We're practicing all martial arts, so why did you switch to easy mode?

Chapter 266 Separation from Fire, Divine Intent Perfected, Third-Rank Alchemist (5K)

[Easy Mode Activated: Swallow 200 times to reach the first level of the Nine Revolutions Fire Technique.]

Like other cultivation techniques, one needs to learn the basics before cultivating the first level. However, the Nine Revolutions Fire Technique does not require refining pills when learning the basics.

Su Chen had already spent 10,000 Spirit Essence Pills to cultivate to the entry level at the beginning. Now that he meets the panel requirements, he can directly advance to the first level.

After swallowing saliva two hundred times, the panel in his mind suddenly changed, and Su Chen immediately felt his whole body become hot.

It was as if a flame was burning inside my body, and both my energy and blood were on the verge of boiling.

It didn't last long; the feeling disappeared in about half a cup of tea's time.

The ensuing change was that the skin color of Su Chen's palms gradually changed from white with a yellowish tinge to red, as striking as if a piece of iron had been heated through.

"Is this the Fire of Li?"

With a flick of his wrist and a thought, a wisp of burning flame danced in his palm.

Though faint, a strong, intense heat emanated from it.

"Miao Kuo once said that after mastering the Nine Revolutions Fire Refining Technique, one can use the fire to refine pills, which greatly improves the quality of the pills."

After observing the wisp of fire for a moment, Su Chen decided to test its effects.

From a certain perspective, the fire of separation is a type of alchemical fire, and alchemy is the fastest way to verify its effects.

Do it when you think of it.

The alchemy room was well-stocked with medicinal herbs. After sitting quietly for a few breaths, Su Chen began to concentrate on refining pills.

The alchemy he had used previously was all ordinary Yuan Qi fire. As soon as he released the Li Fire, Su Chen noticed something was wrong.

Although it was only a wisp of fire, its effect was more pronounced than that of a primordial fire.

The moment the fire emerged, it was as if an invisible energy surged into the alchemy furnace, making its aura even more restrained.

This change is like artificially creating a better environment for alchemy.

Before the use of the fire, the environment was extremely harsh, and alchemy would inevitably be affected by environmental changes.

After using the Fire Separation Technique, the environment becomes exceptionally clear. Although it has some effect, it will no longer affect the success rate of alchemy.

Soon, a batch of pills was refined.

Six!

Su Chen looked at the number of pills in the alchemy furnace, his face showing slight joy.

"My previous limit for forming pills was five, but after using the Fire of Separation, it became six, and the quality wasn't bad either. However, I feel that six is ​​far from my limit!"

This made Su Chen sigh, realizing that refining pills with fire was indeed much more efficient than refining pills with ordinary elemental fire.

After briefly testing the power of the Fire, Su Chen focused his attention on the control panel.

As he expected, the next condition for upgrading the Nine Revolutions Fire Technique was still to refine pills himself.

This time, however, the Qi-Nourishing Pill was replaced with the Dragon-Tiger Pill.

The types have also changed; Peiyuan Dan is a recuperative pill, while Longhu Dan is a strengthening pill.

"I remember that the Dragon Tiger Pill is a pill that enhances strength. Among first-grade alchemists, it is considered a relatively advanced pill."

After successfully refining the Qi-Nourishing Pill, Su Chen officially entered the ranks of alchemists and could be considered a first-grade alchemist.

However, Peiyuan Pill is considered a low-end pill in the entire category of first-grade pills, while Longhu Pill is considered a higher-end pill.

It requires at least several years of immersion in alchemy and extensive experience to refine.

With Su Chen's current skills, he can't even guarantee a 100% success rate in refining the Qi Cultivation Pill, so he naturally can't meet the conditions for refining the Dragon Tiger Pill.

Fortunately, both Longhu Dan and Peiyuan Dan are popular elixirs on the market.

In other words, the formula for the Dragon Tiger Pill can also be purchased on the market, which saves Su Chen a lot of time and energy.

Otherwise, if it were a unique pill formula, Su Chen would probably need to search for it himself and find a way to obtain it.

"Continue refining the Qi-Nourishing Pill first. Once you've mastered it, then you can work on the Dragon-Tiger Pill."

Su Chen now has very few Spirit Essence Pills left, so he plans to refine more Qi Cultivation Pills to sell, and then use that money to buy the Dragon Tiger Pill recipe.

Although he had done Miao Kuo a favor, he could continue to ask Miao Kuo for the pill formula, but favors are something that can be used once or twice, but if used too often, they will be lost.

He still has many places where he needs seedlings, so there's no need to waste them under these circumstances.

Over the next month, Su Chen relied on a constant supply of medicinal herbs to rapidly improve his alchemy skills.

With the aid of the Fire of Separation, Su Chen's alchemy skills continued to improve.

Both in terms of the quantity of pills produced and the quality of the pills, there has been a qualitative breakthrough.

In terms of quantity, the number of Peiyuan Pills increased from six per batch to ten per batch.

This is not his limit, but the limit of achieving the elixir.

According to Miao Kuo, a first-grade alchemist can only refine a maximum of ten Qi-cultivating pills in one batch.

In terms of quality, it has risen from low grade to high grade.

One Spirit Essence Pill can buy one hundred low-grade Nourishing Essence Pills, but the price of a superior Nourishing Essence Pill is higher, and one Spirit Essence Pill can only buy one superior Nourishing Essence Pill.

In addition, the alchemy time has been shortened and the success rate of alchemy has been increased.

Basically, it only takes half an hour to refine a batch of pills, and success is guaranteed every time.

What cannot be guaranteed now is the quantity and quality of successful elixir refining each time.

Su Chen spent another two months continuously refining Qi-Nourishing Pills to improve his alchemy skills.

Finally, his hard work paid off. Now he can guarantee that every time he refines pills, he will succeed, producing at least seven Qi-Nourishing Pills per batch, and the quality will be at least top grade.

Reaching this level places one in the middle tier of a first-grade alchemist.

It's not impossible to continue improving, but it has little to do with skills; it's mostly related to external factors.

Su Chen decided not to continue refining the Qi-Nourishing Pill. He entrusted the Miao family to sell the more than 30,000 pills he had refined, and used the earned Spiritual Essence Pills to purchase the Dragon-Tiger Pill formula.

After obtaining the pill formula, Su Chen felt no joy, but rather a look of worry on his face.

Unlike the Peiyuan Dan formula, which has many annotations, the Longhu Dan formula only records the simplest steps.

It doesn't tell you how to select medicinal herbs, control the heat, or when to add different herbs; the alchemist has to figure everything out on their own.

This means that Su Chen will have to spend a lot of time and energy accumulating experience.

After much deliberation, Su Chen finally decided to take the pill formula to Miao Kuo for guidance.

Miao Kuo had expected this, and upon seeing Su Chen, he smiled and said, "I have examined the Qi-Nourishing Pill you refined. I did not expect that you could master it and refine it to such a high level in such a short time. You can now be considered a qualified first-grade alchemist."

He paused for a moment, then said, "You came to see me because you're planning to refine the Dragon-Tiger Pill, right?"

Su Chen nodded upon hearing this, took out the pill formula, and wanted to consult Miao Kuo.

Miao Kuo waved his hand and pointed to the pill formula on the stone table not far away, saying, "This is a labeled pill formula. Take a look and see if you have any questions. Then I will answer them for you. After I answer them, I will refine it once."

Su Chen's ability to refine the Qi Cultivation Pill to a superior level within four months is enough to demonstrate that he has a talent for alchemy.

And it's not low either.

This also made him appreciate talent.

Upon learning that Su Chen had purchased the Dragon Tiger Pill formula, Miao Kuo guessed what Su Chen was thinking and thus prepared another formula in advance.

Now that Su Chen has arrived, this is a good opportunity to hand it over to him.

Su Chen picked up the pill formula and examined it carefully. Compared to the pill formulas he had purchased, this one was a treasure.

It contains detailed records of numerous techniques and knowledge related to alchemy, making them easy to understand and deeply ingrained in people's minds.

After reading it several times, Su Chen began to ask Miao Kuo questions, and Miao Kuo answered them in detail.

After a series of questions and answers, it was evening. Seeing that Su Chen had no more questions, Miao Kuo then demonstrated to Su Chen how to refine the Dragon Tiger Pill.

The alchemy process for Dragon Tiger Pill is not complicated, but the requirements for the medicinal materials are very high.

The crucial step is selecting medicinal herbs; if the herbs are chosen well, half the battle in alchemy is won.

Miao Kuo also focuses on the selection of medicinal materials.

After spending an hour explaining the importance of the medicinal herbs to Su Chen, Miao Kuo finally began refining the pills.

Su Chen looked at it very carefully. With his experience with the Qi-Nourishing Pill and his previous accumulation of knowledge, he could slowly get the hang of it after reading it once.

Miao Kuo truly lived up to his reputation as a fifth-grade alchemist. Su Chen noticed that Miao Kuo had refined ten Dragon Tiger Pills in one batch of pills, each of them being of superior quality.

"Take these herbs back and practice with them. Ask me for them again when you've used them up."

Before leaving, Miao Kuo handed over the medicinal materials for refining the Dragon Tiger Pill to Su Chen, also free of charge, which made Su Chen feel a little embarrassed.

Miao Kuo, however, did not mind and instead comforted Su Chen.

If you feel embarrassed, then quickly refine the Dragon-Tiger Pill and then hand it over to the Miao family for sale.

With ample medicinal herbs and the experience of Miao Kuo feeding him, Su Chen quickly immersed himself in the process of refining the Dragon-Tiger Pill.

At the beginning, there were more failures than successes. Only after accumulating experience in alchemy did the success rate gradually increase.

Two months later, Su Chen mastered the refining of the Dragon Tiger Pill, but there was still room for improvement in the success rate and quality.

It was at this moment that he realized that what truly limited the success rate and quality of the Dragon-Tiger Pill was not the alchemy technique, but the selection of medicinal materials. After two months, his alchemy skills improved significantly, and he became more adept at the refining process, but he still couldn't achieve the same level as the Qi-Nourishing Pill.

Each batch of pills is of the highest quality.

So for the next month, Su Chen focused his attention on selecting medicinal herbs.

This change of direction did indeed help him with alchemy, and it also allowed his alchemy skills to steadily improve.

"In terms of skill and experience, Longhu Dan is not much better than Peiyuan Dan. The only key is the selection of medicinal materials. This is why Longhu Dan has a higher market price than Peiyuan Dan and is relatively more expensive among the types of pills that a first-grade alchemist can refine."

With this understanding, Su Chen was not in a hurry to refine pills and set almost demanding requirements for the quality of medicinal materials.

Another month has passed. Although his alchemy experience has not improved much, his ability to identify medicinal herbs has been increasing day by day.

Now, Su Chen has eliminated the influence of medicinal herbs and can refine pills without any worries.

The result was a dramatic change in the quantity and quality of the refined Dragon Tiger Pills.

In terms of quantity, reaching the limit of one batch, there are as many as ten Dragon Tiger Pills.

In terms of quality, it reaches the limit of elixirs; ten Dragon Tiger Pills are all of superior quality.

Moreover, this situation was not temporary, but occurred in several batches of pills in succession.

This shows that Su Chen has completely mastered the secrets of refining the Dragon-Tiger Pill.

This technique reached its peak when the Nine Revolutions Fire Technique broke through to the next level.

He surpassed Miao Kuo.

One batch of pills can produce eleven Dragon Tiger Pills, and each one is of superior quality.

The pill required to advance to the third stage of the Fire Separation Technique is one hundred Essence Blood Pills, which are enhancement pills that can strengthen qi and blood.

Su Chen did not rush to refine the Essence Blood Pill, but continued to refine the Dragon Tiger Pill to sell and make money.

During this period, he also tried taking Dragon Tiger Pills, but these pills had little effect on him.

Of course, there's another reason for continuing to refine Dragon Tiger Pills besides earning Spirit Essence Pills.

"I feel that the Essence Blood Pill is similar to the Qi Blood Pill and the Strengthening Blood Pill."

It was as if he had returned to his old profession, instantly recalling Su Chen's experience in refining Qi and Blood Pills and Strengthening Blood Pills.

This reassured him somewhat, and he figured he would be able to get the hang of refining the essence blood pill more quickly.

In fact, things were somewhat different from what Su Chen had imagined.

Despite having past experience, it didn't offer Su Chen much help.

The reason is that the Essence and Blood Pill is a second-grade medicine.

Both in terms of refining techniques and the difficulty of refining, it is a level above the Dragon Tiger Pill.

This is already a pill refined by a second-grade alchemist.

Even so, Su Chen still managed to refine a batch of Essence Blood Pills within a month, relying on his experience.

The result was disastrous.

Only one pill was formed, and its grade was only medium.

It's embarrassing; he's too ashamed to admit that he used to refine qi and blood-nourishing pills.

After only a second of disappointment, Su Chen threw himself back into the limited alchemy with boundless enthusiasm.

Without Miao Kuo's guidance, the speed of alchemy did indeed decrease significantly.

However, Su Chen didn't pay attention to it and continued to study.

It must be said that past experience was still useful; as time went on, Su Chen's skill in refining essence blood pills became higher and higher.

Of course, experience is accumulated by consuming medicinal herbs.

About a month later, Su Chen had to restart refining the Dragon Tiger Pill to earn the cost of the ingredients for the Essence Blood Pill.

By conducting operations on both sides simultaneously, the refining time for the Essence Blood Pill is further shortened.

Under such intense pressure, Su Chen fulfilled the conditions on the panel and finally refined one hundred essence blood pills.

The Nine Revolutions Fire Technique has naturally reached the third revolution.

The third transformation of the Fire Separation technique brought about a qualitative change in Su Chen's alchemy skills.

This type of essence and blood pill, which requires locking in energy, has a significant quality bonus.

After fulfilling the conditions on the panel, Su Chen stopped studying the refining of the Essence Blood Pill and prepared to start the next pill recipe.

Meridian Opening Pill!

The moment Su Chen saw the name, he knew its category: a pill for breaking through to the next level.

To Su Chen's surprise, the Meridian Opening Pill was a Grade 3 pill, and its level was relatively high among Grade 3 pills.

Although Su Chen was able to refine the Essence Blood Pill, barely reaching the threshold of a second-grade alchemist, he was still a level short of refining a third-grade Meridian Opening Pill.

His limitations were not only his rank, but also the medicinal herbs and elixirs he was limited to.

Danfang is alright; although it's a bit pricey, it's a one-time use item.

The real difficulty lies in the medicinal materials. There are over a hundred kinds of medicinal materials needed to refine the Meridian Opening Pill, and several of them are extremely expensive.

Su Chen roughly calculated that refining one batch of pills would require nearly five thousand spirit essence pills.

"There's a reason why alchemists make money; after all, it's extremely expensive!"

Su Chen chuckled to himself. Everyone says that alchemists are all rolling in money, but how come he's penniless?

He has never been wealthy since he started practicing alchemy!
Despite the complaints, the alchemy still had to continue.

With no other option, Su Chen had to refine the Dragon-Tiger Pill while simultaneously researching the Essence Blood Pill.

The former can be mass-produced, while the latter is more expensive.

Before fully mastering the Essence Blood Pill, pursuing both simultaneously will yield the greatest benefits.

Summer has passed and winter has arrived; four months have gone by in the blink of an eye.

Su Chen completely changed his pill refining technique from Dragon Tiger Pill to Essence Blood Pill. After nearly half a year of refining, Su Chen accumulated a wealth of experience in refining Essence Blood Pill.

We can now rely entirely on Essence Blood Pills to earn Spirit Essence Pills.

With his savings from this period of time, Su Chen planned to purchase the formula for the Meridian Opening Pill.

This time, however, he was smarter and stopped buying from the market, instead going directly to Miao Kuo.

After explaining his purpose, Miao Kuo learned that Su Chen had already independently learned how to refine the Essence Blood Pill.

"How long did it take you to refine the Essence Blood Pill?" Miao Kuo asked curiously.

Su Chen's voice carried a strange tone: "For a full six months!"

Previously, it usually took about three months, but the Essence Blood Pill took half a year, which is too long.

"Six months is not bad, but you're self-taught. If I had guided you, you would probably have learned faster," Miao Kuo said seriously.

I was actually a little curious.

He discovered that the pills Su Chen wanted to refine were basically those that were already available on the market.

The previous Peiyuan Pill and Longhu Pill were examples of this, and the current Jingxue Pill and Kaimai Pill are also examples of this.

He thought for a moment and then added, "Young friend Xiang, if you want to go further in the ranks of alchemists, you need to be down-to-earth."

Now that you've mastered the Essence Blood Pill, you can barely be considered a second-grade alchemist.

"We shouldn't be in such a hurry to refine third-grade pills. Instead, we should continue refining other second-grade pills to gain more experience."

Being able to refine the Essence Blood Pill only means crossing the threshold of a second-grade alchemist. To become a true second-grade alchemist, one must master at least three types of second-grade pills. Su Chen only mastered one type and yet he planned to study third-grade pills, which was a bit too hasty.

Out of kindness and appreciation, Miao Kuo offered a word of advice.

However, his persuasion was clearly ineffective, as Su Chen had no intention of pursuing the path of an alchemist.

He only wanted to fulfill the panel's requirements, cultivate the Nine Revolutions Fire Technique to the ninth revolution, and then refine the Heavenly Heart Pill.

After purchasing a more detailed description of the Meridian Opening Pill from Miao Kuo, Su Chen began his research.

After studying for ten days and memorizing all the key points, Su Chen officially began refining.

Su Chen had gained experience in dealing with such complex pills.

Regardless of quality, focus on quantity. Once one hundred pills are successfully refined, upgrade the Nine Revolutions Fire Technique.

The effect of removing the fire can improve the quality of the pills. After the fire is removed, the pills can be used to improve their quality even more.

Even so, it still took Su Chen two months to refine one hundred Meridian Opening Pills, thus fulfilling the requirements on the panel.

The Nine Revolutions Fire Technique was thus upgraded to the fourth revolution, resulting in a leap forward in the quality of the Meridian Opening Pill.

At the same time, Su Chen was finally able to reach the perfect level of the Vajra Iron Shirt technique.

[Easy Mode Activated: Bath in warm water for nine hours to reach the twenty-second level of the Vajra Iron Shirt skill.]

(End of this chapter)