Chapter 127 Bottleneck
The first time Shen Xiang attempted to refine the Zhu Ji Dan, he failed. However, he discovered that the difficulty of refining the Zhu Ji Dan was indeed similar to that of a high-grade spiritual dan. Previously, he had refined ten True Yuan Dans and ten White Jade Powders, all of which had ended in failure, but he had accumulated experience in handling these high-grade spiritual medicines. He had gained considerable control over various aspects of the process, otherwise, he would not have been able to refine it for several hours using the Flame Dragon Furnace, which was equivalent to refining half of it.
If it were someone else, they would never attempt to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill without first refining a high-grade Spirit Pill. Even if they wanted to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill, they would first refine a low-grade Mystic Pill. If those alchemists knew that Shen Xiang was now recklessly using so many materials for the Foundation Establishment Pill, they would definitely curse him to death.
As for these materials, Shen Xiang can be said to have no shortage at all. As long as he is given time, there will be as much as needed. As long as he leaves behind a single seed, he can use the Dragon's Saliva Technique to plant an entire field of them. Take the Qingxuan Fruit for example, in less than a month, he had already cultivated over twenty!
Shen Xiang, apart from studying and refining the foundation-building pill every day, also condensed dragon spittle because he was worried that his current materials were not enough for him to refine the foundation-building pill.
Time passed bit by bit, and in the blink of an eye, more than 20 days had passed. Shen Xiang had already failed over 50 times while refining the Foundation Establishment Pill, and he now only had eight sets of medicinal materials left.
"Building the foundation is a bit more difficult than Bai Yu San and Zhen Yuan Dan, I feel like I'm almost successful!" Shen Xiang was somewhat excited at this time, after many failures, he finally grasped something, that subtle feeling.
Long before that, Su Mei Yao had passed on her experience to Shen Xiang, reminding him of some more important aspects, which would allow him to avoid many detours!
In this case, Shen Xiang is getting closer and closer to success. He now only needs the last crucial step of condensing the dan. He has confidence that if he successfully refines the Foundation Establishment Pill, he will be able to refine the True Origin Pill and White Jade Powder with ease.
The Blazing Dragon Furnace shone with a red, bloody light and occasionally released a wave of heat. Shen Xiang placed his hands on the two sides of the furnace at the designated places where alchemists would infuse flames, true energy, and divine consciousness.
Shen Xiang's mind was a sea of fire, with various spiritual medicines being burned by flames of different temperatures, slowly turning into powder and emitting colorful spiritual energy. The spiritual energy floated to the top, violent and turbid, but Shen Xiang compressed it together with his divine sense, fusing and purifying it!
At the same time, he also had to integrate the powdered medicinal materials in the sea of fire together, and not let a single bit be burned away, otherwise it would be a failure, this was a test of the alchemist's divine consciousness.
The Flame Dragon Furnace had been burning for ten days and nights, but outside, only half a time period had passed. Even so, those medicinal materials still hadn't fully merged together!
As time passed, Shen Xiang was already drenched in sweat and his true energy was extremely thick, so he didn't have to worry about the consumption of his true energy. However, his divine sense was being consumed greatly because it had to take care of many smiling powders and also calm down multiple violent medicinal spirits that were fusing together!
The powder made from various medicinal materials was finally squeezed together by Shen Xiang's divine consciousness, and the violent and unruly medicinal spirit energies gradually calmed down and merged. This was the most critical step, requiring a single breath to complete, allowing the medicinal spirit energy and powder to merge before condensing into a dan. The process could not afford any mistakes; if the spirit energy was insufficient or even a tiny bit of powder escaped, it would all fail.
Shen Xiang has failed many times in this regard!
The spiritual energy of the medicine and the medicinal powder merged, and the medicinal powder was slowly condensed into a dan pill by Shen Xiang's divine consciousness. At this time, Shen Xiang dripped a drop of dragon's saliva into it, beginning the final step of condensing the dan. He had exploded more than ten times at this critical juncture before.
The Blazing Dragon Furnace was slightly trembling, Shen Xiang's sweat was dripping down his face like rain, his eyebrows were tightly locked, and his complexion was somewhat pale. At this moment, he could clearly see the pill that was about to take shape inside the furnace violently shaking and on the verge of exploding at any time.
Su Mei Yao's jade hands tightly grasped the silk handkerchief, pursed her lips, and anxiously looked at Shen Xiang. Bai Youyou also stared with those icy yet bright beautiful eyes, her gaze filled with encouragement as she looked at Shen Xiang!
"Am I going to fail again? This has happened over a dozen times already, is this my bottleneck? A spiritual bottleneck! My divine sense isn't enough, I need to break through!" Shen Xiang thought inwardly, at this moment his divine sense was almost dry, but he had to continue on.
In ordinary times, the mind also has a crucial position. For example, some martial arts have very high requirements for the mind, requiring the use of the mind to condense the scattered true energy, otherwise the true energy will disperse. However, in the case of alchemy and elixir refinement, when refining higher-grade elixirs or spiritual instruments with many spiritual patterns, if the mind is insufficient, it will lead to failure!
If a warrior's mental energy is exhausted, it would be like a robust man without spirit, unable to exert his strength!
He would even fall into a daze, Shen Xiang's spiritual energy was now consumed to the limit, and he didn't know what he relied on to hold on!
When he felt himself about to collapse, Shen Xiang activated his Taiji Dragon Subduing Technique, controlling the thick true energy within his body. The true energy wildly impacted his meridians, causing him intense pain throughout his body, keeping him awake. At the same time, he used his technique to merge the true energy and spirit, rapidly condensing his divine consciousness!
Shen Xiang's physical body was tortured by himself, with blood and sweat mixed together, emitting a strange smell. Su Mei Yao and Bai Yu Yu both knew the reason why Shen Xiang did this.
"Don't force yourself! Give up!" Su Mei Yao sighed softly and said, she couldn't bear to see Shen Xiang continue to hurt himself.
Give up? Shen Xiang knew that this time he didn't succeed, it wasn't just a failure in refining the foundation pill, but also unable to break through his own bottleneck!
He recalled that Dan Changlao could use his overwhelming power to suppress him, making him powerless to resist. He remembered how Liao Shaoyun humiliated and trampled on his dignity. He told himself that no matter what, he had to persevere and become stronger! He wanted to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill, which was the only way for him to advance to the True Martial Realm in a short period of time!
Shen Xiang is now not only sweating but also bleeding. To keep himself awake, he keeps inflicting pain on his own body!
Shen Xiang had gradually become aware of his consciousness, but in his subconscious mind, he was constantly condensing his divine sense, continuously suppressing the turbulent foundation pills in the Inflaming Dragon Furnace.
Unbeknownst to him, Shen Xiang suddenly felt his body lose all sensation, no matter how much self-mutilation he inflicted, he couldn't feel any pain. Shen Xiang jolted awake, but found himself in a space filled with white light. What shocked him was that he also saw an infant in this space, very small, like the kind that had just started crying. The little infant had its eyes tightly shut, looking extremely adorable.
Suddenly, the baby opened its eyes, and Shen Xiang was shocked because he could see what the baby saw!
The baby smiled at him, and at this time, Shen Xiang also left this strange space and returned to the state of alchemy. He was surprised to find that his divine consciousness was extremely abundant, and it had become many times stronger than before, as if he possessed an inexhaustible supply.
Su Mei Yao and Bai Youyou also felt a bit strange, they originally thought Shen Xiang was going to give up, but instead saw the corner of his mouth rise, revealing a hint of confident smile.
It was just a moment ago that Shen Xiang opened his eyes and laughed wildly with his head raised: "Haha...... I've refined the Foundation Establishment Pill!"
