Perfecting the art of alchemy was a path Jing Yuan envisioned for Li Lin, and as such, he naturally provided the boy with the finest cauldron available. When he had first learned of Li Lin’s Yang spiritual power, Jing Yuan had reacted as if he had discovered a priceless treasure, remaining in a state of excitement for quite some time. Since Li Lin was still in the Qi Condensation stage, he could not yet utilize cauldrons of the Magic Treasure rank. Instead, Jing Yuan gave him the cauldron he himself had used when first learning the craft: a low-tier, mid-grade vessel known as the Purple Smoke Cauldron.
Low-tier, low-grade pills primarily consisted of two types: Spirit Gathering Pills and Spirit Replenishing Pills. The former was used for daily cultivation, while the latter served to rapidly restore spiritual power during combat or recovery. Low-tier, mid-grade pills were categorized by the five elements: Fire Spirit, Water Spirit, Gold Spirit, Wood Spirit, and Earth Spirit Pills. Finally, low-tier, high-grade pills were the Red Spirit, Ink Spirit, White Spirit, Azure Spirit, and Yellow Spirit Pills.
The first medicine Li Lin set out to refine was the Spirit Gathering Pill. The required materials were divided into primary and auxiliary herbs. The primary ingredients consisted of ten Spirit Gathering Fruits, ten stalks of Yin Spirit Grass, and five Cloud Skirt Flowers. The auxiliary ingredients included Purple Sun Ginseng, Spirit Ganoderma, and Jade Snow Lotus—the older the specimens, the better. Each batch could yield up to five pills, though the actual success rate varied from zero to five depending on the alchemist's skill. A successful refinement resulted in ordinary, low-grade Spirit Gathering Pills.
To produce mid-to-high-grade spirit pills, one had to add elemental spirit herbs to the base Spirit Gathering Pill recipe—such as ten Fire Dragon Fruits for fire, Profound Spirit Fruits for water, Gold Spirit Fruits for metal, Azure Spirit Fruits for wood, or Earth Spirit Fruits for earth. Using five portions of materials might yield a mid-grade pill, with a success rate of zero to two pills per batch. Using twenty portions or more could result in high-grade pills, also with a success rate of zero to two. If the attempt to create a mid-or-high-grade pill failed to produce the enhanced version, the result would revert to a common Spirit Gathering Pill. Consequently, refining mid-to-high-grade pills was extremely resource-intensive and difficult to achieve.
The process of alchemy was divided into six steps: Opening the Cauldron, Arranging the Herbs, Sealing the Cauldron, Nurturing the Pill, Tempering the Pill, and Collecting the Pill. Li Lin used the Opening Incantation to uncover the Purple Smoke Cauldron, then used his spiritual power to wrap the ingredients for the Spirit Gathering Pill, placing them inside one by one. He then used the Sealing Incantation to close the lid. Circulating his fire spiritual power, he began to cast a series of Furnace-Igniting Seals to heat the cauldron and liquefy the spirit herbs within. Finally, he performed the Pill-Nurturing Seal to allow the medicinal essence to slowly coalesce.
At this stage, he could pause momentarily, though he needed to cast the Pill-Nurturing Seal every fifteen minutes and use his divine sense to monitor the cauldron’s temperature and the speed of the reaction. Refining a single batch of Spirit Gathering Pills took between one to two hours, depending on the alchemist's cultivation level.
Two hours later, as the nurturing phase neared its end, the tempering process began. This was the most delicate stage, where every alchemist employed their own unique techniques. During Li Lin’s first attempt, Jing Yuan stood by his side, explaining the nuances of the Tempering Seal in great detail and demonstrating it several times. Li Lin was quick to grasp the technique.
When the time came to collect the pills, Li Lin felt a surge of nerves. It was, after all, his first time. He carefully performed the Pill-Collecting Seal. The lid of the Purple Smoke Cauldron rose slowly, and a ripple of spiritual energy wafted out. Li Lin’s heart leaped with joy. He took a jade vial and swept the pills inside. There were three—a truly remarkable result for a first attempt.
Jing Yuan was equally thrilled. He recalled that he hadn't produced a single pill during his own first attempt. From that day on, he held Li Lin in even higher regard.
With his cultivation at the tenth level of Qi Condensation, Li Lin could refine three batches of pills a day; any more would result in excessive exhaustion of his divine sense and spiritual power. Alchemy was, in itself, a form of cultivation. Li Lin’s spiritual power would be mostly depleted after three rounds of tempering and collecting, but once he recovered, he could clearly feel his internal energy had grown significantly.
In the days that followed, Li Lin’s routine consisted of his mandatory cultivation and alchemy. In the beginning, he focused solely on Spirit Gathering Pills, maintaining a steady yield of two to three pills per batch. This was an excellent result considering he was only using one portion of materials at a time. Once he became more proficient, he could refine multiple portions simultaneously, which would further increase the yield.
Three months later, Li Lin began attempting Spirit Replenishing Pills. The primary ingredients for these were ten Spirit Gathering Fruits, five Profound Spirit Fruits, ten stalks of Yin Spirit Grass, and five Phoenix Spirit Grasses. Any herb with abundant spiritual energy could serve as an auxiliary ingredient, with older plants being preferable. Like the previous recipe, each batch could yield up to five pills.
Li Lin’s success rate remained stable at two to three pills per batch. This consistency brought great relief and pride to both Jing Yuan and Li Xue. It was now undeniable that Yang spiritual power was a massive boon to an alchemist's success rate.
Later, Li Lin tried his hand at high-grade spirit pills, specifically the Red Spirit and White Spirit Pills. Even then, he managed to produce two or three pills per batch. This development even drew the attention of Daoist Yu Hong. If Li Lin could maintain such a high yield for high-level pills once he reached the Core Formation or Nascent Soul stages, the implications would be staggering. The materials for high-level pills were incredibly rare, often requiring herbs that were thousands or even ten thousand years old. Increasing the yield of a single batch of such materials would save an astronomical amount of resources. This was why high-level alchemists were so deeply respected in the cultivation world.
The high-grade pills Li Xue currently consumed were all refined by Li Lin. Having a genius son certainly had its perks; without his help, she wouldn't have been able to advance to the mid-stage of the eighth level of Qi Condensation so quickly.
