Chapter 113: Mass Producing
Xiang Yu summoned his Abyssal Void Flame, carefully examining it for changes after its advancement to fifth grade. At first glance, not much seemed different, except for one striking detail—the tiny white sparks that used to dance within the dark flame had completely vanished. Now, only absolute darkness remained, swirling ominously above his palm. Despite the flame’s advancement, he was still uncertain about how to properly harness its power.
A sudden inspiration struck him. Focusing his concentration intensely on the flame, Xiang Yu felt his consciousness instantly transfer into the void dimension within. The familiar fluffy creature still floated there, wrapped in its dark, smoke-like fur—but just like before, it remained unresponsive to his presence. He had hoped the upgrade might have awakened the mysterious entity, but that wasn’t the case. Xiang Yu wasn’t particularly troubled by this; he’d unravel the flame’s secrets eventually, as he did with all things.
According to his usual schedule, this would be the time for mind cultivation. But with his Mind attribute already past the halfway point to Level 5, continuing now would be inefficient. Besides, his body still ached tremendously from the bloodline conflict he’d endured. Since his alchemy skills had advanced, he decided another use for this time—creating more pills to accelerate his recovery. Although his body was recovering naturally, he still felt that it was quite slow.
Rising from the spirit spring, Xiang Yu quickly dressed himself. He walked over to inspect the herbs he had planted before. He was pleased to see tiny sprouts already emerging from the soil. Carefully scooping some of the spirit water into a container, he irrigated the young plants. He reasoned that these low-level herbs would flourish rapidly when nourished by the spirit vein’s energy.
His attention then shifted to the mature medicinal plants growing elsewhere in the cavern. He moved through them, harvesting specific varieties needed for eighth-grade healing pills. While his martial aunt’s supply was generous, it lacked these particular ingredients. But fortunately the spirit vein garden contained them in abundance. After gathering a substantial batch, he retrieved his alchemy furnace and prepared to begin the refinement process.
Rather than jumping directly to the eighth-grade pills, Xiang Yu started with the familiar ninth-grade ones he’d practiced earlier. He wanted to confirm whether his advancement to eighth-grade alchemist had improved his efficiency with lower-grade pills. As expected, the results were impressive—his refinement speed had nearly doubled, and his success rate for ninth-grade pills had soared to sixty percent, twice his previous achievement.
Encouraged by this improvement, Xiang Yu proceeded to his true objective—crafting eighth-grade healing pills. His first attempt succeeded perfectly, filling him with satisfaction. However, his second attempt ended in failure. After the humbling experience, he continued refining, producing several more successful pills despite occasional failures. His overall success rate hovered around thirty percent just like before.
From what he understood, success rates increased with each professional breakthrough, though he lacked sufficient data to determine the exact percentage improvement. Additionally, a cultivator’s base success rate before any improvements depended largely on their enlightenment level. With his Superior Enlightenment, Xiang Yu’s base rate started at thirty percent. Those with lower enlightenment would naturally have significantly reduced chances of success.
Xiang Yu went on a pill refining spree, producing nearly two hundred eighth-grade healing pills. Though not entirely satisfied with this quantity, he decided to pause his production. Continuing would consume too many resources. Since he didn’t believe he could finish all those pills, he decided that it was better to wait until his next advancement. When he breaks through again, his success rate would increase and he would waste far less material.
He carefully stored the precious pills in his spatial ring. Unlike his other creations, these were solely for his personal use—at least until producing them became more efficient. He had invested substantial resources in their creation, and while the spirit vein still contained abundant materials, they required considerable time to mature fully so it was better to use them sparingly. With this in mind, he decided to not refine any more eighth grade pills.
After consuming several pills, Xiang Yu felt his body recover almost completely, the lingering pain from the bloodline conflict fading rapidly. Noting that dawn was still several hours away, he decided to make productive use of his remaining time by refining more ninth-grade pills for the sect.
...
By sunrise, Xiang Yu had refined almost a thousand pills. "These should be enough," he thought, surveying his work with satisfaction. Despite working through the night, he felt no desire to rest. Instead, he immediately shifted his focus to formation drawing and blacksmithing.
His advancement to eighth-grade blacksmith opened exciting new possibilities. In the cultivation world’s hierarchy of treasures, items were classified as common, magical, spiritual, and divine—each with its own low, mid, and high tiers. Upon reaching ninth-grade blacksmithing, a craftsman could refine common-grade treasures. At eighth-grade, one could produce up to mid-tier magical treasures, while seventh-grade masters could craft high-tier ones. The next three grades enabled the creation of spiritual treasures, and only the most exceptional blacksmiths could forge divine-level items.
Xiang Yu wasted no time and dove eagerly into the refinement process. He quickly discovered that weapon crafting offered a significantly higher success rate than pill refining. Unlike alchemy’s delicate processes where the slightest interference could ruin hours of work, weapon refinement dealt with properties that Xiang Yu found much easier to control.
Temperature control—arguably the most important aspect—was no challenge thanks to his upgraded Abyssal Void Flame. He could now adjust his flame’s heat with precision down to decimal points, maintaining perfect forging conditions throughout the process. His extensive cooking practice had also honed his qi emission to remarkable levels, allowing him to infuse exactly the right amount of energy into each weapon to maximize its potential.
With these advantages, Xiang Yu went on a weapon-crafting spree. He carefully shaped metal after metal, transforming raw materials into hundreds of low and mid-level magical weapons. The pile of completed items grew steadily: swords with edges that could cut through stone without dulling, daggers that retained perfect balance regardless of how they were held, and perfectly balanced axes. He continued this frenzy until his material supplies finally ran out.
Glancing at his system clock, Xiang Yu noticed it was already time for lunch. He reluctantly concluded his blacksmithing session and made his way to the kitchen to prepare a meal for his master and potentially the others, should they return.
"Sigh, being a single father is really hard," Xiang Yu complained dramatically as he stirred the fragrant broth. "I work day and night and still have to cook for the kids."
"Who are you calling a kid?" Elder Guo’s indignant voice came suddenly from behind him.