Chapter 104: Second-Rank Alchemist Master

The bloodline ranks of demonic beasts, from lowest to highest, are as follows: inferior, low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, earthly-grade, and heavenly-grade.

Qin Ming stepped forward and picked up a rather rare gray beast egg. However, in the next moment, his expression instantly stiffened. He could clearly sense that the life force within the beast egg was rapidly fading away.

Hurriedly, Qin Ming activated the Ancient Wood Longevity Technique to heal it. As a continuous stream of vitality flowed in, the condition of the beast egg began to improve. Yet, this only slowed down the dissipation of its life energy.

To fully heal this giant crocodile egg would obviously require a considerable amount of time.

Qin Ming placed the egg into his spirit beast pouch, planning to make further arrangements after returning. He also collected part of the giant python’s flesh and blood—he could not carry more than that.

Afterwards, Qin Ming called the three people waiting outside the cave inside. When Wu Jiang and the others entered and saw the scene on the ground, they were all greatly shocked.

Qin Ming instructed them to gather the remaining giant python meat as a form of reward. Wu Jiang and the others were ecstatic; they hadn’t expected such an unexpected gain. Meat from a late-stage first-rank demonic beast was a valuable commodity that could sell for many spirit stones even in the Tianhe Market.

With matters settled there, Qin Ming parted ways with Wu Jiang and the others and returned to Moonwatch Island. He continued to have Wu Jiang focus on collecting other spirit materials, while he himself placed the beast egg in the cave dwelling, periodically healing it with his cultivation technique.

As time passed, two months later, the gray beast egg had fully regained its vitality and the life signs of the creature within gradually stabilized. However, it seemed that it would still take some time before it could truly hatch.

In the days that followed, Qin Ming immersed himself in the mountains and waters. Each day, he would either tend to the spirit fields, fish in the lake, or delve into intense cultivation.

Thanks to the second-rank mid-grade spiritual vein environment, his life-born spirit plant, the Everlasting Vine, also grew slowly. The invisible essence of wood and grass continuously nourished his spiritual body, steadily advancing his cultivation.

All aspects of his cultivation progressed steadily and methodically.

...

Time in the cultivation world always passed swiftly.

In the blink of an eye, two years had slipped by.

During this period, with the help of Gu Qingzhao and Wu Jiang gathering materials everywhere, the progress of collecting spirit materials for refining the Foundation Establishment Pills had reached over ninety percent—only the Jade Moss Mushroom and two rare auxiliary materials remained.

Of course, among the collected spirit herbs, a small portion were either too young or had withered. Yet, for Qin Ming, these were no obstacles.

For the past two years, unless there was something urgent that required him to leave, Qin Ming rarely left the island. The mundane errands were all handled by Wu Jiang, who naturally gained many benefits from working under him. Working for Qin Ming was vastly better than struggling outside.

Wu Jiang’s cultivation, which had long been stagnant, finally broke through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining—a significant leap forward.

Qin Ming heard that the Wu family was already planning to groom him as the next head of the family. Moreover, Wu Jiang was sharp and noticed that Qin Ming’s island had many first-rank high-grade spirit fields.

Wu Jiang made a major decision: he wanted to apprentice under Qin Ming and rent those spirit fields to learn spirit plant cultivation techniques.

Upon hearing this, Qin Ming was embarrassed and quickly refused. “Friend Wu, forget about apprenticing. However, if you want to rent the spirit fields for farming, I can agree to that.”

Wu Jiang was somewhat disappointed but, to Qin Ming’s surprise, he went ahead and rented all the spirit fields on Moonwatch Island, paying Qin Ming spirit stones.

The next day, he called a group of craftsmen to build several simple houses by the lake, then began energetically tilling the spirit fields with a spiritual hoe.

Qin Ming watched silently from above and shook his head slightly. He hadn’t expected Wu Jiang to be such a doer—he just hoped the enthusiasm would last.

After finishing the land preparation, Wu Jiang came up to the main peak, scratched his head awkwardly, and asked, “Friend Qin, what kind of spirit plants do you think I should cultivate?”

“Since you have no prior experience with spirit herbs, start with Golden Spirit Rice,” Qin Ming suggested with a smile.

Wu Jiang’s face lit up and he nodded immediately. “Alright. Friend Qin, do you have the seeds for sale?”

Hearing this, Qin Ming simply sold him the seeds of Golden Spirit Rice along with the Spirit Rain Technique.

Wu Jiang happily took the seeds and began sowing.

Watching his enthusiasm, Qin Ming saw a reflection of his younger self. After all, farming was hard work.

During this time, Wu Jiang’s partner, Mu Ruyin, often came to visit him. She was heavily pregnant, clearly expecting a child. It seemed Wu Jiang was industrious both by day in the fields and by night, making him a genuinely diligent person.

Qin Ming himself was busy trying to track down the last three spirit materials needed to refine the Foundation Establishment Pills. Though he found no leads on those materials, he managed to collect all the ingredients for the Rejuvenation Pill.

He already possessed the most crucial main ingredient: royal jelly.

The Rejuvenation Pill was a second-rank pill, requiring extremely rare materials and possessing a refinement difficulty on par with the Foundation Establishment Pills. Like the Longevity Pill, there was always a segment of cultivators eager to obtain it.

Few second-rank alchemists could refine the Rejuvenation Pill, making its price extraordinarily high.

This time, Qin Ming prepared materials for eight batches of the Rejuvenation Pill.

Within his cave dwelling, he calmed his mind and cleared away distractions.

Today, he intended to use the second-rank Rejuvenation Pill to break through to the rank of second-rank alchemy master!

He had only eight attempts; otherwise, he would have to spend a long time collecting more materials.

Qin Ming took out a purple alchemy furnace and placed it before him. The materials were arranged neatly on the nearby table.

With a thought, a cluster of ice-blue spiritual flames appeared in his palm, transforming into a blue firebird that danced elegantly.

He snapped his fingers, and a devouring spirit poison flame entered beneath the furnace, beginning to consume the blue flames.

Then, Qin Ming followed the refinement procedures for the Rejuvenation Pill, activating incantations to decompose the ingredients, extracting the pill embryo, and preparing the medicinal liquid. Every step proceeded smoothly and orderly.

At last, he reached the stage of merging the medicinal liquid and condensing the pill.

As usual, he activated the pill fusion technique to separate and recombine the medicine.

*Puff!*

A muffled, dull sound emerged, and black smoke rose from the alchemy furnace.

His first attempt had failed, as expected.

Qin Ming’s face remained calm as he began clearing the pill residue from the furnace, preparing for the next trial.

Sounds of failure echoed from the cave during the successive attempts.

When he reached the very last batch of materials, Qin Ming stared at the remaining ingredients. His expression betrayed a hint of exhaustion. He hadn’t anticipated the difficulty of refining the Rejuvenation Pill to be so great.

Nevertheless, he set aside all concerns and refined the final batch with a composed heart.

After the time it takes for two incense sticks to burn, a crisp chime burst from the furnace.

Inside, white mist swirled, filled with spiritual energy.

A rich, invigorating herbal fragrance filled the air.

“A second-rank spirit pill, successful!” Qin Ming’s face beamed with joy. He raised a hand and six jade-white pills fell into his palm, radiating gentle spiritual resonance.

These were the legendary Rejuvenation Pills.

At the same time, it signified Qin Ming’s breakthrough into the ranks of second-rank alchemy masters.

Even in a vast city like Canghai Immortal City, where many solitary cultivators gathered, there were only a handful of second-rank alchemists. They could be counted on one hand, their status highly esteemed.

Now that he could refine the Rejuvenation Pill, the Foundation Establishment Pill would surely be within reach.

Qin Ming took out one Rejuvenation Pill, pondered for a moment, then swallowed it like candy.

He felt an extremely gentle warm current spread throughout his body.

Muttering as he examined his reflection in a bronze mirror, “It doesn’t really feel all that special!”

Having become a second-rank alchemy master, Qin Ming began contemplating his next steps.

“My strength is no longer what it used to be.”

“It’s time to head to Canghai Immortal City and prepare for the final Foundation Establishment.”

“And also to repay Gu Qingzhao a favor.”