157: One failure, not a genius
After a while.
Xie Weilou’s palm hovered with an extremely high-temperature flame, and he said with a faint smile, “This temperature is about right. This Leaving Fire Divine Skill is truly not simple; this pill fire can even be used for combat.”
“Next, I’ll try refining pills… starting with the most basic Xuan Huang Pill.”
He conjured a pill furnace and some medicinal ingredients.
Buzz!
Xie Weilou waved his hand, and a medicinal ingredient flew into the pill furnace. Pill refining involves many steps: melting the ingredients, turning them into liquid, and then purifying them.
After purification, different energies are fused, re-purified, condensed into pills, and then taken out of the furnace. There are many steps, but they are easy to understand. The most difficult part is the practical application.
Boom!
Xie Weilou extended his large hand, and the fierce flames instantly enveloped the pill furnace, raising the temperature. The medicinal ingredients inside the furnace quickly melted and turned into liquid.
“The first step, no problem.”
Xie Weilou formed a hand seal, and a powerful force erupted. The fierce flames enveloped the medicinal liquid inside the pill furnace, purifying it.
The second step also went smoothly.
The purified medicinal liquid, enveloped by fierce flames, floated within the pill furnace.
Then, Xie Weilou successively placed medicinal ingredients into the pill furnace, continuing with melting and purification.
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
More than a dozen medicinal ingredients were purified, and all the medicinal liquid floated inside the pill furnace.
“Pill refining also consumes a great deal of soul power, but for now, there are no issues.”
Xie Weilou thought to himself.
His pill fire was condensed from spiritual energy, consuming spiritual energy. However, controlling the pill fire, melting the medicinal ingredients, and purifying them required a certain amount of soul power. By the second step, there was some consumption, but no major issues.
“The third step…”
Xie Weilou took a deep breath and once again controlled the pill fire. The medicinal liquids of different attributes inside the pill furnace slowly began to fuse. The fusion of energies would cause tremendous repulsion, and the pill fire continuously flickered, causing the pill furnace to vibrate.
“……”
Xie Weilou concentrated fully, carefully fusing the medicinal liquid.
Bang!
As a result, an issue arose in an unknown step. The power within the pill furnace instantly went out of control, the pill fire scattered, and a roaring sound came from inside the pill furnace, directly exploding.
All the medicinal liquid instantly turned into ashes, and thick smoke billowed.
“……”
Xie Weilou immediately suppressed the pill furnace, restraining the violent power within it. Since it was only the most basic first-grade pill, it wouldn't cause the pill furnace to explode into fragments.
After a while.
The power inside the pill furnace dissipated.
First attempt at pill refining: furnace exploded, failed!
Xie Weilou stared at the pill furnace in front of him and sighed, “I guess I’m not a genius…”
“Which step went wrong?”
Xie Weilou showed a thoughtful expression, continuously replaying the steps of the pill refining process in his mind.
“The fusion of medicinal liquids, the steps were flawless, so why did it go out of control? Could it be… the pill fire? Right, when medicinal liquids fuse, I only considered the fusion and balance of these energies. But the pill fire itself is a form of energy. When medicinal liquids fuse, it participates in the process and acts as a medium for energy fusion. If the pill fire’s energy is too great, it will cause the balance of the medicinal liquid’s energy to be broken…”
Xie Weilou’s eyes lit up as he understood the key.
The Pill Dao Handbook was compiled by Dragon Old Freak. With his level of pill dao, he certainly wouldn’t record details that could be glossed over. These very details, however, are most crucial for novice alchemists and require exploration.
Having understood the profundity, Xie Weilou continued to take out medicinal ingredients and resume pill refining.
He tried again, controlling the pill fire.
This time, there were no issues with the fusion of the medicinal liquids.
A smile appeared on Xie Weilou’s face. The third step was fine; next was the fourth step, secondary purification!
Secondary purification is the process of purifying the energies of different medicinal liquids, and it is also a step of neutralization.
Because the energies of the fused medicinal liquids will not be perfectly equal in strength—some energies will be a bit more, some a bit less—it requires reduction and supplementation to balance the different energies. This way, when condensing the pill, there won't be an explosion.
Xie Weilou controlled the pill fire, carefully performing the secondary purification. He constantly monitored the situation inside the pill furnace, noting every detail and change in the medicinal liquid’s energy, so that if a problem arose, he could promptly identify its source.
Buzz!
After half an incense stick’s time, a subtle sound emanated from within the pill furnace. The secondary purification was complete without any issues. The purified medicinal liquid’s energy became even more refined, and the different energies fused together were extremely balanced.
Xie Weilou mused, “The fifth step, compressing the medicinal liquid and condensing the pill. This step is somewhat similar to the third step, and the pill fire also participates in it. Therefore, I must also control the pill fire, otherwise it will cause the medicinal liquid’s energy to become imbalanced again…”
Applying what one has learned to new situations is crucial for pill refining. Certain details require careful attention and deliberation.
Boom!
The pill fire vibrated, enveloping the pill furnace and the medicinal liquid, furiously compressing the liquid. The compression process would increase repulsive forces, making it somewhat difficult, but for him, it was not a major problem.
The powerful medicinal liquid energy, guided by the pill fire, slowly condensed…
Time passed by the minute and second.
After two quarters of an hour.
Boom!
A wave of power emanated from within the pill furnace, spewing out of it, followed by a mist of green essence. A yellow pill flew out from inside.
Xie Weilou reached out his hand and caught the yellow pill. He looked at the pill in his hand, a very strong smile on his face: “It’s done, a first-grade Xuan Huang Pill, but only one was refined, and it’s also the worst, a low-grade pill…”
Although he only refined one pill, and it was the most basic low-grade one, Xie Weilou was still very satisfied. After all, this was his first time refining pills, and being able to succeed was already quite good.
If some alchemists in Tianqi City knew that Xie Weilou only tried twice before being able to refine a pill, they would surely be speechless.
The path of pill refining is extremely difficult. Many novices would fail dozens, even hundreds of times, before being able to refine a pill. Yet, he succeeded on his second try, which was truly astounding.
Xie Weilou looked at the Xuan Huang Pill in his hand, continuing to ponder the steps of the pill refining process he had just completed. Upon closer thought, some parts of the recent refining process seemed to be optimizable.
For example, the quantity of pills!
The medicinal ingredients he used to refine the Xuan Huang Pill, if in the hands of a second-grade alchemist, could at least yield a batch of five pills. Yet he only refined one, which indicated a problem.
“The repulsive force of the medicinal liquid just now was reduced by me, either by burning it with the pill fire or by drawing it out of the pill furnace. If I were to keep the reduced force inside the pill furnace and continue to purify, fuse, and condense it, I should be able to obtain more pills.”
Xie Weilou thought for a moment and understood the problem.
He eliminated the excess energy, naturally yielding only one pill. This energy could be reused to produce more pills.
“If this path is feasible, it would naturally allow for the refining of more pills. But there’s still another question: how can the grade of the pills be improved?”
Xie Weilou continued to look at the pill in his hand, and records from the Pill Dao Handbook constantly appeared in his mind.
This point was indeed recorded in the handbook, and there were many methods…
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