Since he went out every morning to practice the *Vertical Earth Golden Light* and didn't return until evening, it took Xiao Chen a full seven days of intermittent reading to finish going through the two alchemy journals.
For the first two days, he was a little disappointed, as several of the Pill Formulas recorded inside were identical to ones in the sect's Pill Book.
While they did help deepen his understanding of the properties of many Spirit Grasses and were quite beneficial for improving his Alchemy skills, it ultimately lacked any element of surprise, leaving him slightly disappointed.
However, as he continued reading over the next few days, Xiao Chen gradually discovered scattered mentions of an Alchemy Secret Technique called the *Alchemy Technique*.
As is widely known, of the six major steps in Alchemy, the most difficult and time-consuming is the sixth step: Pill Formation.
The vast majority of an Alchemist's time is wasted on this final step.
