Every form of the Five Elements Alchemy Procedure utilized the elements in a unique but predictable form. For example, the typical utility of fire has remained the same, using a flame under the cauldron to provide heat, melt the reagents, and then fuse them together through refining processes.

Starting from water, it changed completely. The main underlying procedure for Water Alchemy was to change the first and second pillars, the Refining Power and the Refining Void respectively.

One was required to build a unique Alchemy Pool filled with a certain type of water constructed based on one's specific techniques—for example, Weak Water, which was known to weigh thousands of tons—which would then be sealed by a thin film of energy based on a formation in which only select things could enter.

This was the Refining Void. By sealing the water in the pool, one must prevent anything apart from the herbs that are to enter or the spirit sense that controls the refining process from interacting with it, otherwise the procedure was either destined to fail or would yield heavy impurities.

The water in the pool was usually created and refined by the alchemist themselves, allowing them to control it with the object control technique in the first realm or with spirit sense in all the realms going upward. Different types of water had different benefits, like after refining, increased success rate, special passives attached to the finished pill, and so on—just like how different fires used also had different benefits.

For Metal Alchemy, it was quite a violent procedure compared to what you'd expect. In this form of alchemy, only the Refining Power was augmented, with the First Pillar shifting to using metal to slice through the reagents, directly destroying the parts that were not necessary for the recipe.

Most cultivators joked that Metal Alchemy was just bootleg alchemy for sword cultivators, and it was mostly true since most sword cultivators—even if they had other element spirit roots outside of metal—would utilize this method.

You could use a cauldron for this one, so there was no need to establish a new Refining Void medium for it. It just had a very high demand for control, precision, and skill of the alchemist in question, which was why sword cultivators flocked to it.

Even most metal element fellows who did not use the sword would opt for other elements rather than utilize their own.

Then came the currently most popular and most utilized form of alchemy in the entire Tian Ming Continent due to its ease of use and universality—Wood Alchemy. Whether one had a wood element root was inconsequential to its practice, and in fact, this was true for all the Five Elements.

After countless millennia of optimization, an entry point has been found for everyone, utilizing the same theory as daoist arts. After all, Li Ling had an impure earth element spirit root yet he was able to spit out fireballs and seas of flames, wasn't he? He could even learn void techniques like the Tai Xu Mysterious Method, though not through his own comprehension.

In Wood Alchemy, you simply had to take your reagents and plant them in the bark of a living tree. This tree must be refined by oneself and can be grown from a seed or found in the wild and transplanted, but the key is to form a connection with it using one's special Wood Alchemy techniques.

Then the center of the tree is hollowed out to form a void, where the herbs would be deposited in their purest form after being filtered through something akin to osmosis, leaving the unwanted parts to be either absorbed by the tree for nourishment or spat out as waste.

So in the void at the tree's center, only the necessary parts of the reagents inputted for the recipe would remain. It was now up to the alchemist—through his control of the entire procedure as the tree's master—to fuse the remaining pure reagents into the pill that was being made.

Cultivators favored Wood Alchemy because it was quite easy to enter into since it was the most heavily developed among the other types of alchemy. One only needed to raise a tree and refine it before being able to start, which was easily achievable within a short time using low-level resources.

Finally, there was Earth Alchemy, which Li Ling was about to enter into. Like Water and Wood Alchemy, it changed the Refining Power and Refining Void, though the second one was a bit optional.

Unlike the other two where one had to build a unique space for the Refining Source—the reagents—Earth Alchemy usually had you directly bury the reagents in the ground. The earth used was obviously of a special nature, being one refined by the alchemist as per usual and possessing special properties.

However, this earth was not used as a void on its own—unless the Earth Alchemy technique an alchemist used specified that one should be created—but rather as the Refining Power. So you could—and most likely would—have to either bury your entire pill cauldron or encase it with earth to get going.

Indeed, Li Ling's current Earth Nurturing Technique was of the latter type. He could remain in the room with his newly bought Grade 2 Pill Cauldron that had been used by some small sect's chief alchemist as their prized cauldron and simply encase it with the earth that he was supposed to refine to begin the process.

Since he already had the Refining Void, it was time to sort out his Refining Power and Refining Source. While Kong Beiwu guarded the door of the bedroom, Li Ling brought his spirit sense back and focused on the lump of earth he was holding in his hand.

This was Grade 1 Spirit Soil, used to grow Spirit Plants at that level like Spirit Rice, some Grade 1 Medicinal Herbs, and the like. The Earth Nurturing Technique stipulated the use of Spirit Soil as the Refining Power, utilizing a set of procedures to refine this Spirit Soil as his own to link to his energy like one would a flying sword or an artifact, allowing him to control it.

The essence of the Earth Nurturing Technique was obviously to nurture the Refining Source into the final product. So one utilized the Spirit Soil to 'sift' through the reagents like how a washing machine, through constant spinning, removed stains from clothes.

In fact, this process was extremely akin to many Water Alchemy methods, but the element in question had been changed. Because Spirit Soil contained many nutrients and the breath of life necessary for plants to grow, it would slightly enhance the success rate of pill formation and slightly enhance the quality of formed pills as well.

That was why Li Ling chose it among the various options—because there were as many alchemy techniques out there for sale as there were cultivation techniques. If he was going to choose, he would naturally prefer something that could suit him properly.

Li Ling used the method listed in the Earth Nurturing Technique manual to refine the Spirit Soil, easily achieving this as he was at the perfection of the second realm. His eyes sharpened as he felt a connection with the Spirit Soil, allowing it to rise into the air as if controlled with telekinesis.

He then casually made the lump of Spirit Soil dance in the air, forming words, symbols, and shapes to his amusement, marveling at how fluid it felt. This was largely because of his superior spirit sense with great range, as well as his Perfected Spirit Sense Control technique.

Both gave him a very strong advantage either in combat or production—something that opened up Li Ling's eyes to a new world. Even though the Infinite Slaughter System did not support using Slaughter Points to advance non-combat related methods, by precisely investing in certain 'auxiliary' combat methods, they could also assist in production roles.

Rubbing his chin with a satisfied smile, Li Ling collected the lump of Spirit Soil and began infusing it with Magic Power. Here, were he to have been practicing an earth element cultivation technique, he would have been able to shorten this process by about ten times.

However, Magic Power was still a superior form of energy, easily able to empower this Grade 1 Spirit Soil and slowly raise its grade upwards to the next level. The amount of time needed for refining one lump was expected to take a few hours, so Li Ling diverted his attention to focus on the Infinite Slaughter System.

The Tai Xu Mysterious Method called to him like a certain goblin mask hanging on the edge of the wall, and he could no longer resist the urge to see where he could go with it. Since he was tied down with the refinement of the Spirit Soil, it was time to make broad steps.

Invest, 1000 Slaughter Points for the Entry-stage of the Tai Xu Mysterious Method!

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