Chapter 8: Alchemy 1

The training room was empty, with only a simple defensive formation set up. It could not withstand many external attacks, but it could prevent others from entering at will and could also isolate the sounds in the room.

Zhong Cai placed the alchemy furnace on the ground, practiced his skills, and drew the Qi of heaven and earth into the furnace.

In the blink of an eye, the palm-sized alchemy furnace quickly returned to its original shape - about three feet high, with a furnace chamber of one foot and a main furnace of two feet, standing in front of Zhong Cai.

Wu Shaoqian took out a soft couch, placed it against the wall, lay down on it, and looked at Zhong Cai intently.

Zhong Cai was a little nervous at first, but when he noticed Wu Shaoqian's behavior, he immediately rolled her eyes: "I seem to be a performer, and you seem to be a spectator."

Wu Shaoqian pretended to think about it, then said frankly: "Why not?"

Zhong Cai: "..." He raised his eyebrows and said, "Shut up!"

However, after such a joke, Zhong Cai's anxiety was slightly relieved. He calmed down and tapped the outer shell of the furnace. A soft fire-proof wire mesh was spread in the furnace. Then he took out more than ten green fire woods and put them into the wire mesh. He also took a piece of fire-starting stone and threw it into the furnace, hitting the green fire wood. In an instant, several sparks burst out and ignited all the green fire woods.

There is a small handle under the right ear of the furnace. Zhong Cai can control the contraction and expansion of the screen by simply sliding the handle. At the same time, the flame will also shrink or expand, resulting in corresponding temperature changes.

Zhong Cai carefully adjusted the temperature, and when he felt it was about right, he took out a Qi-boosting fruit and put it into the main furnace cavity.

The Qi-enhancing Fruit melted in the furnace almost instantly, turning into a pool of white fruit liquid. At this moment, Zhong Cai threw in a piece of Imperata cylindrica that was more than a foot long, and the white fruit liquid quickly wrapped it up, making a hissing sound.

Zhong Cai turned the handle and opened the network port a little.

Suddenly the flames jumped up and burned the white imperata vigorously. The white imperata began to melt slowly. Every time it melted, it would penetrate into the white fruit juice and turn into a milky white gelatin.

About a cup of tea later, Zhong Cai poured the juice of the crushed Qingling grass into it and poured it accurately on the white imperata.

The next moment——

"Bang!"

The grass juice and the white grass exploded together, giving off a burnt smell.

Zhong Cai put aside the bowl of herbal juice that he had not yet used up, and reflected angrily, "I poured too much, and destroyed the balance of the medicinal properties..." He calculated the accounts with great anguish, "Qi Pei Fruit costs one silver and two coins, White Imperata Jing costs two coins and thirty copper coins, and Qingling Grass costs twenty copper coins each. The amount I just poured out is at least five, which is a hundred copper coins! I failed like this, and I wasted a total of one silver and five coins and thirty coins! No wonder they say that refining elixirs is expensive, it really is expensive!"

Wu Shaoqian grew up in luxury, with his family giving him money and his own earnings, so he never lacked money. Even though things are different now, his savings are still there, and he doesn't think that less than two silver coins are a lot. However, he has been with Zhong Cai for many years and knows his personality, so he comforted him naturally: "It's okay, Ah Cai, you only made a mistake at this step, which is already better than many alchemists. Try a little more and you will definitely succeed."

Zhong Cai: "I knew I was a wimp, but I didn't expect I would be this bad. Look, you call me Ah Cai again..."

Wu Shaoqian: "…" I swear to God, he just said it casually, he really didn't mean it that way.

Seeing Wu Shaoqian's helpless expression, Zhong Cai grinned and said, "I was just teasing you. Okay, I'll continue!"

Wu Shaoqian felt even more helpless, but it was good that Zhong Cai was no longer so resentful.

"Think about what you did wrong first, and I'll clean the furnace for you."

Zhong Cai immediately smiled and quickly tried to figure out what he had done wrong.

Wu Shaoqian worked hard and dealt with the waste slag in the alchemy furnace.

The elixir that Zhong Cai chose to refine was the Qi-boosting elixir, which was used to replenish the profound qi of the secret cultivators in the Tianyin Realm. Usually, after the cultivators' profound qi and profound strength were exhausted, they could immediately recover a lot by taking it. In addition, cultivators could also use it to cultivate, which was much faster than absorbing the qi of heaven and earth by themselves - of course, the better the aptitude, the less useful it was.

Although Wu Shaoqian's spiritual injury has not fully healed, it does not affect his ability to display the strength of the twelfth level of Tianyin Realm. It's just that after his mysterious power is used up, he can no longer absorb the energy of heaven and earth on his own and can only use elixirs to replenish it.

Zhong Cai didn't want to let his best friend be tied down, so he had already made up his mind to refine a large batch of Qi-replenishing pills first. He could sell the low-quality ones and let his buddy take the high-quality ones for fun. It was really ambitious.

Besides, the more pills he made, the more Dan Yun he would have, and the more things he could get in exchange for sacrifices. Although those things were all random, he never knew if he would be lucky enough to get something useful for his buddy. If that was the case, and his buddy could recover, he would be able to see him in high spirits again!

But after all, the hope was slim, so Zhong Cai secretly made efforts in his heart but did not say it out loud.

If it succeeds, it will be a surprise. If it fails, it will save his buddies from being disappointed.

The recipe for the Qi-boosting pill is relatively rare among the first-level pills. It requires only one main ingredient, which is the precious Qi-boosting fruit. The others are common medicinal materials, and there are only five of them, namely, Imperata cylindrica, Green Lingcao, Sophora flavescens, Mulberry rice, and Phellodendron chinense.

The price of the medicinal materials for the whole prescription is about two silver coins, which is considered a relatively cheap recipe.

But in terms of the difficulty of refining, it is not the easiest. The most difficult step is to blend the Qinglingcao juice into the White Imperata.

Zhong Cai pondered for a while, and gestured with the empty bowl for a while. Wu Shaoqian just happened to have finished cleaning, so he readjusted the flame and put in the Peiqi fruit, Imperata cylindrica, and Qinglingcao juice one by one again...

"Bang!"

The furnace exploded again. Fortunately, the second-level furnace was strong enough and was only used to refine first-level pills, so it was not damaged by the explosion.

Unfortunately, half of the medicinal materials were destroyed again.

Zhong Cai: "…"

Wu Shaoqian patted him on the shoulder and said, "Persist longer than before and think about your mistakes again. Leave the furnace to me."

Zhong Cai took a deep breath and began to think hard, trying to recall what he had done wrong.

After a cup of tea, Zhong Cai started the third refining.

"Bang!"

Wu Shaoqian cleaned the alchemy furnace.

Zhong Cai reflected on his mistakes.

After another cup of tea, Zhong Cai began to refine it for the fourth time.

"Bang!"

the fifth time...

"Bang!"

the sixth time...

"Bang!"

Seventh...eighth...ninth...

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Zhong Cai counted the silver on his fingers, his eyes flashing with anger: "I! I wasted more than ten silver coins! And the furnace exploded!!"

Seeing how grief-stricken and angry he was, Wu Shaoqian couldn't help but want to laugh.

Zhong Cai looked over blankly, his anger growing even stronger: "It's a lot of money, what are you laughing at!"

Wu Shaoqian was stunned: "Ah? Did I laugh?"

A vein popped out on Zhong Cai's forehead.

Wu Shaoqian coughed lightly, and quickly walked over to stand beside Zhong Cai, rubbed his head, and said, "Alright, don't worry, it's only been practiced a few times. If you succeed, you're a genius, and if you don't, you're a normal person."

"You have only spent half a day. The alchemists I know, when they first started to refine pills, they still couldn't succeed after ten days or half a month. This doesn't even include the time spent on identifying the medicinal materials and getting familiar with the temperature."

"If you can't do it today, try tomorrow. If you can't do it tomorrow, try the day after tomorrow. Just take your time. The more anxious you are, the harder it will be to calm down, and the more likely you will make mistakes." Wu Shaoqian pulled Zhong Cai's head back and forth. "Wu Zhaohong has studied alchemy for ten years, but the only elixir she can make is a very common one... maybe a bone-tempering elixir? The Qi-boosting elixir you are making now is very difficult to make. She tried no less than a hundred times, but failed, so she gave up and just chose something simpler."

Zhong Cai's head was shaken and he felt a little dizzy, but he finally calmed down.

"Is it true? You didn't lie to me?" He asked in disbelief, "I have never asked about the alchemist before, don't fool me."

Wu Shaoqian held his head to let him come back to his senses, then smiled and said, "I wasn't lying to you. Your progress is really good. I just noticed that the bowl of Qingling grass juice you prepared was almost used up before the furnace exploded. Are you not far from success? I estimate that you will be able to complete it smoothly in three or four days at most."

Zhong Cai said sullenly, "Can I borrow your good words?"

Wu Shaoqian said solemnly: "Borrow it."

Zhong Cai punched him in the chest, and finally felt better. He snorted, "You are so shameless."