Chapter 284: Foundation-Building Pill Completed, Master's Misfortune (First Update)

Following Liu He's alchemy technique, the alchemy furnace bloomed with five colors of light, sometimes bright and sometimes dark.

The furnace then made the sound of boiling water, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, and a faint gray smoke curled up from the reserved pores.

Liu He said softly: "The elixir is conceived with the five elements to balance its properties. Humans are born with all five elements. Only in this way can this foundation-building elixir be universal."

Li Qinglue thought about it and found that the elixir he had just put in was basically balanced among the four elements except for the water attribute.

The essence of Xuanshui contains all kinds of elixirs and reacts with them, which is in line with the balance of the five elements.

As for Liu He's elixir operation, although the key is not clear, it is ultimately inseparable from the principle of the five elements' interdependence and natural cycle.

Later, Liu He invested in a variety of spiritual materials.

Some were in complete shape, and Li Qing could understand what they were at a glance; but others had gone through multiple processes and could not regain their original appearance.

Sometimes Liu He would explain something, but sometimes he wouldn't mention it at all. Obviously some links involved secrets that couldn't be told outside.

However, Li Qing also roughly understood the characteristics of these spiritual materials based on the prescriptions he had obtained. He went back to follow the clues and found out how to prepare them. It was not easy, but it was by no means impossible.

Finally, the fourth main ingredient, Chongmingcao, was thrown into the furnace by Liu He.

There was a muffled "buzz" sound, and all the light in the alchemy furnace was extinguished, leaving only the alchemy fire slowly baking.

Chongming grass is a second-level mid-grade spiritual grass. It has a light orange glow since it sprouts.

Every winter, Chongmingcao will fall asleep and its light will fade away. It won't appear again until next summer.

In this way, after nine summers and nine winters, Chongmingcao is fully mature and its light is restrained before it can be used as medicine.

The most stringent thing is that Chongming grass cannot be stored for a long time and must be used within three days of picking, otherwise it will lose all its effectiveness.

Liu He was silent for a moment and then said: "This step is to use the characteristics of light and destruction to let the spirituality of the Foundation Establishment Pill go through nine turns. Only the pills achieved in this way are the purest."

Li Qing raised his eyebrows: "This step is the same with the Nine Profound Fruits, right?"

Liu He said "hmm" and looked at the alchemy furnace quietly in trance. After a long while, he said: "Strictly speaking, Chongmingcao is the lower substitute of Jiuxuanguo."

Li Qing said with a smile: "In my year, there happened to be frost in June and ice disaster in summer. The harvest of the seasonal Chongming grass was almost impossible, so I had to use Jiuxuanguo instead."

Liu He nodded: "Except for the Chongming grass that is in season, all other crops that have grown in low years have also died. Neighboring countries have imposed an embargo on the Great Zhou Dynasty, and it will take nine years to sow and harvest again."

"But my life span is approaching and I cannot wait nine years. So I can only take the risk of planting Jiuxuan Fruit." Li Qing said.

"There's just one thing that I haven't understood yet. How did the ancestor of the Leng family know that I gave you the Nine Profound Fruits and asked you, Brother Dao, to make elixirs?"

If the ancestor of the Leng family hadn't interfered, Li Qing would have at least obtained a genuine foundation-building pill, and perhaps the foundation-building wouldn't have failed.

Although it is lost in the east, it is gained in the mulberry tree. Li Qing was able to build a foundation in the way of heaven and was the best among his peers, but his disappointment at that time was real.

Liu He was silent.

Li Qing didn't need to think about it, the answer was already self-evident: it was just one of Liu He's disciples who didn't keep his mouth shut, and the news leaked out.

At that time, because of his extraordinary knowledge in alchemy, he was introduced by Liu He as his old friend. Perhaps he really irritated many people.

So when he refined the Foundation Establishment Pill, someone tipped him off; when he planted the Jiuxuan Fruit, someone else went to Yanling Valley to tip him off.

The human heart is easy to understand but difficult to understand.

However, Liu Hejin was willing to take risks, and while avoiding the leakage of the secret information, he taught him the secrets of refining the Foundation Establishment Pill one by one. In fact, it was more of an apology to Li Qing.

As for the two guys who betrayed him, one has been silenced by Liu Yuan's master; the other has not been encountered in Liuhe Cave, and it is unlikely to be encountered in the future.

"Puff puff..." The heat in the alchemy furnace rose, awakening the two people who were looking at each other in silence.

Li Qing looked intently, and there was already a vision of Yin Yang and Five Elements looming in it.

Liu He gave a soft drink, recited the formula in his mouth, held the finger formula in his hand, and formed a special restriction to fly into the furnace.

Only a loud "clang" sound was heard, and the top cover of the alchemy furnace was opened directly.

Li Qing clearly saw that there were actually five pills in it.

Just two round tudors, shining brightly, making people's hearts sway. The other three were pitted, cracked, and uneven.

"Are these two genuine items and three inferior items?" Li Qing asked softly.

Liu He shook his head: "We can't make a conclusion until the last moment." As he said that, he threw in the last main ingredient, Black Snake Slough.

Black Snake Slough, as the name suggests, is the skin of a second-level high-grade spiritual beast called Black Snake.

What is special is that the black snake's skin is peeled off completely. After sealing the nine orifices, it can be completed without leakage.

The spiritual fire burned brightly, and the originally ordinary snake slough suddenly expanded violently, turning into a snake shape and swallowing five pills in sequence.

Liu He said: "The Foundation Establishment Pill is jealous of the heavens. Only by using spiritual materials such as black snake slough to transform it once and survive the catastrophe of becoming a pill can it be considered complete."

Li Qing nodded, knowing that this substance had similar effects to the elixir he had obtained, Golden Cicada Slough.

It's just that the golden cicada is small and can only swallow one foundation-building pill, so it needs to be invested as needed. It is not as convenient as the black snake's shedding, but the price will be much cheaper.

Suddenly, there was a crisp "click" sound from the black snake's shed.

Liu He was a little regretful: "There are only four left. I thought there were more, so I'll give you one."

Before he finished speaking, there was another "pop", and it was obvious that another Foundation Establishment Pill was useless.

"What's going on!" Liu He was furious and full of doubts. "With the quality of this Xuanyang ginseng, the chance of success should be very high."

Li Qing was stunned. He carefully examined the foundation-building pill wrapped in the black snake slough and suddenly found something: "Brother Dao..."

Liu He raised his eyes and found that he was pointing at a place under the neck of the black snake slough. There were two small holes leaking air there.

"Why is the black snake slough missing?" Liu He was furious. But this thing was taken out of his storage bag and never left his sight from beginning to end. He couldn't find the reason for a while.

Li Qing reminded: "No matter why the snake slough was damaged, there are still three foundation-building pills waiting for you to save them."

Liu He suddenly shuddered and quickly played a series of pill formulas.

Finally, the black snake slough burst into golden light, expanded violently, and scattered into starlight all over the room.

In the furnace, a foundation-building pill was still round and shining, which was very pleasing.

The other two pills, although their edges were smoothed and their depressions filled, were ultimately altered and not as round as the genuine ones.

"What a shame! Hateful!" Liu He kicked the pill furnace over, "If I knew who was the one who was interfering, I would never forgive him!"

He didn't have the time to explain the foundation-building pill to Li Qing. He waved his hand to remove the restriction, took the three pills and went out.

"Today, there was a mistake in the pill-making process. There is only one genuine pill and two inferior pills left. Let's distribute them according to what we agreed in advance!"

Li Qing looked down at the overturned pill furnace, and thought of the leaky black snake slough, and had a vague guess in his heart.

"Tsk! What sin did Brother Liu do in his previous life? Why did he have to deal with these debt collectors in this life?"