Chapter 748

Chapter 748: Ninety Thousand in the Qi Sea

Without hesitation, Fang Lie began refining pills for An Daoren.

With the aid of Nirvana True Fire, over a thousand spirit herbs were swiftly purified into pure Spirit Liquid—even the immature Enlightenment Flowers.

Ordinary alchemists couldn’t use underaged herbs since impurity removal would drain potency, causing insufficient strength for pill formation.

Yet Fang Lie’s Nirvana True Fire lived up to its divine fire reputation. Though weaker in attack power than some spirit fires, it possessed miraculous abilities: reviving the dead, regenerating flesh and bone, and achieving Nirvana Rebirth.

When refining herbs, it stripped impurities without damaging potency, making even slightly immature Enlightenment Flowers viable.

Without this capability, Fang Lie wouldn’t have dared accept the task—Enlightenment Flowers were too scarce, and even he lacked them.

After refining the Spirit Liquid, Fang Lie retrieved dozens of herbs from his private stock. Most could be substituted with younger versions, but seven or eight required rare original herbs.

One herb needed ten thousand years of age, but Fang Lie only possessed a centuries-old specimen.

The gap proved too vast. Not even Nirvana fire could compensate—it couldn’t create potency from nothingness.

Here, the Constructed Wood Nascent Fetus’s divine skill "Jianmu Reaches Heaven" proved crucial.

This ability accelerated any Spirit Plant’s growth through millennia in moments. Though energy-intensive and requiring the Nascent Fetus’s vitality-infused magic for maintenance, it sufficed for pill refining.

Fang Lie aged the herb to ten thousand years, then immediately refined it with Nirvana fire before wilting could occur, obtaining prime materials.

Combined with Nirvana fire, this skill elevated Fang Lie’s alchemy beyond even Xuan Sect’s master alchemists.

Next came the intricate merging process—nearly two thousand herbs requiring precise fire timing. Additions varied between single herbs and groups, with flame adjustments controlling fusion speed and Spirit Liquid quantities.

The complexity demanded the Mo Ancestor’s Pill Scripture. This wasn’t ordinary text but contained alchemy wisdom from Mo Ancestor’s own soul fragment—absorbing it granted his skills.

Thus Fang Lie transformed from novice to master alchemist overnight.

Yet the scripture had limits. Created during Mo Ancestor’s Earth-Immortal cultivation phase, it only taught Earth-Immortal level spirit pills. Higher tiers required personal practice—though Fang Lie’s foundation and Nirvana fire would ensure rapid progress.

The Ninth-Rank Enlightenment Pills took over a month despite Fang Lie’s advantages. Xuan Sect masters reportedly required twenty years per batch, spending decades on material preparation alone.

Their yields proved meager—three pills per batch counted as success, sometimes only one. Yet Fang Lie produced nine longan-sized pills glowing gold with white mystical light, writhing like tiny dragons—pill patterns exclusive to potent ninth-rank pills.

For thirty-plus days, Fang Lie maintained constant flame control. When magic depleted, he swallowed spirit pills rather than meditating. Upon completion, he nearly collapsed.

Without washing, he stored the pills and fell into deathlike sleep.

Waking three days later, he cleaned up, feasted, then inspected a Ninth-Rank Enlightenment Pill. Flawless and top-grade, it brought satisfaction mixed with lingering dread at the month’s ordeal.

If his cheat-enhanced efforts proved grueling, traditional decades-long refining must be torturous. No wonder ninth-rank pills cost fortunes—valuable herbs combined with priceless alchemist labor.

Of course, ninth-rank pills varied. Common magic-boosting types yielded dozens per batch in three years, trading for seventh-rank treasures. But Fang Lie’s enlightenment pills demanded eighth-rank treasures.

Of course, the pills were extremely valuable and would never have trouble selling, as their effects truly defied the heavens. These pills allowed the user to enter a special state of enlightenment for a Hundred Years, making it far easier to comprehend the Dao compared to normal circumstances.

Generally, late-stage Thunder Tribulation Cultivators who consumed this pill and underwent closed-door training for a century would mostly achieve the Dao career insights required to advance to Semi-Immortal. The remaining steps would be Magic accumulation and body enhancement. After completing these, they could comprehend their unique Dao path and ascend to Semi-Immortal.

Without this pill, late-stage Thunder Tribulation Cultivators found it immensely difficult to accumulate enough Dao career insights for advancement. It might take thousands of years, even until death. This was the true value of Ninth-Rank Enlightenment Pills.

Their extraordinary power stemmed from the Enlightenment Flower – the rarest spiritual roots among Spirit Plants in existence. Only one or two grew in the entire world, and none had ever reached ten thousand years of age.

Thus, Fang Lie’s batch of Enlightenment Pills became exceptionally valuable. Aside from one pill given to An Daoren, the remaining eight fell under his ownership. They could fetch astronomical prices or serve as enormous favors when gifted.

At this thought, Fang Lie nodded in satisfaction before carefully sealing all Ninth-Rank Enlightenment Pills into individual supreme jade boxes, ensuring not a wisp of medicinal energy escaped.

After securely storing the pills, Fang Lie didn’t summon An Daoren immediately. Not wanting to expose his astonishing alchemy speed, he instead took out Immortal Crystals to expand his Magic capacity.

Half a year passed in a blink. Fang Lie exhausted all Immortal Crystals except the precious Blood Crystal, finally pushing his Qi Sea beyond ninety thousand li.

He couldn’t deny the growing despair as his Qi Sea expanded. The Magic required increased exponentially – what began as a 200-li expansion from a Mung Bean-sized crystal fragment now demanded an egg-sized large Immortal Crystal (dozens of times larger) for merely 300 li.

And this was just at ninety thousand li! Reaching a hundred thousand might require entire large Immortal Crystals for mere single-digit li gains. Considering each large crystal’s value rivaled eighth-rank low-grade treasures, Fang Lie realized reaching 120,000 li would demand mountain-like Immortal Crystal piles.

The cost staggered him – enough to buy hundreds of Ninth-Rank Treasures! This terrifying expenditure explained why historical masters never breached the ten-thousand barrier.

Yet Fang Lie remained undaunted. His easy wealth from stone gambling and alchemy made Star Loss City his perfect advancement foundation. Without hesitation, he activated a secret technique to summon attendants.

Madam Hu and Li Qing soon entered. Fang Lie addressed the woman first: "Fetch An Daoren. His request is fulfilled."

"Truly?" Madam Hu’s eyes lit up. "One moment, Master! I’ll send word immediately!" A Flying Sword shot out carrying her message as she flattered: "Only a true Master could refine such pills in half a year! This must be peerless skill!"

"Heh!" Fang Lie smirked. "I dare say none in the mortal world surpass my alchemy arts!"

An Daoren materialized abruptly, urgency etched on his face despite proper etiquette: "Master! You summoned me? Does this mean…"

Fang Lie wordlessly tossed a jade box. The City Lord nearly fumbled it open, revealing a golden spirit pill. For one tea-brewing’s time, An Daoren Inspected it visually, probed with divine sense, and sniffed repeatedly before exclaiming: "Top-grade quality with pill patterns! Master, you’ve earned that title!"

"If satisfied, settle your debt," Fang Lie stated lightly.

"Of course!" An Daoren proffered a Merit Lotus seed. "Please verify!"

A cursory glance satisfied Fang Lie. "Adequate. Bring more interesting items in future. I’ll handle ninth-rank spirit pills even with missing ingredients – but don’t waste my time with inferior materials."