Chapter 7

Soon, the abandoned pill room was left with only Su Shier.

In the vast, empty space, the distant howls of wolves and roars of beasts could be faintly heard. Su Shier stood in the courtyard, his heart pounding with fear. No matter how brave he was, he was still just a half-grown child.

But he knew that to learn the art of immortality, he had to overcome the current challenge. Lowering his head to look at the manual of failed pills in his hand, Su Shier began to flip through it.

The manual contained simple introductions and images of over a hundred types of pills and their failed forms. Failed pills were the products of failed alchemy, containing large amounts of impurities and even toxins, making them completely unusable.

For other children, understanding this would indeed take a lot of effort. But Su Shier, who had learned to read and write from his grandfather since childhood and had read countless books, plus his quick mind, managed to memorize most of the content in the manual after a few silent readings.

Holding the manual, Su Shier turned and walked into the storage room where the failed pills were kept. Having read the text and seen the images, the next step was to identify the actual items.

Inside the storage room, various failed pills were piled up like mountains.

However, Su Shier, who had memorized the content of the manual, quickly identified that there were not many types of failed pills, only three to five kinds.

The most numerous were the Foundation Strengthening Pills, which were taken by new disciples to solidify their bodies and remove impurities.

The second most were the Qi Gathering Pills, which were taken by Qi Refinement disciples to speed up their cultivation, and a small Healing Pill for treating injuries.

Looking at the tens of thousands of failed pills before him, Su Shier couldn't help but sigh. If these were not failed pills and he could have so many pills, it would be a wonderful thing.

Unfortunately, for him, this could only be a dream.

Su Shier stayed in the storage room until evening, finding the failed forms of two more types of pills in addition to the three.

However, these failed pills were just unwanted garbage, and he could only gain more knowledge about pills.

As night fell, Su Shier planned to return to his room to rest.

At that moment, low, deep roars and heavy footsteps suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

The dull sounds, like thunder or drumbeats, struck Su Shier's heart one by one.

"Beasts?!"

Su Shier was shocked, and the image of the injured people on stretchers immediately came to his mind.

"What should I do?" He stood still, not daring to move, for fear of alarming the beasts outside.

However, the fierce beasts outside showed no sign of leaving.

The footsteps grew closer, and with a thud, something seemed to jump over the courtyard wall.

Hearing the commotion, Su Shier's heart raced. Holding his breath, he cautiously peered out through the cracks in the storage room.

In the courtyard, a fierce tiger with a white forehead and bloodshot eyes was pacing, breathing heavily and exhaling white mist from its nose and mouth.

Its eyes, like copper bells, glinted with a fierce light. Sensing a human presence, the tiger let out a low roar, shook its fur, and slowly approached the storage room where Su Shier was.

Seeing this, Su Shier's pupils dilated, and his whole body trembled. With his small frame, he was no match for the tiger, and he wouldn't even be enough to fill its teeth.

Su Shier was terrified, but the more afraid he was, the calmer he became.

Turning to look at the mountain of failed pills behind him, a bold idea formed in his mind.

Without hesitation, he quickly retreated to the pile of failed pills, stealthily dug a deep hole, and buried himself in the pile.

"Clang!"

A few minutes later, the storage room door was pushed open, and a large, fierce tiger's head poked in.

The gleaming teeth and the stench from the blood-red mouth made Su Shier hold his breath, not daring to move.

Fortunately, the large number of failed pills masked Su Shier's scent, and the tiger, after looking around, turned and left.

Seeing this, Su Shier let out a sigh of relief. However, he was afraid the tiger might return, so he stayed in the pile of failed pills until dawn.

After confirming that there was no movement outside, he finally crawled out of the pile of failed pills.

"What kind of place is this? A fierce tiger as soon as I arrive? If I stay here, I'll be eaten by the tiger sooner or later!"

Su Shier's heart was pounding, and he spoke to himself, his face filled with fear.

He didn't think his small frame could match the tiger.

"But if I leave, how can I learn the methods of cultivation?"

"If I can't cultivate, how can I take revenge for my grandfather and the others? And I need to figure out the use of that mysterious pill furnace!"

As he pondered, Su Shier took out the old, simple pill furnace from his pocket.

Seeing the pill furnace again, his pupils dilated, and he was taken aback.

"Huh? Why are there two pills?"

In the pill furnace, two crystal-clear, thumb-sized, jade-like pills were lying.

He quickly poured the two pills into his palm, and instantly, a strong medicinal aroma wafted, making him feel instantly refreshed and invigorated, dispelling his hunger and fatigue.

Feeling refreshed, Su Shier grabbed a handful of failed pills and compared them in his hand.

The failed pills were black and emitted a faint stench, making them vastly different from the two pills.

After careful examination, he finally confirmed that these two pills were indeed good Foundation Strengthening Pills.

"Strange, why did the pill furnace suddenly produce two Foundation Strengthening Pills?"

"I've only used it to store salt before, and I've never seen any pills appear."

"Could it be... that a failed pill fell into it last night?"

With this thought, Su Shier immediately tried it out, placing a failed pill in the pill furnace and watching intently.

Under his gaze, the failed pill was covered in a layer of green light, and the black color faded at a visible speed.

It looked as if the impurities were being refined away by some force.

In just a few breaths, the failed pill turned from black to gray-green.

After another ten breaths, a crystal-clear, jade-like Foundation Strengthening Pill appeared in the pill furnace.

"Whoa~"

Seeing this, Su Shier couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath.

"This pill furnace can actually turn failed pills into good pills? Turning waste into treasure, this is too incredible!"

"No wonder... no wonder those immortals wanted this pill furnace so much!"

"However, I wonder if the pill furnace can continue to refine pills?"

With a nervous heart, he stuffed a handful of failed pills into the pill furnace.

In his line of sight, all the failed pills were covered in a layer of green light.

After ten breaths, the light disappeared, and in its place were flawless Foundation Strengthening Pills.

Su Shier tried this over ten times, and no matter how many pills he put in, as long as the pill furnace could hold them, they would be refined into normal pills within ten to twenty breaths.

Throughout the process, the pill furnace remained the same old, simple appearance, showing no change.

Confirming the function of the pill furnace, Su Shier turned to look at the mountain of failed pills, his breathing becoming rapid.

At this moment, in his eyes, these were not unwanted garbage but pills that could be used for cultivation!

"So many pills, even if my spiritual roots are a bit weak, I can surely achieve something!"

"No, I can't tell anyone about this!"

He tightly held the pill furnace in his pocket, his heart pounding and his face flushed.

Although he didn't know much about cultivation, he realized the value of the pill furnace.

Hiding the pill furnace close to his body, he found a few porcelain bottles in the storage room and stored the refined pills before returning to his room.

"Now, let's see if these refined pills are really effective!"

Thinking this, Su Shier took out a Foundation Strengthening Pill from his pocket.