Of course, the ’Ten-thousand-year-old Thunderstruck Wood Juice’ brought by Junior Master Song was exchanged not for the refining of a single furnace of Fourth-grade Spirit Pills, but for three furnaces.
He had already decided that if Li Shiming’s alchemy ability was too poor, he would swallow his pride and demand the ’Ten-thousand-year-old Thunderstruck Wood Juice’ back, at most exchanging it for other Spiritual Objects.
This was something agreed upon beforehand, but if it had to be done, it would mean falling out with Li Shiming.
The agreed time was seven days, but Li Shiming took only six days to refine the Fourth-grade Spirit Pills this time.
The time saved was due to Li Shiming acquiring the phoenix line’s alchemy inheritance, leading to an improvement in his alchemy skills.
The improvement in alchemy skills reflects an enhancement in his foundational alchemy abilities.
Alchemy that appears to have the same result; however, differing foundational abilities can be sensed by the Alchemy Master himself, even if outsiders cannot perceive it.
Having finished the alchemy ahead of time, Li Shiming did not contact Junior Master Song immediately, but instead took out his Identity Jade Disc to start reviewing sect missions.
In the Cultivation World, the Identity Jade Disc is used in conjunction with the sect formation, allowing connection to the sect formation to obtain information as long as one is within its range.
This is very similar to information transmission from the previous life, except that the previous life used wireless signals, with terminals like mobile phones and information stored on servers.
Li Shiming no longer considers introducing items similar to mobile phones in this world; previously, he could launch them on Sky Sea Island because the cultivation techniques there were too rudimentary.
The Identity Jade Disc he holds now performs virtually all functions of a mobile phone, perhaps not as complex in some aspects, but lacking features particularly fascinating to cultivators, thus losing a market for mobile phones.
Moreover, the major sect powers here are extremely formidable, and communication devices like mobile phones that can transmit information in alternative ways would definitely be controlled.
While contemplating this, he used Divine Thought to connect to sect formation’s tasks.
He could only see tasks suitable for those below the Great Elder Realm, and evidently his identity as an Alchemy Master had been recorded in the system, as he saw alchemy tasks too.
Among the alchemy tasks, he noticed tasks for refining Third-grade Spirit Pills as well as Fourth-grade Spirit Pills.
It makes sense, as refining a single furnace of Fourth-grade Spirit Pills takes nearly ten days, not to mention the spiritual exertion required; normally, a late-stage Golden Core Alchemy Master can manage one furnace a month.
Alchemy Masters are also cultivators and need to train; excessive spiritual exertion can affect their cultivation.
Not all Alchemy Masters possess five Golden Cores, nor do they have a life-bound treasure like IBMz15 to undertake over ninety-nine percent of computation, making Li Shiming’s alchemy exceptionally easy.
Even the brain he uses during alchemy is transformed from a CPU of the IBMz15, and as one out of one hundred and ninety-one brain parts, the low consumption for opening a furnace is simply astonishing.
However, other Alchemy Masters are different. During the nearly ten days of alchemy, they need to fully control every tiny change of Spiritual Fire and Spiritual Medicine, keeping all transformations within a certain range.
This does not take into account the consumption of Spiritual Power Pattern and Spirit during alchemy; just the exertion alone can leave an Alchemy Master exhausted.
Li Shiming looked at the sect mission for Fourth-grade Spirit Pill, finding that Alchemy Masters with lower standards cannot take this task at all.
If they forcibly take it, they might incur losses, as failing to meet the criteria would require compensation.
The sect mission for Fourth-grade Spirit Pill requires the delivery of two pills, with contribution points awarded based on the quality of these two pills.
If an Alchemy Master’s skills are insufficient, and cannot achieve a full number of pills, he cannot earn commissions from the Fourth-grade Spirit Pill; this commission is the greatest gain from opening a furnace.
If unable to achieve a full number of pills, producing two Fourth-grade Spirit Pills is still acceptable, at least avoiding losses. But failing to produce even two Fourth-grade Spirit Pills or directly failing would result in significant compensation.
Even though an Alchemy Master might be wealthy, experiencing such losses multiple times would be unbearable.
For an exceptionally skilled Alchemy Master, they typically have regular customers and are very popular, with private alchemy orders overflowing, leaving no need to take sect alchemy tasks which offer relatively lower rewards.
Seeing the sect’s alchemy tasks, Li Shiming’s eyes lit up; were these not tailor-made for him?
He possesses the ’Hundred One-point Pill Technique,’ guaranteeing the same number of pills, coupled with his ability to achieve a full count, allowing him to undertake sect alchemy tasks fully.
What made him happiest was that due to these being sect alchemy tasks, the sect-produced Fourth Grade Spiritual Medicines were often identical, meaning completing one Fourth-grade Spirit Pill task equaled completing three consecutive tasks.
The surplus Fourth-grade Refining Materials could be refined into Fourth Grade High-level Spirit Pills for himself and his avatars to use for future cultivation.
He took on the task of refining nine furnaces of Fourth-grade Spirit Pills, which was the maximum amount he could accept based on his permissions; more would require him to elevate his level.
This was already quite impressive, as shortly after accepting the sect alchemy task, a cultivator delivered nine sets of Fourth-grade Refining Materials.