First achieve immortality, then cultivate immortality.

After becoming rich overnight, Xu Mu not only bought the Youth Preservation Pill, but also a formula for a pill called "Rejuvenation Pill".

The effect of the Second-Stage Rejuvenation Pill is to restore the body's injuries.

However, the most crucial point is that it is one of the easiest types of second-stage pills to refine, and its effects are also very useful, so it is used by many alchemists as a practice pill.

The material cost is also relatively low, requiring only two second-grade spiritual herbs and other first-grade spiritual herbs as auxiliary ingredients to refine it.

So he spent 100 coins to buy the recipe for the Rejuvenation Pill.

Pill recipes are much cheaper than cultivation techniques. Even second-grade pills are cheaper than cultivation techniques like swordplay or escape techniques.

Then, based on the ingredients in the prescription, he bought the corresponding seeds.

After a round of purchases, the thousand coins were quickly depleted, leaving no money left to buy spirit stones.

But whatever, in his next "five-year plan," he will focus on improving his alchemy skills and will not be in a hurry to cultivate.

At the same time, we should start researching level three spirit fertilizers. Ideally, we should be able to research a spirit fertilizer that can shorten the growth cycle, which would be a huge success.

"Composting Technique" is the foundation of his current cultivation in the mortal realm, so he needs to improve it as his alchemy skills advance in order to benefit his farming.

In the end, he only had 23 talisman coins left, which he saved for his next trip into the city.

……

When leaving Wulei City, they inevitably attracted attention, and quite a few people did so.

Xu Mu fled immediately, giving them no chance to surround and intercept him.

These guys have been eyeing him for a long time because they saw how much money he made.

However, with his Thousand-Mile Cloud Soaring Formation, almost no rogue cultivators could catch up with him, so he quickly left them behind.

Even if someone could catch up with him, they might not be able to defeat him.

With his current strength, he is hard to beat within the Qi Refining stage, so the threat from these rogue cultivators is basically nothing to fear.

In this way, the trading channel in Five Thunder City was stabilized.

The current situation has realized his original idea—farming, buying and selling, acquiring resources for cultivation, forming a cycle.

After going around in circles, from Nanlian Valley to Qinghua Mountain, and then from Qinghua Mountain to Wulei City, they finally managed to establish a trading place.

All that's left is to focus on stable development.

……

When he returned home, it had been less than two and a half months since he left.

The two sisters were pleasantly surprised, not expecting him to return so quickly this time.

Xu Mu smiled and announced, "As long as nothing unexpected happens, I'll be able to come back this early every time I go out, which will give me more time to spend with you all."

"That's great!" the two sisters cheered immediately.

Although they didn't say it, as they got older, they were all counting down the days, wondering how much longer they could stay with Xu Mu.

Every time Xu Mu went out, they felt as if the distance between them was widening, as if they were about to be separated forever.

Xu Mu hadn't discussed this topic with them, but that day would eventually come.

Perhaps that's why they cherish every day they spend together, and even after living together for 17 years, their feelings for each other remain unchanged.

Live each day as if it were your last.

For the rest of the time, Xu Mu continued to stay in the valley, farming and refining pills.

He has been studying the second stage of alchemy for more than ten years and can directly comprehend the essence of alchemy within the ancient divine cauldron.

Even so, he couldn't guarantee that he could actually refine a second-grade pill.

The process between learning and doing involves practice, applying what you've learned.

So a year later, when the materials for the Rejuvenation Pill were ready, he began his first experiment.

As he unleashed the Dark Flame into the alchemy furnace, the medicinal herbs rapidly transformed within the flames.

The first alchemy technique he learned was the "Zhou Tian Qu Xing Shu," which uses the power of starlight to refine pills.

After learning the "Samadhi True Fire Technique," he began to use flames to refine pills, since the "Zhou Tian Tempering Star Technique" could only be used at night, which was not very convenient.

The Samadhi True Fire Technique, as a top-level alchemy method from ancient times, is almost unrestricted; as long as one is prepared, one can refine elixirs.

Alchemy requires the right timing, location, and human factors, as well as the balance of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements.

With the "Samadhi True Fire Manual" in hand, there's no need to worry about "human factors." As long as the timing and location are right, and the yin-yang and five elements of the alchemy materials are properly matched, then it all comes down to the "alchemy essence."

As each medicinal herb is added to the alchemy furnace, it undergoes mysterious changes within the flames, attracting and merging with each other, subtly conforming to certain rules.

At the last moment, with a loud bang, the flames suddenly went out of control, and the entire batch of pills was destroyed.

"It failed..."

Xu Mu sighed helplessly.

But it doesn't matter, I never expected to succeed on my first attempt at refining a second-grade pill anyway.

After calming himself down, he summarized his lessons learned and then recycled materials. Those that couldn't be recycled were simply disposed of as waste.

These waste residues can be buried in the medicinal herb fields as fertilizer.

That's exactly what the Qinglan Sect did in Yulongtian.

Therefore, the waste materials produced by novice alchemists can also be sold for money, but compared to the cost of spiritual medicine, it is too wasteful and too extravagant.

Even the sect itself would never deliberately waste materials for such fertilizer, so this luxurious fertilizer is only supplied to Jade Dragon Fields, and ordinary spiritual fields are not qualified to use it.

Xu Mu was heartbroken when he ruined a batch of pills, as each batch cost him one or two hundred talismans.

He can only grow enough materials for two Rejuvenation Pills a year. One set of materials can be used to refine about five pills. In other words, he only has ten opportunities a year to practice the Second Stage Alchemy Technique.

Ten chances may seem like a lot, but can ten bullets make you a sharpshooter?

Each practice session is extremely expensive, and the difficulty is several times higher in terms of economics compared to the first stage of alchemy.

After cleaning up the waste, Xu Mu took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and started over.

In the end, it was another thud—failure.

All ten batches of elixirs failed.

"...It's okay, we'll come again next year." Xu Mu gritted his teeth and endured the heartache.

Although more than a thousand talismans had already been burned, this outcome was expected.

He's not exactly a genius, so failure is perfectly normal for him.

We'll just have to wait until next year for that.

So they tried again the following year, and finally succeeded once, after nine failures.

In the third year, there were two successes and eight failures.

In the fourth year, there were two successes and eight failures.

A total of 40 attempts were made, with 5 successful attempts, resulting in a success rate of 12.5%!

"Damn! No wonder there are so many first-stage alchemists, but second-stage alchemists are as rare as Foundation Establishment cultivators, and the vast majority of them are Foundation Establishment cultivators. It's actually this difficult!"

Xu Mu considered himself a very patient person who could withstand failure, but at this moment he was still extremely heartbroken.

All five or six thousand talisman coins were turned into fertilizer.

This made him a little sullen.

In his final year, he could no longer grow Rejuvenation Pills; instead, he had to grow Spirit Gathering Fruits to sell in Five Thunder City.

The two sisters bought the anti-aging pills in advance and took them when the time came. The effects of the pills can last for another year and nine months, so they still have a year to grow the Spirit Gathering Fruit.

Seeing his distress, Li Zhiyuan said softly, "If you are troubled, young master, let me play the zither for you to ease your worries."

"How about we look at your legs?" Li Zhihua said with a smile.

Li Zhiyuan immediately put her hands on her hips in dissatisfaction: "Can't you have some taste? All you do is talk about breasts and legs all day long, aren't you tired of it?"

Li Zhihua stuck out her tongue: "You show it off every day too."

"You're asking for it!" Li Zhiyuan was immediately embarrassed and angry and chased after him to hit him.

She was, after all, a lady from a respectable family, and her refined manners were ingrained in her bones, making her unlike her younger sister who was so unrestrained.

The younger sister, on the other hand, has a personality that makes her less inclined to pursue refined pursuits.

Xu Mu was amused by the two of them and smiled, saying, "With you two by my side, if I were still bored, I would be too unromantic."

Okay, let's not think about that anymore. Let's go have afternoon tea and listen to Zhiyuan play a piece.

"Okay." Li Zhiyuan nodded with a gentle smile.

What she was most proud of was not her breasts and legs, but her piano skills. Just one instance of receiving appreciation and praise from Xu Mu could make her happy for days.

"I'll accompany my sister on the music."

Li Zhihua raised her hand and grinned.

Although she is more playful, she is not unlearned.

Even in the valley, her sister dragged her along to learn music, chess, calligraphy, painting, and even study Taoist scriptures.

Xu Mu has always had his own things to do, so naturally they should also find something to do. They can't just think about those things between men and women every day; that would be too empty.

As a person grows older and their mind matures, they will eventually return to the grand question of "the meaning of life." At this time, it is appropriate to do things that cultivate one's character and are more meaningful.

Then, the melodious sound of the zither rose and echoed through the valley, soothing the vexation in Xu Mu's heart.