Qing Yuanzi suppressed the shock in his heart, knowing that now was absolutely not the time to be distracted.

He controlled the crimson flames to burn to their extreme while releasing his ‘Infant Fire’ from within his body, adding it to the crimson flames.

This scene made Yang Che, who had been observing carefully and intently from the side, instantly light up, and he quickly and silently memorized this operation.

Inside the silver cauldron, after the essence fused with the purple sky fungus, essence stabilizing fruit, and other medicinal liquid essences, it became increasingly viscous, and in the flames, it slowly began to form the Prototype of a Medicinal Pill.

Yang Che was extremely clear that this next step greatly tested the Alchemist’s Divine Sense and experience.

The timing for the formation of the Medicinal Pill needed to be grasped just right.

Otherwise, if it was even a moment too fast, the Core Formation would fail, or even if a Medicinal Pill could be formed, its medicinal power would be far from enough.

And if it was even a moment too slow, the Medicinal Pill would very likely turn into a waste Medicinal Pill.

Time slowly passed, and Qing Yuanzi’s expression had gradually calmed down, entering a strange state.

Seeing this, Yang Che knew that Qing Yuanzi’s Alchemy state of mind must have improved again.

Clearly, the process of forming the Essence Stabilizing Pill was extremely slow.

And the slower the Medicinal Pill formation process, the more it tested the Alchemist’s state of mind.

Although Yang Che did not personally refine it, just observing from the side made him feel greatly benefited.

Ten days later.

Yang Che clearly noticed a hint of fatigue on Qing Yuanzi’s face.

It seemed that continuously releasing Infant Fire, even for a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator like Qing Yuanzi, was starting to feel tiring.

This was why Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fire was something all Alchemists and Artifact Refiners yearned for.

A Cultivator’s own True Fire, Pill Fire, Infant Fire, etc., would gradually become unstable as their magical power was consumed, making it more difficult to succeed in refining higher-grade Medicinal Pills that required longer periods of time.

Fortunately, at present, for Qing Yuanzi, Infant Fire was only auxiliary; the crimson flames, which were close to Spiritual Fire, remained very stable.

Another five days passed.

Yang Che suddenly heard a clear hum coming from within the silver cauldron again.

Qing Yuanzi was ecstatic; at this moment, he almost pushed his cultivation to the limit, and his Divine Sense, without any reservations, surged entirely into the cauldron.

“Condense!”

With a soft shout from Qing Yuanzi, the flames around the silver cauldron trembled violently, and at this moment, the temperature also climbed to its extreme.

But in an instant, all these flames disappeared.

Immediately, a fragrant medicinal aroma wafted from within the cauldron, instantly invigorating Yang Che.

He looked over and saw a dark green Medicinal Pill, the size of a thumb pad, suspended inside the cauldron, spinning continuously.

Qing Yuanzi quickly took out a jade box and lightly patted the cauldron’s body.

As the silver cauldron trembled, the dark green Medicinal Pill flew out from within and was perfectly collected into the jade box.

Qing Yuanzi’s face still showed excitement; he said with a hint of disbelief, “This Old Man actually refined a two-Pattern Medicinal Pill! This Essence Stabilizing Pill truly lives up to its name; it is indeed an extremely rare Medicinal Pill.”

As Qing Yuanzi spoke, he handed the jade box containing the ‘Essence Stabilizing Pill’ to Yang Che and continued, “Young friend, thanks to you, this Old Man’s Dao of Alchemy has improved again. After this Old Man rests for a few days and adjusts his spirit, Qi, and Divine Sense to their best state, I will continue to refine the next one.”

With that, Qing Yuanzi immediately sat down cross-legged on the spot, took out a Medicinal Pill, consumed it, and quickly began to meditate and recover.

Yang Che, holding the Medicinal Pill, walked out of the Bronze Hall with excitement and arrived in front of the ‘Purple King Pavilion’.

“Zi Yin, Senior Qing Yuanzi actually succeeded in refining the Essence Stabilizing Pill on his first try.”

Yang Che, unable to hide his excitement, handed the jade box containing the Essence Stabilizing Pill to Tianxie Ziyin.

Tianxie Ziyin took it, opened it, and a hint of surprise appeared on her face as well: “A two-Pattern Medicinal Pill? No wonder this ‘Essence Stabilizing Pill’ is so highly praised by Sword Four Peak Master Zhang.”

Upon hearing this, Yang Che suddenly felt a little suspicious.

He was very aware of Zi Yin’s arrogance, but whenever she mentioned Old Ancestor Old Man, her tone always seemed very solemn, without the slightest hint of disdain.

However, this suspicion was quickly overshadowed by excitement; after all, the Essence Stabilizing Pill was already before him, and he could finally begin his Sprint to Core Formation.

But Yang Che still suppressed his impatient excitement and asked in confusion, “Zi Yin, what is this two-Pattern Medicinal Pill…?”

“Take it and look closely.”

Tianxie Ziyin handed the Medicinal Pill back to Yang Che.

Yang Che took it and observed it carefully, finding two complete and interconnected strange patterns on the Medicinal Pill, which were very obvious.

Tianxie Ziyin said, “In this Cultivation World, whether the Lower Realm or the Upper Realm, truly excellent Medicinal Pills that can be classified as graded are those with Medicinal Texture on them. For example, this Essence Stabilizing Pill, with two complete circles of Medicinal Texture on it, is a second-grade Medicinal Pill.”

“Then how many grades are there in total?”

“Medicinal Texture from one to nine correspond to grades one to nine, respectively. And there’s also the legendary full-Texture Medicinal Pill, which is tenth-grade.”

“Since there are ten grades, then this second-grade Medicinal Pill seems to…”

Yang Che subconsciously thought that since there were one to ten grades, a second-grade seemed a bit low.

Tianxie Ziyin, however, quickly interrupted him with a light snort, saying, “What do you, a mere insect, know? If all the Medicinal Pills in this Cultivation World were put together, less than one-tenth of them could even be classified as graded. Think about it, over ninety percent of Medicinal Pills can’t even be graded. How precious do you think a graded Medicinal Pill truly is then? You can imagine, right?”

Upon hearing this, Yang Che’s eyes narrowed, and he was deeply shocked.

Over ninety percent of all Medicinal Pills in the Cultivation World cannot be graded!

If that were the case, let alone a second-grade Medicinal Pill, even a first-grade one would probably be something Cultivators would desperately fight over.

However, Yang Che had a sudden thought and felt a chill run down his spine.

He only needed a second-grade Essence Stabilizing Pill for Core Formation, so what if he wanted to form a Nascent Soul, or even Soul Transformation…

Thinking of this, Yang Che couldn’t help but feel a bitter taste in his mouth.

However, he was not someone who aimed too high; he quickly cast this bitter sorrow aside and prepared to focus on the Core Formation at hand.

Tianxie Ziyin naturally saw something from Yang Che’s expression, so she said calmly, “There’s no rush to Sprint Core Formation. It will be more stable if we wait until Qing Yuanzi refines the second Essence Stabilizing Pill before we start.”

Yang Che nodded, turned back to the Bronze Hall, and also sat down cross-legged, beginning to carefully re-enact the process of Qing Yuanzi refining the Essence Stabilizing Pill over and over in his mind.

Two days later.

Qing Yuanzi had recovered his spirit, Qi, and Divine Sense.

With the experience and insights from the previous refinement of the Essence Stabilizing Pill, coupled with his increased caution and meticulousness, the second Essence Stabilizing Pill was also successfully refined half a month later.

However, what puzzled Yang Che greatly was that this time, the Essence Stabilizing Pill only had one circle of Medicinal Texture, meaning this Essence Stabilizing Pill was first-grade.

Later, when he asked about his confusion, and Qing Yuanzi explained it in detail, Yang Che finally realized.

It turned out that for the same type of Medicinal Pill, if it was already a graded Medicinal Pill, then within its inherent maximum grade, there could still be some differences in the refined product based on the Alchemist’s skill level, as well as external factors and luck.

For example, Qing Yuanzi speculated that this Essence Stabilizing Pill likely had a grade higher than second-grade, but with his current skill level and the Alchemy cauldron and flames he possessed, he could only refine first-grade and second-grade ones.

…

Sha E took Qing Yuanzi away, while Yang Che, holding two Essence Stabilizing Pills, finally began his Sprint to Core Formation with the help of Tianxie Ziyin.