Having completed the initial preparations: Su Yuqing waved his hand, and the formulated medicinal bases inside the vessel flew into the alchemy furnace.
Hand seals were formed rapidly in his hands.
The medicinal bases tumbled up and down joyfully inside the alchemy furnace, continuously fusing together.
Su Yuqing’s movements throughout the entire process were clean and decisive, having already committed every step of refining the Marrow-Washing Pill to heart.
From the very beginning, Qin Ming stared unblinkingly without turning his gaze, terrified of missing even a single tiny detail.
Time trickled away second by second.
Multitasking with mastery, Su Yuqing controlled the heat intensity with one mind while directing the full fusion of the spirit materials inside the furnace with the other.
The medicinal bases within the furnace gradually began to condense into shape.
The expression on Su Yuqing’s face grew increasingly grave and serious.
It had reached the final step!
Qin Ming held his breath, not daring to make a sound.
Right at this moment: A soft pfft sound echoed from inside the purple alchemy furnace.
Immediately after, a plume of black smoke billowed upward.
“It actually failed even with all that?!” Qin Ming couldn’t help but sigh with regret.
Was the difficulty of refining a Tier-One High-Grade spirit pill truly this astronomical?
Just the spirit materials wasted in refining this single furnace load must be worth several hundred spirit stones, right?
Yet at this moment, Su Yuqing’s expression showed little change, as if he had long anticipated this outcome.
He closed the fire valve, extinguishing the Earth-Vein Fire.
Meticulously, he cleared out all the black medicinal residue from the alchemy furnace.
Afterward, unhurriedly, he began the next attempt.
This time, Su Yuqing had prepared a total of over ten sets of spirit materials for refining the Marrow-Washing Pill.
If he failed completely, he would lose several thousand spirit stones in one go.
The second refining attempt began…
failed.
The third refining attempt…
failed.
The fourth refining attempt…
still a failure.
…
The refining continued all the way until the twelfth set.
Unknowingly, the night had already grown deep.
Su Yuqing’s nerves were taut, sweat continuously trickling down his forehead.
Finally!
Chirp!
A crisp chime echoed from the purple alchemy furnace.
A extraordinarily dense, refreshing pill fragrance wafted out from within.
“The pills are formed!” Su Yuqing was overjoyed beyond measure!
With a wave of his hand, six cyan spirit pills rolled smoothly into his palm.
As a realm-breaking pill for late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators, every single Marrow-Washing Pill was worth a fortune.
Qin Ming stared at the spirit pills with yearning eyes, swallowing his saliva.
He couldn’t afford them…
If placed in the auction house of Qingyang Marketplace, a single one of these pills could command a sky-high price of over a thousand spirit stones.
At the same time, this meant: Su Yuqing had successfully broken through to become a High-Grade Alchemist!
Furthermore, as a young alchemist barely in his twenties, it fully demonstrated Su Yuqing’s peerless alchemy talent.
He certainly had the capital to back up his pride.
“Congratulations to Alchemist Su for successfully refining the pills and becoming a High-Grade Alchemist!” Qin Ming offered his congratulations at the right moment.
Su Yuqing pulled out an exquisite porcelain bottle and stowed away the Marrow-Washing Pills.
He was in an exceptionally good mood.
Promptly, he fished out a jade bottle from his robes and tossed it over to Qin Ming.
“Good fortune shared with onlookers.” A joyful expression appeared on Qin Ming’s face as he caught the jade bottle and opened it to look—a single spirit pill rested inside.
“Qi-Gathering Pill!” “Many thanks, Alchemist Su!” Qin Ming cupped his hands in a formal bow.
This cultivation-boosting spirit pill was perfectly suited for him.
Yet compared to Su Yuqing’s gift of the pill: Observing the alchemy process on-site and witnessing the entire procedure provided Qin Ming with immense, invaluable insights.
This was the truly precious treasure.
After closing the fire valve: The two stepped out of the alchemy chamber.
“Daoist Qin, for the coming year, I need to continue refining High-Grade pills.” “Consolidating and improving the pill formation rate and quality for High-Grade pills.” “You will continue helping me cultivate spirit herbs, but…” Su Yuqing paused midway through his sentence.
Qin Ming gave a wry, self-deprecating smile and said: “Alchemist Su, whatever spirit herbs you need me to plant, just speak freely.” He wouldn’t dare boast about other things, but when it came to spirit planting, he still possessed a bit of confidence.
With traits in hand, even the Tier-One Supreme-Grade spirit plant Blood Locust Rice had been ripened by him…
Su Yuqing looked at Qin Ming with a hint of surprise, taking in his confident aura that seemed to say ‘Who else but me?’.
He couldn’t help but laugh lightly in relief: “That’s true.
Daoist Qin’s talent in the Dao of spirit planting is not to be underestimated either.” “Daoist Qin, there is no need to be so restrained going forward.” “You can directly call me Su Yuqing or Brother Su.” Qin Ming nodded in agreement: “Alright, Brother Su.” “What I’d like you to cultivate this time are two types of Tier-One Mid-Grade spirit plants.” “Cold Smoke Grass and Spirit Candle Fruit.” Saying so, Su Yuqing took out two small bags of spirit seeds from his storage bag and handed them to Qin Ming.
Qin Ming received the spirit seeds and opened them to inspect.
One bag contained black grass seeds, roughly only twenty to thirty grains.
The other bag contained a dozen or so fruit pits resembling peanuts.
“I wonder if Daoist Qin recognizes these two types of spirit plants?” Su Yuqing looked at Qin Ming with a gentle smile.
Qin Ming pondered for a moment and said: “Naturally I recognize them.
Cold Smoke Grass has an extraordinarily broad range of uses; it can be used in almost all Tier-One alchemy recipes.” “It’s just that for this Spirit Candle Fruit…” “The fruit is highly poisonous, and the leaves are jagged on both sides to prey on insects.
It needs to be fed with toxic insects and venomous materials as fertilizer.” “Apart from that, both spirit plants have rather demanding requirements for spiritual energy.
The minimum harvest period is one year.” Qin Ming paused slightly before continuing: “Within a Tier-One Spirit Vein, unless irrigated with spiritual rain using the Advanced Spiritual Rain Art…” “Otherwise…
it will be extremely difficult to mature.” When Qin Ming finished speaking: Su Yuqing patted his shoulder in admiration.
“I truly didn’t misjudge Daoist Qin.” “How about it?” “Cultivating Mid-Grade spirit plants requires a great deal of effort.” “Regardless of the eventual harvest, I can grant you one request within my acceptable bounds.” Qin Ming’s eyes lit up, without a single shred of hesitation.
He chuckled softly: “Deal!” …
The next day: Qin Ming woke up early.
Shouldering his spirit hoe, he went to the spirit fields to work as usual.
This season: He now had five mu of spirit fields he rented himself, plus the three mu rented by Su Yuqing.
A grand total of eight mu of spirit fields.
With his current 3rd Layer Qi Condensation spiritual power, managing these spirit fields was just barely sufficient.
Qin Ming’s plan was: Plant three mu of Gold Spirit Rice, three mu of Beast-Tooth Rice, and use the remaining two mu of spirit fields to plant those thirty-odd grains of Cold Smoke Grass and dozen-plus Spirit Candle Fruits.
After all, Gold Spirit Rice yielded three harvests a year, meaning a higher chance of triggering traits.
Beast-Tooth Rice could serve as a steady source of spirit stone income; moreover, he had already promised Shopkeeper Liao.
Mind made up: Qin Ming picked up his spirit hoe and went straight to work.
Within half a day: Qin Ming completed planting all eight mu of spirit fields.
After casting the Mid-Grade Spiritual Rain Art across all the fields once, he returned home satisfied.
As for the Advanced Spiritual Rain Art, that was getting close as well.
He had been practicing diligently lately; after another five instances of insights from casting it: He faintly felt the sensation of a breakthrough.
Four seasons alternated as winter departed and spring arrived.
Qin Ming returned to his spirit fields once more.
Like a true farmer, he gazed out at his personal plot of land.
Across the three mu of Gold Spirit Rice fields, two traits shimmered in brilliant gold: [Name]: Gold Spirit Rice [Trait]: Faint Spiritual Energy (Maturity 2%) [Name]: Gold Spirit Rice [Trait]: Faint Spiritual Energy (Maturity 3%) Across the three mu of Beast-Tooth Rice fields, there were two traits: [Name]: Beast-Tooth Rice [Trait]: Faint Vital Blood x5 (Maturity 1%) [Name]: Beast-Tooth Rice [Trait]: Ripening x5 (Maturity 2%) Across the two mu of Cold Smoke Grass and Spirit Candle Fruit fields, three traits appeared: [Name]: Cold Smoke Grass [Trait]: Faint Soul Power x5 (Maturity 1%) [Name]: Cold Smoke Grass [Trait]: Ripening x5 (Maturity 2%) [Name]: Spirit Candle Fruit [Trait]: Regenerative Spirit Seed x3 (Maturity 2%) “Regenerative Spirit Seed?”