With his mass production method, Li Lang easily passed the second round of the alchemy trial with flying colors. Even the third round was easily conquered, as it only required him to refine multiple batches concurrently. This was something Li Lang had already been used to doing, so he breezed by.

It was the fourth round that stumped Li Lang. It required Li Lang to refine a top-quality pill. He was allowed a whole ten attempts and the right to pause the trial in between sessions to rest. It didn’t specify any pill, so anything was fair game, but Li Lang was still stumped.

He had never refined a top-quality pill before. It was just too easy for something to go slightly awry, resulting in small errors during the process. He was taught that only pills with over ninety-five percent purity were considered top quality, so it wasn’t even perfect. With the equipment he had access to, he couldn’t come up with a quick solution.

Having hit a roadblock, Li Lang decided to take one attempt before retiring for the day. As expected, his first attempt didn’t produce the desired results. He couldn’t just will a top-quality pill in existence. It depended on both luck and skill every time he refined. He could only hope the set of materials he worked with wouldn’t flare up the flames or cause other issues.

Despite the directionless attempt, it didn’t mean he wasted it. He gathered every bit of information from the refining session and recorded it for review. It was all based on his own insight as to what went wrong.

His Qi sense told him the main reason why top quality was so far away was because almost all the materials had small traces of impurities within them. Microscopic pockets of unwanted elements that he could do nothing to.

Perhaps he could find a way to deal with one type of impurity given enough time. The problem was that there were uncountable varieties of them. Each tiny pocket of waste was different and difficult to separate.

Seeing no quick progress to be made, Li Lang swiftly exited.

By the time he returned, he was just in time to gather at the mess hall. They each discussed the obstacles they faced before quickly becoming a brainstorming session. They aimed to have others’ perspectives on their issue, attaining a fresh take. They merrily chatted all the way until a familiar girl arrived.

“Hey everyone, seems like I’m late.”

Li Lang smiled and nodded amiably to the newcomer, Sima Xue.

“No worries. You didn’t miss much. We just vented to each other.”

“Well, in that case, I have something to announce! It seems like Yulian’s trial is forcing her to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm to proceed. She’s preparing right now but will likely attempt her breakthrough sometime this month.” She took a moment to let the news sink in before turning to Li Lang directly. “Isn’t that great? You wanted to witness a breakthrough, right?”

“Right…”

“Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say. I still have to babysit the other disciples from Nightmoon Valley. I’ll be busy, but I’ll definitely come to fetch you guys before Yulian’s attempt.”

Like a whirlwind, Sima Xue came and went.

As much as he was excited about it, it made Li Lang wonder if the person in question, Tang Yulian, had even given her permission for him to spectate. It also served as a reminder. A reminder for Li Lang to not let his cultivation fall behind.

Long Yi had already made great progress toward the late stages of Energy Gathering, and Wei Ping felt like he was only a sliver away from a breakthrough. This made Li Lang want to push through to the sixth stage soon as well.

After some well-deserved rest, Li Lang got up early the next morning and dove straight back into it. He received several ideas from his companions and he would try them all. None of them may be alchemists, but that made their perspectives that much more unique.

Wei Ping suggested cutting off the tidbits from materials that had a lot of impurities, using only the good parts. It used up more materials, but with the pocket realm providing the resources, it wasn’t a major concern.

It failed.

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The impurities were too evenly distributed across the material, and some of them were contaminants during the refining. Li Lang couldn’t cut that away, nor could it properly be dispensed.

Long Yi’s idea was to use Qi to push out the waste.

It also failed as Li Lang couldn’t control thousands of strands of Qi at the same time. Doing it one by one would take eons, and the impurities would refill the gaps in the meantime.

Huang Si and Sima Xue both agreed to use fire to remove the impurities. They believed one should turn the materials around, like a roast turkey, targeting the pockets.

The last suggestion also failed spectacularly.

The fire couldn’t be that precisely controlled. It was almost impossible to burn certain parts while leaving the others unharmed. Perhaps some alchemists could do it with their well-honed techniques but Li Lang couldn’t.

Having attempted several times, with no results, Li Lang decisively forfeited. He was getting nowhere and banked on the reward to provide him with a clear path through his obstacles. He also didn’t want any trial points to be deducted for being stuck on the problem. After all, when one was deemed unproductive, they would start losing trial points.

The artifact spirit controlling the trial may not have shown itself, but it seemed to be monitoring everything. Not long after Li Lang made his decision, the glowing words quickly materialized. It knew Li Lang wanted to forfeit.

“Fourth round failed. Deducting five trial points. Retrieving the reward.”

A familiar bright light shone upon Li Lang, causing him to squint.

When it disappeared, Li Lang couldn’t help but open his mouth wide.

“What?!”

This was because what appeared wasn’t just a cultivation manual as he expected. Instead, it was also a map. A map with the vague outline of the pavilion he was in, and the rest of the pocket realm. On the map was a red circle, highlighting a specific area outside.

Li Lang immediately knew what was there when he read the labels.

“Primordial Star Fire…is this a type of heavenly fire that I’ve heard about? The trial wants me to attain a heavenly fire?”

Racking his brain on all the information he knew about these exotic fires, he figured out he didn’t actually know a lot about them. His surface knowledge only extended to knowing that high-level alchemists often used them in their craft. He didn’t know how it exactly worked, but the third round of the trial had given him a good hint.

If the artifact spirit or whatever is monitoring our progress, then that means it would have witnessed how I struggled to filter out the impurities within the materials using my mass production method. That resulted in subpar pills, which it should’ve correctly identified as my weakness.

Does this mean this primordial fire can help me in that department?

Li Lang soon found himself transported back into one of the tiny rooms after one finished their trials. What he didn’t expect to find, in addition to his reward, were the pills in his hand. It seemed the trial had let him keep the pills he had refined. He quickly put them away and left the room, as he had something more interesting to investigate.

Seeing the time, he immediately made his way to the mess hall.

“B-boss, we were l-looking for you. Is everything o-okay?” Wei Ping immediately pressed as soon as Li Lang arrived.

“Yes. I was just busy taking the alchemy trial.”

“What? You took it already? Does that mean your Brushweaving one went well?” Long Yi interjected.

“As well as it can go with my current capabilities.”

“Wait, does that mean you passed the third round?!” a girl shouted off to the side.

Li Lang politely nodded at the young genius from the Eternal Wave Sect, Tang Yulian.

“That’s right. It’s nothing compared to you who’s only an inch away from shedding your mortality and ascending to the Foundation Establishment realm.”

“...That is up in the air. A lot can go wrong during my attempt, even with adequate preparation.”

“Oh, come on, Yulian.” Sima Xue joined the party and held onto her friend’s arm. “You’ll be fine. I dare say you’re the number one genius in our generation!”

With her timely intervention, their mood brightened, and the young cultivators veered off to lighter topics. Li Lang let them have fun chatting away for some time before he broached the subject of his new reward.

“Huang Si, I think you and Tang Yulian are the only ones who have taken the combat trials among us, right?”

“I did too!" Sima Xue interjected.

“...Right, you, Tang Yulian, and Sima Xue. I wanted to ask how far you guys have gone outside. Did you thoroughly explore the surrounding area?”

“Hmm….” Huang Si wore a thoughtful look. “My trial was to hunt down a particular Qi beast. I was given a general direction. However, the dense forest outside makes it hard to map out the area.”

“I’ve been to the other end of the forest,” Tang Yulian stoically stated.

Her statement made Li Lang orientate himself towards her.

“Can you tell me more about the area then? Is it dangerous for people around my cultivation to venture that far out?”

“Hmm, it is hard to say. It depends on luck and which area you’re heading to. There are signs of peak Energy Gathering Qi beasts further out, but as long as you don’t venture into their territory, it should be possible.”

Why can’t this reward be something simpler to obtain…?