Qin Yuan turned back to the pill book before him.
His biggest gain was not combat.
It was Pill Mastery.
At Level 9, the books no longer felt like dry theory.
The diagrams had become alive in his eyes.
Fire temperature was no longer just hot or cold. It had layers. Pressure. Rhythm. Texture.
Herb essence was not just liquid. It had temperament. Some essences resisted. Some scattered. Some clung to impurities like mud. Some needed force. Some needed coaxing.
Pill formation was not simply mixing ingredients and heating them.
It was control.
Balance.
Timing.
Understanding when to press down, when to let the furnace breathe, when to burn away excess, and when to stop interfering.
Qin Yuan closed the book.
"I can try."
The next day, after finishing another mission and receiving his payment, Qin Yuan went to the lower pill market again.
This market was not as clean as the famous pill districts near Green Cascade Spirit Sect.
There were no floating gardens.
No elegant terraces.
No attendants wearing silk gloves.
Here, stores were squeezed between cheap artifact repair shops, low-grade beast material stalls, secondhand furnace sellers, and tiny clinics that advertised injury treatment at suspiciously low prices.
The air smelled of smoke, crushed herbs, beast blood, cheap incense, and hot metal. Shopkeepers shouted over one another. Customers argued over prices. Apprentices hurried through the narrow streets with baskets of medicinal roots on their backs. Somewhere nearby, a furnace coughed black smoke into the air, followed by a string of curses from a young alchemist.
But for someone like Qin Yuan, this place was perfect.
Cheap.
Crowded.
Noisy.
Easy to disappear in.
He walked into a narrow recipe shop with dusty shelves and a sleepy old man behind the counter.
The old man looked up.
"Buying or browsing?"
"Buying," Qin Yuan said. "I need the formula for the Basic Qi Harmonizing Pill and a foundation support pill."
From what Qin Yuan had read, the Basic Qi Harmonizing Pill was the basic formula all alchemists needed to master before truly stepping onto the Pill Dao. Its benefits were still useful for beginner cultivators, but its greater purpose was as a measuring stick. It showed where an alchemist's potential lay.
As for a foundation support pill, the basic books Qin Yuan had purchased did not go into much detail.
But he still needed one.
He would rather improve his foundations first before making a breakthrough. If he broke through now with a Ninth-Grade Spiritual Root and Iron Flesh Gates, improving those foundations afterward would cost far more. The distribution of the body changed greatly whenever one reached even a minor layer, making it harder to alter the foundation later.
The higher the realm, the harder it was to change what had already been built.
Naturally, the old man did not give a damn about what Qin Yuan was thinking.
He reached beneath the counter and pulled out a sealed jade slip.
"Bronze Meridian Root-Tempering Pill," the old man said indifferently. "Low to High Common depending on refinement quality. It can strengthen weak meridians, push Iron Flesh Gates toward Bronze, and slightly nourish a Ninth-Grade Spiritual Root toward Eighth-Grade if the user's body can absorb it."
Qin Yuan's eyes sharpened.
That was exactly what he needed.
"How much?"
"Eight thousand for the formula."
Qin Yuan nodded calmly and prepared to take out his Spirit Credits.
As the old man prepared the jade slips, two customers near the back shelves whispered to each other.
Qin Yuan did not turn his head.
But his Spirit Sense had become much sharper over the past few days.
Their voices entered his ears clearly.
"…not just one zone. My cousin works in transport. Three beast routes shifted."
"The Mission Bureau says there's no threat."
"The Mission Bureau says whatever keeps nobles from screaming. I heard the scouts found tracks near Black-Green Hollow."
"That's too close to the old sealed water veins."
"Exactly. Beasts are crowding around one specific area. Not hunting. Gathering."
"Because of what?"
"No one knows. Some say a mutated spiritual spring. Some say a bloodline nest. Some say something underground is calling them."
"Dreadmyr?"
"Lower your voice."
Qin Yuan's hand paused for only half a breath.
Then he accepted the jade slips from the old man and paid.
The old man glanced at him. "You hear things in this market. Most are worthless."
Qin Yuan placed the jade slips into his storage pouch and simply replied, "Worthless things can still point in useful directions."
With that, he left the shop.
Black-Green Hollow.
Beasts gathering.
Possible Dreadmyr connection.
He noted the information.
Then he put it aside.
Trouble might be coming.
That only made his current task more urgent.
He spent almost everything he had.
A common furnace.
Ingredient sets for twenty batches of Basic Qi Harmonizing Pills.
Ingredient sets for three batches of Bronze Meridian Root-Tempering Pills.
Cheap pill bottles.
Filtering cloth.
Low-grade fire stones.
A secondhand temperature array with one cracked corner.
By the time Qin Yuan returned to his room, his bracelet balance looked almost pitiful.
But the resources were real.
That mattered more.
The furnace he bought was a Six-Vent Common Pill Furnace.
It was waist-high, dark bronze, and scratched around the legs. Three small formation rings circled its body. The lid had a dent near the handle. One vent opened slower than the others.
The seller had claimed it was "gently used."
Qin Yuan suspected it had survived at least one explosion.
Still, it was enough.
He cleaned the furnace three times.
Then he arranged the ingredients.
Spirit-thread grass.
White ash root.
Clear dew petals.
Tiny pieces of Low Common beast core powder.
A thumb-sized Apprentice fire stone.
Everything was cheap.
Everything had flaws.
But flaws were also information.
Qin Yuan sat before the furnace and exhaled.
The first pill he would refine was the Basic Qi Harmonizing Pill.
All alchemists needed to know it.
Not because it was impressive.
Because it exposed incompetence.
The formula was simple enough to understand and difficult enough to punish carelessness. Too much heat burned the spirit-thread grass. Too little heat failed to dissolve the ash root. If the clear dew petals were added too early, the pill became watery and useless. If beast core powder entered too late, the energy clumped and cracked the forming pill.
A beginner could memorize the steps.
But memorizing steps was not the same as controlling them.
Qin Yuan placed his palm near the furnace.
Fire rose.
Small.
Steady.
The room warmed.
The furnace hummed.
He added the spirit-thread grass first.
The thin leaves curled immediately under the heat, releasing pale green threads of essence.
Qin Yuan's eyes narrowed.
Too fast.
He lowered the flame by a fraction.
The essence steadied.
Pill Mastery Experience +0.11
Fire Mastery Experience +0.08
Focus Experience +0.06
He added the ash root.
The furnace resisted.
Not physically.
Energetically.
The root's earthy medicinal power sank downward and tried to stick to the bottom of the furnace.
Qin Yuan adjusted the vent.
The airflow shifted.
The essence lifted.
For a moment, his hands moved almost without hesitation.
Not like instinct being forced into him.
More like remembering a skill he had learned long ago and forgotten.
This sensation surprised him.
Only slightly.
Half expected.
Half not.
The system did not simply give him success.
It gave him the ability to understand what success required.
That was far more terrifying.
An hour later, the furnace trembled softly.
Qin Yuan raised his hand.
The fire dropped.
The lid opened.
A faint medicinal fragrance spread through the room.
Inside the furnace sat four round pills.
Two were pale green and slightly rough.
One was clearer, with a faint white line around its surface.
The last was cloudy but stable.
Qin Yuan compared them against the book.
His gaze paused.
"Mid Common."
His first attempt had produced a Mid Common Basic Qi Harmonizing Pill.
Two Low Common.
One barely acceptable.
No complete failure.
For most beginner alchemists, that would be enough to make their teacher speechless.
According to the books, nearly ninety percent of first-time alchemists failed outright or barely formed a Low Common pill. Those who produced even one clean Low Common pill on their first attempt were considered promising.
A Mid Common pill on the first attempt?
That was genius-level.
In greater cities, someone like that might be watched by pill halls, academies, or old alchemists looking for disciples.
Qin Yuan stared at the pill.
Then he slowly smiled.
It was a very small smile.
Gone almost immediately.
But it was there.
"So this is the power of talents."
He did not celebrate for long.
Celebration did not raise skill.
Refinement did.
He cleaned the furnace.
Started again.
The second batch formed six pills.
Four Low Common.
Two Mid Common.
The third batch failed halfway because he pushed the heat too sharply while trying to shorten the extraction time.
Black smoke leaked from the furnace.
The smell was terrible.
Qin Yuan opened the vent, watched the ruined essence curl into ash, and quietly recorded the mistake.
"Fire acceleration must follow essence stability. Speed without balance is waste."
He cleaned the furnace.
Started again.
By afternoon, his room smelled like herbs, smoke, sweat, and faintly burnt grass.
By evening, his fingers trembled from constant control.
By night, his eyes were bloodshot, but his gaze was brighter than before.
The ninth batch produced a pill with a clean surface, faint inner glow, and stable medicinal fragrance.
High Common Rank.
Qin Yuan held it between two fingers.
The pill was not powerful.
It was not rare.
It would not make experts fight over it.
But it was proof.
Pill Mastery Level Up.
Pill Mastery — Level 9 → Level 10
Fire Mastery Level Up.
Fire Mastery — Level 7 → Level 8
Concentration Level Up.
Concentration — Level 8 → Level 9
Fine Control Talent Unlocked.
Fine Control — Level 1
Qin Yuan leaned back.
His body was tired.
His mind was not.
He looked at the ingredients for the Bronze Meridian Root-Tempering Pill.
This was the true goal.
Basic Qi Harmonizing Pills could earn money.
Foundation pills could change his future.
He did not rush immediately.
Instead, he ate, meditated for half an hour, restored his Spirit Qi with one of his own Mid Common pills, then reviewed the formula three more times.