Liu Ri's Basic Qi Recovery Pill!

"Let's begin," Liu Ri said.

Drog nodded his head in agreement. "Alright," he said and walked up to the table.

"Take out one Yi grass and one Tchi herb," Liu Ri said.

Drog took out one Yi grass and one Tchi grass from the pendant and placed them both on the table. "Do I prepare the Yi grass in the same way?"

"No," Liu Ri said. "And you are not only preparing the Yi grass, but also the Tchi Herb. Now take the Tchi herb into your hand."

Drog took the Tchi herb with his right hand.

"Now infuse water Qi into it and put it down back on the table."

"That does make sense," Drog thought. "Since water Qi, if used – removes pain, heals injures both external and internal, and increases the regeneration of one's Qi." He infused water Qi into the Tchi herb and put it back down on the table.

"Now do the same with the Yi grass."

Drog nodded his head. He took the Yi grass with the same right hand and infused water Qi into it. Then, he put it back down on the table. "Do I smash and stir it?"

"There's no need for that."

"How come?" Drog said as he tilted his head slightly to the right.

"Before I answer your question, you answer me this," Liu Ri said. "Why even bother preparing the ingredients in the first place?"

Drog frowned and shook his head. "I don't know."

"I know that you don't," Liu Ri said. "After all, the first two tomes that you read, only showed you how one or the other plant looked, but didn't even bother to explain what they did. But that doesn't matter as I taught you about much more plants than it was in those tomes and I didn't just show you a picture and give a name, but also taught you which plant had what properties. My issue is with the third tome. It only gave you steps on how to make one or the other pill but didn't explain why you must do them."

"So why even bother preparing the ingredients," Drog said.

"I will use numbers to explain this," Liu Ri said. "Let's say we have two herbs that are both one. You concoct the pill with them both and so you add both the numbers and get a two. Now then, the prepared versions of those two herbs are both a two and concocting the pill with them will give you a four. That's why you bother preparing the ingredients."

Drog furrowed his eyebrows. "So then why don't I smash and stir the Yi grass?"

"The Yi grass is a zero, the water Qi infused Yi grass is a two. The smashed, stirred and water Qi infused Yi grass is a one-point-five, and the stirred and smashed Yi grass is a one."

Drog relaxed his face. "I see," he said as he nodded his head in understanding.

"The first stage of pill connection – the ingredient preparation is now complete," Liu Ri said. "Go to the cauldron and I will walk you through the second stage – the cauldron preparation."

Drog walked up to the cauldron.

"Like before," Liu Ri said. "Use your fire Qi to start a flame below the cauldron, but instead of waiting until the cauldron begins to slightly shake, you will wait until it begins to shake violently."

"Why does it have to shake violently and not just slightly?" Drog said.

"Remember when I told you that two pills of the same recipe and effectivity work differently on different dantians?" Liu Ri said.

Drog nodded his head. "Yes."

"This is the part where it is determined with which dantian the pill will work best with," Liu Ri said. "That said. For my dantian, your dantian or any other high calibre dantian, only pills made in extremely hot cauldrons have any effect."

"I see." Drog used his fire Qi and flame blazed below the cauldron. He waited until the cauldron started to violently shake.

"The second stage is complete," Liu Ri said. "Onto the third. Go to the table and take both the Yi grass and the Tchi herb."

Drog walked up to the table. He took both the Yi grass and Tchi herb and returned to the cauldron.

"Now for the third stage of the pill concoction," Liu Ri said. "Drop both the ingredients into the cauldron and keep increasing the intensity of the flame until I tell you to stop."

Drog nodded his head. He tossed both the Tchi herb and Yi grass into the cauldron before starting to increase the intensity of the flame.

"You can stop." When Liu Ri finally spoke these words, the cauldron was entirely engulfed in flames and was shaking so hard that cracks started appearing. If anyone looked at the cauldron, they would think that it would explode at any moment.

"Extinguish your flame," Liu Ri said a few minutes later and Drog did what she said – he extinguished the flame.

"The third stage is now complete," Liu Ri said. "Time for the fourth one."

Drog looked into the cauldron and saw that it was of dark-blue colour. "What do I do?"

"Smack the cauldron," Liu Ri said. "When the liquid is in the air, split it into ten parts and use both fire and wood Qi on them."

"What about the fourth stage – cleansing?"

"There is no cleansing stage in my recipe of the basic Qi recovery pill. But because there is no cleansing stage, my pill is deadly to everyone but me."

"I understand," Drog said and smacked the furnace. The liquid shot up into the air and Drog split it into ten parts. Then, he used fire and wood Qi on them. The ten parts solidified and fell into the palm of his hand. He looked down at them.

"The worst one is of 19% effectivity," Liu Ri said. "And the best one is of 25% effectivity."

Drog crushed all the pills in the palm of his hand and walked back to the table. He pulled out one Tchi herb and Yi grass, and concocted another batch. Then, another and another and another, until he managed to concoct one Liu Ri's basic Qi recovery pill of 100% effectivity once he was down to five Yi grasses and five Tchi herbs.

"You have done it," Liu Ri said. "And just in time, this cauldron won't be able to handle even one more concoction."

Drog stored that one pill inside the pendant and crushed the others. "Of course, I did," he said. "And you are right. Although I still have ingredients and time, this furnace will explode if I try to concoct anything inside it. I will create my own Qi recovery pill after I pass that exam."

Drog walked out of the building and saw that the sun was just beginning to rise. "Let's go take that exam," he thought and walked to the largest building in the alchemy peak.