Chapter 24 – First Steps in Alchemy: The Rich Lady’s Joy Pill!

Su Xing felt a surge of joy when he saw this.

From the start of his simulations until now, he’d run through over ten iterations, and only now had he finally mastered an offensive technique.

A flame capable of instantly melting gold — its destructive power surely had to be formidable!

Su Xing continued the simulation.

【One day, Wang Qingxuan sought you out. She brought you the first half of the Eternal Spring Art.】

【You did not accept the Eternal Spring Art, and instead proposed that you wanted to join the organization she belonged to.】

【At your request, Wang Qingxuan agreed and brought you to meet an elder.】

【Having learned your lesson from last time, you chose a cautious approach — laying low and developing steadily. You completed only one or two missions per month, spending the rest of your time devoted to studying alchemy.】

【You discovered that your Separation Fire was still too weak, and the pills you refined could only turn out as half-finished products.】

【So you immersed yourself in studying the Separation Fire technique, and your mastery of Separation Fire grew with each passing day.】

【Year Seven: You attended your sister’s funeral. After the funeral, you composed yourself and continued researching the Separation Fire technique.】

【Year Eight: Through your tireless efforts, you achieved a preliminary mastery of the Separation Fire technique, doubling the power of your Separation Fire.】

【You felt your mastery of Separation Fire was now sufficient to formally begin refining Fasting Pills.】

【At first, each batch of pills you refined yielded only one or two finished products.】

【But you had more than enough Spirit rice to experiment with, so your proficiency in refining Fasting Pills climbed rapidly.】

【Year Ten: Your mastery of Fasting Pills had become second nature. Out of every ten pills, you could successfully refine seven or eight, and occasionally you’d even produce a supreme-grade Fasting Pill — one that allowed the user to go three months without eating while remaining full of energy.】

【That same year, you attended the funeral of your good brother Yu Yan.】

【Year Eleven: You decided the time was ripe, and began learning to refine Beauty-Preserving Pills.】

【The difficulty of refining Beauty-Preserving Pills was considerably higher than Fasting Pills, requiring over a dozen ingredients including spirit ginseng, peach kernel, Sichuan lovage, rehmannia, angelica, and more.】

【Fortunately, aside from spirit ginseng, the vast majority of the materials were ordinary herbs that could be purchased in the real world.】

【And ten years ago, you had planted several dozen ginseng plants. After a decade of spiritual energy nourishment, these had transformed into ten-year spirit ginseng.】

【You attempted to refine a Beauty-Preserving Pill for the first time. Unsurprisingly, you failed.】

【But your resolve was firm and you refused to give up. Within three months, you refined Beauty-Preserving Pills over a hundred times, and finally began to grasp the proper heat control and techniques.】

【At this point, you had only one spirit ginseng plant remaining — enough for just three more batches of Beauty-Preserving Pills.】

【Your heart was steadfast, and without the slightest hesitation, you began refining.】

【Fortunately, on your final attempt, you finally succeeded, yielding three finished Beauty-Preserving Pills.】

【You personally swallowed one pill. Your body expelled a large amount of impurities, your skin became smoother and more fair, and even the wrinkles at the corners of your eyes vanished completely.】

【You realized that for certain wealthy women, the Beauty-Preserving Pill would be an absolutely priceless treasure!】

【And so you named the Beauty-Preserving Pill the “Sugar Mama Bliss Pill.”】

【You sought out Jin Congxue and sold her one Beauty-Preserving Pill.】

【Jin Congxue, now nearly forty years old, swallowed the pill. The wrinkles at the corners of her eyes gradually faded away, and her skin became as delicate and flawless as that of a woman in her twenties.】

【Jin Congxue was overjoyed beyond measure. She was willing to pay one hundred million yuan to purchase this pill from you.】

【She asked if you had any more pills. Your last pill was reserved for another purpose, so you shook your head.】

【After parting with Jin Congxue, you returned to the Capital City and attempted to refine a budget version of the Beauty-Preserving Pill that didn’t require spirit ginseng.】

【One day, an elder from the Advent Cult came to find you and assigned you a mission.】

【You accepted the mission, but quickly discovered you weren’t the only one carrying it out — several hundred followers were participating, Wang Qingxuan among them.】

【To your astonishment, you found that Wang Qingxuan had become a Heavenly King-stage powerhouse, and she was the commander of this operation.】

【After years apart, Wang Qingxuan seemed to have aged considerably. You gave her your last remaining Beauty-Preserving Pill.】

【Wang Qingxuan was grateful for your concern. Despite the years of separation, her feelings for you remained unchanged.】

【The night before the mission, Wang Qingxuan came to find you. She told you not to participate in this mission.】

【You asked her why. She didn’t hide the truth, and told you plainly that this mission involved going to Demon-Sealing Pass to cooperate with the demon race and leak human intelligence — certain death with no chance of survival.】

【You were shocked to your core, and demanded to know why she had betrayed humanity to join the demon race. She let out a bitter laugh and said simply that she had no way out.】

【She arranged for you to be in a safe location, and you did not participate in the mission.】

【Before long, the prices of restorative potions on the market began skyrocketing. You realized this sudden price surge was likely connected to the Advent Cult’s operation.】

【Your heart was heavy with frustration, and you felt a deep sense of powerlessness. So you threw yourself into developing the budget version of the “Sugar Mama Bliss Pill.”】

【One year later, after over a thousand attempts, you finally mastered the method of substituting ordinary ginseng for spirit ginseng.】

【You developed the budget version of the “Sugar Mama Bliss Pill,” though its efficacy was only one-tenth of the original.】

【You brought a bottle of the budget “Sugar Mama Bliss Pills” to Jin Congxue, hoping she could tell you the pill’s value.】

【But Jin Congxue’s father informed you that Jin Congxue had died in the Demon-Sealing Pass dungeon.】

【You returned to the Capital City in a daze, only to be discovered by an elder of the Advent Cult.】

【The Advent Cult elder declared you a traitor. He killed you personally, crushing your skull with his bare hands.】

【You died. This simulation has ended!】

【You may select one of the following rewards: Unyielding Tenacity (talent), five ninth-generation spirit chickens (pets), Beginner-Level Separation Fire Technique (technique insight), Rudimentary Separation Fire Alchemy Art (alchemy insight)】

【Unyielding Tenacity】: Green-tier talent. Price: 10,000 energy points.

【five ninth-generation spirit chickens】: Spirit pets. Through continuous feeding of Spirit rice, their bloodline has continuously evolved, successfully becoming low-level spirit pets. Price: 100,000 energy points.

【Beginner-Level Separation Fire Technique】: Ten years of insight and experience. Upon acquisition, immediately achieve preliminary mastery of the Separation Fire technique. Price: 100,000 energy points.

【Rudimentary Separation Fire Alchemy Art】: Pre-beginner level alchemy experience, containing refinement insights for Fasting Pills (Grand Mastery level) and Beauty-Preserving Pills (Minor Mastery level). Price: 100,000 energy points.

Su Xing was thrilled when he saw this round’s rewards, yet at the same time so frustrated he could grind his teeth.

“Damn it, why can I only bring back one reward?!”

“I want both the Beginner-Level Separation Fire Technique and the Unyielding Tenacity talent!”

Su Xing silently ranted to himself. This simulation had been intended to gain alchemy experience.

But he hadn’t expected to roll a heaven-defying talent like Unyielding Tenacity.

Su Xing had seen it crystal clear — every time he hit a wall he couldn’t break through in the simulation, it was this talent that let him brute-force his way past it.

Take for example those ten consecutive years of studying the Separation Fire technique day and night. Without this talent, Su Xing honestly had no confidence he could have pulled it off.

But if he chose this talent, he’d likely have to relearn alchemy and the Separation Fire technique all over again in his next simulation.

Just as Su Xing was agonizing over the decision, a notification chime sounded in his mind:

【Ding — Host may spend 500,000 energy points to upgrade the simulator. Life Simulator Version 2.0 features are as follows…】