Chapter 236: Initial Dabbles in Immortal Pills
Half a month later.
In the central region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range was a very-strange looking lone mountain. The top and bottom of the mountain were round and full, but the middle of the mountain was tapered, thereby giving it the appearance of a giant gourd.
The mountain was fittingly named Gourd Peak, and just like the Imperial Dragon Peak, it was also one of the most important mountains in the entire Blaze Dragon Dao.
The mountain wasn't very precarious, and it was less than 10,000 feet tall. At the foot of the mountain was an extremely fine spirit spring that was sufficient to nurture all of the living beings on the mountain. As a result, all of the plant life on the mountain was green and vibrant all year round.
The entire mountain was enveloped within an extremely secure protective array that was constantly activated. Hence, any elders or disciples who wanted to enter the mountain, regardless of whether they were from the inner or outer sect, could only do so through the teleportation hall at the foot of the mountain.
The reason why this mountain was so tightly guarded was because almost all of the pills in the entire Blaze Dragon Dao came from this mountain, and it was also home to all of the pill refinement masters in the sect.
Of course, earthly pill masters who were capable of refining pills fit for consumption for immortals were the most revered figures on the Gourd Peak.
If an early-True Immortal cultivator were to progress at the normal rate of cultivation, it would take anywhere between centuries to tens of thousands of years to open up a single immortal acupoint, and each successive immortal acupoint was only going to be more difficult to open. However, if they had access to the appropriate pills to aid them in their cultivation, then that timeframe could be severely shortened.
However, in order to refine pills of that caliber, spirit medicines that were tens of thousands of years old had to be used as the main ingredient, and even the supplementary ingredients were extremely rare and precious. To make matters even worse, even a seasoned Earthly Pill Master's pill refinement success rate when it came to refining pills of this caliber was generally pitifully low.
This was why only normally major sects or prominent cultivating powers could afford to nurture Earthly Pill Masters.
At this moment, Han Li was emerging from the teleportation hall near the Gourd Peak, and he arrived at the foot of the mountain before making his way into a golden palace.
The palace was closely connected to the array that encompassed the entirety of Gourd Peak, and it was the only entrance into the mountain.
After having his identity verified, Han Li stepped straight into a teleportation array at the center of the palace, then vanished on the spot amid a flash of white light.
Shortly thereafter, he appeared in a red palace on the mountain summit.
The interior layout of the palace appeared to have been no different from that of a mortal drugstore, with a counter at the front and apothecary cabinets at the back. The only difference was that there were clear restrictions placed upon the cabinet grids that contained earthly pills.
There were very few people in the hall, only a pair of attendant elders and several inner sect elders who had come to purchase pills.
As soon as Han Li came in, he was approached by a friendly-looking middle-aged attendant elder, who said, "My name is Ye Nanfeng, and I'm an attendant here at the Immortal Medicine Pavilion. Can I help you with something, Fellow Daoist?"
"My name is Li Feiyu, and I would like to purchase some pills that can aid me in my cultivation," Han Li replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"I see. In that case, allow me to recommend a few types of pills to you, Fellow Daoist Li," Ye Nanfeng said with a smile.
"Thank you," Han Li replied with a nod.
"Given your current cultivation base, the most commonly used pill to aid in your cultivation would be this Origin Unifying Pill. Each vial contains 10 pills and only costs 200 merit points. If you want something a bit better, then you can try the Spirit Sign Pill. However, it'll also be a bit more expensive, costing 500 merit points for each vial of 10 pills," Ye Nanfeng introduced.
Han Li had already come into this mentally prepared, but he was still shocked by the prices of the pills.
Even after completing the three regular elder missions, he still hadn't managed to save up 500 merit points, so these pills were truly quite steep in price.
"This Spirit Sign Pill is truly not cheap," Han Li remarked with a wry smile.
"Of course. The only one in our entire sect capable of refining the Spirit Sign Pill is Master Hu Yan, so it's available in only very limited supply," Ye Nanfeng explained with a smile.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear the mention of "Master Hu Yan" in this context.
Could it be that the erratic old drunkard was also a high-grade Earthly Pill Master?
"If neither of those two types of pills are to your liking, then you can try this Spring Rain Pill. It's a little cheaper than the Spirit Sign Pill, but it's more efficacious than the Origin Unifying Pill, giving you the best value for your money," Ye Nanfeng continued.
"Elder Ye, may I ask if any pill recipes are sold in the Immortal Medicine Pavilion?" Han Li suddenly asked.
Ye Nanfeng faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "Could it be that you're planning to refine pills for yourself, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"Not at all. I just so happen to know someone who recently became an Earthly Pill Master, and he agreed to refine pills for me as long as I can provide him with the recipes and spirit ingredients," Han Li replied.
Ye Nanfeng clearly wanted to dissuade Han Li from this course of action, but ultimately held his tongue.
Han Li knew that Ye Nanfeng wanted to tell him that as opposed to purchasing pill recipes and ingredients and counting on someone else, it was a much better idea to simply purchase the pills directly.
In the end, Ye Nanfeng decided not to offer any words of advice, and he replied, "Both the recipes for the Origin Unifying Pill and the Spring Rain Pill are available for sale, but sales of the recipe for the Spirit Sign Pill are prohibited without express approval from Master Hu Yan."
"How many merit points will the two pill recipes cost?" Han Li asked.
"The recipe for the Origin Unifying Pill costs 50 merit points, while the recipe for the Spring Rain Pill costs 150," Ye Nanfeng replied.
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing this, and he was wondering which recipe would be better for him to purchase.
Ye Nanfeng smiled as he reminded in a thoughtful manner, "I suggest you take a look at the ingredients required for the two pills to help you make your decision."
"That does sound like a good idea," Han Li replied with a nod.
Ye Nanfeng swept a sleeve through the air, and a burst of azure light flashed past, following which an azure book appeared.
After flipping briefly through some pages, he handed the book over to Han Li.
Han Li accepted the book and looked down to find that this particular page contained the list of ingredients required to refine the Spring Rain Pill.
"One 50,000-year-old Horned Dragon Herb, three 5,000-year-old Sea Splitting Flowers, a handful of Wind Bucket Sand..."
Han Li silently read out the names of the ingredients to himself one after another, and he discovered that out of the 15 spirit medicines required to refine this pill, the majority of them were high-grade spirit medicines of a very advanced age, with even the youngest of them all required to be at least 3,000 years of age.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li asked, "Elder Ye, may I ask how spirit medicines are sold in the Immortal Medicine Pavilion? Are they sold for merit points as well?"
"No. Aside from certain extremely precious spirit medicines that can only be purchased using Immortal Origin Stones, all of the other spirit medicines can be purchased with Immortal Origin Stones or top-grade spirit stones," Ye Nanfeng replied.
"How many spirit stones would it cost for me to purchase all of the ingredients required for a batch of Spring Rain Pills?" Han Li asked.
"The main ingredient, the Horned Dragon Herb, can only be purchased with Immortal Origin Stones, and the price is seven Immortal Origin Stones. As for all of the other ingredients, they add up to around 2,000 top-grade spirit stones, but of course, you can pay for them using Immortal Origin Stones as well," Ye Nanfeng repiled.
Han Li couldn't help but feel a little speechless upon hearing this. Even if he were to exhaust all of his Immortal Origin Stones and top-grade spirit stones, he wouldn't be able to purchase many sets of ingredients required for this pill at all.
With that in mind, he pinched the page of the book that he was currently on between his fingers to flip to the next page, but Ye Nanfeng interjected, "The recipe for the Origin Unifying Pill comes a little earlier in the book. You should be able to find it after flipping back a few pages."
Han Li did as he was told, and sure enough, it didn't take long for him to find the list of ingredients required to refine the Origin Unifying Pill.
As soon as his gaze fell upon the first ingredient, which was "one 50,000-year-old Blaze Tuber Herb", his eyes immediately lit up slightly.
This was the main ingredient required to refine the Origin Unifying Pill, and he just so happened to already have had a few of them planted in the spirit medicine field in his cave abode.Furthermore, all of them had been matured to the required age stipulated in the recipe.
He then directed his gaze to the dozen or so supplementary spirit medicines, but he wasn't as fortunate there, and all of those spirit medicines were ones that he hadn't planted.
"Aside from the Blaze Tuber Herb, how many spirit stones will be required to purchase all of the other spirit medicines?" Han Li asked.
"If we discount the Blaze Tuber Herb, the other spirit medicines will cost 1,200 top-grade spirit stones," Ye Nanfeng replied.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemplative expression.
He was only intending to purchase a pill recipe to make his first attempts at refining earthly pills, and he didn't know how many spirit medicines would go to waste during this process, so it definitely wasn't a good idea to pick the Spring Rain Pill, which had more expensive ingredients.
With that in mind, Han Li arrived at a decision. "I'll take the recipe for the Origin Unifying Pill."
"Alright, please give me your badge, Fellow Daoist," Ye Nanfeng requested.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce his elder badge, which he handed to Ye Nanfeng, and 50 merit points were deducted before the badge was returned to him along with a copy of the pill recipe.
After carefully inspecting the pill recipe for a moment, Han Li said, "In addition to the recipe, I'll need 10 batches of all of the spirit medicines required to refine the Origin Unifying Pill with the exception of the Blaze Tuber Herb."
After making this purchase, he would essentially have no spirit stones left.
Following the completion of the transaction, Han Li bade farewell to Ye Nanfeng, then left the Gourd Peak and returned straight to his cave abode.
……
Three months quickly passed by.
During this time, Han Li barely left his secret chamber at all, and he had dedicated all of his time and energy into studying the pill recipe. He carefully pondered every single step in the recipe, simulating the pill refinement process in extreme detail in his mind countless times.
Even though he was already quite a seasoned pill refinement master, all pill recipes carried countless minute differences from one another, and these disparities were often important factors contributing to one's pill refinement failures.
Hence, he wanted to have the pill recipe completely figured out before he attempted any pill refinement.
On this day, he finally made up his mind to attempt his first Origin Unifying Pill refinement.
Inside the secret chamber, there was an incense burner on the table behind the cushion. A stick of lit greenish-gray incense was protruding out of the burner, and smoke was billowing out from its smoldering tip, spreading a calming fragrance throughout the secret chamber.
Han Li's back was facing the table as he sat with his legs crossed on the cushion, and after meditating with his eyes closed for some time, he slowly reopened his eyes, having rid himself of all unnecessary thoughts.
On the ground in front of him was a purple copper cauldron that was around a foot in radius, and the surface of the cauldron was riddled with flame patterns and ancient runes. Beside the cauldron was a piece of azure silken fabric, upon which were placed the dozen or so ingredients required to refine the Origin Unifying Pill.
The cauldron was a treasure that he had obtained from the Origin Mirage Beast's cave abode, and it wasn't a treasure of a particularly high caliber, but it should've been enough to refine the Origin Unifying Pill.
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