Alchemy Skill (Small Success 1%)
Comprehension: 166 (Dragon-and-Phoenix Level)
In just one month, Su Mu’s alchemy skill has advanced rapidly, moving from entry-level to the minor achievement realm. Previously, it took Su Mu several months to progress from entry-level to the minor achievement realm in artifact refining art.
This is not because Su Mu is more talented in the path of alchemy, but because his comprehension has been continuously growing. When Su Mu was learning artifact refining art from three master craftsmen, his comprehension was less than fifty points, and now it is as high as one hundred sixty-six points.
The gap here can no longer be compared to the past, and Su Mu’s comprehension continues to rise. Even Su Mu himself is amazed at the thought of how far he can go in the future with such continuous improvement in comprehension.
With the breakthrough in alchemy skill, the vast qi within his body is also restless.
The threshold of two hundred points was broken through with a boom, followed by a surge, as new vast qi lights appeared around Su Mu. When the warm comprehension stream was entirely absorbed, Su Mu’s internal vast qi reached as many as two hundred thirty-eight strands.
"The small success in alchemy skill brought an increase of four points in comprehension, and the vast qi increased by forty-six strands."
Su Mu softly exhaled, a gleam flashing through his slowly opened eyes.
Just now, Su Mu once again sensed the invisible bottleneck of his comprehension, and a realization naturally surfaced in his mind.
"The threshold for the next stage of comprehension transformation is at two hundred points... I wonder what the next stage of comprehension is?"
Upon realizing this, Su Mu is quite looking forward to it. Although his dragon-and-phoenix level is astonishing, he has lingered in this comprehension stage for over two years, which is longer than at any previous stage.
Returning his thoughts, Su Mu opened the pill furnace, and his eyes brightened instantly.
Ten smooth pills were revealed, among which five were pure white and two slightly yellow, ten pills resulting in seven.
"Not bad, in a month’s time spending nearly fifteen thousand taels, the refined pill rate for Eighth Grade Bone Strengthening Pills reached seventy percent!"
Su Mu is quite satisfied with this, as in this month he has become a regular at Qiancao Hall, with daily costs for refining Bone Strengthening Pills reaching four hundred taels, producing four to five furnaces a day at such high intensity.
Although comprehension is important, perhaps sweat and effort are even more crucial. Only with both complementing each other could Su Mu make significant progress in alchemy skill within this one month.
Spending fifteen thousand taels in a month, at this rate of expenditure, Su Mu’s wealth would be depleted within just over half a year. It’s no wonder that Steward Fang Wuling from Qiancao Hall did not have high hopes for Su Mu, as only large powers have the financial capacity to nurture an excellent alchemist.
With a flash of inspiration, Su Mu displayed the bone-strengthening pills he refined this month in front of him. Excluding personal consumption, there were as many as twenty porcelain bottles, each containing ten pills.
"Two hundred pills are left, keeping the high-quality Bone Strengthening Pills for personal cultivation use, and finding opportunities to sell the low-quality ones later to purchase medicinal materials."
Soon Su Mu used his spiritual power to select five bottles of the highest quality Bone Strengthening Pills, storing the remaining fifteen bottles in the second Sumeru Ring.
Taking a deep breath, Su Mu couldn’t help but feel a bit excited.
Currently, he has five sets of ingredients for the Qi and Blood Pill in hand. He wonders whether he can refine Qi and Blood Pills with these five sets?
The Qi and Blood Pill is one grade higher than the Blood Strengthening Pill, being a Seventh Grade Pill, and requires about twice the number and complexity of ingredients and processing methods.
"Let’s begin!"
Su Mu does not carry too much psychological burden, as even if he fails completely, his current wealth can entirely bear the loss. At this moment, he intends to strike while the iron is hot and directly start refining Qi and Blood Pills.
"Century-old White Ginseng ground into powder, extract the essence; century-old Three-leaf Blood Ginseng needs to be boiled for more than two hours, then..."
The refining methods for Qi and Blood Pills flashed clearly in Su Mu’s mind, and he silently recited them in his heart.
With everything ready, Su Mu immediately began the first furnace of refining, three serpents roaring, pill fire blazing, and Su Mu focused intently, not daring to be careless, delicately inputting gang force into his palms, proceeding with the refinement according to the pill formula.
"Alas... the first attempt failed."
After several hours, Su Mu let out a soft sigh, over a thousand taels of silver were wasted, but this was within his expectations.
That night, Su Mu carefully reviewed the failure of this furnace of Qi and Blood Pills, but did not continue refining. Resting those tense nerves that had been tight the entire month was essential.
Silent throughout the long night, Su Mu slept deeply, until dusk on the following day.
After adjusting his body, mentality, and spirit to the peak, Su Mu continued refining Qi and Blood Pills.
The second furnace failed.
The third furnace still failed.
...
Soon, the last set of ingredients in hand was exhausted, over five thousand taels of silver wasted.
"The difficulty in refining Seventh Grade Pills is indeed beyond what Eighth Grade can match!"
The more challenging it was, the more motivated Su Mu felt. This little setback could not stop him, as he knew that once he overcame this hurdle, the reward would surely be greater.
The path ahead is truly like iron!
That day, Su Mu went again to Qiancao Hall, and as soon as he arrived without entering the hall, a maid dressed in a blue long skirt with three-leaf motifs on the collar and cuffs greeted him warmly and kindly.
"Mr. Cheng, you’ve arrived."
In this month, Su Mu has been generous in spending, throwing money like it’s nothing. Several days ago, the maid who received Su Mu was no longer the one from the first floor with pale green single-leaf embroidery, but a dedicated maid.
As for Steward Fang Wuling, who attended him the first time, he hasn’t appeared since, and now, everything is managed by this blue-skirted maid named Lin Xue.
"Five sets of new ingredients."