Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 104

After meditating for half a day, Han Li felt his physical and magical power return to their peak. Now, it was truly time to begin refining pills.

Fortunately, after his cultivation technique surpassed the tenth level, he could go without food for some time without any issues, saving him the time he would have spent eating.

Han Li took out the silver-decorated cauldron from his storage pouch and used the Levitation Technique to float it in the center of the circular room. The Levitation Technique was another skill he had painstakingly mastered for this day.

Once again, a red light touched the dragon heads, and a purple earth fire was emitted. Since he hadn’t added the ingredients yet, the flame remained as thin as a thread.

The small cauldron slowly heated up and began to rotate in the air. After a while, the heat radiating from the cauldron was astonishing.

Han Li pointed his finger, lifting the cauldron’s lid, and poured all the powder from the white jade bottles, which contained precisely measured amounts, into the cauldron. He then discarded the white jade bottles and repeatedly took out more bottles from his storage pouch, repeating the same action.

In the air, dozens of types of medicinal powders seeped into the cauldron, and finally, the lid closed.

The first step for pill refinement had begun. And so far, everything had proceeded without any problems.

The purple flames emitted by the eight dragons, under Han Li’s control, became as thick as a finger, and the cauldron also reduced its rotation speed, beginning to vibrate finely within the flames.

As time passed, a faint medicinal fragrance wafted from inside the small cauldron, but it was not yet time to take out the pills.

The process of rapidly solidifying the pills using the fierce earth fire had to be completed before he could obtain the Foundation Establishment Pills in their complete form.

Han Li intensified the purple flames, making them as thick as a bowl. The cauldron was already so hot that it looked like a fist-sized ball of fire from afar, and the medicinal fragrance permeated the area. The medicinal powders were undoubtedly mixing and solidifying. Then, a sound like something exploding echoed from inside the cauldron, darkening his expression.

After hesitating for a moment, he sighed, stopped the earth fire, and opened the cauldron’s lid to look inside. There, he saw several dark blue fragments, indicating that the pills had not solidified properly.

Shaking his head, he took out a jade box and collected the failed pill fragments remaining in the cauldron. Although they were clearly failures, they were made from a mixture of various spirit herbs, so he couldn’t bear to throw them away.

After finishing all the preparations, Han Li quickly sat down on the cushion to rest. Only after the cauldron had completely cooled did he attempt pill refinement again.

Even though he followed the same procedure, adding the exact powders and controlling the fire, the pills still failed to solidify properly. Han Li silently began the next refinement without any change in expression.

***

After more than 30 days passed without Han Li leaving the stone chamber, Chu Nan was honestly a bit surprised. However, that surprise soon turned into joy, as the longer he stayed, the higher the cost would be.

Another three months passed, making it a total of half a year, and Han Li showed no signs of coming out. Now, Chu Nan’s excited expression had vanished, replaced by a worried look filled with anxiety.

In fact, half a year was not considered a very long time for pill refinement or magic tool forging. He had seen cases where people spent even longer periods of time on these tasks.

However, most of those were disciples who had at least reached the Foundation Establishment stage. There had never been a case where a mere Qi Condensation stage disciple like Han Li stayed for so long to refine pills.

Moreover, a Qi Condensation stage disciple could only go without food for a month at most. If this Senior Uncle’s disciple hadn’t prepared food and drink, there was no way he could have lasted this long.

At that moment, Han Li was sitting on the cushion in the stone chamber, looking at twenty Foundation Establishment Pills emitting a dark blue light in front of him. These pills were truly refined with his heart and soul.

From the beginning, he had failed more than twenty times in a row during the pill solidification process, making no progress at all. Han Li’s heart burned as he watched the pile of failures grow. He even considered giving up on refining for now and finding another pill refiner to formally learn the art of pill refinement. Although it would delay him, it was better than wasting all the precious materials.

Just before he was about to leave the stone chamber, he started one last refinement as if possessed, and as if the heavens were helping him, the pills solidified successfully, miraculously producing a complete Foundation Establishment Pill. It was the moment he held a Foundation Establishment Pill he had made himself in his hand. What he had created was slightly smaller, but it was exactly the same as the Foundation Establishment Pills he already had. Han Li couldn’t contain his excitement. Based on this, Han Li gritted his teeth and resolved to dedicate himself to pill refinement again.

Naturally, the success rate of subsequent refinements greatly increased, with one out of every three attempts succeeding in solidifying the pills.

Moreover, he seemed to have an unexpected natural talent for opening the furnace, with most attempts being successful. Han Li had not expected to have such an aptitude for this.

At this point, a month had passed since he entered the stone chamber, and his stomach began to rumble with hunger. Han Li took out the Bigu Pill [a pill that allows one to go without food] bottle he had received from Old Man Ma and swallowed a pill. This allowed him to last another month.

These were the pills he had obtained by pretending to have bought a few hundred-year-old herbs at the Yellow Maple Valley market.

After countless days like this, by the time his materials were all used up, he had created more Foundation Establishment Pills than he had expected.

He had heard that pill refinement was extremely difficult, so he thought that even obtaining about seven pills would be a great achievement.

He even began to think that the difficulty of refining pills using a furnace was greatly exaggerated.

He couldn’t be sure whether the pill refiners had intentionally spread this misconception or if he had a natural talent for it.

Pill refinement was a much more difficult path than the rumors circulating in the cultivation world suggested. It took 20 to 30 years to train a typical pill refiner, and the associated costs were enormous.

Han Li’s level of Foundation Establishment Pill refinement had already surpassed that of an average pill refiner. This strange phenomenon was all due to the fact that he had spent half a year refining only Foundation Establishment Pills countless times.

Even the wealthiest families could not afford to provide a pill refiner with enough spirit herbs every day to practice the same pills.

Moreover, the experience of continuously making spirit pills like Foundation Establishment Pills for half a year was not something anyone could do.

Of course, such an abnormal thing was not impossible if one repeatedly practiced refining low-grade pills.

However, why would anyone bother to practice making pills that were not precious and could be easily replaced even if they failed a few times?

It was natural that he couldn’t find an answer, as he hadn’t thought about these circumstances. However, it wasn’t something to dwell on.

Now, the key was to consume the Foundation Establishment Pills in front of him and succeed in Foundation Establishment.

This determination grew stronger, and he even considered the idea of going into closed-door cultivation in the earth fire room. After 11 months, the door to the stone chamber where Han Li was staying remained firmly closed.

Chu Nan stared blankly at the door of stone chamber number 19, lost in worry. The fact that he hadn’t come out yet meant that something must have happened to Han Li. Otherwise, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would have come out by now.

He was not worried about Han Li, but rather, he was worried that this Senior Uncle’s disciple might have an accident, which would bring trouble upon himself.

Although he was a relative of the Sect Master and was managing this place while collecting wealth, if he angered this Senior Uncle, he couldn’t expect even the Sect Master to help him.

Just as the man’s heart was burning with anxiety, the door of the stone chamber suddenly emitted light and opened silently. The person who came out was, of course, Han Li, with a smile on his face.

Chu Nan, who had been stunned by the sight of a face he hadn’t seen in almost a year, hurriedly walked over and shouted with resentment.

“Junior Brother, why are you only coming out now! If you had come out just a little later, I would have… Huh!”

The man’s eyes suddenly widened as he was about to unleash a torrent of complaints. He seemed to be in a daze, unable to find the right words for the situation.

“Why, is there a problem?” Han Li’s face shone with a clear light as he smiled at Chu Nan’s reaction.

“Your cultivation! How did it become like this…? C-Could it be that you succeeded in Foundation Establishment?”

He seemed to have regained his senses a little, but he was still stuttering, indicating that he was greatly shocked.

“Yes! After finishing pill refinement, I thought this environment was suitable for cultivation, so I immediately consumed the Foundation Establishment Pills. After that, I succeeded in Foundation Establishment after arduous training, so now I can be called a Foundation Establishment cultivator.”

“You achieved Foundation Establishment here?” Chu Nan looked at Han Li once and then at the earth fire room behind him, his face showing disbelief.

How could someone achieve Foundation Establishment in a place specifically for pill refinement or magic tool forging? This had never happened before.

He was full of questions, but he didn’t dare to voice them. The other person was not only this Senior Uncle’s disciple but also a Foundation Establishment cultivator now, so he was not someone that a mere Qi Condensation disciple like him could afford to offend.

“Is there a reason why I shouldn’t?” Han Li’s tone changed at the other’s expression, and the unique aura of a Foundation Establishment cultivator pressed down on Chu Nan. The man immediately took a few steps back, his face covered in cold sweat.

“Of course not! There’s no such rule. Senior Uncle! Congratulations on your successful closed-door cultivation!” Chu Nan, who was not entirely clueless, immediately bowed respectfully. The change in address from Junior Brother to Senior Uncle was only natural.

Since he had already succeeded in Foundation Establishment, he would now be the man’s senior, so it was right to show a respectful attitude. Chu Nan was able to act this way without any hesitation because he understood that strength was the most important thing in the cultivation world.

Seeing the other’s reaction, Han Li had no intention of threatening him further. In fact, apart from Chu Nan’s initial rudeness, he hadn’t done anything particularly wrong. Reaching this point, Han Li’s expression softened.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going now.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Han Li quietly left the place. Chu Nan watched him disappear completely and then quietly sighed.

“The heavens are truly unfair! Some people can easily succeed in Foundation Establishment even in an earth fire room. How could I, who prepared a separate cultivation room and consumed a lot of supplementary pills, fail! I should have known that this Senior Uncle’s disciple had extraordinary talent.”

If Han Li had heard his conclusion, he would have scoffed. When Han Li used the teleportation array to leave the Evil Ogre Hall, the guard had changed again.

Otherwise, they would have been shocked that a Qi Condensation disciple had suddenly succeeded in Foundation Establishment and left.

Flying into the sky on his magic tool, he felt incredibly refreshed. At the same time, he recalled the moment he had succeeded in Foundation Establishment.

Five months ago, after succeeding in refining the Foundation Establishment Pills, he had carefully considered the matter and decided that the earth fire room seemed suitable for Foundation Establishment.

At least, there was no chance that someone would interrupt and ruin his efforts. So, having made up his mind, he consumed one of the Foundation Establishment Pills he already possessed and began to absorb its effects through cultivation.

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