Whoever dares to defy will be boycotted by all alchemy masters! This is how alchemy masters protect their own rights. No one wants to use their wealth to test Li Yunjing’s skills. "It’s not that! It’s just that I have patrol duties today..." Li Yunjing thought for a moment before he spoke. Senior Brother Wang was taken aback. So this was the issue. Yu Yuanhua divided the entire team into several smaller groups, each with their own responsibilities. When it came to patrolling the mountains, there were two small teams that alternated every seven days. Today, it was Li Yunjing’s turn to patrol the mountains. Senior Brother Wang wanted to see Li Yunjing’s skills and said with a smile, "I’ll take your shift! You can focus on alchemy!" "Alright! If that’s the case, I’ll refine a batch of True Essence Pills for you, Senior Brother Wang. Come to me tomorrow morning to collect them?" Li Yunjing asked with a smile. If someone was willing to cover his shift for a day, it couldn’t be any better! To be honest, Li Yunjing really didn’t want to patrol the mountains. Nothing ever happened, and it was just a waste of time. Li Yunjing had completed his true disciple assessment task. But in such a situation, no one would want him to leave! Li Yunjing didn’t dare to bring it up either; otherwise, his fellow disciples might see him as a deserter. Sometimes, when you’re in the martial arts world, you can’t always act on your own volition. Since someone was willing to help him patrol for a day, Li Yunjing had no reason to refuse. "Great! Li Junior Brother, you’re straightforward! Then I’ll leave it to you!" Senior Brother Wang was pleased and immediately handed a batch of spirit medicine to Li Yunjing. Li Yunjing carefully inspected it to confirm the quality was good and wouldn’t affect alchemy, then put the herbs away. He exchanged a few more words with him, bid farewell to a few other fellow disciples, and then returned to his room to continue his closed-door alchemy session. Today, Li Yunjing had already refined several batches of True Essence Pills. He was in good condition and very proficient in alchemy, so Li Yunjing didn’t need to be fully focused. All the refining details had long become second nature to him. Almost effortlessly, Li Yunjing spent an hour refining this batch of True Essence Pills completely. He opened the lid of the pill furnace, took out ten pills, and carefully examined them. All ten pills were a success. Amazingly, two of them were Tier Eight True Essence Pills! This kind of Tier Eight True Essence Pill is rarely seen on the market, as most of them are consumed by alchemy masters themselves. Even if it were to be sold, it would be to people close to them. The efficacy of a Tier Eight True Essence Pill is at least ten percent higher than that of a Tier Nine pill. Don’t underestimate that ten percent; over time, with consistent use, one’s cultivation speed might be ten percent faster than others. Looking at the average time it takes a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator to break through to the Golden Core Realm. A talented Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator typically needs 200 years to break through to the Golden Core Realm. With a ten percent boost from the True Essence Pill, it would save 20 years! That’s a significant amount of time! Breaking through realms for a cultivator is as difficult as climbing to the heavens, any improvement is beneficial. The more time saved in all aspects, the more time there is to comprehend the great Dao, increasing the hope of breaking through to the Golden Core realm. As for other pills of Tier Seven, Tier Six... even Tier One, there’s no need to mention them! Those can be regarded as divine pills indeed! The fact that Li Yunjing could refine two Tier Eight True Essence Pills set him apart from ordinary Tier Two alchemy masters. After some thought, Li Yunjing decided to give Senior Brother Wang one of the Tier Eight True Essence Pills and keep the other for himself. Li Yunjing placed one Tier Eight True Essence Pill and six Tier Nine True Essence Pills into a jade bottle, the remainder being his own reward. "Heh! Alchemy masters really make money!" After a sigh, even Li Yunjing felt he was being somewhat exploitative. But his behavior was quite normal among alchemy masters. Some unscrupulous alchemy masters, after successfully refining pills, would even lie about a failure and keep all the pills for themselves. Of course, doing this too often would ruin their reputation, and no one would seek their services anymore. Most alchemy masters still maintained professional integrity! Li Yunjing’s actions were considered quite conscientious. If it were someone else, they might not even give Senior Brother Wang one Tier Eight True Essence Pill. After finishing alchemy, Li Yunjing thought about it and had nothing else to do. With someone covering his shift, he went straight to bed to rest. After eight days of continuous alchemy, Li Yunjing was somewhat exhausted. Tomorrow morning, when he handed over Senior Brother Wang’s pills, it would cause a sensation. The whole of Yellow Dragon Ridge would be astonished by his alchemy skills. Surely, more people would come seeking his help with alchemy! Maybe, from today on, he wouldn’t need to take any duties; there would always be someone willing to take his shift eagerly. "Within Yellow Dragon Ridge, there are twenty-seven Foundation Establishment Realm fellow disciples. They all need elixirs; maybe helping them can accumulate significant wealth! This wealth could even be used to research and buy a spiritual artifact pill furnace!" At this thought, Li Yunjing’s heart burned with enthusiasm. As long as he had a spiritual artifact-level pill furnace, he would definitely be able to refine Tier Seven and above True Essence Pills. The better the pill furnace, the higher the efficiency and quality of the pills. Every alchemy master dreams of owning a perfect pill furnace. It’s like how a sword cultivator desires a peerless sword. As an alchemy master, especially after advancing to Tier Two, Li Yunjing had an immense yearning for a spiritual artifact-level pill furnace. He even felt an irresistible urge. A top-grade pill furnace was priced well above high-grade spiritual artifacts, even approaching top-grade spiritual artifacts. Yet, those were only low-grade spiritual artifacts in terms of quality! Imagine the cost for a top-grade spiritual artifact pill furnace? It wouldn’t be cheaper than the Cyan Cloud Ship, likely even more expensive than the one Li Yunjing ordered! In the Immortal Cultivation Realm, price doesn’t correlate with size! Given Li Yunjing’s current wealth, top-grade pill furnaces were out of his reach. The best option for Li Yunjing was to commission someone to refine a low-grade spiritual artifact-level pill furnace. The rıghtful source is 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢•𝕟𝕖𝕥 Refining a pill furnace was extremely intricate, and with his intermediate skills, Li Yunjing definitely couldn’t do it himself. After some thought, Li Yunjing realized that aside from Yang Wenzheng and his disciple, he couldn’t find a better artifact refiner. However, they were far away in the Shenxiao Mountain Range, a million li from here. A Myriad Li Communication Talisman couldn’t connect him with someone from the Sect. Currently, only Yu Yuanhua could contact the Sect with great effort. Asking Yu Yuanhua for help in transmitting a message? Li Yunjing would be foolish to seek a scolding! Just thinking about it, Yu Yuanhua would certainly ignore him. Now locked down in Yellow Dragon Ridge, no one could tell how long it would last. They didn’t know the outside situation, nor whether the Sect’s army had arrived or if battles had started. The only one possibly privy to some information was Yu Yuanhua. But he was a significant figure and had no reason to update people like Li Yunjing on recent events. For common disciples like him, just obeying orders was enough. "A pill furnace is a problem, but an even bigger issue is whether the spirit grass my fellow disciples have can sustain refining a Tier Seven pill!" "Another problem is the serious lack of pill formulas!" "Without pill formulas, I can’t refine other Tier Two elixirs!" "A master that can only make True Essence Pills isn’t a good alchemy master!" Li Yunjing lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, rubbing his chin, lost in thought. These issues were major obstacles on the path of alchemy. And now, stranded here, Li Yunjing couldn’t solve any of them. "Forget it, things are pretty good now, just take it slow! If I can’t do alchemy, I can still do artifact refining!"