Chapter 29: Spiritual Armament

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“This is the area where elders of the Alchemy Hall undergo refinement. If there’s nothing else, it’s best not to come over. The elders don’t like to be disturbed.”

“This is the place where the Alchemy Hall disciples refine pills. It’s best that you don’t go too close. This is because some disciples are still newbies. It’s very common for their furnace to explode.”

“This room is amazing. It’s the future Pill Chamber of your beautiful Senior Sister Little Four. When I become independent, I’ll refine pills here.”

On the way to register with Little Four, Jiang Li did not walk in a straight line. This kind and lively senior sister brought him around the area of the Alchemy Hall and introduced the layout and restrictions of this place to him.

“Senior Sister Little Four, in the Alchemy Hall, are there many Pill Chambers like our master’s?”

Jiang Li noticed that there were very few white rooms in the Pill Chamber area.

“Not many. The investment in creating a new pill formula is really too high. Although there is the support of the sect, it is also a huge pressure and challenge for the alchemist himself.”

“In our Scripture Storage Valley, there aren’t many alchemists who have the ability to create new pills. Our Master Red Hair is one of them. They don’t usually create pills.”

“Only when they have inspiration will they apply for resources from the sect to support their pill creation.”

“Creating pills isn’t always guaranteed to succeed. For example, Master Red Hair has already failed many times. Before I became his disciple, he seemed to have failed many times as well.”

Jiang Li’s eyes flickered.

“What about those failed pill formulas? Have they all been destroyed?” He asked tentatively.

“How is that possible? Although those pill formulas didn’t succeed, they’ve already paid an extremely great price. Even if they can’t eliminate the side effects in the end and can’t form a pill, it’s still a great reference to those who came later.”

“All the failed pill formulas that have been abandoned are stored in the Pill Chamber. If you want to see them, you can look at them too.”

Little Four’s reply made Jiang Li’s eyes light up. However, he did not show it on his face. He chatted and laughed along the way. In the end, he registered his name at the office of the Alchemy Hall.

The so-called registered disciple did not count as taking an actual master. Jiang Li was still an outer disciple now.

In fact, there were many registered disciples in the Alchemy Hall.

This meant that one of their abilities had caught the eye of an elder, and from there, the elder would take them under his wing and teach them.

Of course, in the Alchemy Hall, the vast majority of registered disciples were selected because of their talent in alchemy, whereas Jiang Li was selected because of his ‘Pill Testing’ talent.

However, the reason was not important. After registering, Jiang Li would be like the other disciples. In the future, he would be able to directly enter the Alchemy Hall and receive pill making lessons.

This was different from the marginal teaching methods taught by the elders of the Cultivation Hall. Only here could Jiang Li truly learn deep knowledge.

When he returned to the Pill Chamber, Elder Elder Red Hair was no longer there. It looked like he had gone to seek credit from the sect’s higher-ups with the new pill and formula.

However, there were a few things left on the long table.

Apart from the reward for Jiang Li today, there was also a pill robe, a pill book, and a small pill furnace.

“Junior Brother Jiang Li, Master left these for you.”

“This small cauldron was used by Master when he was young.”

‘Oh? Is there something special about this pill furnace?’ Jiang Li thought.

“Our senior brother used it before, and then I used it too. Now, Master is passing it to you.”

Jiang Li: Fine… I was dreaming.

“Senior Sister Little Four, can we go take a look at the old useless pill formulas?” Jiang Li suddenly asked.

“Useless pill formulas? What are you looking at those for? Don’t tell me you want to successfully improve the pill formulas? No way, no way. Even Master and the other elders didn’t succeed.”

Little Four waved her hands. She wanted to get rid of Jiang Li’s unrealistic thoughts.

“No, no. It’s just that you know, Senior Sister, the price of a completed pill formula is very expensive.”

“I’ve only just started learning how to refine pills, so I don’t need to succeed. I can first use the useless pill formula to accumulate some experience, right?”

Jiang Li came up with a reason. Little Four thought about it and felt that there was nothing wrong with it so she did not object anymore.

“I see. Alright then, follow me.”

Little Four brought him to a large room at the back.

The moment she opened the door, the strong smell of rotting paper assaulted his senses.

These were all useless pill formulas that were still in the testing stage. Very few of them had enough value to be stored in jade slips.

“Most of these here are Yellow-rank medicinal pills. The difficulty of refining these two bookshelves here is relatively low. You can pick one from here.”

Jiang Li’s lips were dry as he looked at the rows of bookshelves, as if he was looking at piles of glowing spirit stones.

Jiang Li searched for a long time before finally choosing a pill formula that he liked. He took out a pen and paper and started copying it from the side.

After a long time, Jiang Li compared the words again. After confirming that there were no mistakes, he put away the pill formula and left.

Jiang Li carried the small pill furnace back to the outer sect. When some people saw this, it drew quite a bit of envious attention.

Although a small pill furnace and an old one at that, the price of a pill furnace was probably over a hundred spirit stones.

This was already an extremely expensive price that ordinary outer sect disciples could not afford.

Moreover, buying a pill furnace naturally meant that he was practicing alchemy. This kind of sub-occupation that was sought after by everyone in the cultivation world, if he could have some achievements, he could even make a leap in the ranks of a low-level cultivator.

This was especially true for many cultivators with low-grade and inferior-grade spiritual roots. Their cultivation was basically hopeless, and only these secondary professions could possibly be the path they could walk down.

After returning to his room and placing the pill furnace on the table, Jiang Li closed the door and windows. After checking that no one was eavesdropping, he took out a porcelain bottle.

This was one of the products of the abandoned Experimental Hard Skin Pills.

After swapping it with the waste pills on Jiang Li, he brought them out.

At that time, after Jiang Li consumed the fourth experimental pill, his skin did not change at all. Therefore, he told the red-haired elder that it was a failure since nothing happened.

However, this was actually what appeared on his interface.

[Consumed Experimental Hard Skin Pill. Added Status: Hardened Absorption]

[Hardened Absorption: The skin hardens after absorbing spiritual qi. The extent of hardening is determined by the absorbed spiritual qi. Duration: 2 hours] (− +)

The effects of the previous medicinal pill had already passed. After Jiang Li consumed the medicinal pill, he waited quietly for a moment.

He then channeled a stream of spiritual qi into his palm.

The spiritual qi was quickly absorbed by the surface of his skin. Jiang Li felt his palm becoming harder and heavier, as if he was wearing a layer of armor.

Indeed, this was very interesting.

[Overdose of Experimental Hard Skin Pills. Added Status: Spiritual Armament. After the effect ends, skin petrification will occur.]

[Spiritual Armament: After the skin absorbs spiritual qi, it hardens. The absorption speed of spiritual qi increases. The extent of hardening is determined by the absorbed spiritual qi. Hardening effect is twice as much as Hardened Absorption. Duration: 2 hours] (− +)