Begin your practice with the crane-shaped stance.

A month later.

Deep within Tiger Hill lies Zhangping Cave.

The dark blue-green serpent outside the cave still lazily coiled at the foot of the cliff.

It was naturally unaware that deep within the cave guarded by its massive body lay a secret chamber in the stone wall, equipped with a concealment array.

Anyone who wants to force their way in must first get past this formidable "gatekeeper".

Meanwhile, Xia Dong was silently sneaking into the secret room through the hidden underwater passage.

In the center of the secret chamber, a bronze alchemy furnace, about ten feet tall, with three legs and two handles, now stands prominently.

Xia Dong went to great lengths to bring this behemoth in.

This is a low-grade magic artifact-level alchemy furnace. Although its grade is not high, it is a special auxiliary magic artifact and therefore quite expensive.

Its biggest drawback is that it cannot change size at will like the legendary magical artifacts of immortals.

In the common knowledge of the cultivation world, to be able to freely collect and store magical artifacts of varying sizes, one must at least possess a top-grade magical artifact. As for "spiritual artifacts," which are even higher than magical artifacts, only great cultivators who have successfully opened their "purple mansions" can craft them.

Based on Xia Dong's current knowledge of cultivation, opening up the Purple Mansion is the ticket to "Deity Transformation".

If one fails to open the Purple Mansion, even if one can form a core, the end of one's life will only be the Nascent Soul stage.

Xia Dong looked at the giant furnace and sighed inwardly. The storage pouch he had obtained from Zhang Ping's remains was only three feet square, and it couldn't possibly fit the furnace inside.

The size and grade of the alchemy furnace are irrelevant.

On the contrary, precisely because of its lower grade, it needs to be made larger in order to have more complete functions.

In fact, storage pouches are extremely precious items in the resource-scarce cultivation world today. Ordinary rogue cultivators wouldn't even dare to dream of them; generally, only cultivators in the late Qi Refining stage are worthy of possessing one.

However, Qixia Immortal Sect has a profound foundation, and with fewer and fewer inner disciples being recruited these days, Qin Wan only broke through to the fourth level of Qi Refining, and Gu Yue Zhenren bestowed upon her a storage bag with a space of more than twelve feet, which was just enough to hold this alchemy furnace.

Xia Dong naturally wouldn't reveal the secret of having cultivated magical power and divine sense to Qin Wan. After taking the alchemy furnace from Qin Wan, he relied on his astonishing divine strength and the effect of his wind manipulation technique to bring it to Tiger Hill, and then slowly dragged it into the secret chamber through the underwater passage.

Fortunately, we finally got everything we needed.

Over the past month, Xia Dong had secretly collected most of the auxiliary medicines needed to refine the "Qi Gathering Pill" through the He family's medicinal herb channels; as for the few main medicines that truly contained spiritual energy, he asked Qin Wan to get them from the Immortal Sect Market.

With everything ready, Xia Dong took a deep breath and began his first alchemy session.

He put the purchased "spiritual firewood" into the bottom of the alchemy furnace, and with a rub of his Dragon-Capturing Hand, the firewood was lit.

Teng!

A ghostly blue flame suddenly erupted, and the temperature inside the sealed room rose abruptly.

After Xia Dong truly began practicing alchemy, he deeply understood what it meant when the "Basic Alchemy Classic" said, "Controlling fire is the soul of alchemy."

The difficulties involved are simply outrageous.

The first is the precise control of the heat.

Xia Dong not only had to use his divine sense to perceive the furnace temperature, but also had to use his magic power to control the ventilation openings below the furnace and precisely control the wind force to regulate the fire.

If the wind is even slightly strong, the firewood will burn too fiercely, and the medicinal herbs will instantly turn to ashes; if the wind is even slightly weak, the firepower will be insufficient, and the medicinal properties of the herbs will not be fully activated.

Xia Dong's divine sense was like an invisible and intricate giant net, completely enveloping the entire alchemy furnace inside and out.

"The first ingredient is purple orchid leaves."

With a thought, Xia Dong enveloped a purple spiritual herb with his divine sense and threw it into the alchemy furnace. Under the meticulous control of his divine sense, the flames instantly engulfed it. Xia Dong had to use his divine sense to forcibly extract the drop of deep purple medicinal essence just before the herb turned to ashes, suspending it in mid-air above the furnace, while simultaneously removing all impurities and waste.

The purification of this single main ingredient alone consumed a great deal of Xia Dong's energy.

Then came the second ingredient, the third ingredient... and so on, as well as the auxiliary ingredients.

As more and more medicinal liquid floated in the furnace, the most dangerous and difficult step, "melting the elixir," arrived.

Different herbs have completely different properties; some belong to fire, and some to water. Forcibly combining them is extremely difficult.

Chi Chi Chi!

As soon as the two drops of medicinal liquid came into contact under the pressure of Xia Dong's divine sense, a violent repulsive sound came from inside the alchemy furnace, and the violent fluctuations of spiritual energy almost broke through Xia Dong's divine sense blockade.

"Hold it down!"

Xia Dong gritted his teeth, his divine sense like two invisible hands, tightly gripping the frenzied medicinal liquid, using flames to scorch it to find its balance point, while forcibly kneading and fusing it together.

A sharp pain shot through his brain; this micro-manipulation and strain on the limits of his divine sense was ten times more intense than when he was making the talisman.

Just as the medicinal liquid was about to fuse into the shape of a pill.

A tiny spark suddenly burst from the firewood at the bottom of the furnace, causing a very slight fluctuation in the local temperature.

With just this slight fluctuation, the medicinal liquid, which had been barely maintaining balance, instantly went out of control.

boom!

A muffled explosion came from inside the alchemy furnace.

A pungent, burnt smell wafted out from the furnace's vent, filling the entire secret chamber.

Failed.

Xia Dong felt as if he had been pulled out of the water, and leaned against the cold stone wall, exhausted, trying to catch his breath.

Looking at the pile of charred slag at the bottom of the furnace, Xia Dong smiled bitterly, but a sudden realization also dawned on him.

If he hadn't fortuitously cultivated his divine sense ahead of time and reached the fifth level of Qi Refining, and hadn't further tempered his divine sense through talisman making to enhance its resilience...

Otherwise, even if given ten thousand years, ordinary martial artists or low-level cultivators would never be able to refine a single batch of pills, which is an extremely difficult and delicate task.

No wonder the cultivation world often says, "All the arts of cultivation are based on divine consciousness."

Whether it's drawing talismans, setting up formations, refining weapons, or refining pills, without the subtle control of divine sense, it's all just empty talk.

"Again!"

Xia Dong was not discouraged. After resting and recuperating for a while, he grabbed another handful of spirit firewood and resolutely threw it into the huge bronze alchemy furnace.

Inside the sealed room, the pungent smell of burning was so strong it was almost impossible to dissipate.

I don't know how many times I failed.

Xia Dong sat cross-legged in front of the huge bronze alchemy furnace, his eyes filled with fine blood vessels. The lack of sleep and rest over the past few days had left him looking deeply exhausted.

The energy required for alchemy was far more terrifying than he had anticipated.

The main medicine that Qin Wan obtained for him, as well as the auxiliary medicines that the He family collected, all turned into waste residue at the bottom of the furnace like flowing water within this month.

The firewood was burned down to just a few pieces.

Every failure caused by an explosion or a conflict with the medicinal properties pushed his magical power and spiritual consciousness to their limits.

If it weren't for the innate "Qi" condensed from the "Changchun Xingqi Jue" constantly protecting his internal organs and nourishing his mind, he would probably have been exhausted and gone mad long ago.

"There are only three portions of materials left."

Xia Dong took a deep breath and did not rush to make a move.

He closed his eyes, circulated the Changchun Xingqi Technique, and completely calmed the boiling blood and magical power in his body, entering the tranquil state of "fetal breathing".

When his energy and spirit reached their peak again, he suddenly opened his eyes, and the energy of his Dragon-Capturing Hand shot out, causing the dark blue flames of his alchemy to blaze up again at the bottom of the furnace.

The divine sense of the fifth level of Qi Refining was like an impenetrable net, instantly taking control of every minute corner inside the alchemy furnace.

"Purple Orchid Leaf, go!"

"Centennial blood ginseng, go!"

"Silver Moon Grass..."

Xia Dong methodically put the medicinal herbs into the furnace one by one.

After numerous failures, he could accurately grasp the melting point of each medicinal herb and the opportunity for its medicinal properties to be released even with his eyes closed.

Purification, impurity removal, and suspension.

Soon, a dozen or so drops of liquid, each a different color and exuding a pure medicinal fragrance, floated in mid-air above the alchemy furnace.

The most difficult step, "melting the elixir," has arrived once again.

Xia Dong held his breath, his divine sense transforming into countless extremely fine tentacles, carefully guiding these conflicting medicinal liquids closer to each other.

Chi Chi Chi!

The moment the medicinal liquid came into contact with the furnace, a violent repulsive force erupted again, and the spiritual energy inside the furnace instantly became turbulent, posing a constant risk of the furnace exploding.

"Suppress it!"

Xia Dong gritted his teeth and poured out all the power of his soul in his sea of ​​consciousness without reservation.

While forcibly kneading the frenzied medicinal liquid together with his divine sense, he also controlled the flames at the bottom of the furnace with extreme precision, sometimes attacking with fierce fire and sometimes simmering with gentle fire, searching for that delicate balance point in the extreme conflict.

Sweat streamed down his face, dripping onto the scorching hot stone slab and evaporating instantly.

A stick of incense, half an hour, an hour...

As the last piece of spirit firewood at the bottom of the furnace gradually turned to ashes, the swirling, struggling mixture of medicinal liquid inside the furnace finally ceased its agitation and merged into a uniform mass under the dual tempering of divine sense and flames.

"Freeze!"

Xia Dong suddenly formed a hand seal, channeling all the remaining Xuan Yin magic power in his dantian into the alchemy furnace.

hum.

As a deep and strange hum came from inside the alchemy furnace, the originally violent spiritual energy instantly subsided.

A rich, mellow fragrance, distinct from the scent of herbs, suddenly burst forth from the furnace's vent, instantly dispelling the burnt smell from the sealed room.

Become!

Xia Dong, without bothering to wipe the sweat from his forehead, suddenly stood up, and with a flick of his sleeve, the heavy bronze furnace lid slid open with a bang.

He peeked out.

At the bottom of the enormous alchemy furnace, three pills, each the size of a soybean, lay quietly.

These three Qi Gathering Pills were not as smooth and translucent as the ones Qin Wan had given him, with cloud-like patterns. Their color was somewhat dull, their surfaces were even pitted and uneven, and the spiritual energy they emitted was quite mixed.

"The quality is very average; it can barely be considered a successful pill, not even reaching the level of excellent among the low-grade pills..."

Xia Dong picked it up between his fingertips and examined it carefully. He couldn't help but smile broadly, which eventually turned into a very pleasant chuckle.

he made it!

He has already crossed the threshold of alchemy, the most difficult of all the arts of cultivating immortality.

Whether these pills are ugly or of good quality is completely irrelevant to Xia Dong at this moment. Because, at the very instant the pills are formed...

"clang!"

Deep within the sea of ​​consciousness, the long-lost, mottled ancient bronze bell emitted a clear and resonant chime that struck straight to the soul.

Talent: Once proven, forever proven.

During the several hours-long alchemy process just now, every subtle adjustment of the heat, every minute suppression of the divine sense, and every perfect opportunity for the fusion of medicinal properties... were forcibly imprinted into the deepest part of Xia Dong's soul and muscle memory by the ancient bronze bell, just like being carved by a knife and axe.

From this moment on, refining Qi Gathering Pills was no longer a matter of trial and error for him, requiring him to rely on luck.

As long as he has the materials, he will perfectly replicate this alchemy process.

Xia Dong then placed these three "inferior" Qi-gathering pills, which were of great significance, into a jade bottle.