While Xiao Fei entrusted Huang Feifei with the task of finding spiritual herbs, he himself focused all his efforts on refining second-tier pills.
Generally, only Foundation Establishment cultivators would become second-tier alchemists and delve into second-tier pills.
For Qi Refining cultivators to refine second-tier pills and become second-tier alchemists required overcoming numerous difficulties.
For some young and promising cultivators, expending such great effort to study second-tier pills was less worthwhile than finding a way to advance to Foundation Establishment, after which refining second-tier pills would be much easier.
However, ultimately, only a minority could successfully break through to Foundation Establishment.
Some cultivators, with no hope of advancement, would attempt to break through to become second-tier alchemists to earn more resources.
A significant advantage of becoming a sect disciple was that as long as one possessed sufficient contribution points, any book in the Scripture Repository could be accessed.
After the grand competition, Xiao Fei still had over thirty thousand contribution points left. He exchanged them all for books in the Scripture Repository, amassing a staggering five hundred volumes, all related to alchemy.
These five hundred books covered an extremely wide range of content. Apart from a few pill recipes, the rest were foundational knowledge in alchemy.
From basic identification of spiritual herbs, their properties, and pharmacology, to herb processing, alchemical flames and heat control, furnace research, and detailed theoretical studies of each step in the refining process.
This was all foundational knowledge for alchemy. The refinement of any pill, regardless of its grade, was built upon these foundations, akin to the foundation of a skyscraper.
Yet, the vast majority of alchemists failed to grasp these fundamentals, merely imitating others based on pill recipes.
Everyone knew that fundamental theory was important, but human time and energy were limited. Any choice made incurred a corresponding opportunity cost.
Learning these fundamentals required significant time and effort, inevitably impacting cultivation. In the end, one might exhaust their lifespan without achieving anything.
Therefore, rather than painstakingly learning the basics, it was more practical to imitate others based on recipes they had created.
Now, besides essential cultivation, Xiao Fei spent at least four hours in the Mortal Space every day.
These four hours were expanded by the space to fifty-six hours, equivalent to four to five days, all dedicated to studying and researching alchemy.
He did not possess exceptionally outstanding alchemical talent, nor did he have a master personally guiding him. However, he could dedicate more time and exert several times more effort and sweat than others.
Xiao Fei’s spiritual consciousness would become exhausted daily. Spiritual fatigue was more arduous than physical exhaustion.
Under this extreme fatigue, others would find it unbearable, but Xiao Fei reveled in it.
This was because his alchemical skills were rapidly improving, with progress made every day.
The sense of accomplishment from making small progress daily through his own efforts was incredibly satisfying.
Now, when refining first-tier pills, producing mid-grade pills was commonplace. At least half of each batch would be mid-grade pills, and producing one or two high-grade pills was not unusual.
Furthermore, he had completely mastered the methods for first-tier pills, no longer being bound by the recipes, reaching a state of effortless mastery.
This meant that having a pill recipe was no longer essential. He could casually select several spiritual herbs, and through proper proportioning, create a new pill recipe.
This was the effect of mastering the fundamental pharmacology and properties of spiritual herbs, allowing him to act with complete freedom.
Even second-tier alchemists could not achieve this state.
Today, Xiao Fei had made all the necessary preparations and intended to begin refining second-tier pills.
The materials for the five special Foundation Establishment Pills were not yet all gathered, but he could practice with other second-tier pill recipes beforehand.
The biggest obstacle for Qi Refining cultivators in refining second-tier pills was insufficient spiritual consciousness and spiritual power, making it difficult to maintain stable spiritual energy and fire control during the refining process, thus leading to failed refinements.
Xiao Fei had advantages in both these aspects.
His body-refining technique had reached great accomplishment, doubling the size of all his meridians, naturally allowing him to contain more spiritual power.
Recently, by consuming one high-grade pill daily, he had finally broken through to the twelfth level of Qi Refining a few days ago.
His current level of spiritual power far surpassed that of cultivators at the same stage.
As for spiritual consciousness, he had an even greater advantage. His spiritual consciousness was exhausted daily in the Mortal Space; every effort yielded a return, bringing immense benefits.
Xiao Fei vaguely felt that his spiritual consciousness level was comparable to that of newly advanced Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Xiao Fei sat before the alchemical furnace, closed his eyes, and meditated for a while, mentally reviewing the entire process. Only then did he begin to ignite the fire and warm the furnace.
As all the spiritual herbs were投入 into the furnace, the spiritual energy within began to fluctuate violently, colliding with each other…
Xiao Fei could only increase his output of spiritual consciousness and spiritual power to stabilize everything.
Gradually, large beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead.
Suddenly, there was a “bang” from within the furnace, and a powerful blast of air blew the furnace lid off.
The first batch of second-tier pills had ultimately failed.
Xiao Fei had anticipated this and was not discouraged. He cleaned up the residue in the furnace and continued to refine the next batch.
The cost of refining this batch of second-tier pills was over a hundred spirit stones. Without a certain financial foundation, one truly could not afford many failures.
A month later, Xiao Fei held two pills in his hand, a look of joy on his face.
After countless failures, he had finally succeeded in refining his first batch of second-tier pills.
He was now a second-tier alchemist.
Although the Dan Xin Sect was renowned in the cultivation world for its alchemy, the number of legitimate second-tier alchemists was not large.
As far as he knew, there were only twenty to thirty second-tier alchemists in the Dan Xin Sect in total.
Each second-tier alchemist was a figure capable of holding their own within the sect.
As long as he reported to the sect and passed the second-tier alchemist assessment by the Pill Hall, he would receive a substantial reward.
The sect had always been generous in rewarding outstanding disciples.
However, his primary focus now was on refining Foundation Establishment Pills and advancing to Foundation Establishment as quickly as possible. He did not have the time to serve as a pillar of the sect capable of holding his own.
Moreover, bearing the reputation of an alchemical prodigy was already glorious enough; there was no need to add embellishments.
Just then, the familiar sound of knocking echoed from outside the cave dwelling.
Xiao Fei opened the formation, and Huang Feifei walked in with a joyful expression.
“Young Master, I’ve found another spiritual herb!”
As Huang Feifei spoke, a blue bead on her wrist flashed, and a jade box appeared in her hand.
The pristine white jade box was stained with streaks of blood, making it appear even more vibrant and captivating.
Over the past year, Huang Feifei had found three more spiritual herbs through various channels.
Xiao Fei was now only short of two types of spiritual herbs out of the eight he needed.
However, these two were relatively rare, difficult to encounter by chance, and could not be bought even with spirit stones.
With Huang Feifei finding another one today, Xiao Fei was only missing one, bringing him closer to gathering all the required herbs.
With Foundation Establishment within sight, Xiao Fei showed no joy at this moment, his brow furrowed.
“Are you injured?”
“It’s alright, just a minor injury!”
After Huang Feifei spoke, she could no longer hold on and fainted.