome can be that the pill concoction is successful and there would be a perfect pill left inside the Pill Cauldron. Second outcome is a failure and all the ingredients would go to waste. Third and final outcome is very interesting. If the pill concoction is about to fail, then the alchemist can decide to make a Pill Potion instead of an actual Pill.
Pill Potions only have half the strength of an actual pill. Still this was better than letting all the ingredients go to waste.
Wei Ren was covered in sweat as he prepared himself for the final step.
"Condense!" He shouted and used both his hands to spin the Pill mixture. It turned into a chaotic maelstrom and the colour of the Pill mixture started to fade. It soon turned white. Wei Ren continued for ten minutes. His qi was almost completely depleted.
"It's going to fail…" He yelled in his heart with disappointment.
Pressure inside the Pill Cauldron increased. The white Pill mixture stopped and started to concentrate in one part of the Pill Cauldron.
A wobbly fist sized pill remained inside the cauldron.
"I just need to condense it even more." He looked at the ugly ball of white matter with unbridled happiness. He finished ninety percent of the job.
Crack!
A fissure appeared on the pill. He looked closely and got up on his feet. He used a hand sign with his left hand and controlled the Pill Cauldron with his right.
But before he could take any protective measure.
Poof!
Pill concoction failed.
Black smoke invaded every part of his immortal cave. He used his hand as a fan to blow away the smoke. When he looked inside the cauldron expecting to see ash and a black soot, all he saw was a light green liquid.
"I didn't fail?" He looked dumbfoundedly at the viscous green liquid in his Pill Cauldron. The green liquid was a Pill Potion.
"This is not how a Pill Potion is made. It is made by stabbing the wobbly fist sized Pill and then draining the liquid inside jt while slowly lowering the temperature. I'm addition to this, an Alchemist must decide very early because once you lose the opportunity, there is no way to make a Pill Potion. So how did I do this. I guess a making simple Pill Potion is better easier than people say." He thought in his heart.
If someone else had heard his last words they would definitely try to kill him. Chances of successfully concocting a Tier One pill for beginners is less than ten percent and chances of concocting a Pill Potion of that pill is twenty percent. Even though succes rate of making a Pill Potion is higher than an actual Pill. It is still very low. Therefore, it was soul shockingly surprising that he succeeded on his first try. Other people succeed after dozens of tries.
He collected the Pill Potion in a long glass vial with the help of a jade spoon that he received from Elder Qian on his first day.
After replenishing his qi, he looked at his Pill Cauldron with anticipation.
"Let's try again." He didn't want to give up just yet. So he prepared another batch of ingredients and threw them into the cauldron. The whole process was repeated and the same rainbow colored liquid appeared again.
He braced himself for the final phase. Pill mixture churned like a little storm. He botched the temperature at one time and over ten percent of the pill mixture was evaporated. But he managed to prevent complete failure.
"Condense." He started the Pill Condensation with blood shot eyes.
A misshapen white pill slowly formed and the Pill mixture was gone.
Crack! Crack!
However as soon as it formed, dozens of cracks covered it's surface. A white steam leaked out of the pill.
"It's going to explode." He saw the clues and immediately knew that the pill was going to explode.
Normally, Alchemists would stop the concoction immediately if their pill was going to explode because a pill explosion is incredibly dangerous. They would bury the Pill Cauldron deep into the ground to avoid any injury. Although Wei Ren was unwilling to do so, he knew that his life was more important than a pill.
He was about to grab his Pill Cauldron, suddenly everything happening inside it came to a half.
Poof!
Just like before, a black smoke came out of the Pill Cauldron, leaving a green viscous liquid.
"Success again. Why do I keep succeeding." He complained in his heart. He was complaining for being successful.
He didn't even have to poke a hole into the pill because of the countless cracks. Pill Potion was successfully formed again. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Wei Ren's success rate was suspiciously high.
He collected the Pill Potion in the same vial and then fell on his buttocks with exhaustion.
"I am so tired." He truly believed Mei Rong's words today. She said that pill concoction is more stressful than an actual life and death battle and this is exactly what happened today.
"Let's take a closer look at the Pill Potions." The long glass vial and inspected its contents.
"Potency of a Pill Potion is only 50 percent of an actual pill. I wonder if this is enough to cover my needs."
He opened the vial and dropped one drop of this White Root Pill Potion on his tongue and closed his eyes.
White Grass Pill always produced a smoke of white qi when used but the White Root Pill Potion produced a few drops of liquified qi. This shows the difference in their levels.
His body was instantly flooded with qi with just one drop of the Pill Potion.
"How is this possible? This Pill Potion has higher Potency than 50 percent." After rummaging through the Plant Genesis he was able to get a fair estimate of the Potency of his freshly concocted Pill Potion. His Pill Potion had 80 percent!
He stared at the vial of Pill Potion with shock. How was this possible? Maybe he used the wrong pill formula. But that was not possible. Because it was given to him by Elder Qian.
He injested two more drops of the vial and watched as his qi increased rapidly. About ten more drops were left in the vial. He predicted that he would need five of these vials to make his fourteenth meridian.
"I don't have enough ingredients left to make more of this Pill Potion. I should sell some of it to buy the ingredients." He came up with an idea to gather the necessary ingredients.
Sect disciples are given a limited number of ingredients each month. Fortunately, there are other ways to get the desired ingredients. A person can do missions for the sect and earn the ingredients or buy the ingredients directly from the sect using Qi stones. All inner sect disciple are given five low rank Qi Stones every month. Outer sect disciples are given only one low rank Qi Stone. It has been less than a month since he joined, therefore he hasn't received his monthly allowance yet. He could go and ask his father but he didn't want to ask his help for everything. Plus, living in poverty is a part of the experience of living in a sect and building one's name and wealth.
One final solution for him was to go the the Serpent Valley Marketplace to sell his Pill Potion.
He believed that he could earn a good profit by selling his unusually powerful Pill Potion.