For the formula of the Spiritual Root Pill, Luo Chen prepared to use the Root of Heaven and Earth as the primary ingredient, complemented by thirteen secondary herbs, including Night Feather Flower and Purple Monarch Leaf.
Beyond these, he lined up several dozen additional herbs as backup substitutes, ready to be swapped in at any moment.
Did that sound like a modest number?
In truth, it was already quite substantial.
In Luo Chen's view, though the conjecture left behind by the Heaven Refining Demon Lord was rather outrageous, it was ultimately intended for mortals who had not yet stepped onto the path of cultivation.
Therefore, the grade of the Spiritual Root Pill could not possibly be too high.
If it was too high, a mortal would never withstand the terrifying medicinal potency.
For ordinary Tier 1 or Tier 2 pills, the number of primary ingredients was not like Tier 3 or Tier 4 pills, which often incorporated several simultaneously.
As for secondary ingredients, Luo Chen had already selected more than enough.
Balancing the need to draw out the strengths of the Root of Heaven and Earth while avoiding its shortcomings as much as possible, the pairing of supplementary herbs was an exceedingly difficult matter that required meticulous deliberation, even for a Tier 4 alchemist.
Fortunately, now that he had established his primary direction, he could feel his way forward step by step.
Within the Alchemy Realm, Luo Chen's figure flitted across the mountains and lakes. The herbal basket on his back was filled, emptied, and filled again.
One by one, the medicinal herbs he needed were harvested by his own hands.
It had to be said that although this work appeared tedious, it brought an immense sense of fulfillment.
Luo Chen applied some of the knowledge he had gleaned from the bamboo slips in the study to his practical harvesting, while another portion of his foraging experience stemmed from the accumulations of his earlier life.
It was also at this point that he suddenly realized: why were most of the medicinal herbs in this world capped at five hundred years or younger?
In a valley hollow, Luo Chen carefully dug out a root of Dry Chen Zhibai, an herb resembling fleeceflower root.
Straightening his back, the Daoist looked around.
"If this world is an herb garden established specifically for the Spiritual Root Pill trial, then it only makes sense that the age of these herbs is kept low.
"Mortals cannot bear the potent medicinal power brought by herbs of excessive age.
"Yet how did the Heaven Refining Demon Lord manage to keep these herbs neither too old nor too young? Among all the methods I know, not a single one can accomplish this."
With a sigh of admiration, Luo Chen set off to search for the next herb.
Gathering herbs was merely a trivial bit of minor labor.
After spending about half a month, Luo Chen successfully gathered most of the herbs he needed within the Alchemy Realm.
He then returned to the stone house's dispensary and began processing them in different ways.
Every herb required a different method of preparation: some could be used directly, some had to be dried in advance, and others needed to be ground into powder for later use.
It was throughout this process that Luo Chen gained a deeper understanding of these herbs, which in turn sparked more ideas regarding the Spiritual Root Pill formula he had previously drafted.
While keeping the Root of Heaven and Earth as the constant primary ingredient, he experimented with replacing the secondary ingredients.
Time slipped away little by little.
Another half-year passed. Once everything was in order,
Luo Chen did not immediately begin attempting to concoct the pill.
Instead, he calmed his mind, focused his concentration, and opened his attribute panel.
There was no anxiety on his face, for he had already tested earlier whether he could open it.
However, unlike usual when he mainly examined his basic attributes, this time he clicked open solely the alchemist section under Professions.
Professions:
[Tier 4 Alchemist]
[Alchemy Arts: Scale Turning Hand Grand Perfection, Burning Crane Hand Grand Perfection, Grand Perfection Alchemy Arts (click to view details)]
[Tier 4 Pills: Transformation Pill Beginner 5/100, Purple Qi Poison-Warding Pill Beginner 30/100
Tier 3 Pills: Many Stars Pill Grand Perfection, True Flame Pill Grand Perfection, Nether Origin Pill Beginner 6/100
Tier 2 Pills: Stasis-Resolving Powder Perfect 376/500
Tier 1 Pills: Water Condensing Pill Grand Perfection
More Grand Perfection Pills (click to view details)]
With most of the content collapsed, the simple and concise alchemist attribute panel lay before him.
Compared to years past, there were a few unfamiliar pill entries, though in truth they were not entirely unfamiliar.
The Purple Qi Poison-Warding Pill had been modified by Luo Chen from a Tier 4 poison-warding formula specifically for his journey to Purple Spirit Island. After that journey succeeded, he stopped there, setting aside a few spare pills and refining no more.
Among the Tier 3 pills, the unperfected one was the Nether Origin Pill, a formula he had studied back then to break through to the Golden Core stage.
And among the Tier 2 pills, a newly added entry was the Stasis-Resolving Powder, a medicinal powder he had learned recently to recover more quickly from the hidden injuries left by his body refinement.
At this moment, however, none of that mattered.
Luo Chen glanced at the number of Achievement Points at the bottom of the panel: [300].
This was his greatest reliance!
Originally he had 334 Achievement Points, but earlier, to quickly reach Beginner in the Tier 4 Open Thatch Art, he had spent 34 points. That expenditure was well worth it to Luo Chen, and had come as somewhat of a surprise.
He had initially thought a Tier 4 spell would consume far more Achievement Points, yet having already mastered the prerequisites for the Open Thatch Art—the Origin Core Art and Locking the Beaded Curtain—it had taken only thirty-four points to achieve Beginner level back then.
Now, with a full three hundred points remaining, Luo Chen possessed tremendous confidence for deducing this pill formula.
"Even if someone walked ahead of me, as long as the test topic is the same, no matter how formidable that person's alchemy is, unless they reach the level of the Central Plains Alchemy Saint, they must go through trial and error step by step, expending boundless time and energy.
"I, however, am different. With the panel in hand, I have no need to waste so much time!
"I can even save energy during the concoction process itself."
Luo Chen smiled faintly, growing increasingly confident.
In his estimation, the predecessor likely possessed considerable alchemy attainment; otherwise, they could not have passed the first trial in less than three years after the Fallen Demon Ground opened.
Yet to say they could rival that rumored Alchemy Saint of the Central Plains?
That was impossible.
Why would an existence like that come here and put themselves in harm's way?
His smile fading slightly, Luo Chen took a deep breath and brought one of his adjusted Spiritual Root Pill formulas to the forefront of his mind.
Instantly, the corresponding prompt flowed silently across the system.
[Unknown pill formula detected, incomplete version. Complete it?]
Luo Chen frowned. This was the formula he had selected with the utmost care, the one in which he felt the greatest confidence, believing it to be highly mature.
It was still considered incomplete?
With a shift of thought, he fed another formula into the system.
[Unknown pill formula detected, incomplete version. Complete it?]
[Unknown pill formula detected, incomplete version. Complete it?]
Time and again marked incomplete, time and again asked whether to complete it—this indicated that none of the formulas Luo Chen had deduced were truly viable.
Luo Chen felt a touch of annoyance, but it was hardly crushing.
In his view, this Spiritual Root Pill formula was merely Tier 2; completing it would take no more than ten Achievement Points.
Yet he suppressed the urge to complete it through the system.
"This is only the first trial. No one knows how many trials follow or how difficult they will be. These three hundred Achievement Points are my greatest foundation, built up over many years; it's best not to squander them lightly."
After murmuring to himself, Luo Chen returned to the desk and resumed writing furiously.
He tried devising new permutations and combinations for the system to scan, yet every combination of herbs remained incomplete under the system's inspection.
Several days later, sitting blankly in his chair with bloodshot eyes, Luo Chen suddenly stirred.
"In trying to take a shortcut, did I end up straying down the wrong path instead?"
Looking at the dense drafts covering the desk, Luo Chen clearly sensed that he was drifting further and further from success.
From the sea of drafts, he pulled out those very first few formulas.
Having read through tens of thousands of scrolls, his initial instinct ought to have been the correct one.
The reason for their incompleteness likely did not lie in the herb combinations, but rather in the proportions and dosages...
With that thought in mind, he shifted his approach and began modifying the formulas from a new angle.
...
Another month later, Luo Chen received a satisfactory answer from the system.
[Complete Spiritual Root Pill formula detected, Tier 2.]
[Learn to Beginner level?]
Delight instantly surged onto his face.
Indeed, this line of thinking worked!
By reading about vast numbers of medicinal herbs and relying on his personal understanding, he could pick out optimal solutions and narrow down the scope.
Then he could calibrate the herb ratios, even refine the concoction techniques, and use the system to verify whether it was complete.
In this way, he could resolve problems that most alchemists could never overcome.
Perhaps doing so carried the ignoble suspicion of taking a shortcut.
Yet Luo Chen was no pedant; a minor pang of moral guilt would never bother him.
For he had already researched the specific formula himself, and success was only a matter of time; he had merely utilized the system to accelerate the process, bypassing pointless trial and error along the way.
"Next, then, is to attempt concocting it!"
Murmuring to himself, Luo Chen walked into the alchemy chamber and retrieved the Hunyuan Cauldron.
This time, he chose not to spend Achievement Points to reach Beginner directly.
Having deduced the formula himself, everything was well within his grasp.
Furthermore, it was merely Tier 2, which his current alchemy skills were more than sufficient to handle.
The large quantity of herbs prepared beforehand now came in handy.
Several months later.
A peculiar pill fragrance wafted out of the alchemy chamber.
Holding several variegated pills in his hands, Luo Chen wore an expression of relief.
"Does this count as a success?"
He looked around. No strange phenomena had appeared!
Yet the Spiritual Root Pill had indeed been concocted by him.
Right at that moment, a slightly weak voice rang out from the unseen void, echoing within the alchemy chamber.
"Pill concocted at Tier 2 Low Grade. Can temporarily substitute for a spiritual root to absorb heaven and earth's spiritual energy; upon consumption, ensures potency will not diminish for ten years.
"Trial evaluation: Inferior Low. Failed."
Hearing these words, Luo Chen's expression shifted drastically.
He was both shocked by the voice's sudden appearance and baffled by the evaluation.
"Where did this voice come from?
"Who spoke?
"Why does it carry an unmistakable sense of weakness?"
Naturally, there was no one to answer these questions for him.
Taking a deep breath, Luo Chen focused all his doubts on the trial's evaluation.
"That shouldn't be!
"I clearly concocted the pill, and my own system evaluated it as a complete formula. How could it..."
Murmuring to himself, Luo Chen suddenly recalled the contents of that voice.
"'Can temporarily substitute for a spiritual root to absorb heaven and earth's spiritual energy; upon consumption, ensures potency will not diminish for ten years.'"
This was a description of the medicinal effects of the Spiritual Root Pill he had refined. Without ever consuming the pill, how could the speaker deliver such an assessment?
Unfortunately, there was no test subject before him.
Steeling his resolve, Luo Chen swallowed the Spiritual Root Pill directly, then sat cross-legged in meditation to perceive the shifts in medicinal potency.
A mere Tier 2 pill was nothing to someone of his current cultivation realm. Even if there were backlash, he could weather it with ease!
A day later, Luo Chen vaguely perceived the crux of the problem.
"This Spiritual Root Pill indeed has the effect of temporarily substituting for a spiritual root to absorb heaven and earth's spiritual energy, but the medicinal potency is far too powerful. Only a Qi Refinement cultivator could endure it.
"Yet the target audience for this pill is mortals, who want to use it precisely to cultivate into the Qi Refinement stage.
"Thus, it becomes a contradiction."
For a time, Luo Chen's expression fluctuated uncertainly.
In the end, he had still underestimated a mortal's ability to tolerate medicinal pills.
Tier 2 was already beyond their limits!
Yet how could this be solved?
Concoct a Tier 1 Spiritual Root Pill?
That was impossible. A Tier 1 pill could never possess such miraculous effects, and a pill refined with a five-hundred-year Root of Heaven and Earth as the primary ingredient could not possibly be of too low a grade.
This puzzle lingered for several days.
Until Luo Chen recalled how, when his cultivation was low, his pill-taking process had differed from others.
A powerful physique, poison-dispelling alchemy arts, and so forth.
All of these had allowed him to withstand far greater medicinal potency at the same cultivation stage.
If the grade of the Spiritual Root Pill could not be lowered, could improving a mortal's constitution blaze a new path to assist in their cultivation?
At this thought, inspiration flooded Luo Chen's mind.
Without delay, he strode into the study and resumed writing feverishly.
Three months later, Luo Chen returned to the alchemy chamber holding two pill formulas.
This time, he did not stay inside for long.
In merely two months, two new types of medicinal pills appeared in his hands.
At the same time, the voice with its strangely weak cadence surfaced once more.
"Five Viscera Peiyuan Pill, concocted at Tier 1 Low Grade. Can assist mortals in nourishing their five viscera.
"Snow Spirit Meridian-Opening Powder, concocted at Tier 1 Low Grade. Long-term consumption can assist mortals in opening their meridians and unblocking the mysterious pass.
"Spiritual Root Pill, concocted at Tier 2 Low Grade. Paired with the Five Viscera Peiyuan Pill and Snow Spirit Meridian-Opening Powder, it can assist a person in absorbing heaven and earth's spiritual energy, maintaining potency without diminishing for thirty years.
"Trial evaluation: Fine Medium... Passed!"
Hearing this, Luo Chen's face broke into wild delight.
Indeed!
His conjecture had been correct.
Under circumstances where his foundations could not optimize the Spiritual Root Pill any further, striking a new path by developing auxiliary pills to strengthen a mortal's physique was the superior choice!
Thirty years!
This amount of time was plenty.
If a mortal could not use the Spiritual Root Pill to cultivate to Foundation Establishment within thirty years, then all hope was lost anyway.
Yet if they managed to succeed, they would lay down the foundation of the Great Dao!
When that time came, the conjecture of breaking the barrier between mortal and immortal could be considered preliminarily fulfilled.
As for how one would continue cultivating after reaching Foundation Establishment through such an artificial pill spiritual root, that was not something Luo Chen could solve right now.
Or rather, one crossed bridges when coming to them; perhaps a better method could be found when that time arrived.
At the very least, turning the dantian into a sea, opening the qi sea, and establishing the Great Dao's foundation was vastly better than remaining a mortal.
If one drew an analogy to those pseudo-core cultivators in the Northern Sea who achieved the Golden Core stage with the aid of demonic beast cores, it became easier to understand.
Pseudo-core cultivators were likewise forever unable to advance to the mid Golden Core stage.
Yet those who chose that path had naturally prepared themselves long in advance.
Thinking of this, another spark of inspiration seemed to surface in Luo Chen's mind.
Switching tracks from a pill spiritual root, what if one pursued a demonic spiritual root?
The details were shrouded in mist and cloud, lacking a clear method, but at least a direction had presented itself.
Just as Luo Chen was reveling in his excitement, the surroundings suddenly grew illusory.
"What is this?"
Amid his astonishment, Luo Chen seemed to realize something.
With a flick of his mind, he hurried through the air toward the study and swept his hand toward those bamboo slips.
Yet something unexpected occurred.
Those bamboo slips were also fading into illusion at the same time.
"They can't be taken away?"
Luo Chen felt a twinge of regret.
In the next moment, the stars shifted and the heavens spun; he appeared in an unfamiliar land.
Chapter 685