Chapter 1459 — Notes on Alchemy: Thus a Profound Tier First Grade Pill Is Commonly Called a Super-Grade Pill, Meaning It Has Already Passed Beyond the Grade of Ordinary Pills

Of course, beyond all that, this notebook of an alchemist's reflections did indeed collect a number of pill formulas at Profound Tier first grade and above — but in Zhang Liju's eyes, those formulas were either nonsense or simply beyond anyone's reach.

Some of the ingredients could never form a pill, no matter what; even if the furnace did not blow apart, they could never be condensed into one. Zhang Liju tried a few times, and after being blasted black in the face, he had no choice but to give up.

Cultivators cultivate true qi or the body — the gathering of true qi, the strengthening of the physique — while alchemists cultivate pill fire: the control and elevation of pill fire. And pill fire, so called, is of many kinds; at base it is divided into five: metal, wood, earth, water, and fire. The fire kind is the most fundamental of fundamentals, and most alchemists choose it, for by fire one can condense the greatest variety of pills. Only certain special pills require other kinds of pill fire.

Of course, one may also choose to dual cultivate. But a person's energy is limited, and the dual cultivation of pill fire is not at all the same as the dual cultivation of the inner and outer paths. Inner and outer cultivation complement and complete each other; the dual cultivation of pill fire means starting over from the very beginning!

Even if you have raised fire-kind pill fire all the way to the Yellow Tier seventh grade, if you then wish to cultivate water-kind pill fire, you must begin again from the first. So unless one is an alchemist of great accomplishment, few will attempt dual cultivation; it is simply asking for hardship, something to do only when one has nothing better to occupy him.

To cultivate and raise pill fire is to train its temperature, the size of its flame, and its purity — a path utterly different from the cultivation of the inner and outer arts!

The basic precondition for becoming an alchemist is that one must first be a cultivator — and an inner-cultivation practitioner at that! That is to say, to become a Yellow Tier alchemist, one must possess the strength of a Yellow Tier inner cultivator; and likewise, to become a Profound Tier alchemist, one must possess the strength of a Profound Tier inner cultivator! Yet these are only theoretical figures. By Zhang Liju's account, even a Heaven Tier inner expert may not necessarily become a Profound Tier first grade alchemist; to cultivate pill fire, one must have a vast reserve of true qi to sustain it!

Wei Zhao had not expected that becoming an alchemist would prove so complicated a business. No wonder a single Yellow Tier third grade Qi Gathering Pill could raise such a storm, to say nothing of pills of higher grade!

Still, Wei Zhao had nothing pressing on his hands at present. Beyond the window all was a vast white blur; he might as well cultivate his pill arts here in the inn.

In the Alchemist's Notes, Zhang Liju had recorded in detail the heart method formulas for cultivating the five kinds of pill fire: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Each set of formulas was in fact quite short. An alchemist's cultivation method was a simple thing, nothing complicated — merely a formula for converting the true qi within an inner cultivator's body into the corresponding pill fire. Hence a Yellow Tier cultivator could at best become a Yellow Tier alchemist, for he was constrained by the grade of his own true qi.

In truth, however, because a Yellow Tier cultivator's true qi is limited, and because the inner heart method he practices does not perfectly accord with the method for cultivating pill fire, a degree of error and loss is bound to arise. To become a Yellow Tier seventh grade alchemist while possessing only Yellow Tier inner strength is basically impossible; generally, to reach the first or second grade is already good, and even the third is unlikely.

Wei Zhao was now of the Profound Tier, so his starting point was fairly high; and his knowledge of pharmacology and the properties of medicines was beyond anyone else's reach!

Pill formulas were important to an alchemist, to be sure, but one who confined himself to formulas would never accomplish much, even if he were a Profound Tier first grade alchemist — for he did not understand pharmacology and the nature of the ingredients. When some ingredient was in short supply, he could not freely revise the formula, and so he would naturally fall far below the alchemist who understood pharmacology and could amend a formula himself!

And Zhang Liju was plainly an alchemist who could amend formulas himself!

According to the notes, Zhang Liju said that the Qi Gathering Pill had originally been a super-grade pill, but he had altered it into a third grade pill. Its medicinal force was no longer so domineering, and a person could take at most one in a lifetime, further doses having no effect; it lacked the original Qi Gathering Pill's virtue of being usable even at the Heaven Tier — yet its cost had fallen enormously!

The materials the true Qi Gathering Pill required could only be called astonishing. Wei Zhao glanced at the formula, and what he felt was not merely astonishment but utter bewilderment! Many of the heaven-and-earth treasures named in it were things he had never so much as heard of!

At the sight, Wei Zhao's spirits suddenly sagged. Deep as his study of pharmacology and medicinal properties might be, with ingredients he had never seen — never even heard of — he could not amend them at will, even if he wished to.

For Wei Zhao had no idea whatever what those ingredients were meant to do, or what part they played in the refining of the pill; naturally, he could not find substitutes.

Be that as it may, the formulas Zhang Liju had left behind were enough to serve Wei Zhao for a good while. Most of the ingredients in Zhang Liju's revised formulas were exceedingly ordinary, easily purchased in any market; and even those that were rather rare were grown in the old man's own herb garden.

But in those higher-grade formulas that had never been revised, things like the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit — things he had never seen — appeared everywhere, dazzling Wei Zhao's eyes!

Before cultivating, Wei Zhao still habitually made ready to call the old man at home and ask his opinion, just as he had done when he first cultivated the Xuanyuan Dragon Riding Art.

He dialed Old Man Wei's number on the satellite phone. Only after quite some time did the other end pick up, and the old man's lazy voice came through: "Little Yi? What is it? I was just taking my afternoon nap. Have you found the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit?"

Wei Zhao was somewhat at a loss for words. If one said the old man cared for him, then he cared more than anyone alive; if one said he did not care, then Wei Zhao had been gone several days and the old man had not once called to ask after him. He could not tell whether the old man truly had such faith in him, or simply reckoned he would meet with no trouble at all.

"Not yet. I have just arrived at a place near the Far North called Ice-Snow Spirit Town. Judging by the direction of the coordinates, the land of utmost northern cold lies just beyond the town. But I have tried several directions and found no path at all. I was about to try going on foot when the snow began to fall heavily, and the visibility was too poor, so I found an inn and put up there, meaning to wait for the snow to pass before going to look." Wei Zhao laid out his situation to Old Man Wei in one breath.

"Ice-Snow Spirit Town... Ice-Snow Spirit Town..." Old Man Wei, however, paid no mind to anything else Wei Zhao had said; he only kept repeating the name of the town.

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