“In about a couple weeks, I’ll get you an invitation to participate and come get you when the time for the competition is nigh,” Zen Fei spoke in assurance.

“Thank you, though I don’t expect I can make the cut I’ll try still,” I replied.

This is enough time for me to test a few tricks I’ve been thinking about.

“No worries about making the cut, it’s a good experience you’ll get to use a lot of herbs that you won’t be paying for anyway,” Zen Fei said.

“Yeah, that will cut on my losses, here,” I said as I handed Zei Fen the dozen dim poison Pills and the Bright Lit ones.

“Poison Pills again,” Zei Fen sighed.

It was only natural, I could only make Poison Pills, though not many people bought them, they were still expensive and were exchanged for herbs so that I could create more pills. Though I felt Zei Fen was distressed and wanted a spiritual Pill, I was still not ready to tackle that venue, though I had a really good idea on how to do it.

“Say, I need a cauldron, get me a big one, something made from Meteorite Steel,”I said, because to make something other than poison pill I’ll need to try something new, something never before seen in this country, perhaps even this world.

“That’s going to be pretty expensive…” Zei Fen said with a worried look. Though we generated a good deal of money, a Meteorite Steel Cauldron was expensive.

“No need to worry about the cost,” I said as I handed Zei Fen a pouch full of spiritual stones, all thanks to Xi Son’s savings.

“Would this be enough?” I asked In a sly grin.

Zei Fen’s eyes widened as he looked at me, “More than enough, hell there is an even better Cauldron you can buy with this.” he advised.

“Just get me a Meteorite Steel Cauldron, I don’t need anything else,” I replied. because I specifically needed Meteorite Steel for what I have in mind even if I could afford better cauldrons.

“Right then, I’ll have it delivered to you before nightfall.” Zei Fen said and left the area.

I went back home and continued my trials, I needed to perfect this before the competition. The competition will be a great boon to my endeavors in alchemy. Because I’ll be able to get an Alchemist’s Token, which will give me a good reduction on herbs. And when I make those into poison pills’s I’ll be able to increase my cultivation.

I’m unable to just sit down and harness the world’s Qi, the best thing I can do with meditation is to calm my exhausted mind from overusing my Mind’s Eye. It’s a huge disadvantage I have, as other cultivators can simply suck in the world’s energy and become stronger, I’ll have to actively create, search and obtain pills to increase my cultivation. My cultivation path is only going to get harder the more I walk down this path. So, the best thing would be to follow the Poison God’s footsteps and become a well-known Alchemist, so I can create pills to make me more powerful.

Zen Fei delivered the cauldron later that same day, and I continued my attempts at alchemy, until three days past where I made a pill that had pill veins. There and then I laughed like a mad man.

“I GOT IT! Finally, I got it! I got the trick to alchemy!” and it was so damn amazing.

It was so simple that I couldn’t even think it would be possible. But even if one were to show it, the other wouldn’t learn it. Comprehension, trial, and error are a must for a person to achieve what I just did.

Simply put, the flames I’m using, not only must they be used constantly without stop, I need to carefully adjust the heat, and not form just one side of the cauldron, every hand needed to work separately, it’s the same as trying to make a square and a circle with both hands, it’s damn impossible at first, but once you get the hang of it you’ll be able to multi-task and now I’m not only able to multi-task, but I can also micro-manage heat, and channel my Poison Flame Qi to heat up every essence with a different degree of heat. Once I manage to fully purify all the essences I would simply let them fuse together and the result will be a pill with pill veins. Though this is only possible for a level nine pill, the same method can also work for higher-tier pills.

But I’ll need more Qi and better control as every pill tier would require more focus to separately heat every essence at the same time.

I sat down glancing at the small pill in my hand, it had a beautiful green color and had veins running all through it, it looked like a treasure, but one would be terrified of its effects.

I immediately placed the pill in my mouth and consumed it, sat in a lotus position, and began harnessing the pill’s energy.

The poison within the pill felt like honey being dripped down my throat, it felt sweet and rejuvenating and enabled my bottleneck to immediately loosen up. I rotated my Poison Qi faster and assaulted the bottleneck until it cracked and my body released a powerful shockwave of green energy.

“Yes! Eighth level, Middle of the peak layer of Foundation Establishment. Poison Qi coursed through my body as more meridians were unlocked and I was now surprisingly almost close to the poison God’s unlocked meridians, I’m at 99 meridians unlocked, I needed a perfect unlock for my next cultivation realm. Though 99 meridians are great, many disciples have already gone past this number and reached the perfect 108. The poison God was not a person who received teaching and sadly never fully unlocked all 108 meridians, but he still made it to the top of the martial world. Dedication and hard work were enough for him to compensate for his lack of meridians, and he was nice enough to give me a proper way to cultivate my own meridians.

Once all the meridians are unlocked and the Dantian is fully fused with them, I’ll be able to enter Core Formation, and then unlock my Divine Sea. A world within my mental space that will allow me to practice my skills and fight against mental assaults.

Right, let’s focus on the second task, I barely have more than ten days for the competition to start, I need to have my secondary cauldron ready for the competition.

I pulled out the Meteorite Steel Cauldron and began by inscribing it with several inscriptions, yes inscriptions integrated into alchemy. It was a simple idea I had at first thought I didn’t think it would ever work, the idea festered in my mind and I had to try it.

I began writing inscriptions on the furnace and surprisingly it wasn’t difficult, it was almost like making an electric oven. Inscriptions to manage heat, other inscriptions to manage the Qi. And I even created different compartments into the cauldron using some of the material I got from the Laughing Slaughter’s pagoda.

It took me four days just to finish the layout of the cauldron, and make it work with several different parts, where I’ll be able to place different herbs and have them heated at different temperatures regulated by the inscriptions. Then A compartment to release the waste, but there was one thing I couldn’t manage… Qi infusion I only have poison Qi within my body, and can’t use spiritual Qi.

Also, I cannot use Spirit Stones to power up the oven, it will be considered cheating. I needed my own Spiritual Qi or the Hearth fire, but Heart fire is not stable and will not power my furnace properly. So, I figured a new way to do this, though it will definitely be annoying to everyone else besides me, it will work best.

I grinned as I thought about the look on everyone who’ll see how eccentric this new way of alchemy.

I inscribed a good few more inscriptions on the cauldron and called it a day.

I needed to rest and prepare for the competition.

**————*****

For everyone who left a comment on yesterday’s chapter, I’m really proud to have you as readers, you really are encouraging and a great audience one could never hope to have anything else. I’m really proud to write for you, and your kind words are pushing me to deliver as you have seen every day. I’ll keep posting every day for you so please keep supporting this story like you always do, you’re my pride!