Six Realms Immortal Emperor

Xu Jingtian cautiously peeked out and looked down. Sure enough, a figure was visible under a protruding rock.

The figure picked up the rock and climbed upwards with great difficulty, using all four limbs.

"Junior brother, give me a hand!" the figure whispered.

Xu Jingtian reached out a hand, grabbed the man's wrist, and pulled him up. Upon closer inspection, the man was also dressed as a child, only a few years older than Xu Jingtian.

"So it was you! You scared me to death!" the man said, letting out a long sigh of relief.

"What are you doing hiding down there?" Xu Jingtian asked curiously.

"Hehe!" The other person didn't answer, but instead stared at Xu Jingtian's chest and laughed, "Is that a bottle of pills inside?"

"How did you know?" Xu Jingtian was somewhat surprised. He had been well hidden from the alchemy room all the way here, and no one should have seen him.

How was this person able to guess?

Moreover, since he could guess that it was a pill bottle, he must also know that it contained waste pills.

Xu Jingtian's face was filled with surprise and uncertainty. What kind of punishment would he receive if Elder Ochi found out about this?

Instead of responding directly, the other person smiled and said, "Junior brother, don't worry. I am Master Lu Wu's pageboy, named Yuan Fei. And you?"

Xu Jingtian knew that Master Lu Wu was an alchemist; he had met him once when he first came to Wan Dan Pavilion.

"My name is Xu Jingtian, and I am Elder Yuezhi's disciple. That's right, what I'm carrying is indeed a useless pill. I just don't know what Senior Brother is doing here so late at night?" Xu Jingtian simply admitted it directly, since the other party had already seen through him, there was no need to pretend anymore.

"Hehe, I wasn't wrong, Junior Brother is indeed a straightforward person. I won't beat around the bush anymore. To tell you the truth, every time Master refines the Spirit-Solidifying and Mind-Concentrating Pill, half of them are waste pills. After they fall here, some are blocked by rocks. I always come here to collect the waste pills at midnight. I never expected to run into you this time." Yuan Fei said, and also took out something from his pocket.

Upon closer inspection, Xu Jingtian confirmed that they were indeed defective pills. He then noticed a bulge in Yuan Fei's chest, indicating that he likely still had quite a few hidden inside.

"Senior Brother Yuan Fei, is Daoist Lu Wu's alchemy skill really that low?" Xu Jingtian asked in surprise. The Spirit-Solidifying Pill is a level lower than the Five Elements Blood-Condensing Pill; it's the most common type of pill. If even a Spirit-Solidifying Pill could be ruined by half, then other pills are even less likely to be refined successfully.

"Low? You're new here, you don't know yet. Alchemy is not like weapon crafting, the success rate is very low. To tell you the truth, besides my master, there are four other Taoist priests here. If half of the pills produced are good, we're already thanking our lucky stars," Yuan Fei explained.

"Oh!" Xu Jingtian replied. In that case, Yue Zhi's ability to produce 30% good pills from the Five Elements Blood Coagulation Pill is already far superior to that of those Taoist priests.

"Then what use do you have for collecting these useless pills, Senior Brother?" Xu Jingtian asked, puzzled.

Waste pills are not only useless, but they also contain some toxic impurities, which are harmful and have no benefit, so they can only be discarded.

"Hehe, you don't know this, but waste pills aren't very useful, but they can be exchanged for good pills. If I tell you this secret, would you be willing to give me a bottle of waste pills, junior brother?" Yuan Fei said with a mysterious smile, his eyes fixed on Xu Jingtian's chest.

"Can you exchange a waste pill for a good pill?" Xu Jingtian was even more puzzled. "If that's really the case, why not give you a bottle!" This was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing. Waste pills were of little use to him anyway. If he could make good use of them and exchange them for good pills, wouldn't that be a windfall?

Yuan Fei deliberately lowered his voice and chuckled, "Hehe, that's right, a hundred useless pills for one good one." He then stopped, pointing tentatively at Xu Jingtian's chest, and asked, "Is that Five Elements Blood Coagulation Pill in your pill bottle?"

How could Xu Jingtian not know his intentions?

"Yes, the Five Elements Blood Coagulation Pills refined by Elder Ochi, 70% of them are defective, and they're all here!" Xu Jingtian said, taking out a bottle from his pocket and handing one to Yuan Fei.

Yuan Fei was indeed overjoyed upon seeing it. He snatched the bottle and hurriedly stuffed it into his robes, as if afraid Xu Jingtian would change his mind. Then, he said with great envy, "Tsk tsk, Junior Brother has really struck it rich this time. The Five Elements Blood Condensation Pill is much more valuable than my Spirit-Solidifying Pill. If you give these useless pills to the Pill-Guarding Elder downstairs, you can exchange so many useless pills for quite a few good ones."

"Oh, I see!" Xu Jingtian said with relief. The image of the old man guarding the core immediately came to mind. No wonder the old man asked him about the broken core. He was indeed a hidden master. It seemed that he would have to be more careful if he met him again in the future.

Exchanging waste pills for good ones is definitely not that simple. Even Ochi, as the Grand Elder of Alchemy in the Brahma Sect, couldn't turn waste pills into good ones. Does the Elder in charge of pill preservation have a unique method?

Seeing Xu Jingtian deep in thought, Yuan Fei looked around and lowered his voice, saying, "Junior Brother Jingtian, what happened today is between you and me. You must not tell anyone else. Especially about me picking up the waste pills at the bottom of the cliff. If Master finds out, I'll be in big trouble."

"Don't worry, Senior Brother Yuan Fei, I won't say anything nonsense," Xu Jingtian replied.

Although he didn't know what punishment Yuan Fei was referring to, he could tell from the expression on the other's face that it must be an extremely severe punishment. The secret of exchanging defective pills for good ones—if leaked, it would definitely cause a huge uproar.

"Thank you, junior brother. I'll take my leave now!" Yuan Fei breathed a sigh of relief, pocketed the pill bottle, and left happily.

Xu Jingtian gave Yuan Fei a bottle of discarded pills, and he still had seven or eight bottles in his possession, containing about three hundred pills, which he could exchange for three Five Elements Blood Coagulation Pills.

The Five Elements Blood Condensation Pill is something that inner disciples can only get one a month, but he can get three at once.

Since these discarded pills were useful, they couldn't be thrown away. Xu Jingtian steeled his heart, picked up the pill bottle, and returned to the training room.

He hid the discarded pills in a corner of the training room. Although it was a bit risky, it was worth it. Whenever he had the chance, he would try to find the Elder Guardian of Pills. If he could really exchange them for good pills, he would never have to worry about the source of pills for his cultivation.

Ochi's alchemy practice always produces a large number of waste pills, all of which end up in his pocket.

Thinking of this, Xu Jingtian was overjoyed and hurried off to cultivate.

In the days that followed, Xu Jingtian spent his days refining pills with Yuezhi and helping with chores. At night, he practiced meditation and cultivation, but Xu Jingtian felt his progress was too slow.

Days passed, but he still didn't produce the so-called spiritual liquid in his body. Every time he finished cultivating, he felt discouraged, but when he thought about going to find his parents in the future, he cheered up and continued to cultivate.

However, cultivation does have some benefits. For example, even without sleeping, he is very energetic after each day's cultivation. His memory is also getting better and better. He can completely remember the pill formulas that Yuezhi gives him every day after just one look. He can also clearly remember the types and quantities of materials listed on them after just one look.

What he was most satisfied with was that his strength had increased significantly, almost doubling. He could now lift those alchemy materials, which often weighed hundreds or thousands of pounds, with one hand. Even Yuezhi suspected that he was born with superhuman strength, possessing such power in his arms without relying on spiritual energy.

However, Xu Jingtian couldn't sense a trace of spiritual liquid within his body, and he began to feel anxious. Could it be that his cultivation method was incorrect? But he was following the cultivation methods on the bamboo slips, and he figured the entire Brahma Sect was probably doing the same.

If it were an ordinary teenager, after such a long period of cultivation, if he still couldn't sense any spiritual energy, he might have given up. But Xu Jingtian never had the thought of giving up.

Since Old Xu's death, he lost his only relative, which was an unbearable ordeal for the sensitive boy. In this environment, he missed his parents, whom he had never met, even more, especially after learning that they were immortals, which intensified his longing for them.

Although he couldn't sense the spiritual liquid, Xu Jingtian still persisted in meditating and cultivating every night. In his spare time, he would carefully recall the cultivation incantations on the bamboo slips, hoping to find some inspiration. Although he had already memorized them perfectly, he firmly believed that they would definitely be useful in the future.

However, one thing that excited him was that as Ochi refined pills more often, the amount of waste pills in his room kept increasing. In a month, he had more than twenty bottles piled up in a corner, which was quite conspicuous.

"With so many useless pills, I should be able to exchange them for quite a few good pills, right?" Whenever Xu Jingtian returned empty-handed from his cultivation, he couldn't help but glance at these pill bottles a few more times, finding some comfort in his heart.