In the third furnace of pill refinement, a strong fragrance wafted into Mi Xiaojing’s nose. He was instantly invigorated as the furnace produced only one pill, a thumb-sized pill with seven pill patterns floating on its surface. Mi Xiaojing knew that if there were ten pill patterns, then the pill would be a top-grade pill.

Middle-grade pills would have at most five pill patterns, and they were mostly blurry and difficult to discern. Unlike top-grade pills, their pill patterns were clear and their fragrance was strong.

Wang Weijun was also surprised that a top-grade pill was produced in the first round of alchemy. He did not know that Mi Xiaojing liked to control things with precision during cultivation, and alchemy was a process that required the most control.

Satisfied with the spirit pill in his hand, Mi Xiaojing knew that he had to wait another day before he could leave. Once he left, everything would be inspected, and the top-grade spirit pill would be discovered, which would not be easy to explain.

Mi Xiaojing put the top-grade spirit pill in his mouth and started to cultivate. Originally, his progress in cultivating the Starry Sky Qianyuan Art was extremely slow, but when the qi-refining pill turned into liquid and slid down his throat, a huge amount of spiritual qi spread out.

The spiritual qi and medicinal power released by a spirit pill with pill patterns would spread out as the cultivation progressed, and the speed of release could be adjusted according to the progress of cultivation. This was an effect that middle-grade and low-grade spirit pills did not possess.

Once a spirit pill reached the top-grade, whether it was a low-level pill or a middle-level pill, it was an invaluable treasure.

Although middle-grade pills were also good, there was still trading between cultivators. As for low-grade pills, they were the most commonly used pills by cultivators. Even low-level cultivators treated them as treasures, more precious than spirit stones.

The Starry Sky Qianyuan Art required a huge amount of spiritual qi to sustain it. When the liquid entered his stomach, Mi Xiaojing immediately felt a difference. The magical technique that was difficult to push forward suddenly became extremely easy, and then he realized that his true qi seemed to have taken on some kind of attribute.

It took half a day to consume the top-grade qi-refining pill. Mi Xiaojing still had seven middle-grade qi-refining pills in his hand, which could not be taken out. He ate them like fried beans, one after another, and finished all seven of them in less than half a day.

Compared to top-grade pills, middle-grade pills were far inferior. One top-grade pill was definitely worth more than a dozen middle-grade pills, and as for low-grade pills, the gap was even wider.

There were only three low-grade qi-refining pills left, but even so, Mi Xiaojing had no intention of keeping them. He casually threw one into his mouth, always wanting to taste the flavor of a low-grade pill.”Mm, low-grade pills are really not good, with mixed spiritual qi and poor medicinal power… Well, I won’t eat this kind of pill unless I have no other choice in the future.”

If the cultivators of the Sword Heart Sect heard this, they would probably want to kill him. Although the quality of low-grade pills is not good, many cultivators still treasure them and keep them hidden. They may only take one when they reach a certain bottleneck. If there is any other way, they won’t use pills to break through. It’s just too rare.

As for foundation establishment pills, they are even rarer. Every time the Sword Heart Sect refines foundation establishment pills or buys them from the market, it is a big deal in the sect.

If a cultivator reaches the great perfection stage in the Qi Refining period, as long as their aptitude is not too bad, generally, one high-grade foundation establishment pill can successfully establish a foundation and enter the world of cultivation. This hurdle has stopped too many people.

Foundation establishment pills are also low-grade pills, but they are the top-grade pills among low-grade pills. Among low-grade pills, foundation establishment pills are the rarest and most difficult to refine. It’s not that the materials are hard to find, but the success rate of refining is too low.

Even if they succeed in refining, most of them can only get some low-grade pills. At least two low-grade pills are needed to have a small chance of success in establishing a foundation. If they still can’t establish a foundation after taking the third low-grade pill, then that person will never have the chance to establish a foundation. If they are lucky enough to get a medium-grade pill, the chance of establishing a foundation will greatly increase. As for high-grade pills, they are even rarer.

In the entire Sword Heart Sect, the number of high-grade foundation establishment pills refined in a year does not exceed six to ten, and they must be refined by the master-level expert Chen Shouyi. Other pill masters, if they are lucky, may get one or two, but they often have to consume a lot of materials, which is not cost-effective.

There are three grades of pills: high, medium, and low, as well as supreme pills. Only masters can refine high-grade pills, and only grandmasters can refine supreme pills. In the entire Sword Heart Sect, only Chen Shouyi has a relatively high probability of refining high-grade pills. Therefore, he has a high status in the sect, even though he is only a cultivator in the foundation establishment stage.

According to Mi Xiaojing’s first attempt at alchemy, if the Sword Heart Sect knew about it, it would be a great event. However, the process was too frightening, so Mi Xiaojing didn’t plan to reveal it. Keeping quiet and getting rich was the best choice, especially since he had no sense of belonging to the Sword Heart Sect and was even an enemy of the sect. There was no need to let them know about his alchemy skills.

Three days passed quickly, and Mi Xiaojing still had two low-grade pills left. He had already completed the task of refining Qi Refining pills.The door of the pill room opened, and Mi Xiaojing walked into the lobby of Grass-Benevolence Hall. He noticed that the other six alchemy apprentices all had unhappy expressions.

Chen Shouyi, Hong Qing, and Guan Shangli were there.

Guan Shangli said, “Alright, everyone hand over the Qi Refining Pills you refined.”

Seeing that no one else was moving, Mi Xiaojing took out two Qi Refining Pills and said, “I only successfully refined one furnace, which produced two Qi Refining Pills.”

Suddenly, the six people’s gazes were like sharp swords, staring at Mi Xiaojing with surprise and anger on their faces. If none of the seven of them had succeeded, then Grass-Benevolence Hall would have to assess them again in another way. They couldn’t have no one succeed, right? With Mi Xiaojing’s success, their hopes plummeted.

Guan Shangli looked at Mi Xiaojing with some surprise. He didn’t expect Mi Xiaojing to be able to refine pills, even if they were just the most basic Qi Refining Pills. It takes dozens to even over ten attempts to have a chance at success.

“You’re lucky to have two low-grade Qi Refining Pills. Haha.”

Just with these two low-grade Qi Refining Pills, the cost of this attempt was covered, and they even made a profit. This is why alchemists are wealthy; as long as they succeed, they can obtain many resources.

This is also why Chen Shouyi and the others want to control Grass-Benevolence Hall. They don’t care about cultivating disciples at all. Now that they have one, and the others are all unqualified, the three of them have a tacit understanding, and even Hong Qing and Chen Shouyi, who don’t get along, didn’t say anything.