Xie Ye became proficient at the last step of alchemy because of performing it dozens of times while at the same time, Xie Yang also benefited from creating many pills.
Not only did his memories related to alchemy take a leap out of his inner subconscious and reach the tip of his consciousness, but he also became faster at performing the steps of alchemy.
As a result, he became extremely swift at refining pills.
If it weren't for the fact that he needed to rest to catch his breath as well as to recover his spiritual energy each time after creating a pill, he would have finished creating almost two dozen of breakthrough pills hours ago.
They created the last pill, which Xie Ye put in the jade medicinal bottle.
It had the effect of keeping a pill fresh and maintaining its quality for three months.
Thus, for one-fourth of a year, these pills won't lose their maximum effectiveness.
Xie Yang let the cauldron cool down as he walked up to the table, picked up the jade bottle that only had two breakthrough pills, and opened it.
"Young master, are you thinking of eating both of them to reach the peak of the first realm?" Xie Ye questioned.
"Yes." Xie Yang replied.
He tilted the jade bottle, and the things inside came rolling out of its mouth and into his palm.
"Doing that might cause you problems."
Xie Ye wasn't warning Xie Yang.
He was extending a gesture of goodwill to him, giving him a piece of good advice.
Xie Yang understood what he meant.
A person whose cultivation progressed faster than others because of using pills instead of earning enlightenment in battle and a breakthrough as a result of it wasn't necessarily a genius for their combat prowess might not be too impressive and their foundation could be too unsteady.
Such a cultivator would never hold a candle against opponents in the same cultivation level as they.
There was a famous saying in ancient times.
A cultivator with an extremely solid foundation was opening a path to the spiritual realm and paving the road to overwhelming divinity, while one with an unstable foundation was digging a tunnel to hell and climbing down the ladder while thinking he was reaching for the skies.
Why?
A martial artist who fights his way to the top always makes incredible future achievements!
On the other hand, a person with weak combat prowess, no matter how high their cultivation, would end up as a slave or in hell when they meet an opponent in the same cultivation level.
"Brother, what you're worried about won't happen." Xie Yang said as he lifted his hand and threw the two pills inside his mouth before continuing from where he left off, "While for others such a rapid increase in cultivation is harmful, it isn't the same for me. For me, it is a different story."
He was living his second life, and in his first life, he was always fighting and killing and gaining enlightenment through life & death battles with others.
He had survived thousands of battles.
As he had experienced so many fights, his combat experience wasn't lacking.
What he needed to do was increase his cultivation as fast as possible.
Xie Ye wasn't one to bother his Masters, so he kept quiet and let him do as he pleased.
The two pills that he refined nourished his elixir field so much that his spiritual energy capacity increased by 201 units.
Xie Ye scanned him to determine his cultivation before saying, "Congratulations, young master, for reaching half a step into the second realm."
"May you ascend to the next realm without any difficulty."
"Thank you for your kind words." Xie Yang smiled back at him.
Yes, he was only a breath away from reaching the second realm as his spiritual energy capacity had reached 1000.5 units.
Nourishing his elixir field anymore would lead to it becoming unstable.
What happens when a person fills a balloon with more air than it can hold?
It explodes with a popping sound.
An elixir field was similar to a balloon in this aspect.
Cultivators could nourish their elixir field as much as they liked by using the treasures of heaven and earth.
However, when they overdo it, their elixir fields explode, leading to them losing their cultivator, becoming crippled, and severely injured internally.
Universally, the limit of an elixir field was storing 1000 units.
More than that was above average and not necessarily good for spiritual cultivation.
What one needed to do after reaching the tenth level of the first realm was to compress all the spiritual energy in their elixir field into a spiritual core.
To transition from the first realm to the second realm, some people use external pressure, life and death battles, and hardcore training that only those who are masochists down to their core would enjoy while others use pills.
Xie Ye took out a box, kneeled before him, and extended it towards him as he said, "The Emperor had told me to give it to you when you reach the tenth level. Since you have met the conditions set by him, this should now belong in your hands."
Xie Yang picked it up from his hand and opened it to see what was inside it.
He saw a core formation pill with three clouds revolving around it.
It was a high-quality pill!
"The Emperor's generosity is praiseworthy."
Xie Yang was beginning to see the Emperor in a favorable light.
A person's chance to form a spiritual core by using it increases by 60%!
Although he had used spiritual pills to increase his cultivation, Xie Yang didn't have many impurities in him.
The ones inside him would lessen after his immune system gets rid of them.
So, if he uses this pill, he could step to the second realm within this week.
"Young master, if you want, I can stand guard for you when you aim for the second master." Xie Ye offered a helping hand to Xie Yang.
Xie Yang replied, "I will consider it, but for the time being, I have no intention of making a breakthrough."
He didn't want to reach the second realm hastily as he wants not a spiritual core!
He wanted a heavenly spiritual core!
For that reason, he needed to first open all his spiritual meridians before aiming to make a breakthrough to the second realm.
'I am still missing some ingredients and materials necessary to open spiritual meridians in a human being's body. There is no news of them coming from steward Zhang either. I need them for Lin Hua and myself. I should try to look for them myself.'
Xie Yang thought as he put the cauldron away.
He was so tired of refining pills that he didn't want to face a cauldron for some time.
Xie Ye took the defensive and auxiliary spiritual enchantments he had set around the house before he and Xie Yang stepped out and walked back to their homes.
The long night had come to an end, so had their hardships.
They were so tired that they wanted to rest in the day.