"Please give me the ingredients for ten portions of the Qi Condensation Pill."

Upon entering the alchemy shop, Qin Xin spoke directly to the shop assistant.

Although the formula for the Condensing Aperture Pill is rare, many alchemists possess it. It is also one of the essential pills for martial artists in the Aperture Opening Realm. Almost everyone knows the medicinal materials needed to refine the pill; otherwise, Xia Yue would not have been so polite in giving the formula to Qin Xin. It was simply a favor she was doing him.

However, what Qin Xin mainly wanted was the steps and insights into refining pills. Refining pills based on other people's insights could save him a lot of trouble. The pill formula also contained the best methods for purifying spiritual herbs and the things to pay attention to when combining spiritual herbs of different attributes.

"oh!"

A very reluctant voice came out, as if working in this alchemy shop was something they were forced to do.

"Huh? Longmu, what are you doing here?"

Seeing the clerk of the pill shop leisurely going to get the medicinal herbs, Qin Xin looked at the small figure and realized that it was Long Mu, whom he had met on his way back to the Eastern Wilderness Academy. But what he didn't expect was that he had run into Long Mu, who had left before entering Black Dragon City, in the pill shop and had even become a clerk there.

"Qin Xin!"

When Longmu saw someone he recognized, his previously listless expression immediately turned into one of excitement.

"Here are the ingredients for these twenty portions of the Condensing Aperture Pill."

Longmu generously helped Qin Xin pack the ingredients for twenty portions of Condensing Aperture Pills, many of which were precious spiritual herbs.

"This...isn't that a bad idea?"

Qin Xin was hesitant to accept the medicinal herbs that Long Mu had suddenly sent.

“Take it if I give it to you. It’s all that old geezer’s stuff anyway. If you refine too much, you can give me some, but it would be best to put some sweet elixirs in it. I don’t like bitter ones.”

Longmu waved his chubby little hands, looking completely unconcerned.

"Alright! But how did you end up as a servant in this pill shop?"

Qin Xin couldn't refuse, so he put the medicinal herbs into his Qiankun bag. If he were to buy these twenty portions of medicinal herbs, it would cost at least 20,000 points, and he might not even be able to buy them. However, he was still curious about Long Mu's presence here.

"Hmph! I just ate some elixirs and got caught by that old geezer, and now he's making me work for him here."

On Longmu's small face was a hint of dissatisfaction, but this dissatisfaction stemmed more from the fact that he had been caught off guard.

After comforting Longmu for a while, Qin Xin realized that Longmu was working here. He would occasionally grab a handful of spiritual herbs and stuff them into his mouth. Moreover, many of these spiritual herbs were of the third or fourth grade, which made Qin Xin feel a little pained. He also made some guesses about the identity of this humanoid spirit beast, since this pill shop was opened by the academy.

To avoid seeing Longmu continue wasting the spiritual herbs, Qin Xin made an excuse and left the alchemy shop to return to his courtyard. Longmu, seemingly confined by the old man he mentioned, could only stay in the alchemy shop. He felt a little reluctant to see Qin Xin leave.

~~~~~~

In the cultivation room of the small courtyard, heat waves continuously surged from the two black iron pill furnaces.

After leaving the alchemy shop, it was getting late. Qin Xin returned to his courtyard and went straight into the cultivation room to begin studying how to refine the Condensing Aperture Pill.

Qin Xin was staring at his palm, where a jade-like pill, about the size of a thumb, was emitting a faint medicinal fragrance.

This jade-like pill is the Qi Condensation Pill given to me by Xia Yue.

"The pill was made using crude techniques, and the medicinal power was not fully locked in during the condensation process. The person who made it must have been a fourth-grade alchemist."

Danqing directly evaluated the Qi Condensation Pill, his words full of dissatisfaction: "If one were to take this Qi Condensation Pill directly, I think it would only increase the success rate of Qi Condensation by two levels."

"Then, teacher, could you help me refine one?" Qin Xin replied in his mind, wanting Danqing to help.

"Dream on! I've corrected some errors in this pill formula for you. If you refine it this way, the success rate will increase by 50%, and the efficacy will be twice as good as before," Danqing said casually, directly refusing to be Qin Xin's laborer.

"Twice, that means the success rate of condensing the aperture increases by four levels!" Qin Xin said in surprise.

It should be understood that it is already extremely difficult for a martial artist in the Qi Opening Realm to condense their Qi. Increasing the success rate by 10% is already a rare opportunity for a martial artist. If the success rate could be increased by four percent, and if martial artists in the Qi Opening Realm knew about it, they would probably snatch up all the Qi Condensation Pills in one go.

"Try refining it first. Ask me if you don't understand anything." After saying this, Danqing began to rest and transmitted the improved pill formula information into Qin Xin's mind.

Sensing the information in his mind, Qin Xin frowned deeply. This Condensing Aperture Pill was a third-grade pill, requiring eight kinds of spiritual herbs to refine. Among them were Water Spirit Lotus Seed, Pill Spirit Elixir, Gastrodia Jade Essence, Fire Spirit Root, Jade Marrow Ganoderma, Bone Spirit Fruit, Gathering Qi Grass, and Condensing Spirit Flower. These herbs had different properties and might cause a repulsive reaction when fused, leading to pill refinement failure. It required alchemists to have extremely high control over flames, and even ordinary third-grade alchemists did not have much confidence when refining this pill.

As for the formula for the Condensing Aperture Pill, it had already turned into a pile of black powder. Because the method of making this formula was special, it could only be detected once and then automatically destroyed. This was also a means to prevent the formula from being leaked.

Qin Xin was quite confident in purifying the medicinal power of spiritual herbs, and he had put a lot of effort into this aspect. In addition, his powerful soul perception allowed him to detect the subtle changes in the spiritual herbs in the alchemy furnace.

Before long, Qin Xin had completed the purification of the medicinal properties of the eight herbs and put them into separate medicine bottles.

The next step made Qin Xin take a deep breath. He was already among the top second-grade alchemists, with a success rate of 80% in refining second-grade pills. However, this did not mean that Qin Xin could easily refine third-grade pills.

Although the two types of pills differ by only one grade, the amount of true energy consumed in the process of refining them is completely different.

Qin Xin put a Qi-restoring pill in his mouth for future use, and with a light tap of his finger, the second-grade pill furnace in front of him, a black iron furnace, began to rise in a pale yellow light.

Qin Xin focused his gaze entirely on the alchemy furnace, occasionally waving his hand to toss the refined medicinal liquid into it. He then perfectly controlled the temperature of the flames by converting the two types of true energy, wood and fire, and slowly fused the pure medicinal power together according to the method recorded in the improved information on the Condensing Aperture Pill.

"Sizzle...!"

The combination of different medicinal properties produced a continuous series of sounds.

As a fluctuation emanated from the alchemy furnace, Qin Xin frowned deeply and swallowed the Qi-restoring pill in his mouth.