Mortal Alchemy

"Actually, it's calculated based on ability. One month requires submitting thirty furnaces of pills, which is three hundred pills, and I get a salary of two spirit stones.

If you can submit forty furnaces of pills, you can get a salary of three spirit stones."

"At the end of each month, there are two days of vacation."

Chen Ping's eyes lit up slightly: "Two spirit stones and medicinal pills, this welfare is not bad."

When he first entered the Mu family, he was given three spirit stones, which Chen Ping cultivated with for five years.

A monthly reward of two spirit stones, plus being able to take medicinal pills, is definitely the icing on the cake for Chen Ping's cultivation.

Xu Fengshan said with a wry smile: "Junior Brother Chen, you only see the good side."

"Do you know that it takes four hours to refine one furnace of pills? The Pill Hall assigns you the task of refining Qi Condensation Pills, but you need to buy the materials for Qi Recovery Pills and Fasting Pills yourself."

"If you don't take Qi Recovery Pills and Fasting Pills, your body simply can't handle it."

"The most crucial thing is that you can't guarantee success every time you refine pills."

"I've been refining pills for over thirty years, and I can't guarantee success every time. Once a furnace of pills fails, it not only depletes all your spiritual power but also wastes four hours of your time."

"And there are only twelve hours in a day..."

Under normal circumstances, once spiritual power and spiritual sense are exhausted, one should close their eyes, sit cross-legged, and cultivate to recover.

But if pill refining fails, and the Pill Hall's task requirements are still there, then you can only squeeze yourself and force yourself to refine pills.

This is equivalent to bloodletting, shortening your lifespan!

Chen Ping was immediately alarmed: "This exploitation is too much, isn't it?"

And he has to refine Qi Recovery Pills and Fasting Pills himself to ensure the state for refining Qi Condensation Pills.

Even an iron man couldn't withstand such exploitation.

No wonder the people in the Pill Hall looked at him with that kind of gaze yesterday, and each of them had a serious deficiency of energy and spirit. So that was the problem.

Working in the Pill Hall, let alone improving your cultivation, it's good enough to preserve your life and die a natural death.

A pit of despair!

Xu Fengshan smiled sarcastically:

"If we didn't exploit and oppress like this, where would the Mu family get its profits? To the Mu family, we labor disciples are not even considered cattle or horses, but merely consumable materials for refining pills."

"Junior Brother Chen, do you think the Mu family cares about the feelings of us pill refining consumables?"

Chen Ping fell into silence.

Xu Fengshan said:

"Junior Brother Chen, I am forty-seven years old this year and have been in the Pill Hall for thirty-three years. My cultivation is only at the eleventh level of Qi Refining."

"This is because I have a good talent for refining pills, rarely make mistakes, cultivate diligently, submit enough pills every month in advance, and use the remaining time to swallow pills and cultivate..."

"But I still need to refine pills for another twenty-seven years to repay the Mu family's favor and regain my freedom..."

"Foundation Establishment is just a pipe dream."

Chen Ping felt heavy-hearted. The people who entered the Pill Hall were too miserable.

With the Qi Refining Stage 15 cultivation method, the final Foundation Establishment time is thirty years old.

With the Qi Refining Stage 18, the final Foundation Establishment time is forty years old.

And having to spend a lot of energy refining pills every day, it is already extremely difficult for Xu Fengshan to improve his cultivation.

But even so, Xu Fengshan has no hope of Foundation Establishment in this lifetime.

Xu Fengshan said with a wry smile: "The path of cultivating immortality is just a fleeting dream for me. I was only eight or nine years old when I first entered the Mu family, and now, in the blink of an eye, I am forty-seven. Fortunately, my old mother arranged a marriage for me, and I can still go back to see my children and grandchildren during the monthly vacation."

"Now I don't even think about Foundation Establishment anymore. I just want to get my grandson into the Mu family in a few years. I'm saving up more resources for him now so that my grandson can go further than me."

Chen Ping didn't speak, only felt a sense of oppression and suffocation, and even his breathing was difficult.

Most ordinary cultivators are probably like Xu Fengshan.

For the sake of the immortal path, they voluntarily send their children into the Mu family, only seeking a chance for Foundation Establishment.

Until they themselves have no chance for Foundation Establishment, they save resources for their children and grandchildren.

Repeating this cycle, many small families work like cattle and horses for the Mu family for generations.

Knowing that they are being exploited as consumables, they still send them in, just for the dream of Foundation Establishment.

If they achieve Foundation Establishment one day, they can leave the Mu family and enter the Eastern Xuan Sect.

As for sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, there is even less to imagine. Their bloodline descendants will be the Mu family's cattle and horses for generations. Therefore, the treatment of direct and collateral descendants is vastly different.

Alas...

Chen Ping stopped thinking about this heavy matter and said, "Senior Brother Xu, if I learn to refine pills, will I have to submit thirty furnaces of pills every month?"

"That's right." Xu Fengshan nodded and said:

"However, you are currently at the fifth level of Qi Refining. It is very difficult to stably submit thirty furnaces of pills every month. You have to work hard."

"At the fifth level of Qi Refining, your daily energy is only enough for four hours at most, enough for you to refine one furnace of pills."

"Alright, Junior Brother Chen, I'll continue to teach you how to refine pills. You have to be careful if you want to succeed."

Xu Fengshan taught very carefully and was extremely kind to Chen Ping, fearing that Chen Ping wouldn't understand something.

This was also considered building a good relationship for his children and grandchildren, which might be useful someday.

This is also the way of the world.

Chen Ping studied while pondering: A month of two spirit stones is almost entirely used to buy materials for Qi Recovery Pills and Fasting Pills. With his Five Elements Mixed Spiritual Root cultivation speed, it is a fool's dream to cultivate to the eighteenth level of Qi Refining before the age of forty.

But he discovered a shortcut to monetization: the materials for Qi Condensation Pills, Qi Recovery Pills, and Fasting Pills can be broken down and combined into a new type of pill.

It is recorded in the pill refining inheritance: Spiritual Sense Pill!

One Spiritual Sense Pill is priced at ten spirit stones and is deeply loved by late-stage Qi Refining cultivators who are trying to break through to Qi Refining Completion, and even those trying to break through to Foundation Establishment.

One furnace of Spiritual Sense Pills is worth one hundred spirit stones. If he uses the materials of Qi Condensation Pills, Qi Recovery Pills, and Fasting Pills to refine Spiritual Sense Pills.

And then sell them...

Chen Ping quietly became excited.

You must know that knowledge in the Eastern Region cultivation world is strictly confidential. The Mu family has not even mastered this formula, and probably doesn't even know the formula for Spiritual Sense Pills.

Otherwise, they wouldn't let the Pill Hall disciples refine Qi Recovery Pills and Fasting Pills.

Information asymmetry monopoly is a huge profit!

Afterward, Chen Ping continued to learn pill refining from Xu Fengshan, mainly learning the control of spiritual fire and the pill furnace.

Ten days later, Xu Fengshan said:

"Junior Brother Chen, I've taught you everything I should have taught you for so long. Next, it's up to you to practice on your own."

"You have more than five months to study. Remember, you must successfully refine pills."

"Otherwise, there will be severe punishments, which you cannot afford."

Chen Ping nodded: "Understood."

Chen Ping's heart was also heavy. Pill refining is difficult, not that simple.

He already knew the difficulty even before he started, and he didn't know if he could successfully refine pills.

"Come, I'll take you to your pill refining room and take a tour of the warehouse."

Xu Fengshan led Chen Ping away from his pill refining hall with a pale and weak face, and came to a brand new and clean pill refining room.

"Pill refiners need to keep their pill refining secret, so each person's pill refining room has restrictions. You can arrange the inside as you like. Only you can enter here. This is your identity token. Remember to keep it safe."

Chen Ping looked at his own pill refining room and a hint of joy appeared in his eyes:

"Thank you for the reminder, Senior Brother."

Then Xu Fengshan took Chen Ping to the warehouse where the medicinal materials were stored. Behind the counter was a middle-aged beautiful woman.

Xu Fengshan introduced: "Junior Brother Chen, this is Madam Hua Die. She is a member of the Mu family."

Such important work as managing the warehouse can only be entrusted to people of the Mu family's bloodline.

Chen Ping cupped his hands and said, "Poor Daoist Chen Ping greets Madam Hua Die."

The middle-aged beautiful woman giggled and said:

"You are the new junior brother who came to the Pill Hall, don't call me Madam like Senior Brother Xu, just call me Sister Hua Die."

"I was the last person to enter the Pill Hall to work, and twenty years have passed in a flash."

Chen Ping was stunned. Someone had said before that there hadn't been a new person in the Pill Hall for twenty years, and the beautiful woman in front of him was the last one.

Looking at her appearance, wouldn't she have been guarding the warehouse here when she was twelve or thirteen years old?

Even members of the Mu family are ruthlessly exploited.

Chen Ping cupped his hands and said, "Yes, then Junior Brother will call you Senior Sister Hua Die from now on."

Xu Fengshan said:

"Junior Sister Hua Die, give Junior Brother Chen one hundred portions each of Qi Condensation Pills, Fasting Pills, and Qi Recovery Pills materials."

"Junior Brother Chen, before you officially start working, these are the free resources provided to you by the Pill Hall."

"And after you officially start working, for the materials for forty Qi Condensation Pills, you must successfully produce thirty furnaces of pills. If you exceed that, you will have to pay for the medicinal materials yourself, understand?"

"Understood." Chen Ping nodded.

He felt a heavy pressure.

Chen Ping didn't know if he could learn pill refining within half a year, so he was under great pressure, and the materials he had to practice with were also very limited.

Although there was a path to wealth, he had to learn pill refining first, and honestly submit the tasks for a while, and wait until he was completely integrated into the Pill Hall and became a nobody before making plans.

Chen Ping took a storage bag of materials and returned to his pill refining room.

He took the materials and sacrificed them to the Bloodline Bead to see what refining method the Bloodline Bead gave.

Chen Ping placed the thirty-two medicinal materials of the Qi Condensation Pill one by one on the stone wall.

When the medicinal materials were complete, the pattern of the Qi Condensation Pill flashed with a faint light, and several lines of words appeared:

[Soak the medicinal materials in spiritual water for half a day, take out the medicinal materials and put them into the pill furnace.]

[Boil and melt, and the pill will form naturally.]

Chen Ping wrote down this sentence.

Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten miles.

Chen Ping immediately took action, exited the spiritual sense space, and soaked a portion of the medicinal materials in spiritual water.

This was completely different from the pill refining method Xu Fengshan taught him.

Half a day later, he put the medicinal materials into the pill furnace one by one. Chen Ping held the pill furnace token and controlled the spiritual fire to rise.

The huge pill furnace was immediately wrapped in spiritual fire, and the entire room was filled with heat.

Holding the pill furnace token in his hand, injecting his spiritual sense into it, he could see the situation inside the pill furnace.

Chen Ping observed the changes in the medicinal materials, and saw that the medicinal materials in the furnace were slowly melting, turning into pill liquid, and flowing into the pill pit.

"Buzz!"

A burst of air erupted from the pill furnace, and the medicinal materials in the pill furnace suddenly turned into charred powder.

Chen Ping was startled and quickly turned off the spiritual fire and the pill furnace.

Opening the pill furnace, preparing to take out the waste pill materials, Chen Ping smelled a strong pungent smell, which was uncomfortable. In the long run, he might be infected with drug toxins.

Every medicine has three parts poison.

Chen Ping's face was slightly pale: "I refined this furnace of pills for an hour, and it's still three hours away from forming the pill..."

In one hour, his spiritual power and spiritual sense at the fifth level of Qi Refining were somewhat unsustainable.

Chen Ping was currently penniless and had no pills, so he could only sit down and meditate to recover.

At the same time, he thought about the reasons for the failure.

"Where did the problem occur?"

Although Xu Fengshan taught him a lot of experience and things to pay attention to, the control and output of spiritual power were completely different.

After resting, Chen Ping took out another portion of medicinal materials and gritted his teeth, thinking: "The things left by the ancestors must be good."

He still followed the refining method in the spiritual sense space.

"Bang—"

An explosion sounded again in the pill furnace.

The medicinal materials inside turned into exhausted powder again.

Chen Ping discovered the problem. Pill refining seemed simple after having the pill formula and the master's teaching, but it was actually very difficult to operate.

Once the pill furnace was ignited, one had to pay attention to the heat and size of the spiritual fire through the changes in the medicinal materials.

If one was not careful, the fusion of the medicinal materials would fail and explode.

"Controlling the spiritual fire..." Chen Ping went in this direction to study.

Half a month later.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Chen Ping failed more than a dozen times in a row. With his current strength at the fifth level of Qi Refining, his spiritual power and spiritual sense could only support him to refine one furnace a day at most. If he exceeded one furnace, he would not be able to recover and would damage his foundation.

He thought silently and accumulated a lot of experience.

"Each time it fails, the color of the powder and pill slurry is different, which is related to the heat and the difference in medicinal materials."

"And soaking in spiritual water is to eliminate the differences in medicinal materials."

"The problem is still with the heat. Is the temperature in the furnace too high? Did I start with too high a temperature?"

"Starting by letting the spiritual fire boil to the maximum was influenced by Xu Fengshan."

When Xu Fengshan refined pills, he started by turning the spiritual fire to the maximum and pouring the medicinal materials and spiritual water into the pill furnace together.

He thought, the Bloodline Pill Dao inheritance provided the pill formula and the means to process the medicinal materials, but the pill furnace and pill fire were different everywhere, which was an uncertain factor.

"Pill fire..."

Chen Ping began to carefully control the pill fire, starting with the smallest pill fire when opening the furnace, and slowly increasing it.