The purple flames spurting from the eight dragon-head spouts, under Han Li's control, grew from thin streams to the thickness of a finger, while the rotation of the Silver Thread Cauldron gradually slowed, and it began to tremble faintly amid the flames.
As time trickled by, wisps of medicinal fragrance wafted from the small cauldron, invigorating anyone who caught a whiff. But Han Li knew full well that forming the pills was still a long way off. At the very least, he would need to subject the contents to a far more intense burst of earthfire for an instantaneous condensation — only then might the pill form.
With that thought, Han Li pushed the purple flames even brighter, until they thickened to the diameter of a bowl and enveloped the entire Silver Thread Cauldron. From a distance, the cauldron had become a massive fireball, and the medicinal scent grew ever richer.
No guesswork was needed — Han Li knew the powdered ingredients had begun to condense into pills, so he redoubled his concentration.
But just then, a muffled detonation sounded from within the cauldron. Though not loud, it made Han Li's heart sink, and his expression turned grim.
After a moment's hesitation, he sighed and cut off the earthfire. Then, with a wave of his hand, he opened the lid of the still-scorching cauldron and peered inside.
Several shards of pale blue solid lay in the cauldron — pills whose condensation had failed. Waste pills!
Shaking his head, Han Li produced a jade box, set it on the ground, then tipped the Silver Thread Cauldron to pour the waste pills inside before storing it away. Even failed pills were formed from a mixture of spiritual herbs; he couldn't bring himself to just throw them out. They might prove useful for something else one day!
After finishing all that, Han Li returned to his meditation cushion and sat in contemplation. Only once the Silver Thread Cauldron had cooled completely did he begin the alchemy process again.
The same steps, the same powdered ingredients, the same fire-control technique — but unfortunately, this attempt also failed at the pill-condensation stage.
This time Han Li's face remained expressionless. Once he had adjusted his state, he silently started another round…
…
A month passed. The ugly man noticed that Han Li still hadn't emerged from the earthfire chamber and was mildly surprised, though mostly excited — the longer this dragged on, the more fees he could extract.
Two months later, the stone door of Chamber Eighteen still hadn't opened. The ugly man was secretly delighted, yet also genuinely astonished.
Three months…
Six months. Han Li showed no sign of coming out whatsoever. By now, the ugly man's initial glee had long since evaporated, replaced entirely by a face full of worry and a gut full of unease.
Nearly half a year was not unheard of for alchemy or artifact refining. He'd seen even longer stretches a handful of times!
But anyone who spent that long in an earthfire chamber was at minimum a Foundation Establishment cultivator! For a mere Qi Condensation disciple like Han Li to stay inside this long doing alchemy — this was truly the first time the ugly man had ever seen such a thing.
Besides, a Qi Condensation disciple's fasting was only good for one month. Had this disciple of Grand Elder Li actually brought food and drink along with him, which was how he'd managed to last this long? The ugly man's mind churned with suspicion.
Inside the earthfire chamber, Han Li sat cross-legged on his cushion, gazing at the twenty-some brilliant blue Foundation Establishment Pills floating before him, his expression one of deep contemplation.
These pills were the sum total of half a year's painstaking effort, representing countless bouts of grueling work. Obtaining them had been incredibly difficult!
During the first twenty-odd attempts, Han Li couldn't even get past the pill-condensation stage. Watching failure after failure pile up, his heart ached — he'd very nearly given up, planning to return and learn proper alchemy techniques from other alchemists before attempting the Foundation Establishment Pills again. That would certainly cost a tremendous amount of time, but it was still better than wasting spiritual herbs for nothing!
Yet at the very last moment before leaving, on some inexplicable impulse, he had started up the cauldron one final time. And this time, as though aided by divine power, the pills actually condensed. Furthermore, when he opened the furnace to retrieve them, he succeeded on the very first try — obtaining the very first Foundation Establishment Pill he had ever refined with his own hands.
This pill was identical to the three he already had in every respect except that it was slightly smaller. The sight filled Han Li with tremendous encouragement!
Buoyed by this success, Han Li gritted his teeth, abandoned the notion of leaving, and settled back down to continue.
And sure enough, with this experience under his belt, his success rate at pill condensation skyrocketed — one out of every three attempts now produced a successful condensation. As for opening the furnace, Han Li turned out to have a remarkable natural talent for it: more than half the pills could be extracted successfully on the first try. That was something even he had never expected!
During this period, whenever he felt hunger gnawing at his stomach, he would swallow one of the fasting pills he had obtained from the little old man. Each pill could sustain him for another month! He had traded for that bottle of fasting pills using several century-old herbs he'd purchased outside under a pretext. Now they had proven their worth at just the right time.