Chapter 279: Tier Six

On his very first attempt at refining it, he was able to achieve Tier One Perfection and break directly into Tier Two.

Afterward, he invested himself again, starting another furnace. The resulting elixir could be considered mid-grade among Tier Two.

For the next three to five days, aside from his Cultivation, he focused all his thoughts on this elixir. By the time the next batch in front of him was complete, the elixir had already reached Tier Three.

[Tier Three Dongming Upper Mansion Pill: (0/2000)]

‘Still not good enough. Only Tier Four would satisfy me.’ After another month or so of doing nothing but Alchemy and Cultivation, the elixir finally broke through to Tier Four. He could finally take a short break.

The only flaw was that he could still only produce one pill per batch. Once he stabilized the process further, he’d be able to make four or five at a time.

Setting that aside, he meditated for a day to recover some of his True Essence. Then, Chen Qingyang turned his attention to the Qianxue Soul Returning Pill.

[Tier Five Qianxue Soul Returning Pill: (6147/10,000)]

For over a month, besides studying the Dongming Upper Mansion Pill, he hadn’t neglected this elixir for mending the Divine Soul. In the beginning, thanks to the growth of his Cultivation and Divine Soul, his progress with the elixir was quite fast. Later on, however, it slowed down considerably.

Nearly two months had passed since he last gave Yun Ci the elixirs. He estimated that her current supply was about to run out. If she could use this Tier Six elixir, her Cultivation would surely recover even faster.

He still had plenty of Immortal Seedlings, so he decided to use them to bring this Tier Five elixir to Perfection and begin the breakthrough to Tier Six.

After all, this was an inference from scratch, not like other elixirs that could be created simply by following an established path.

Suddenly, inside Chen Qingyang’s mind, the elixir seemed to materialize and evolve in mid-air. The combination and transformation of various medicinal effects, and their impact on the Divine Soul, were all displayed with perfect clarity.

The techniques required for refining the elixir, the necessary Cultivation level… all these factors and more flashed through his mind.

Even the potency of the medicinal effects began to influence the pill’s formation. It was as if a vast amount of knowledge had been embedded into his mind out of thin air.

His understanding of Tier Five underwent a tremendous change.

Accepting so much information at once was mentally taxing. It took about a quarter of an hour before Chen Qingyang could sort through his thoughts and gradually calm down.

Since it was derived from an Immortal Grade Elixir, it was like the Cultivation of an Essence Condensation Disciple—everything changed dramatically from the sixth realm onward. Chen Qingyang estimated that even with his current Cultivation, refining a single pill would be incredibly difficult.

As such, the upper limit for Tier Six would surely increase significantly as well.

[Tier Six Qianxue Soul Returning Pill: (1/60,000)]

It had sextupled. He suddenly realized that ever since his Cultivation had broken into the Sixth Realm, the number of Immortal Seedlings required for many of his Dharma Gates had grown beyond his imagination.

This was true for the Danxia Nourishing Truth Sword Manual, for his elixirs, and even the Great Soul Scripture had joined the trend. It showed that his Cultivation had also taken a great leap forward.

Next, it was time to prepare to refine this Tier Six elixir.

The required ingredients hadn’t increased in variety, but the quality standards had become extremely high.

This forced Chen Qingyang to spend a very long time sifting through his vast collection of Immortal Grass ingredients, stalk by stalk, to find ones that were up to par.

Then, when processing the ingredients, he had to be exceptionally patient. Fortunately, he had a large quantity, so he was able to pick out several good batches.

To be cautious, he also summoned the Conscious Fish from the Five Elements Cave Mansion. After cultivating there for over a month, its Cultivation had naturally improved.

Then, Chen Qingyang officially began the alchemy process. Flames coiled and soared above the Pill Furnace. Yet three feet away from the furnace, not a trace of heat could be felt. There were only waves of invisible, fiery vapor drifting upward, causing the space around it to warp slightly.

Chen Qingyang’s control was steady, and his Divine Soul was powerful. He was fully confident, proceeding with the elixir at an unhurried pace.

He began the process at dusk, and it wasn’t until noon the next day that the “Late Fire” phase began to show. Fine beads of sweat covered his forehead. Even with the Dongming Mansion’s support, his True Essence was completely depleted.

When refining this elixir, he couldn’t even dream of producing two pills per batch. He’d be thanking the heavens if he could successfully produce one pill per day.

Seeing the Pill Furnace stabilize, Xu Baoling came over with a handkerchief and gently wiped his forehead.

At first, he was still a little unaccustomed to being served so meticulously. But it’s human nature to find it easy to grow accustomed to luxury and hard to return to simplicity. After a while, he found he couldn’t do without it.

When the “Late Fire” phase ended, he paid no mind to the Pill Furnace and immediately began to meditate. Spiritual Qi from the surroundings was drawn to him in a continuous stream, and his True Essence recovered with incredible speed.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already evening.

The clouds were ablaze, as if setting the sky and earth on fire.

A fiery red glow cut through the dimness, shining in through the open window. The elixir was in front of him, resting in a brocade box.

‘Looks like Xu Baoling has already seen it!’

It was cool to the touch. Its color was like jade, a pure, uniform white. It looked less like an elixir and more like a piece of exquisitely carved jade.

It had no medicinal fragrance, but if he closed his fist and sensed it with his Divine Sense, he would discover it was filled with a substantial Qi Mechanism. It possessed a cool, nourishing quality that could moisten all things—a unique Qi Mechanism it hadn’t possessed before!

‘Tier Five and Tier Six… the difference really is huge. My efforts weren’t wasted after all.’

“I heard long ago that the true difficulty in alchemy begins after Tier Six. And this is an Immortal Grade Elixir, a legendary one at that! Not even our Tai Xu Sect possesses one, yet you’ve managed to refine it, Senior Brother…” Xu Baoling said with deep emotion, as if her eyes were being opened for the first time.

She had taken many Tier Five Soul Returning Pills, so she understood the difference more clearly than an ordinary person could.

“What if I gave this elixir to you?”

She shook her head. “I take elixirs to improve my Cultivation, which is bound to happen sooner or later just by following you, Senior Brother. But if Master takes it, it concerns her entire Dao path and whether her injuries can heal better. You should save this elixir for her.”

Recalling Yun Ci’s mockery the last time they met, Chen Qingyang sighed. “Hah, I’m letting her off easy by giving her something this good. When you get down to it, I still haven’t profited enough from her. I spent a great deal of energy refining this elixir.”

“If this Master had a Golden Core Master of her own, that would be one thing. At least I could ride her coattails. But who would have thought she’d be Xuan Gui’s disciple? That name only brings shame to her.”

Xu Baoling came over and said softly, “There’s no need to trouble yourself, Senior Brother. Master is a person who values loyalty and friendship. She will remember your kindness. Besides, Master is exceptionally talented and has a promising future. Your investment is still a good one.”

There was one thing Chen Qingyang could never understand. “If she values loyalty and friendship so much, why did she kill her own master with her own hands? It couldn’t have just been because Xuan Gui betrayed the Sect, right? Shouldn’t that be a matter for the Law Enforcement Hall?”

Until he got a clear answer, Chen Qingyang couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.

“Master Xuan Gui’s conduct was vile, and he was fickle and disloyal. You’ve probably heard about this already, Senior Brother. When Master was his disciple, there was already no affection left between them. That’s why after Master Xuan Gui died, his other disciples all defected and came under our Master’s tutelage.”

Chen Qingyang replied, “I have heard something about that. It is strange that he only passed down his signature technique, the Ziwei Scripture, to a single Qi Refining Realm disciple and none of the others. It seems that besides me, no one else cultivates this Dharma Gate anymore.”

‘Lin Qingxuan has a copy of the Ziwei Scripture, and Yun Ci probably does too. But they wouldn’t necessarily practice it. First, it’s not their specialty, so cultivating it would be a waste of effort. Second, they probably think the Astrology Inference Skill is unnecessary.’

“Exactly. So there was a justifiable reason for Master to kill her own master.”

‘As long as there was a justifiable reason.’ Otherwise, Chen Qingyang really would have been afraid she was some kind of female demon.

He cultivated and meditated, then went back to refining the elixir.

The Conscious Fish remained in the Five Elements Cave Mansion, secretly continuing to draw out the Five Elements Fire. Its Cultivation grew day by day.

Chen Qingyang continued his alchemy. After five or six days, he had accumulated five or six pills.

On this day, he suddenly thought of the Li Yang Earth Fire.

‘Every array in the Tai Xu Sect bears the shadow of the Circulation Demon Suppression Star Array. Doesn’t that mean the Void Bridge at the Separation Dragon Pill Institute is probably the same?’

‘The flames from a True Dragon are what I truly yearn for. If I could station the Conscious Fish there and use the Nanming Red Emperor’s Method, its Cultivation would surely reach astonishing levels.’

The thought had barely formed when he found it impossible to contain his excitement. He might as well take advantage of the night to go observe it for a while. It would be a good change of pace.