All-class Gu Immortal

Chapter 181 Divine Alchemy Skill! Divine Fire Valley's Spiritual Treasures (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Tickets)

"This is the last time," Zhou Qing said calmly, then spurred his horse and galloped away.

A day and a half later, they arrived at the Divine Might Camp. Zhou Qing dismounted and went straight to the central command tent.

After Zhou Qing entered the main tent, it seemed that a meeting was being held inside. Han Wending was sitting in the main seat, while Han Qingqing was sitting at the end.

"We'll discuss this later. You may leave now."

Upon seeing Zhou Qing enter the tent, Han Wending smiled and gestured for everyone to leave first.

After everyone left, leaving only Zhou Qing and Han Qingqing in the camp, Han Wending looked Zhou Qing up and down and suddenly showed surprise.

"Has your internal energy cultivation reached perfection? I remember you seemed to be quite a bit short of it four months ago!"

"Uncle Han, you have such keen insight! You noticed my progress at a glance." Zhou Qing didn't try to hide his progress in martial arts cultivation and spoke frankly.

"It's all thanks to Qingqing's great help, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make such great progress!"

"Brother Zhou, you didn't use all that money to buy pills, did you?" Han Qingqing asked in astonishment. "Didn't you promise me?"

“Qingqing, you misunderstand. I did buy a lot of medicinal herbs, but most of them were used to refine pills and prepare body-refining medicinal baths. Although I have taken quite a few pills, they were all refined by myself, so I know best whether they contain any toxins. In addition, the main reason for my progress in internal energy is that my body-refining technique has made a breakthrough, which has led to an improvement in my internal energy cultivation.” Zhou Qing explained.

"Could it be that my nephew really knows how to refine pills?" Han Wending asked with surprise.

He knew that Zhou Qing was learning alchemy, and that Qingqing had lent him tens of thousands of taels of silver, but he didn't care. After all, silver was nothing compared to the life-saving grace.

However, judging from Zhou Qing's words, his alchemy skills seem to be quite extraordinary.

"I suppose I could be considered a first-tier alchemist," Zhou Qing said modestly.

"Who taught you alchemy?" Han Wending asked quickly.

"It can be considered self-taught to some extent. When a junior does something, he usually puts in his best effort and perseveres," Zhou Qing explained.

"Alchemy is not something you can learn just by persisting," Han Wending couldn't help but sigh.

"I wonder if it would be convenient for my dear nephew to demonstrate this on the spot?"

“That’s certainly possible.” Zhou Qing nodded. “Is it inside the tent?”

“Right here!” Han Wending replied.

“Okay.” Zhou Qing took out the Wooden King Cauldron and placed it in the middle of the tent.

"This cauldron seems to be a divine weapon. It's not a pill furnace, is it?" Han Wending was taken aback.

“The alchemy furnace I used before was damaged, and I haven’t been able to buy a suitable one, so I’m using this wooden king cauldron as a substitute,” Zhou Qing replied, skillfully igniting the beast-gold charcoal and taking out the prepared medicinal herbs one by one.

Once the internal temperature was sufficient, he looked at Han Wending and asked, "Uncle Han, may I demonstrate using the Peiyuan Pill?"

"Of course." Han Wending nodded. Among first-tier pills, the Peiyuan Pill has a moderate difficulty in refining and is the most commonly used pill for martial artists in the first four stages. The Han family disciples have a great demand for this pill.

"Alright, I'll begin." Zhou Qing placed the pills into the wooden cauldron one by one.

"puff!"

A moment later, a muffled sound came from the wooden cauldron, and a burnt smell emanated from it.

"It failed." Han Qingqing exclaimed in surprise.

Seeing this, Han Wending quickly gestured for her to be quiet.

Han Qingqing covered her mouth and nodded repeatedly.

Faced with failure, Zhou Qing's expression remained unchanged. He skillfully cleaned the wooden cauldron and then placed the medicinal herbs back in.

"puff!"

A moment later, the second batch also failed.

Han Qingqing blinked her big eyes, but didn't say anything.

Han Wending could tell from Zhou Qing's skillful technique and unhurried demeanor that he was definitely good at alchemy.

As for its quality, that depends on the purity of the refined Qi-Nourishing Pill.

Zhou Qing continued the process from before.

The third attempt also failed.

However, he was not in a hurry. The repeated failures were simply because he had not refined the less difficult Qi-Nourishing Pill for a long time and needed to get back into the swing of things.

"It's done." As the fourth batch of pills emitted a pungent and irritating fragrance, Han Qingqing couldn't help but whisper.

After Zhou Qing finished finishing, he put the six Qi-cultivating pills into a porcelain bottle and handed it to Han Wending.

"The success rate of pill refining is very high." Han Wending nodded. Although the success rate was a bit low, the success rate of pill refining was high. However, he still hoped that Zhou Qing would continue to refine pills. As long as the success rate exceeded 20%, he could persuade the elders of the Han family to focus on cultivating Zhou Qing.

Han Wending poured all six Peiyuan Pills from the porcelain bottle into his mouth, tilted his head back, swallowed them, and closed his eyes to digest the medicinal effects of the pills.

"Save one for me!" Han Qingqing couldn't help but chide, as she also wanted to try Zhou Qinglian's pills.

In just a few breaths, Han Wending had absorbed the effects of the medicine.

"The quality is also very high!"

Although he hadn't taken the Peiyuan Pill for many years, he could still judge its quality.

"Nephew." Han Wending looked at Zhou Qing, only to find that he had already begun refining the fifth batch of pills.

A moment later, the fifth batch of pills was successfully refined.

"Forty percent?!" Han Wending's eyes lit up. This success rate was quite good among first-level alchemists, especially considering how young Zhou Qing was.

"Fifty percent?!" Soon, Zhou Qing successfully refined the sixth batch of Qi-Nourishing Pills, much to Han Wending's surprise and delight.

"Sixty percent!!!"

Of the ten batches of Qi-Nourishing Pills, Zhou Qing succeeded in making six. Han Wending glanced at the Wooden King Cauldron, then at Zhou Qing, his eyes somewhat blank.

Han Wending recalled that Zhou Qing had just said he was self-taught.

He also said that when he does something, he usually puts in his best effort and perseveres.

Now it seems there was no effort involved, it was all talent!

Ordinary people start learning alchemy from the womb. Even if someone without talent practices alchemy at all costs, they will still need to be thirty years old to become a first-level alchemist. However, even a powerful organization would not spare no expense in training someone without alchemy talent.

Having a talent for alchemy and enough resources to learn it, becoming a first-level alchemist around the age of twenty is considered genius.

However, a typical first-tier alchemist would say that the success rate is 30%.

Zhou Qing's success rate in refining the Peiyuan Pill is as high as 60%.

He wasn't even nineteen years old yet.

Found a treasure!

"Uncle Han, it's been a long time since I've refined any Qi-Nourishing Pills, so I'm a bit rusty. Please forgive me," Zhou Qing said, cupping his hands in greeting.

According to Xuanzhu, many skilled alchemists can achieve a success rate of 70% to 80% in refining first-tier pills.

Despite having a 30% success rate boost from his Alchemist profession, he only achieved a mere 60% success rate in refining the Qi-Nourishing Pill, which was truly pathetic.

"..." Han Wending's face twitched slightly. Even as a top-tier martial artist in the Qi and Blood Dragon Realm, he felt an urge to curse.

However, seeing Zhou Qing's sincere expression, Han Wending thought that he had never seen much of the world and did not know how capable he really was!

The alchemist supported by the Han family is over eighty years old and has been refining pills all his life. Even his most skilled first-tier pills only have a 50% success rate. Now that he is too old, the success rate of many pills is less than 40%.

“Nephew, if you are willing, I would like to formally hire you as the Han family’s exclusive alchemist. The Han family will grant you access to all the pill formulas we possess, and will collect the medicinal materials needed for alchemy, as well as new pill formulas, for you. After the pills are refined, I can decide that the profits from first-grade pills will be split 70/30. The Han family will also find the channels to sell the pills, so you only need to focus on alchemy.”

Han Wending said solemnly.

“Thirty percent is acceptable, but…” Zhou Qing nodded upon hearing this.

For him, finding the recipe for the elixir was the most troublesome task, followed by collecting various medicinal herbs.

These things are all very time-consuming. If the Han family can help him deal with these troublesome matters, he can obtain 30% of the pills out of thin air by only spending time and technical costs. This is almost like making a huge profit without any investment.

"No! You've misunderstood! Thirty percent is ours. You get seventy percent!" Han Wending quickly said.

"What?! Give me 70%?!" Zhou Qing was completely dumbfounded.

“That’s right, you get 70% and we get 30%.” Han Wending nodded. The alchemists in the Han family were old and semi-retired. The newly trained alchemists had a success rate of less than 30% in refining many first-order pills.

Although the profit split with Zhou Qing was 70/30, he had a 60% success rate in refining the Qi Cultivation Pill, and the yield was also very high.

Therefore, the actual yield of pills from splitting the profits 70/30 with Zhou Qing was more than the 50/50 split with their own alchemist, and the quality was also higher.

“That won’t do!” Zhou Qing pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

“We can accept 82%!” Han Qingqing said from the side.

Upon hearing this, Han Wending gritted his teeth and decided that he would rather suffer a loss than not win over Zhou Qing.

At this point, he was no longer acting out of gratitude, but simply because he was attracted by Zhou Qing's terrifying talent in alchemy.

He wants to invest in Zhou Qing's future!
If a second-tier alchemist can be trained, perhaps he will have the opportunity to advance further in the future, enter the realm of Qi and Blood Furnace, become a top expert in the Blood Exchange Realm, and bring the Han family to another level.

"No! I mean a 50/50 split!" Zhou Qing quickly said, "If it weren't for Qingqing's generosity, my alchemy skills wouldn't have improved so much."

Han Qingqing said she lent him 50,000 taels of silver, but she didn't even write an IOU or specify a repayment date, so it was practically a free loan.

Although Zhou Qing said he would definitely pay it back when he had money in the future, he didn't like taking advantage of his own people.

"Fifty-five?" Han Wending was taken aback, realizing that he had underestimated Zhou Qing's magnanimity.

“I’ve already taken a huge advantage from the Han family. If it’s split 70/30, I won’t feel right. It should be at least 50/50, otherwise I can’t accept this proposal,” Zhou Qing said seriously.

"I cannot guarantee a 60% success rate for all first-tier pills. In addition, in order to continuously improve my alchemy skills, I may only refine some more difficult first-tier pills in the future. I need to make this clear to Uncle Han in advance."

"Of course, no problem!" Han Wending smiled, he could completely accept what Zhou Qing said.

They immediately began preparing the documents.

That very evening, he signed a contract with Zhou Qing.

The conditions were extremely favorable for Zhou Qing.

Thus, Zhou Qing, who originally came to fight, ended up coming to the front lines to refine pills.

Thanks to the great master Han Wending providing the pill formula and medicinal resources, Zhou Qing's alchemy skills broke through ahead of schedule in just two and a half months.

[Occupation: Alchemist]

[Skill: Alchemy]

[Progress: Mastery (800/800)] → [Progress: Transcendent (1/800)]

[Effect: Increases the success rate of refining first-tier pills by 40%; increases the success rate of refining second-tier pills by 15%; increases the success rate of refining third-tier pills by 0.5%.]

Not only that, but Han Wending also found the fire-attribute spiritual object that Zhou Qing had asked him to search for; it was located in the Divine Fire Valley of Tianzhu Mountain.

(End of this chapter)