Beichuan, Cloud Mountain Guesthouse.

At sunset.

Qin Chuan slowly descended from the sky with everyone.

After returning to the sect, Qin Chuan did not rest.

He chose an Alchemy room and announced that he was going to start refining pills.

Everyone gathered when they heard that the Sect Master was going to refine pills.

They were all very curious and wanted to see with their own eyes how spirit pills were made.

Refining pills was a technical skill. It was a test of one's stamina, mental strength, and vision.

Since this was his first time refining pills, Qin Chuan couldn't be careless. He had to ensure a quiet environment to prevent any disturbances that would make him fail.

After Qin Chuan explained the situation to everyone, they retreated and waited in the training hall.

After everyone left, Qin Chuan set up some formations in the room.

An Energy Converging Array was essential.

The denser the surrounding spiritual energy, the refinement would require less effort.

Then, he took care of the Soundproofing Array.

This array isolated sound from the outside world, ensuring that one would be focused when refining pills.

Although everyone was waiting at the training hall, Qin Chuan still felt that it was necessary out of caution. If something were to happen, all his preparations would be in vain.

The third was the Stronghold Array.

One could tell the effect of this array just by its name. After the array took effect, the entire room would become a sturdy fortress.

The purpose of this was to prevent anyone from breaking in.

Qin Chuan knew that no one in the sect would do such a thing. But just in case, he had to be prepared.

After doing all this,

Qin Chuan began to refine pills.

The first step of pill refinement was to take out the ingredients needed.

The second step was to screen these materials.

Qin Chuan had to examine the ingredients. According to the Qi Gathering Pill's formula and refinement method, they couldn't be a centimeter longer or shorter.

After checking the ingredients, the next step was to start refining pills.

Qin Chuan silently chanted an incantation as he formed a seal with his hands.

He opened his mouth slightly, forming an "O" shape, and then blew out towards the furnace.

However, what he blew out was not air but fire.

This was no ordinary fire.

When one reached the Golden Core Realm, a ball of True Fire would be born within the cultivator's body.

Unlike the traditional True Fire, Qin Chuan's True Fire was slightly purple.

This was because Qin Chuan had absorbed a large amount of Primordial Purple Air.

In addition, since Qin Chuan cultivated the Nine Revolutions Golden Pill Technique, the temperature of his True Fire was many times higher than that of the ordinary True Fire.

To prevent his True Fire from burning the ingredients during the refinement process, Qin Chuan first used his fire control technique to reduce the temperature of his True Fire to a level suitable for refinement.

This process was very time-consuming, and it was a great test of one's proficiency in fire control.

Since he had bought the Fire Control Technique from the Merchant Shop, proficiency was not a problem for Qin Chuan.

The trouble was time.

It took more than two hours to lower the True Fire to a suitable temperature.

True Fire was not a "must" in refining pills. Earth Fire was enough.

However, there were many benefits to using True Fire to refine pills.

There were stronger medicinal effects, higher chances of success, better quality of pills, etc…

Therefore, as long as an Alchemist had reached the Golden Core Realm, they basically would not use Earth Fire.

Qin Chuan adjusted his breathing to control the true fire.

What he had to do next was the most important part of refining pills. He had to optimize his mental state.

A few minutes later.

Qin Chuan heaved a sigh of relief. With a tap of his finger, his True Qi wrapped around the medicinal herbs before him and sent them into the furnace.

Then, he closed his eyes and used his divine consciousness to control the herbs in the furnace.

…

Training hall.

Everyone held their breath; they were all focused on the alchemy room.

After an unknown period of time, they heard something like a pressure cooker come from the alchemy room.

Soon after, everyone smelled a faint medicinal fragrance.

Everyone's eyes lit up.

"What a strong fragrance!"

"Sect Master succeeded!"

"I knew Sect Master would succeed."

Everyone in the training hall cheered and was extremely lively.

Not long after, Qin Chuan leisurely arrived at the training hall with a joyful expression.

"Sect Master, how is it? Did you succeed?" The eyes of the crowd shone as they stared at Qin Chuan.

Although they had already guessed the result, they still wanted to hear it from Qin Chuan.

Qin Chuan smiled, but didn't reply. He merely nodded his head.

This time, everyone was boiling with excitement. It was as if they were the ones refining pills.

Qin Chuan stood on the platform and gestured with his hands. "Everyone, please be quiet. I have something to announce."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone shut their mouths, and the space instantly fell silent.

"Right now, the problem with the ingredients has already been solved. So we should have enough pills in the future.

"However, I cannot be entirely fair to everyone when it comes to the distribution of the spirit pills.

"There will be a reward system in the future.

I will set up some cultivation training plans. I'll go by ranking. Whoever gets first will obtain more pills and vice versa.

"Of course, there will be a fixed monthly distribution of spirit pills. But, you will have to strive for the additional ones."

After the announcement, everyone became even more enthusiastic. They all wanted to be first.

…

A month later.

Under Qin Chuan, the first batch of students from the Alchemy specialization successfully produced the first batch of pills.

Although they had failed hundreds of times during the pill refinement process, everyone still maintained their enthusiasm.

After succeeding once, they had gained experience.

Their proficiency also improved with each try.

It had only been a month and a half. The first batch of students from the Alchemy specialization had maintained a successful production rate of above 70%.

This value was already extremely terrifying.

Even ordinary alchemists did not have such standards.

Because of this, Qin Chuan felt very gratified.

Now, these people from the Alchemy specialization no longer needed his guidance. He could free up some time to do other things.

After refining pills for so many days, they needed more ingredients.

For this, Qin Chuan left the sect.

After being away from the outside world for a month and a half, Qin Chuan felt somewhat uncomfortable.

After all, the spiritual energy was sparse in the outside world. At first, he indeed could not get used to it.

Presently, it was night in the outside world. Clouds were gathering in the night sky, accompanied by lightning and strong winds. There would probably be a storm tonight.

"Master!" Jin Bao ran out from one of the rooms and bowed to Qin Chuan.

Qin Chuan said coolly, "I haven't appeared for more than a month, but you didn't sneak out. I didn't expect you to be this loyal."

Jin Bao chuckled and expressed his attitude. "Ever since the first day I followed Master, I swore to follow you around for the rest of my life. I will never betray you. Otherwise, I will be struck by lightning."

Boom—

A bright flash of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by thunder.

"…"

Jin Bao felt very awkward.

"Master, this is purely a coincidence."

Qin Chuan smiled but didn't say anything.

Jin Bao was even more flustered.

"Master, it really is a coincidence." Jin Bao wanted to cry.

Qin Chuan smiled. "I know, don't be nervous."

Jin Bao finally heaved a sigh of relief.

Qin Chuan found a bench and sat down. He took out his phone, wanting to check the recent news.

Since he had been in the sect for one and a half months, his phone had run out of battery.

Qin Chuan called Jin Bao over and asked it to charge his phone.

Jin Bao was at his beck and call. After it was done charging, Jin Bao asked, "Master, is there anything else I can do?"

Qin Chuan thought for a moment. "Jin Bao, do you watch the news?"

Jin Bao was stunned for a moment, then said, "I do almost every day."

As the previous masterminds behind the scenes, Jin Bao had to keep an eye on the various developments in the world. Even now, it still kept up these habits.

"Tell me, has anything big happened lately?"

Jin Bao replied, "If we're talking about some big news, there's one I can think of.

"Just last week, countries around the world announced that they will be building high walls along their coastlines."

Qin Chuan frowned. "Build high walls?"