Smelling the burnt odor that filled his nostrils, Li Qi sat still, motionless, like a sculpture.
At this moment, Li Qi's eyes were fixed on the charred, viscous substance before him.
This, of course, was the failed attempt by Li Qi to refine the Myriad Ancient Soul Tempering Pill.
However, the unpleasant expression on Li Qi's face quickly disappeared after the initial moment.
After all, he was considered an old alchemist, even with the system's help.
He had encountered similar failures in modification before.
Dwelling on failure was never a good thing; it was a waste of time.
It was better to recover quickly and ponder where the problem truly lay.
With this thought, Li Qi's brow furrowed once more.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with his refining technique.
The problem arose only when he was fusing the essences of various medicinal energies.
"Could it be that my choice of medicinal principles was wrong?"
Thinking this, Li Qi looked again at the charred, viscous substance before him.
Although this mass of charred, viscous material had completely fused together, making it impossible to discern what medicinal ingredients it contained, Li Qi's mind constantly recalled all the medicinal ingredients he had used.
First, the ingredients required for the original Myriad Ancient Soul Tempering Pill.
And the changes he had made to modify and enhance the pill's efficacy and reduce costs.
For this modification of the Myriad Ancient Soul Tempering Pill, Li Qi had discarded a total of twenty-three medicinal ingredients from the original formula and added seven others.
Although the number of added ingredients did not match the number discarded.
However, similar to the first type of pill Li Qi refined, the Jade Dew Concentric Pill.
The seven medicinal ingredients he added were capable of completely replacing the original twenty-three discarded ones.
Furthermore, according to Li Qi's reasoning, his modifications would have compensated for some of the original twenty-three ingredients that were meaningless and even detrimental to the pill's quality.
But the result was such a thorough failure in this modification.
Thinking of this, Li Qi's eyes furrowed deeply again.
He sat still on the spot.
In a flash, another three years passed.
During these three years, Li Qi had been diligently researching the problem within the medicinal principles of his modified formula.
And after these three years of contemplation, Li Qi finally understood the issue.
"It's still a conflict. After eliminating the conflicts of the original discarded medicinal ingredients, one of these seven medicinal ingredients has clashed with the entire pill."
In layman's terms, the original medicinal ingredients also had minor conflicts, akin to occasional arguments between a married couple. They had a slight impact on the pill, but it was usable, albeit with incomplete efficacy.
However, one of the medicinal ingredients added by Li Qi was different.
The conflict between this ingredient and the original pill was like an irreconcilable enmity between sworn enemies – it was a matter of life and death. There was no room for compromise.
At this moment, it seemed the only solution was to replace that medicinal ingredient.
But thinking of this, Li Qi's eyes furrowed deeply again.
This was a new formula he had painstakingly derived and modified over ten years of research into medicinal properties; it could be said to be the most suitable.
If he replaced it with another ingredient, what new changes would occur was unknown.
Setting aside the cost, the efficacy would undoubtedly decrease significantly.
Yet, such a divinely matched combination of medicinal ingredients was still in conflict.
This situation was not just like two mortal enemies.
It was like two mortal enemies on the edge of a cliff.
If one were killed, the other would also die.
Both were indispensable.
"Balance! It still needs balance!"
It was necessary to resolve the animosity between the two, or rather, to weaken and reduce the violent medicinal energy of that single ingredient that was destroying the formation of the pill.
"Therefore, a neutralizing medicinal ingredient must be added."
With this thought.
Li Qi's eyes brightened slightly.
His gaze fell upon the numerous medicinal ingredients to his right.
The deduction of medicinal principles began once more.
Thus.
In a flash, another ten years passed.
It had to be said that the difficulty of refining the Myriad Ancient Soul Tempering Pill this time was far greater than that of the Jade Dew Concentric Pill.
During these ten years, the only thing Li Qi had been doing was searching for a medicinal ingredient that could reduce the conflict without causing any other problems.
After all, each heavenly treasure had different effects. Some ingredients could indeed neutralize the conflict between the two.
But the ingredient itself, when added, would cause more other conflicts.
It was no exaggeration to say that Li Qi had racked his brains during these ten years.
If he had his "Mastery" talent, which aided in alchemy, it was hard to say when Li Qi would have managed to modify a pill.
And now, after a long period of deduction of medicinal principles, Li Qi had finally found a suitable one.
Nectarous Ice Liquid.
This was an extremely special heavenly treasure.
It was not born in any small world; its traces were even difficult to find in the Upper Realm.
The origin of the Nectarous Ice Liquid had to be traced back to an unknown time.
A great cultivator, who roamed the void, stumbled upon this special heavenly treasure on a meteor in an extremely cold region, a place where even ordinary tribulation-passing cultivators could hardly endure for long.
Under normal circumstances, in such an extremely cold region where even ordinary tribulation-passing cultivators found it difficult to stay, any liquid would have long since frozen into ice.
But this Nectarous Ice Liquid was very different.
Under such low temperatures, the Nectarous Ice Liquid still flowed like the clearest stream.
However, in reality, if a low-level cultivator were to touch the Nectarous Ice Liquid directly with their physical body, they would instantly freeze all the vital energy within them into ice sculptures.
Even if one tried to use spiritual energy to isolate it and take it away, if their strength was insufficient, the effect of the Nectarous Ice Liquid could directly freeze even the spiritual energy, and through the spiritual energy, the cultivator would be completely frozen.
It was only because the great cultivator who first discovered the Nectarous Ice Liquid was extremely powerful that they were able to bring back quite a bit of it, by isolating it with spiritual energy.
It was only after a long time that people discovered a special method for storing the Nectarous Ice Liquid.