Cultivating immortality through titles, without bottlenecks.

Wei Zhong examined the alchemy furnace, his face unable to conceal his affection.

"Let's give it a try!"

Wei Zhong placed the Azure Furnace and lit the spirit charcoal at the bottom of the furnace.

However, he did not start refining pills immediately, but instead let the spiritual fire burn the furnace for several hours.

The flames should only be extinguished when the furnace body turns a bright reddish-brown.

This step is called "opening the furnace," which is a standard procedure before using a new alchemy furnace.

This is to heat the alchemy furnace until it is bright and clear, so that the alchemist can clearly see if there are any defects in the furnace body, which will facilitate the next steps of alchemy.

"The furnace body is almost perfect; Master Gu's skill in crafting alchemy furnaces is indeed superb."

Wei Zhong then took out the medicinal herbs from his storage bag.

Vitality Grass, Spirit Condensation Flower, Earth Vein Root...

Both are products that have been around for a hundred years. The materials used in the mid-grade Qi Nourishing Pill and the low-grade Qi Nourishing Pill are not much different; the main difference is in their age.

The former refers to herbs that are between one and two hundred years old, while the latter refers to herbs that are several decades old.

Older medicinal herbs have a more concentrated medicinal potency, which poses a greater challenge to alchemists in controlling the furnace fire and blending the medicinal properties.

Wei Zhong processed the medicinal herbs swiftly and efficiently. He was already extremely familiar with this step, and his movements were fluid and effortless, without damaging a single herb.

After testing the temperature inside the furnace, Wei Zhong immediately put in the medicinal herbs to begin refining the liquid.

With years of experience, Wei Zhong no longer needs to refine each medicinal herb into a liquid separately.

Instead, it allows for a certain degree of multitasking, gradually adding various medicinal materials according to the furnace temperature while simultaneously refining the liquid.

Before long, all the medicine in Wei Zhong's furnace disappeared, leaving only clumps of liquid of various colors.

"The liquid refining is complete; the next step is to condense the core!"

This step is the most difficult part of the entire alchemy process, and it is the ultimate test of an alchemist's understanding of pharmacology.

Wei Zhong proceeded cautiously, mixing the medicinal liquids in batches until they were finally combined into a semi-solid, semi-liquid, cyan-colored medicinal mass.

Wei Zhong immediately reduced the fire in the stove, switching from a strong flame to a gentle simmer.

After waiting for a quarter of an hour, Wei Zhong saw that the elixir in the furnace had taken shape, and immediately began to perform the pill-dividing incantation.

A cyan spiritual light was cast into the alchemy furnace from between Wei Zhong's fingers, and the formed medicinal ball immediately separated into two cyan spiritual pills.

"receive!"

With a pat on the alchemy furnace, two pills immediately fell into Wei Zhong's palm.

The two pills were bluish in color and round in shape, clearly not ordinary objects.

Wei Zhong examined the powder and was greatly surprised:

"Both are 80% potent, and both are of good quality?"

"Does this Azure Furnace really enhance alchemy so much?"

The low-grade black furnace that Wei Zhong had been using was not bad, but it was an ordinary alchemy furnace among the low-grade furnaces. It was fine for refining low-grade spiritual pills, but it was of no help to refining mid-grade spiritual pills. On the contrary, it would only hold Wei Zhong back.

Therefore, after the alchemy furnace was replaced, the quality of Wei Zhong's pills immediately improved.

"My alchemy skills have actually reached this level?"

Recalling the days when Yang Jingting refined elixirs, Wei Zhong was excited, as if he had caught up with the other man's pace.

"At least in the refining of mid-grade Qi-Nourishing Pills, the gap is not far off."

"Master can produce three good quality items at a time, and I will produce two."

"The difference of one elixir is not a problem in time."

After that, Wei Zhong tried again, and this time he deliberately lowered the quality of the elixir, and as a result, four substandard elixirs were produced at once.

"Not bad, not bad. My alchemy skills are enough to earn me the title of alchemy master among independent cultivators in the outside world, and I am also treated as an honored guest by Qi-refining families."

Wei Zhong stroked his short beard, feeling even more confident about the upcoming Dan meeting.

……

Time flies, and the Golden Bell Conference is about to begin.

In the past few days, Wei Zhong has been refining elixirs on his own while continuously improving his alchemy skills under the guidance of Yang Jingting.

Although the progress was not significant, it was still much better than Wei Zhong's self-study.

"If you can perform at your best, taking the top 100 in Qi Refining shouldn't be a problem."

Wei Zhong looked at the two high-quality elixirs in his hand with some astonishment:

"Only in the top 100?"

Seeing this, Yang Jingting chuckled in exasperation:

"You little brat, do you perhaps want to compete for the championship?"

Wei Zhong scratched his head:

"The leader is definitely not going to be chosen."

There are always people more capable than you, and there's always something beyond your understanding. Wei Zhong didn't believe that someone from a humble background like himself could compare to the alchemy talents that sects had poured resources into cultivating.

"But I just want to get into the top ten to make my master look good."

Hearing Wei Zhong's words, Yang Jingting slowly nodded:

"You've put your heart into it, but getting into the top ten is too difficult."

"This is the place for those great talents."

"For example, Xiao Ruolan, the 'Slender Hands Painting' of Medicine King Valley, and Shen Bitao, the 'Fairy of Herbs'; Gu Qingshang, the 'Prescription Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold' of Wanbao Chamber of Commerce; and Shi Zhongyu, the 'Earth Fire Child' of Huangfeng Sect..."

"There are more than ten young alchemists whose names I can name."

"This is because the age limit for young alchemists has been set at fifty years old for this alchemy conference."

"Otherwise, with those old monsters who have been refining pills for hundreds of years, you young people simply won't have a chance."

Wei Zhong couldn't help but glance at his master; the old monster the other man was talking about was clearly himself.

After making a silent joke, Wei Zhong pressed on with another question:

"These outstanding individuals that Master spoke of, could they all be people with titles?"

The latter shook his head:

"No, these titles are not common; they are mostly honorifics bestowed upon us by other cultivators."

"The only true holder of the title, as confirmed, is Shi Zhongyu, the 'Earth Fire Child'."

"The other party is in his thirties, but looks like a child. He has reached the seventh level of Qi Refining and is already able to refine a first-grade high-quality Fire Essence Pill. He is a strong contender for the championship of this Pill Dao Competition."

"【Earth Fire Child】?"

Wei Zhong lowered his head in thought, pondering the effect of this [title]:

"The title does not contain the character 'Dan' (丹), so it is not a purely alchemy title."

"It's highly likely that his main ability lies in the word 'earth fire.' Cultivators need spiritual fire to refine pills, and this person's flames for refining pills are stronger than the spiritual wood fire used by ordinary cultivators. So, does he have an advantage in pill refining?"

While Wei Zhong was pondering, Yang Jingting added:

"This jade stone is no match for you on this trip."

"This time, Zhong'er, what you need to do is defeat those peers who can only refine mid-grade spirit pills."

"Let's trample them under our feet and make our Qingya Sect's name shine."

Wei Zhong bowed:

"Master, rest assured, I will definitely do it!"

Stepping outside, I found the city bustling with activity, the streets teeming with people.

Wei Zhong and the others followed the flow of people, gradually venturing deeper into the Immortal City of Spirit Medicine.

They gathered in the central square, where they saw a towering, sky-reaching wall.

The cultivator disappeared into the giant wall.

"What a huge teleportation array!" Even Lin Qingyuan couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

Yang Jingting explained with a smile:

"Each alchemy gathering is held in Medicine King Valley. This array serves both as a teleportation device and a screening tool."

As they were speaking, one person was thrown off the giant wall, and immediately disciples of Medicine King Valley stepped forward and captured him.

"Ignore them, let's go!"

The three stepped inside, their figures merging into the giant wall.

In one corner of the formation, Shen Xiaolou rubbed his hands together, a fleeting hint of fear flashing in his eyes as he looked at the captured cultivator in the distance.

He turned around and glanced at the person behind him. The other person nodded, and only then did he grit his teeth and take a step forward.

The bell around his waist swayed, and his figure merged into the wall and disappeared.