Ten spirit stones were enough to break through the female cultivator's bottom line, and because of Chen Lin's words, she even appeared somewhat grateful.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist. If we ever meet again, I will certainly repay the kindness of your help today."
She spoke with genuine sincerity. With these ten spirit stones, she could finally pay her rent and stop worrying about being evicted from her lodging.
Now it was Chen Lin's turn to feel a bit embarrassed; he nodded and left quickly.
If he could successfully refine even one of the two Dharma Artifacts mentioned in the book, he would have gained an enormous advantage. His actions now could be considered having one’s cake and eating it too.
Having bought good items without spending much money, Chen Lin's spirits lifted, and he began to examine the stalls one by one.
Regrettably, he did not discover any other treasures. Most of the items were for those in the Early-stage Qi Refining, which, as a dignified cultivator at the Qi Refining Mid-Stage, he found beneath his notice.
Afterward, he hesitated for a moment, entered a shop to purchase some materials, and then headed toward the direction of the outer city.
After another round of detours and reverting to his original appearance, he returned to his residence.
He placed the purchased materials on the table.
The smaller of the two bags was for experimenting with one of the items featured in the book on Artifact Refining; it held little value. The remaining large bag contained the materials for refining the Enlightenment Pill.
Looking at the bag full of goods, Chen Lin felt he had truly gone mad.
He had actually spent nearly three hundred spirit stones to buy all of this!
Logically, with his habitually cautious nature, he should not have done such a thing. Why was he so impulsive today?
After a moment of self-doubt, he could only sigh helplessly.
"Since I've already bought them, I might as well treat a dying horse as a living one and give it a try!"
After muttering this to himself, he began preparing to refine the Enlightenment Pill.
The Artifact Refining would have to wait. The most important tasks were mastering the Object Control Technique and the Flight Technique; the Artifact Refining manual could be studied slowly later.
He carefully pored over the Alchemical Formula for a while before processing the materials.
By the time the preparations were finished, it was already dark.
Chen Lin did not rest; he put fuel beneath the iron cauldron alchemical furnace and began refining the pill.
The situation mirrored his previous attempts with the Chuyuan Pill; three batches of materials were wasted in a row, filling the room with a burnt odor.
He did not mind this at all and, after resting for a while, continued the process.
After refining two more batches, he stopped again.
He did not continue this time, but instead walked to the window and opened it to look outside, because his alarm had gone off.
Chen Lin focused his vision to scan the sky.
He watched for a long time but could not see the thin red thread. Instead, a strange feeling emerged, as if something was being extracted from his body.
Ever since he had been tethered by the thread, this sensation occurred every night, yet he could never find the cause.
This change was so subtle that if one didn't pay close attention, it would be impossible to notice.
A quarter of an hour later, the state vanished.
With a blank expression, he turned back to the alchemical furnace and resumed brewing the pill.
He refined it nine times in succession without success. On the tenth try, he finally braced himself.
"Whether this succeeds or not depends on this go."
Chen Lin murmured to himself, took a breath, and began adding the materials step-by-step while controlling the heat.
When he reached the final step of adding the Spirit-Dotted Herb juice, his expression tensed.
Every previous failure had happened at this exact moment—success or failure would be decided right here.
Bang!
As the first drop of juice fell, the liquid in the cauldron churned violently and began to splatter outward.
Chen Lin subconsciously ducked back, only to realize the familiar scene had finally appeared.
A mysterious force emerged from thin air, gathering the splattered juice back into the iron cauldron.
A faint glimmer flashed, and a round object appeared inside the cauldron.
"Success!"
Seeing this, Chen Lin was overjoyed and immediately grabbed the pill from the cauldron.
"What is this thing?"
Only when he held the pill before his eyes did Chen Lin realize something was wrong.
The Chuyuan Pills he had refined before were all pristine, white, and round, with a faint medicinal fragrance, clearly not ordinary items. However, this pill was not only irregularly shaped but also dark, covered in small pits. It didn't look like a miraculous medicine at all.
According to the Alchemical Formula, it was indeed only possible to produce one pill at a time, so the quantity was correct, but the quality was far too low.
This was the most perfect state he could achieve relying on his innate ability; otherwise, it would likely have been even more unsightly.
He held it under his nose and sniffed; a pungent, slightly sour odor invaded his nostrils, causing Chen Lin to frown even deeper.
"Is this thing really an Enlightenment Pill?"
For a moment, Chen Lin was uncertain.
The main issue was that he hadn't seen a real Enlightenment Pill, so he had nothing to compare it to.
After studying it for a while, he placed the pill in an exquisite box and began to tidy up the mess.
Since his innate ability had caused the pill to form, the Alchemical Formula must have been valid and the refining method correct. Either way, he had no way of confirming if it truly was an Enlightenment Pill.
When the sky grew bright, Chen Lin shouldered his pack and stepped out of his room.
He disguised himself halfway, transforming into a fair-skinned man, and arrived at the Shuiyue Pavilion.
"You want to inquire about information regarding the Enlightenment Pill?"
The same middle-aged woman looked him over with a scrutinizing gaze.
Chen Lin nodded. Since she had mentioned the Enlightenment Pill to him last time, she must know something about it.
Comparing the relevant data with the Enlightenment Pill he had refined would allow him to make a rough judgment.
"Why, do you really intend to purchase an Enlightenment Pill to cultivate the Object Control Technique?
You are quite wealthy, Fellow Daoist!
An Enlightenment Pill costs at least several dozen mid-grade spirit stones, and as far as I know, none of the shops in all of Kaiyuan City have this pill for sale. Could it be that you have a secret channel for purchasing it?"
The woman's demeanor turned somewhat strange, her eyes fixed firmly on Chen Lin.
"Name your price. I need information on the Enlightenment Pill and potential purchasing channels. How many spirit stones?"
Chen Lin did not want to waste words and spoke directly.
He was disguised, after all; once he left, no one would know who he was.
The woman suddenly revealed a smile that was not quite a smile, blinked, and said: "Fine, this information isn't particularly secretive. Let's say twenty spirit stones."
Chen Lin gritted his teeth and pulled out a pouch of spirit stones, feeling a pang of heartache.
Accepting the stones, the woman smiled brightly, swayed her body as she moved to the back of the room, and soon returned with a booklet, which she opened to a page and set before Chen Lin.
"This is the information on the Enlightenment Pill, but it is only general information, not an Alchemical Formula. As for purchase channels, I advise you to stop dreaming. Even the Alchemists of the Five Great Families lack the ability to refine this pill. You need not hope to buy it in Kaiyuan City."
The woman tapped the page with her fair finger, pouring a bucket of cold water over Chen Lin.
Chen Lin said nothing and kept a blank expression as he looked at the page.
After a while, he nodded, stood up, cupped his hands toward the woman, and left in a hurry, departed.