Chapter 243: Refining Dan like Roasting Beans
How heaven-defying would a technique have to be to refine dan as if one was simply roasting beans? The word demonic was inadequate to describe such a peerless dao of alchemy.
Maybe even the Alchemy God of the legends would not be any better than this! At this time, a fiery excitement burned in the hearts of these alchemy masters. The Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect was filled with hope with such an alchemy dao. Even if the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect could not use force to compete for the world in the future, it will surely be able to control the world with alchemy!
Excitement was inevitable as the group of Elder Sun thought to this point. They all wanted to stand up and cheer.
“Let’s look at the purity of these fate pills a little bit!” Elder Sun could not contain his excitement and spoke.
Li Qiye conveniently poured out a bunch of fate pills from the medicinal gourd. A refreshing aroma that permeated to one’s soul filled the air. Each fate pill was around the size of one’s thumb and had a faint golden color. Each of them had a dao that had turned into a rune; this meant that the fate pill only underwent one transformation. The higher the transformation, the more transformation runes it would have.
A First Transformation Fate Pill would have one transformation rune; A Second Transformation would have two...
“Barely has the purity of four attainments.” Li Qiye looked at the faint golden fate pill for a little bit before speaking: “If it has a five attainments purity, then it could be considered to be of the finest rank.”
Elder Sun and the others all took a deep breath as they became frozen again. An alchemy master couldn’t help but stutter: “Barely have four attainments of purity...”
At this point, not only him but even Elder Sun, who was the best alchemist of the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect, had the urge to commit suicide! This guy considered four attainments of purity as just barely good. Keep in mind that this was only a First Transformation Fate Pill ah!
“I don’t want to live anymore... This is too frustrating...” Another alchemist who normally was quite proud wanted to jump off a building. Such words destroyed all of his self-esteem.
“Barely four attainments of purity? Our little ancestor, your standard is way too high. Do you want to kill all the alchemists in this world by saying those words? Even those who consider themselves Saint Alchemist Masters would have to jump off a building as well! A First Transformation Fate Pill is the lowest mortal fate pill, even one attainment of purity is more than enough! You said that four attainments of purity was barely acceptable, how will others manage to live!?” Elder Sun became speechless for a long time after this!
Physique pastes and longevity medicines had nine refinements while fate pills had nine attainments!
The distinction of purity for fate pills correlated to the particular cultivator’s realm. If a fate pill had five attainments of purity, then after using this particular pill, the cultivator’s cultivation would increase by five parts within their realm. It meant that the person could gain fifty percent more cultivation without any actual training.
So the purity was a measurement of how much a fate pill increased one’s power by. However, this was only in principle. For example, for a five attainments purity fate pill, cultivators in the same realm would increase their cultivation by five parts. In reality, one could not gain a fifty percent increase after consumption for they could not absorb all the medicinal effects. At the same time, the more pills they consumed, the less effect it would have later down the road. This situation was similar to taking longevity medicines.
The highest possible grade of purity was at nine attainments. This was complete perfection that only existed in the legends. Moreover, the number of transformations of the medicinal ingredients directly affected the fate pills’ purity. For example, a First Transformation Fate Pill’s ingredients only underwent one transformation, so its medicinal effect was highly limited; this was why one attainment was plenty sufficient.
At this time, Elder Sun’s group smiled awkwardly and Elder Sun began to lament: “I’m afraid I won’t ever be able to refine a First Transformation Fate Pill with a three attainments purity, yet you consider four attainments as barely passable. Even a Legendary Alchemist would not be much better. You definitely have the qualifications to become an Alchemy Emperor.”
Nine transformation ingredients contained much more powerful medicinal effects, thus the resulting fate pills would have much better quality.
The acceptable requirements for alchemists was one attainment for a First Transformation Fate Pill; two attainments for a Second Transformation Fate Pill; three attainments for a Third Transformation, and so on and so forth...
Because of this, it was extremely difficult to refine fate pills with high purity. For example, reaching the high heavens was easier than refining a nine attainments Ninth Transformation Fate Pill.
Because of this, the defining standard for an alchemist’s skill was his mastery of dan refinement.
“Alchemy?” Li Qiye shook his head and smilingly declined: “Alchemy is only a minor path; it’s only suitable as a hobby. There’s no need to focus on it.”
He, along with the Alchemy God, had traveled far enough on the dan refinement path in the past. It would still be difficult for someone in the future to catch up; otherwise, the guidelines established by the Alchemy God would not still be the standard for all alchemists in the present day.
Elder Sun, along with the other alchemy masters, all wryly smiled in helplessness. Alchemy Emperor — this was such a prestigious and honorable title, the aspiration for all alchemists. However, this fella didn’t even care for it. Unfortunately, the fella truly had the qualifications to be so arrogant. Just his method of dan refinement like roasting beans alone indicated his talents and probability of becoming a future Alchemy Emperor.
“Refining dan like roasting beans; I’m afraid even the supreme dao path of the Alchemy God that year was not any better than this.” An alchemist said with some feelings.
Li Qiye couldn’t help but laugh after hearing these words. This was indeed the supreme alchemy dao of the Alchemy God. Unfortunately, this quintessential essence of this alchemy dao was not passed down that year.
“At the moment, we have more than one thousand First Transformation Fate Pills with four attainments of purity, this should be enough to train a group of our disciples.” Another alchemy master said with a lot of excitement.
Three of these pills was enough for a new disciple to approximately increase one realm of cultivation.
One had to know that all cultivators before the Inner Longevity realm could use First Transformation Fate Pills. This type of pill was too crucial and necessary to the current Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect.
“No. Do not let disciples with great potential use the pills. At least, give them as little as possible before Inner Longevity. Wait until afterwards, then they can use Second Transformation Fate Pills. If we let them use too much, they’ll build up an immunity to the medicinal effects, thus reducing its potency in the future...”
“... This will be our policy. The disciples who are lacking in potential; we will let them use First Transformation Fate Pills early on, but not the gifted ones. We will give them Second Transformation Fate Pills after Inner Longevity. As for the most exceptional ones with a fortified dao heart, we will wait for as long as possible before letting them use Third Transformation Fate Pills. This is to increase our productivity to the maximum in the future.”
Even though Li Qiye could refine dan very easily, he still made Elder Sun enforce these strict standards.
A First Transformation Fate Pill was appropriate for Inner Longevity; The Second and Third Transformations were suitable for Inner Longevity to Purified Rebirth; Four Transformations was fitting for Heaven’s Primal to Star Plucking (Enlightened Beings); Five Transformations was proper for Ancient Saints; Six Transformations was meant for Heavenly Sovereigns...
Any promising cultivator would limit their fate pill usage early on to avoid early resistance to its medicinal effect. Because of this, many geniuses with great talents only started taking fate pills during the Royal Noble realm.
“This arrangement is indeed necessary!” Elder Sun was very supportive of Li Qiye’s arrangement.
“Good, then forget about this matter for now. Watch closely at my technique; I do not wish to demonstrate the same technique twice.” Li Qiye handed the medicinal gourd to Elder Sun as he spoke.
After hearing his words, all the alchemy masters present shivered inside and gathered their focus; they did not want to miss a single detail of Li Qiye’s actions. This was a supreme alchemy dao in their eyes, one that was comparable to the Alchemy God’s dao. This was the dream and desire of all the alchemists in this world. They would rather be beaten to death than miss this opportunity of learning such a rare alchemist technique.
Li Qiye then refined pills for the next three months, including longevity medicines and fate pills. The higher ranking ones required a much longer time.
To Li Qiye, if First Transformation Fate Pills were as simple as roasting beans, then Second Transformation pills were akin to cooking rice while Third Transformation pills resembled stirring up a pot of soup... The higher ranking ones did not require a long time, but they were also much harder to refine.
Even so, Li Qiye’s showcase of his alchemy dao was still enough to horrify the group of Elder Sun; it was truly the showcasing of a miracle.
Li Qiye not only refined all the alchemy ingredients of the sect within these three months, but he also imparted his knowledge to the group of Elder Sun that crazily tried to absorb everything. Regarding alchemy, Li Qiye’s alchemy dao was like a palace filled with treasures for them. Even though they couldn’t absorb everything, it was a benefit that will last them their entire lives.
After three months, the tired Li Qiye closed his cauldron and stopped the refinement process. At this point, the other alchemy masters reluctantly left the Lonely Peak. They simply wished to stay at the peak forever to watch Li Qiye refine dan through the days and nights.
In fact, Li Qiye was so sick of dan refinement that he started to feel nauseous whenever he saw any medicinal ingredients! So after withdrawing his cauldron, the thought of further dan refinement escaped his thoughts completely.
After hanging around the sect for two more months and noticing that everything was well-prepared, he intended to leave for the Eastern Hundred Cities.
But before he could leave, Li Shuangyan came with bad news: “The situation over at the War God Temple is not good. They not only refused to let go of master, but they expressed their dissatisfaction with our Nine Saint Demon Gate. It has almost been a year, but there has been no news regarding their ancestor that was buried in the Underworld Boat.”
After hearing this, Li Qiye couldn’t do anything besides putting off his visit to the Eastern Hundred Cities. He shook his head and said: “These old men from the War God Temple... I, their father, am not in a rush to take my item as part of the transaction, yet they already became impatient before even me! These old men are truly becoming increasingly less progressive, they can’t even show some restraint regarding such a minor matter!”