Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation

As a cluster of nearly crimson flames suddenly erupted beneath the pill furnace, it signaled the arrival of the most crucial step in this pill concoction: the pill congealing stage.

"Buzz~"

The instant a soft hum resonated, within the meticulously crafted pill refining room of Yan's Pill Shop, Yan Qingwan's eyes gleamed with an incredible look of surprise and delight.

Snapping back to her senses, she immediately looked towards Li Ji'an beside her.

"Brother Li, just now… was that the sound of pill resonance?" Even now, she was still somewhat unable to believe it.

A look of joy also appeared on Li Ji'an's face.

He had successfully verified his theory this time.

The same pill formula, the same pill fire, the same spiritual consciousness, only needing to adjust the intensity of the pill fire could improve the quality of the resulting pills.

He silently organized the entire pill refining process in his mind, firmly storing it into his pill refinement database, before turning to Yan Qingwan and nodding approvingly.

At the same time, he looked at the cluster of pill fire that had not yet extinguished, revealing a hint of envy.

Yan Qingwan, last year, under such heavy pill refining pressure, was actually able to successfully break through to the seventh layer of Qi training without taking any late-stage breakthrough pills, becoming a sub-top-tier cultivator in the Wasteland, which made Li Ji'an envious.

Worthy of being a middle-grade spiritual root talent with a Fire Spiritual Root sensitivity of sixteen strands!

However, what made Li Ji'an even more envious at this moment was that her late-stage Qi training cultivation had allowed her to condense a pill fire that had qualitatively transformed into a deep crimson color, a step further than her mid-stage Qi training pill fire, with higher temperature, greater spiritual pressure, and more precise control.

And this was also the key to Yan Qingwan's successful attempt at refining the high-grade Qi Replenishing Pill, which was in greatest demand by late-stage Qi training cultivators, and the pill resonance just now indicated that the quality of the resulting pill had reached at least the high-grade level.

Medicine has three parts poison, and pills are no exception. In addition to pill toxins, there is also drug resistance.

The reason why pills are so cheap in the North Street market is that most of them are inferior pills with high pill toxin content and strong drug resistance, some even reaching seventy to eighty percent.

The South Street pill shops are not allowed to sell this kind of inferior pills, as that would ruin their reputation. The lowest they can sell is genuine pills, but even low-grade pills have a pill toxin content of thirty percent, while mid-grade pills only have ten percent, and high-grade pills are almost negligible.

As for superior-grade pills and even top-grade pills, they are truly refined to the extreme, not only without a trace of pill toxins but also greatly improving the efficacy of the pill.

Now, Yan Qingwan's late-stage Qi training cultivation has allowed her to condense a pill fire, coupled with her spirit and soul, which she has focused on nourishing and condensing since childhood, she can now successfully refine first-order high-grade pills for late-stage Qi training cultivators. In form, she can already be considered a first-order high-grade pill master.

However, the reason why there is still a big difference between pill masters of the same rank lies in the quality of their pills.

A first-order high-grade pill master may not be able to refine low-grade superior-grade pills, while a low-grade pill master may be able to refine low-grade superior-grade pills.

This is actually the most important measure of a pill master's skill.

To be hailed as a true senior pill master, one must have a high-grade pill formation rate of at least sixty percent.

"I really refined a high-grade pill!" After opening the furnace and taking out the pills, there was no doubt it was high-grade, and Yan Qingwan was almost overjoyed to the point of tears.

"Qingwan, don't be carried away by your success. Calm your mind and review the details of your pill fire control just now. The last leg of a journey marks the halfway point. This is just the beginning," Li Ji'an said in a timely manner to advise her.

Yan Qingwan immediately straightened her expression and closed her eyes as instructed.

Taking advantage of this time, Li Ji'an did not waste the abundant spiritual energy here and began to circulate his cultivation technique.

To ensure the pill formation rate and pill quality, pill refining rooms with the right conditions would set up spiritual energy gathering arrays. This pill refining room was equipped with a set of high-grade spiritual energy gathering array, and the spiritual energy was very abundant.

It was not until the end of a complete cycle that Yan Qingwan slowly opened her eyes again.

She then stood up and bowed deeply to Li Ji'an: "Thank you for your teachings, Brother Li!"

"No need to be so polite. It is also my duty to jointly study and make progress together," Li Ji'an replied with a smile.

In the past six months, Li Ji'an had found the pill shop's revenue to be truly unbearable.

Except for the first few days before the opening, when the business seemed to be doing well, possibly because some people came to show their support, the past few months could be described as dismal.

This made his original plan to rely on the pill shop's dividends to buy breakthrough pills seem distant.

In the final analysis, Yan's Pill Shop did not have a complete variety of pills, and the quality of the pills was not high enough. Coupled with Zheng's Pill Shop's price reduction promotions, it would be strange if business was good.

The result of his discussion with Yan Qingwan was that, first, they would increase their strength and improve the quality of the pills again. Second, they would diversify their products, compete with differentiation, and try to refine a variety of pills, even some niche pills.

To this end, the Yan family spent a considerable amount of money to purchase a large number of pill formulas.

These pill formulas further enriched Li Ji'an's pill refinement database.

With these enrichments, he made many deductions and then allowed Yan Qingwan to put them into practice, and the results were very good.

"Keep it up, I hope you will become a senior pill master soon!" The current revenue of the pill shop forced Li Ji'an to once again place his hopes for breakthrough pills on Yan Qingwan. Once she advanced to become a senior pill master, it would be possible for her to refine breakthrough pills.

"Don't worry, Brother Li, I will do everything in my power!" Yan Qingwan said solemnly.

Seeing that it was already bright outside again, the two of them did not delay any further and left the pill refining room together.

Pill refining was originally very energy-consuming, which was why their spirits and souls were stronger than those of ordinary cultivators. Otherwise, how could they withstand refining pills day and night like this?

"Greetings, Miss, Greetings, Guest Elder Li!"

…

On the way out of the pill shop, the servants greeted them one after another.

After Yan Qingwan handed the newly refined high-grade Qi Replenishing Pill to Uncle Zhong, she and Li Ji'an left the pill shop, preparing to return to their residence in the West District to catch up on sleep.

"Go, go, go, all of you leave. Orphans are not allowed to wander around the market!"

Just as they stepped out of the pill shop, they saw several market inspectors driving several children out.

"I'm not an orphan. My dad will definitely come back. Don't drive me away. I'm nourishing my spiritual root, I…"

"Please, kind sirs, please be kind. When I nourish my spiritual root and achieve success in cultivation in the future, I will definitely repay you well."

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"I won't leave. If I don't have spiritual energy to nourish my spiritual root, I won't have good talent, and there will be no hope for the path of immortality. I would rather die here."

…

Yan Qingwan frowned slightly, exchanged a glance with Li Ji'an, and then shook her head helplessly.

All living beings are suffering, struggling in the sea of bitterness, each with their own difficulties.

Although it would not be a problem for her to take in a few children, she could not do so because there were too many clansmen within her own clan who needed resources.

Li Ji'an nodded. Those who had not taken care of their own clansmen and family members but generously subsidized others were either stupid or bad, and they certainly did not treat their clansmen and family members as their own.

At the same time, he sighed inwardly, which also negated a feasible plan for his next "rejuvenation."

Time passed silently, and another half a year passed in a flash.

Although they had not yet balanced the books, Li Ji'an roughly had an idea in his mind that, if it were not for the fact that many medicinal herbs were supplied by the medicinal field jointly developed with the Wei family, they would probably have to lose money this year.

Fortunately, Yan Qingwan had made a lot of progress in her pill refinement skills this year.

The high-grade pill formation rate was almost thirty percent. In at most another half a year, she would definitely become a senior pill master.

At that time, they should be able to formally make a profit.

Li Ji'an had a peaceful attitude about this and was not anxious.

The only bad thing was that Zheng Tianxiang had been coming to the pill shop more often recently and had been showing extraordinary interest in Yan Qingwan.

This was not a good sign.

However, he did not dare to do anything blatantly in the market.

"Brother Li, why don't you try again today?"

That day, just as Li Ji'an arrived at the pill refining room, Yan Qingwan encouraged Li Ji'an to refine pills himself.

Li Ji'an chuckled: "It's not that I'm unwilling, but my pill fire is weaker than expected. Even if I manage to form pills, the pill formation rate and quality cannot be guaranteed, so I won't waste the medicinal herbs."

Pill fire was a hard injury. Even if he now believed that his pill refinement experience was no less than that of a high-grade senior pill master, it was only for guiding others in refining pills. He himself was really not good at it.

"Didn't you often teach me not to underestimate myself? Why are you doing that yourself again? Try again," Yan Qingwan insisted.

Li Ji'an smiled and then sat in front of the pill furnace, pushing his palms forward, and a cluster of flames was placed under the pill furnace.

Compared to Yan Qingwan's late-stage Qi training deep crimson pill fire, his pill fire was not only not condensed enough, but its color was also only light red, and it was clear that the temperature and spiritual pressure were much worse.

The most important thing was that the mana in his dantian was too thin, only enough to refine low-grade simple pills. For slightly more complicated pills, the fire might be cut off midway.

"Brother Li, remember the pill fire at this moment," suddenly, Yan Qingwan said meaningfully.

Li Ji'an tilted his head to look at her: "You're acting strange today."

Yan Qingwan smiled mysteriously and stopped pretending, extending her right hand in front of Li Ji'an and opening it.

A crystal-clear pill entered his eyes.

"Flying Cloud Pill!"