Chapter 43: Refining Yin-Yang Pill

“All right, all right. Since little Shu is unharmed, we should be celebrating,” Qin Wei said, patting Wang Yurou’s back in consolation.

“Yes!” Wang Yurou nodded, stood up, and took the spiritual soul card from Wang Datong. Then she asked, “Where exactly is this Donghua Immortal Court? Is it far from our Nine Provinces Holy Court?”

Wang Datong replied, “It is quite distant, so he won’t be able to return anytime soon. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave now.”

“Wait a moment,” Qin Wei said. “A moment ago, you mentioned six million spiritual soul coins, not six million regular currency units, correct?”

“That’s correct,” Wang Datong nodded. “Six million spiritual soul coins. Please keep them safe. Farewell.”

With that, he left amidst their somewhat dazed gazes.

Wang Yurou murmured to herself, “Six million spiritual soul coins… That converts to an astonishing sixty billion! How on earth did little Shu manage to do this?”

“I’m not sure,” Qin Wei responded, “but if he has six million spiritual soul coins yet can’t return, he must be extremely far away. The cost of sending even this message likely exceeded those six million spiritual soul coins.”

Qin Wei felt mixed emotions; his eldest son had inadvertently become the main pillar of the family. As a father, he was both proud and slightly disheartened.

Six million spiritual soul coins, he thought ruefully, I couldn’t earn that much even if I devoted my entire life to it.

“This is the money Little Shu left for Xiao-Qing, Xiaogui, and Xiaohao after their spiritual souls awaken. We mustn’t touch it.” Wang Yurou carefully stored away the golden spiritual soul card.

Qin Wei had no objections. “I’ll leave it up to you.”

The three elder sisters—Qin Yu, Qin Rou, and Qin Ying—even less so, wouldn’t even dream of coveting this sum.

Qin Yu turned to Qin Qing. “Xiao-Qing, when your spiritual awakening comes next year, make us proud. And don’t worry about any financial burdens.”

“I will,” Qin Qing said, her determination ignited. “I’m off to study now.”

“Go ahead, good luck.” Wang Yurou patted Qin Qing’s head affectionately. “When your fourth brother returns, give him a surprise.”

“Yes!” Qin Qing smiled as she went back inside.

The family cheerfully finished their chores, soon drifting off to sleep with contented smiles on their faces.

In Nine Yong City, meanwhile, things were far from calm ever since Qin Shu sold that batch of perfect-grade Foundation Establishment Pills.

He had made the sale in the Outer City’s awakened beings’ free market. This led to a sudden surge: initial Foundation Establishment cultivators breaking through to mid-stage, and those already at mid-stage advancing to late-stage.

It was as if they were rapidly catching up to the Inner City in cultivation levels.

This didn’t go unnoticed. Investigations revealed an astonishing fact: the market had been flooded with sixty thousand perfect-grade Foundation Establishment Pills.

Not six hundred, not six thousand—but a full sixty thousand pills.

“Which master alchemist is playing a joke on us?” Every clan in Nine Yong City asked this question, but they couldn’t uncover the source of these pills. Even at the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, diviners failed to discern any trace of who was behind them.

In Yanghe Villa’s secret workshop, Qin Shu had been enduring an itchy nose for half a month.

“Heh, so someone did notice. Good thing it wasn’t anything serious.”

This itch had merely distracted him from his cultivation and pill concocting practice over the past fortnight.

Meanwhile, the divination masters at the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion were growing increasingly frustrated. Their collective stress led to more white hair and even some cases of nosebleeds due to sheer exasperation.

Each master tried their hand at divining the identity of the mysterious figure responsible. They attempted readings from the first to the ninth level, yet none could unravel the mystery.

After just half a month, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion admitted defeat. They publicly announced that they would no longer accept any divinations related to this matter.

Qin Shu’s persistent nasal irritation finally subsided, allowing him to resume work on refining Yin-Yang Pills.

The preparation of Yin-Yang Pills was significantly more challenging than that of Foundation Establishment Pills, requiring considerably greater skill and precision.

Whereas Foundation Establishment Pills used only four medicinal ingredients—two primary and two secondary—the Yin-Yang Pills demanded eight additional components, totaling ten secondary ingredients alongside the two primaries.

The primary medicines were Dragon Yang Root, resembling the phallus of a dragon or tiger, red-brown in color, hot in nature, and imbued with potent yang energy; and Moon Yin Flower, consisting of two fused petals, transparent yet substantial, emitting waves of refreshing fragrance.

The secondary ingredients consisted of pure yin and yang elements in equal parts: Century Earthcore Milk, Xuanbing Grass, Volcanic Scarlet Fruit, and Xuan Yin Dragonbeard Grass.

Qin Shu, focusing his mind, split his divine sense into twelve strands. Within the Karma Cauldron, he began to extract essences from each of these twelve medicinal herbs.

Next, he initiated the first step of fusion.

He combined the yin and yang attribute elixirs separately, performing both simultaneously with no room for error in timing.

Throughout this process, his concentration remained unwavering as he attuned himself to the power emanating from the two elixirs.

The yin elixir was intensely cold, while the yang elixir was incredibly hot.

Fusing these two elixirs within the same space required utmost care; any misstep could lead to an explosion.

However, without this fusion, the resulting mixture would not be a pill capable of enhancing one’s cultivation but rather a highly toxic substance possessing extreme yin or yang properties.

The initial stage of fusion was relatively straightforward, akin to condensing a Foundation Establishment Pill.

But the second step demanded greater caution.

Using his divine sense, Qin Shu meticulously divided equal portions of the fused elixirs and began merging them in a third space.

This process involved no direct collision. Instead, like the intertwining yin-yang symbol, the elixirs continuously rotated, gradually blending together.

At the boundary between yin and yang, a vortex formed within his divine sense. The two elixirs swirled within this vortex, coalescing into a harmonious blend represented by the red-blue yin-yang double fish pattern.

At the center, a wisp of frigid yin energy began to interact with a strand of fiery yang essence.

Initially, these two forces repelled each other like water and fire, on the verge of exploding due to their incompatibility.

Qin Shu swiftly mobilized the transformative power within the Karma Cauldron, bolstering it with his divine sense to forcefully suppress the impending detonation.

Unable to repel each other, the yin and yang energies could only merge.

As they combined, the diametrically opposed forces continuously neutralized one another, giving birth to a new type of energy.

Within this fusion, yin contained traces of yang, and yang was infused with hints of yin.

During this process, the cold and dry elements clashed, ultimately annihilating each other.

Once this initial thread of Yin-Yang elixir emerged, the rest became straightforward.

Using this thread as a catalyst, the remaining cold and dry essences rapidly merged. Before long, they coalesced into a mass emitting a faint glow, forming a pale purple liquid.

This newly formed elixir was at its peak potency the moment it came into being.

Qin Shu promptly divided it into ten portions, then subjected them to baking with Karma True Fire while applying pressure with his divine sense.

One by one, perfectly round violet medicinal pills materialized.

Lifting the lid, ten top-grade Yin-Yang Pills emerged.

“Success,” Qin Shu breathed out, relieved. Though merely top-grade, at least it wasn’t a failure.

Buoyed by this success, the second batch produced one high-grade pill.

The third furnace yielded two high-grade pills… By the eleventh batch, all ten were high-grade.

At the nineteenth batch, the first perfect-quality Yin-Yang Pill finally appeared.

Qin Shu maintained a relentless pace, refining one batch per day for twenty days straight without rest.

For him, anything less than perfect-quality Yin-Yang Pills was unacceptable, even if high-grade pills were equally free of impurities.

It was perhaps a touch of perfectionism bordering on obsession.

“Again! Thirty-third batch.”

After producing his first perfect Yin-Yang Pill, more followed in quick succession. Yet achieving absolute flawlessness remained elusive.

Following three hours of deep meditation, he initiated the thirty-third batch.

Previous batches—thirty, thirty-one, and thirty-two—all had resulted in nine perfect pills and one high-grade.

He felt certain that the thirty-third batch would yield all perfect pills.