Chương 17: Chapter 18: The First Cauldron

The night passed in a silent vigil of mental exertion. When the first rays of dawn finally filtered through the crevices of the mountain, Reyn lifted a head that throbbed with a dull, rhythmic ache. He shook it slowly, a wry, helpless smile tugging at his lips. The Dao of Formations was a vast, unfathomable ocean, a discipline so profound and all-encompassing that it could never be mastered in a single night's study.

However, he had not aimed for the stars; he had merely sought a few simple veils to shield his sanctuary. After a night of painstaking deduction, he had managed to grasp the intricacies of two low-level arrays. The first was the Mirage Array. Its spiritual consumption was negligible, yet once activated, it could manifest a persistent, ethereal white mist that effectively occluded the vision of any casual interloper. The second was the Precognition Array.

True to its name, it possessed no offensive or defensive capabilities. Its sole purpose was to act as a silent sentinel, providing a timely warning the moment its perimeter was breached. It took him three full hours and no fewer than eight failed attempts before he finally managed to anchor these two formations outside the valley. As he slotted two spirit crystals into their respective nodes, a satisfied glint entered his eyes at the sight of the rising white fog. The valley was now his fortress.

Returning to his stone hut, Reyn left behind a scattering of personal effects—a calculated ruse to maintain the illusion of his residence. With that done, he slipped back into the hidden medicinal garden nestled deep within the mountain's hollow interior. Setting the Primary Compendium of Alchemy aside, Reyn mentally rehearsed the steps of the process several times. Only when he was certain that every detail was etched into his mind did he prepare to begin.

For his inaugural attempt, he chose the Spirit-Gathering Pill. It was a Grade 1, Low-tier medicinal pill suitable for those in the Qi Condensation stage, and its required ingredients were relatively straightforward.

"Ignite!" With a sharp incantation, Reyn's fingers blurred into a series of hand seals. He channeled a thread of spiritual energy into the cauldron, and instantly, a wave of scorching heat billowed forth from the vessel's belly. Following the ancient records with meticulous care, he introduced the ingredients one by one, timing each addition to the second. Before long, a faint, herbal fragrance began to waft through the air.

A surge of joy rose in Reyn's chest, but it was abruptly extinguished by a muffled, hollow thud echoing from within the cauldron. He flipped the lid open. Inside lay nothing but a heap of charred, brownish-black powder. Reyn let out a long, weary sigh. His first foray into alchemy had ended in an unequivocal, textbook failure. Steeling his resolve, he quickly purged the dross and prepared for a second attempt. First came the Green-Leaf Grass.

He waited until the leaves dissolved into a vibrant liquid before adding the Withered-Branch Flower. Finally, he introduced the Photinia Flower. This time, Reyn moved with heightened caution. The fragrance emanating from the cauldron grew increasingly potent, signaling that the pill was entering its critical stabilization phase. If he could hold out for just a few more moments, the pill would take form. Suddenly, Reyn's expression shifted. A familiar, dull thud vibrated from the cauldron.

The second attempt: Failed. Reyn's face darkened. He silently cleaned the residue and began a third trial. Failure. Failure.... Failure. Failure! After eleven consecutive disasters, Reyn sat on the ground, his spirit flagging. Perhaps, he mused bitterly, he simply possessed no talent for the alchemical arts. The path of the pill-master seemed as distant as the stars. There was only one set of ingredients left. He had considered abandoning the effort entirely, but on a whim, he tossed them into the cauldron.

Mechanically, he injected a sliver of spiritual energy and closed his eyes to meditate. At his current cultivation of the Peak 1st Level of Qi Condensation, refining Spirit-Gathering Pills had already drained more than half of his internal reserves. As he circulated the Myriad Wood Life-Transformation Art, the dense spiritual energy of the garden rushed into his meridians. Reyn sighed, shifting his focus inward to the Golden Seal that shimmered with starlight within his soul.

This seal was made of an unknown material, capable of merging directly with a cultivator's primordial spirit—a phenomenon Reyn had never even heard of in the legends. His Divine Sense hovered cautiously around the artifact, yet it detected nothing unusual. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"This seal resides within my soul; it shouldn't be harmful," he thought.

"What if I merge my Divine Sense into it? Let's see what happens." Any other cultivator would have recoiled at the thought of such recklessness. If the Divine Sense was damaged, recovery was a hundred times more difficult and agonizing than healing a physical wound. But Reyn, a newcomer to the path of immortality, lacked such inhibitions. Like water merging with milk, Reyn's Divine Sense entered the Golden Seal without the slightest resistance. Suddenly, his perception exploded.

Within a radius of fifty feet, every rustle of grass and breath of wind appeared with crystalline clarity in his mind. He could see tiny, suspended motes of light drifting lazily through the air. This must be the spiritual energy of the world, Reyn realized, a surge of excitement washing over him. Upon entering the Golden Seal, his Divine Sense had been amplified fivefold! This was yet another heaven-defying ability of the artifact. Slowly retracting his perception, Reyn's Divine Sense swept over the cauldron.

His eyes snapped open, blazing with sudden realization. Under the scrutiny of his amplified sense, he could see every minute change occurring within the furnace. To him, it was no longer a mere blending of herbs, but something far more fundamental—the flow of Medicinal Essence itself! Alchemy was a craft honed over eons, a method of combining the essences of various spirit herbs into potent pills.

Yet, even the most legendary alchemists or Great Ascension experts could not perceive the internal fluctuations of medicinal power with such raw clarity. The ability Reyn now possessed transcended the very understanding of the cultivation world. From this moment on, no pill would ever pose a challenge to him. As long as he could examine a finished product and decipher its structural composition of medicinal power, he could replicate it perfectly, regardless of the complexity. Thud!

A muffled sound came from the cauldron. Left unattended, the refinement had inevitably failed. Reyn opened his eyes, but he didn't care. His chest heaved as he took several deep breaths to steady his racing heart. With a flick of his wrist, he produced a pre-existing Spirit-Gathering Pill from his storage bag. His Divine Sense swept over it, and in an instant, the intricate blueprint of its medicinal essence was laid bare. After studying it several times, he withdrew his sense.

He moved with newfound purpose, clearing the cauldron and injecting a fresh burst of spiritual energy. He tossed all the ingredients in simultaneously. Since he could perceive the essence directly, the traditional order of ingredients no longer mattered; he could simply adjust the power as it fused. The herbs melted into liquid, swirling together. Reyn didn't dare be careless. He poured his entire focus into the cauldron, arranging the chaotic essences into the exact pattern he had seen within the finished pill.

The fragrance intensified, reaching a crescendo. Suddenly, Reyn's eyes snapped open.

"Form!" he barked. The aroma peaked in an instant. Reyn carefully lifted the lid. There, resting quietly at the bottom of the cauldron, were over a dozen perfectly round, lustrous pills. Success! A wave of pure ecstasy crashed over Reyn. He scooped the pills into his hand, comparing them to the original. They were identical in every respect. With the Golden Seal's aid, alchemy was no longer a hurdle. And with this secret medicinal garden providing an endless supply of herbs... His future path was now boundless.

Golden Core... even Nascent Soul... as long as he had enough time, nothing was out of reach. The thought made him tremble with raw excitement. It took half a day for his heart to stop racing. He sat in contemplation, staring at the Spirit-Gathering Pill in his palm.

"The refinement was successful, but my Divine Sense detected several errors in the essence structure. Is this intentional?"

"Or are these simply flaws? If I could correct them, what would happen? Could I raise the grade of the pill?" Medicinal pills were categorized into Low, Mid, and High grades, with the legendary "Peak" grade existing only in myths. In the current era, most cultivators relied on Low-grade pills. Mid-grade pills were rare, usually the result of a lucky accident. As for High or Peak grades, they were virtually unheard of.

Since the materials for Spirit-Gathering Pills were common, Reyn gathered several more sets and began again. This time, once the basic structure was established, he began the grueling task of deconstructing and rearranging the "flawed" medicinal essences. Time ticked by. Reyn's face grew pale, and beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. Thud! A muffled sound erupted from the cauldron. Reyn's eyes snapped open, his expression grim.

The mental effort required to decouple and reorganize flawed essences was several times greater than simply arranging them. He had managed to fix nearly half of them before his mental exhaustion caused a slip, destabilizing the entire batch.

"I was too impatient," Reyn muttered with a wry smile.

"With my current Divine Sense, trying to purge all the flaws in one go is overreaching." He sat cross-legged on his mat. His mental energy was spent; the experiment would have to wait until tomorrow. The next morning, Reyn awoke refreshed. After a night of meditation, his spiritual energy felt even more robust. He was on the verge of breaking through to the 2nd Level of Qi Condensation. He cleared the cauldron and began once more. When the pill reached the formation stage, he began the deconstruction.

This time, he was more measured. Once he had corrected about half of the flaws, he decisively withdrew his Divine Sense and sealed the batch. He opened the lid. The dozen or so pills inside were superior in color, scent, and luster. Mid-grade Spirit-Gathering Pills! His hypothesis was correct. If he could eventually fix all the flaws, High-grade or even Peak-grade pills would be within his grasp. Carefully, he stored the Mid-grade pills in a jade bottle and tucked it into his storage bag.

His eyes were deep with thought. With the Golden Seal, his natural cultivation speed was already formidable. Now, with this "cheat-like" alchemy method, he could use a mountain of pills to force his progression. His speed would be astronomical. In the following days, Reyn became a whirlwind of activity. He refined pills until his energy and Divine Sense were depleted, then consumed his own creations to recover and cultivate.

Under this cycle, his cultivation progressed at a staggering pace, covering a thousand miles in a single day.