Chapter 719 - 648: No Smoke Without Fire, Bone Marrow Cleansing Elixir

’He isn’t wasting any time on trivial matters at all. Instead, he’s set his sights directly on becoming a Top Level Pharmacist. Thinking it over, he began to understand the logic behind it. What’s the point of a temporary victory? If Yuwen Ze wanted to suppress me in the Spirit Medicine Tower, he would naturally have to spend time on it. That would reduce the time he could dedicate to improving his alchemy. And while his time would be reduced, the other Steward in the Spirit Medicine Tower, Qiu Feizhang, wouldn’t be slowing down. Qiu Feizhang is older, more experienced, and his alchemy ability is slightly stronger than Yuwen Ze’s, making him another competitor.

At their level, advancing to Top Level Pharmacist and becoming the true Steward of the Spirit Medicine Tower is far more important than any trivial matter.

Besides, Yuwen Ze is a genius Pharmacist himself. How could he possibly think he’d be slower than anyone else? If anything, he’s more worried about me dragging him down.’

Under these circumstances, things in the Spirit Medicine Tower remained as stable as before, with no major incidents.

A three-way balance of power is a very stable situation.

And the people backing them were in no hurry to change this state of affairs.

For Yang Chan, this was a pretty good outcome—much better than he had anticipated.

"Good!"

Han Bingyu nodded upon hearing this. The situation didn’t surprise her; it was perfectly in line with Yang Chan’s choices.

She didn’t stay long in Yang Chan’s study before leaving.

Han Bingyu had many things to attend to. After reporting the intelligence she had gathered, she went back to her busy work.

’Demon Caves and the Alien Races... more trouble. I’ll just wait and see how it turns out.’

Yang Chan drained his teacup, swallowed an Elixir, and went straight to the backyard.

Martial Arts Cultivation still required personal effort, and he had never slacked off in this regard.

Especially since he was spending less time at the Spirit Medicine Tower recently, he had more free time, most of which he dedicated to his Martial Arts Cultivation outside of alchemy.

As a result, his progress in Martial Arts Cultivation hadn’t slowed much during this period, even though he had spent most of his Potential Points on his Pharmacist profession.

Yang Chan planned to reveal his ability to refine Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster Pills in a few days. He would use this opportunity to trade for some Bone Marrow Cleansing Elixirs from the Merak Sacred Land and check his Daily Potential Point Collection. Based on the results, he would then choose which new elixirs to refine.

As for the Water Rhythm Marrow Replenishing Pill, which was best suited for raising the cultivation of a Second Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster, Yang Chan had tried to refine it several times without success. The difficulty of refining it was simply too high.

Normally, it was quite common for Pharmacists to get stuck at a certain realm in their alchemy, unable to advance. This was similar to Martial Arts Cultivation, and it was normal to be stuck for years or even decades.

With a pill as difficult to refine as the Water Rhythm Marrow Replenishing Pill, failing multiple times was actually considered normal. It was even commonplace for many to fail to successfully refine it in their entire lifetime.

Some people simply reached their limit there.

Having failed multiple times himself, Yang Chan decided to first focus on other elixirs to increase his Daily Potential Point Collection. He could then use those points to upgrade his Pharmacist profession and directly break through these bottlenecks.

Although upgrading his Pharmacist profession didn’t directly increase his alchemy experience, the memories that appeared in his mind allowed him to improve rapidly. This method was much faster than slowly improving through practice.

Of course, Yang Chan’s true target wasn’t the Water Rhythm Marrow Replenishing Pill, which aids Second Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmasters. It was the White Jade Nether Marrow Pill, which aids Third Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmasters. This was also one of the elixirs required for the Top Level Pharmacist promotion assessment.

In the Merak Sacred Land, the promotion assessments had a fixed selection of elixirs that one could choose from. The reason Yang Chan had been assigned to refine the Seven Revolutions Nourishing Organ Pill previously—besides the elixir’s excellent effects—was because that was the assignment he received from the assessment office after his information was sent to them.

Once he could refine the White Jade Nether Marrow Pill that aided the cultivation of Third Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmasters, it would signify his promotion to Top Level Pharmacist, placing him among the highest echelons of the Cyan Yuan Sect.

Although his combat power wouldn’t be high, the Merak Sacred Land would protect a top-tier Pharmacist like him. Every Top Level Pharmacist represented immense wealth and would not be easily abandoned unless absolutely necessary.

...

「Spirit Medicine Tower.」

"Congratulations, Pharmacist Yang, on successfully refining the Nourishing Vein and Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill! This is an elixir that can aid a Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster’s cultivation. You truly live up to your name as the Holy Land’s newest genius Pharmacist!"

Fang Zhi’an had taken the initiative to find Yang Chan and congratulate him.

Over at the Internal Affairs Pavilion, Yang Chan had already completed several tasks for refining the Nourishing Vein and Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill. News of this had already spread throughout the Internal Affairs Bureau and soon reached the Pill Pavilion.

Within the Pill Pavilion, being able to refine an elixir that aided a Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster was a major turning point.

As for whether someone else had refined it for him, no one even considered the possibility.

For one, the elixirs Yang Chan submitted for the tasks were extremely fresh, with Pill Qi still lingering on them, clearly indicating they hadn’t been refined long ago.

Furthermore, having someone else refine a pill for you was a matter of great shame. Besides, Yang Chan had completed more than just one task for refining the Nourishing Vein and Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill.

Everyone had known that during his Pill Master assessment, Yang Chan had directly refined a Top Quality Seven Revolutions Nourishing Organ Pill. They knew then that it wouldn’t be long before he could refine an elixir that could aid a Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster.

And after entering the Merak Sacred Land, Yang Chan had read numerous books and refined a considerable number of elixirs. Coupled with his status as a genius Pharmacist, breaking through this bottleneck was actually quite normal.

At this moment, Fang Zhi’an’s eyes were filled with envy as he looked at Yang Chan.

Although he had the insights for promoting to Advanced Pharmacist that Yang Chan had given him, as well as help from Pavilion Master Bai Keyi, he still hadn’t managed to become an Advanced Pharmacist. When he tried to refine the Seven Revolutions Nourishing Organ Pill, he was always just a little bit off.

He felt helpless about it. He had been stuck at the peak of the Intermediate Pharmacist level for a long time, and this was a step no one could help him with. He had to rely on himself.

A Pharmacist’s bottleneck was different from a martial arts bottleneck. You couldn’t use elixirs to break through. It all came down to accumulated experience, comprehension, and luck. Guidance from others might be helpful, but ultimately, breaking the bottleneck depended on oneself.

It was like a situation where your mind knows what to do, but your hands can’t execute it. Success in refining the pill remained elusive. That was the difficulty.

"It was just a stroke of luck. I had a flash of inspiration during the process and managed to succeed," Yang Chan replied with a smile.

’Even though I’ve been able to refine the Nourishing Vein and Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill for a long time, it doesn’t stop me from acting delighted right now.

For me, this means I now have a legitimate way to trade for Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster Level elixirs, and a much more cost-effective one at that.

Before, trading with Inner Refining Elixirs had a terrible exchange rate.

Of course, I know that’s just the value of a High Level Elixir.

The higher the level of an elixir, the greater the difficulty in refining it, and the more valuable the spirit medicines, time, and energy required. Naturally, this makes them expensive. For someone like me who can already refine elixirs that aid Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmasters, the trade was extremely disadvantageous, which is why I delayed this for a few days.

But now things are different. For elixirs meant for the Initial Stage of Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster, I can pretty much trade for them at a one-to-one ratio. Once I test their effects and see if they will add to my Daily Potential Point Collection, I can start trying to refine them myself.

Compared to the incredibly difficult Water Rhythm Marrow Replenishing Pill, which aids Second Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmasters, the refining difficulty of these other elixirs is much lower. They won’t take up too much of my time.

Besides, the elixirs I’m trading for now are all of the ordinary variety. I’ll naturally consume Top Quality Level elixirs that I make myself. That’s the only way to maximize both the medicinal effects and my Daily Potential Point Collection.

I estimate my Daily Potential Point Collection will soon break through thirty, maybe even forty. That will be another qualitative leap, and the time I need to become a Top Level Pharmacist will also be reduced. This is the most obvious benefit.

The same goes for my future Martial Arts Cultivation. It will allow me to advance to the Blood Exchange Martial Saint Realm much sooner!’