40: Refining top-grade spiritual food pills
Before refining the spirit food pills, Zhang Sheng first used the Pill Furnace and the flames from his Fireball Technique to refine a batch of essence food pills.
Nine pills were formed, each one of supreme-grade quality.
This proved that Zhang Sheng's method of using the instant-cast flames of the Fireball Technique in place of dan fire was feasible.
Following the steps recorded in the Pill Formula, Zhang Sheng began refining the spirit food pills.
Half an hour later, Zhang Sheng looked with shock at the nine black pills inside the Pill Furnace.
"Detected a learnable skill — Refine spirit food pill. Learn?"
Zhang Sheng was genuinely astonished. He didn't know if it was the effect of his Transcendent Spirit Tempering or the foundation laid by refining supreme-grade essence food pills, but in any case, his first batch of spirit food pills was a success.
"Skill: Refine spirit food pill (Beginner: 9/10)"
Zhang Sheng picked up one pill and used the Spiritual Eye Technique to carefully observe its medicinal potency. The energy flowing within the pill was like a viscous liquid.
This single Low Grade First-Tier spirit food pill contained medicinal potency equivalent to a supreme-grade essence food pill!
Considering that Low Grade pills contained significant pill toxins, Zhang Sheng wasn't in a hurry to consume it. Since spirit food pills shared the same characteristics as essence food pills, he could simply apply the same refining approach used for essence food pills.
Large quantities of purchased frozen Yao Beast meat were delivered to the Alchemy room.
Given that he would be frequently practicing Alchemy, and even Cultivating in the Alchemy room, Zhang Sheng directly rented this Intermediate Alchemy room from the school for a full year in one go.
It cost less than a thousand spirit pearls anyway.
Zhang Sheng had thought his rental might face opposition from the school, but everything went smoothly. Even though he had skipped several public lectures, no teacher came looking for him.
The fact was, after successfully participating in a Yellow-rank Secret Realm assessment, attending public lectures was no longer mandatory.
Management of the strong within the school seemed particularly lax.
"Brother Sheng, you actually went to participate in a Yellow-rank Secret Realm expedition! And you didn't even tell us? You're really something, huh?"
Zhang Sheng was still wondering how the fatty knew about his participation in the Yellow-rank Secret Realm expedition when he explained it himself.
"The dean published the list of the first batch from First Cultivation University who have already participated in Yellow-rank Secret Realm expeditions. Turns out there are already several hundred. Students from the unified enrollment are also gradually participating in White-Grade Secret Realm expeditions."
"After successfully participating in a Yellow-rank Secret Realm expedition, you don't have to attend public lectures anymore. But some classmates have also died in the Secret Realms."
People had been leaving the class group chat for various reasons. Zhang Sheng hadn't realized some had sacrificed their lives, though sacrifice was ultimately a common occurrence.
"Brother Sheng, I want to go back! Back to Huaxia Agricultural University."
Seeing Wu Xingyang's last sentence, Zhang Sheng was momentarily at a loss for words.
"Brother Sheng, do you remember Li Yuan from our class, the one with the S-rank ice Talent? He died in battle in a Yellow-rank Secret Realm. They couldn't even find his body, only his locator and torn combat suit in Yao Beast feces."
"Brother Sheng, I actually know your Talent must be incredibly strong, but I'm just a healer with an S-rank Talent. I don't want to fight, I really don't."
"Even in my dreams, I see myself being torn apart by Yao Beasts, and my parents' heartbroken faces."
Everyone had their own choices. Zhang Sheng knew he had no right to persuade him to keep fighting.
So he replied: "Xingyang, it's okay! Leave the task of saving the world to me, your Brother Sheng. But don't forget to Cultivate properly. Remember to ask the professor to Cultivate more Spirit Medicine for refining qi gathering pills. You can come to me for anything."
"Also, when you get back to Huaxia Agricultural University, say hello to Sun Jie and Li Bin for me. I miss them."
Unlike First Cultivation University's goal of nurturing the strongest combat forces for Huaxia, the current Huaxia Agricultural University specialized in cultivating various high-value spirit plants, with a completely different focus.
The division of labor was different, but both were profoundly meaningful.
Wu Xingyang's departure was not an isolated case; it happened from time to time at First Cultivation University.
After bidding farewell to Xingyang, Zhang Sheng began refining spirit food pills again. By the second batch, he had already reached Proficient level.
To carefully manage the skill progression, Zhang Sheng didn't choose to refine 9 Medium Grade pills, but instead directly refined 18 Low Grade ones.
Soon, after refining six batches, Zhang Sheng had raised his progress to Proficient.
He could now refine 90 jin of Yao Beast meat at once, producing 9 High Grade spirit food pills. As early as the Proficient level, Zhang Sheng could control the quality of the finished pills.
This time, Zhang Sheng once again chose to produce 90 First-Tier Low Grade spirit food pills!
This way, Zhang Sheng only needed to refine one batch of Low Grade pills to gain 90 proficiency points.
The next morning.
"Skill: Refine spirit food pill (Transcendent: 6/100000)"
After refining a cumulative total of 19 batches of spirit food pills, Zhang Sheng's skill in refining them finally reached the Transcendent level. He could now refine 9 supreme-grade spirit food pills in a single batch.
Zhang Sheng fell into a deep sleep right there in the Alchemy room.
After waking up, Zhang Sheng purchased another 900 kilograms of First-Tier frozen Yao Beast meat and began refining.
Five minutes later, nine golden-yellow pills the size of longan fruits appeared before Zhang Sheng.
Although the refining speed was twice as slow as for Transcendent-level essence food pills, since spirit food pills were First-Tier Pills, Zhang Sheng didn't find it strange.
Originally, First-Tier Low Grade spirit food pills were black. Zhang Sheng hadn't expected supreme-grade ones to be golden-yellow, with the medicinal potency completely contained within the pill.
But Zhang Sheng knew this First-Tier supreme-grade spirit food pill contained unimaginably vast and potent essence, a full hundred times that of an essence food pill.
Zhang Sheng picked up a supreme-grade spirit food pill and swallowed it directly. He immediately felt a wave of heat within his body, which, under the effect of the Gluttonous Eating Method, transformed into flesh-and-blood essence, fueling the autonomous circulation of the Heavenly Circulation Method.
A single supreme-grade essence food pill could sustain Zhang Sheng's Refining Essence into Qi process a hundred times!
Zhang Sheng was thrilled.
"My hypothesis is completely viable! One cycle of Refining Essence into Qi can restore one hundred points of spiritual power in my Dantian. By swallowing one supreme-grade spirit food pill, I essentially have a spiritual power 'power bank' inside me with a capacity of up to ten thousand points."
"It's just that this 'power bank' can only charge 100 points of spiritual power every ten minutes. Regardless of anything else, I won't have to worry about running out of spiritual power while practicing Spells."
Zhang Sheng pressed on without pause, refining another 8 batches of supreme-grade spirit food pills, totaling 90 pills. This would be more than enough for a long time.
After storing away the 89 gleaming golden supreme-grade spirit food pills, Zhang Sheng looked at the over a thousand Low Grade spirit food pills before him and found himself in a dilemma.
He planned to sell them, but didn't know what a suitable price would be.
Because there was no market for this pill, and no one else refined it.
Considering that a single Low Grade spirit pearl contained ten points of spiritual power, while a single Low Grade spirit food pill could refine 100 points of spiritual power.
After consulting with warehouse supervisor Ma Chengming,
Zhang Sheng finally set the price: 50 spirit pearls per Low Grade spirit food pill. He then delivered the pills to the school warehouse.
The review and shipping matters were all handled by the school.
...
In the office of the dean of the Spiritual Plant College,
"What? Chengming, are you saying that kid Zhang Sheng wants to sell over a thousand spirit food pills at once? What's he refining those things for?"
"Forget it! Although spirit food pills aren't difficult, they are still First-Tier Pills. It shows the kid has decent Alchemy Talent. Don't let anyone know who refined these pills. If anyone asks, say they're from the Spiritual Plant College."
"Understood!"