Starry Sky Professional Directory 116
Half a day later.
“The Wan Hua Ding…”
Fang Xing gazed at the three-legged, two-eared large bronze cauldron before him, half a person’s height. This was the “great opportunity” obtained by Wanfa Upper Person (a title indicating a high level of cultivation). This cultivator with miscellaneous spirit roots (a cultivator whose spiritual roots are of various types, making cultivation slower and more difficult) had, through a fortunate coincidence, obtained the ‘Wan Hua Ding’ in a secret realm, allowing him to progress through Foundation Establishment, Golden Core… and ultimately even reach the peak of Golden Core stage!
“This cauldron is a wondrous treasure, extremely useful for alchemy and artifact refinement. The first step is refining the materials…”
Whether it’s alchemy or artifact refinement, removing impurities from ores or medicinal herbs is a major challenge. Using the Wan Hua Ding’s transformative ability, this step is practically negated, saving countless troubles.
Furthermore, using the ‘Wan Hua Ding’ for alchemy increases both the success rate and the yield by several tens of percent. Even more terrifyingly, long-term consumption of pills can lead to the accumulation of pill poison, but the Wan Hua Ding has a ‘tempering’ method. Storing pills containing pill poison in the Wan Hua Ding for a period of time will transform them into top-grade pills without any poison!
“It seems that in the past, Wanfa Upper Person’s initially poor aptitude was overcome through… pill consumption.”
Fang Xing didn’t discriminate against this; insufficient talent compensated by pills is a legitimate path of cultivation. Even in the Martial Dao, which is reputed to require the least resource investment, various potent medicines are indispensable in the later stages.
He closed his eyes, silently organizing the memories he’d absorbed from Wanfa Upper Person’s soul. This person’s cultivation relied mainly on pills, and he was a hidden fourth-grade alchemist, having memorized many pill recipes. A little organization, and it became the “Wanfa Pill Scripture,” an alchemic legacy that could cause major sects in the Savage Lands to beat each other senseless!
“This ‘Wanfa Pill Scripture’ mainly focuses on pills that enhance cultivation base and help break through bottlenecks… Just for Qi Condensation Stage cultivators, there are dozens of pills like ‘Essence Yuan Pill,’ ‘Enhance Yuan Pill,’ ‘Cultivate Yuan Pill,’ etc… particularly those targeting the breakthroughs from Qi Condensation Stage three to four and from six to seven!”
“Do Qi Condensation Stage cultivators need breakthrough pills?”
Fang Xing felt like criticizing this. His previous breakthroughs were as simple as eating and drinking. However, thinking about Wanfa Upper Person’s aptitude, he understood him a little more. His aptitude had held him back so much, no wonder he tried so hard to improve the soul seizing technique!
“The main ingredient of the Enhance Yuan Pill is ‘Corrosive Immortal Grass.’ There are also reserves of the other supplementary ingredients. It’s quite suitable for me right now…”
Fang Xing was ready to learn a cultivation craft, and now it seemed to be alchemy. Though Wanfa Upper Person had dabbled a bit in talisman making and artifact refinement, Fang Xing was more interested in alchemy.
Firstly, possessing the ‘Wan Hua Ding’ was a powerful weapon, and not using it for alchemy was a waste. Secondly, neither talisman making nor artifact refinement was as lucrative as alchemy. Especially talisman makers!
Fang Xing, having spent time in Qinglinfang City, knew that most casual cultivators wanted to learn a craft, and mostly focused on talisman making, creating intense competition! In the cultivation world, talisman makers were far inferior to alchemists in status!
“Later, if someone sees that I’m just an alchemist, thinks I’m easy to bully… I can just draw my sword and let them see what a sword cultivator is all about!”
Fang Xing touched his chin, imagining the scene; it strangely felt exciting.
As for whether a Golden Spirit Root cultivator could practice alchemy? Most cultivators are multi-talented. Since they can use five-elemental spells, they can naturally practice alchemy. “It’s just that cultivators who practice fire-attribute techniques have an advantage in controlling the furnace temperature, and those who practice wood-attribute techniques have an advantage in identifying herbs… As long as one possesses spiritual power and spiritual sense, one can practice alchemy.”
Fang Xing touched the Wan Hua Ding, thinking about that Wanfa Token, wondering how it ended up being obtained by Chen Yi. He had pondered the incantation repeatedly, simulating it many times in his mind. Now, with his right hand on the bronze cauldron, he silently input spiritual power.
Roar!
The next moment, wisps of silver light appeared within the cauldron! This silver light was extremely violent, mutually attracting and consuming each other… ultimately forming a silver flame the size of an egg!
“Sure enough, it can generate the ‘Wan Hua Spirit Flame’!”
Feeling the terrifying temperature within the bronze cauldron, Fang Xing murmured. This ‘Wan Hua Spirit Flame’ was the key to the Wan Hua Ding’s ability to purify raw materials and remove impurities. Although it wasn’t known in the cultivation world, in Wanfa Upper Person’s opinion, it was no less impressive than the famous Solar True Fire or Lunar True Fire, perhaps even surpassing them. Moreover, even with Wanfa Upper Person’s peak Golden Core cultivation, he couldn’t truly refine the ‘Wan Hua Spirit Flame’ into his body.
“According to Wanfa Upper Person’s speculation, this wondrous bronze cauldron is just a tool used to restrain and utilize the ‘Wan Hua Spirit Flame.’”
Fang Xing didn’t care about that. After warming the cauldron, he took a stalk of Corrosive Immortal Grass and threw it into the bronze cauldron.
Sizzle!
The next moment, the silver-white flame surged, engulfing the Corrosive Immortal Grass.
“No good!”
Fang Xing’s spiritual sense saw this and was immediately startled: “I didn’t control the heat well…”
Indeed, the Corrosive Immortal Grass turned directly into wisps of black smoke in the flames, leaving nothing behind.
“I think I understand why casual cultivators, even knowing that alchemists have a high status and pills sell well… rarely dabble in alchemy.”
He muttered, continuing to waste herbs. There was plenty of this in the Savage Lands; the wild herbs in the barbaric jungle were certainly abundant! Just set a few targets and let the drone pick them. And because Qinglinfang City was abandoned, with no cultivators nearby, and the Golden Core cultivator from last time had fled, he could be completely unrestrained.
After ruining dozens of stalks of ‘Corrosive Immortal Grass,’ Fang Xing finally grasped the heat control. Under the scorching of the silver flame, the herb slowly melted, transforming into a mass of vibrant green liquid.
“Hm? This spirit flame’s refining ability is truly extraordinary.”
Seeing this mass of liquid medicine, Fang Xing was delighted. According to the ‘Wanfa Pill Scripture,’ ordinary alchemists would need years of hard work to process herbs to this stage. But he just casually burned it, and after mastering the heat control, he could easily extract the medicinal properties of the herb. Being able to do this, he could even assist many official alchemists and become a glorious ‘alchemy apprentice’…
With this in mind, he immediately decided to dedicate several hours each day, in addition to his cultivation, to learning alchemy. As long as he wasn’t afraid of wasting materials, after ruining a few batches, he would eventually succeed. He didn’t even need to care too much about the quality, as long as he could produce pills!
Once the pills were formed, even if the pill poison exceeded the limit and became waste pills, they could be salvaged using the Wan Hua Ding. Of course, the Wan Hua Ding wasn’t omnipotent; those with excessive pill poison could only be barely raised to average quality at most.
“For me, consuming average-quality pills… might be worse than just meditating and cultivating Qi.”
“But I can keep them to sell… or to prove that I’m an alchemist.”
“Once my skills improve and the quality goes up, after purification with the Wan Hua Ding, I can consume them myself… my cultivation speed will undoubtedly increase further.”
Fang Xing thought of his cultivation. After entering the mid-Qi Condensation stage, although his breakthroughs weren’t as fast as in the early stage, each meditation session would allow him to feel a further increase in his spiritual power. This was the terror of a Heaven Spirit Root aptitude!
“Generally, Qi Condensation cultivators have the saying of sixty years for Foundation Establishment… meaning it’s best to complete Foundation Establishment before the age of sixty. But many casual cultivators in the city, even after sixty, are still in the mid-Qi Condensation or even early Qi Condensation stage. This is the sorrow of inferior miscellaneous spirit roots…”
“The cultivation world classifies spiritual root aptitude into inferior, middling, superior, earth, and heaven… with attribute divisions. It’s generally believed that the more singular the attribute, the more efficient the refining of spiritual energy. Inferior miscellaneous spirit roots are the worst aptitude.”
“And I have a Heaven Single Spirit Root… the best aptitude, the future Golden Core ancestor.”
“From this perspective, excluding the effects of cultivation methods, spiritual veins, and pills, an average inferior spirit root would struggle to reach the peak of Qi Condensation before sixty.”
“Middling spirit roots have some hope.”
“Superior spirit roots have a good chance of completing their basic cultivation methods in their thirties and forties. If combined with pills and spiritual veins, they can be even faster!”
“I don’t know about Earth Spirit Roots…”
“But my Heaven Spirit Root, even in this land without spiritual veins, without taking pills, just by absorbing spiritual energy from the void, at most three or four years, I can cultivate the ‘Transform Gold Scripture’ to the peak of the ninth level of Qi Condensation…”
Fang Xing silently estimated his cultivation speed.
“However, I can’t be considered an ordinary Heaven Spirit Root. I’m slightly above average. Plus I have a Golden Core cultivation technique; even the worst Golden Core technique is something many casual cultivators never see in their entire lives…”
“If I later refine top-grade pills to assist, this speed will be even faster.”
“In terms of realm alone, Foundation Establishment is almost equivalent to the Outer Manifestation stage of the Martial Dao, right?”
“It seems to be about the same speed as my main body’s breakthrough…”
However, after truly beginning his cultivation, Fang Xing also knew that even cultivators at the same realm could have vastly different combat capabilities.
“For now, I don’t need to rush my breakthroughs… I can just let it happen naturally.”
“My main body is almost at Blue Star.”
Expectation filled Fang Xing’s eyes.
…
In the cabin of the spaceship.
Fang Xing’s main body was lying down, sleeping soundly. After all, he couldn’t just suddenly disappear on someone else’s ship – that would be treating everyone on the spaceship like fools!
Therefore, his main body had stayed there, only shifting most of his attention to his cultivation clone. Now, opening his eyes, he arrived in the outside world.
“Boss, you’re finally out of seclusion?”
Song Jingang pointed out the window, his face full of excitement and longing: “Look, Blue Star is here!”
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