Mengshan City, North City District—a courtyard owned by the Profound Pill Sect.
Han Yi stored the silver Formation Plate in his Storage Pouch, a satisfied expression on his face. With this Formation Plate, he was now the owner of this courtyard.
The courtyard, excluding the open-air backyard, had an interior area of over a hundred square meters, featuring a Meditation Chamber and two bedrooms.
The backyard was equally spacious, dominated by an unidentified jujube tree laden with bright red fruit. Beside the tree stood a stone table and benches, covered in fallen leaves and dust. Han Yi didn't mind the disrepair. After all, this was his home for the time being.
Returning to the Meditation Chamber, Han Yi emptied his Storage Pouch. The largest item—a hexagonal bronze Pill Refinement Furnace—was placed at the center of the room, surrounded by various pill refinement materials and auxiliary ingredients.
Before leaving Little Spirit Void Peak, he had exchanged his previously refined Spirit Enhancement Pills, Plague Dispelling Powder, and Beast Taming Pills for Points. He then used all his Points to purchase medicinal herbs and Spirit Charcoal. Among these herbs were enough materials to refine eight batches of Qi Nourishing Pills.
"Now that my Alchemy Technique has reached the 'Initial Glimpse of the Dao' level, I wonder what my success rate will be for refining Qi Nourishing Pills," Han Yi mused inwardly, a flicker of anticipation in his eyes.
He had broken through to this new level of alchemy mastery during his time on Little Spirit Void Peak.
Han Yi's success rate for refining Plague Dispelling Powder and Beast Taming Pills had reached nearly one hundred percent. Although he had only refined two batches of Spirit Enhancement Pills, both had been successful as well.
Before leaving the mountain, he decided to go all in, exchanging all his Points for materials to refine Qi Nourishing Pills. After organizing the materials, he didn't immediately begin refining. Instead, he sat cross-legged nearby to meditate and cultivate.
Each Qi Nourishing Pill was crucial to him; he couldn't afford any mistakes and needed to be in peak condition to refine them.
Two hours later, Han Yi opened his eyes, sensing the slightly replenished Mana within him. He felt a pang of helplessness. His Spirit Root was a Low-Grade Fire Spirit Root, inherently poor in quality. It had taken a full two hours just to recover a small amount of Mana. If he were severely depleted, recovery would undoubtedly take much longer.
Forget it. I'll refine these pills first, then sell them to obtain Spirit Stones. I'll use those Spirit Stones to buy more refining materials and support my cultivation, then refine more pills and sell them again...
This cycle will be the path to prosperity.
If talent falls short, Spirit Stones will make up the difference.
Clearing his mind, Han Yi began the Pill Refinement process. First, he channeled a stream of Mana into the hexagonal Pill Furnace. Then, with meticulous care, he evenly distributed measured portions of Spirit Charcoal into the three inlets beneath the furnace. Following the established procedures, he carefully added each medicinal ingredient into the Pill Furnace in the correct sequence.
As the last ingredient was added to the Pill Furnace, Han Yi's face grew increasingly tense. He pressed his hands against the furnace, continuously channeling Mana into it.
His mind remained focused on the transformations occurring within the furnace, constantly adjusting the flow of Mana to facilitate the gradual fusion of the materials.
At a critical moment, despite the fine beads of sweat forming on his forehead, Han Yi felt a surge of elation.
It's about to take shape!
But his joy was short-lived.
Within the furnace, the mass of viscous black substance—now a unified whole, just one step away from becoming a Medicinal Pill—suddenly emitted the faintest of sounds, like a bubble bursting.
Pop!
Han Yi's expression shifted instantly. Before he could react, the sentient, writhing black sludge within the furnace began to pop repeatedly.
Then, no matter how much Mana he poured in, the writhing mass gradually flattened out, becoming inert and unresponsive.
Seeing this, Han Yi released his grip on the furnace and let out a long sigh.
"It failed."
He frowned, beginning to analyze the situation.
"The initial steps were flawless. There wasn't a single mistake."
"The problem must lie in the final stages."
"The ingredients are fine, the amount of Spirit Charcoal was correct, and my Mana flow was steady throughout the process. What could have gone wrong?"
After a moment's contemplation, Han Yi detected no obvious abnormalities.
He glanced again at the work manual he had renamed "Proficiency Panel."
[ Alchemy Technique (Initial Glimpse of the Dao 12/100) ]
"Even with a failed refinement, my progress jumped from 11/100 to 12/100," he mused.
"Never mind. I don't have enough samples. I'll refine another batch."
This time, it took a full six hours. Han Yi consumed a Qi Sustaining Pill midway through, and it was evening before he finally replenished his depleted Mana.
If he had used Spirit Stones, the process would have taken less than half an hour. With Spirit Sand, it would have been an hour. Even without Spirit Stones or Spirit Sand, if he were refining at Little Spirit Void Peak, leveraging the Second-Tier Spirit Vein, recovery would have taken no more than four hours.
This vividly illustrated the importance of wealth and suitable cultivation grounds among the four pillars of cultivation: wealth, companion, method, and land.
Once his Mana was restored, Han Yi began refining a second batch of Qi Nourishing Pills.
Fifteen minutes later...
The Pill Aura dissipated.
Han Yi gazed at the translucent jade bottle in his hand, his heart swelling with joy.
"I did it!"
Inside the bottle lay eight white medicinal pills, each about the size of a fingernail.
Qi Nourishing Pills.
According to the Sect's exchange rules, one Qi Nourishing Pill could be traded for ten points, making this bottle worth eighty points.
If the deadline hadn't passed, Han Yi could have easily met the hundred-point requirement by refining one more batch of Qi Nourishing Pills or two batches of Spirit Enhancement Pills.
After his initial elation subsided, Han Yi noticed progress on his Proficiency Panel:
[ Alchemy Technique (Initial Glimpse of the Dao 13/100) ]
More than this minor advancement, he was intrigued by the difference between his two recent pill refinement attempts.
"The sequence of steps was identical, my movements were consistent, and there was no discernible variation in my mana flow. Yet one batch succeeded, while the other failed."
"Both the failed and successful attempts resulted in proficiency progress, and the amount of progress was the same."
"After careful consideration, the only explanation I can find is success rate."
Pill refinement isn't a guaranteed success, even when every step is executed flawlessly. The concept of a "success rate" exists.
A success rate refers to the probability of an alchemist successfully refining a medicinal pill when no significant errors are made. This probability cannot be accurately determined from a small number of attempts; it requires a substantial number of refinement trials to establish.
For instance, Han Yi once casually refined a batch of Qi Nourishing Pills on Little Spirit Void Peak. Could we conclude his success rate for refining Qi Nourishing Pills was 100%? Of course not. Every subsequent attempt failed. Given his alchemy technique at the time, his actual success rate for Qi Nourishing Pills was likely less than 10%.
"I wonder what my current success rate for Qi Nourishing Pills is," Han Yi mused.
As dusk settled, he felt no hunger after consuming a Qi Sustaining Pill earlier. Nevertheless, he picked some red jujubes from the backyard to snack on. After resting for an hour, he resumed his cultivation.
The sun rose and set, the moon waxed and waned.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye.
This time, Han Yi was more mindful. Unlike his first cultivation session, where he had completely shut off his awareness, he now consciously reminded himself before each mana replenishment that he would regain consciousness once the process was complete.
At that moment, inside the meditation chamber, the ingredients for eight batches of Qi Nourishing Pills had vanished, replaced by three bottles of the finished product.
Though these were only ordinary-grade Qi Nourishing Pills, they represented a considerable fortune for Han Yi.
"Three successful batches. Eight pills in the first, ten in the second, and eight in the third."
"Twenty-six pills in total."
"I'm rich!"