Chapter 140, Refining a Marrow Cleansing Pill!

Translator: StarReader

 

Within Immortal City Zhaoge, down the small streets and alleyways, a small Pill Refining Workshop was located in a secluded area.

 

The pill furnace within the small courtyard was nearly constantly in use, with spirit wood added periodically to fuel the fierce flames. One furnace load was produced every hour, and at least ten batches of inferior pill had to be refined daily.

 

A year passed in this manner.

 

Su Chen’s alchemy also advanced rapidly through this repeated refining.

 

Other cultivators cultivating this alchemy typically began as alchemy apprentices, at which time they only assisted their master, performing odd jobs and observing the master refine pills, without operating the furnace themselves. It took at least five to ten years of observing an alchemist before they were allowed to operate a pill furnace.

 

After enduring a long period of apprenticeship, they were permitted to independently open a furnace and refine pills. But the opportunities were limited, often only occurring every ten days or a fortnight to refine a pill. Another five years were needed before becoming a recognized alchemist capable of attempting refining on their own.

 

Once their experience became sufficiently rich, after twenty or so years, they could become a true alchemist, capable of taking on alchemy apprentices.

 

Su Chen skipped the long and arduous period of alchemy apprenticeship, bought a set of refining jade slip and inferior-grade spirit pill recipes, and began refining immediately.

 

In just this short year, the number of times he refined pills even surpassed that of some alchemists. The failure rate was initially extremely high, but the cost of the inferior-grade pill was very low, and he could afford the losses.

 

During this year, Su Chen’s success rate in producing pills rose from one successful batch out of ten to two, and most recently to three or four.

 

He also progressed from the lowest grade, inferior first-grade Spirit Dew Pill, and began refining superior first-grade pills with slightly greater difficulty.

 

Refining three or four batches out of ten already demonstrated the strength of a moderately skilled alchemist. This still didn’t guarantee the alchemist would earn any spirit stones, and losses were still possible.

 

This year, Su Chen’s cultivation reached the second layer of the Qi Refining Stage. Because it was early Qi Refining, the rate of cultivation had also been relatively swift; the spirit within Spirit Mountain sprouted a second lotus leaf.

 

To allow himself to focus on refining pills, over the past six months, Su Chen ceased to concern himself with the business of spirit grain, herbs, and spirit pills.

 

He occasionally left Spirit Mountain Zhaoge to stroll through the spirit grain farm at the foot of the mountain, purchasing and bringing back some spirit grain. Furthermore, he mixed the spirit grain he grows himself among them, substantially increasing profits.

 

Unseen and unknown, no one knew that a few extra spirit grains appeared out of thin air.

 

The quantity was small; even Ah Nu didn’t detect it, let alone others.

 

The spirit grain and a small amount of medicinal herbs, along with the low-level spirit pills he refined, were all entrusted to Ah Nu to sell at the Zhaoge night market in exchange for spirit stones.

 

Ah Nu was still a mortal, and it was not safe for her to do this business alone.

 

Xiao Zhang frequently found himself idle in the evenings, so he accompanied Ah Nu to the night market to help set up and sell spirit grain and spirit pills, earning a few spirit stones in the process.

 

It took Su Chen over a year to accumulate as many as nearly ten thousand spirit stones.

 

If he were to use these spirit stones to purchase Marrow Cleansing Pills, buying ten would deplete his funds, yet still fail to meet his desired objective.

 

Su Chen did not intend to buy them; he decided to refine them himself.

 

He purchased a low-level Marrow Cleansing Pill alchemy recipe from the shopkeeper of the Zhou Clan Pill Pavilion at a high price.

 

Then, he used most of the spirit stones he had earned over the year to plant the thirty first-grade herbs needed for a low-level Marrow Cleansing Pill.

 

These spiritual ingredients were of a high age, often numbering decades, sometimes over a century. Growing these ingredients within Spirit Mountain alone had consumed nearly half a year of his time.

 

The high cost of the Marrow Cleansing Pill on the market was largely due to the lengthy growth periods of the dozens of spiritual ingredients required. Such ingredients were rarely seen, even in the medicine gardens of the cultivation clan in Immortal City Zhaoge.

 

On one hand, it was necessary to employ cultivators to grow these ingredients, which incurred a significant long-term expense.

 

Once the spiritual ingredients were grown, it was also necessary to have a seasoned alchemist to refine them into pills. The alchemist would take at least thirty percent of the profit.

 

Then, this Marrow Cleansing Pill was sold at Pill Pavilion, where the Pill Pavilion would also take another cut.

 

The true material cost of a Marrow Cleansing Pill should be around one-fifth, or even lower.

 

Su Chen used spirit stones to buy seeds from night markets and gardens, then used spirit stones to enhance spiritual energy and grow them on the tiny Spirit Mountain, costing less than one-tenth of the selling price.

 

Su Chen obtained a low-level Marrow Cleansing Pill formula and used most of the spirit stones he had earned over the year, nearly all of them, to cultivate the dozens of spiritual ingredients needed for the Marrow Cleansing Pill.

 

“A year has passed; I’m finally ready.”

 

Su Chen exhaled slowly.

 

Over this year, he had been studying alchemy within this jade slip on his own, refining pills over a thousand times, enduring all sorts of hardships.

 

The heat was too intense, resulting in furnace explosions and molten materials erupting from the furnace; such incidents occurred frequently.

 

Spiritual ingredients within the pill furnace were burned to a crisp or failed to refine pills; this was even more common.

 

Mastering the heat and timing the release of the pill—this was the most difficult thing to control. This required a great deal of alchemist experience to become proficient.

 

Su Chen laid out the materials needed to concoct a Marrow Cleansing Pill.

 

He spent over ten thousand spirit stones to cultivate a total of one hundred portions of materials, the cost of which was merely one hundred pills. They could be used to concoct one hundred batches of Marrow Cleansing Pill.

 

If successful, each batch could yield a Marrow Cleansing Pill. Of course, if unsuccessful, it would result in a combustion and ruin of the batch.

 

This was already his entire fortune.

 

Spirit pills can also be concocted in batches of ten material portions, yielding ten spirit pills in a single pill furnace to save time. But that requires exceptionally refined alchemy, and to minimize risk, Su Chen only concocted one portion of materials at a time.

 

…

 

“Ruined!

 

“Ruined again!”

 

Su Chen lowered his head before the small pill furnace, carefully adding spirit wood, his eyes fixed on the flames, controlling the heat. He concocted ten batches a day; aside from brief rests of one or two hours, he was completely immersed in concocting spirit pills.

 

The first ten batches were all ruined; not a single pill was produced, which caused Su Chen considerable distress.

 

In just one day, he had spent one thousand spirit stones, all of them lost. If it were an ordinary alchemist, they would have already depleted their entire family fortune and be desperate to jump into a river.

 

However, such a low pill output rate was, in fact, a normal occurrence.

 

Su Chen was only just beginning to attempt concocting a Marrow Cleansing Pill.

 

Even an alchemist, when attempting to concoct a completely new pill, unfamiliar with the medicinal properties of the herbs, has an extremely high probability of ruin; ten batches, or even dozens, might not yield a single pill.

 

With Su Chen’s repeated failures in concocting the Marrow Cleansing Pill, he discovered where the problems arose, avoided them, and gradually mastered a few tricks.

 

After twenty batches, he grasped the precise heat and finally refined the first Marrow Cleansing Pill.

 

Four days later, Su Chen consecutively refined forty yards, finally thoroughly understanding the medicinal properties of the Marrow Cleansing Pill ingredients, the process already quite familiar.

 

His success rate began to soar, rapidly elevating to around forty percent.

 

Ten days passed, all the Marrow Cleansing Pill spirit ingredients were exhausted, and the furnace fire was finally extinguished.

 

Su Chen was covered in charcoal ash, his face somewhat blackened, but he couldn’t contain the joy and excitement in his eyes. Within his pill vial, there were a full thirty-five Marrow Cleansing Pills, and he couldn’t help but rejoice.

 

The golden, crystal-clear Marrow Cleansing Pills radiated an incredibly alluring fragrance, as if flaunting their value as treasured spirit pills.

 

“Marrow Cleansing Pill refined!”

 

Su Chen felt an immense exhilaration. It had been an entire year of grueling work, planting and cultivating day and night, finally yielding such a substantial result.

 

He couldn’t wait to wash his spirit marrow again, to break the bottleneck within.

 

Su Chen directly sat cross-legged within the small alchemy workshop, regulating his breath for an hour.

 

Subsequently, a Marrow Cleansing Pill was placed into his mouth.

 

It slid into his abdomen, melting into a golden, glittering medicinal liquid, permeating within his body, and adhering to his spirit marrow. These Marrow Cleansing Pills medicinal power penetrated deep into the spirit marrow, constantly cleansing the spirit marrow.

 

The process of washing the spirit marrow was like a thousand ants devouring bones, quite painful.

 

Half an hour later, a few impurities and filth within the spirit marrow were washed out; the effect was quite obvious.

 

Well, the spirit marrow washing effect was quite good.

 

Another one!

 

Su Chen paused for a moment, then popped another one into his mouth, continuing the marrow cleansing process.

 

After an hour.

 

Another one!

 

Su Chen continuously took pill after pill.

 

Two days passed in a blink.

 

The Marrow Cleansing Pills within the bottle were visibly diminishing.

 

Su Chen had consecutively taken fifteen Marrow Cleansing Pills, washing away a significant portion of the impurities within his spirit marrow, making it much purer.

 

At this time.

 

Su Chen was astonished to discover that although they were the same Marrow Cleansing Pills, the Marrow Cleansing effect was beginning to weaken slowly. By the time he took the sixteenth, it had completely lost its effect.

 

“What’s going on? Can’t I continue the Marrow Cleansing?

 

“If one Marrow Cleansing Pill washes two points, my spirit marrow must likely be around sixty points. Barely at the edge of superior spirit marrow, still far from seventy or eighty points.”

 

Su Chen was perplexed, then suddenly thought of something.

 

resistance!

 

“Could it be because of this? This kind of drug resistance usually occurs in pills. Their properties are very potent, and cultivators who take them for a long time are prone to developing resistance.”

 

Spirit grain and spirit peach, for example, do not have this so-called resistance.

 

Su Chen couldn’t help but feel regret.

 

He had only taken fifteen Marrow Cleansing Pills and had already developed strong resistance. Taking another one had no effect at all, wasting two Marrow Cleansing Pills, which meant he could no longer wash them.

 

“Oh well, let’s just do it like this!”

 

Su Chen put away the remaining nineteen Marrow Cleansing Pills in their pill vial, feeling a mixture of laughter and dismay.

 

Although he couldn’t wash anymore, he was still quite satisfied with the effect of this washing.

 

He took a deep breath and finally washed his spirit marrow to nearly sixty points.

 

With this, eating spirit grain regularly would greatly increase his cultivating speed at the Qi Refining Stage.

 

Reducing it from over forty years to just five, he would be able to cultivate to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining around the age of twenty-five. At that time, he would still be young, with enough time to challenge the Foundation Establishment Stage.

 

He could accept such cultivating progress.

 

“The Marrow Cleansing Pill has been refined. The spirit marrow has also been washed to its limit; it’s time to return!

 

“Let Ah Nu also wash it, and see if she can break through the Qi Refining Stage.”

 

The most direct purpose of this arduous alchemy by Su Chen was to wash his own spirit marrow and break through the spirit marrow bottleneck.

 

Su Chen cleaned himself in the well in the courtyard and changed into a clean set of clothes. He pushed open the door, exited the small Pill Refining Workshop, locked the Item Refining Workshop’s large door, and prepared to return home.

 

…

 

Shopkeeper Li had been loitering near the Pill Refining Workshop with increasing frequency.

 

This small Pill Refining Workshop, unbelievably, hadn’t closed down after a year. It seemed lively, appearing quite prosperous!

 

He was deeply perplexed, scratching his ears and rubbing his cheeks, yet unable to fathom the reason.

 

Suddenly, the courtyard gate of the Pill Refining Workshop opened, and Su Chen emerged looking refreshed and invigorated.

 

“Brother Su, what pills have you been refining lately? I, too, possess a slight understanding of alchemy. Might we collaborate on running this Pill Refining Workshop? Or perhaps co-manage it?”

 

Shopkeeper Li hurried forward, his face beaming with forced cheerfulness, bowing slightly as he inquired.

 

“I’ve only managed a few furnaces of low-level pills. They consistently fail; it seems I lack the talent for alchemy! A few more years, and I fear I’ll have to close down. I have some business to attend to, so I’m going now.”

 

Su Chen smiled, bowed slightly, and departed with a confident stride.

 

“This… Brother Su, might you perhaps offer some guidance?”

 

Shopkeeper Li was utterly astonished.

 

Lacking skill in alchemy and planning to persevere for years?

 

He, running this Pill Refining Workshop, barely managed to survive half a year, teetering on the brink of losing everything.