Chronicles of the Green Vine: A Mortal’s Path to Immortality

With the first success, in the following days, he kept repeating the process of refining the Lesser Grain Pill. Failure after failure, success after success, until he finished refining all the Yellow Bud Rice he had brought, Zhang Ling stopped.

Although he failed countless times, the chances of success became higher and higher, and the success rate of refining the Lesser Grain Pill had reached about 80%.

It wasn't that he had a talent for alchemy, but that the Lesser Grain Pill only used one ingredient. After hundreds of refinements, if the success rate was not higher than 50%, he shouldn't even think about alchemy.

Zhang Ling took out a Lesser Grain Pill and swallowed it first. Before long, his stomach felt full. He counted the Lesser Grain Pills he had refined. There were a total of eighty-seven.

Calculating the consumption, the Lesser Grain Pills he refined were worth five pills for one spirit stone on the market.

Including his own refining costs, he had lost two or three spirit stones in total.

However, the experience he gained from refining pills for a few days was the most important gain. His control over the flames and his grasp of pill formation had improved a lot.

With this experience, he would have more confidence in refining pills to increase his cultivation in the future.

There were a total of ten pill formulas he obtained from Elder Mu of Guangyuan Zhai, and the Lesser Grain Pill was the simplest.

All ten pill formulas were for pills that Qi Refining stage cultivators could use. These ten pill formulas were very common in the cultivation world and widely circulated.

They included the Lesser Grain Pill, a detoxification pill formula, and two pill formulas for increasing cultivation. The remaining pill formulas had very strange effects.

For example, a second-grade pill formula called the Youth Retaining Pill.

Second-grade pills generally require century-old spiritual herbs, which are very precious even to Foundation Establishment stage cultivators.

The Youth Retaining Pill requires millennium-old spiritual herbs to refine, but its effect is only to keep the cultivator's appearance young, which is quite impractical.

Except for some female cultivators with high cultivation, ordinary cultivators would not refine this kind of pill.

In the eyes of cultivators, cultivation is the most important thing.

Zhang Ling's goal was to refine the two types of pills that increase cultivation, the Qi Refining Powder and the Spirit Gathering Pill.

The Qi Refining Powder is suitable for cultivators in the early and mid-stages of Qi Refining, and the Spirit Gathering Pill is suitable for cultivators in the later stage.

He is currently at the sixth level of Qi Refining, which is considered mid-stage strength.

The Qi Refining stage is divided into twelve levels. Levels one, two, and three are the early stage of Qi Refining, four, five, and six are the mid-stage, and seven, eight, and nine are the late stage. After breaking through the tenth level, the cultivator's dantian will be filled. Then they can take the Foundation Establishment Pill to break through.

However, most cultivators will raise their cultivation to the completion of the Qi Refining stage before breaking through.

The eleventh and twelfth levels of Qi Refining are used to continuously compress the spiritual power in the dantian to prepare for Foundation Establishment. It is said that this can increase the success rate of Foundation Establishment.

For a month, Zhang Ling was refining pills in the earth fire chamber.

Alchemy is a very particular skill. Often, one furnace of pills consumes a large amount of the cultivator's spiritual power and spiritual sense.

The raw materials for pills are also spiritual herbs, which are very precious. A single mistake can ruin a furnace of pills. The consumption is extremely fast.

And each kind of pill will use different spiritual herbs. The medicinal properties of these spiritual herbs are complex.

If there is no pill formula, the fusion of medicinal liquids will also produce different effects. A slight mistake will lead to the pill being scrapped, or even an explosion.

Even if the pill is successfully formed by chance, it cannot be taken. This kind of pill is called a waste pill. It also contains spiritual power, but at the same time, it is accompanied by a large number of impurities and is highly poisonous.

Therefore, experienced alchemists are constantly refining the same kind of pill when refining new pills in order to increase the chances of successful pill refinement.

The spiritual herbs in the world are complex, and no one can master the medicinal properties of all spiritual herbs. Therefore, there are very few cultivators who can reach the level of alchemy masters in the cultivation world. Only some large families and sects can afford to support them.

......

In a blink of an eye, a month had passed.

Zhang Ling came out of the earth fire chamber on the thirty-third day. After paying a few spirit stones, he left.

He found an inn at random. He first lay on the bed and fell asleep.

He slept for two whole days. When he woke up, he felt relaxed. He checked the gains of the month in the room.

In addition to refining more than eighty Lesser Grain Pills, he also refined a dozen Refreshing Pills. This is a kind of detoxification pill. In order to increase his alchemy experience, he also collected a lot of spiritual herbs for this kind of pill.

And the biggest gain this time is the milky white pill in his hand.

This is the Qi Refining Powder. Refining this kind of pill requires seven or eight different spiritual herbs. He only refined three or four of these pills, but it cost him more than thirty raw materials.

The materials alone were worth hundreds of spirit stones, but he didn't care. He prepared these materials just to practice. Since he could refine the Qi Refining Powder, it seems that he has some talent in alchemy.

Zhang Ling sat cross-legged, put the milky white pill in his mouth, and meditated with his eyes closed.

The pill melted in his mouth, and a pure spiritual power flowed through the meridians in his body. Zhang Ling quickly used the Thick Earth Art to cultivate.

It wasn't until the next morning that he completely refined the medicinal power of this Qi Refining Powder. What troubled him was that the medicinal power of the Qi Refining Powder was a little less for him now, even less than the Yellow Dragon Pill he had taken before.

However, he also felt that the medicinal power of the Qi Refining Powder was more pure and contained fewer impurities.

After testing the effect of the Qi Refining Powder, Zhang Ling re-planned his future cultivation.

This day, Zhang Ling left the inn and went to the inner city. He looked at the map of Falling Star City in his hand. Half an hour later, he stopped in front of a three-story building in the east of the inner city.

Looking up, the plaque on the pavilion was written with the three characters 'Cave Heaven Pavilion'. This is where to rent cave dwellings in Falling Star City.

Walking into the pavilion, Zhang Ling was a little dumbfounded. The inside was completely different from the outside.

Inside the pavilion, the floor was covered with red carpet, and there were some paintings and calligraphy decorations on the surrounding walls. With such an arrangement, I don't know who lives here.

"Boy, are you here to rent?"

A voice sounded in his ear. I saw a man in a Confucian shirt appearing on a chair next to him at some point. This man was wearing a cyan robe and looked about forty years old.

A powerful spiritual sense swept over him. Although it was only a moment, it made Zhang Ling's back sweat. People with such spiritual sense are definitely not Qi Refining stage cultivators.

Foundation Establishment stage cultivator!

The entire Falling Star City is divided into inner and outer cities. It is not difficult to see Foundation Establishment stage cultivators in the inner city.

Zhang Ling adjusted his mind and quickly bowed and replied, "Greetings, Senior. This junior is here to rent a cave dwelling."

"Come here."

The middle-aged man retracted his gaze and stood up. His figure flickered and he sat down in front of a mahogany table, took out a yellow scroll.

With a swish, the scroll opened in the air. Zhang Ling was instantly attracted by the painting. This was a panoramic view of Falling Star City.

"Falling Star City is built on a medium-grade spiritual vein. Although this spiritual vein is not large, it has many branches. The light spots above are its distribution locations. All places with red light are inhabited, and white light spots are empty. Choose yourself."

"Yes."

Zhang Ling responded and carefully looked at the light spots on the scroll. Except for the east, the remaining three directions of Falling Star City are surrounded by mountains and forests.

The distribution of light spots above is mostly concentrated on the peaks around the inner city. The center of the light spots is also surrounded by a small area of black and white, I don't know what that place is.

The light spots in the inner city are all red, and most of them are already inhabited. His goal is not the inner city either. Then Zhang Ling focused on the white light spots.

Compared with the red light spots, although there are not many white light spots, each white light is different. Some are bright and dazzling, and some have weak light.

"May I ask, Senior, is there any difference in the brightness of the light spots."

"This kid has some eyesight. Don't even think about those peaks marked with names. These places have rich spiritual energy and are mostly occupied by Foundation Establishment stage cultivators. The strength of the light spots represents the concentration of spiritual energy in the area."

The so-called spiritual veins are formed after millions of years. The distribution is irregular.

Falling Star City has a medium-grade spiritual vein, but its branches have not reached the spiritual energy level of a medium-grade spiritual vein. Even so, the spiritual energy emitted by the spiritual vein is equivalent to the level of a low-grade spiritual vein, which is enough for Qi Refining stage cultivators to cultivate.

Before long, Zhang Ling selected a few places and asked about the prices of these cave dwellings.

After comparison, he finally chose a cave dwelling in a remote area in the north. After paying the spirit stones, he left the pavilion.

Walking on the streets of the inner city, he looked at the white jade token in his hand, which was written with the two characters 'Luo Xing', and the back was engraved with the words 'North Forty-Nine'.

This is the restriction token for his rented cave dwelling.

At this moment, Zhang Ling's mood was depressed. The spiritual vein of the cave dwelling can only barely reach the level of a low-grade spiritual vein. But the rental price is quite high, thirty spirit stones a year. And a single rental cannot be less than three years.

He spent one hundred and fifty spirit stones to rent it for five years. There are only a few spirit stones left in the storage bag.