Five days later,
Bang!
A muffled sound suddenly came from the alchemy room, and then the spiritual flames under the Nine Dragon Cauldron quickly subsided, transforming into a bright yellow fire dragon that swam back into the cauldron.
When the lid of the alchemy furnace was opened, a burnt smell wafted out. The first attempt at alchemy had failed, failing at the third-to-last step of essence resonance.
With a wave of his hand, Zhao Sheng conjured a transparent water dragon as thick as an arm. With a flick of its body, the dragon nimbly entered the cauldron and, under the control of his divine sense, slowly cleansed the interior of the Nine Dragon Cauldron.
Hiss!
Large amounts of white steam continuously emerged from the furnace, instantly filling the entire alchemy room.
Zhao Sheng was in no hurry to start refining the second batch.
He closed his eyes and pondered, circulating his internal energy to restore his spiritual and mental strength while repeatedly recalling the situation during his last alchemy session and secretly summarizing his alchemy experience.
Two days later, Zhao Sheng returned to his peak condition.
Light the fire, warm the furnace, and add the Thousand-Patterned Star Algae Fruit...
Although it was only his second time refining the Foundation Establishment Pill, his series of movements were as if he had done it countless times, showing extreme skill.
As time passed, the number of spiritual herbs in front of him gradually decreased, and he had consumed several bottles of spirit-tonifying and spirit-strengthening pills, such as the Marrow Spirit Pill.
Seven days later.
The alchemy room was shrouded in mist, and a faint, apple-like fragrance wafted in the air.
Zhao Sheng's eyes were bloodshot, and his expression was extremely excited. However, his hand movements were unusually steady, and his alchemy techniques remained perfectly in place.
As beams of white light entered the cauldron, the Burning Gold Spirit Flame slowly shrank back into the furnace, transforming into a fire dragon about a foot long. It carefully moved up, down, left, and right around a small ball of orange-red liquid the size of a grape in the center of the furnace, gradually removing the last bit of "disharmony" medicinal essence.
As the Foundation Establishment Pill reached the crucial stage of condensation, Zhao Sheng mustered his remaining spiritual power and activated his Bullet Time talent and Absolute Rationality for the last time.
"Condensing Pill."
Time was suddenly stretched out countless times.
At the same time, Zhao Sheng's expression instantly became extremely calm, his eyes filled with extreme indifference, as if he had lost all human emotions and desires such as tension, fatigue, and excitement, like a perfect human machine.
In an instant, his thoughts raced like lightning, his mind and spirit became one, and his consciousness soared to an unprecedented peak.
"Condensed pill, ready to be produced!"
Snap!
Suddenly, the lid of the Nine Dragon Cauldron was blown off, and a beam of red light shot out from inside the cauldron, drawing a curved arc before landing in Zhao Sheng's hands like lightning.
"It's done?!"
Looking at the tiny, wine-red Foundation Establishment Pill, no bigger than a soybean, lying in his palm, a thought suddenly flashed through Zhao Sheng's mind.
Time then returned to normal!
"Hehe, it really worked!"
His eyes slowly regained their sparkle, and a bright and warm smile appeared on his face.
Bang!
At that moment, everything went black before his eyes, and a sharp pain, like a sudden storm, swept through his mind.
In an instant, Zhao Sheng felt a splitting headache, and the veins on his face bulged.
Seven days and seven nights of alchemy, and the repeated use of two talents, had already over-exhausted his mental energy.
At this moment, the Foundation Establishment Pill was produced, and as soon as he relaxed, the aftereffects suddenly erupted.
He only had time to swallow one bottle of Rejuvenation Pill before he suddenly fainted.
After an unknown amount of time, Zhao Sheng slowly regained consciousness.
He clutched his head and sat up from the ground. Although his head was still throbbing, it felt infinitely better than before.
At this moment, Zhao Sheng was filled with lingering fear.
I didn't realize it when I was focused on refining the pills, but I never expected the aftereffects to be so severe.
This time, he almost caused irreparable damage to his soul.
"You can't work this hard in the future!"
While silently admonishing himself, Zhao Sheng took out a bottle of Nourishing Spirit Pills and downed the whole bottle without even counting.
After closing his eyes, concentrating, and practicing internal energy to regulate his mind and spirit, Zhao Sheng finally recovered after three full days of rest.
Two days later, Zhao Sheng went through the previous two alchemy processes several times, found the mistakes, summarized the lessons learned, and made minor adjustments to the dosage of some spiritual herbs before starting the third alchemy of the Foundation Establishment Pill.
In fact, the second attempt at alchemy was not a success in the strict sense. The Foundation Establishment Pill, the size of a soybean, was not even of low quality; it could barely be considered a prototype of a Foundation Establishment Pill.
A normal Zhuji Dan (a type of medicinal herb) is about the size of a grape. The lower quality is pure red, while the better the quality, the lighter the color.
The superior-grade Thousand-Pattern Foundation Building Pill is a light pink color, and its fragrance and medicinal power are completely concealed.
Fortunately, this time, Zhao Sheng had already reached the threshold of success, and he was almost able to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill, so he was determined to get the third batch.
Light the fire and warm the furnace, then add the thousand-patterned star algae fruit...
The steps were exactly the same as last time, the only difference being that his technique seemed to be getting more and more skilled, and his movements were more precise and stable than before.
Generally speaking, an alchemist's achievements are directly proportional to their level of cultivation.
It is very difficult for alchemists in the Qi Refining Realm to advance to the second-tier alchemist. This is not only because their cultivation and energy do not meet the standards for refining second-tier spiritual pills, but more importantly, because cultivators in the Qi Refining Realm have not developed divine sense and cannot directly see the various pill-forming reactions inside the pill furnace, and therefore cannot react in time.
Of course, Zhao Sheng had already reached the fifth level of the Foundation Establishment realm.
Having consumed the Jade Elixir of the Spirit, his mental strength far surpassed that of cultivators of the same level. Needless to say, the range, intensity, and precision of his divine sense were comparable to those in the late Foundation Establishment stage.
With the experience gained from the previous two attempts, Zhao Sheng's refining of the Foundation Establishment Pill went much more smoothly this time, with fewer risks and obstacles during the refining process.
Seven days passed in the blink of an eye, and the alchemy room was once again filled with the fragrance of elixirs.
As the final moment approached, Zhao Sheng couldn't help but feel nervous, so much so that he activated both of his talents twice in a row.
With the help of his talent, the final stage of pill condensation went exceptionally smoothly.
Bang!
Finally, the Nine Dragons Cauldron emitted a buzzing sound, and the Burning Gold Spirit Flame retreated back into the fire hole in the cauldron wall.
Then the lid of the stove flew off, and a refreshing aroma of apples and cinnamon wafted out from the stove.
"It's done! This time it's really done!"
Unable to contain his excitement, Zhao Sheng reached out and summoned two grape-sized, wine-red pills that suddenly jumped out of the furnace and flew swiftly into his palm.
Although these two elixirs were merely the lowest grade Foundation Establishment pills, their significance was immense. They represented Zhao Sheng's attainment of the extremely rare true second-tier Foundation Establishment alchemist.
From this day forward, his status within the Spring and Autumn Alliance will inevitably rise sharply, and he will inevitably become a highly sought-after alchemy "quasi-master" on Nine Truths Island.
It took Zhao Sheng a full quarter of an hour for his mood to completely return to calm.
When he put away the pills, exhaustion washed over him.
After nearly twenty days of arduous alchemy, Zhao Sheng was severely exhausted, so he simply fell asleep in the alchemy room.
He slept for two whole days and one night.
When he woke up again, his spirits had mostly recovered. Zhao Sheng calculated the time and realized it had been almost a month, just one day shy.
Now that the Foundation Establishment Pill has been refined, he will not waste any more time on it.
Zhao Sheng got up and left the alchemy room. He then went to the spirit field and released several spirit rain spells. After seeing that the spirit herbs in the field were growing vigorously and in good condition, he tidied his appearance, changed into a brand new robe, and left the Bei Mansion Cave.
...
Two days later, Zhao Sheng returned to the Treasure Medicine Pavilion and had a secret conversation with Jin Dancheng for half an hour.
After he left, Jin Dancheng beamed with joy, all traces of his previous sorrow at the impending closure of his shop vanishing.
Seeing this, his men asked him what made him so happy, but Jin Dancheng just smiled mysteriously and didn't say a word.
Meanwhile, on the island of daylight, the Red Light Tower once again welcomed a mysterious guest.
In the same private room where they last met, Hong Yuanliang, the manager of Hongguanglou, saw Zhao Sheng's "unhappy" expression and subconsciously concluded that his alchemy attempt must have failed this time.
Judging from normal human thinking, if an alchemist wants to refine a Foundation Establishment Pill, it wouldn't be considered a failure unless they failed ten or eight times.
Every true Foundation Establishment alchemist is built up from mountains of spirit stones.
However, Hong Yuanliang never expected that the person in front of him was a "chosen one." The other person was just deceiving him.
"Fellow Daoist Longli, there's no need to be discouraged. Foundation Establishment Pills aren't so easy to refine." Hong Yuanliang offered a dry consolation to Zhao Sheng before suddenly changing the subject.
"By the way, may I ask what brings you here today, my friend?"
Zhao Sheng suppressed his "dejected" expression and said firmly, "I want to try a few more times. I wonder if Fellow Daoist Hong's words about the three setbacks last time are true."
Hong Yuanliang said confidently, "It's true, I never lie. I not only have Thousand-Patterned Star Algae Fruit, but also all the other auxiliary medicines. How many portions do you want? Do you want them prepared or raw?"
"Three Thousand-Patterned Star Algae Fruits, and three portions of other spiritual herbs as well. I don't trust anything prepared by others; I only want the original, unprocessed kind. How many spirit stones in total?" Zhao Sheng asked immediately.
"Twenty-one thousand spirit stones in total! Just give me twenty thousand spirit stones, and don't worry about the change," Hong Yuanliang said without hesitation.
"Very well, Fellow Daoist Hong, I will remember your kindness. I will repay you in the future."
As he spoke, Zhao Sheng took out a small pile of spirit stones from his storage bag and poured them onto the table.
Sensing the pure Yin spiritual energy emanating from the spirit stone, Hong Yuanliang's eyes widened in surprise. "A pure Yin spirit stone? What a treasure! Fellow Daoist, are you willing to part with it?"
"In the end, they're just spirit stones. What's there to be reluctant about?" Zhao Sheng said in a calm tone.
Spirit stones have attributes, divided into the five elements and yin-yang, with yin-yang attribute spirit stones being the rarest and generally three to eight times more expensive than ordinary five-element spirit stones of the same grade.
The high price is secondary; the key issue is that there's no market for it despite its price.
Zhao Sheng paid the bill with pure Yin spirit stones, which was both a display of his wealth and a way of repaying a favor.
Based on this alone, Hong Yuanliang couldn't help but look at him with new respect, raising his evaluation once again and truly including him in the list of key clients.
After putting away the spirit stones, Hong Yuanliang suddenly slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "I almost forgot! Fellow Daoist, didn't you want to buy some Yuan Heavy Water? Our establishment just transferred some from the mountain gate. I wonder how many drops you would like?"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Sheng's eyes flashed, and he immediately replied, "The more the better!"
"One Yuan Heavy Water is extremely valuable. A single drop of spiritual water weighing a thousand jun is worth at least ten thousand spirit stones, and there is no room for bargaining. After five drops, I will not accept spirit stones; you must exchange it for an equivalent treasure."
Hong Yuanliang spoke very seriously, but when Zhao Sheng took out a stack of second-tier blood-dissolving talismans from his storage bag, he was immediately moved and couldn't contain his excitement.
"Fellow Daoist Longli, if you had told me earlier that you had this thing, I might have been able to get more One Yuan Heavy Water."
In the Blood Demon Sect, a second-tier Blood Melting Talisman is a form of hard currency.
Because there are too many cultivators who have practiced the Blood Soul Scripture, the Blood Melting Talisman, which can accelerate the melting of essence blood, is always in short supply. The second-tier Blood Melting Talisman is even rarer, and each one will cause a frenzy among Foundation Establishment stage blood cultivators.
Despite his past life experience, Zhao Sheng was still somewhat surprised to see Hong Yuanliang so excited.
Seeing this, he felt relieved and said generously, "Give me five drops of spiritual water first. The rest can be exchanged for blood-dissolving talismans. How many talismans are needed for one drop?"
Hong Yuanliang cleverly countered, "I have a total of eighteen drops of One Yuan Heavy Water. At least thirty talismans can be exchanged for one drop. How many Blood-Dissolving Talismans do you have, fellow Daoist?"
"Fifteen drops for one drop, three drops in exchange. If the deal goes through, there will be more later."
"make a deal!"
"..."
After two cups of tea, a ruddy-faced Hong Yuanliang attentively escorted Zhao Sheng to the door. Only after watching him leave did he return to Hongguang Tower with a joyful expression.
Two days later, news suddenly spread throughout Danhuofang that Zhenyaoge would be temporarily closing for a period of time, and the reopening date was uncertain.
Upon hearing this news, some quick-witted people immediately ran to Ge Chen to "share the good news."
Upon learning that Zhenyaoge had closed down, Ge Chen was not happy; instead, his brows furrowed even more.
At that moment, he felt a sense of emptiness, as if he had punched nothing. He felt that he hadn't even exerted any force, yet his opponent had already fallen down, which was completely different from what he had expected.
Unwilling to give up, Ge Chen immediately ordered his men, "Go and find out what that guy surnamed Zhao has been doing these past few days. Make sure you find out the truth."
His subordinates obeyed and left, while Ge Chen's face showed resentment.
However, a month has passed, and Zhao Sheng's cave remains tightly closed, never to be opened again.
He might be in seclusion, traveling, or deliberately disguising himself to avoid Ge Chen's gaze.
But regardless of the possibility, they all convey the same meaning: Zhao Sheng has temporarily "disappeared" from everyone's sight.
...
Six months later, at the Spring and Autumn Alliance Merit Hall.
"This spirit island is Phoenix Tail Island. It's only about 60 or 70 miles in size, with a population of just over 10,000, all of whom are miners and their families. There's a Phoenix Bloodstone mine near Phoenix Island, so we've assigned ten Qi Refining supervisors, plus one Foundation Establishment cultivator to guard it. Guest Elder Zhao, what do you think of this place?"
On the second floor of the Merit Hall, a middle-aged Foundation Establishment elder spoke in a gentle tone.
Zhao Sheng remained silent, knowing that the other party must have thought things through carefully before daring to introduce him to this place.
He was very familiar with Phoenix Bloodstone, a spiritual material. Phoenix Bloodstone was of a very high grade and was produced in very low quantities in the Shattered Star Sea; it was usually used to make high-grade spiritual ink.
Zhao Sheng was very satisfied with this task.
Being a guest minister in the Spring and Autumn Alliance doesn't just mean receiving a stipend without doing any work; you also have to complete a guest minister task for the alliance every year.
The types and difficulty of tasks can be chosen at will, but most offer generous rewards.
Due to Zhao Sheng's request, the middle-aged Foundation Establishment cultivators specifically chose this "leisurely" task.
Whether he's guarding the Phoenix Blood Mine or just casually "accepting" a few pieces of Phoenix Blood Stone, as long as he doesn't go too far, the alliance will generally turn a blind eye.