Chapter 34: Repairing the Alchemy Furnace, Refining Pills

On Longshe Shan.

Chen Chuyang's life returned to peace again, with no one disturbing him and no major events happening.

Each day was either cultivation or pill refining, preparing new prescriptions, then getting used to the huge fire alchemy furnace; the crack in this furnace looks minor but is actually deadly, disrupting the furnace's formation—that's the problem, causing the furnace to fail at normal pill refinement, or rather, it can still refine pills but the failure rate rises by ninety percent.

This is terrifying; the success rate of pill refining was already low, and increasing it by ninety percent makes success nearly impossible, dooming failure—this is why this alchemy furnace appeared at the auction, and why it ended up in the hands of his father, Chen Yuan.

It was practically buying a useless alchemy furnace home; after studying it, Chen Chuyang could only laugh and cry.

"The huge fire alchemy furnace is more damaged than I thought; repairing it will be no small problem."

"The exterior damage is minor, but the core is completely destroyed; the formation's damage prevents the huge fire alchemy furnace from refining pills properly—even I cannot refine pills, no matter how strong the earth fire or how well I control my true qi."

Fortunately he familiarized himself beforehand; otherwise, directly refining pills would likely cause the furnace to explode.

The consequences are unimaginable.

Chen Chuyang frowned at the huge fire alchemy furnace, spending these days thinking of ways to repair it and then start refining pills; he was familiar with herbs and prescriptions, with no major issues, only lacking actual execution.

"Repairing the formation isn't hard, and I happen to be skilled in formations, but modifying the alchemy furnace is not so simple."

In formations, Chen Chuyang considers himself proficient—you either understand it or you don't.

It requires talent; those with good talent need only a little study to grasp the principle and basically know how to set up formations.

Having studied the formations inside the huge fire alchemy furnace, Chen Chuyang found the auxiliary formations for pill refining—such as those controlling fire temperature, gathering spirit qi, and aiding the furnace in shaping and extracting pills—were not difficult when combined.

Wanting to re-carve the formation is not easy, and that's what gives Chen Chuyang a headache.

"Burn."

He burned the huge fire alchemy furnace with earth fire heating it, then began feeding in ore; Chen Chuyang immersed his mind, seeking the cracks and linking the formation.

The difficulty of repair is much lower than that of refining; Chen Chuyang familiarized himself step by step, taking it slow without rush.

He knew the importance of this alchemy furnace and dared not act recklessly.

If this sole alchemy furnace is lost, it's truly gone.

Repair began.

He fed in ore, melted it, and patched the cracks.

Linking the formation—this step was crucial; Chen Chuyang dared not be careless nor rush, proceeding bit by bit, his mental consumption increasing, but his soul was strong enough to endure it.

Time passed, minute by minute, second by second.

A day passed.

The huge fire alchemy furnace remained as before, standing firm in place, the earth fire burning, the cracks on it disappearing bit by bit.

Inside, the formation showed signs of recovery; Chen Chuyang smiled, forming hand signs with both hands, imprinting the formation with his soul, the formation inside the huge fire alchemy furnace began to connect, and once the broken spots were repaired, the formation activated on its own.

The alchemy furnace stirred, automatically absorbing heaven and earth spirit qi, then repairing itself.

Seeing this, Chen Chuyang relaxed his grip and withdrew the earth fire.

The rest relied on the alchemy furnace itself; its formation was fully connected.

He also needed to recover his true qi, having expended too much; repairing the alchemy furnace was no easy feat, and Chen Chuyang could barely endure it.

Another day.

Chen Chuyang exhaled; his true qi returned to its peak, with a slight breakthrough.

His control over true qi rose a level, and the quality and purity of his true qi also improved.

His study of the Hunyuan Dao Scripture yielded some insight, making advancement quicker.

This is good.

"The huge fire alchemy furnace's repair is complete; I don't know if it can be used directly."

Chen Chuyang inspected the huge fire alchemy furnace's recovery; its formation was fully restored, the crack temporarily mended, though it looked a bit ugly, at least it was repaired.

Looking at that crack, he said proudly, "It's a little ugly, but at least it's been repaired."

"Artifact refining doesn't seem too hard either; once my cultivation is higher, perhaps I can try it."

This repair greatly enhanced his formation skills, and he also mastered several formations.

The formations inside the alchemy furnace broadened his horizons and taught him how formations combine.

Most importantly, the insights from artifact refining differ from pill refining, though the principles are similar.

"Now first refine pills; the Hundred Herbs Pill can be made."

"I don't know if it will succeed."

Chen Chuyang said he'd do it and wouldn't wait.

Now is the best time.

He lit the fire, burned it, fed spirit medicines in order; stalk by stalk of spirit medicine entered the huge fire alchemy furnace, its internal formation activated, the earth fire increased severalfold, speeding the melting of the spirit medicines, which quickly turned into liquid, then began to purge impurities.

This step is the furnace's automatic procedure, requiring no control from Chen Chuyang, saving much effort and time; he experienced the furnace's benefits, understanding why so many pill refiners need an alchemy furnace—its effect is truly huge.

Saving true qi is secondary; overall consumption drops, mainly it's convenient, sparing him excessive mental strain.

The huge fire alchemy furnace's usefulness exceeded Chen Chuyang's expectations; all spirit medicines were melted into spirit liquid, then extracted.

This step takes time.

The infusion of true qi must not be chaotic; it needs to be steady.

Chen Chuyang controlled his true qi, preventing the alchemy furnace from large fluctuations.

Every minor mistake would cause this batch of pills to fail.

Chen Chuyang held his breath, staring at the spirit liquid inside the furnace.

Time flew by quickly.

After who knows how many hours, the impurities in the furnace's spirit liquid had been cleared away as much as possible; the furnace could remove no more, leaving only the essence, and Chen Chuyang changed his method.

"Condense."

This method was his own realization, derived from some books of the Chen Clan.

It was also his own method of condensing pills, used for the first time.

During this period, after countless simulations, he had already memorized it by heart.

As soon as the method was employed, the giant fire Alchemy Furnace stirred; with changes in the true qi, the spiritual liquid inside began to condense, separating into portions, then quickly condensing into pills—this step was extremely important and also done with great care.

Even Chen Chuyang had to hold his breath, not daring to gasp.

With both hands steadily inputting true qi, he kept his mind calm.