Cultivating Immortality Through a Hundred Lifetimes in Both Realms

It takes at least one to three months to refine a batch of second-tier pills.

Jiang Yun has a natural talent for alchemy, which can shorten the time by at least 30%.

Even so, refining a batch of second-tier pills still takes a long time and is extremely mentally taxing.

Jiang Yun devoted himself wholeheartedly to the task and began refining the Yin Yang Cloud Rain Pill, a mid-grade second-tier pill, for the first time.

As one medicinal herb after another was added to the alchemy furnace for purification, time slowly passed.

Two months later, the alchemy furnace trembled, and then there was no further movement.

"After two months of hard work, the refining still failed."

"But thankfully, it didn't explode."

Jiang Yun had anticipated the failure to refine the second-tier pill.

After all, this was the first time refining it.

He had even prepared the fryer.

This time it didn't explode, so I'm quite satisfied.

After failing to refine the first batch of second-tier pills, Jiang Yun did not attempt to refine a second batch.

He then spent three days refining a batch of second-grade low-level Fire Essence Pills.

After refining the Fire Essence Pill, he returned to Zhou Zongting's residence to live.

Now, Zhou Zongxiao, Zhou Zongyao, and Zhou Zongting are nearing the end of their lives.

Jiang Yun planned to refine pills once every three months for the next few years.

The first two months were spent refining elixirs, and the second month was spent with family while summarizing the lessons learned from the elixir-making process.

And so on and on.

Two years later, his third uncle, Zhou Zongxiao, passed away at the age of 113.

The Zhou family held a simple funeral for him.

When someone in a cultivation family dies, everything seems so ordinary, and most people feel neither joy nor sorrow.

Only the closest relatives feel grief.

However, this sadness didn't last long, because everyone was busy with their own things: cultivating, earning contribution points, and surviving in Maple Leaf City.

For the past two years, Jiang Yun has been starting the furnace every three months.

Alchemy can only be performed four times a year, and even if medicinal herbs are wasted, only four portions will be wasted.

In two years, he has wasted eight portions of medicinal herbs.

"In the past two years, we have failed eight times and wasted eight portions of medicinal materials. We have not succeeded in refining it even once."

Jiang Yun couldn't help but shake his head.

The difficulty of refining a second-grade high-quality pill far exceeded his imagination.

However, he was not in a hurry as there were still ninety-two portions of medicinal herbs left.

Another year has passed.

Jiang Yun's fourth uncle, Zhou Zongyao, passed away at the age of 112.

A year later, white silk was once again hung at the Zhou family mansion.

On the same day, the same scene could be seen everywhere in the forty-nine wards of Maple Leaf City.

As monks continued to die peacefully of old age or from violent deaths, their families would hold simple funerals for them.

Then, as time goes by, the dead gradually fade from memory, and that person ceases to exist in the world.

Time flies, and three years later...

Jiang Yun's mother in this life, Zhou Zongting, passed away at the age of 114.

In the last three months of her life, when she was about to pass away, Jiang Yun did not refine any elixirs, but stayed with her until the end.

After Zhou Zongting's death, her funeral was quite elaborate.

After all, a mother's son is noble, and Jiang Yun is, after all, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator and the eldest elder of the Zhou family.

However, although the funeral was a bit elaborate, it was still a very ordinary event.

Just like in the world of cultivation, everyone is used to life and death.

After Zhou Zongting's death, Jiang Yun spent his days refining pills in the alchemy room, striving to become a second-tier high-grade alchemist.

The original schedule of firing the furnace once every three months will continue.

He spent the first two months refining elixirs, and the last month he returned to his cave to meditate and cultivate.

This cycle repeated itself day after day for decades.

……

Spring goes and autumn comes; time flows like water.

Twenty-five years have passed since Jiang Yun received one hundred portions of medicinal herbs from the clan chief.

Twenty-five years have passed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, Jiang Yun opened the furnace four times a year, wasting four portions of medicinal herbs annually.

Now, twenty-five years later, all one hundred portions of medicinal herbs have been used up.

On this day, the alchemy room where Jiang Yun was located was filled with the fragrance of elixirs.

"receive!"

At the last moment, he performed a dantian-gathering incantation.

A perfectly round pill flew out of the furnace and landed precisely in the jade bottle.

Jiang Yun glanced at the jade bottle and smiled knowingly.

"One hundred portions of medicinal herbs were just right. After twenty-five years of dedicated work, I have finally become a second-tier superior-grade alchemist!"

It took Jiang Yun a total of twenty-five years to break through to the second-tier superior alchemist level.

It took even less time than when I last tried to become a mid-grade second-tier alchemist.

"It took me thirty years to break through to become a mid-grade second-level alchemist last time."

"But in fact, I spent the first twenty years studying the Myriad Spirits Pill Manual, and the last ten years I mastered the Myriad Spirits Pill Manual before I began to try to become a second-level mid-grade alchemist."

"In reality, it only takes about seven or eight years to break through to the second-tier mid-grade alchemist level."

"It took a full twenty-five years to break through to the second-tier high-grade alchemist, which shows how difficult it is to become a second-tier high-grade alchemist."

Jiang Yun couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

He has the natural talent of a Dan meridian, and it will still take him twenty-five years to break through to become a second-tier high-grade Dan master.

It would take an ordinary cultivator at least forty years to break through to the second-tier high-grade alchemist level.

"No matter what, I've finally advanced to a second-tier high-grade alchemist."

"In these twenty-five years, the furnace was opened forty times in the first ten years, and only two were successfully refined; in the next twelve and a half years, the furnace was opened fifty times, and seven were successfully refined."

"In the last two and a half years, there were exactly ten portions of medicinal herbs left, and we successfully refined them seven times."

For the past twenty-five years, Jiang Yun has consistently maintained the practice of refining elixirs once every three months, or four times a year.

In the last two and a half years, exactly ten portions of medicinal herbs remained.

If ten portions of medicinal herbs are successfully refined seven times, the success rate is exactly 70%.

"The final alchemy session lasted two and a half years, and I finally became a second-tier high-grade alchemist."

Jiang Yun smiled and put away the jade bottle containing the second-tier pills.

He opened his storage bag and began to count all the pills.

Over the past twenty-five years, one hundred medicinal herbs have been successfully refined a total of sixteen times, with seven of those successes occurring in the last two and a half years.

The alchemy was successful sixteen times, with one pill produced per batch in the first nine attempts.

In the last seven batches, two pills were produced per batch, reaching the qualified level of an alchemist.

In other words, Jiang Yun has twenty-three second-grade high-quality pills.

"Nine Yin-Yang Cloud and Rain Pills, eight Myriad Spirit Pills, and six Mind-Clearing and Enlightenment Pills, for a total of twenty-three pills."

"Based on the prices of Yin-Yang Cloud and Rain Pill (8000 yuan each), Wanling Pill (9000 yuan each), and Qingxin Mingwu Pill (11000 yuan each), the total price of the twenty-three pills is 21 yuan."

"21 yuan worth of stones is far from enough to break even."

This attempt to become a second-tier superior alchemist involved investing one hundred portions of medicinal herbs, totaling seven hundred and forty thousand shi (a unit of weight).

This time, twenty-three pills were successfully made, worth 21 yuan, but the investment was not recouped in one go.

"The cost of becoming a second-tier high-grade alchemist is already enormous."

"Whether I break even or not, at least I have now successfully advanced to a second-tier high-grade alchemist."

"The success rate of refining each of the three pill formulas is 70%, so there shouldn't be any problem passing the Zixiao Sect's Pill Hall assessment."

Now, Jiang Yun has successfully advanced to the second-tier superior alchemist.

He had already made plans for what to do next.

That is to join the Zixiao Sect's Pill Hall, cultivate on a third-tier spiritual vein, and raise one's cultivation level to the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment.

At the same time, he planned to form the Golden Core and develop the Golden Core Daoist techniques for this world.