Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan Chapter 9 Practice

Upon returning to his courtyard, Li Zhirui was filled with anticipation as he retrieved the Jade Spirit Pill recipe. His goal was clear: master the theory immediately and begin the actual process of concocting the Jade Spirit Pill!

For the following several days, Li Zhirui remained secluded within his yard. He did not cross the threshold of his gate once, dedicating every waking moment to analyzing the pill recipe and honing the necessary spells.

It took ten full days of concentrated effort before Li Zhirui felt he had grasped the recipe's intricacies. Having formed a solid plan for the refinement process, he finally prepared to manufacture the Jade Spirit Pill.

Li Zhirui's first task was to visit the storeroom to borrow a Pill Furnace. He meticulously rinsed it with fresh water to cleanse any lingering fire energy, ensuring that no conflict between water and fire would disrupt his alchemy.

Next, he emptied one-tenth of the Spirit Water from his gourd into the furnace. He laid out the various Spiritual Medicines required for the concoction and, following the recipe's instructions, utilized his mana to perform a preliminary extraction of the herbs to purge their impurities.

This particular step serves as the cornerstone of Water Method Alchemy. Unlike the Fire Refinement Method, which relies on the heat of Spiritual Fire, Water Refining demands that cultivators extract the medicinal essences in the open air.

Before long, five distinct clusters of Spiritual Medicine essence were suspended in the air before him. Li Zhirui added them to the Spirit Water in the specific order dictated by the recipe and firmly secured the furnace lid.

Extending his Divine Sense into the heart of the Pill Furnace, Li Zhirui monitored the shifting essences while casting spells to begin the fusion of the five clusters.

These specific movements are the essence of alchemy technique. From his clan's "Basics of Pill Concocting," Li Zhirui had acquired the four fundamental spells: merging, fusing, dividing, and condensing.

Higher-level alchemy techniques encompass these basics but also include specialized spells capable of deeper extraction, enhancing medicinal potency, and minimizing pill toxins.

This explains why two cultivators using the identical pill recipe can produce results with vastly different levels of efficacy and toxicity!

Once the five clusters had successfully merged into a single entity, Li Zhirui shifted his spellcasting. It was as if an unseen hand began to churn the essence, weaving the different medicinal properties together.

The ultimate quality of the Jade Spirit Pill depended entirely on this stage of the process.

As time ticked by, a faint jade hue began to glow within the essence, signaling that the fusion was nearly complete.

Li Zhirui felt a surge of excitement, but before he could finalize the process, the essence abruptly shattered and dispersed!

His expression went rigid. Although he knew that succeeding on his very first attempt at alchemy was unlikely, the sting of failure was still frustrating.

After taking a moment to settle his nerves, Li Zhirui stood up and triggered a pre-arranged Memory Stone to analyze his performance and identify his blunder.

Following several careful reviews, he caught the mistake: he had been a fraction of a second too slow in executing the Pill Division Spell, which had triggered the collapse.

"Hoo—" Exhaling a long breath of turbid air, Li Zhirui used his Hollow Gourd to collect the failed mixture from the Pill Furnace.

Even though the attempt was a failure, the resulting liquid was not entirely worthless.

This is a key advantage of Water Refining over Fire Refinement; in the former, a failure results in essence merging with Spirit Water, whereas the latter leaves nothing behind but scorched ashes.

While these mixtures lacked proper refinement and contained toxins, they still held Spiritual Energy. They were unfit for cultivators, but they could be fed to sturdy Spirit Beasts or used as fertilizer for Spiritual Medicine.

Since Li Zhirui possessed his own storage space, he had no intention of feeding such dregs to Da Qing, but they were perfect for nourishing the Spiritual Medicines growing in his private dimension.

…

Refining his routine, Li Zhirui moved through the steps again: cleaning the Pill Furnace, adding Spirit Water, purging impurities, combining essences, and fusing their effects. He executed each phase flawlessly.

When the jade light flickered again, he immediately transitioned his spell to the Pill Division Spell. The essence, roughly the size of a small fist, split into ten segments. However, before he could proceed further, the essence collapsed once more.

Having now faced the task twice, Li Zhirui understood that the path of alchemy was far more grueling than he had anticipated. Despite the second failure, his heart remained remarkably steady.

"Wasn't it said in my previous life that failure is the mother of success?" Li Zhirui muttered to comfort himself before returning to the Memory Stone to diagnose his error.

He quickly pinpointed the issue: a slight inaccuracy in his spellcasting had prevented the Spirit Pill essence from condensing properly after it was divided!

Instead of rushing into another attempt, Li Zhirui paused to document every mistake and challenge he had encountered. He intended to seek guidance from the clan's experienced alchemists when the chance arose.

In the meantime, he revisited the "Basics of Pill Concocting" and the Pill Recipe, studying them intensely to ensure no detail had been overlooked or forgotten before he returned to the furnace.

Unfortunately, even as the moon climbed high into the dark sky, success eluded him. His closest attempt failed only because his mana had been depleted by the repeated trials, causing his final Pill Condensation Spell to falter.

"The fiftieth attempt has failed. Reason: insufficient mana," Li Zhirui noted down, though a faint smile touched his lips.

This failure wasn't due to poor timing or a botched spell, but simply a lack of mana! Had his reserves been deeper, he would have succeeded!

"It appears I possess a bit of a knack for alchemy," he thought. Reaching such a high level of proficiency after only fifty tries was no small feat.

However…

Looking at the stockpile of Spiritual Medicine he had gathered over the years, he saw how much had vanished in a single day. He felt a wave of both pain and helplessness.

His private space had manifested ten years ago, on the day he reached the first layer of Qi Cultivation.

Most of the herbs he cultivated were common varieties with short growth cycles of one to two years, allowing him to amass a significant inventory of standard ingredients.

While he grew all the components for the Jade Spirit Pill in his space, he had started cultivating one specific herb quite late, meaning his stock of it was limited.

Initially, he had enough for seventy or eighty batches, but after a day of relentless practice, fewer than twenty remained.

As for why he hadn't sold his harvest earlier, the Bailang County Marketplace was simply too small. The only buyers were his own family or the Beast Taming Sect, and their prices were so insultingly low that he preferred to keep his stock.

…

Exhausted, Li Zhirui broke his usual routine. Instead of practicing his cultivation, he went straight to bed and fell into a heavy sleep.

The next morning, he woke up feeling completely revitalized. He spent thirty minutes feeding Da Qing and watering his Spirit Field before exiting his space to sit cross-legged before the Pill Furnace once more.

"Huff—"

Expelling a breath of foul air, Li Zhirui entered a state of profound calm. He added the Spirit Water, drew in the five herbs, extracted and fused their essences, performed the Pill Division, and finally cast the Pill Condensation Spell!

A fresh, unknown fragrance drifted from the furnace. Li Zhirui opened it eagerly to find five round, jade-tinted Spirit Pills bobbing in the clear water!

"Success!" His eyes sparkled with triumph, and a radiant smile spread across his face.

A perfect batch might yield ten pills, so producing five on his first successful run was an excellent achievement.

He produced a jade bottle and used his mana to carefully lift the Jade Spirit Pills, handling them like fragile treasures as he tucked them away.

With the confidence of his first success, Li Zhirui only failed five or six times during his remaining attempts.

By the time his ingredients were exhausted, his face was pale and his eyes showed signs of weariness, yet his spirit was soaring.

"A single Jade Spirit Pill goes for three Spirit Stones on the market. Even with a discount for a full bottle, the sheer volume I've produced means I'm not just breaking even—I'm actually turning a profit!" Li Zhirui whispered excitedly to himself.