To breakthrough was also to shed one's metaphoric past self, and one would expel rge amounts of impurities drudged deep into their bodies. But was this not an opportunity?

  Breakthrough pills had little need for safety unlike conventional pills. Questionable substances or even poisons used in the recipe would be expelled upon success after all.

  Qinghe frowned as she heard Baiyun's expnation.

  "Even if you're pushing theory to the logical extreme, this is absurd..." she mused to herself. "And how did you find out cultivators expelled impurities during major breakthroughs? Did you witness someone having a breakthrough?"

  Baiyun made a quick excuse.

  "There's a light spirit who's pretty fond of me, so I convinced her to find a few cultivation manuals for me. I don't think she thought I could comprehend them though."

  Qinghe narrowed her eyes as Baiyun put on his best innocent look.

  "Hah... Whatever." she huffed. "There's a big problem with your idea. Even if we assume it works the way you theorised, have you thought of what would happen if the breakthrough fails?"

  "The combined strength of the backsh and the toxins could kill the cultivator?" Baiyun finished.

  Qinghe huffed in exasperation.

  "You knew the problem, yet you still insist on it? I have no idea where you get your confidence from."

  Baiyun could only smile awkwardly. Breakthroughs should only fail if the cultivator had cultivated an improper path or if the pill was unsuitable. In his eyes, this wasn't even something to be concerned about, especially since he had tailored the recipe to the mole's constitution and cultivation.

  "I paid you to concoct the pill, right? I want to see how it turns out. Besides, it's not like either of us are consuming the pill."

  He didn't know how to convince her, so that was the best he could say.

  Qinghe sighed deeply.

  "Fine. But I feel bad for your mole." she said.

  Baiyun could only cough from how she had guessed his intentions. As he appeared to be a servant with no cultivation, the little beast was the only candidate for the pill.

  "Using Pale Devil's Ashes to concoct a pill... grandpa would strangle me if he knew." Qinghe cursed under her breath.

  Baiyun could not help but raise an eyebrow. Devils were vicious creatures far too prideful and ambitious to descend to mortal worlds, powerful enough to shatter moons. Yet this world knew of devils? Quite strange...

  The name was metaphoric of course, the drug derived from certain pnts instead of demonic origin. It was known as Ecstatic Delirium Powder in his past world, but for it to have a name like that here, there certainly was some unpleasant history.

  "I suppose this is what I get. I let myself get dragged into this just because of morbid curiosity... and now you make this ridiculous recipe 10 times worse." Qinghe mumbled.

  This kid... Baiyun's face twitched and his smiling facade nearly shattered.

  Qinghe ughed at the sight of him.

  "What are you making that face for? You look like someone just dunked a bucket of water on you." she smiled. "Don't worry, there's still some merit to your insanity. Otherwise, I'd have kicked you out already."

  Baiyun wasn't sure what to say.

  "Your ideas are really quite weird." Qinghe mused. "I suppose it make sense. After all, you're an outsider to alchemy until recently and had to come up with your own theories. It really is a shame..."

  Baiyun sighed.

  "Well, give me a moment to revise the recipe with the new ingredients. You'll still refine it, right?"

  "If you push it too far I won't. This is about as much as I'm willing to accept." Qinghe said.

  "Right."

  Baiyun took out his newly purchased pen and got to work revising the instructions. He crossed out a few paragraphs, writing alternate versions of them on a different piece of paper. He slowed his writing speed significantly, but Qinghe still seemed surprised as she gnced over his shoulder.

  "Okay, it's done." Baiyun said.

  "This is going to be a disaster..." Qinghe mumbled.

  She ignored the annoyed look Baiyun shot her as she walked up to the rge cauldron, which had blocked his divine thread previously.

  It was a massive pot that stood on 3 iron legs. Where a lid would be was instead a round pavilion with 3 roofs, the combined height as tall as a grown man. Each roof was densely scrawled with yered formation engravings, the only unmarred sections being bnk white circles that served as control nodes.

  Qinghe reached for the lowest pavilion roof and touched the control nodes. Her hands began to shimmer as she conjured marks of qi from her fingers, which the cauldron absorbed in an instant as if it were a starving beast.

  Baiyun could not help but grow curious at the sight of it.

  "May I touch it?" he asked.

  "Huh?" Qinghe raised an eyebrow. "Uh... okay?"

  "Oh!"

  Baiyun ignored her judgemental looks as he stumbled to the side of the cauldron opposite from her and pressed his hands against it. There were now 2 people in the same room touching the cauldron weirdly, making for quite the strange sight; perhaps she wondered if he was trying to imitate her.

  His Divine Touch easily bypassed what impermeable was to thread, and he shut his eyes as information flooded his mind.

  The first thing Baiyun noticed was the lowest roof of the pavilion. As Qinghe was actively interacting with it, its qi activity was like a lighthouse in a dark night. His eyes began to shine with excitement.

  Qinghe's qi marks were spell particles, and the cauldron was processing and sorting them into storage. Such particles would normally dissipate in second if unused; in fact, it was one of the main factors that limited the alchemists of this world!

  An alchemist needed to have sufficient cultivation to produce the spell particles on the spot, preventing them from creating pills above their level.

  But formations within the cauldron's storage stabilised them. Particles that would dissipate in seconds would now st at least 10 hours according to Baiyun's estimations.

  He understood now. It wasn't that Qinghe was some sort of genius like he suspected. Her ability to refine low Foundational tier essences was due to this peerless treasure of a cauldron.

  Even after getting such a small glimpse of the cauldron, Baiyun's eyes shone with fervour. This cauldron was far more sophisticated than he could have even imagined! She peeked around the rge cauldron and smirked at the sight of his deranged expression; he coughed and forced a neutral expression.

  Qinghe summoned a strand of qi from her finger and activated a node on the highest pavilion roof. Formations glowed as a faint hum echoed and a mirage appeared with a fsh of light! Within it, the insides of the cauldron were projected in a neat cross-section.

  Baiyun nodded gratefully. Even if it was unnecessary because of Divine Touch, he appreciated the gesture.

  His focus shifted to the main chamber of the cauldron next. Nine round discs were embedded into its sides and served as ptforms of sorts. He stared at them in befuddlement, unsure of what they were for.

  "Those are Environmental Pilrs." Qinghe said. "World Cauldrons are an intermediate topic, so the beginner textbooks I gave you didn't cover that."

  World Cauldron? Baiyun jolted at the sound of it. He suddenly remembered the enigmatic words of the strange alchemist he met in prison; an old man with crooked teeth who had fallen low enough to brew alcohol with spit.

  "I'll give you a quick crash-course." Qinghe said.

  As Baiyun listened to her impromptu lecture, his eyes began to tremble. This...

  Within a World Cauldron, the inside of the main chamber was metaphorically known as "World". Each of the 9 Environmental Pilrs within had the potential to greatly influence the cauldron's inner world. But for each of the pilrs to bestow effects, "Offerings" must be pced on them.

  Offerings ranged from simple herbs or qi stones, a way to alter the environment within the cauldron without having to bloat the mass of the pill. But at the pinnacle of offerings were "Idols", one of the most precious treasures of an alchemist of this world.

  They were made of rare materials with formations embedded into them and were reusable. Their presence atop a pilr would alter the flow of qi and essence, drastically changing the concoction process!

  Qinghe spoke of the two most famous idols, the Sun and Moon idols.

  Her current cauldron was merely a tier 1 cauldron. A True World Cauldron lived up to its name and had an actual inner world, with enough space to contain buildings or even mountains. Living herbs and animals would be pced within to create small contained miniature ecosystems, left alone to nurture for decades or even centuries before refinement began.

  Sun and Moon idols had the power to simute the day-night cycles, and more could be pced to create extreme environments like a 9-Sun world.

  "The pinnacle of alchemy. A world unto a pill." Qinghe said.

  Baiyun clutched his fists tightly and an indescribable expression crept over his face. Shock, disbelief, confusion, admiration, joy, realisation, shame, anger and utter fervour. His dao heart trembled and cracked, overwhelmed by the sheer emotion he felt.

  Ah...

  He had truly underestimated this world. To think mere moments ago he had been brazenly ciming those in this world would be mere juniors to him. Spell particles... they were merely the tip of the iceberg.

  Baiyun had been arrogant. He had looked down on the legacy of the alchemists here, merely because their world was mortal. A world unto a pill. Deranged yet beautiful - a true marvel of pill refinement, no, art!

  Art...

  His worldview, stagnant for millennia had been altered in mere minutes. But Baiyun felt only gratitude to this world for enlightening him.

  Qinghe was clueless to his state and continued to speak without mercy, forcing him to quickly recompose himself.

  From the "Sky" of a cauldron's inner world, chains tipped with sharp hooks hung beneath the pavilion lid. They were known as "Greedy Hooks"; miniature cauldrons with various auxiliary effects dangled from them.

  The pavilions above housed the "Heavenly Library". In Qinghe's cauldron, 90 storage artefacts were present there. They stored spell particles like Baiyun had seen before, but they also held conventional ingredients. Herbs, reagents and even gases from nozzles could be released with the press of a node, allowing the alchemist to deposit ingredients mid-refinement without opening the lid, keeping the environment and pressure stable.

  Various formations controlled the temperature precisely and even allowed for cold refinement. And of course, the mirage gem embedded allowed it to dispy the very mirage he was currently looking at.

  An over-engineered marvel in the best way possible... Baiyun suddenly felt like the cauldrons of his old worlds were just over-glorified pots.

  The alchemy path of his past world focused on "Self". Alchemists had to be knowledgeable and learn many fields, even mastering spellcasting to the point of being able to control dozen of spells simultaneously. It was a feat only possible because of their immense power from the vast qi of an upper world.

  When all were mighty enough to plough a field with the stomp of a foot, none would invent the pitchfork.

  But this world with its deficits refined their cauldrons until such marvels arose. Baiyun felt a chill down his spine. With path of Self mastered, if he mastered the Cauldron path next... his ambitions boiled as he imagined the heights he could reach.

  Perhaps as the saying and legend went, he could be Kun with Heavenly Sword in hand.

  ...

  There once was a barbarian named Kun. He was a ruthless devil who fought with his bare hands, with strength so great, he sughtered the heavenly sects with ease.

  But it was not because he disdained the bde. For the reason he sughtered was to find a worthy weapon, one that could withstand his grasp.

  The great Golden Phoenix Spear of the Vermillion Fme sect, the Yin Yang Cleavers of the Fallen Virtue sect and many more... Kun would only sigh as the greatest weapons of every sect crumbled to dust in his palm.

  Such was his desire that he torn off his horns and forged them into the Twin Bdes of Kun. But when the first crumbled in his palm, he abandoned the second, leaving it to rot in the crystal desert of the White Pins.

  Even his mighty horns could not beat the burden of his strength... he could not understand. Now hornless, Kun sat amidst the carnage in despair. It was then when a heavenly official descended. But his grand robes were torn and blood dripped from every orifice of his.

  "Kun!" he gritted his teeth. "We might be enemies, but take this bde... let the heavens taste my vengeance!"

  But the skies stirred for he had been in pursuit, and the clouds parted to reveal the Heavenly Sage descending from above.

  "You heathen! What have you done!" the old sage yelled.

  But it was too te. The bloodied former official ughed manically as Kun took the Astral Light Sword in hand. The hilt trembled and for a moment, even the heavens prayed it would crumble.

  Kun hoisted it into the air and its sharpness split the very clouds.

  "A good bde." he smiled for the first time in aeons.

  The heavens shook and the earth tore itself asunder in despair. For Kun was now invincible.

  ....

  Baiyun was silent for a moment.

  "I need a moment to digest this." he said softly.

  Qinghe nodded and ughed to herself slightly, as if pleased he had been stunned silly just like her from before.

  Baiyun sat down to meditate, his hand still touching the cauldron with Divine Touch. He slowly consolidated his thoughts and the cracks on his dao heart mended themself.

  A dozen minutes went by before he opened his eyes once more, but it felt to him as if days had passed.

  "Qinghe. Let me rewrite the recipe again." he said suddenly.

  She was about to tease him as she held the papers toward him, but he snatched them over wordlessly and crossed out every single line. He took out new sheets of paper and rewrote the instructions from scratch to her shock.

  Seeing his state, Qinghe decided not to interrupt him. She reached for the cauldron and continued to refine the spell particles needed.

  Baiyun's perception of time waned as he immersed himself in writing, his thoughts running in parallel as endless musings flooded his mind. Both alchemists were silent as they worked in different ways.

  When he spoke at st, it felt as if days had passed.

  "It's done." Baiyun put down his pen.

  The rewritten recipe had been scribbled on brand new sheets of paper and was twice the length as before. But it was not clean like the previous papers, for he had crossed out parts he was dissatisfied with as new thoughts entered his mind.

  Working with such an alien cauldron was not easy, even with Divine Touch active the entire time. He had little experience with formations, so he had to gather clues from alchemic traces left from past concoctions, simir to how he previously analysed fingerprints.

  "Same for me... I've conjured the particles needed."

  Qinghe was slightly unsteady on her feet as beads of sweat trickled down her face, her breathing slightly ragged. She waved a hand and gathered her perspiration into a sphere before tossing it out of the workshop with a spsh. With her other hand, she summoned an icy mist to cool herself.

  Even with the cauldron preserving her spell particles, she had to push herself to the limit and work for such a long time. Yet a Foundational alchemist could conjure them mid concoction, a stark reminder of the hurdle in cultivation they sought to climb.

  Baiyun hesitated, not sure if he should hand her the notes in her current state, but she snatched them out of his hands anyway. She seemed to forget her fatigue as her eyes darted over the pages with focus for the next 10 minutes. Then her fatigue seemed to return all at once as she stumbled.

  "Monster..." she muttered. "Can't even... be surprised anymore...

  Qinghe reached into her bag and tossed a cloth bed to the ground. She immediately colpsed onto it face-first and passed out. There was a minute of silence before loud muffled snoring began to echo.

  It seemed the kid had worked hard. Baiyun wasn't sure what to do for a moment, but he reached into his bag and tossed an old bnket over her, feeling it was the least he could do.

  It was a good thing his amended recipe didn't require different spell essences.

  Baiyun felt like he still had a lot to learn, so he walked back to the cauldron and continued to study it with Divine Touch. He slowly committed every detail of its structure to memory, even the scratches and damage. Most important were the unknown formations, of which he even memorised the flow of qi.

  This cauldron was so precious, he felt he needed to be able to recreate it from scratch. If he found the opportunity to study formations, he could also retroactively dig through his memories to analyse them.

  An hour passed before Qinghe roused with an oddly refreshed look on her face. Baiyun could tell she had used a quick resting art and had likely gotten the equivalent of 10-20 hours of sleep.

  "I'm up..." she yawned.

  Then she frowned and flicked the bnket away.

  "Why would you do that?" she grumbled. "I used an ice spell to cool myself! You saw that!"

  ....

  Baiyun felt awkward. He really hadn't thought it through.

  "Whatever. Let's get started." she huffed. "I've reviewed the new recipe in my sleep."

  Qinghe took out a small jar of azure-white pills from her bag and swallowed one. With divine thread, Baiyun identified them as high-quality focus pills.

  She walked to the cauldron and began to load in the ingredients he had brought. Baiyun helped her out, but she gred at him as he passed the dead slug over.

  "Tsk." she clicked her tongue.

  Qinghe didn't even touch the slug, but she still wiped her hands with a handkerchief anyway. She tossed the cloth to Baiyun and he could only wipe his own hands speechlessly.

  It was made of expensive silk and seemed quite new. But she snapped her fingers and burnt it into ashes.

  This kid... Baiyun decided now was probably not the time for a lecture and did his best to restrain himself.

  With the ingredients now stored in the cauldron's Heavenly Library, Qinghe pressed a node on the 2nd roof. A slow grinding echoed as the pavilion rose into air on stilts, revealing the World chamber beneath.

  The two of them began to load the Environmental Pilrs with spirit stones as Offerings. But just as Baiyun was about to fill the st slot, Qinghe stopped him and showed him something in her hand.

  It was a figurine of a faceless person sitting in lotus position, composed entirely out of a dark gemstone.

  "It's a Bck Diamond Idol." Qinghe said. "No, you don't have to revise the notes again. It doesn't change the recipe in any way, it just aids the fusion of Earth Essences."

  She stopped Baiyun before he could reach for more paper.

  Qinghe reached for the Greedy Hooks and hung 3 small cauldrons on them. A Grinder Cauldron, Compression Cauldron and a Cauldron of Many Mouths.

  The idol and now so many cauldrons he didn't know she had... Baiyun began to feel nervous at the inclusion of so many new factors.

  "Qinghe, it won't take long for me to modify the recipe-"

  "I'm the alchemist here. You're not." Qinghe said. "Let me handle it."

  Baiyun: ...

  Qinghe sighed and gritted her teeth, forcing out her next words with great difficulty and reluctance.

  "I'll won't charge a fee if it fails." she pursed her lips.

  Baiyun could only let out a heavy breath. He might be a grandmaster alchemist, but the cauldrons of this world were entirely new to him. Worst of all, he had to instruct someone instead of using his own hands, and she even had her own ideas of what to do!

  No...

  Alchemy was his dao and domain. For a grandmaster to be worried about such a trivial pill was ridiculous. Baiyun's eyes hardened and his breath grew steady.

  There was no need for fear.

  He- No, they would succeed.