Soon, the waste pill room was left with only Su Shiyi.
The large space was completely empty, and faint sounds of wolf howls and beast roars came from the distance. Su Shiyi stood in the yard, feeling deeply startled. No matter how daring he was, he was still just a half-grown child.
But he knew well that in order to learn immortal techniques, he had to overcome the challenges in front of him. Looking down at the waste pill guidebook in his hand, Su Shiyi began flipping through it.
The guidebook had simple descriptions and images of over a hundred kinds of pills. Waste pills were the products of failed alchemy, containing large amounts of impurities and even toxins, rendering them completely inedible.
For other children, understanding this would require quite a bit of effort. But Su Shiyi had studied reading and writing with his grandfather from a young age, had read countless books, and, coupled with his sharp mind, he quickly memorized most of the contents after just a few readings.
Holding the guidebook, Su Shiyi turned and walked into the warehouse where the waste pills were stored. Having read the descriptions and pictures, the next step was to identify the real pills.
Inside the warehouse, piles of waste pills were stacked high.
However, having memorized the contents of the guidebook, Su Shiyi quickly identified that there weren’t many kinds of waste pills—only about three or five types.
The most numerous were the Pei Yuan Dan (a foundational pill used by entry-level disciples to strengthen their physique and expel impurities), followed by Juqing Dan (a pill used by Qi Refining disciples to accelerate their cultivation) and a type of Xiao Huan Dan (a small pill for healing injuries).
Staring at the tens of thousands of waste pills, Su Shiyi couldn’t help but sigh. If these weren’t waste pills, and if I had so many pills, that would be incredible.
Unfortunately, for him, it was nothing but a fantasy.
Su Shiyi stayed in the warehouse until nightfall. Apart from the three common pills, he also found two other types of waste pills.
But these waste pills were nothing more than unwanted trash; he could only gather more information about pills.
As night fell, Su Shiyi was about to return to his room to rest.
Just then, a series of low beast roars and heavy footsteps suddenly came from outside the yard.
The muffled sound was like thunder or the booming of drums, hitting Su Shiyi's heart with each beat.
“A beast?!” Su Shiyi was startled, and the image of a person with severed arms and legs flashed through his mind.
“What should I do?” He froze, not daring to move, afraid of alerting the beast outside.
But the wild beast showed no intention of leaving.
The footsteps drew closer, and with a loud thud, something jumped over the yard wall and landed inside.
Su Shiyi's heart rate quickened at the sound. Holding his breath, he cautiously peered out from a crack in the warehouse.
In the yard, a tiger with red eyes, its breath coming out in loud huffs, was pacing back and forth. Its copper-ringed eyes gleamed with killing intent, and as it sniffed the air, it let out a low growl, shaking its fur, and slowly moved toward the warehouse where Su Shiyi was hiding.
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Seeing this, Su Shiyi’s pupils contracted, and he began to tremble. With his small body, he was no match for this tiger; he might not even be enough to fill its teeth.
Though terrified, Su Shiyi remained calm. Turning to look at the mountain of waste pills behind him, a bold thought emerged in his mind.
Without hesitation, he quickly retreated to a pile of waste pills, silently dug a small pit, and buried himself inside.
Clang!
Just a few minutes later, the warehouse door was pushed open. A massive, fierce tiger head peeked into the room.
Its sharp, gleaming teeth and foul-smelling breath froze Su Shiyi in place as he held his breath, not daring to make a sound.
Fortunately, the vast number of waste pills masked his scent. After a brief scan, the tiger turned and left.
Su Shiyi exhaled in relief. But, fearing the tiger might return, he stayed hidden among the waste pills until dawn.
After repeatedly confirming that there was no movement outside, he finally crawled out from the pile of waste pills.
“This is some cursed place! A giant tiger appears just after I arrive? If I stay here, I’ll definitely be eaten by it sooner or later!”
His heart raced, and his face was filled with lingering fear.
“But if I leave, how will I get close to cultivation techniques?”
“If I can’t cultivate, how can I take revenge for Grandpa? I still need to figure out the use of that mysterious pill furnace!”
While thinking, Su Shiyi took out the old, worn pill furnace from his robe.
Seeing the pill furnace, his pupils shrank, and he froze for a moment.
“Huh? Why are there two pills inside?”
Inside the pill furnace were two small, crystal-clear pills, about the size of a thumb, resembling jade.
He quickly poured the pills into his palm, and immediately, a rich medicinal fragrance filled the air, instantly refreshing him, sweeping away hunger and fatigue.
Su Shiyi’s mind was jolted, and he quickly grabbed a handful of waste pills to compare.
The waste pills were dark and foul-smelling, exuding a faint stench, which was a stark contrast to the two pills, which were gleaming and flawless.
After carefully inspecting them for a long time, he finally confirmed that these two pills were proper Pei Yuan Dan.
“Strange, how did these two Pei Yuan Dan suddenly appear in the pill furnace?”
“This thing was just used for holding salt before, and I’ve never seen any pills inside.”
“Could it be... that some waste pills fell in last night?”
Thinking about this, Su Shiyi immediately tried it out, placing one of the waste pills into the pill furnace and watching it closely.
Under his gaze, the waste pill was enveloped by a layer of greenish light, and the blackness on its surface began to fade visibly.
It looked as though the impurities on the pill were being refined by some force.
In just a few breaths, the waste pill turned from black to grayish-blue.
After more than ten breaths, a crystal-clear, jade-like Pei Yuan Dan appeared in the furnace.
“Hiss~”
Watching this with his own eyes, Su Shiyi couldn’t help but take a sharp breath.
“This pill furnace can actually turn waste pills into proper pills? Turning waste into treasure, this is too incredible!”
“No wonder... no wonder those immortals wanted this pill furnace so badly!”
“However, I wonder if this furnace can keep refining indefinitely?”
Filled with uncertainty, he stuffed another handful of waste pills into the furnace.
Before his eyes, each waste pill was covered in a greenish light.
After another ten breaths, the light faded, replaced by a new batch of flawless Pei Yuan Dan pills.
Su Shiyi tried over a dozen times. No matter how many pills he put in, as long as the furnace could hold them, they would all be refined into proper pills in about fifteen to twenty breaths.
And throughout, the pill furnace remained its old, worn-out self, without any visible change.
Confirming the furnace’s function, Su Shiyi turned to look at the mountains of waste pills nearby, his breath quickening.
At this moment, in his eyes, these weren’t just unwanted trash—they were pills that could be used for cultivation!
“With so many pills, even if my spiritual root is weak, I’ll definitely make progress!”
“No! I absolutely cannot tell anyone about this!”
Hugging the pill furnace tightly to his chest, his heart raced, and his face flushed red.
Although he didn’t know much about cultivation, he understood the value of this pill furnace.
He hid the pill furnace close to his body, found a few ceramic bottles in the warehouse, and filled them with the refined pills. Then, he returned to his room.
“Now, let’s see if these refined pills really work!”
With this thought, Su Shiyi took out a Pei Yuan Dan from his robe.
[--------------------------------------------]
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