Compared to the test of formations, the alchemy test was much simpler for Bao Gu.
Practicing alchemy requires a mastery of various spiritual herbs, medicinal properties, and materials.
Bao Gu’s enormous storage bag contained many spiritual herbs and treasures.
She had once put in a lot of effort to memorize the comprehensive guide to spiritual herbs, with jade slips for reference and actual samples.
She was familiar with both common and rare spiritual herbs in the cultivation world.
Even if she occasionally missed something, she filled in the gaps after reading the jade slip containing the world’s rare spiritual treasures recorded by the Demon Saint.
Mastering medicinal properties allows one to adapt to the materials at hand.
Alchemy not only requires understanding medicinal properties but also controlling the heat, which is similar to simmering medicine.
Some medicines need to be simmered slowly over a low flame, while others require a high flame.
However, alchemy involves throwing in hundreds of ingredients at once, with various medicinal properties reacting together, making it much more complex than mundane medicine brewing.
But to Bao Gu, the principles were similar; only the materials differed.
The alchemical fire is driven by internal true energy, meaning it requires spiritual power accumulated through cultivation.
This is the highest requirement; if the heat is not controlled well, the pill cannot be refined, and there is even a risk of the furnace exploding.
To master the heat, one needs to know when to use what kind of fire and how much force, and also have sufficient spiritual power as support.
Otherwise, if the spiritual power runs out halfway through refining, knowing the right heat is useless without the power to sustain it.
It’s like running out of firewood halfway through cooking rice; at least with rice, you can add water and make porridge.
But if the fire goes out halfway through alchemy, all the ingredients in the furnace are wasted!
The Demon Saint told Bao Gu that pill recipes are the experiences left by predecessors, which can be referenced and learned from.
However, if one rigidly adheres to them without change, they will never become a master alchemist.
Especially in today’s cultivation world, where resources are scarce and spiritual treasures are increasingly rare, many ancient pill recipes require ingredients that are hard to gather, necessitating flexibility and adaptation.
Learning alchemy requires no other path but to read, memorize, and practice extensively.
Bao Gu, personally taught and guided by the Demon Saint, avoided many detours and progressed at an astonishing speed.
Although she rarely interacted with her fellow disciples, she was well aware of their alchemy, artifact refining, and talisman crafting situations due to her business dealings.
A skilled alchemist might have two or three parts waste in a batch of pills, while the norm is five to seven parts waste.
If only one or two parts waste is produced, the pills are considered top-grade, valued three to four times more than ordinary pills with six or seven parts waste.
Bao Gu had seen the Demon Saint refine pills during demonstrations, and the pills produced had no waste at all.
Each pill was like a living thing, with uniform color and spiritual energy swirling around them.
Compared to the pills she acquired from her fellow disciples, the Demon Saint’s pills were worlds apart.
Even the top-grade pills given by her Martial Uncle Feng and Grandmaster paled in comparison to the Demon Saint’s.
A perfect pill refined by the Demon Saint was worth ten of her top-grade pills.
Having such a master and so many spiritual herbs, Bao Gu felt ashamed if her pills weren’t of perfect quality.
Influenced by this mindset, she worked diligently on alchemy, often forgetting time until Little Martial Aunt reminded her.
Compared to alchemy, the study of formations required learning much more complex and profound knowledge.
Studying formations involves deduction, supported by the intricate calculations of heavenly stems, earthly branches, and celestial phenomena.
Formations are about making the most of time and place, but they can also reverse the universe and perform miraculous feats.
On a small scale, they can be used in homes to gather spiritual energy; on a large scale, with the right materials, they can construct an independent world.
As Bao Gu delved deeper into formation knowledge, she realized that the Demon Saint’s entrance test for her was as simple as one plus one equals two.
To become a master of formations, one’s calculation ability must reach the level of deducing heavenly secrets.
Bao Gu had suffered setbacks in formations, and now, with the Demon Saint’s personal guidance, she dared not slack off.
She learned as the Demon Saint taught, engaging in extensive deduction and practice.
Under such intense study, she could only spare one day a month for miscellaneous tasks.
Her ability to calculate after the Demon Saint’s formation training grew as fast as her flying sword skills.
With years of experience in bookkeeping, she could spot errors at a glance.
As for other business matters, she was well-versed, expanding businesses, opening branches, and hiring as needed.
With spiritual stones and resources at her disposal and the Xuantian Sect as her backing, her external business ventures thrived, as did her sect’s enterprises.
Various spiritual stones and materials collected for her were continuously sent to her large storage bag.
The pills she refined were far more than she could use, and their quality was exceptional.
As a businesswoman, Bao Gu naturally couldn’t just give without receiving.
She sold the excess pills, converting them into spiritual herbs for further refining.
Although her pills were slightly short of perfect, they were still rare top-grade pills, fetching high prices and providing a substantial monthly income.
As her earnings grew, so did the quality of materials sent to her, enriching her wealth.
She frequently added items to her residence and Zi Yunshu’s, so that over the years, even the most casual items in their courtyards were rare treasures.
Busy with learning alchemy and formations from the Demon Saint, Bao Gu’s cultivation naturally lagged.
Fortunately, refining pills required a lot of spiritual power, and she consumed pills like meals, so her cultivation progress didn’t stagnate, albeit at a snail’s pace.
As for the monthly sect exams, Bao Gu never participated.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, but she simply couldn’t make it.
On exam days, she was either busy refining pills or locked in her room deducing formations, unable to attend.
Bao Gu’s biggest realization was that time flies in cultivation.
A month passed in the blink of an eye, and a year was gone in a few blinks.
The last time she looked at the trees outside her courtyard, they were lush, and in the next moment, autumn winds had swept the leaves away.
She had almost no news of Yu Mi.
She had Yu Mi’s sound transmission talisman, but it never connected, and Yu Mi never replied to her messages.
She knew Little Martial Aunt had some contact with Yu Mi, but whatever Yu Mi said, Little Martial Aunt never revealed, only informing her when Yu Mi advanced to the Nascent Soul stage.
Later, she finally refined perfect-quality pills, achieving a level where nine out of ten batches were perfect.
Her alchemy skills became extremely proficient, and she was adept at using herbs and refining pills.
Only then did the Demon Saint allow her to slow down her cultivation progress.
With only a Foundation Establishment third stage cultivation, even though her five-element roots gave her more spiritual power than others, her dantian’s capacity was limited.
Her spiritual power was only enough to support refining Foundation Establishment pills.
She felt she could refine Nascent Soul stage pills, but due to her limited cultivation and spiritual power, she couldn’t attempt it.
She also made significant progress in formations.
At some point, Little Martial Aunt declared their mountain forest a forbidden area, barring other disciples from entering, and said she wanted to test Bao Gu’s formation skills by having her set up formations in the forest.
No fellow disciples dared to intrude, and Martial Uncle Feng was once trapped for over two hours before escaping.
As her formation skills improved, she identified and corrected deficiencies in her previous setups.
She wanted to trap Martial Uncle Feng again, but after he learned she set the formations, he never came to challenge them again, always sending a disciple or using a sound transmission talisman to communicate.
Without Martial Uncle Feng frequently visiting to take her spiritual herbs and monkey wine, she saved quite a bit.
Bao Gu grew accustomed to this routine.
Drinking monkey wine and consuming pills for cultivation every morning and night, she spent her days deducing formations and occasionally refining pills.
Compared to alchemy, she was more interested in the vast and profound knowledge of formations.
The more she deduced, the closer she felt to the Dao, gaining many insights beneficial to her cultivation.
She even developed some minor techniques from formation deductions, like shrinking the ground to an inch.
By applying formations to her footwork, she could easily perform the legendary technique of shrinking the ground to an inch, a skill only top experts could use.
She also combined her understanding of Xuantian swordsmanship with formation-based footwork, adding unpredictable changes.
Formation knowledge could be applied anywhere, from gathering spiritual energy and protecting courtyards to walking, practicing swordsmanship, and even planting spiritual herbs.
It could even be used in talisman crafting.
Talisman crafting, while different from formations, shared some similarities.
Talismans, as carriers and mediums, could harness and release the power of heaven and earth.
Insights and power from formations could be condensed into talismans, or talismans could be used to set up formations.
With her solid formation knowledge, Bao Gu found learning talismans quite smooth.
However, despite the similarities, formations and talismans each had their distinctions and features.
After achieving some success in alchemy and formations, Bao Gu began studying talismans.
Starting with the basics of drawing talismans, she found that what seemed simple was not easy.
Before drawing, one must wash hands, focus, calm the mind, and gather strength.
The stance and hand movements during drawing were crucial, and talisman crafting emphasized understanding and applying the Dao.
The seemingly simple strokes on talisman paper were actually aligned with the Dao’s principles, with each stroke containing profound mysteries.
Over the years, her cultivation realm hadn’t advanced much, but her temperament became more serene, and she gained many insights into the Dao.
Talisman crafting, for her, was a natural extension of her learning.
Her Grandmaster was dissatisfied with her slow cultivation progress but praised her advancement in talisman crafting.
However, cultivation realm is the true foundation.
With a low cultivation realm, no matter how skilled she became in alchemy or formations, the effects she could achieve were limited.
Her slow progress was unavoidable.
The path is taken step by step, and cultivation realm is advanced bit by bit.
Even with pills and monkey wine to support her, the time she could spend practicing each day was limited, and the spiritual power converted from pills and wine was finite.
Her daily progress was as clear as her bookkeeping.
As a five-element root cultivator, she wasn’t on a fast track, and over the years, she accepted this fact, progressing steadily and methodically.
She wasn’t in a hurry, and others’ urgency was futile.
Recently, the Demon Saint taught her less, giving Bao Gu more free time to practice cultivation and review what she had learned.
She also explored the Demon Saint’s study for jade slips and books.
Since she learned from the Demon Saint and loved reading, the Demon Saint moved his entire collection from his storage ring to the study.
With books as her companions, immersed in her studies, Bao Gu felt a sense of loss but found the days bearable, even passing quickly.
Often, she would look up to see the sunrise, and then again to see the sunset.
Seasons changed swiftly, and a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Her once youthful body matured, growing slightly taller.
Her childish features faded, revealing exquisitely defined features, with eyes like paintings and a serene aura like a spirit of the mountains, ethereal and untouched by the mundane.
Especially her eyes, misty and elusive, reminiscent of mist-shrouded mountains, ethereal and otherworldly.
Zi Yunshu often marveled at Bao Gu’s appearance, saying, “How did a cunning little merchant like you become more beautiful and ethereal than me? Luckily, you stay cooped up in your courtyard, or the title of Xuantian Sect’s most beautiful would be yours.”
Bao Gu let Zi Yunshu tease her, not reacting, which led Zi Yunshu to complain that she was like a dead person.
Bao Gu felt helpless; what reaction should she have?
Zi Yunshu was annoyed by Bao Gu’s lack of response, so she would “kindly” inform Bao Gu, “Your sister Yu Mi came back last month with new disciples and left yesterday,” or “Yu Mi returned a few days ago and left this morning.”
Such remarks were always about Yu Mi returning and leaving.
Bao Gu couldn’t tell if they were true, so she assumed Zi Yunshu was teasing her and didn’t respond.
She knew her sister had returned with new disciples but never set foot in her courtyard or the forest they lived in.
Over the years, new faces came to deliver messages, some of whom were new disciples brought by her sister.
Five years passed without a single meeting.
Apart from the possibly true or false news from Little Martial Aunt, Bao Gu had no information about Yu Mi.
Bao Gu thought her temperament had improved over the five years, becoming calm and indifferent, but thinking of Yu Mi still brought a sense of loss and inexplicable pain.
Five years had accustomed her to many things, including the feeling of loss, heartache, and the habit of looking into the distance from her courtyard when thinking of Yu Mi.
She was used to having a shadow in her heart, with a faint melancholy and slight pain, used to Yu Mi avoiding her, and used to Little Martial Aunt using Yu Mi’s news to tease her.
She knew Little Martial Aunt wanted to see her anxious or angry over Yu Mi.
Bao Gu couldn’t find a reason to be anxious or angry.
She knew her sister was doing well, and that was enough for her.
She understood why her sister avoided her.
Until she let go, her sister wouldn’t see her.
Letting go or not was something Bao Gu couldn’t force.
She felt that emotions, like cultivation, should follow fate and the heart.
She didn’t think there was anything wrong with having someone in her heart and thinking of them often; it was a form of cultivation for her.
