Immortal Cultivation: Starting as a Fortune Cultivator - Chapter 21

After returning to his room!

Ye Qingxuan activated the formation around his small courtyard to prevent anyone from disturbing him again.

Although his conversation with Su Daobin had provided him with a lot of information, it did not affect the path Ye Qingxuan had long since planned for himself.

The turmoil of the outside world was irrelevant to him. He only needed to absorb the information useful to him and integrate it into his own planned path.

He would not change his path because of others.

The path must ultimately be walked by oneself. The only one he could trust was himself. The experiences of others could only serve as a reference.

With his heart calm once more, Ye Qingxuan took out the alchemy cauldron he had purchased and began refining it.

After spending half a day refining and mastering the mid-grade magic tool-level alchemy cauldron, it was already late at night.

Ye Qingxuan did not rush to start alchemy. Instead, he sat cross-legged and began meditating to recover the spiritual energy and spiritual sense he had consumed!
By early morning the next day, after a night of rest and adjustment, Ye Qingxuan had returned to his peak condition. Only then did he take out the alchemy cauldron again to begin alchemy.

Cultivators at the Qi Refining realm have low cultivation levels and cannot conjure Dao Fire.

Therefore, for the use of low-level cultivators like Ye Qingxuan, alchemy cauldrons at the magic tool level contain a spark of fire at the bottom, and their inner walls are inscribed with auxiliary control formations.

When in use, one only needs to inject spiritual energy to activate it, which then stimulates the Dao Fire to assist in the alchemy process.

Ye Qingxuan took out a set of spiritual herbs for the Qi Gathering Pill and placed them beside him. Then, he channeled his spiritual energy to activate the Dao Fire within the cauldron. Finally, he employed the Fire Control Technique, which he had only recently mastered, to slowly gain control over the Dao Fire.

He did not immediately put the spiritual herbs in to refine them. Instead, he used the Fire Control Technique to gently maintain the Dao Fire, warming and nurturing the cauldron!
The method for refining the Qi Gathering Pill was already firmly memorized in Ye Qingxuan’s mind. So, even though this was his first time concocting pills, his heart remained exceptionally calm.

When the cauldron was sufficiently warmed, Ye Qingxuan used his spiritual energy to place the spiritual herbs for the Qi Gathering Pill into the alchemy cauldron in the correct sequence.

At the same time, Ye Qingxuan extended his spiritual sense into the cauldron to observe the entire process of the herbs melting.

Ordinary cultivators below the late Qi Refining stage lack spiritual sense. When refining pills, they can only rely on spiritual energy perception and experience to control the fire.

Therefore, even if a cultivator below the late Qi Refining stage has great talent for alchemy, they cannot avoid making multiple mistakes.

His prematurely awakened spiritual sense was Ye Qingxuan’s advantage, and one of the reasons he felt confident enough to attempt pill refinement so early.

The three herbs used for the Qi Gathering Pill—Skyblue Flower, Purple Spirit Grass, and Qi Attracting Flower—each have different heat tolerances. Thus, the order and timing of placing them into the cauldron were crucial.

After all, at Ye Qingxuan’s current level, he couldn’t precisely create different temperature zones within the cauldron.

Under the observation of Ye Qingxuan’s spiritual sense, the three herbs were slowly refined by the Dao Fire. Their impurities were expelled and fell away, leaving only the essences of the three herbs floating within the Dao Fire.

Seeing this, Ye Qingxuan felt a surge of joy in his heart!
Seeing the time was ripe, Ye Qingxuan split his focus. On one hand, he controlled the three streams of herbal essence, slowly bringing them closer to merge. On the other hand, he increased the output of his spiritual energy, employing the Fire Control Technique to gradually raise the temperature of the Dao Fire.

As time passed, the three streams of herbal essence inside the cauldron began to intertwine and merge. The entire cauldron also started absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy, channeling it into the merging herbal essences.

“It seems it’s almost done!”

Just as the Qi Gathering Pill was nearly formed, and Ye Qingxuan thought he was about to succeed,

the Dao Fire under his control flickered unexpectedly, causing the temperature inside the cauldron to change instantly.

Affected by the Dao Fire, the balance within the nearly formed pill was suddenly broken, and the entire herbal essence began to riot.

Seeing this, Ye Qingxuan hurriedly increased the force of his Fire Control Technique, attempting to salvage the situation.

But as he applied the technique, he found he could no longer control the Dao Fire inside the cauldron.

Realizing the situation was beyond recovery, Ye Qingxuan didn’t force it. He calmly watched as the herbal essence was completely incinerated by the Dao Fire.

Watching the black smoke rise from the alchemy cauldron, Ye Qingxuan wasn’t discouraged, nor did he lament the loss of the spiritual herbs. Instead, he began to reflect on himself.

This failure wasn’t because Ye Qingxuan didn’t fully understand the refinement process for the Qi Gathering Pill.

On the contrary, after this attempt, he knew that—thanks to his astonishing comprehension—the refinement process he had memorized and understood in his mind was correct!

The main reason for this failure was his own overconfidence.

He had assumed that with his prematurely awakened spiritual sense and his extraordinary comprehension—a result of the transformation of his soul origin—he could easily refine pills.

But Ye Qingxuan had overlooked his proficiency in the Fire Control Technique and his control over his spiritual energy!

The Fire Control Technique was a spell from the alchemy inheritance. Ye Qingxuan had only practiced it a few times, just enough to grasp the basics, before hastily going out to buy a cauldron and prepare for alchemy.

Furthermore, his control over his spiritual energy was also quite rough.

During his five years in seclusion, Ye Qingxuan had spent almost all his time meditating to increase his cultivation base. He had hardly spent any time tempering his spiritual energy and strengthening his control over it.

This was the main reason for the failure this time:

The transmission of spiritual energy malfunctioned, causing the Dao Fire to fluctuate and break free from Ye Qingxuan’s control, gradually becoming violent.

His basic-level Fire Control Technique couldn’t control the riotous Dao Fire, leaving him unable to salvage the out-of-control situation!
After identifying his problem, Ye Qingxuan reflected:

“Sharpening the axe does not delay the cutting of firewood. It seems I must plan before acting in the future! I need to proceed steadily and gradually.”

Learning from this experience, the problem exposed, though small, needed to serve as a warning.

Otherwise, this time it was the loss of one batch of herbs; next time, who knows what the loss might be?
Putting the alchemy cauldron back into his storage ring, Ye Qingxuan did not attempt a second batch.

Since he knew the reason for his failure, what he needed to do now was naturally to remedy his shortcomings!
Thus, for the next month, Ye Qingxuan did not attempt alchemy again.

Apart from his daily meditation and cultivation, he spent the rest of his time practicing the Fire Control Technique, Sword Control Technique, and Spring Breeze Transforming Rain Technique!

The Fire Control Technique and Sword Control Technique were spells he needed to use immediately, so they took priority in his practice.

The Spring Breeze Transforming Rain Technique was something Ye Qingxuan was preparing for his future Blessed Land development. It wasn’t immediately necessary, so he only cast it a few times each day, not spending much time practicing it.

While practicing these spells, Ye Qingxuan’s control over his spiritual energy also continuously improved.

And so, for the following month, Ye Qingxuan either meditated and practiced the Fire Control Technique in his room,

or practiced the Sword Control Technique and Spring Breeze Transforming Rain Technique on the mountains surrounding the Blessed Land Cultivators’ courtyard!
The Profound Heaven Mountain Range was vast, and there weren’t many people who had established cave residences around the Blessed Land Cultivators’ courtyard, so Ye Qingxuan wasn’t worried about disturbing others.

In just one month, Ye Qingxuan’s proficiency in the three low-level spells advanced rapidly.

Both the Sword Control Technique and Fire Control Technique reached the Perfection stage, while the Spring Breeze Transforming Rain Technique had reached the Minor Achievement stage.

It has to be said, although Ye Qingxuan was hindered by his spiritual roots, resulting in a very slow cultivation speed, his comprehension was truly astonishing!
One month later!

Ye Qingxuan started the alchemy cauldron again.

This time, the refinement of the Qi Gathering Pill went very smoothly. With his Fire Control Technique at the Perfection stage, success came almost naturally.

First batch: Ye Qingxuan produced five pills!
Second batch: Ye Qingxuan produced six pills!
Third batch: Ye Qingxuan produced six pills!
However, as alchemy consumed a great deal of spiritual energy,

and to avoid affecting his cultivation, Ye Qingxuan only refined three batches of Qi Gathering Pills per day.

After ten days, Ye Qingxuan finally refined all twenty-nine sets of Qi Gathering Pill herbs into pills.

In total, he produced 230 Qi Gathering Pills!

The reason for such a high yield was that, as his alchemy proficiency continuously improved, in the latter few days, he had stabilized the output of each batch at ten pills!
With this, Ye Qingxuan’s great alchemy endeavor had finally crossed its first threshold!