51: First time refining pills

Looking at the steam rising above the pool, Zhang Daobai couldn't help but recall the intense pain of being scorched by fire when he first collected these spirit liquids.

Thinking of this, Zhang Daobai looked at the pool full of spirit liquid and couldn't help but swallow hard, subconsciously pulling back his outstretched hand.

"The bathwater is ready, come on in."

Zhang Daobai suddenly thought of something and turned to say to Lin Luoxue, who was standing nearby.

Seeing the hidden mischievous glint in Zhang Daobai's eyes, Lin Luoxue couldn't help but give him a speechless look.

Lin Luoxue had learned about the effects of the Bath of Fire Pool's spirit liquid before; even though she had already broken through to the Purple Mansion Stage, these liquids were still effective for her.

Lin Luoxue wasn't shy or embarrassed. After putting her Spirit Sword into her storage bracelet, she took off her outer robe, leaving only her inner garments, and walked toward the pool.

Under Zhang Daobai's gaze, Lin Luoxue first stepped one foot into the pool. Instantly, a stinging pain like being scorched by flames swept through her entire body.

Upon feeling this intense pain, Lin Luoxue only frowned slightly and paused for a moment before stepping her other foot deep into the pool.

Then, with an expressionless face, Lin Luoxue sat down with her back against the edge of the pool, submerging her body up to her neck in the spirit liquid.

Seeing that Lin Luoxue had quickly entered a state of cultivation, Zhang Daobai stared at the spirit liquid in the pool in silence for a moment.

Steeling his resolve, he gritted his teeth, quickly stripped off his clothes until only his inner shorts remained, and then jumped into the pool in one go to sit down.

"Hiss!"

The next second, Zhang Daobai felt exactly how Monkey King must have felt inside Taishang Laojun's Pill Furnace, his entire body wrapped in the agonizing pain of being burned by intense fire.

He almost cried out but forced himself to endure it when he thought of Lin Luoxue quietly cultivating nearby.

At this moment, Zhang Daobai couldn't help but wonder how those ten disciples from the great families and Sects had managed to endure it before.

In fact, what Zhang Daobai didn't know was that those ten disciples had all taken a Medicinal Pill that could reduce the sensation of pain before soaking in the Bath of Fire Pool.

Only the very first group of people who discovered the Bath of Fire Pool would do what Zhang Daobai and Lin Luoxue were doing—toughing it out through sheer willpower.

Under the endless agony, Zhang Daobai's sense of pain gradually became numb, his thoughts went blank, and he even forgot the passage of time.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Daobai felt himself being pulled out of the water by a force and then placed onto a comfortable, soft bed.

At that moment, Zhang Daobai's last bit of consciousness vanished, and he fell into a deep sleep.

When Zhang Daobai woke up again, he found himself lying on the bed in his bedroom, covered by a thin quilt.

After getting up and dressing, Zhang Daobai closed his eyes and carefully felt the changes within his body.

After the 'scorching' by the Bath of Fire Pool's spirit liquid, Zhang Daobai's Physical Body strength had directly improved by a level.

Furthermore, the Spiritual Veins in his body had become much tougher and clearer, with almost no Impurities to be found.

Upon trying to circulate his Cultivation Technique, Zhang Daobai found that his cultivation speed was about thirty percent faster than before.

Although Zhang Daobai's Realm hadn't increased, from a long-term perspective, the gains this time were immense.

After stopping his cultivation, Zhang Daobai got up and left the room, finding Lin Luoxue practicing her sword outside.

"You're awake."

Lin Luoxue finished a complete set of sword moves before turning to look at Zhang Daobai.

"I'm awake. It felt like I just had a nightmare."

Zhang Daobai lay lazily on a lounge chair, recalling the Body Tempering process that had been so painful it turned into numbness; it really did feel like a nightmare.

"I want to enter secluded cultivation for a period of time to maximize the benefits I gained."

Lin Luoxue put away her Spirit Sword and came before Zhang Daobai, speaking calmly.

"Sure, but before that, I should say thank you."

Zhang Daobai looked up at Lin Luoxue and smiled. Before she could respond, he directly took her into the spirit taming space.

There was no sun inside the Small World, which made Zhang Daobai, who was lying on the lounge chair ready to rest, feel like something was missing.

After looking at the sky helplessly, Zhang Daobai got up and went to the Pill Refining Room.

The Pill Refining Room looked quite empty, with only a person-sized Pill Furnace placed right in the center.

Zhang Daobai had already studied the Third-Grade Alchemist Legacy and the various basic Alchemy essentials he had bought several times over.

Now, all that was left was to open the furnace and practice, using hands-on experience to thoroughly master this knowledge.

For his first Alchemy attempt, Zhang Daobai decided to start with the simplest bigu pill.

"spirit rice, sweet-back grass, bu yuan flower..."

Zhang Daobai took out the Materials for the bigu pill from his storage ring and arranged them neatly beside him.

"Long Glass, come out!"

After taking out all the Materials, Zhang Daobai called Long Glass out, intending to have her act as his assistant.

"Master."

As soon as he spoke, Long Glass emerged from the Void Realm and spoke respectfully.

"Help me hand over the Spirit Medicines in a bit."

As Zhang Daobai spoke, he introduced all the Spirit Medicines on the ground to Long Glass.

"Did you remember them?"

"I remembered!"

Long Glass flicked her tail and nodded with certainty.

Seeing this, Zhang Daobai gave her a satisfied look and turned toward the Pill Furnace.

"Step one, heat the furnace."

Following the Alchemy steps in the Legacy, Zhang Daobai first injected spirit fire into the Pill Furnace to preheat it.

However, there were no precise units for temperature in the cultivation world. The Legacy only mentioned preheating for about ten breaths, which should be roughly enough.

Therefore, Zhang Daobai wasn't sure to what extent it should be preheated; he could only follow the Legacy's instructions and start adding the first medicinal herb after about ten breaths.

"Quick! The bu yuan flower!"

Feeling the time was right, Zhang Daobai immediately gave the command.

Hearing this, Long Glass hurriedly controlled the bu yuan flower to drop it into the Pill Furnace.

"Step two, remove the Impurities from the bu yuan flower and refine it into a jade-green liquid?"

Recalling the steps in his mind, Zhang Daobai carefully wrapped the bu yuan flower with spirit fire.

He prepared to use the spirit fire to bit by bit remove the unwanted Impurities from within the bu yuan flower.

Expectations were beautiful, but reality was cruel. The moment Zhang Daobai's spirit fire touched the bu yuan flower,

more than half of the bu yuan flower was scorched because the spirit fire's temperature was too high. This meant that this bu yuan flower was essentially wasted.

"The temperature was too high."

Zhang Daobai frowned slightly. After removing the burnt bu yuan flower from the Pill Furnace, he silently lowered the temperature of the spirit fire.

Soon, the second bu yuan flower was sent into the Pill Furnace by Long Glass. This time, Zhang Daobai didn't rashly let the spirit fire touch the flower.

Instead, he moved the spirit fire closer bit by bit while carefully observing the state of the bu yuan flower.