Eternal Life from the Golden Needle Technique

Chapter 346: Chapter 343: Half a Year’s Results

The time was right.

Just as Shen Changchuan had raised his Tier One Alchemy Skill to 60% progress, the hundred thousand Spirit Stones he obtained from his mission had been exchanged for a massive corresponding batch of Spirit Medicine through Dawan Village’s channels.

With all the conditions ripe, there was no better time to begin.

The Tier One Alchemy Skill he had received as a mission reward came with three Pill Formulas.

They were for the Qi Introduction Pill, the Concentration Qi Pill, and the Cyan Jade Pill.

As it happened,

Shen Changchuan had taken all three of these Elixirs

back when he was in the Qi Introduction Realm.

Among them, the Qi Introduction Pill was the mainstream Elixir used for Cultivation at the Qi Introduction Fourth or Fifth Layer Realm.

The Concentration Qi Pill aided a Cultivator’s breakthrough from the Qi Introduction Sixth Layer Peak to the Qi Introduction Seventh Layer, helping them complete the transition from the Qi Introduction Middle Stage to the Late Stage.

As for the Cyan Jade Pill,

it was the primary Elixir used for Cultivation by those in the Qi Introduction Late Stage.

Speaking of which,

Shen Changchuan had once made a special trip to Qing City just to purchase it.

Of the three Pill Formulas,

Shen Changchuan ultimately chose the Qi Introduction Pill as the first Elixir he would practice refining.

He had no choice;

a Tier One Alchemy Skill at 60% progress was still a bit too low.

And although he had some foundation,

having received the Basic Alchemy Technique and a few Low Tier Pill Formulas from Nangong City back in the Qi Introduction Realm,

from all his past experience,

the most difficult Elixir Shen Changchuan had ever refined was merely the Qi Union Pill.

That was the supplementary Elixir for breaking through from the Qi Introduction Realm Third Layer Peak to the Fourth Layer.

’I’ll start with the easy one and work my way up. Anyway, with the progress bar panel, I can always grind it up bit by bit!’

Having come to this realization,

Shen Changchuan immediately began the hands-on practice of Alchemy.

「In the blink of an eye, another half year had passed.」

During these six months,

by painstakingly grinding Alchemy, Shen Changchuan had successfully raised his Tier One Alchemy Skill to 85% progress.

At the same time,

on the progress bar panel, under the Alchemy section,

his refining progress for the Qi Introduction Pill, Concentration Qi Pill, and Cyan Jade Pill had reached approximately 90%, 81%, and 70%, respectively.

And to achieve this,

Shen Changchuan had used up the entire massive batch of Heavenly and Earthly Treasures he had bought with one hundred thousand Spirit Stones!

’The cost of training an Alchemist is just insane!’

Gazing at the panel, at the Alchemy-related progress bars he had ground for half a year without any of them reaching Perfection, and then mentally calculating his expenses, Shen Changchuan couldn’t help but be flabbergasted.

Half a year,

one hundred thousand Spirit Stones spent, and this was all he had to show for it.

If he had invested all that into cultivating Magic,

he would have likely gained two or three hundred more Perfection Level Skills!

He might have even been able to use the practice to naturally advance to the Soul Emergence Second Layer!

The progress in Alchemy, however,

was truly unsatisfying.

The success rate of refining an Elixir was: Tier One Alchemy Skill progress x corresponding Elixir progress.

In other words,

Shen Changchuan’s current success rates for refining the Qi Introduction Pill, Concentration Qi Pill, and Cyan Jade Pill were 75%, 68%, and 60%, respectively.

This just went to show

how incredibly difficult it was to improve one’s Alchemy skill!

Moreover,

this was with his progress bar panel permanently locking in his gains!

It was hard to imagine

how high a price an ordinary Cultivator would have to pay to learn Alchemy!

’No wonder Elixirs are so expensive, becoming an ’exclusive cheat’ for the children of wealthy families.’

’Training a single Alchemist costs a mountain of gold and silver!’

’If they succeed, it’s fine. Even with a mere twenty or thirty percent success rate, thanks to the nearly tenfold price gap between the raw materials and the finished product, they can still make most of it back.’

’But if they fail, that mountain-of-gold-and-silver investment is washed completely down the drain!’

’Without the visual aid of the progress bar panel, most ordinary people would fall into the category of those who can’t succeed...’

Shen Changchuan couldn’t help but shake his head.

In the past, when he spent large amounts of Spirit Stones on expensive Elixirs, he too had cursed Alchemists and their associated guilds for being greedy.

Now that he had tried it firsthand and understood the difficulty, he was more understanding.

Of course,

this change of heart had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he was about to make a fortune with Alchemy!

’A sixty to seventy percent success rate is more than enough for me to earn a lot of Spirit Stones!’

’Alright, now I can start making plans!’

’Time is tight. I don’t have time to grind Alchemy all the way to 100%!’

Shen Changchuan brought his focus back to the present.

Recalling the current situation, he couldn’t help but sigh internally.

Over the years, grinding one Skill after another to 100% Perfection with his panel

had turned him into something of a perfectionist.

But at this moment,

he could no longer afford to spend so much time and energy grinding Alchemy to 100%.

During his half-year career of arduous Alchemy practice,

he had not been oblivious to the world outside.

Just a month ago,

the masters of the twelve Immortal Cultivation Cities in the Tian Nan Domain, including Tian Nan City, had sent their representatives as envoys to gather at the Dragon Cloud Sect.

Among them,

the Shen Family Ancestor from Tian Nan City, the Nangong Ancestor of the Nangong Clan from Luoshui City, and the Supreme Ancestor of the Ancient Sword Sect from Yangshan City—the three Divine Travel Realm experts of the Tian Nan Domain—

had all personally come to the Dragon Cloud Sect Mountain Gate

for a closed-door meeting with his master, Master Wandering Dragon!

A tense atmosphere, like the calm before a storm, quickly enveloped the entire Tian Nan Domain!

Countless Cultivators in the Tian Nan Domain faintly felt a layer of oppressive, dark clouds gathering overhead.

A repressive atmosphere,

fell over the world.

Discussions broke out everywhere.

Sensing something was wrong, Shen Changchuan naturally went to inquire about the situation.

He then learned from his senior brother, Hong Yang,

that several months ago,

an order had come down from the Yuqing Immortal Sect:

all the powers in the Tian Nan Domain were to prepare for an expedition to conquer the Nanyue Kingdom!

This news

undoubtedly left Shen Changchuan stunned on the spot.

He didn’t know why the Yuqing Immortal Sect would issue such an order, or why such a major event was occurring, and Senior Brother Hong Yang hadn’t explained.

But Shen Changchuan knew one thing for certain:

once a great war began,

life and death would no longer be in his own hands!

Although Senior Brother Hong Yang had comforted him and told him not to worry, promising that he would not let Shen Changchuan set foot on the battlefield before he himself had fallen, Shen Changchuan’s worries were not the least bit lessened.

His Cultivation was merely at the Soul Emergence First Layer Late Stage.

And although he could fight a Soul Emergence Third Layer Realm Cultivator to a standstill with his Divine Seed and Perfection Tier Two Skills, on the battlefield,

his situation was only slightly better than that of the cannon fodder from the Qi Introduction Realm.

But,

he was still weak!

On the battlefield, he would face the danger of death at any moment!

Putting aside everything else,

if he were to once again encounter Deng Xin—the Soul Emergence Fourth Layer Demon Cultivator from deep within the Demon Beast Forest he’d met half a year ago—

he wasn’t confident he could survive the encounter!