Chapter 4 The Obstacle of Cultivation 

"It took a week to complete the refining process," Shangguan Yi sighed, lamenting his modest talent. Over the course of those seven days, he consumed one more pill to absorb the world essence and focused tirelessly on the refining process without allowing himself any rest. The endeavor left him thoroughly exhausted.

"At least this rate isn't too bad." Shangguan Yi muttered to himself.

"En. Let me try refining mid and high-grade pills," Shangguan Yi said as he accessed the pill refining function in the system.

Shangguan Yi began with the mid-grade elite essence pill, noting the requirements listed in the system:

- Two five elements seeds

- Two hearts of level 2 beasts

- Two bottles of level 2 beast's blood

- Two 100-year-old black trees

- Two 100-year-old white trees

- Two drops of ice water

- Two bottles of golden dust

- Two essence stones

-30% of essence as a guidance 

He then focused on using his essence to melt the ingredients together.

The ingredients were engulfed by the flame at an astonishing speed. In just five minutes, all the ingredients melted, and ten mid-grade elite essence pills appeared. They resembled cat eyes, pure white, and emitted a pleasant aura.

Shangguan Yi stored them in a bottle and threw them into the inner space of the system.

Shangguan Yi didn't stop there; he continued to refine the high-grade essence pill. The ingredients were almost the same, with the addition of low-grade elite essence pill as more ingredients. Others ingredients increased to ten, and he needed to use 70% of his essence.

This time, the process took 30 minutes before ten pure white pills appeared from thin air.

After completing the task of storing his pills, Shangguan Yi's essence was depleted, so he consumed one low-grade essence pill before bringing his exhausted body to bed.

A day later, Shangguan Yi energetically opened his eyes, refreshed after cleansing himself with essence. He then began to assess his condition.

He had consumed a pill and had a good rest, hence his essence was restored to around 5%. Though not a significant amount, it was sufficient for his cultivation needs.

He refrained from immediately trying the mid-grade pill and instead delved into his status in the system.

Shangguan Yi carefully examined his status in the system:

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**Name**: Shangguan Yi  

**Age**: 20  

**Cultivation**: Foundation Establishment (1st level) - Progress: 1%  

**Cultivation Technique**: True Sun Flame Technique (high-grade Elite technique)  

**Combat Technique**: None  

**Location**: Xi'An City, Shanxi County, Changan Province, Cloud State, Blazing Wind Country  

**Occupation**: Pill Refiner (Level 1)

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He had received three combat techniques from Old Wang, but he hadn't had the time to cultivate them yet, so they remained none.

"Hm? Progress 1%?" Shangguan Yi noticed it immediately and quickly delved into the cultivation function to find the source.

In the cultivation function, it showed his current cultivation base, and below it had recommendations based on Shangguan Yi's abilities:

**Recommended:**

1. Use high-grade elite essence pills, which help absorb world essence in 30 minutes and refine it faster by one fold.

2. The high-grade elite essence pill automatically refines the essence even while resting, according to talent, consume it even when not in cultivation session.

3. Continue using high-grade elite cultivation techniques to reach proficiency.

4. Familiarize yourself with the absorbing and refining processes to further increase speed.

It could be said that this was the most effective cultivation method available. Shangguan Yi was naturally satisfied with it.

Alas, he couldn't determine the exact reason for the 1% progress increase. However, through his own deduction, he concluded that it was because he had completed refining the world essence once. This meant he would need to absorb and refine the world essence another 99 times to break through to the next level.

"This means it would take me at least two years to break through one level using the old process with low-grade pills. But if I use the high-grade pills, I can halve that time. So, one year should be enough to break through," Shangguan Yi concluded. This was a pace that allowed him to cultivate peacefully, without the need to fight or struggle outside.

Shangguan Yi directly consumed a high-grade pill. The sensation was incredibly pleasant, and he couldn't help but revel in the feeling. He truly loved it.

After four days of cultivation sessions, he finally finished refining the world essence to replenish a pillar in his Sixth Sense Realm. This was merely to restore the essence he had used up. Consequently, he spent another four days in cultivation.

After finishing his cultivation session, Shangguan Yi took a break for a day, allowing the essence to naturally condense the second pillar. This process was beyond his control and couldn't be rushed.

During his daybreak, Shangguan Yi dedicated time to refining pills, successfully producing another batch of high-grade pills.

He also revised his plan for upgrading his cultivation techniques. After learning more about Shanxi County, he realized that with the wealth he could amass through pill refining, his goal of accessing higher-grade cultivation techniques was within reach.

A single low-grade elite essence pill sold for 10 essence stones, while a mid-grade pill fetched 100 essence stones. High-grade pills commanded a price of 1,000 essence stones each. Despite their value, these pills were always in short supply, with only a thousand entering the market each year. Supreme-grade pills, on the other hand, were so rare that they appeared only at auctions held every five years.

The scarcity of pills was due to the shortage of pill refiners in Xi'An. Despite its population of 100 million, there were only a thousand pill refiners in the city. Among them, just 50 were level 2 pill refiners, including novices. The true masters capable of refining high-grade pills numbered no more than ten, and those who could produce supreme-grade pills were even rarer.

Xi'An City had at least 20 million Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The Azure Cloud Pavilion had ten elite pill refiners, including Shangguan Yi. They produced up to ten low-grade essence pills daily, ten mid-grade pills weekly, and ten high-grade pills monthly. The rest were secretly sold to the overlord forces.

Indeed, the success rate of pill refiners was fifty-fifty. Even experienced ones could raise it to 60% to 70% at best, and only experts could guarantee a 70% success rate.

With five batches of ingredients for pill refining every day and a success rate of fifty percent, it was guaranteed that two batches would be wasted daily. Furthermore, not everyone could produce ten pills from one batch; the output could range from 3 to 6 at best, with only experts capable of consistently producing 7 or 8 pills. Achieving 9 pills was rare, occurring perhaps once in a century, while producing ten pills was an extraordinary feat reserved for high-ranking pill refiners.

Hence, although the Azure Cloud Pavilion had ten elite refiners, they could produce at most 200 pills per day. However, in reality, not all level 2 pill refiners would refine low-grade essence pills every day, as they were also engaged in refining other types of pills and furthering their knowledge in various aspects. Additionally, if all ten of them focused on refining low-grade elite essence pills, there would be no one left to refine mid-grade and high-grade pills. Therefore, on average, the pavilion could produce around 30 pills per day, with some days yielding higher outputs depending on the availability and focus of the pill refiners.

Indeed, Shangguan Yi's focus on cultivation meant he didn't have to spend time refining pills and distributing them, which likely resulted in a higher demand for pills during this period.

"At present, I possess approximately 20 low-grade elite essence pills, barely sufficient for a day's distribution. Having secluded myself for half a month already, I now face the task of refining around 580 more pills. Typically, I can refine 50 low-grade pills per day. If I aim to refine the remaining 580 pills, it will require at least 11 more days to accomplish. No, that's not right, I need to consider the time the that I used for replenish my essence, I could at most refine 400 pills. Forget it, I'll tell Old Wang about my failure in refinement."

"But the benefits are also abundant. With 420 low-grade pills, they could be sold for a total of 4,200 essence stones. After deducting my share, I'll have 1800 essence stones, which will greatly assist me in furthering my plan for acquiring a better cultivation technique."

"A low-grade elite technique typically sells for 10-50 essence stones, depending on its difficulty and uniqueness. Mid-grade techniques are priced around 100-500, while high-grade ones go for 1000 and above. Therefore, I'll need at least ten thousand essence stones to accomplish my first goal."

"Come to think of it, the technique that I'm cultivating now is something I couldn't afford on my own. It must have been Old Wang's support that allowed me to acquire it at such a low price."

"With 30% of my essence remaining, I can manage to refine two batches of pills today. Let's begin." Shangguan Yi had learned from past experiences to leave a reserve of 10% of his essence in unexpected circumstances. He was mindful not to exhaust all his essence on pills, as it would leave him in a depleted state. After all, fully replenishing his essence required four days with the aid of a high-grade pill.

In the blink of an eye, another 15 days had passed.

Shangguan Yi completed his task of refining 420 low-grade elite essence pills, and he had also produced another batch of high-grade pills. Additionally, his cultivation had progressed by 5%.

This confirmed his deduction about the progress of cultivation, offering him a glimpse of the promising path ahead in his long journey of cultivation. Although the speed was indeed slow, it couldn't be helped as he had to refine pills and replenish his essence, which significantly affected his cultivation. However, he wasn't worried; he had already formulated a plan.

On the next three months, he would focus on refining as many low-grade essence pills as possible in preparation. Then, another two month would be dedicated to producing high-grade pills for his own use. After that, he planned to devote all his time to cultivation.

Furthermore, he planned to discuss with Old Wang the possibility of doubling his ingredients, which would naturally result in a doubled distribution as well. 

He would refine 90 pills in a day, replenish within 4 days, which meant he could produce 90 pills per four days. In three months, he would be able to refine 2000 pills.

He didn't know how other pill refiners used their essence so efficiently that they could refine pills every day, but he knew that his method was different from theirs. With his success rate and pill quantity, there naturally came a price – the price he needed to pay was his essence.

Indeed, not to mention the high-grade pills he needed to replenish his essence.

Therefore, he needed to have the ingredients reserved. If he couldn't obtain double the ingredients, he would simply buy them himself.

Knock! Knock! Knock! 

"A knocking at the door interrupted his thoughts. "Xiaoyi, I've come," came Old Wang's voice from the other side.

Shangguan Yi concluded his cultivation and stepped out of the room to welcome Old Wang.

"Old Wang, your timing is impeccable. I've encountered some challenges during my seclusion," Shangguan Yi wasted no time in conveying his immediate difficulties.

"Oh, what's the matter?" Old Wang inquired.

"As you know, I've just been ranked as a level 2 pill refiner, which boosted my confidence significantly. I planned to make a breakthrough to increase my pill refining success rate, but unfortunately, I've encountered failure again and again, resulting in a decreased number of pills, so…" he explained, lowering his voice to indicate his difficulties.

Old Wang listened attentively, showing no surprise as he chuckled. "Haha, relax, Xiaoyi. You're always so serious; that's not good for your cultivation progress. It's not a problem at all; failure is quite normal," he reassured.

Having been a shopkeeper for a long time, Old Wang was accustomed to such circumstances. He had seen many overconfident individuals experience setbacks after making breakthroughs. Old Wang believed it was actually a good thing that Shangguan Yi had this overconfidence, as it prevented him from becoming too arrogant in the future.

"How many pills do you have left?" In Old Wang's opinion, there would be at most 300 pills left.

"Well, there are 420 pills in total." Shangguan Yi handed forty bottles of pills to Old Wang.

"What?" Old Wang was surprised for a moment before laughing. "I should have known, you always manage to surprise me."

Seeing Old Wang in good spirits, Shangguan Yi seized the opportunity to broach his request. "Old Wang, I'm afraid I'll need to trouble you once more."

"Oh? Go ahead," Old Wang said cheerfully, knowing full well that Shangguan Yi's interests lay in refining pills. He didn't need to ask; it was already apparent to him.

Shangguan Yi's request didn't surprise Old Wang in the slightest. "I need more ingredients, ideally ten batches each day," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Ten batch…" Old Wang was pondering.

Old Wang replied after a brief moment of contemplation, his tone was solemn, "I can assist you with nine batches."

Shangguan Yi nodded in agreement, "Fine."

"Then, I'll return later this evening," Old Wang said as he rose to leave.

"Additionally, I require a servant, preferably a girl," Shangguan Yi added calmly.

Old Wang, who was on the verge of leaving, turned to Shangguan Yi with a quizzical expression, silently prompting him to elaborate.

Shangguan Yi maintained his composure, his expression unchanged.

"Hahaha, I thought you were only into refining pills. Well, well, Xiaoyi, you've really grown." Old Wang laughed heartily.

"Also, please help me purchase more low-grade and mid-grade ingredients, the essence stones will deduce from my pills." Shangguan Yi added. His plan had been formulated the previous month, and now that Old Wang was in a good mood, he wouldn't have any suspicions about Shangguan Yi's intentions in procuring mid-grade ingredients.

"Well, well, I'll be back in three days then," Old Wang said, leaving with a good mood.