Immortality begins with Becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster

If that’s the case, the first two stages are focused respectively on humans and demons, then the third stage is very likely centered on the Demon Race.

In this way, the problem arises.

Luo Chen is very familiar with the Human Clan and the Demon Clan.

But the Demon Race...

”Thinking too far ahead, better focus on the present!”

Taking a deep breath, Luo Chen picked up the jade slip again, pondering over it repeatedly.

How to bridge the gap in combat power between humans and demons under the same realm?

Only by grasping the essence of the problem can one apply the right remedy and target pill refinement accordingly.

...

As time slowly passed, a few days later, Luo Chen faintly started to piece together some insights.

The so-called difference between humans and demons actually lies not in physical attributes, but in wisdom and soul.

Humans are born with a short lifespan.

To seek longevity, they are compelled to exhaust their minds in studying the Great Dao Path.

The use of external things is essentially an extension of wisdom.

But the Demon Clan is different; most demon beasts are born with long years, which means they don’t have such an urgent need for cultivation.

Thus, the cultivation path of the Demon Clan from the beginning is not oriented towards the divine soul but in the accumulation of sheer power itself.

It is precisely due to this difference in starting points that the subsequent cultivation paths of humans and demons diverge more and more.

Although humans practice Qi Refinement, they put more emphasis on the divine soul, so when reaching higher realms, the physical body and Qi Power are less important than the divine soul. For example, Han Zhan, even if his physical body is destroyed, can still exist long in the world.

But the Demon Clan, relying on their massive bodies, will accumulate terrifying amounts of Spirit Qi within them, and can even condense Monster Pills before humans reach the Second Order.

It’s important to know that humans can only condense a Golden Core during the Golden Core Period.

Comparing power to work, demons actually start off instinctively utilizing tools.

”My initial intuitive feeling was wrong.”

”Due to their innate physical advantage, the Demon Clan instinctually rely on external power from the beginning, neglecting the essential tempering of the divine soul, leading to falling behind step by step.”

”However, power needs the wisdom of the divine soul to control; possessing overwhelming demonic power yet being unable to handle it skillfully, or even incapable of using tools to multiply the output, thus making them inferior to humans of the same order.”

”To change this, the divine soul must be strengthened.”

After clarifying this point, Luo Chen gradually sorted out a thread from the tangled lines.

The ability to ”solve the problem” so quickly was thanks to Luo Chen’s long-term interactions with the Black King and Tian Xuan.

Especially Tian Xuan, Luo Chen even personally examined her body and tailored a cultivation technique.

It can be said, among contemporary human cultivators, Luo Chen definitely ranks among the top in terms of understanding demons.

Now that the problem is solved, solving the question becomes simple.

He indeed knows how to refine elixirs to strengthen the divine soul, and he even has some at hand!

With a flicker of Spirit Light between his fingers, a Second-order Superior Tongyou Pill appeared in his hand.

Luo Chen observed the changes around him.

No changes.

”Hmm?”

”Could it be that to sense the results of the assessment, it must be within the Pill Room?”

Hesitating, Luo Chen went to the Pill Room.

But even after taking out the Tongyou Pill, there was still no change.

That weakly disguised voice did not appear.

”What does this mean?” Luo Chen’s expression turned grim.

Could it be that the answers he brought don’t count?

The Tongyou Pill is not exclusively for immortal cultivators; he even had Tian Xuan try it, and it was indeed effective!

Feeling restless, Luo Chen returned to the study once more.

His gaze swept over the shelves, paused, and finally returned to the jade slip on the desk.

Divine consciousness penetrated into it, and the question once again echoed in his ear.

”Could it be, I went off-topic?”

...

Unable to find the answer, after another day of deep contemplation, Luo Chen chose to start over from the beginning.

What does it mean to start over?

Naturally, it means reading the bamboo slips on the shelves in the study.

Compared to the first stage, the bamboo slips of the second stage were significantly less numerous.

Not reaching ten thousand volumes, only a few thousand volumes.

Moreover, the content was no longer solely documenting herb information. To Luo Chen’s delight, he discovered some unique Pill Techniques inscribed on them.

Yes, the Pill Technique!

Like Luo Chen’s initial Simplicity Hand and Breaking Jade Hand, these types of Pill Techniques.

They are different from Pill Refinement Methods; techniques are a small path, focusing more on the handling of ingredients.

Various Pill Techniques target various ingredients.

For example, Simplicity Hand excels at handling Wood Type ingredients, such as those that must not touch the ground or be contaminated.

Breaking Jade Hand and Star Taking Hand are skilled in handling Earth Type mineral ingredients, some pills using jade as material require them.

In his early years, Luo Chen learned many basic Pill Techniques, but as time went on, he acquired fewer basic techniques.

The last time he learned a new technique was when Mu Yunyan from the Luo Yun Sect exchanged and taught him the Juniper Heron Hand.

This time, the several Pill Techniques that Luo Chen acquired pleasantly surprised him.

Qi Control Technique specializes in processing various ”Spirit Qi-type” ingredients.

What are Spirit Qi-type ingredients?

Some pills rely not only on the ingredients themselves but also require a large amount of special Spirit Qi to be introduced before completion.

However, the world’s Spirit Qi is mixed, rarely singular and pure like that in the Five Elements Heaven.

Unless it’s something like the Top Grade Spirit Stone, which contains a large amount of singular Spirit Qi.

Obviously, no Pill Refiner would be willing to use Top Grade Spirit Stones for pill refinement.

In such cases, the Spirit Qi has to be guided from the outer world, relying on arrays to filter and shield, introducing a specific kind of Spirit Qi separately.

But no matter how good the array is, there will be omissions.

Just like an Immortal Cultivator during cultivation, even with a single Heavenly Spirit Root, other attribute Spirit Qi will be passively absorbed into the body. This situation has both pros and cons: the advantage is that a single Spirit Root user can use techniques of other attributes; the downside is that it affects cultivation speed.

Back to the topic, Qi Control Technique is precisely a method that can accurately distinguish Heaven and Earth Qi and harvest it into medicine.

Mastering this technique proficiently would be a qualitative leap for Luo Chen’s Pill Refinement Technique.

It would even have considerable benefits for cultivation.

In addition to Qi Control Technique, there are Na Guang Method and Wu Xiang Hand, which Luo Chen found profound at first glance.

According to the records on the bamboo slips, the Na Guang Method can capture various natural light into medicine, truly mysterious.

The Wu Xiang Hand is said to harness the void without form, allowing some phantasmal, non-material existences to be refined into medicine. What constitutes phantasmal, non-material existences?

The bamboo slips simply listed a few, such as the seven emotions and six desires, resentment, separations, etc.

These descriptions were indeed absorbing for Luo Chen, even opening his eyes.

Can emotions be used as ingredients to refine pills?

Of course, such incredible Pill Techniques require extremely high cultivation demands, and Luo Chen can’t learn them in a short time; he can only remember them firmly.

During this process of reading numerous books, Luo Chen gradually developed a new understanding of the test left by the Refining Heaven Demon Monarch.

On this day.

Sitting at the desk, Luo Chen pondered for a long time before slowly picking up the pen.

Writing down the names of various ingredients.

”Previously, I misunderstood, thinking the solution was to address the difference between humans and demons, and strengthening the Divine Soul was enough.”

”In fact, due to the long lifespan, the accumulation over time, the Divine Soul endowment of Demon Beasts is indeed not inferior to strong humans of the same rank.”

”The reason for their weakness lies not in quantity, but in quality!”

”Their enormous Divine Soul, due to the wear and tear of time, has become muddled and unsightly; even taking form, it is not as refined as the human Divine Soul.”

”To solve this problem, the focus should not be on strengthening the soul but on purification.”

”According to the bamboo slips in the study, Dan Hun Herb has the effect of purging the soul and clearing the mind, using it as the main ingredient might result in a corresponding soul-purifying elixir, and as auxiliary ingredients, Chi Xia Flower, Lan Gui Vine... If this pill succeeds, I may benefit from it as well.”

”Simply purging the soul is not enough; the demon cultivation method is always crude, leaving them with a massive Divine Soul endowment yet weak due to the mixed Qi Power. Therefore, refining the demonic power of Demon Cultivators is essential. In this regard, I can use the Spirit Pill often used by Immortal Cultivators as a blueprint to create a pure demonic power pill formula specifically for the Demon Clan.”

...

”Di Qi, Dang Hun, these two pills are my answers to this test!”

A year later.

In the pill room, Luo Chen held a black and white pill in each hand, and loudly declared.

This time, the weak voice slowly reappeared.

”Di Qi Pill, pill formed as Third-Order Lower Grade, can aid Demon Cultivators in pure Qi Power.”

”Dang Hun Pill, pill formed as Third-Order Lower Grade, can help Demon Cultivators clear the mind, stabilize their nature, and purify the Divine Soul.”

”Examination result: excellent, passed!”

With confidence, Luo Chen smiled slightly, clenching the two pills in his hand.

Before him, the scene started to twist and collapse.

In and out of reality, his figure gradually appeared on a mountain peak.

And at the bottom of the mountain, an elderly woman was hard at work gathering Spirit Fruit.

In an instant, their gazes collided.