Chapter 574 - 318: Spirit Bird Circles the Sky, Grade 6 Pill Achieved!

Qingzhou Earth, located in the north of the Great Yan Dynasty, the winter of Donglai County is bitterly cold.

After the onset of winter, the cold wind bites the face. Except for the Martial Artists with tough bodies, ordinary Lower Three Grades cultivators of the Three Religions have to wear padded clothes to fend off the cold.

The rooftops of the Cyan Fish Gang have long been covered thickly with snow, flowers, grasses, and trees are wrapped in a silver cloak. The previous turmoil within the gang didn’t subside with the cold wind, but instead, intensified.

Just yesterday, for reasons unknown, various major forces in Donglai County simultaneously dispatched a large number of disciples.

The Cyan Fish Gang was no exception, with most of the disciples sent out, the atmosphere within the gang now appears quieter than usual.

Only occasionally a team of disciples from the Cyan Fish Gang, wearing padded clothes and pants, gather in small groups, discussing recent happenings within the gang, the upcoming New Year’s festivities, and familial gatherings like fish swimming amidst the snow.

The gang’s turbulent affairs have little connection to most ordinary disciples, whether it’s Baili’s lineage stabilizing the Gang Leader, or Gongyang Jue plotting to seize power and ascend, these things have little impact on the common disciples.

It’s merely a change of helmsman, the Cyan Fish Gang’s upper echelons need these numerous swimming fish.

The snow atop the Alchemy Hall is clearly much thinner; when the furnace is opened for alchemy each day, the hot rolling waves quickly dissipate the thick snow pressed from the previous night.

In the alchemy room belonging to the absent Grand Master Cang.

For Su Mu, today is not calm.

"Hoo hoo!"

Inside the alchemy room with tightly shut windows and doors, under the Three-legged Pill Furnace, the furnace fire fueled by the majestic Fire Sparrow Gang Force was pure blue, perfectly controlled by Su Mu’s hands like an extension of his body.

The elixir liquid within the pill furnace was undergoing a certain transformation from inside to outside.

The Fusion Pill Technique, one of the techniques from an unnamed pill book given by Grand Master Cang before his incident, the technique’s name suggests, mastering this technique allows for the fusion of two different types of elixirs within a pill furnace.

This technique can be said to break conventional patterns, making Su Mu’s eyes shine.

In past alchemy experiences, it was all about adding medicinal materials to the furnace, the so-called alchemy was nothing more than smelting natural medicinal materials into pills, combining their properties to maximize medicinal power.

The Fusion Pill Technique is truly an advancement in this practice; if herbal essences can be refined into elixirs, why can’t these elixirs serve as alchemical materials?

In this way, it invisibly lowers the threshold for creating higher-level pills, indeed a remarkable idea.

However, in the world, there’s never a hundred benefits without a single harm; this technique naturally has its pros and cons. While it lowers the difficulty of forging high-grade pills through a certain level of ’ingenious idea,’ it requires exceptional fire control skills.

The fundamental premise of the Fusion Pill Technique is: to craft high-grade pills through this technique, one must possess corresponding grade fire control.

Simply put, if one wishes to use the Fusion Pill Technique to forge Sixth Grade pills, other aspects of alchemy can be facilitated by the technique, but one must match the fire control abilities of a Sixth Grade Alchemist.

This challenge is presumably an insurmountable issue for ordinary alchemists, given that fire control in alchemy is traditionally one of the most difficult skills to master.

But...

Having refined the blood of a Upper Three Grades Fire Sparrow Great Demon, Su Mu has an extraordinary talent for fire attribute Gang Force, Fire Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth, and anything related to the fire attribute.

Adding to that, Su Mu’s terrifying comprehension, as well as his forging experience as a master craftsman in the past.

Fire control is not a problem for Su Mu at all.

Bluntly put, this Fusion Pill Technique seems tailored for Su Mu.

Apart from this, that unnamed pill book contains another technique: Sacrifice Pill Technique.

If the Fusion Pill Technique is the ingenious idea, then the Sacrifice Pill Technique is a whimsical genius method.

This technique is difficult to use alone and is a method of sacrificing some of the elixirs in the furnace during crucial moments to enhance the quality of refined pills, simply put, it exchanges quantity for quality.

The downside of this technique is, according to Su Mu, calculated from the refining of eight pills in a single furnace, sacrificing seven of them would enhance the quality of one Qi and Blood Pill by only about thirty percent.

Sacrificing seven pills for a thirty percent quality enhancement is hardly acceptable for ordinary alchemists, especially for the Cyan Fish Gang’s Alchemy Hall, as the monthly consumption of elixirs by the gang’s disciples is astonishing.

But so-called brine curdles tofu, one material restrains another.

The more high-grade variety of elixirs fused in the Fusion Pill Technique, the higher the refined pill rate; the Sacrifice Pill Technique perfectly complements the Fusion Pill Technique, they are said to be mutually benefiting, their combination yields effects far greater than the sum of their parts.

The Sacrifice Pill Technique is significantly simpler to master than the Fusion Pill Technique, it only requires the alchemist’s skill to be slightly above that of the elixirs being refined, and has no other stringent requirements.

Su Mu’s gaze dropped, reflecting several green fire dragons; if anyone had observed closely, they would find differences in the flames from different fire ports of the Three-legged Pill Furnace.

Simultaneously controlling multiple fire elements, Su Mu remained calm, everything was under control.

At a certain moment.

"Buzz—!"

The pill furnace vibrated intensely, as if some living entity within was attempting to break free, the movements grew more intense, sending forth waves of metallic reverberations, wisps of blue smoke emerged from the pill furnace.

Just a whiff of it’s refreshing to the heart, bringing tranquility to the mind.

"It’s almost done!"

The blue smoke rose up, the wind and snow outside halted, suspended in mid-air, but the anomaly quickly disappeared, soon suppressed by Su Mu through using Martial Momentum and Dragon of Spiritual Power, sealing it back within the alchemy room.

Right now, many masters within the Cyan Fish Gang have gone out in full force, this instant change was unnoticed by common disciples.

"The crafting of a Middle Third Grade Elixir often triggers certain alchemy phenomena, unsuitable for carrying out within the gang."

The completion of Sixth Grade pills causes phenomena, drawing unnecessary attention.

Su Mu’s palm burst with Power, instantly a few inches of majestic Gang Force poured out, enveloping the entire Three-legged Pill Furnace, then stored it into the Sumeru Ring.

Snow and wind rushed by, the commandery city remained bustling.

Soon, wearing wind and snow, the young man left the city for a dense forest, after confirming no one was around, he retrieved the pill furnace, releasing the three seals of Martial Momentum, Spiritual Power, and Gang Force.

"Boom!"

The blue smoke soared into the sky, stirring wind and snow, faintly forming a dancing bird, circled thrice in the air above the pill furnace, then slowly dissipated.

Spirit bird hovered, Sixth Grade Pill accomplished!

Alchemy Skill (Small Success 79%)

A sudden flash of insight, Su Mu quietly entered a half-enlightenment state, doubled the insights gained from the instant of Sixth Grade pill completion, in mere moments, increased proficiency in alchemy by nearly twenty percent!

Su Mu exhaled lightly, a breath mixed with Gang Qi shot out, clearing several yards of the dense forest’s snow, the swirling snowflakes directly shattered by the breath, then instantly melted into a whirling white mist.

This terrifying breath, unimaginable to be emitted by a nineteen-year-old human youth.

"The Sixth Grade Pills are completed!"

Within the pill furnace, three smooth golden pills returned to calm, four Pill Patterns lay gently upon them, Su Mu’s first batch of Sixth Grade Pills resulted in three pills.

"Three refined pills... A good start."

Su Mu was surprised; refining three pills in the first batch exceeded his expectations, the first batch of Qi and Blood Pills, Bone Strengthening Pills only resulted in about one tael.

"Return now... Almost all the materials needed to refine the Profound Pattern Pill are sponsored by Qinglin Pavilion, currently only lacking one ingredient."

The lacking ingredient is called Jiaoxue Fruit, previously Su Mu visited city pharmacies, only Qiancao Hall people hinted that such rare materials are owned by the major forces in Donglai County.

This was one of the reasons Su Mu chose to join the Cyan Fish Gang; previously, Luzbuji also proposed if refined into pills, one could go to the Cyan Fish Gang treasury to choose a treasure.

"No rush for this, wait a few days first."

Five days later, Su Mu sent a message to the personnel placed by Luzbuji in the Alchemy Hall, by nightfall.

Two footsteps approached.

"Coming not just Luzbuji... There’s another, it’s her?"

Knock knock knock!

The door of the secluded courtyard where Su Mu resides was knocked on, two silhouettes arrived together, Hall Master Qing Jiao Luzbuji stood a half-step beside the other person.