Back at my small residence in the sect, I couldn't shake the excitement from my discovery in the ruins.
I had read the pill recipes over and over, carefully memorizing each step.
The Body Tempering Pill was the simplest among them—requiring only a few common herbs and a beast core from a creature in the body tempering realm. It should have been easy.
Or so I thought.
I borrowed a small, worn pill furnace from the sect's shared storage. It was cracked in places, but I didn't have the spirit stones to buy a better one.
The first time I tried refining the pill, I burned the herbs.
The second time, the beast core shattered from uncontrolled heat.
The third time, I nearly set my house on fire.
> "Focus… I need to control the flame, not let it control me!"
Hours passed. Sweat drenched my back. The small fire I maintained with spirit wood was unstable, but I stubbornly refused to give up.
I failed.
Again.
And again.
Each failure was a crushing blow, but I reminded myself: this was a path no one had forced me to walk. If I wanted to forge my own strength, I had to push forward.
On the seventh attempt, the mixture finally began to stabilize.
The bubbling liquid condensed slowly, forming into a single, rough pill.
It wasn't perfect—its shape was uneven, and its medicinal fragrance was faint—but it was still usable.
I stared at the pill in my palm, breathing heavily.
> "I did it…"
A flood of satisfaction rushed through me.
> "I won't need to rely on others for my body refining pills anymore. I can make my own!"
This was only the beginning.
The road of pill refinement would be long, but just like the martial path, I had taken my first step.