After I left the sect, the entire sect knelt down and begged for forgiveness.

"No, you don't need to apologize to me. You just need to take responsibility for the choices you made, and you don't need to feel indebted to me. You have now found a good teacher, so go ahead and cultivate yourself."

Lin Yan left after she finished speaking.

Before even reaching the cave dwelling, they met the mine manager who had come to deliver the spirit stones for the month. The manager was all smiles and presented them with a storage bag.

"Master, these are the spirit stones mined this month. Please take a look."

She took it, probed the storage bag with her divine sense, and saw the quantity that satisfied her, a slight smile appearing on her lips.

"Thank you for making this trip, Manager," Lin Yan said politely, but did not offer any spirit stones as a reward.

The other party must have set aside a reward when the mining started, so since she had already received the reward, she naturally didn't need to pay anything extra.

She moved all the spirit stones into her own storage bag and returned the storage bag that originally contained the spirit stones.

Upon returning to her cave dwelling, she entered the space to check on the growth of the spiritual plants.

The spiritual plants are growing very well and are ready to be harvested.

She calculated the time and found that the spiritual plant matured three months faster than when it was grown outdoors.

She didn't feel this when she was planting the Mystic Grass, but she clearly felt it after she started planting it.

At first, she suspected it was a problem with the nutrient solution, but after getting it checked, she found it was just a normal nutrient solution.

I asked Elder Li through the communication jade disc, and he said that the nutrient solution only provides nutrients to the spiritual plants and the land, and has no special function.

It can't be a space issue, can it?

She harvested the spiritual plants and replanted a new batch. After leaving the space, she cultivated a three-square-meter nursery on the open ground next to the cave and planted spiritual plants there as well.

We need to check if it's a space issue.

Clearing the land and planting had taken up a lot of time, and it was getting dark. Fortunately, she didn't need sleep; after circulating her spiritual energy through her body, she felt refreshed and invigorated again.
Having not refined pills for a long time, she felt her technique had become a bit rusty. So, for her first batch of pills, she used the materials for refining healing pills, and waited until her hands were warmed up before refining the foundation pills.

The stove hasn't been used for a long time; it needs to be restarted to work properly.

She was very familiar with the process, carefully controlling the temperature to heat the furnace until it glowed red before throwing in the materials for quenching.

After following a familiar process, a batch of top-grade healing pills was completed.

Even if she hadn't refined any pills for a long time, she could still easily refine the most basic ones. Especially now that she had more spiritual energy stored in her body, she didn't feel any loss of spiritual energy after refining a batch.

After getting the hang of it, she began refining Foundation Establishment Pills.

This is the most difficult pill to refine among intermediate-level pills, and even now, her probability of producing a Heaven-grade Foundation Establishment Pill is still very small. Her expression was serious, and she could not afford to make a mistake in any step.

The first batch of Foundation Establishment Pills produced five pills, with a quality of third rank, which was barely satisfactory.

Every step was correct, but the quality was still poor.

If someone said this in front of other alchemists, they would definitely get ganged up on!
Others refine pills every day, but even at her age, she can't refine a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Previously, when she was refining Foundation Establishment Pills, she controlled the temperature and extracted the essence from the materials to the extreme before she could produce a Heavenly Grade Foundation Establishment Pill.

She controlled the temperature very well this time, but she didn't have enough time. She insisted on extracting all the essence of the materials, which over-processed the other materials, resulting in poor quality.

She deliberately forgoes some of the essence, expecting the refined product to be of grade four, but the result was lower, leaving her feeling disappointed.

Fortunately, even if she sold the third-grade pill to the merchant guild, she wouldn't lose money.

She only stopped when her spiritual energy was exhausted, and took out a spirit stone to replenish it.

There were no Heaven-grade Foundation Establishment Pills among the Foundation Establishment Pills refined this time; there was one box of Grade 4 Pills and three of Grade 3 Pills.

After deducting costs, it's much more profitable than buying materials directly from the Chamber of Commerce to refine them. Just as he was about to put away the alchemy furnace, a voice rang out at the entrance of the cave: "Ah, my good disciple, your second master is here."

After Lin Yan quickly cast a cleansing spell, she went to the cave entrance to greet them.

Isn't this like someone bringing you a pillow when you're sleepy?

Just when I was thinking of finding someone to teach me some techniques, a ready-made mentor came along.

"Disciple greets Second Master. Are you here to give me a lesson today?"

"Of course, since I can't be your master, I'll naturally be the one to teach you the first lesson after the apprenticeship ceremony," Jiang He said with a hint of regret.

She entered the cave with her disciple and saw a pill furnace inside, which made her nod in satisfaction.

He didn't slack off on alchemy because of his cultivation; he's a good kid.

Thinking of this, she felt a pang of regret. Why couldn't her apprentice focus on alchemy? Alchemists might be weak in martial arts, but they were highly respected.

"Given your skill level, I will first refine a batch. You can record it with a recording stone for future reference and study. Watch carefully, as I will test you on your studies later."

"Yes, Master~ I promise to observe and learn carefully, and not miss a single detail."

Jiang He nodded in satisfaction.

Regardless of whether the other party was just saying that to appease them, at least they showed the right attitude on the surface, with a serious expression on their face, without a trace of impatience or slackness.

"I will use your alchemy furnace."

This alchemy furnace isn't of very high quality, but it's enough for my disciple. She has already asked the master to refine the furnace, and once it's finished, she'll give it to her disciple as a reward.

Jiang He chose the Foundation Establishment Pill, the most difficult type of intermediate-level pill. He had just refined it while teaching in the valley, and had some materials left in his storage bag.

She took out the materials and laid them out in a row. The materials were very obedient in her hands and were processed quickly.

Immediately afterward, with a thought, spiritual fire burst forth, and the furnace's temperature soared as the fire burned.

Throughout this process, she remained calm and unhurried as she added the materials. Green spiritual energy enveloped the materials, extracting and refining them…

The repeated extraction and refining process is prone to errors, causing alchemists to become involuntarily tense and focused. Jiang He, however, did not feel this way at all, treating it as if he were doing a very ordinary thing every day.

Finally, control the temperature, solidify the elixir, and open the furnace.

She took out her testing magic item and placed it on the stone table. With a flick of her sleeve, the box containing the pills flew over, and the testing pointer pointed to the Heavenly Grade.

"A fifth-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, not quite there yet." Jiang He was not satisfied with his pill-making, and he also looked at the pill furnace with dissatisfaction.

The quality of the alchemy furnace also affects the quality of the finished pills. Although the impact is not significant, even a slight difference can lead to vastly different results.

"Master, you're amazing!" Lin Yan was at a loss for words to praise him.

When Master was refining Foundation Establishment Pills, he had a sense of complete control and composure, as if he was not afraid of making a mistake that would ruin a batch of materials.

“Praise is useless; the assessment still needs to be conducted.” Jiang He said sternly, gesturing for everyone to sit down. He then began explaining some details of refining the Foundation Establishment Pill.

After she finished speaking, she saw that the person's eyes were wide open and he looked dazed, so she took out a ruler and hit him with it.

"What? Are you getting sleepy?"

"I..." Lin Yan dared not defend herself.

Listening to her master's lecture, she felt a strange sense of being transported back to modern times, attending a math class. (End of Chapter)