60: Chapter 6: The Refinement Begins!

"This is a freshness pill."

Xiao Huo handed the jade bottle to Qin Yan. "Did you see the entire process clearly?"

Qin Yan took the jade bottle and looked at the perfectly colored pill inside, his heart filled with shock and longing.

This seemingly simple process was infused with an unknown amount of experience and technique.

"This student saw it clearly."

Qin Yan answered solemnly, though he knew that seeing it clearly didn't mean he could learn it.

But this undoubtedly opened a brand new door for him.

"It's good that you saw it clearly."

Xiao Huo nodded with satisfaction. "In the Way of Alchemy, theory must be remembered, but practice is more important."

Next, what you need to do is repeatedly ponder the steps I just took and simulate the drill in your mind.

Once you feel you have some grasp of it, you can try to refine it yourself."

"I can provide you with ten sets of medicinal ingredients for practicing the freshness pill."

If you still cannot succeed after ten times, you will have to pay for them yourself."

"Yes, Teacher! This student will definitely practice diligently and not fail your teachings!"

Qin Yan tightly gripped the jade bottle and the pill recipe in his hand, a blazing fire burning in his eyes.

He knew that the path of alchemy belonging to him...

...had finally, at this moment, truly taken its first step.

Inside the Alchemy Room, the fragrance of herbs mixed with the faint scent of the freshness pill left over from the previous refinement, forming a unique atmosphere.

Qin Yan closed his eyes tightly.

He focused all his attention on repeatedly reviewing and deducing every step of Teacher Xiao Huo's refinement of the "freshness pill" in his mind.

From the initial fire control to preheat the cauldron, to the sequential addition of heart-clearing grass, mint leaves, jade dew flowers, and other materials.

Then to the precise control of the heat to temper various colored spiritual liquids.

Next was the fusion of the medicinal essences of different attributes, and finally, the condensation of the pill...

He pondered it over and over again.

He tried to etch the teacher's flowing movements and the fire control essentials contained within into the depths of his heart.

After repeatedly deducing it several times, Qin Yan discovered...

...that in the entire alchemy process, the most difficult parts to grasp were concentrated in the third step, "Adding Herbs and Tempering," and the fourth step, "Pill Condensation."

Tempering spiritual herbs required a thorough understanding of the characteristics of every single medicinal ingredient.

Using different levels of heat at the right timing to precisely extract the purest spiritual liquid.

A fraction too much and it would char; a fraction too little and it would be wasted.

And fusing the liquids into a pill required even more delicate control of the flames.

Guiding the spiritual liquids of different attributes to fuse perfectly.

Seeking that subtle point of balance amidst the violent energy to finally condense into a pill.

These two steps contained too much experience, tricks, and subtle intuition.

Relying solely on one's eyes to see and brain to remember would never lead to true comprehension.

One must practice personally and accumulate experience through repeated failures...

...to gradually master that mysterious "heat" and "feel."

He simulated the entire process completely in his mind once more.

After confirming that no key details were missed, Qin Yan took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

His gaze became firm and focused as he stepped toward that dark red alchemy cauldron.

It was time to take the first step in practice.

He recalled a basic technique recorded in the compendium of low-grade spirit meat.

This technique had extremely wide adaptability.

Originally, it was a method used to initially temper the flesh of fierce beasts and extract the essence within.

But because it had a certain guiding and constraining effect on energy...

...after evolving, it was also used by low-grade alchemists and blacksmiths to initially trigger and control masterless Beast Fires and spiritual fires.

Qin Yan held his breath and focused, his hands slowly forming a simple yet profound hand seal in front of him.

The weak blood energy in his body circulated according to a specific route, gathering at his fingertips.

He gave a low shout and struck the technique toward the bottom of the cauldron!

"Buzz—"

With a soft hum, at the bottom of the cauldron...

...the crimson Beast Fire, which had been in a dormant state, seemed to be injected with vitality.

With a "poof," it shot up and burned fiercely, emitting waves of scorching heat.

This was remote fire control!

Surprise flashed in Qin Yan's eyes.

Once again, he felt the mystery of the Martial Path.

"Xiao Yan! Focus!

The most important thing in fire control is to have no distractions. You're multitasking—do you want to blow up the cauldron?!"

Xiao Huo's stern reprimand exploded in Qin Yan's ears.

Qin Yan's heart jolted, and he hurriedly reined in all stray thoughts.

He concentrated all his attention on controlling that clump of crimson fire.

He carefully guided the flames...

...evenly scorching every corner of the cauldron; this was the second step of alchemy, "Warming the Cauldron."

The first step was controlling the fire, which he had already achieved.

However, this seemingly simple step...

...was actually a hundred times more difficult to operate than imagined!

Under his clumsy control, that clump of Beast Fire was like an untamable wild horse.

Sometimes violent, sometimes weak, and extremely unstable.

Just maintaining a stable output of the fire and evenly heating the cauldron...

...almost exhausted all of his mental effort.

Beads of sweat the size of beans soon seeped from his forehead and slid down his cheeks.

In just a short moment, he was drenched in sweat, and his breathing became heavy.

Worse still, waves of dizziness began to invade his brain, as if his energy was being rapidly drained.

When he barely finished the "Warming the Cauldron" step and felt the cauldron had reached the requirements, he was almost exhausted.

His back was soaked with sweat, and his face appeared somewhat pale.

"Whew... whew..." He gasped for air, his heart full of emotion.

"Teacher made it look so easy during the demonstration. I didn't expect the actual operation to be so difficult..."

Xiao Huo, who had been silently observing from the side, saw Qin Yan's struggling state, and his brow furrowed slightly without him realizing it.

A trace of indiscernible confusion flashed in his eyes.

"Something's not right..."

Xiao Huo pondered to himself, "Logically speaking, since Xiao Yan could memorize and understand such a massive and complex amount of knowledge like the Complete Explanation of Low-Grade Spirit Herbs and the compendium of low-grade spirit meat in such a short time..."

"...his spirit talent, even if not top-tier, is definitely far beyond ordinary people."

Memory and comprehension are often positively correlated with the strength of one's spirit.

Controlling this kind of low-grade Beast Fire for a basic cauldron warming shouldn't be this taxing for him...

How is it that he looks like his spirit is about to be exhausted right at the start?"

The more he thought about it, the stranger it felt, but he couldn't figure out the key for the moment and could only suppress his doubts.

He continued to observe intently.

At this time, Qin Yan took a short breath, not daring to delay too long lest the cauldron temperature drop.

He gritted his teeth and followed the sequence in his memory.

He picked up the first medicinal ingredient—"heart-clearing grass"—preparing for the third step, "Adding Herbs and Tempering."

He focused all his attention, trying to precisely lower the fire temperature while putting in the heart-clearing grass.

To perform tempering with a gentle force.

However, while the ideal was plentiful, reality was skeletal.

The fire he was already controlling with great difficulty, the moment he tried to make a fine change...

...became like a runaway horse and suddenly spiraled out of control!

The crimson tongues of fire suddenly shot up, the temperature spiked sharply, and there was even a "whooshing" sound of explosive popping!

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