"Fang Yun, are you ready to refine the Spirit Ascension Pill?"

"Yes, Elder Bai."

The Spirit Ascension Pill was a Second Tier pill used to assist Cultivators in the early Foundation Establishment Stage with their Cultivation. It also had a decent effect on Cultivators in the mid-Foundation Establishment Stage.

Among the pills used by early Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators, the Spirit Ascension Pill was considered one of the easier ones to refine.

"This is the task I’ve prepared for you. Take a look."

Fang Yun took the task description from Bai Heyan’s hand and opened it to read.

His task was simple. The sect would provide one set of Spirit Medicines for refining the Spirit Ascension Pill, as well as the Pill Formula for it.

If he succeeded in his first attempt and refined at least one Lower Grade Spirit Ascension Pill, he would not have to pay for the Pill Formula, and all the pills from that first batch would be his to keep.

If he failed to produce a Spirit Ascension Pill, he would have to reimburse the sect for the cost of the Pill Formula.

For an ordinary Alchemy Master, this was a very difficult task. Getting the Spirit Ascension Pill Formula for free was basically impossible.

The leap from Tier One to Second Tier pills was enormous, with the refining difficulty increasing exponentially.

But for Fang Yun, this task was practically tailor-made for him.

Even though it was his first time refining a higher-tier pill, he was very confident in himself, and he figured Bai Heyan must be as well. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Here is the Pill Formula for the Spirit Ascension Pill and one set of refining materials. Keep them safe."

"Thank you, Elder Bai."

Fang Yun accepted the Pill Formula and the Spirit Medicines.

The main Spirit Medicine for refining the Spirit Ascension Pill was the Second Tier, Lower Grade Three-Core Spirit Flower.

A Second Tier Spirit Medicine took at least ten years to mature from a seed.

Without a high-level Planting Talent, one had to reach at least the Qi Refining Tenth Layer to even be qualified to care for a Second Tier, Lower Grade Spirit Medicine.

Fang Yun glanced at the Spirit Medicines before putting them away.

Among the Spirit Medicines, besides the Three-Core Spirit Flower which was of good quality, the other Tier One Spirit Medicines were all of superior quality.

Cultivating a Second Tier Spirit Medicine to superior quality was much more difficult than a Tier One. The sect almost certainly didn’t have any superior-quality Three-Core Spirit Flowers right now. Otherwise, given Elder Bai Heyan’s way of doing things, all the Spirit Medicines for his first batch would have been of superior quality.

Next, Bai Heyan shared many of his own insights on refining the Spirit Ascension Pill with Fang Yun.

Fang Yun committed them all to memory.

These could also be converted into his own experience in refining the Spirit Ascension Pill.

「Three days later.」

Fang Yun appeared at the Alchemy Room rental office.

Only after thoroughly mastering the Spirit Ascension Pill Formula did he dare to attempt the refining process.

"Fang Yun, here to refine a Second Tier pill, are you?"

"Steward Zhou, how did you know?" Fang Yun couldn’t help but ask.

He hadn’t even started the rental process yet. Just like the Artifact Refining Rooms on Artifact Casting Peak, there was only one top-tier Alchemy Room on Dan Cloud Peak.

"Elder Bai has already sent word. If you come to refine a Second Tier pill, we are to inform him immediately."

Fang Yun understood at once. Elder Bai Heyan wanted to know the result of his Spirit Ascension Pill refining as soon as possible.

"Does that mean I can rent the top-tier Alchemy Room for free?"

"No," Steward Zhou said, shaking his head.

"Alright then."

It seemed there was quite a difference between how Elder Bai Heyan treated him and how his master, Xiong Xingfeng, did.

That was normal, though. After all, he wasn’t Bai Heyan’s disciple.

After paying ten Lower Grade Spirit Stones, Fang Yun took the Token for the top-tier Alchemy Room from Steward Zhou and quickly entered the exclusive chamber.

The Alchemy Furnace here was a peak-grade Magical Artifact. The Pill Furnace itself was top-of-the-line. A Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact would require an owner to bind to it, making it unsuitable for a public Alchemy Room.

With his Cultivation at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, controlling a peak-grade Magical Artifact would be difficult. This was one of his disadvantages in refining the Spirit Ascension Pill.

He would have to use his talent to make up for the disadvantage in his Realm.

Fang Yun laid out the Spirit Medicines for the Spirit Ascension Pill. Besides the main ingredient, the Three-Core Spirit Flower, there were a total of eleven types of Tier One auxiliary Spirit Medicines.

Until now, the most difficult pill Fang Yun had refined was the Qi Enhancement Pill, and the total number of auxiliary and main Spirit Medicines for it didn’t even exceed ten.

And that was just the quantity. Among the eleven auxiliary Spirit Medicines, two were Tier One, Upper Grade.

All of these factors increased the difficulty of refining the Spirit Ascension Pill.

Before starting, Fang Yun reviewed the Spirit Ascension Pill Formula one more time, then adjusted his condition, bringing himself to his peak state for Alchemy.

He began the refining process!

The moment the Earth Fire rose, Fang Yun first used his Spiritual Power to control the peak-grade Magical Artifact, the Alchemy Furnace.

The refining process for the Spirit Ascension Pill consisted of twenty major steps, six more than the Qi Enhancement Pill. Furthermore, each major step contained many more minor steps as well.

Moreover, the Three-Core Spirit Flower was involved in a full seven major reaction steps, more than double the number for the Qi Enhancement Pill.

As a Second Tier, Lower Grade Spirit Medicine, the Three-Core Spirit Flower was inherently the most difficult ingredient to process and control in the entire procedure.

From start to finish, nearly a full day had passed.

Once the refining was complete, Fang Yun eagerly checked his results.

’It’s acceptable, I guess.’

A single batch of Spirit Ascension Pills could yield a maximum of seven pills.

In his first attempt, Fang Yun had produced a total of four Lower Grade Spirit Ascension Pills. The other three were Wasted Pills.

Aided by his five-star Alchemy Talent, he had mostly followed his instincts during the refining process.

A talent of this level would remain useful, if only barely, all the way to the Core Formation Stage.

Because of this, Fang Yun held himself to an especially high standard.

For his first time refining the Spirit Ascension Pill, he had hoped to produce a minimum of three Lower Grade pills, with a target of five. He hadn’t quite reached his goal.

His time was almost up. After briefly reviewing the refining process in his mind, Fang Yun left the top-tier Alchemy Room to go back and properly summarize his experience.

"Elder Bai."

As the door to the top-tier Alchemy Room opened, Fang Yun saw Bai Heyan standing not far away.

"Fang Yun, what were the results?" Bai Heyan asked immediately.

Refining the Spirit Ascension Pill was also a further test for Fang Yun.

The path of Alchemy grew more difficult and profound with each step. Many Alchemy Masters who performed well with Tier One pills proved to be somewhat lacking when they started on Second Tier pills.

Considering Fang Yun was only at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, Bai Heyan had lowered his expectations slightly.

"You’ll know once you see for yourself."

Fang Yun took out the results of his first batch of Spirit Ascension Pills.

Seven pills floated up and, under Bai Heyan’s control, all landed in his hand.

"Good! Very good!" Bai Heyan was thrilled the moment he saw the results. "And one of the Wasted Pills was so close to succeeding."

Fang Yun’s results had far exceeded his expectations.

He recalled that back in his day, it had taken him the accumulated experience of ten batches to reach the level Fang Yun had on his first try.

On his tenth batch, he had also produced four Lower Grade Spirit Ascension Pills, but none of his failures had been as close to success as Fang Yun’s Wasted Pill.

Fang Yun watched as the excited Bai Heyan gradually calmed down.

At this moment, he was also very happy. A notification came from the light screen; his Sect Influence, which had been stagnant for a long time, had finally budged.

Sect Influence +1%

"Keep these pills. Your future Alchemy tasks might be changing." Bai Heyan controlled the pills again, and all seven landed back in Fang Yun’s hand. "As for the specifics, I’ll need to discuss it with the Elders of Alchemy."

The results of this test would determine the kinds of Alchemy tasks Fang Yun would receive from now on.

"Thank you, Elder." In any case, Fang Yun expressed his gratitude.

"Mm."

Bai Heyan nodded in satisfaction.

Steward Zhou was straining his ears to listen to their conversation. He could only tell that Bai Heyan was very satisfied with Fang Yun’s results, but he never managed to hear exactly how many Lower Grade Spirit Ascension Pills Fang Yun had produced on his first try.

...

「Late October, at night.」

In Inner Sect House A-22.

After absorbing an Upper Grade Qi Enhancement Pill, Fang Yun began to read a book.

He only opened the light screen when it was time for the monthly settlement.

——

Refined Lower Grade Spirit Ascension Pill x4, Talent Points +420.

...

Sect Influence: 36%

Talent Point Bonus: 228%

Settlement: Talent Points +9028.

——

Fang Yun focused on the new Talent Point settlement entry.

A single Lower Grade Spirit Ascension Pill gave him 105 Talent Points, which was quite good—a little more than thirteen times that of a Lower Grade Qi Enhancement Pill.

His subsequent tasks for refining Second Tier pills were still under discussion. According to the information Fang Yun had gotten from Song Qiaoqiao, the Elders of Alchemy were in disagreement over the issue.

Normally, a decision should be reached this month.

Fang Yun wasn’t surprised. Not only did he have Bai Heyan on his side, but Song Qiaoqiao also supported him. The final outcome would most likely be in his favor.

Second Tier pills were rarely assigned to disciples for refining in the first place.

’I can get all my Life Talents to five stars now.’

Navigating to the Life Talent interface, Fang Yun began to draw for Life Talents one by one.

He didn’t stop until he had drawn for the Planting Talent nineteen times.

That wondrous feeling washed over him again. All of his Life Talents had now reached five stars.

Before upgrading the Planting Talent, he had also drawn for the Artifact Refining Talent eighteen times and the Alchemy Talent twenty times.

’I can only draw for Combat Talents three more times.’

With all his Life Talents at five stars, he was shifting his focus to Combat Talents.

His next goal was to raise all his Combat Talents to four stars.

After the three consecutive draws, he had 782 Talent Points remaining.

Sword Type Talent Fragment x1

Shoe Talent Fragment x1

Shield Talent Fragment x1

The Combat Talent interface changed as follows:

[Weapon] Shield Talent ★★★ (6/120)

[Weapon] Sword Type Talent ★★★ (2/120)

[Weapon] Shoe Talent ★★★ (1/120)

To upgrade all his Combat Talents to four stars, he would need 360,000 Talent Points.

At his current rate of accumulation, it would take at least three years to upgrade all his Combat Talents to four stars.

This month, with the new task of refining Second Tier pills, Fang Yun hoped there would be a new change in his monthly Talent Point settlement.

After closing the light screen, Fang Yun took out a Lower Grade Spirit Ascension Pill to examine it.

Once he successfully reached Foundation Establishment, the Spirit Ascension Pill would be the pill that aided his Cultivation during the early and even mid-stages of that Realm.

Unlike Tier One pills, the main Spirit Medicines for Second Tier pills took a very long time to grow. In terms of quantity, the two couldn’t be compared.

Therefore, even if it was just a Lower Grade Spirit Ascension Pill, he would have to use it well, unlike now in the Qi Refining Stage where he only used Upper Grade pills to assist his Cultivation.

’Is it possible for the Spirit Ascension Pill task to be set up like the one for Qi Enhancement Pills?’ Fang Yun wondered, thinking about his alchemy assignments.

He understood that negotiating such a refining task would not be easy, and it wasn’t a matter that Elder Bai Heyan could decide on his own.

’I’ll wait until after I reach Foundation Establishment...’

Fang Yun thought to himself that once he reached Foundation Establishment and became an Elder, he would have more bargaining power.

As things stood, he could reach the peak of the Qi Refining Ninth Layer in just over forty more days. After breaking through to the Qi Refining Tenth Layer, he would be able to do even more.

Little did Fang Yun know, while he was contemplating his own future, his master, Xiong Xingfeng, and Elder Bai Heyan were also discussing his future arrangements.

Each was supremely confident in the respective talents they championed!

And each believed they could definitely persuade the other.