197: Chapter 197 Restarting the Path of Alchemy

Calculating it this way, the over eight thousand Mid-Grade Spirit Stones and more than one hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones in his hands suddenly seemed inadequate; they would not last long at all.

Simply refining a few furnaces of advancement Medicinal Pills, gathering a set of Spirit Beast advancement Materials, or tempering the Copper Corpse once would likely drain his resources completely.

A lack of resources had become his biggest weakness at the moment.

Just sitting and eating through his savings was absolutely not an option.

Guarding his existing assets without any income, it would not take long before they were completely exhausted; by then, not to mention making a quick Breakthrough, even daily Cultivation, Immortal Cave rent, and Spirit Beast feeding would become problematic.

He had to find a way to generate stable income and earn Spirit Stones!

Li Qing began to quickly filter through all the money-making avenues in Heiyuan City.

The first one he immediately passed on was killing and robbing others for treasure.

The waters in Heiyuan City ran too deep.

Resident Nascent Soul Immortal Masters and quite a few Golden Core Cultivators were here; even a random Loose Cultivator setting up a stall on the street or traveling alone could be a desperate criminal with blood on their hands.

Relying on killing and robbing to get rich here was purely licking blood off the edge of a blade.

If you win the gamble, you can make a windfall.

If you lose, you die and your Dao dissipates, leaving not even a corpse behind.

Although he had entered Mid-stage Foundation Establishment and was Cultivating the Five Elements Art, making his current strength comparable to Peak Foundation Establishment, in Heiyuan City, he was at most at a middle-to-upper level and could not be considered top-tier.

If he really went head-to-head with all sorts of old desperate criminals, the risks would be too great and the returns unstable—it would completely not be worth the loss.

Unless he was in a life-or-death situation, he would absolutely never choose this path.

The second option eliminated was taking on city bounty missions.

The tasks in Heiyuan City looked diverse and had extremely low thresholds that anyone could take, but in reality, they were all time-wasting drudgery.

Either one had to go deep into the wild mountains to search for low-level Spirit Materials, exterminate Low Grade Yao Beasts, or run errands and escort miscellaneous items.

After working himself to the bone for ten days or half a month, the Spirit Stones he received in the end were pitifully few, not even enough to cover daily Cultivation consumption.

The efficiency was extremely low, purely a waste of Cultivation time, and it could never support his resource requirements.

The third option immediately rejected was reselling Spirit Materials—buying low and selling high.

There were countless Cultivators in Heiyuan City, merchants were everywhere, and the internal competition was ridiculously intense.

The profit margins on ordinary Spirit Materials had long been compressed to the extreme, and the price differences were pitifully thin.

If an ordinary person worked all day, shuffling goods back and forth, the few Spirit Stones they earned would be a drop in the bucket, barely enough to scrape by, let alone saving up large amounts of Cultivation resources; it would never amount to anything.

All three paths were completely blocked.

Excluding all the bad paths, the only and most perfect way out remaining was placed directly before Li Qing—Alchemy!

Moreover, when others practiced Alchemy, they were gambling on talent, luck, and success rates, but he was different!

He possessed a Pill Refining Room that came with exclusive effects!

This was his greatest trump card that completely crushed all Loose Cultivators!

Ordinary Alchemists in the outside world had to consider the weather, heat control, and their own state when practicing Alchemy; the slightest carelessness would lead to ruined furnaces, explosions, or wasted medicinal herbs.

They consumed large amounts of medicinal herbs, yet their success rate was ridiculously low; succeeding in three or four out of ten furnaces was considered top-tier.

But Li Qing's exclusive Pill Refining Room had none of these problems!

It had a direct 20% success rate bonus.

When others practiced Alchemy, they were gambling on luck and losing money; when he practiced Alchemy, it was a guaranteed profit!

Based on this alone, Alchemy was absolutely his only and best way out at the moment—there was no second option!

When combined with the general environment of Heiyuan City, this path was perfect to the extreme.

This was a lawless land where everyone was frantically competing in Cultivation, fighting for resources, and constantly killing; injuries, Bottlenecks, and insufficient combat power were the norm.

Medicinal Pills were the hardest currency in Heiyuan City!

Nothing sold better, held its value better, or was in higher demand than Medicinal Pills.

When Cultivators were injured, they needed healing pills to save their lives and recover.

For daily meditation, they needed qi gathering pills to stabilize their Spiritual Qi.

For tempering the body and refining bones, they needed Body Tempering pills to polish their Physical Body.

When stuck at a Realm Bottleneck, they had to rely on advancement Medicinal Pills to assist with the Breakthrough.

From Golden Core Immortal Masters down to Qi Refining Loose Cultivators, no one could do without Medicinal Pills.

As long as the Medicinal Pill quality was good enough and the medicinal effects were pure, there was no need to worry about selling them.

Countless Cultivators would break their heads trying to buy them at high prices; there was no such thing as being unable to sell them.

Compared to going out and risking one's life in fights, Alchemy was much safer.

Without stepping out of his Immortal Cave, relying on the Heaven-Defying advantages of the Pill Refining Room, he could continuously refine high-quality Medicinal Pills, earn money while lying down, face zero life-or-death risks, and the returns would be extremely terrifying.

The most critical point—the identity of an Alchemist was the best protective talisman!

This was even more important than making money!

Li Qing was alone, without a Sect or faction, and had no Sect backing him; in a place like Heiyuan City where vendettas were everywhere, he was naturally a vulnerable group.

He had previously killed Second Elder Du Jiang, burying a grudge, and Yin Tiancheng was secretly hostile; there were not a few people watching him.

An ordinary Foundation Establishment Loose Cultivator could be crushed like an ant by anyone at any time, and no one would care or ask questions.

But once he established his name as a second-tier Alchemist, everything would be completely different.

Throughout Heiyuan City, countless Foundation Establishment and even Golden Core Cultivators needed second-tier Medicinal Pills for Cultivation.

If he could stably produce second-tier Low Grade, or even Medium Grade, Medicinal Pills in batches, it would be equivalent to holding the Cultivation lifeline of countless Cultivators.

By then, Cultivators of all sizes would have requests for him.

Who would dare touch him?

Even someone like Yin Tiancheng, who had stronger strength than him and harbored evil intentions, would absolutely not dare to easily offend an Alchemist who could continuously supply pills.

Offending an ordinary Loose Cultivator was nothing.

Offending an Alchemist was equivalent to cutting off countless people's Cultivation resources, equivalent to making enemies with a large group of Cultivators.

No experienced Jianghu veteran would do such a stupid thing.

Earn money, save resources, quickly increase his Cultivation base, and incidentally build himself a layer of the strongest protective shell of connections.

Four birds with one stone!

Having thought through all the pros and cons, coupled with the Heaven-Defying advantage of his exclusive System Pill Refining Room, Li Qing was completely certain in his heart.

This was his only path to rising at the moment!

Next, he was in no hurry to venture into Secret Realms, no hurry to fight with others, and no hurry to go out treasure hunting.

He would honestly practice Alchemy and lie low in this Advanced Immortal Cave he had rented.

On one hand, he would focus on seclusion, settle his state of mind, polish his Foundation, and thoroughly stabilize his Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivation, which he had just broken through to, solidifying his Realm without leaving any hidden dangers, paving the way for future assaults on the Late Foundation Establishment Stage and even the Peak Foundation Establishment Realm.

On the other hand, he would fully utilize his exclusive Pill Refining Room to frantically master second-tier Medicinal Pill refining techniques and polish his Alchemy proficiency.

The first priority for refining was the second-tier Low Grade golden cloud pill.

The golden cloud pill was specifically adapted for Foundation Establishment Early Stage and Middle Stage Cultivators; it was gentle, solidified the Foundation, increased Cultivation, assisted in advancing the Realm, did not damage the Foundation, and had no side effects.

It was the second-tier Low Grade Medicinal Pill with the largest circulation, highest demand, and best sales in Heiyuan City.

Others had high consumption, low success rates, and high risks of losing money when refining medicine.

With the support of his exclusive Pill Refining Room, his success rate crushed ordinary Alchemists, and his Medicinal Pills had higher quality, better medicinal effects, and a purer appearance.

As long as he refined the golden cloud pills in batches, he would soon be able to make a name for himself in a small circle.

By then, Spirit Stones would flow in continuously, resources would be completely free, his Cultivation speed would soar, and he could also use his identity as an Alchemist to firmly take root in the chaotic Heiyuan City!