"Sister Lingyue, can you help me take a look? What is this bronze furnace used for?"
Then, Xu Taiping held up the bronze furnace with his hand, looking curiously as he handed it to Fairy Lingyue.
"Xiao Taiping, your luck is really not bad."
Fairy Lingyue did not answer directly but smiled at Xu Taiping.
"Why do you say that, Sister?"
Xu Taiping felt there was more to her words.
"This is a pill furnace, a magical tool used by cultivators to refine pills. It happens to be suitable for you to refine the Qi-Gathering Pill for your next breakthrough."
Fairy Lingyue explained to Xu Taiping.
"Refine the Qi-Gathering Pill? But I heard Ziyang Zhenjun say during his lecture that to break through to the Opening Gate realm, one only needs to cultivate the Residual Afterglow Technique to the Ice Formation stage, then accumulate qi in the dantian and break through all the acupoints in the body."
Xu Taiping was somewhat puzzled.
"Xiao Taiping, you are a mortal, so the obstacles on your path to cultivation are naturally more than for other cultivators."
Fairy Lingyue sighed with a hint of pity.
Hearing this, Xu Taiping was initially stunned, a trace of dissatisfaction flashing in his eyes, but his gaze soon became resolute again as he said:
"Sister Lingyue, please teach me how to refine the Qi-Gathering Pill!"
Yunlusi Mountain was always spring-like, and the scenery in the mountains remained unchanged.
Xu Taiping's life was much the same, practicing the Residual Afterglow Technique at midnight, noon, and dusk every day, and in between, practicing boxing, archery, chopping wood, watering plants, hunting, and learning alchemy. His days were very fulfilling.
The only thing that disappointed him was that Uncle Bai had not come since that meal, and the spirit bird delivering supplies was now a bad-tempered white-headed eagle.
Moreover, the nine-leaf white perilla in the medicinal garden had ripened again, and he had finally gathered enough ingredients to buy the "Qi-Gathering Pill."
"Excluding the cost of the ingredients and the expenses over the past one or two months, I still have ninety-six merit coins left. Although it is still a long way to buy the True Fire Talisman, at least I don't have to worry about not having enough merit coins to submit to the sect."
That night, in the backyard of the Green Bamboo Cottage, Xu Taiping felt a sense of accomplishment as he looked at the ingredients in the bamboo basket beside him.
However, Xu Taiping still faced the greatest crisis—
If he could not break through to the Opening Gate realm in half a month, his name would be erased from the Spirit Bone Stele, and he would face expulsion or even punishment from the Qingxuan Sect.
"The moon is at its zenith; I can call Sister Lingyue to refine the Qi-Gathering Pill together."
Xu Taiping looked at the full moon overhead and muttered to himself.
According to his agreement with Fairy Lingyue, the full moon two months later was the time they would refine the Qi-Gathering Pill together.
During these two months, he had secretly tried to break through using the method taught by Ziyang Zhenjun, but no matter how hard he tried, he never succeeded.
So now, the only path left for Xu Taiping was to refine the Qi-Gathering Pill.
"Sister Lingyue, it's time."
Xu Taiping stood up and called out to the medicinal garden.
Not long after, a lazy voice came from the direction of the medicinal garden.
"Ah... What a comfortable sleep."
Shortly after, Fairy Lingyue, with a hint of sleepiness in her eyes, stretched and yawned as she appeared before Xu Taiping.
"Sister Lingyue, did you not sleep well when you were outside the mountain?"
"Outside the mountain, the spiritual energy is scarce, and sleeping is a torment for my residual soul. Here, the spiritual energy is abundant, and sleeping is not only harmless but also beneficial, nourishing the spirit and soul."
Her sleepy expression clearly diminished after being asked by Xu Taiping.
"Have you gathered all the ingredients?"
Fairy Lingyue asked Xu Taiping.
Before she went to sleep, she had already agreed with Xu Taiping to have him prepare all the ingredients needed for the Qi-Gathering Pill during this period.
Xu Taiping nodded and pointed to the small bamboo basket beside him, where the ingredients were neatly arranged in separate packages.
"They are all common ingredients, and the merit coins I have saved are just enough to buy one set."
"The ingredients needed for the Qi-Gathering Pill, like the Bone-Washing and Marrow-Replacing Soup, are not precious. What's important is the refining method." Fairy Lingyue glanced at the ingredients on the ground and then looked up at Xu Taiping with a serious expression. "But after the Opening Gate realm, the herbs and pills used to aid cultivation are very expensive. Taiping, you need to be mentally prepared."
"Okay!" Xu Taiping nodded vigorously. "No matter what the cost, I will gather all the ingredients."
Fairy Lingyue nodded in satisfaction.
Xu Taiping took out the small bronze furnace from his chest and placed it on the ground, then placed his other hand on it and began to inject true qi and spiritual energy into it.
With a loud explosion, the bronze furnace, which was originally the size of a fist, suddenly grew to the height of a stove.
Xu Taiping remained calm, as he had seen this many times before.
"You should already be familiar with the operation of the pill furnace. Now you can start adding charcoal."
Fairy Lingyue instructed Xu Taiping.
"This pill furnace is also a very ordinary magical tool. After refining a batch of pills, its spiritual energy will be exhausted, and it will become an ordinary furnace. Therefore, Taiping, you must listen carefully to my instructions and control the temperature of the furnace and the timing of adding the ingredients."
As Xu Taiping added charcoal to the furnace, Fairy Lingyue continued to remind him, her expression unusually serious.
"Sister Lingyue, don't worry. In the past two months, I have practiced many times and will not make any mistakes."
After adding the charcoal, Xu Taiping stood up and looked at Fairy Lingyue with a determined gaze.
The alchemy process that followed went exactly as Xu Taiping had promised Fairy Lingyue, without a single mistake from start to finish.
"The little guy has practiced the complex timing of adding ingredients and controlling the temperature of the furnace so proficiently that he is no less skilled than some cultivators who have studied alchemy for several years. How much effort did he put into it?"
Watching Xu Taiping, who kept his hand on the pill furnace and continuously controlled the temperature with his true qi, Fairy Lingyue's eyes became increasingly intense.
After all, alchemy was what she, Lingyue, was most skilled at. Seeing such a talented young alchemist, how could she not be excited?
"Xiao Taiping, be my disciple."
Fairy Lingyue almost blurted it out, but she held back at the last moment.
"In my current state, I cannot be a qualified master. Moreover, if others discover the lineage of his cultivation technique and know that he is my disciple, it will likely bring him countless dangers. Forget it, forget it..."
Fairy Lingyue's expression darkened.