Immortality begins with inheriting the myriad arts of cultivation.

In the cultivation room, Li Ping sat cross-legged.

Before him were four items: a cyan jade slip containing the legacy of a first-tier high-grade alchemist, three fifty-year-old purple essence flowers radiating vibrant spiritual energy, a fist-sized demon core burning with crimson flames inside, and a pile of 100 low-grade spirit stones.

Because the Tree of Inheritance only restricts the grade of spiritual herbs and spiritual fire, but not the variety, Li Ping chose to buy the most common and cheapest spiritual items of the corresponding grade.

Through the Meng family, Li Ping easily purchased the necessary spiritual fire and spiritual medicine for less than a hundred spirit stones.

His gaze swept over the four spiritual objects on the table. He stretched out his hands, and the transparent roots of the Tree of Inheritance quickly spread out, tightly enveloping the four spiritual objects.

Entangled, absorbed... the four spiritual objects slowly disappeared...

Li Ping was once again trapped in an illusion, but this time he learned talisman-making techniques from the perspective of a talisman brush, unlike the previous illusion.

In this illusion, he became a child.

Although he only possessed the five spiritual roots, he was intelligent and eager to learn, displaying a talent for alchemy from a young age, and learning alchemy techniques from the elders of his clan.

He learned about various medicinal herbs, became familiar with their properties, studied alchemy principles, and practiced fire control... Before he knew it, he was nearly thirty years old, and finally qualified to start refining pills.

Each of the advanced spiritual herbs was obtained through great effort by the family and could not be wasted easily. In order to ensure the success rate, it was naturally not used for him to refine his skills.

Therefore, the first thing he refined was a non-ranked "Body Tempering Pill".

After five years of painstaking research, achieving a 90% success rate in refining non-ranking pills, he finally received permission from his elders to attempt refining ranking pills.

After ten years, the success rate of refining first-grade low-grade pills reached 70%, qualifying the user to refine first-grade mid-grade pills.

After twenty years, the success rate of refining first-grade mid-level pills has reached 70%, qualifying the individual to refine first-grade high-level pills.

Another forty years passed, and his success rate in refining first-grade high-quality alchemy reached 70%, making him the most skilled alchemist in the clan.

At this time, he was over a hundred years old!

Realizing that he was nearing his end, he compiled all his insights into alchemy into a book, forming a first-grade superior alchemist's inheritance, which he left to his family's future generations!

"Haha... I am Lü Caibai, and this book shall be called 'Caibai Danjing'!"

……

Li Ping opened his eyes, and the sound of Lü Caibai's aged laughter still seemed to echo in his ears.

He roughly estimated the time; less than two hours had passed in the illusion. This time, the time taken was much shorter than the time it took to inherit the second-tier mid-grade talisman-making technique last time.

In just two short hours of illusion, he experienced the hundred-year life of the alchemist 'Lü Caibai'!

"With the support of the family, it takes a hundred years to research alchemy techniques to the first-grade superior level." Li Ping shook his head slightly as he pondered the massive amount of alchemy techniques that had appeared out of nowhere in his mind.

He shook his head not because he thought Lü Caibai lacked talent; in fact, Lü Caibai's talent for alchemy was quite good.

However, his family wasn't very powerful. To minimize losses, they required him to achieve a success rate of over 70% in alchemy before allowing him to refine higher-level pills, which undoubtedly delayed his progress.

In fact, normally speaking, if you take into account the cost of the elixirs, you can try to refine a higher-level elixir if you have a success rate of 30% to 40%.

Li Ping's consciousness saw the Tree of Inheritance in his sea of ​​consciousness again. At this moment, it was above the branch that represented the talisman-making technique. A slightly thinner and shorter branch was swaying slightly, and a line of text appeared on it: [Alchemist: First-Rank High Grade].

Moreover, under Li Ping's observation, the Tree of Inheritance had also grown a little taller.

In just two hours, he surpassed the efforts of others over a hundred years, becoming a first-class high-grade alchemist with a 100% success rate in alchemy.

A smile crept onto Li Ping's lips; he was extremely satisfied with his "unparalleled talent."

……

Li Ping sat cross-legged in the specially prepared alchemy room.

He took out a first-grade high-quality pill furnace that he had purchased long ago, as well as a large amount of spiritual herbs for refining first-grade low-quality pills from his storage bag.

Unlike talisman pens, due to their large size and complex design, alchemy furnaces of the same tier are more expensive than offensive magic weapons of the same tier, and about the same price as defensive magic weapons of the same tier.

The first-grade superior alchemy furnace cost Li Ping more than 100 spirit stones.

As for the spiritual herbs used to refine first-grade low-level pills, they are mostly between 5 and 10 years old, so they are not worth much spirit stone.

After reviewing his memories, Li Ping chose the "Qi-Boosting Pill," which could enhance the cultivation of early-stage Qi Refining cultivators, as his first target for alchemy.

Li Ping picked up all six spiritual herbs needed to refine the Qi-Boosting Pill and threw them into the alchemy furnace at once. He then opened his mouth and spat out a stream of innate true fire, and began to use the fire to purify the herbs.

The temperature inside the alchemy room began to rise rapidly.

A typical first-tier low-grade alchemist would purify medicinal herbs one by one with utmost care.

However, after Li Ping received Lü Caibai's inheritance, his actual alchemy experience had exceeded a hundred years. Refining such low-level pills was a piece of cake for him, so there was no need for such trouble.

Half an hour later, the lid of the alchemy furnace was slowly lifted, and the aroma of medicine wafted out.

Enveloped in the magical power of Li Ping's "Ze Shui Yang Sheng Jue" (a martial arts technique), a phantom burst out of the alchemy furnace, splitting into twelve pieces that fell into the jade bottle in Li Ping's hand.

Li Ping didn't have time to observe the pills in the jade bottle, because the power of the Nourishing Life Technique had already begun to change after absorbing the "innate energy" from the formation of the "Qi-Boosting Pill".

The originally unremarkable health-preserving techniques suddenly became vibrant and full of life.

As the power of the Nourishing Life Technique circulated throughout Li Ping's meridians, the deficiencies left by malnutrition during his time as a homeless beggar, the hidden injuries from martial arts competitions during his time traveling the world with a sword, and the damage to his vital essence caused by fighting for resources during his time as a rogue cultivator... were all being slowly repaired by the power of the Nourishing Life Technique...

In this process, that sliver of 'innate talent' is gradually being depleted...

After a long while, Li Ping opened his eyes, his eyes filled with joy.

Li Ping casually put the jade bottle containing the Qi-boosting pills into his storage bag, and then eagerly picked up six more spiritual herbs and threw them into the alchemy furnace!

……

The ancestral home of the Wang family.

The Wang family patriarch and other Qi Refining cultivators, including Wang Quyan, all looked toward the small courtyard not far away.

Inside that small courtyard, Wang Xingwei, a genius cultivator from the Wang family, was attempting to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, using the Foundation Establishment Pill bestowed upon him by his ancestor.

Suddenly, everyone felt a fluctuation in the surrounding spiritual energy. Then, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth rapidly converged above the courtyard, forming a spiritual energy vortex with a diameter of several tens of feet.

Upon seeing this, the Wang family members couldn't help but show their great joy.

But before they could even show any further expression...

The vortex of spiritual energy shuddered violently and, after a mournful cry, dissipated completely.

Everyone understood that in such a short time, there was simply not enough time to gather enough spiritual energy to supply the foundation building needs.

Clearly, Wang Xingwei's attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage failed.