Chapter 69: Alchemy
Having left Chu Yang behind to figure out his options and talk with Zhi Ruo if there was anything that he wondered about, Xuan Hao made his way over to Qing Yi's room.
After seeing the earlier argument, Xuan Hao had grown quite curious about what kind of spirit herb would allow Chu Yang to fight with Qing Yi for it, while he already knew it was a herb of the spirit grade, he had no clue what kind it was.
Be it a high-grade or low-grade spirit herb, Xuan Hao had no clue at the moment.
*knock knock*
Walking up to Qing Yi's room, Xuan Hao knocked gently on the door as he waited for a response.
"Come in…"
Hearing the affirmative, Xuan Hao opened the door and walked into Qing Yi's room.
The room had changed a lot from what most of the rooms for disciples in the pavilion looked like and different from the usual bed and only a bit of the basic furniture like a small desk and wardrobe, Qing Yi's room was filled to the brim with all kinds of herbs.
The herbs helped give the room the vibe of an alchemists living quarters more so than a disciple training in martial arts. The only thing missing at the moment was the cultivation pills.
Alchemy was the practice of turning spiritual herbs or plants or even certain special objects into pills, potions, elixirs and many more mystical items that cultivators could consume for various effects such as increasing their cultivation, help increase the chances of a breakthrough, healing injuries and so on.
An example would be a Foundation Establishment Pill, that is beneficial to cultivators of the ninth stage of Qi Condensation, and it helps them breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Usually more than one Foundation Establishment Pill would be required to breakthrough and can be considered a quite sought-after commodity, but the Foundation Establishment Pill also comes with several demerit.
For example. The Foundational Pillar created inside the dantian would usually be weaker and more fragile compared to someone breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm by themselves.
This had resulted in most people only using the Foundation Establishment Pill as a form of support to breakthrough by only consuming a single one instead of using several to forcefully breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Even then, it was still an external form of support and had some demerits, this was also the reason why Xuan Hao had let Qing Yi breakthrough and reach the Foundation Establishment Realm by herself without any support from a Foundation Establishment Pill.
That Bai Fei from the Bai family could be considered a brilliant example, as he had used a Foundation Establishment Pill to breakthrough, causing him to have a weaker foundation and strength than someone like Qing Yi, who had broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm by herself!
While this was demerit was indeed big, the Foundation Establishment Pill was still widely used, as it could speed of the cultivation of someone. Allowing one to reach a higher realm faster.
Honestly, Xuan Hao felt such a thing was stupid. After all, if you had a weak foundation, it would come back to haunt you in the future.
This could also be one of the reasons why there were so many Core Formation cultivators compared to Nascent Soul cultivators, as the Nascent Soul Realm was the first realm where your foundation would be tested and start to show its importance.
"Master?" Qing Yi saw that her master was in a daze and asked him in a quiet voice. Not daring to be too loud, as she did not know if he had a sudden enlightenment or something.
"Qing Yi… Are you perhaps interested in alchemy?" Thinking about, Xuan Hao thought that with Qing Yi's interest in herbs and plants, she would most likely make a good alchemist in the future.
"Alchemy? I never really thought about it… I don't really know that much about alchemy as my famil- no, the entire Bright Sun City never had any alchemists before. All I know is that they are able to earn a lot of money and treasures from creating pills and potions…" Looking at Qing Yi as she talked, Xuan Hao saw her face slowly turn from a curious look into one filled with desire when she got to the part of the alchemist earning a lot from selling their pills and potions.
It seemed like his disciple was indeed interested in alchemy… Just not for the reason that he had thought she would.
"Master, can you please explain what alchemy is…?" Looking up at him with upturned eyes and trying her best at making puppy eyes at him, Qing Yi asked in a low and cute voice.
"Sure, I'm your teacher after all! Alchemy is the ancient practice of turning things such as spiritual herbs or plants or in some cases, even certain special objects into pills, potions, elix-"
Ding~
As Xuan Hao started lecturing Qing Yi about alchemy, a slight sound could be heard from Xuan Hao's sea of consciousness as he immediately knew that it was from the system. Most likely related to the fact that he was teaching Qing Yi about alchemy.
Supressing the curiosity that appeared when he heard the systems sound, Xuan Hao decided to wait until he finished teaching Qing Yi and found a quiet place before entering his sea of consciousness to see what happened.
Like this, Xuan Hao spent the next hour in Qing Yi's room. Explaining some of the basics of how alchemy worked and also how much the different pills and potions made by alchemists were worth.
Qing Yi was especially shocked when she found out that turning a spiritual herb or plant into a pill or potion would at least increase its worth by several fold.
In some cases, the prices would increase more than a dozen times!
This was truly an eyeopener for Qing Yi, as she felt her passion for alchemy grow the more she heard her master explain about it.