He always felt that by looking at these traces left by the Senior Sword Cultivators, that era of flourishing Sword Dao was right before his eyes.

Where did it all go... Song Yan shook his head, dispelling the unrealistic thoughts in his mind.

"Without strength, I can’t even protect myself, let alone search for the whereabouts of my predecessors."

He refocused his attention on Thousand Pills Formulas.

Sword Qi Pill Refining is a method of Alchemy.

In other words, as long as one can fully master and skillfully apply it, in the future, if there are other Pill Formulas, one can directly attempt to refine them.

However, it still requires much practice to ensure the success rate of Pill formation.

For the next seven or eight days, Song Yan’s life was exceptionally fulfilling.

He Cultivated Spiritual Qi, Cultivated Divine Sense, practiced Swordsmanship, and studied Pill books.

These Pill books were not only Thousand Pills Formulas but also many basic Alchemy classics he obtained from Granny Qin.

Some medicinal properties and theories still needed careful study.

During this period, Lord Lin had also been fully melted and cast.

The entire Flying Sword was now completely new, possessing the power of a High Grade Flying Sword.

Although he really wanted to start researching Sword Arrays immediately, Alchemy had just begun, and simultaneously delving into too many things could lead to mediocrity in all of them.

Greed overreaches itself; it was better to take it one step at a time and first get Alchemy on the right track.

On this day, the Restrictions on the courtyard of Earth Character Two-One and the Immortal Cave door were completely closed.

Even Xiao He was "ordered" by Song Yan not to enter the Alchemy room.

Xiao He expressed strong condemnation for his secretive behavior.

However, there was nothing she could do; Alchemy required a very quiet and stable environment.

Especially for a new Alchemist like him, who was just getting started, if he were disturbed during the Alchemy process, both his Divine Soul and meridians could easily be affected.

Having prepared everything, Song Yan sat cross-legged.

Then, his palms, originally resting on his knees, gently turned over, slowly lifted, forming an embracing posture.

Inside the Alchemy room, Sword Qi suddenly surged.

Song Yan’s hair and Daoist robe trembled slightly under the surging Sword Qi.

In front of him, a surging mass of Sword Qi slowly gathered, forming a spherical Sword Qi field.

This was the most crucial step in replacing fire refining.

Senior Chen Yi called this the "Sword Qi Pill Furnace."

In fact, a true Sword Qi Pill Furnace could completely strip away the Impurities from Spiritual Materials and Medicinal Pills using extremely condensed Sword Qi.

Song Yan’s Sword Cultivation Realm was still far from that level.

Fortunately, he had just refined the Fenru Karma Fire.

According to Thousand Pills Formulas, if one’s Sword Cultivation Realm temporarily couldn’t reach that level, then Sword Qi imbued with the ultimate Spiritual Qi of thunder and fire elements could also compensate somewhat.

However, the effect of removing Impurities was not as good as pure Sword Qi.

And during the Alchemy process, a portion of the Spiritual Qi would be lost, leading to a reduction in the final number of Medicinal Pills formed.

This was also easy to understand, equivalent to a composite method of two Alchemy techniques.

It didn’t matter, as long as it didn’t affect the success rate of Pill formation.

Song Yan thought to himself.

For him, even if he succeeded only once, even if he formed only one Medicinal Pill, it would allow him to see hope.

With a thought, the aura of Fenru Karma Fire covered the entire Sword Qi field; the originally transparent, whitish Sword Qi was now tinged with a dark red hue.

The temperature inside the Alchemy room began to rise rapidly.

He picked up a Ningling Grass with clean hands, found a random angle, and gently tossed it into the Sword Qi field.

Swoosh.

A very faint sound was heard.

As soon as the Ningling Grass was thrown in, it was rapidly decomposed by the violent and scorching Sword Qi, turning into a pile of dregs.

"Hiss..."

Bad, the Sword Qi was too strong, and not condensed enough.

He held his breath and concentrated, slightly retracting some of the Sword Qi, then condensed it a little more.

He picked up another Ningling Grass and threw it in.

Swoosh.

As expected, it failed again.

Fortunately, this time, a visible trace of Ningling Grass medicinal liquid was extracted, but it was almost instantly evaporated by the temperature of the Fenru Karma Fire.

"I need to slightly reduce some of the Fenru aura."

Again!

Again, and again, and again.

Song Yan originally thought that Sword Qi Pill Refining would be extremely tedious to learn.

But in reality, he found that during this process, his crude control over Sword Qi also began to become gradually more refined.

After an unknown amount of Ningling Grass was consumed, he finally adjusted it to a certain special balance.

A Spiritual Plant was thrown into it, its stems, leaves, and solid Impurities were decomposed one by one, and as the Sword Qi Pill Furnace surged, they turned into dust and were flung out.

A mass of medicinal liquid was squeezed, slowly moving towards the very center of the Sword Qi Pill Furnace, reflecting a dark red luster.

"Remember this feeling..."

He then repeatedly tried countless times, finally engraving this feeling into his instincts.

In fact, it was not a standard answer; each Spiritual Plant, each Medicinal Pill, required different Sword Qi states at different stages.

But it provided Song Yan with a standard.

In the future, no matter what Medicinal Pill he refined with Sword Qi, starting from this standard and slowly adjusting, he would quickly find the knack.

Similar to fire-based Alchemy, this was the "heat control" unique to Sword Qi Pill Refining.

He still had many Materials left over from refining Qi Nourishing Pills before, and it required relatively few Materials, so Song Yan decided to start with it.

Alchemy ultimately leads to the same goal, with many aspects being quite similar, so using it to familiarize himself with and get started in "Sword Qi Pill Refining" was perfectly suitable.

Speaking of which, he found it absurd.

In Thousand Pills Formulas, the lowest-grade Medicinal Pill used as an example for Sword Qi Pill Refining was actually the Foundation Establishment Pill.

It seemed to them that Medicinal Pills of a lower grade than the Foundation Establishment Pill were considered sugar pills, without much value in refining.

This had both good and bad aspects.

The good part was that if Song Yan needed a Foundation Establishment Pill to Breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm in the future, and he also found enough Materials.

Then, with this Pill Formula at hand, even if he refined Medicinal Pills step by step like cooking, he would surely be able to produce a few.

The bad part was... all the Medicinal Pills before this, all the detours he had to take, he would have to explore little by little on his own.

At this moment, a large mass of orange-yellow Spiritual Liquid floated within the Sword Qi Pill Furnace.

This was the essence of Dragon Liver Melon.

Song Yan cautiously manipulated and adjusted the changes in the Sword Qi; at such a moment, even a slight instability would instantly evaporate this mass of Spiritual Liquid.

Or simply be flung out directly by the Sword Qi.

At a certain moment, some fine Impurities slowly appeared within the Spiritual Liquid, slowly settling along the direction of the Sword Qi’s flow.

Finally, they were removed by the Sword Qi.

This step was repeated many times, and the originally fist-sized Spiritual Liquid was thus compressed little by little.

Until it condensed to the size of a lotus seed, slowly surging within the Sword Qi Pill Furnace.

Song Yan formed a hand seal with his fingertips, and two Ningling Grasses were tossed into it, one on the left and one on the right.

After numerous previous experiments, he was now proficient.

Impurities were removed, and two smaller masses of Spiritual Liquid slowly converged towards the center.

They merged with the central mass of Spiritual Liquid, and in this process, some more Impurities were eliminated.

At this moment, it was like a jade-green dewdrop, floating within.

The Sword Qi showed faint signs of weakness, but Alchemy had already reached its final step.

Song Yan decided to see it through and complete this batch of Medicinal Pills.

Finally, he took out a Xingling Fruit and threw it into the Sword Qi Pill Furnace.

At this moment, the original jade-green Spiritual Liquid was essentially free of Impurities, and as soon as the Xingling Fruit entered it, it instantly transformed into wisps of clear Spiritual Liquid, surging in.

It slowly rotated outside the original jade-green dewdrop, gradually contracting.

Hiss... The moment the two touched, a faint wisp of white smoke slowly appeared.

The prototype of a Medicinal Pill also slowly emerged within.

At this moment, within the Alchemy room, there was already a hint of medicinal fragrance.

It was invigorating to smell.

However, the Sword Qi was exhausted at this moment.

"Not good."

He quickly dispersed the Sword Qi, simultaneously took out an empty Pill bottle from his qiankun bag, then conjured a wisp of Spiritual Qi to hold the Medicinal Pill and place it into the Pill bottle.

"Hoo—"

Song Yan slowly exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.

He had a bad feeling in his heart.

His Divine Sense probed the Pill bottle, and he felt a mix of joy and worry.

The jade-green color of this Qi Nourishing Pill was very mottled, far inferior to the Qi Nourishing Pills he had previously refined using fire methods.

It was a Low Grade Qi Nourishing Pill, and one of rather poor quality.

The joy was that his first attempt at a new Alchemy technique was considered a success.

And it was only because he had tried too many times before, eventually running out of Sword Qi, leading to a hasty collection of the Pill.

In comparison, he could indeed clearly feel that for a Sword Cultivator, Sword Qi Pill Refining offered far more advantages than fire-based Alchemy.

Ordinarily, a Sword Cultivator would use Sword Qi to fight.

The Sword Qi also participated in nourishing the Sword Body within the Sword Scabbard.

It could be said that this was what a Sword Cultivator was most familiar with.

As long as this Alchemy method was practiced more, and he became skilled through practice, it would naturally become second nature.

It was just like those Cultivators who specialized in cultivating fire-element Cultivation Techniques, whose entire cultivation and methods revolved around flames, using fire-refining methods for Alchemy, it was no different.

The familiarity with Sword Qi, coupled with the familiarity with Qi Nourishing Pills, allowed Song Yan’s first Sword Dao Alchemy attempt to be considered a success.

There were still some leftover Materials from before, and Song Yan planned to use these up before going out to purchase more.

Rest and recover, raise the Sword Furnace, refine the medicinal liquid, condense the Pill and disperse the Qi.

The medicinal fragrance in the Alchemy room only lasted for a short while before its scent changed.

This time, the Sword Qi control seemed to have gone awry, and the Pill form didn’t even condense.

"Strange..."

Song Yan indeed had a lot of research into Qi Nourishing Pills, but after all, it was a completely new Alchemy technique, so failure was extremely normal.

After failing, he didn’t rush to refine again immediately, but instead carefully recalled his actions and control.

When he thought of some ambiguous issues, he would consult those few Pill books and the descriptions in Thousand Pills Formulas.

He also took this opportunity to slowly recover his Sword Qi and Spiritual Qi.

Half an hour later, he continued refining... Three months later.

"Hoo..."

Inside the Alchemy room, a sigh of relief was heard.

Song Yan sat cross-legged, his face a little haggard, his dark hair disheveled, and his gaze lowered.

However, the look in his eyes as he gazed at his palm was very bright.

His palm was open, and three pale yellow Medicinal Pills lay quietly within.

"Now, the success rate for Huang Ya Pills is over seventy percent..."

"Qi Condensation Pills, around fifty percent."

Song Yan stood up, casually tying back his disheveled long hair.

In front of him, discarded Medicinal Pills and dregs were piled up, like a small black and red mountain.

Over these past three months, he had been in seclusion refining Medicinal Pills as if possessed.

Initially, even Qi Nourishing Pills required three or four attempts to succeed once.

However, once he found the knack, relying on Song Yan’s familiarity with Sword Qi, it only took a few days to achieve an eighty to ninety percent success rate.

This basically approached the level he had achieved with his previous fire-refining method.

The path of Alchemy was inherently interesting, and moreover, the progress speed of Sword Dao Alchemy was almost visibly fast.

This feeling and feedback of "as long as I keep refining Medicinal Pills, I can keep improving" made him almost addicted, immersing himself wholeheartedly in it.

With a flick of his finger, three Huang Ya Pills flew into one of the Pill bottles arranged in a row in the Alchemy room.

Currently, his success rate for refining Huang Ya Pills reached about seventy percent, and for Qi Condensation Pills, it was fifty percent.

However, compared to conventional methods, Sword Dao Alchemy still had a drawback.

That was, although the grade of the formed Medicinal Pills was generally higher, the quantity of formed Medicinal Pills was slightly less than with ordinary methods.

He could currently only achieve five Medicinal Pills per batch at most.

Perhaps with increasing proficiency in the future, he might also be able to achieve seven Medicinal Pills per batch.

The reason he decided to temporarily conclude was not because his Alchemy technique had encountered any Bottleneck.

But because... he had no Spirit Stones left.

His savings of over a thousand Spirit Stones, all usable Spiritual Plants and Spirit Medicines, and even his Sect contribution points, were all squandered.

Alchemy had completely emptied his Family’s coffers.

"A bottomless pit..."

He now truly understood what "burning money" meant.

In the past, he struggled in the outer Sect of Cave Abyss Sect, refining small Medicinal Pills and picking up small scraps, only able to accumulate thirty or forty Spirit Stones in over half a year.

One batch of discarded Medicinal Pills, and it all vanished into thin air.

Fortunately, he hadn’t aimed too high at the time to delve into Alchemy.

With his level back then, he would have been completely unable to sustain himself, and might even have suffered a Dao Foundation collapse due to a few failed attempts midway.

Such efficiency in Alchemy now was still due to the precious Sword Dao Alchemy technique, which was extremely suitable for him; otherwise, the resources consumed would be even more exaggerated.

Such terrifying investment was beyond the means of many small Cultivation Families.

It was precisely for this reason that those who achieved significant accomplishments in the Dao of Alchemy were few and far between.

The stone door of the Alchemy room opened, and a turbid Qi mixed with burnt and medicinal scents surged out.

Xiao He, who was originally curled up at the entrance of the Alchemy room, poked her head out upon hearing the noise, like a curious little snake.

Song Yan walked out of the Alchemy room and cleaned up all the residues.

After tidying everything, he took off his Daoist robe and clothes and stepped into the warm pool.

Wisps of water-element Spiritual Qi surged into his limbs and bones from the pool, alleviating his long-standing fatigue.

Alchemy constantly consumed his Sword Qi to exhaustion, then recovered, then exhausted again.

This, imperceptibly, also promoted the advancement of his Cultivation.

Now, his Cultivation Realm had finally reached a critical point.

He planned to Breakthrough to Level 8 Qi Refining once his condition recovered.

"Although the Breakthrough Pill is ready, there are no Spirit Stones to prepare other things..."

Song Yan frowned slightly, still worried about Spirit Stones.