Inside the narrow cave, the flames within the medicinal cauldron reflected off the cave walls, dancing and flickering ferociously. Xiao Yan focused intently on the surging flames in the cauldron. His somewhat pale face was covered with beads of sweat. Long-term alchemy was an extremely exhausting task for one’s battle energy, and Xiao Yan’s current cultivation method was only at the lowest, low-grade Yellow Rank. In terms of strength and endurance, he had no advantage, so it was quite a feat that he could persist in front of the cauldron for nearly two hours.
The old alchemist watched Xiao Yan successfully extract the Blood Coagulation Grass into a white powder once again. Knowing that Xiao Yan had reached his limit, he nodded slightly and said softly, “Good, take a rest for a while.”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yan’s shoulders, which had been straining to maintain balance, immediately slumped. His body, as if drained of all strength, collapsed softly onto the cold ground. He panted heavily, his chest rising and falling rapidly. His entire body felt numb and sore, and at this moment, he didn’t even have the energy to move a single finger.
“Training at this time is the most effective,” the old alchemist said mildly, glancing at Xiao Yan, who lay on the ground like a puddle of jelly.
After a brief internal struggle between laziness and diligence, Xiao Yan reluctantly sat up with a groan, trembling hands forming the cultivation hand seal, and then slowly closed his eyes.
Seeing Xiao Yan in this state, the old alchemist smiled. His gaze shifted to the dozen or so jade boxes placed in front of the medicinal cauldron. The jade boxes were filled with the light white powder extracted from the Blood Coagulation Grass, the result of Xiao Yan’s hard work earlier.
Looking from left to right, the light white color in the boxes gradually became more concentrated. By the last box, the white powder had almost reached a pure white quality. Seeing this significant progress, the old alchemist nodded in amazement, praising Xiao Yan’s outstanding soul perception once again in his heart.
Glancing at Xiao Yan, who was recovering his battle energy, the old alchemist sat cross-legged and leaned against the stone wall, closing his eyes to rest. Xiao Yan had only refined the first material; there were still two more materials waiting for him to work on.
…
After resting for nearly an hour, the dim aura in Xiao Yan’s body, depleted by the expenditure of battle energy, finally began to shine brightly again. And this time, the glow seemed even brighter than a few hours ago.
Slowly opening his eyes, the sense of weakness and numbness throughout his body had mostly dissipated. He twisted his neck, and the sound of bones popping made Xiao Yan exhale in relief.
“Feeling better? Then let’s continue,” the old alchemist said with a smile, looking at Xiao Yan, who had regained his vitality.
Shaking his head with a bitter smile, Xiao Yan finally understood after the painful alchemy process that he had been misled by the old alchemist. Previously, when the old alchemist performed alchemy, he would just casually burn a few things with his palm, and the resulting pills would drive people crazy. This simple process had given Xiao Yan the impression that alchemy was easy. But now, when he did it himself, he realized that it was more exhausting than moving boulders.
Realizing this a bit late, Xiao Yan could only sigh in frustration. He sat down in front of the medicinal cauldron again and began to refine the essences of the other two herbs.
With the experience of refining the Blood Coagulation Grass, Xiao Yan found it much easier this time. After burning eight Living Energy Fruits and ten Opium Flowers, he successfully extracted the necessary ingredients for the healing potion.
From the Living Energy Fruits, he extracted a slightly dark, fine-grained substance. These grains had the effect of removing stasis and promoting blood circulation. In the wild, experienced injured mercenaries often used crushed Living Energy Fruits to alleviate their injuries when they ran out of healing medicines.
From the Opium Flowers, he extracted a light red liquid. This liquid had a numbing effect on the nerves and could be used as a painkiller.
Seeing the three drugs neatly arranged in front of Xiao Yan, the old alchemist nodded slightly and said softly, “The required materials have been extracted. Now, we need to fuse their medicinal properties together. This is the most important step in alchemy.”
Taking a deep breath, Xiao Yan nodded solemnly, skillfully tossing the pure white powder into the cauldron. He then roasted it over a gentle flame for about ten minutes. When the pure white powder began to turn slightly red, he quickly poured in the liquid from the Opium Flowers.
As soon as the liquid entered the cauldron, it enveloped the white powder. Under the flames, they rolled and mixed, gradually fusing into a light red, viscous liquid.
Xiao Yan’s soul perception worked hard to control the temperature of the flame, slowly roasting the light red, viscous liquid. As the flame continued to roast, the viscous liquid gradually turned into a dark red paste.
Staring intently at the dark red paste in the cauldron through the transparent mirror, Xiao Yan hesitated for a moment before throwing in the small black grains from the Living Energy Fruits.
The small black grains entered the cauldron but did not show any immediate change. A large cluster of tiny grains bounced around in the flames, refusing to merge into the dark red paste as desired.
“Each material has a different resistance to temperature. Therefore, you must learn to control the temperature of the flames anywhere in the cauldron. You need to suppress the flames where low temperatures are required, and increase the temperature where high heat is needed…”
Seeing Xiao Yan sweating profusely, the old alchemist said calmly.
Licking his dry lips, Xiao Yan nodded and quickly divided his soul perception to control the flames beneath the tiny grains, gradually raising the temperature.
“Boom…” As Xiao Yan’s soul perception released the suppression of the temperature, an uncontrollable burst of flame suddenly rose, burning half of the black grains to ashes in a matter of moments. Scared, Xiao Yan hurriedly suppressed the flames with all his might.
Xiao Yan had to maintain the temperature of the flames on one side while increasing the temperature on the other. This dual-tasking requirement gave him a terrible headache. But after several close calls, Xiao Yan finally calmed down from his flustered state. Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, he took a deep breath and channeled the remaining little battle energy into the fire hole.
In the cauldron, the tiny black grains, unable to withstand the increasing temperature, finally burst open. Clumps of dark black powder slowly floated into the light red paste, deepening its color…
When the last clump of dark black powder floated into the paste, Xiao Yan sighed with relief. His hand slowly pulled away from the fire hole, and as he withdrew his hand, the flames in the cauldron gradually extinguished.
Seeing Xiao Yan panting, the old alchemist smiled. With a wave of his hand, the lid of the cauldron flew off. With another gesture, the large lump of dark red paste leaped out of the cauldron and hovered in the air of the cave.
Glancing at the dark red paste, which emitted a strong medicinal aroma, the old alchemist sliced it in mid-air with his hand. As his hand moved, the continuously flowing dark red paste was divided into at least a hundred smaller lumps of viscous liquid.
Taking the storage ring from Xiao Yan, the old alchemist flicked his fingers, and a hundred small jade bottles instantly filled the narrow cave. After arranging the bottles, the old alchemist waved his hand, and the floating paste liquids accurately fell into the bottles.
Picking up one of the bottles, the old alchemist handed it to Xiao Yan with a playful smile, “Congratulations, your first alchemy session was a success!”
Eagerly taking the bottle, Xiao Yan looked at the not entirely pure, dark red medicinal liquid inside. A surge of excited pride welled up in his heart.
“Hehe, from now on, I’m also an alchemist!”
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