"It's fine, it's fine. As long as I use that Mysterious Scroll to restore them to spirit materials and continue practicing," Ning Fa consoled himself, a smile forming on his lips as he thought of the Mysterious Scroll.
With this miraculous treasure, he could refine pills repeatedly without any worry.
However, he soon realized he was being too naive.
When he unfolded the Mysterious Scroll again, it showed no reaction this time. No matter how Ning Fa tried, nothing appeared on it.
Ning Fa froze on the spot.
After a long while, his lips twitched as he came up with two possible reasons.
First, the Mysterious Scroll might have a cooldown period, requiring a certain amount of time to pass before it could function again after a single use.
Second, the pills had to reach the level of Failed Pills, or at least be close to completion, before the Mysterious Scroll could restore them.
Whichever the reason, it was very bad news for Ning Fa.
If the Mysterious Scroll's cooldown period was only a few hours, it would be manageable. But if it required several days or even longer to cool down after each use...
While still incredibly powerful, it wouldn't be enough for him right now, as he only had a month left.
If it was the second reason, it was equally troublesome. This was because it was his last batch of spirit materials, and he had no extra Spirit Stones on hand to buy more.
Ning Fa's brow furrowed. He decided to wait for a while, hoping it was the first reason, and that the cooldown period wouldn't be too long.
But he waited until the next morning, and Ning Fa, who had been waiting anxiously, still couldn't activate the Mysterious Scroll again.
Ning Fa cursed inwardly, but he also knew time was of the essence and he couldn't wait any longer. He had to get Spirit Stones to buy spirit materials for the Essence Replenishing Pills.
He would first try to refine this pill into a Failed Pill and then test the Mysterious Scroll.
"If I just had five more sets of spirit materials for the Essence Replenishing Pills, I should be able to refine them into Failed Pills," Ning Fa muttered to himself, his brow still tightly furrowed.
This was because one set of spirit materials required to refine the Essence Replenishing Pill cost ten Spirit Stones. He estimated he needed at least five sets of materials to ensure he could produce Failed Pills of the Essence Replenishing Pill, meaning he needed nearly fifty Spirit Stones.
For low-level cultivators, fifty Spirit Stones was already a fortune, let alone the fact that Ning Fa had not a single Spirit Stone on him right now.
Ning Fa searched his memories, wondering if there were any other ways to obtain Spirit Stones.
Ning Fa's lineage traced back to his father, Ning Zhiyuan, who had one elder sister and three younger brothers. His father was the third eldest.
Apart from Ning Fa's paternal aunt and fourth uncle, who were full siblings, the others were cousins. Siblings of the same branch who had no spiritual roots were disregarded.
This branch of his family had produced a Foundation Establishment cultivator over three hundred years ago, enjoying a period of prosperity and being a direct branch of the Ning Family.
The Ning Family had a clan rule: if a branch produced a Foundation Establishment cultivator, that branch automatically became a direct lineage, receiving far greater treatment and status from the family than other collateral branches.
However, if within three generations of the Foundation Establishment cultivator's demise, no new Foundation Establishment cultivator emerged from that branch, its direct lineage status would be automatically revoked, and it would revert to a collateral branch.
After the demise of that Foundation Establishment ancestor, Ning Fa's father's generation had already lost their direct lineage status and become a collateral branch.
To become a direct lineage family again, besides producing another Foundation Establishment cultivator within the branch, there was another method: achieving one of the top two positions in the Heir Selection Tournament held by the family every ten years.
But in the Ning Family's six hundred-plus years of history, there were now over four hundred cultivators, with only eight direct lineage branches, while collateral branches numbered forty to fifty.
The difficulty of securing one of the top two spots among so many collateral branches was immense.
In reality, Ning Fa's father's generation possessed excellent cultivation aptitudes. His father had a mid-grade Spirit Root of the Three Spiritual Roots. Furthermore, due to a fortunate encounter, he advanced to the late stage of Qi Condensation before the age of twenty.
His strength surpassed those of the same level, similar to Ning Huarong, and he was highly valued by the family, believed to have the potential to reach Foundation Establishment.
His third uncle, Ning Hongye, possessed a top-grade Spirit Root of the Two Spiritual Roots, even better than some ordinary top-grade Spirit Roots.
At the young age of fifteen, he advanced to the late stage of Qi Condensation, breaking the Ning Family's record for the youngest cultivator to reach the late stage of Qi Condensation and drawing the attention of the entire family.
Coupled with Ning Fa later being identified as having a Lightning Spiritual Root, their branch was once immensely glorious.
The family unanimously believed they would surely produce a Foundation Establishment cultivator and return to being a direct lineage branch, with the possibility of even multiple Foundation Establishment cultivators emerging.
However, subsequent events made one only lament the unpredictability of fate.
First, Ning Fa's talented third uncle, Ning Hongye, disappeared seven years ago after an excursion, and there had been no news of him since.
Then, in the previous family direct lineage competition, Ning Fa's father, who was widely considered to have a strong chance of winning the heir selection, narrowly lost to his opponent in the semi-finals, regrettably forfeiting his direct lineage spot.
Following that, Ning Fa was confirmed to have a defective Lightning Spiritual Root and was abandoned by the family.
Finally, three years ago, just as the Ning Family and the Qian Family engaged in a major conflict, Ning Fa's parents fell into a Qian Family ambush and both perished.
In just a few short years, their branch had gone from being immensely glorious to its current state of destitution, to the point where Ning Fa himself was to become a dual cultivation cauldron for someone else.
Ning Fa shook his head, pushing away these vexing thoughts. Instead, he pondered how to acquire Spirit Stones from his two uncles and aunt.
After recalling further, Ning Fa finally remembered that his predecessor had a significant inheritance.
His father, Ning Zhiyuan, was not a minor figure in his lifetime. He had cultivated to the peak of the Qi Condensation stage.
Moreover, he was resourceful and capable, holding a high position and influence within the family, and naturally, he did not lack Spirit Stones.
He had long ago purchased a shop in the family's internal marketplace, the Jinchang Island Market.
Although the shop's storefront was not large and its location was relatively secluded...
However, as the Ning Family's strength rapidly increased, the Jinchang Island Market also became increasingly prosperous, making the shops there even more valuable.
Even that small shop could now fetch a high price, the kind that's available but with no buyers.
After Ning Zhiyuan's death, Ning Fa's predecessor naturally inherited ownership of this shop.
Logically, with such a large inheritance, if Ning Fa's predecessor had burned his bridges and sold this shop for a large sum of Spirit Stones.
To purchase spirit materials for practicing alchemy, he might have actually had a chance to pass the family's alchemist assessment.