I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

One hundred spirit stones.

Zhou Yuan looked at the words on the panel, then touched the remaining forty low-grade spirit stones in his storage bag, and fell into deep thought.

The fastest way to collect 100 spirit stones is to sell magical artifacts.

However, both the top-grade magic weapon, the Jinghong Sword, and the Crimson Gold Furnace were of paramount importance to him, serving as the foundation for his survival, and he could not afford to use them lightly.

After much thought, only one path remained.

Alchemy.

Previously, he refined the lowest-grade Qi-replenishing pills, with a success rate of only a pitiful 20% to 30%, barely enough to make a living, earning only hard-earned money.

Now that he has the "Dan Dao Xin De" (Experiences in Alchemy), his alchemy success rate has increased by 30%, which means that as long as he opens the furnace, he will definitely make a small profit.

What's more, there's also the incredible attribute of "improved alchemy talent".

This is the true foundation.

With that thought in mind, Zhou Yuan no longer hesitated.

With a thought, he switched the "Dan Dao Xin Yin" in his equipment bar to the Crimson Gold Furnace, then walked out of the courtyard and headed straight for the center of the town.

For alchemy, a furnace is indispensable.

He spent all the forty spirit stones he had left, exchanging them for a large batch of low-grade spiritual herbs for refining Qi-replenishing pills and mid-grade first-tier Qi-enhancing pills.

Previously, he could only refine first-grade low-level Qi-replenishing pills, and the success rate was only about 20% to 30%.

With the equipment slots now available, he decided to try refining a mid-grade Tier 1 Qi-boosting pill.

This time, he risked almost everything he had.

Back in the courtyard, Zhou Yuan closed the gate and set up a simple security barrier.

He opened the panel again and switched his equipment back to "Experiences in Alchemy".

【Equipment 1: Alchemy Jade Slip (Tier 1, High Grade)】

[Effect 1: Improved alchemy talent.]

[Effect 2: Increases the success rate of refining Tier 1 pills by 30%.]

Although the Crimson Gold Furnace can also increase the success rate of pill formation by 20%, it is ultimately not as direct as the 30% increase from the Jade Slip.

Moreover, the enhancement of alchemy talent brought by the jade slip can be stacked with his own talent.

In Zhou Yuan's view, directly improving talent is far more valuable than simply increasing the success rate of pill formation.

He took a deep breath, took out the Crimson Gold Furnace, and placed it in front of him.

Light the furnace, warm the cauldron, and add the medicinal herbs.

The process was smooth and seamless, a set of actions he had repeated thousands of times.

But this time, it felt completely different.

The moment Zhou Yuan's divine sense probed into the alchemy furnace, he clearly "saw" the melting process of every spiritual herb inside. Every tumbling and fusion of the medicinal liquid was clearer than ever before.

The previously obscure and difficult-to-understand changes in heat now seem like instinct.

Knowing when to increase the heat and when to reduce it to a simmer, the answer naturally arises in one's mind.

This is the change brought about by equipping "The Insights of Alchemy".

laugh.

A wisp of smoke rose up.

The first attempt failed.

Zhou Yuan showed no sign of frustration; on the contrary, he was somewhat excited.

He could clearly sense that the reason for the failure was that he was not yet familiar enough with the control over the sudden surge, and that he had been somewhat hasty in handling a certain detail.

In the past, if he had failed to refine a batch of pills, he would have felt baffled and couldn't find the reason at all.

"Again!"

He quickly cleaned the alchemy furnace and added the second batch of medicinal herbs.

This time, he was more composed, his mind completely absorbed in the alchemy furnace.

One hour later.

As he cast a spell to collect the pills, the furnace lid opened, revealing five round, plump Qi-replenishing pills, each emitting a faint medicinal fragrance, lying quietly at the bottom of the furnace.

Including the 30% increase from the jade slip, his basic pill-forming rate has been raised from 20% to 30% to a new level!

Zhou Yuan put away the pills and, without stopping, continued to start the furnace.

The third batch was a success!

The fourth batch failed!

Fifth batch, success!

……

Time slipped away quietly amidst the tedious and focused alchemy practice.

In the blink of an eye, a month has passed.

In the quiet room, Zhou Yuan carefully placed the last batch of pills into a jade bottle.

This is not a Qi-replenishing pill, but a mid-grade first-level pill with even better medicinal effects, called a Qi-enhancing pill.

It is specially supplied to cultivators in the mid-stage of Qi Refining for their cultivation, and its value is far higher than that of Qi-replenishing pills.

On the stone table in front of him, dozens of jade bottles were already neatly arranged.

This is all the result of his month-long seclusion.

After hundreds of practice sessions, his success rate in refining Qi-replenishing pills has stabilized at over 60%, and can even reach 70%.

After fully mastering the Qi-replenishing pill, he turned his attention to the more complex Qi-enhancing pill.

Thanks to the heightened perception brought about by his enhanced talent, he successfully refined a mid-grade first-tier Qi-boosting pill after only a few failures, and his success rate thereafter stabilized at around 50%.

"It's time to emerge from seclusion."

Looking at the table full of pills, Zhou Yuan felt confident.

He had already exhausted his spirit stones, and his storage bag was empty. If he didn't replenish them soon, he wouldn't even be able to afford the rent for the courtyard.

The most urgent task is to convert all of these pills into cash.

……

The next day.

Huangfeng Valley Market, a market area for independent repairmen to set up stalls.

Zhou Yuan spread out a cloth in his familiar spot and placed the jade bottles on it.

"Hey, Brother Zhou, you've finally come out! I thought you'd struck it rich and left Yellow Maple Valley!"

A cheerful greeting came from the side.

The speaker was a square-faced man named Li Yu, a rogue cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Refining. He had been setting up a stall here for many years, selling talismans he had drawn himself, and he was quite familiar with Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan cupped his hands in greeting and calmly replied, "I recently made some progress in alchemy, so I went into seclusion for a month. I hope you'll forgive my poor performance, Brother Li."

"Oh?" Li Yu became interested and leaned closer to take a look. "You've found something? Could it be that the success rate of Qi-replenishing pills has increased by another 10%?"

In his memory, Zhou Yuan was just a poor rogue cultivator with mediocre alchemy skills, only able to refine Qi-replenishing pills to make a living.

Zhou Yuan didn't say much, but simply picked up a bottle of Qi-boosting pills and handed it over.

"Brother Li, you might want to take a look at this."

Li Yu took the jade bottle with a puzzled look, uncorked it, and a medicinal fragrance several times stronger than that of the Qi-replenishing pill immediately wafted out.

He poured the pill into his palm. The pill was pale yellow, round and lustrous, and the spiritual energy it contained was far superior to that of a Qi-replenishing pill.

"This is... a Qi-boosting pill?!"

Li Yu's voice involuntarily rose a few decibels, her face full of astonishment.

He knew very well that the Qi-Boosting Pill was a mid-grade first-tier pill, and its refining difficulty was much higher than that of the Qi-Replenishing Pill. Ordinary alchemy apprentices simply could not refine it.

Zhou Yuan can actually refine Qi-boosting pills?

He examined the pills carefully, confirming their quality; they were indeed freshly made, high-quality Qi-boosting pills.

Congratulations, Brother Zhou! Congratulations, Brother Zhou!

Li Yu's attitude instantly became much more serious. He carefully put the pill back into the bottle and congratulated Zhou Yuan.

In the world of cultivation, any breakthrough in any skill is worthy of respect.

This means that the other party has a more stable means of making a living, and their future path is wider.

"Just a fluke," Zhou Yuan said with a calm smile.

Li Yu sighed for a moment, then asked, "Brother Zhou, how much do you sell these Qi-boosting pills?"

"Six low-grade spirit stones per bottle," Zhou Yuan quoted the price.

This price is 10% cheaper than in the Pill Pavilion, which is very attractive to independent cultivators.

"Give me three bottles!" Li Yu said without hesitation.

He took out eighteen low-grade spirit stones from his storage bag and handed them to Zhou Yuan.

"My good-for-nothing Daoist partner is stuck at the fifth level of Qi Refining. With this Qi-boosting pill, he should be able to break through faster."

Zhou Yuan accepted the spirit stones, a slight thought stirring within him.

Eighteen spirit stones were his income for the past month.

And this is just the beginning.

With Li Yu, a cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Refining, leading the way, other cultivators nearby, hearing the commotion, also gathered around.

Most of the independent cultivators in the market are in the late stage of Qi Refining, so Qi-boosting pills are not very effective for them.

But as Li Yu said, who doesn't have a Daoist partner or a descendant?

Cultivators in immortal cultivation families are required to purchase elixirs for their clan members year-round.

The pills displayed at Zhou Yuan's stall included not only Qi-boosting pills but also a large quantity of Qi-tonifying pills, all of which were of quite good quality and reasonably priced.

"Give me two bottles of these Qi-boosting pills!"

"Boss, how much are the Qi-replenishing pills? Give me six bottles!"

"Are there any Qi-boosting pills left? Are they all sold out?"

In just one hour, the dozen or so bottles of Qi-boosting pills that Zhou Yuan brought were all sold out.

The remaining twenty bottles of Qi-replenishing pills were also bought up by the purchasing managers of several cultivation families in the next hour.

Zhou Yuan's stall quickly became empty.