The next morning, Elian sat in the alchemy room, flipping through an alchemy manual.
This time, he planned to refine the Gathering Essence Pill, a second-tier low-grade pill that could instantly replenish a large amount of true essence for cultivators.
According to the manual, possessing Gathering Essence Pills could increase his chances of breaking through to Foundation Establishment by an additional ten percent.
Although the pill's refining difficulty was not high, it required second-tier rare spiritual fruits. Elian didn't have any second-tier spiritual fruits, but having lived in an era of abundant information in his previous life, he naturally knew how to adapt.
He decided to use a large quantity of first-tier spirit peaches to refine a batch of Gathering Essence Pills. By substituting quantity for quality, the pills might only achieve fifty to sixty percent of the original effectiveness but could still provide an additional five percent chance for his breakthrough.
Once he decided on the method, Elian began refining the Gathering Essence Pill.
For the alchemy process, he used all the spirit peaches he had accumulated over the years—over a hundred of them—and resolved to complete the refinement in one attempt.
Although the Gathering Essence Pill was based on a second-tier formula, spirit peaches were not medicinal herbs. They contained no medicinal toxins and very few impurities, making this one of the easiest second-tier pills to refine.
Elian used a gentle flame to simmer the ingredients. It took over a month to slowly boil the liquid down to a batch of spiritual essence. Finally, it was time for the pill condensation stage.
"Five portions of pill liquid," he muttered.
"I must succeed."
As he watched the spiritual liquid take shape, Elian's heart was in his throat.
This being his first attempt at refining a second-tier pill, he encountered a mishap due to insufficient cultivation and spiritual sense. Three of the five portions of liquid collapsed instantly.
"Not good!"
In a critical moment, Elian decisively chose to abandon one portion and focus entirely on the last one.
The result of his concentrated effort was remarkable. By dedicating his full attention to this single portion, he successfully refined a Gathering Essence Pill without further incidents.
"It worked!"
Elian was ecstatic. He opened the alchemy furnace and carefully retrieved the pill, placing it into a prepared jade bottle.
The successful refinement of the Gathering Essence Pill not only increased his chance of a breakthrough by five percent but also signified that he was now a quasi-second-tier alchemist.
"As long as I break through to Foundation Establishment, achieving the rank of a second-tier alchemist is practically guaranteed."
He smiled at the pill in the bottle, feeling that over a month's effort had been worthwhile.
When Elian stepped out of the alchemy room, he was momentarily taken aback to find his granduncle waiting at the door with a grim expression.
Outside, it was pouring rain, with thunder rumbling incessantly. Elian quickly invited his granduncle inside.
"Granduncle, what's wrong?"
His granduncle handed him a letter with a stiff expression and said, "This is news from Qingyuan Mountain sent two days ago."
"Half a year ago, Qingyuan failed to establish his foundation and passed away at Qingyang Sect."
"Boom—"
Elian felt as though his mind had been struck by an ancient bell from a primeval era, leaving him shaken to his core. He almost lost his footing.
They had traveled twenty thousand miles, endured a perilous journey, and fought a Foundation Establishment demon ape, with the Second Elder nearly dying of severe injuries—all for a Foundation Establishment Pill that should have rightfully belonged to the Chen family.
In the end, it turned out to be a death sentence.
Chen Qingyuan, the most talented among the Chen family's Qing generation, had fallen. The earth-fire's malicious energy invaded his body, severed his meridians, and destroyed his cultivation.
According to the Qingyang Sect's messenger, the pain from the fire scourge had been so unbearable that Chen Qingyuan chose to end his own life.
"..."
"Rumble!"
The sky darkened as lightning flashed and thunder roared.
Rain poured down in torrents, drenching the lake's surface.
With a sword in hand, Elian, clad in white as pure as snow, stood silently on the shore of the central island.
He gazed up at the vast sky, his eyes reflecting the lightning that streaked across the heavens.
Drenched in the rain, his long hair flowing in the storm, Elian stood there in silence for an entire night.
"Qingyang Sect!"
"..."
The next morning, Elian returned to his cultivation room expressionlessly and entered seclusion.
He had decided not to seek another Foundation Establishment Pill. Instead, he would immediately begin the process of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage.
With the Beast Tide less than thirty years away, he needed to achieve Foundation Establishment sooner to protect himself and his family.
This time, Elian was not without confidence. Over the years, his meridians had been tempered repeatedly with spiritual energy and Primordial Purple Qi, making them far stronger than those of other cultivators at his level—comparable even to those who used Foundation Establishment Pills.
Additionally, his abundant spiritual energy reserves gave him at least a fifty to sixty percent chance of success.
Even so, compressing spiritual energy into true essence was no easy task. The transformation represented a significant qualitative change. Once the compression succeeded, the true essence would nourish the physical body, completing a leap in the level of life itself. His lifespan would extend to over two hundred years.
Following the guidance of predecessors and his understanding of his own body, Elian carefully compressed his spiritual energy. After a month, he finally compressed it to its limit.
At this stage, success meant forming true essence, but if his meridians couldn't withstand the strain, the over-compressed spiritual energy could burst apart, leaving his meridians in ruins.
Elian didn't rush to complete the final step. Taking a deep breath, he swallowed the Gathering Essence Pill.
A surge of boundless energy flooded his meridians, providing the pressure needed to complete the final transformation.
"Now's the time!"
He gritted his teeth and channeled all his energy into completing the final step.
However, without the Foundation Establishment Pill to temper the spiritual energy, it became unusually volatile and difficult to control.
Fortunately, the strength of his meridians, tempered by Primordial Purple Qi, was extraordinary. They withstood the violent surges of spiritual energy, allowing him to complete the most critical step.
The moment the first strand of true essence formed within his body, a chain reaction occurred naturally.
Like a whale swallowing water, the nascent strand of true essence absorbed vast amounts of spiritual energy. After condensing it into true essence, Elian's meridians felt nearly empty.
The abundant spiritual energy that had filled his meridians was compressed into true essence, leaving less than one-tenth remaining.
"It's done."
Elian smiled, but he didn't leave the cultivation room right away. He took out all his spirit stones and began frantically absorbing spiritual energy to nourish the newly formed true essence.
For nearly a month, he continued refining his meridians with the true essence, strengthening them while simultaneously nourishing his physical body with it. Finally, he completed his transformation.
From this moment on, Elian's life level was fundamentally different. With true essence constantly nourishing his body, barring irreparable injuries, living to two hundred years old was practically guaranteed.
...
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