The "Dustless Pill" was a third-grade medicinal pill, and its medicinal power was just right for a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Normally, third-grade medicinal pills could be refined by many alchemy masters in the Four Great Sects, but the "Dustless Pill" was always in high demand with no supply, and was rarely seen in the market.
The reason was that the raw materials were extremely difficult to find. When Li Yan and the others entered the secret realm to gather herbs, one of the tasks given to the Foundation Establishment cultivators was to collect the raw materials for some precious medicinal pills, including the "Dustless Pill."
Zuo Qiudan had given him two at once. Although he said that Wei Zhongran could find this pill, it was still extremely precious.
Back then, Wei Zhongran had also gone to great lengths to obtain one for Li Wuyi.
After taking the small green bottle, Li Yan gave Zuo Qiudan a deep bow and was about to escort this master of the Dao of alchemy to the entrance of the cave.
Zuo Qiudan, however, waved his hand, signaling for Li Yan not to see him out. He had already started walking towards the entrance, leaving decisively.
"Bu Luo, come with me. There are some things I need to explain to you."
Bu Luo had not intended to follow. He was hoping that his young master would go find the other Golden Core cultivators to discuss matters now, and perhaps forget about confiscating a magical treasure from his bamboo basket.
When he heard Zuo Qiudan was leaving, he had remained silent, hoping to escape.
But Zuo Qiudan's voice finally came. Looking at Zuo Qiudan's back, Bu Luo reluctantly stood up from the stone stool.
As he passed by Li Yan, he cupped his hands listlessly.
"Brother Li, I'll take my leave first. Oh, that 'Dustless Pill' was improved by my young master. He only refined five in total. He gave me two earlier, and now he only has one left on him."
With that, he had already disappeared from the cave entrance.
Watching the two figures disappear, Li Yan held the small green bottle and murmured to himself, "An improved medicinal pill. This must be Senior Zuo's purpose in giving me this pill."
Sensing that the two had left, Li Yan flicked his sleeve forward, and the restriction outside the cave was reactivated.
Inside the cave, Li Yan had already opened the stopper of the small green bottle. A fresh fragrance entered his nostrils, and a beam of emerald green light shot out from the mouth of the bottle, bathing half of Li Yan in a green glow.
Li Yan instantly felt a cool and refreshing sensation throughout his body, as if he had stepped from the scorching heat of summer into the crisp air of autumn. The entire cave was instantly filled with a vibrant life force.
As the coolness entered his body, all the meridians in Li Yan's body seemed to become incredibly light, and his divine sense was as calm as a mirror, leaving him without a single distracting thought.
"Dustless… Dustless…"
Feeling the tranquility in his divine sense, Li Yan silently chanted the word "Dustless" in his heart.
Li Yan had never seen a real "Dustless Pill" before, but now, just by opening the stopper, it had such an unexpected effect.
Li Yan could imagine what kind of mind-calming and demon-suppressing effect it would have if he swallowed this pill when he was forming his core.
Li Yan greedily took a few deep breaths. After a while, he slowly came to his senses from the state of tranquility.
He turned the bottle upside down, and two translucent pills shimmering with a crystalline green light appeared in his palm.
As the pills touched his palm, a comfortable feeling, as if the entire world had cooled down, spread from his palm. Moreover, the two medicinal pills seemed as if they were about to merge into his palm in the next moment.
Startled, Li Yan quickly circulated his spirit power, and a mass of black water mist enveloped the two medicinal pills. Only then did the two pills quiet down.
In the mass of black mist, the two green, gem-like pills flickered, adding a touch of demonic allure to them.
Li Yan stared intently at one of the pills. It was only the size of a grain of rice, and its crystalline, jade-like surface was covered with light black patterns.
These patterns constantly changed their lines with the flickering of the green light on the surface. For a moment, a black light would roam, and for another, a gray light would flicker, like tiny sprites dancing.
"Is this a fourth-grade medicinal pill?"
Li Yan couldn't help but be surprised. Although Bu Luo had said it was an improved medicinal pill, judging by its appearance, these were clearly two fourth-grade medicinal pills.
Although Li Yan had never seen a "Dustless Pill," he knew about it. The "Dustless Pill" itself was only a third-grade medicinal pill, and its formula could only be used to refine a third-grade pill.
The so-called improvement was generally focused on removing impurities from the pill itself, which would slightly improve its efficacy.
A pill formula like the "Dustless Pill," which had been around for tens of thousands of years, or even longer, had been improved by countless people and was already as mature as it could be.
Even trying to remove a single extra trace of impurity was extremely difficult. It could be said that no one had been able to improve the efficacy of the "Dustless Pill" by even a fraction for at least a thousand years.
Yet the two "Dustless Pills" in his hand had reached the fourth grade. This meant that Zuo Qiudan had completely improved the pill formula.
Li Yan didn't know if the other three alchemy grandmasters on the Desolate Moon Continent could do this, but he had clearly never heard of a fourth-grade "Dustless Pill" existing.
Looking at the medicinal pill in his hand, Li Yan couldn't help but be filled with admiration.
"What a 'He Who Divides Yin and Yang in Two.' To what extent must one understand the Dao of medicinal pills to achieve this? Just this alone puts Senior Zuo far above many of the alchemy grandmasters of the past."
If a normal "Dustless Pill" could increase one's chances of forming a core by twenty percent, Li Yan believed that either of the "Dustless Pills" in his hand could increase the probability by at least forty percent. This was a heaven-defying medicinal pill.
If various luck factors were added, it was even possible to increase the probability of forming a core to fifty percent. This was a major improvement that raised a medicinal pill by a whole grade.
If this medicinal pill were to be released, even if Li Yan was a disciple of the Malevolent Spirit Sect, it would attract endless assassinations and robberies. For every one percent increase in the medicinal power of a pill, it was something to be longed for but unattainable, let alone such a significant improvement from the third to the fourth grade, which was enough to drive every Foundation Establishment cultivator crazy.
"He's truly generous. He only refined five in total, and he gave me two at once. Even just one of them, if used as a bounty, could attract hundreds or even thousands of protectors for Bu Luo."
Only now did Li Yan feel the true preciousness of the medicinal pill in his hand.
But he could also guess that Zuo Qiudan must have paid a great price to refine these five "Dustless Pills." Just from the meaning in Bu Luo's words, he could guess that after refining only five, there were no more.
He was right about this. After improving the "Dustless Pill" formula, Zuo Qiudan had been searching for the alchemy materials.
The last time he went to the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda," it was for one of the main ingredients, which he had obtained from some old demons on the third level at a great cost.
And after this refinement, he would basically not refine this kind of "Dustless Pill" again. In other words, if the fourth-grade "Dustless Pill" he had improved did not have a successor, there would probably not be a sixth fourth-grade "Dustless Pill" in the world.
The reason for this was that the cost of the raw materials for refining a fourth-grade medicinal pill far exceeded the value of a normal fourth-grade pill. It was somewhat not worth the effort.
Another reason was that Zuo Qiudan would only strive for sixth-grade and seventh-grade medicinal pills in the future. Why would he waste time and effort on refining a fourth-grade pill?
If Li Yan knew this, he would have appreciated the preciousness of the two medicinal pills in his hand even more.
After carefully examining the two medicinal pills in his hand again, Li Yan reluctantly put them back into the small green bottle and then carefully placed it in the Earthen Patch.
"Chenying should be forming her core soon. Perhaps she can use it!"
Li Yan felt that he should give these things to Long Chenying and Zhao Min.
However, based on his calculations, when Zhao Min returned from the mountain village, she had already intended to break through the bottleneck of the Late-stage Foundation Establishment. She might be in the Late-stage Foundation Establishment now, and still had a long way to go before forming a core.
As for himself, he was very confident in the "True Scripture of the Kui Water" and believed he could successfully form a core without the help of any medicinal pills.
Li Yan was like this, never stingy with those around him. He had already decided on the destination for these heaven-defying medicinal pills.
Zuo Qiudan had not only taught him many skills in the Dao of alchemy today, but had also given him two such precious medicinal pills. This was not just repaying Li Yan's favor; it was already a form of tutelage.
This was to ask Li Yan to take more care of Bu Luo in the future. Li Yan understood this point, as Bu Luo was a member of his squad.
This damned war between the two races was still going to continue, and as a Golden Core cultivator, Zuo Qiudan obviously had other missions and couldn't take Bu Luo with him to look after.
There was another reason that Li Yan didn't know. If it weren't for this sudden invasion of the Demon Clan, Zuo Qiudan would have already set off on a long journey to find his own immortal fate.
And the one he was most worried about was Bu Luo, who was both his servant and his son. With Bu Luo's personality, it was extremely rare for him to make friends with a powerful cultivator like Li Yan.
Moreover, after learning of Li Yan's identity, he was even more relieved. A disciple taught by Wei Zhongran would definitely not have a bad character.
Especially since Li Yan had not killed him for his treasures in the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda," even though he knew that Bu Luo was carrying a heavy treasure, and had not taken the opportunity to take his bamboo basket. This was enough to show Li Yan's character.
With Li Yan's background as a cultivator from one of the Four Great Sects, it was also like finding a big tree for Bu Luo to lean on.
The Zuo family was very important in the Jingtu Sect, but Bu Luo was not a direct descendant of the Zuo family. In the end, he was just a servant. After he left, the people of the Zuo family would not treat Bu Luo as one of their own bloodline.
Considering all these reasons, Zuo Qiudan, who had originally only planned to give one "Dustless Pill," ended up adding another one and also gave Li Yan more guidance on the Dao of alchemy.
Even if Li Yan did not specialize in alchemy in the future, it would still open a shortcut for him in the Dao of alchemy, allowing him to avoid many detours.
He thought that with Li Yan's intelligence, he would understand the meaning behind it without him having to explain it.
Of course, Li Yan didn't know all of Zuo Qiudan's thoughts, but he naturally understood the point about taking care of Bu Luo.
In fact, even without the "Dustless Pill," just for Bu Luo's last voice transmission telling him to flee when the Golden Core demonic cultivators were attacking a few days ago, Li Yan would have done his best to help Bu Luo if he was in trouble.
After collecting his thoughts, Li Yan felt that it was time to enter the "Earthen Patch" space to check on the Snow Mosquito King's cultivation. He wondered if that mosquito had been poisoned to death.
But just as Li Yan was about to raise his divine sense, his expression froze again, and he looked outside the cave once more.
"There are quite a few things happening today. Who is this now?"
As Li Yan thought this, he had already raised a hand and pointed towards the cave entrance.
The next moment, with a "swoosh," a streak of green light flashed in from the cave entrance and flew straight towards him. Li Yan caught it in his hand.
Just now, his divine sense had suddenly detected a voice transmission talisman flying from afar and plunging into the formation restriction outside his cave.
Then, like a dizzy fly, it had been bumping around inside the formation restriction.