Li Qi opened the small wooden box as soon as he returned to the Heavenly Dao space of the Dixu Realm.
Inside, a pill, perfectly round and emitting a faint fragrance, lay quietly.
This pill, named the Recondite Restoration Pill, was the only one available for purchase in the Void Black Market they had visited earlier.
Li Qi’s gaze remained fixed on the Recondite Restoration Pill. Kuaiδugg
Simultaneously, the passive talent "Artificer" was activated.
Li Qi gained a hundredfold解析 (analysis) speed at this moment.
Simply by inhaling the pill’s fragrance, Li Qi could already sense the various rare heavenly materials and earthly treasures contained within.
The names of these heavenly materials and earthly treasures appeared in Li Qi’s mind.
These were the ingredients required to refine this pill, the Recondite Restoration Pill.
However, Li Qi’s brow furrowed slightly soon after.
Within the pill’s aroma, he detected the scent of several special medicinal ingredients he had never encountered before.
Though Li Qi was cautious, his high cultivation had naturally endowed him with considerable experience.
These few special medicinal ingredients were completely unknown to him.
Were these the "upper realm heavenly materials and earthly treasures" mentioned by the manager of the Cangyan Medicine Pavilion?
They did possess a certain degree of mystery and value.
Li Qi continued his observation for more than half a month.
Over this period, with the aid of his "Artificer" talent, which broke through the thousandfold barrier.
Aside from the several extremely special ingredients whose medicinal properties he did not understand due to unfamiliarity, Li Qi had essentially grasped the Recondite Restoration Pill thoroughly.
However, he simultaneously encountered a serious problem.
The Recondite Restoration Pill was priced at eight million spirit stones.
Yet, based on his deductions, excluding the unknown cost of those few upper realm heavenly materials and earthly treasures, the cost of the remaining ingredients was estimated to be less than two hundred thousand spirit stones.
Even if those few upper realm heavenly materials and earthly treasures added up to four million, that would still leave a profit of two million.
The pill industry was truly a lucrative business, Li Qi mused to himself.
With the medicinal properties of the Recondite Restoration Pill now largely analyzed, a greater issue emerged in Li Qi’s mind.
This issue concerned the acquisition of the pill’s ingredients.
The other ingredients were relatively easy to obtain; many could be found even within the Dixu Realm, and if not, a search in other minor worlds within the Xiao Yan District would likely yield them.
However, those few upper realm heavenly materials and earthly treasures, which Li Qi had never heard of, were unobtainable.
Even if they could be obtained, they would likely be in extremely scarce quantities, perhaps only a few taels.
But what Li Qi desired was mass production.
Only with mass-produced pills could he sustain the consumption of his gluttonous Heavenly Dao.
"Perhaps I can find substitutes in the lower realm? Even if the effect isn't as good as the original, I can lower the price and people should still buy it," Li Qi thought.
With this idea, Li Qi made his decision.
He summoned his only natal spirit puppet, which bore his own likeness.
He entrusted the Recondite Restoration Pill borrowed from Gu Mengping to the natal spirit puppet and instructed it to return the pill to Gu Mengping in the Mengchang Minor World.
The natal spirit puppet followed the command and headed directly out of the Dixu Realm.
Li Qi, meanwhile, quietly waited within the Heavenly Dao space.
During this waiting period, he procured various heavenly materials and earthly treasures from the Dixu Realm and began to refine all sorts of pills.
This was preparation for refining the pill of enlightenment in the future.
Time flew by like a white colt’s passing.
In the blink of an eye, over two years had passed.
During these two years, Li Qi’s alchemy skills had greatly improved and his understanding of the craft had deepened, thanks to his "Artificer" passive talent.
His comprehension of medicinal properties and his proficiency in refinement techniques were now far beyond what they were before.
Then, one day.
As a batch of pills Li Qi was refining finished, his eyes suddenly lifted.
He sensed that his natal spirit puppet, which had been away from the Dixu Realm for over two years, had returned.
As expected, shortly after, the natal spirit puppet appeared near the Dixu Realm and entered the Heavenly Dao space.
The pill of enlightenment had been returned to Gu Mengping.
Li Qi extended his hand towards the natal spirit puppet and retrieved a spatial ring from it.
His divine sense surged into the spatial ring.
Within this spatial ring, a multitude of heavenly materials and earthly treasures were arranged. Though their total quantity was not large, the variety was significant, with two to three stalks of each type.
These were various heavenly materials and earthly treasures from other planes within the Xiao Yan District that the Dixu Realm did not possess.
The more than two years the natal spirit puppet had been away were not solely for returning Gu Mengping's pill.
In addition to returning the pill, Li Qi had also tasked the natal spirit puppet with visiting minor worlds in the various Xiao Yan Districts to purchase these heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
The plane lords of those worlds were very courteous upon seeing the natal spirit puppet bearing Li Qi’s likeness.
They even sold them the heavenly materials and earthly treasures from their minor worlds at extremely low prices.
"I wonder if I can find substitutes among these medicinal ingredients," Li Qi murmured to himself.
With a thought, the two lost slots for his natal spirit puppets, which had been depleted over the past two years, had long since recovered.
The three natal spirit puppets sat cross-legged in their respective places.
Li Qi’s alchemy skills and other knowledge were naturally shared by his natal spirit puppets.
Although they only possessed half of his abilities, they could assist Li Qi in speeding up various experiments to find substitute ingredients.
With this realization, Li Qi and his three natal spirit puppets, a total of four, wasted no time.
Each of them set up a pill furnace before them.
They began to frantically research the medicinal properties of these ingredients, searching for substitutes for the few upper realm heavenly materials and earthly treasures that Li Qi had never seen.
One year.
Two years.
Three years...
Li Qi seemed to have lost all sense of time.
His entire focus was completely immersed in experimenting and testing medicinal ingredients.
Occasionally, only Li Qi’s mumbled voice could be heard in the Heavenly Dao space.
"No, this Fire Bristle Grass is too potent; it needs to be milder."
"The Wenguang Withered Vine won’t do either; it's too gentle and can’t suppress the medicinal effects."
"Damn it, the dosage is correct, the medicinal effects are suppressed, but why has the pill's efficacy changed!"
"Blast, why do these two herbs conflict when mixed!"
"..."
Over such a long period, the entire Heavenly Dao space was filled with the aroma of medicinal herbs.
Fortunately, researching medicinal properties did not consume as much raw material as actual alchemy.
Only when Li Qi had gained new understanding after extensive research would he attempt actual refinement.
Ten years passed in the blink of an eye.
During these ten years, although Li Qi’s actual attempts at refining were few, he still managed to develop various peculiar pills with mixed results.
However, it was all worth it.
With the hundredfold解析 speed, even though Li Qi had not truly researched the pill of enlightenment, his mastery over medicinal properties had reached a new level.
Then, one day.
Li Qi seemed to have gained a new understanding of the fusion of medicinal properties.
His eyes lit up again.
The flame on the pill furnace before him was reignited.
He reached out to the pile of herbs beside him, and various herbs were drawn to his hand – these were the lower realm ingredients originally required for the Recondite Restoration Pill.
These ingredients were easily melted into liquid essence without any mishap.
This scene had been repeated countless times by Li Qi over the past few years.
But the next part was the most crucial.
This was because Li Qi was about to add the substitute ingredients he had researched for the upper realm heavenly materials and earthly treasures into the melting process.
There could be no mistakes with these substitute ingredients.
Whether it was their medicinal properties, the strength of their effects, the amount used, or the timing of the melting, every subsequent action was performed by Li Qi with extreme caution, to the point where he dared not even breathe.
Finally came the condensation step.
Li Qi’s divine sense moved sharply.
The liquid essence melted from all the ingredients was instantly condensed together.
A rich, faint fragrance emanated.
The pill of enlightenment! It was a success!