The Medicine Condensation Skill.
It could continuously condense and fuse low-level medicines to refine High-Level Pills.
This was one of the greatest achievements from his second life as the Human Race Medicine Ancestor.
It was also the most frequently used and most powerful alchemy method of Yang Xiao's. The Unparalleled Divine Pill he had used to shatter the Seal within his body had been created with this very Medicine Condensation Skill.
...
'The lowest-grade herbs from Liu Junyi are Level 2 Peak Spirit Medicines. I'll start with those, then.'
After taking out the Spirit Medicines, Yang Xiao found a Medicine Cauldron in Liu Junyi's Storage Ring.
The Red Flame inside him could not be released externally. Although he could control his Fire Elemental Power to form flames, they weren't as stable as his internal Red Flame.
He needed a Medicine Cauldron to condense them.
In fact, during his second life, his entire body had been sealed. He possessed immense power but was unable to use it.
Back then, he had also used a Medicine Cauldron.
In the future, once he broke through to the Orange Flame Realm, he would be able to release his internal flames, and he wouldn't need a Medicine Cauldron anymore.
'This Liu Junyi really had a large reserve of Spirit Medicines. It saves me the trouble of going out to buy them.'
He pulled out all the Second-level Spirit Medicines and, after a careful count, was surprised to find sixty-three stalks.
These Level 2 Peak Spirit Medicines each had different properties.
Their medicinal natures were also completely distinct.
They were vastly different from the Pure Fire Attribute Pill Yang Xiao wanted to create.
However, with Yang Xiao's understanding of medicinal properties and pharmacology, this was a piece of cake.
He first examined their different medicinal properties, then sorted them into categories. Finally, he placed them into the Medicine Cauldron according to the sequence of the Five Elements' generation and restriction cycle.
The process was incredibly meticulous.
This was especially true for the Five Elements cycle, where he had to use the Dao of generation to constantly strengthen other attributes until only a single, pure medicinal property remained.
It was an extremely difficult condensation technique.
Even for someone like Yang Xiao, it took a full day just to complete the initial preparation.
He refined the first Fire Element Pill.
This also served as the Pill Embryo for the continuous condensation to follow.
'This Pill Embryo isn't bad. It's already equivalent to a Level 3 Pill.'
Yang Xiao was reasonably satisfied.
However, if anyone else were to find out about this, they would probably be shocked to death.
Sixty-three stalks of Level 2 Peak Spirit Medicine were certainly good, but most were only suitable for refining Level 2 Pills. Even if used for Level 3 Pills, they could only serve as supplementary ingredients.
They could never be the main ingredient.
Logically, no matter how skilled one was, it should have been impossible to refine a Level 3 Pill from them.
Yet, Yang Xiao had done it.
This was the Condensation Skill he had created himself in his second life.
Of course, Yang Xiao himself felt it was a bit of a loss. If an ordinary Pharmacist were to refine these Level 2 Peak Spirit Medicines, they might only produce a few, or at most a dozen, Level 2 Pills.
In comparison, getting a single Level 3 Pill was an absolute gain.
But for Yang Xiao, if he had wanted to, he could have refined dozens, even over a hundred, Level 2 Pills from them. By that calculation, it was a loss.
Therefore, if he hadn't been in a situation where he simply couldn't find any higher-level Spirit Medicines, Yang Xiao would not have used this Condensation Skill.
It was too draining, too time-consuming, and, for him, not worth it.
However, the most important thing for Yang Xiao was to recover his cultivation. As long as he could recover quickly, a little waste was nothing.
Moreover, using the Condensation Skill could also strengthen his Spiritual Power. It was equivalent to tempering his spirit while condensing the medicine, making it an excellent Spirit Secret Skill.
Therefore, after he finished using the Second-level Spirit Medicines,
he took out the Third-Level Spirit Medicines.
Third-Level Spirit Medicines were the mainstay of Liu Junyi's collection.
There were a full one hundred and thirty-eight stalks, more than double the amount of Second-level Spirit Medicines. Processing these took even more energy and time.
So, by the time all these Spirit Medicines were completely integrated into the Fire Element Pill, raising the barely Third-Level Middle Grade Pill straight to the Fourth-Level Upper Grade,
「Three days had already passed.」
His Spiritual Power had officially broken through the Observing Micro Threshold and entered the Observing Micro Initial Stage, comparable to that of an average Late Stage Innate Martial Artist.
It was not a step to be underestimated. If he were to recreate the strike that killed Yang Lang now, it would only take about three hours. In other words, his Spiritual Power had nearly doubled.
'There are still Fourth-Grade Spirit Medicines!'
Yang Xiao didn't stop.
He took out all ten Fourth-Grade Spirit Medicines from Liu Junyi's collection. Not only that, but he also took out the ten Fire Attribute Spirit Medicines he had left over from before.
He added them to the Medicine Cauldron and continued the fusion.
The quality of the Fire Element Pill continued to rise.
This time, because there were fewer ingredients, it only took a day to complete.
But the Fire Element Pill's quality had already reached Fifth-Level Middle Grade.
It had jumped another two grades.
'Fifth-Level Middle Grade... The medicinal power is still a bit lacking.'
Yang Xiao was a little disappointed.
And yet, it was to be expected.
A Fifth-Level Middle Grade Pill would definitely be more valuable than an ordinary Sixth-Grade Spirit Medicine if sold.
In reality, however, its medicinal power wasn't necessarily much stronger.
The reason for its higher value was that a Pill's medicinal properties, having been processed, were gentler and easier to absorb. Even unabsorbed power would accumulate in the body.
Its utilization rate was much higher than that of a Sixth-Grade Spirit Medicine.
That was why a Fifth-Level Middle Grade Pill was more expensive.
But for Yang Xiao, what he needed was a qualitative improvement in his internal flame. Furthermore, his internal flame could absorb the medicinal properties of Spirit Medicines to the greatest extent.
Therefore, a Fifth-Level Middle Grade Pill was actually less beneficial to him than a Sixth-Grade Spirit Medicine would be.
Naturally, he was disappointed.
'That old bastard Liu Junyi also had one Fifth-level Spirit Medicine. I'll just fuse it in as well. With its current power, breaking through the limit is impossible.'
Before, Yang Xiao hadn't obtained any Fire Attribute Spirit Medicines of Level 5 or higher, so he had no way of judging what level of Spirit Medicine he needed to break through.
But now, he knew.
He would need at least Level 6, possibly even Level 6 Peak.
In other words, he had to condense a Sixth-Level Upper Grade Fire Element Pill to guarantee a foolproof breakthrough.
So, without a hint of hesitation,
he fused the last Spirit Medicine from the Storage Ring—the Fifth-level Spirit Medicine.
This time, it took him another half a day.
And the Fire Element Pill in his hand barely reached the Fifth-Level Upper Grade.
His Spiritual Power also completely stabilized at the Observing Micro Initial Stage.
At the same time, his Physical Strength also rose to the level of a Fourth-Layer Peak Martial Artist after absorbing a good deal of residual medicinal power. With both factors combined, Yang Xiao's strength had once again increased significantly.
But he was still a long way from his limit.
However, when he thought about the difficulty of reaching the Orange Flame Realm, Yang Xiao's expression darkened.
'At this rate, I'm afraid I'll need hundreds of Fifth-level Spirit Medicines or more than a dozen Sixth-Grade Spirit Medicines to succeed. Dammit, where am I supposed to find that many Spirit Medicines?'
Yang Xiao couldn't help but curse.
Just then, he sensed a commotion from outside.
He immediately frowned.
He put away the Fifth-Level Upper Grade Fire Element Pill in his hand and cleaned up the traces of his work.
Just then, the door was pushed open.
A disheveled middle-aged man in a purple robe, filthy from head to toe, rushed in.
It was his father.
With a single glance, Yang Xiao's heart trembled.
He saw that his father's face was as pale as paper, yet his eyes burned with fiery joy.
He was holding a medicine vial in his hand as if it were a priceless treasure.
He walked toward him.
"Xiao'er! I succeeded! Father finally succeeded! Quick, take this Heaven Repairing Pill! Once you take it, your Innate Disease will disappear, and you... you'll be able to cultivate!"