Chapter 38: Pill Refining, Core Formation

The price gap between High-grade Foundation Establishment Pills and Perfect Foundation Establishment Pills was vast.

In the Money God Shopping Mall, a single Perfect Foundation Establishment Pill cost two hundred seventy Spiritual Soul Coins, while its high-grade counterpart only fetched one hundred fifty.

Even at the same tier, different qualities commanded significantly different prices—a natural consequence of their varying efficacy.

Non-high-grade pills were even cheaper: low-grade Foundation Establishment Pills for sixty coins each, mid-grade for eighty, and high-grade for ninety.

For second-rank pills, regardless of variety, those of low quality were uniformly priced at sixty coins apiece. However, most people avoided them due to the risk of pill toxicity.

“Only seven emerged this time; I must have missed something!” Qin Shu mentally reviewed his previous batch of pill concocting, realizing he had lost control during the mixture stage, allowing much of the spiritual energy to dissipate.

Having identified the issue, he made adjustments before continuing. He repeated the process with greater mastery, now finely tuned to the rhythm. When he opened the furnace once more, ten violet-red Foundation Establishment Pills flew into the jade bottle—all still of high grade.

“Not quite there yet,” he thought determinedly. “Let’s try again!”

On his third attempt, another ten high-grade pills materialized. Each step brought him closer to perfection.

On his fourth attempt, at long last, a perfect pill emerged—one with a dan pattern revealing an enigmatic Dao Platform.

This process continued until the third day when he finally produced ten batches of Foundation Establishment Pills, each batch perfectly flawless.

“Hahaha! Success at last!”

In that moment, a profound sense of achievement filled his heart.

Out of these ten batches, totaling ninety-seven pills, twenty-one were perfect grade, while the remaining seventy-six were high-grade.

Let’s do the math: For ten batches of pills, the acquisition price for perfect grades matched their selling price exactly. However, high-grade pills could be sold for 150 spiritual soul coins each but only fetched 130 in acquisition value.

Over two days plus some extra time, after deducting the cost of 560 spiritual soul coins, Qin Shu realized a net profit of 14,090 spiritual soul coins.

If all ten batches had been perfect grade—and assuming each batch contained a full hundred pills—the potential profit would have been even greater: 27,000 minus 560, yielding a staggering 26,440 spiritual soul coins.

Despite this substantial gain, Qin Shu still felt it was too slow.

To amass nine hundred million spiritual soul coins would take decades at this rate.

“First things first,” he thought resolutely. “I must elevate my cultivation base before anything else.”

Without hesitation, he swallowed three Perfect Foundation Establishment Pills in one go. Activating his karma true essence, he focused intensely on assimilating them fully.

Simultaneously, spiritual energy from the external world began to converge upon him.

The Foundation Establishment Pills not only provided their inherent spiritual power but also accelerated his true essence circulation and enhanced his ability to gather spiritual energy. The higher the grade of these pills, the stronger their spirit-gathering effect.

Qin Shu had fully assimilated all three Foundation Establishment Pills within half a day. Not only were there no residual side effects left in his body, but the purity of his true essence remained unaffected—a feat that would have otherwise required months of arduous cultivation.

Within his Dantian Sea of Qi, the virtual image of the lotus stem had already coalesced into two-thirds completion.

The effect is remarkably potent, he mused. If this were an ordinary Foundation Establishment process, it might take nearly half a year of grueling practice to achieve such progress.

He was clearly satisfied with the performance of the Foundation Establishment Pills. However, even though Perfect Grade pills carried no residual toxicity and offered exceptional benefits without inducing resistance, accelerating one’s cultivation base too rapidly still necessitated consolidation.

For Qin Shu, this consolidation came through pill concocting. Having exhausted the materials for Foundation Establishment Pills, he decided to switch to refining another type: second-rank Pure Origin Pills.

These Pure Origin Pills were designed to temper one’s true essence, aiming for greater refinement and purity. This would better prepare him for breaking through to higher realms of cultivation.

Drawing on his experience from refining the Foundation Establishment Pills, Qin Shu produced a full batch of Pure Origin Pills with his first attempt. Among them was one perfect-grade pill, its dan pattern resembling burning flames—much like the radiance of Karma True Fire.

The Pure Origin Pills appeared as orange-yellow jade beads, their hue warm and lustrous.

After consuming one, he felt its power circulating through his true essence within moments.

A single perfect-grade Pure Origin Pill could maintain its potency for an entire month, continuously purifying an awakened being’s true essence without cease—even during cultivation.

In terms of value, it fell short compared to the Perfect Foundation Establishment Pill; each cost only 230 Spiritual Soul Coins.

However, after ingesting one himself, Qin Shu realized it seemed utterly useless to him. The spiritual energy from the Pure Origin Pill couldn’t aid in refining his Karma True Fire; instead, it merely transformed into ordinary spiritual energy, contributing minimally to his overall cultivation base.

This solitary pill’s effect, though perfect-grade, amounted to less than half that of a Foundation Establishment Pill at the same quality level—a stark reminder of its poor cost-effectiveness.

Qin Shu wore an expression of disdain as he thought, “Continue refining these, then sell them to the Money God Shopping Mall.”

Refining Pure Origin Pills proved easier than the Foundation Establishment Pills. By the fifth batch out of ten, he had already achieved a full set of perfect-grade pills—an impressive feat indeed.

In the subsequent five batches, he made not a single mistake—achieving seventy perfect pills and twenty-nine high-grade ones.

His profit approached nearly two thousand gold pieces.

Thus, for three days each week, Qin Shu devoted himself to pill concocting. Half a day was set aside for his own cultivation practice, while the other half-hourly period went to feeding Xiao Yan—with Perfect Foundation Establishment Pills, administered at three per session.

This routine continued for almost a month until Qin Shu amassed over four hundred medicinal pills in total.

Among them were no remaining Perfect Foundation Establishment Pills; those had all been consumed by Xiao Yan. What remained consisted of High-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, along with various combinations of Pure Origin Pills, Wound Recovery Pills, Poison-Relief Pills, and Gathering Origin Pills—some perfect, some high-grade.

Qin Shu decided to keep five of each type of perfect-grade pill for himself and sell the rest.

Upon arriving at the Money God Shopping Mall, he ascended to the second floor where the spirit pill acquisition office was located.

As soon as he presented these pills, the head apothecary examining them was utterly astounded. “Did you concoct all of these?” he asked incredulously. “Your rate of producing perfect-grade pills exceeds fifty percent—a truly remarkable achievement.”

Eager for funds, Qin Shu didn’t conceal his skill even slightly. Nodding, he said, “Indeed. Please go ahead and calculate the value.”

“Of course, just a moment please.” The apothecary’s demeanor instantly shifted to one of respectfulness. After tallying up the values, he reported back, “For the seventy perfect Pure Origin Pills, that comes to sixteen thousand one hundred spiritual soul coins. For the twenty-nine high-grade ones, it’s three thousand four hundred eighty spiritual soul coins… In total, your haul amounts to seventy-three thousand two hundred sixty spiritual soul coins.”

“Very well, transfer the funds,” Qin Shu said, handing over his spiritual soul card.

Having previously merged Luo Qingning’s card with his own, this spiritual soul card had transformed into a Golden Spiritual Soul Card, granting him unrestricted access to all areas below the sixth floor.

The apothecary respectfully received it with both hands and proceeded to deposit the spiritual soul coins onto the card.

Qin Shu wasted no time lingering there. He swiftly made his way to the medicinal ingredients district, where he procured enough materials for one hundred batches of Foundation Establishment Pills.

Over the next three months, he devoted himself to refining medicines by day and cultivating through pill consumption by night.

Soon, he reached full mastery in Foundation Establishment, readying himself for Core Formation—the pivotal step from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core cultivation.

This process was as natural to him as water flowing downhill; however, instead of immediate breakthrough, he took three days off to fine-tune his state before activating the villa’s formation array and entering formal seclusion.

Within his Dantian Sea of Qi, a Cyan Lotus had fully coalesced from his karma true essence. The lotus seedpod remained empty, its holes void of any substance.

Beneath the Cyan Lotus lay an boundless sea of qi, vast and limitless.

Qin Shu closed his eyes, focusing inwardly. His sea of qi churned vigorously as true essence circulated ceaselessly throughout his body.

Spiritual energy from his surroundings began converging upon him relentlessly. It condensed around him, forming a spirit mist that poured into his senses and major acupoints across his entire being.

After completing a full major circulation, the transformed karma true essence merged into his sea of qi.

From there, it continuously flowed towards the Cyan Lotus, saturating every pore until reaching its core—the lotus seed cavity.

Within this cavity, the karma true essence condensed like molten metal solidifying under immense pressure during pill concocting, gradually transforming from liquid to solid form.

The process was painstakingly slow, akin to grinding grain with water-powered mills—a task requiring extraordinary patience and time.

For an entire month, Qin Shu remained sequestered in his secret chamber without emerging even once.

In the lotus seed cavity, the true essence coalesced into a bead roughly the size of a grain of rice before steadily growing larger.

As surrounding spiritual energy continually converged upon him, he found himself enveloped by a cocoon of light.

His dantian sea expanded relentlessly as the virtual pill within the lotus seed cavity continued to grow.

When the virtual pill reached the size of an adult’s thumb, a flash of azure brilliance erupted forth. It began spinning rapidly, breaking free from the lotus seed cavity and hovering above the Cyan Lotus itself, radiating boundless spiritual power.

Qin Shu felt a thunderous rumble in his sea of consciousness as strands of divine sense unfurled outward, spreading infinitely in all directions.

One hundred meters… Two hundred meters… One kilometer… Two kilometers… Until finally, at five kilometers, they ceased their expansion.

Immediately thereafter, the legacy of the Karma Primal Scripture’s Qi Refinement to Spirit Transformation chapter descended upon him.

Core Formation—achieved.