Chapter 68: The Alchemical Pill

Without any hesitation, Leng Yao carefully took out from her backpack a small plant that was only half a foot tall. At first glance, it looked very much like a tiny sapling. What was amazing was that even though everyone had been fighting for several hours, this small plant had been inside Leng Yao’s backpack and showed no signs of withering at all. Its leaves, under the firelight, shimmered with a vibrant, fresh green glow!

“Is… this a medicinal herb?”

Qin Li, in both his past and present life, could be considered proficient in the Martial Path, but when it came to alchemical pills, he only had some theoretical knowledge and no practical experience. The Old Taoist Priest was very skilled in pill refining and had patiently taught Qin Li back then, but Qin Li had no interest in it at all. In the end, the Old Taoist Priest had to give up.

Because in Qin Li’s view, refining pills was not as simple as one might think. The most basic requirement was controlling the temperature of the furnace fire. A slight mistake could ruin the entire batch of pills. One had to remember, what was being refined inside wasn’t ordinary wild grass, but extremely valuable medicinal herbs. Many could even be called priceless treasures. They had a collective name—genius treasures!

Not to mention that the formulas for many pills were extremely complex. If the order of steps was even slightly wrong, it would lead to complete failure. Therefore, Qin Li always held a deep respect for master alchemists and admired them greatly.

“Of course it’s a medicinal herb!” Bu Yunyan gave a cold laugh and said through gritted teeth, “Do you think the Qin brothers’ strength came from their own hard training? Not long ago, the Qin Family was buying up large quantities of top-grade medicinal herbs. Over the years, the Qin Family invested a huge amount of effort into those two brothers. But now, it’s basically all ruined by your hands. How satisfying!”

Ahu chimed in, “Brother Qin, don’t underestimate this one plant. Do you know its value? Heh, this little grass is worth a thousand taels of gold!”

“Ah?” Even though Qin Li didn’t have a strong concept of money, this number startled him. One tael of gold was a hundred taels of silver. A thousand taels… wasn’t that worth a hundred thousand taels of silver?! Twice as valuable as that Green Plush Cat cub?

Ahu let out a bitter laugh, “Didn’t expect that, right? This thing is called One Leaf Hundred-Year Grass. Each leaf takes nearly a hundred years to grow! Actually, those under a hundred years are quite common. But look, how many leaves does this one have?”

Qin Li glanced briefly and saw that this One Leaf Hundred-Year Grass had no fewer than ten leaves! Didn’t that mean this plant, less than half a foot tall, had actually lived for over a thousand years?

Seeing the trace of surprise on Qin Li’s face, Ahu said with a pained smile, “See? This is a thousand-year Spirit Grass. Look at its leaves; even after ten days without water or soil, they remain unchanged. Just transplant it into the ground, and it will immediately revive. It’s said that this thing grows by absorbing the essence of heaven and earth. The older it is, the more essence it contains. This one plant, combined with some other herbs, if refined by an experienced master alchemist, can produce at least over a hundred pills. Brother, do you know how many years of power one of those pills can add?”

Qin Li stared blankly and shook his head, then suddenly became lost in thought.

He only knew that the Old Taoist Priest used to mumble every day while refining pills, saying that if he succeeded, he could create a Foundation Establishment Pill, allowing him to step into the immortal gate and cultivate the Heavenly Dao. Unfortunately, by the time Qin Li crossed over, he never saw the Old Taoist Priest succeed. The Old Taoist Priest was quite reliable with ordinary Healing Pills, though. He never imagined that in this world, there really existed pills that could greatly increase one’s power.

This wasn’t because Qin Li was ignorant. It was just that the original owner of this body had a very hard life from a young age. They couldn’t even afford a good doctor, let alone priceless alchemical pills; he had never even heard of them. And at that time, Qin Li was quiet and hardly ever spoke with his mother, so he had no way of knowing these things.

Thinking about it, Qin Li felt quite emotional. He believed that if he had crossed over ten years earlier, he probably would have mastered some excellent skills by now. The reason was simple: his mother was a super expert. Why hadn’t he tried to learn from her? His cheap father’s family had rules against teaching outsiders, but was he… an outsider?

But then again, if Qin Li hadn’t practiced the Foundation Essentials diligently since childhood, he probably wouldn’t have built such a good foundation for this body. Every action has its consequence, as if destined by heaven!

Qin Li had never suffered any serious physical harm since he was young. His pressure came more from mental things, like others’ cold stares and ridicule.

Because when the current Qin Li occasionally searched his memories of the past, most of them were about being excluded, mocked, and ridiculed by the children of the Qin Family servants. He had rarely seen the real core disciples of the Qin Family, and they usually ignored him!

The title Foundation Master was first used by the children of the Qin Family servants. Because even the servants’ children in the Qin Family were considered home-born servants. In a wealthy family, home-born servants were slaves within the family, but outside the door, countless people envied and resented them. So, these servants’ children were not ashamed of their servant status but took pride in it. They naturally spared no effort in mocking Qin Li, the Illegitimate Son whose status should have been far above theirs.

If it weren’t for that day when Qin Hu, for some unknown reason, came to mock Qin Li, shattering his spirit and beliefs completely, the current Qin Li wouldn’t have crossed over.

So, looking back, he and the Qin Hu and Qin Feng brothers really had quite a fate.

“Brother Qin, what’s wrong? What are you thinking about?”

Qin Li suddenly heard Ahu calling him and snapped back to reality. He smiled apologetically, “Sorry, I was lost in thought. It’s just that what you said is truly astonishing.”

Leng Yao couldn’t help but chuckle, probably finding Qin Li quite humorous. Which martial artist on the Tianyuan Continent didn’t know the power of alchemical pills? Yet this guy was playing dumb. But then she remembered Qin Li’s background, her expression softened, and she felt a bit guilty. She had forgotten that this young man had suffered a lot since childhood, probably couldn’t even afford an ordinary doctor, let alone have seen alchemical pills.

Ahu smiled honestly and said, “A pill refined from One Leaf Hundred-Year Grass can add ten years of power with just one pill! One pill can equal ten years of hard training!”

“So powerful!” Qin Li exclaimed in awe, then said, “Then if someone ate all hundred pills, wouldn’t they immediately become an old monster with a thousand years of power?”

Even though everyone was in a bad mood, they were amused by Qin Li’s naive and silly remark. Bu Yunyan chided, “My good brother, do you think these pills are candy beans? That you can eat as many as you want? Not to mention whether anyone can afford the price of over twenty thousand taels per pill, just the medicinal properties… Do you think the Dantian has unlimited capacity? Without hard training to expand the Dantian’s volume, you wouldn’t need many; just three pills, thirty years of power, could cause your Dantian to collapse. If you took four or five, your Dantian would probably explode… Taking one pill requires at least a month of seclusion to digest its effects. A hundred pills? You really dare to imagine!”

Qin Li scratched his head, a bit embarrassed by his ignorance. But this small embarrassment was nothing to the dignified Leader Qin. He smiled and changed the subject, “I was too poor when I was young and know nothing about alchemical pills. How about you tell me more?”

Bu Yunyan rolled her eyes at Qin Li, realizing for the first time that Qin Li had quite a thick skin. She said, “Speaking of this, Leng Yao is the expert. Let her tell you. Your Sister Leng Yao is a master alchemist! Otherwise… do you really think she could only cultivate to the Mysterious Rank? Brother Qin, your Sister Leng Yao has many secrets!”

“Too much talk!” Leng Yao shot a glare at Bu Yunyan but wasn’t really angry. She just said calmly, “It’s all in the past. Why talk about it? I do have some knowledge about alchemical pills. On the Tianyuan Continent, there are many types of pills, and many families and sects primarily focus on pill refining. The most common are the various mass-market Healing Pills, antidote pills, Disguise Pills that change your appearance when applied to the face, and Beauty Pills for women, among others. These are only basic pills.”

Leng Yao’s cool voice, like an oriole’s song, accompanied by the flickering campfire light moving across her cold, beautiful face, gave her an aura full of mysterious allure.

“Better pills are some great tonic pills. For example, Tongyuan Pills can restore Yuanli in a short time and are essential for high-level Martial Artists. Those that can be called high-grade pills are the ones that increase power, as mentioned earlier. They are called Yuanli Pills. Actually, the effect of Yuanli Pills varies from person to person. For instance, some Martial Artists with average talent might only reach Yellow Rank seventh or eighth tier after ten years of training. So if such a person takes a Yuanli Pill, the ten years of power gained might only take them from Yellow Rank First Tier to Yellow Rank seventh or eighth tier. But a Martial Artist with outstanding talent might reach Mysterious Rank fourth or fifth tier in ten years. If they absorb a Yuanli Pill well, they could at least reach Mysterious Rank second or third tier! Finally, the effect of Yuanli Pills probably only works up to high Mysterious Rank. At least, I’ve never heard of any Earth Rank expert who reached that level by taking Yuanli Pills.”

By now, Qin Li roughly understood the various alchemical pills on the Tianyuan Continent. They weren’t as powerful as he had imagined, but they weren’t weak either. Just think, why are those super wealthy families so powerful? Take the Yuanli Pill, for example. Although it’s very expensive on the market, its cost is only about one-tenth. To ordinary people, it’s a sky-high price, but to those super families, it’s nothing. Forming an army of Heaven Rank Martial Artists isn’t a difficult task.

This is a world… where strength is revered! Qin Li suddenly had a deeper understanding of this phrase.

Mentioning alchemical pills, Leng Yao seemed quite interested and continued, “Actually, besides these, there are some pills called divine-grade pills! Those… are what every alchemist truly aspires to. Obtaining just one Elixir Formula would make one’s life complete!”

“Divine-grade?” Qin Li was somewhat puzzled.

Bu Yunyan said, “Legend has it that the Tianxuan Elixir, the auxiliary pill for the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, I Am the Only Sovereign Combat Skill, is a divine-grade pill!”

Leng Yao nodded, “Yes, that’s right. So, I look forward to having a chance in this life to see that Elixir Formula, to see if it’s as miraculous as they say!”