Gou Zai created a blessed land in the immortal abode

Li Chengming made up his mind and cupped his hands in greeting:

"Rest assured, Elder Kong, I will do my utmost to live up to your expectations."

Kong Shaowen nodded and chatted with him for a few more minutes, asking about the harvest of the spirit field and the progress of his cultivation. His words showed the care and concern of an elder for a younger generation.

Li Chengming answered each question, but secretly pondered to himself:

"Master Kong's actions this time are probably not just about appreciating talent, but also about cultivating alchemists for the Kong family."

After all, although the Kong family had many retainers, only a handful were truly skilled in alchemy.

If a master alchemist could be trained to be completely dependent on the Kong family, it would be entirely beneficial to the Kong family.

Li Chengming also needed the support of the Kong family.

He had lived the life of a rogue cultivator, where resources were scarce, techniques were crude, and a slight misstep could lead to death and the annihilation of one's cultivation.

If one can gain the attention of the Kong family and receive preferential treatment in resources, coupled with the trump card of the Immortal Abode, one's path to immortality will naturally be able to go much further.

"Alright, it's getting late. You should go back now. I will send someone to take over the care of the two acres of spirit fields that you were in charge of. From now on, you can focus on your alchemy research."

Kong Shaowen put down his teacup. "Come see me again after you've refined a decent Spirit Gathering Pill."

Li Chengming rose, bowed, and left the courtyard.

…………

By the time we returned to Cuiyuan Peak, it was nearly dusk.

Li Chengming did not rush to enter the immortal abode. Instead, he sat cross-legged in the courtyard, took out the jade slip given to him by Kong Shaowen, and probed it with his spiritual sense.

The jade slip contained extremely detailed information, from the preparation of the elixir and the control of the heat to the timing of condensation.

Kong Shaowen even listed all the failures he had encountered in his decades of alchemy, analyzed the reasons, and summarized his experiences.

This insight is truly priceless.

"No wonder that to learn the various arts of cultivation, one must first find a master. With such insights into alchemy, even someone with no talent in alchemy could probably master it in two or three years, right?"

Li Chengming studied the book with great eagerness, and before he knew it, the night had deepened.

He let out a long breath, opened his eyes, and his eyes were full of excitement.

"I see... I kept the flame too low to prevent the Spirit Gathering Pill from burning, and I forced the pill to condense before the essence of the spiritual herbs was fully fused. No wonder the quality was not good."

He stood up, entered the immortal abode, and went straight to the alchemy room.

Now that we have some insights, we should strike while the iron is hot.

He then sat cross-legged in front of the alchemy furnace, made hand seals, and a burst of earth fire rose from the bottom of the furnace.

The furnace temperature gradually rises.

Following Kong Shaowen's advice, Li Chengming did not rush to add the medicine. Instead, he carefully sensed the temperature inside the furnace with his spiritual sense and added the spiritual medicine one by one after the temperature became uniform.

The Spirit-Gathering Grass is placed in the furnace and turns into a blue medicinal liquid. The other auxiliary ingredients are added in a fixed order and blend with the medicinal liquid.

The whole process was carried out calmly and unhurriedly.

At the crucial moment of condensing the pill, Li Chengming did not rush to condense it, but instead used his spiritual sense to carefully perceive the state of the medicinal liquid inside the pill furnace.

Once the impurities in the medicinal liquid had been completely refined by the spiritual fire, and the essence had blended into one, he suddenly made a hand seal.

A jolt ran through the furnace.

The air was filled with the fragrance of cinnamon.

Li Chengming opened the alchemy furnace, and two round and plump Spirit Gathering Pills lay quietly at the bottom of the furnace.

Li Chengming held the pill in his hand from a distance and examined it closely. The Spirit Gathering Pill was bluish-white in color, with a slightly dark feel to it.

"Although it's better than the Spirit Gathering Pills I've refined before, it's still a bit inferior to the common Spirit Gathering Pills."

Li Chengming shook his head:

"Still not skilled enough."

Moreover, Li Chengming has already used up all the Spirit Gathering Grass he has.

"I need to go to the General Affairs Hall to collect the Spirit Gathering Grass."

Li Chengming no longer needs to cultivate spirit fields, and he can also receive an extra batch of spirit-gathering herbs every month.

The amount is not much, only about one acre.

But if you include the one acre of spirit-gathering grass in the immortal abode, that makes two acres.

Enough to refine forty or fifty batches of pills.

"Even if the success rate is only 20% or 30%, I can still produce about ten batches," Li Chengming thought to himself.

As for the exact number of Spirit Gathering Pills that can be produced, that's hard to say.

Sometimes a single batch can yield two or three pills, while other times it can only yield one. This is closely related to the alchemy techniques used.

"As for what to do with these pills..." Li Chengming hesitated.

It's too low-grade for me to eat myself; its effect on a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator is limited.

"Sell it, and we can exchange it for some Spirit Gathering Grass."

Li Chengming is not in a hurry to break through to the fifth or even sixth level of Qi Refining, because he has found that since breaking through to the middle stage of Qi Refining, the cultivation speed has become increasingly difficult.

This is mainly because the cultivation technique he practices is only the second-grade "Little River Flowing Water Technique".

The cultivation techniques range from one to nine grades, with grades one to three being Qi-refining level techniques.

The higher the grade, the better and more detailed the cultivation methods recorded inside.

For example, first and second-grade cultivation techniques will not contain any information about Foundation Establishment, while third-grade cultivation techniques will involve some methods for breaking through Foundation Establishment.

If it is a fourth-grade cultivation technique at the Foundation Establishment level, then the complete Foundation Establishment method will be recorded.

"To break through to the late stage of Qi Refining, it's best to switch to a third-grade cultivation technique, and a fourth-grade one would be even better..."

Li Chengming pondered in his heart:

"The Kong family mainly cultivates the Fire Virtue path, and they probably don't have the Water Virtue path. If they want to find a third-grade Water Virtue cultivation method, they will have to find another way."

"But there's no rush. It would be difficult for me to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining in less than three to five years, let alone Foundation Establishment."

Li Chengming was already quite satisfied with his current cultivation speed, after all, he had broken through two levels in just over a year.

"Instead of searching for cultivation techniques, we should first upgrade this meditation room."

[Quiet Room: Fanpin]

[Current effect: Cultivation speed increased by 30%, probability of breaking through bottleneck slightly increased]

[Advanced Effect: Increases cultivation speed by 100%, and slightly increases the probability of breaking through bottlenecks]

[Advanced Requirements: 50 catties of spirit wood, 20 catties of spirit iron, and one piece of jade marrow]

"Chalcedony..."

Looking at the required advanced materials, Li Chengming immediately looked troubled.

Chalcedony is not something that comes easily.

Chalcedony originates from spiritual veins and is formed by the condensation of spiritual energy. It is very difficult to form and its price is naturally extremely high.

He had lived in Yuehu Market for many years and had only heard of this item once at an auction.

It is said that it was bought by a Qi Refining family for 160 spirit stones.

"Let alone whether I can afford 160 spirit stones, even if I could, Moon Lake Market is no longer open. Where can I buy them?"

Even though all three are now building their own markets, none of them can replace the status of Yuehu Market within three to five years.

After all, the Moon Lake Market was once guarded by three Foundation Establishment families, making it the largest market in Youyang County.

It also attracts forces and independent cultivators from surrounding counties to trade, which is why the market is able to gather natural treasures and cultivation resources from all over the world.

"Let's gather information first."

Li Chengming had a certain reputation on Cuiyuan Peak, so he could spread the word and ask other cultivators to keep an eye out for rumors about chalcedony.