Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Pill Furnace

After Li Jizhou expressed his desire to purchase a Pill Furnace,

the attendant sized him up and then led him to another area.

“Friend, if you are new to the Alchemy Dao, these beginner Pill Furnaces at the front will suffice. They have three array patterns inscribed inside, which will greatly benefit your alchemy efforts.”

“I have been delving into the Alchemy Dao for seven or eight years and have already crafted many beginner Pills. This time, I want to improve the quality.” Li Jizhou fabricated a resume for himself from thin air.

After all, most of what happened previously at Inverted Mountain cannot be verified, and it’s only normal if others don’t know that he studies alchemy.

With this resume, his upcoming endeavor to earn Spirit Stones through alchemy won’t draw too much attention.

“Oh? Friend turns out to be a veteran Pill Master. Please forgive my earlier negligence. Well then, please see here; these are Tier One Upper Grade Pill Furnaces. Each has over five array patterns inscribed for controlling fire, water, and temperature. If a Pill Master has exquisite skills and refined Pill Fire, these can support the crafting of premium Pills!” The attendant’s attitude shifted quickly.

“Five paths?” Li Jizhou shook his head slightly. In his previous life, when he was a Tier Two Mid Stage Pill Master, he coincidentally acquired a Pill Furnace passed down by an elder whose legacy was unknown.

It had seventy-two inscriptions, meticulously carved, along with totem imprints of wind, fire, thunder, and lightning, making it a top treasure.

In comparison, the Pill Furnace before him seemed worthless.

Thinking of this, Li Jizhou was momentarily distracted.

“When I have the strength, I must visit the Liang Kingdom to see how the timeline truly unfolds.”

Before his demise in the past life, he wasn’t aware reincarnation was possible, so he didn’t set up any backup plans.

However, being a transmigrator at that time, he had the insight of a transmigrator.

Before dying, he sought a secluded location, hid some opportunities there, and left cryptic clues that only a transmigrator could comprehend as puzzles.

The Heart-Burning Furnace was among them.

I wonder if that opportunity still remains?

“Friend, if nothing here satisfies you, perhaps take a look here!”

“These Pill Furnaces are considered Tier One Best! Crafted using high-grade volcanic mud, inscribed with eight patterns to compensate for deficiencies in one’s Pill Fire. Even Tier One Advanced Level Pills have a chance to become premium!” The attendant perceived Li Jizhou’s thoughts and swiftly pointed to a higher-grade Pill Furnace.

“This is barely sufficient.” Li Jizhou nodded, putting aside the superiority of his Heart-Burning Furnace from his past life.

As he walked to the row of so-called best Pill Furnaces, Li Jizhou slightly raised an eyebrow.

Pill Furnaces with eight inscriptions were actually priced at fifteen hundred Spirit Stones.

The prices here were absurdly high.

Looking back at the one with five inscriptions, five hundred!

A single inscription’s Pill Furnace costing seventy Spirit Stones!

Without showing emotion, he asked the attendant to bring out the eight-inscription Pill Furnace.

After a moment of careful inspection, he found the inscriptions refined, the material superior, and the artifact refining technique fairly seasoned, which met his current requirement for crafting Tier One Junior Level Pills.

However, the price was somewhat unfriendly.

After pondering, Li Jizhou looked at the attendant: “Is there any discount?”

“Friend, are you a supplier to our Pill Cauldron Pavilion?” The attendant asked in return.

Li Jizhou shook his head slightly.

“What about becoming a supplier?”

The attendant then handed Li Jizhou a document.

“By selling Tier One Junior Level Pills valued at three hundred Spirit Stones over a year in the Pill Cauldron Pavilion, you can enjoy Tier Five supplier privileges. The buyback price of Pills increases by ten percent, with a ten percent discount on purchasing herbs and Pill Furnaces in the pavilion.

Accumulating to five hundred… Fourth-level privileges, buyback price up by fifteen percent, purchase discount of fifteen percent, and so on…”

After reading the rules for Pill Masters at the Pill Cauldron Pavilion, Li Jizhou shook his head helplessly, as currently none applied to him.

Moreover, even with Level One supplier privileges, the benefits wouldn’t exceed those of the Ten Thousand Talisman Pavilion’s Tier Three Honored Guest Elder.

But it’s understandable; in this realm, Pill Masters are plentiful, and competition is fierce. To become a Tier Three Honored Guest Elder of Pill Cauldron Pavilion, one must at least be a Tier One Advanced Level Pill Master capable of crafting premium Pills.

Placing the Pill Furnace back down, Li Jizhou expressed his desire to continue looking, leaving the Pill Cauldron Pavilion.

Just earlier on the first floor of the Pill Cauldron Pavilion, he had a general idea of the pill prices. With his current level of Pill Fire, he could craft at best beginner Pills.

Taking the beginner Qi Condensing Pill for example,

The beginner Qi Condensing Pill, which can quickly concentrate and absorb Spiritual Qi into the body to speed up cultivation, iis highly demanded and easy to sell.

Lower Grade sells for ten taels of Spiritual Sand per pill. The pill’s toxins are significant, but the body barely tolerates it. After three months of use, a month must be spent eliminating pill toxins, and due to drug resistance, a maximum of ten pills may be consumed a month; beyond this, it’s ineffective.

Middle Grade sells for one Spirit Stone per pill. The toxins are fewer, requiring a detox every five months, and a maximum of twenty pills can be consumed a month.

Top Grade sells for three Spirit Stones per pill. It has virtually no toxins, allowing for up to thirty pills to be consumed a month.

Premium sells for ten Spirit Stones per pill, with no toxins or drug resistance, allowing for unlimited consumption.

For the herbs needed to craft Qi Condensing Pill, the cost per batch is around eight Spirit Stones, with the theoretical pill formation rate reaching ten per batch.

Therefore, whether alchemy can be profitable primarily depends on one’s Pill Fire and Pill Skill, the grades crafted, and the success rate.

If a batch of materials fails and is wasted completely, one loses eight Spirit Stones at a time.

This is why in the past, when he was at Inverted Mountain, Li Jizhou didn’t prioritize the Alchemy Dao; it was far too challenging early on.

However, once the success rate and quality improve, profits indeed surpass those from talismans significantly.

Additionally, the crafting of these beginner pills is relatively fast and sparsely demands the Divine Soul. With a powerful Divine Soul, and exceptional skills, a Pill Master can craft a batch every three days!

Li Jizhou roughly estimated his current Pill Fire situation, Divine Soul condition, and considering that eight-inscription Pill Furnace, the initial pill formation rate should be around sixty percent, with quality at a Middle Grade baseline, barely yielding one Premium every batch.

Each batch would generate roughly a profit of ten, totaling about a hundred profit per month.

Whereas with the five-inscription Pill Furnace, the initial rate could also hold at sixty percent, but the rate of premium would be lower, perhaps yielding one Premium every ten batches.

Each batch’s profit would be less than five, totaling roughly fifty per month.

Having considered clearly, Li Jizhou entered the street’s Treasure Pill Pavilion.

After browsing around, he found the selling prices for pills, Pill Furnaces, and herbs were surprisingly consistent.

Even the supplier privilege system was identical to the Pill Cauldron Pavilion’s.

Where is the competition promised?

Li Jizhou gradually sensed a familiar aura.

As expected, when he then visited the Miaodan Tower,

it was identical to the two pill shops before.

The three were certainly colluding!

Surface competition is fierce, but in reality, everything is unified.

It’s likely the three pill shops are all backed by the same major proprietor!

This setup was too familiar for Li Jizhou.

No doubt, the bigwigs of the three definitely established some sort of pill alliance, with other small pill shops certainly having to comply with their demands.

Their regulation prohibiting independent Pill Masters from setting up stalls was surely their doing!

Full of clarity yet helpless.

This is the cost of safety.

Li Jizhou could only go with the flow.

He ultimately selected a Pill Furnace with five patterns for five hundred Spirit Stones at the Miaodan Tower.

Then bought some herbs from the Treasure Pill Pavilion.

“Oh well, the Pill Furnace with five patterns yields a monthly profit of at least fifty Spirit Stones, plus thirty from talismans, so it’s fairly stable.”

Though after a round of purchasing, the Spirit Stones on him were nearly depleted.

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