Chapter 38: Refining Coagulation Powder

After Xiao Yan returned to the Xiao Family, he headed straight for the back mountain. Reaching the peak of the back mountain, he pulled out an iron chain from a hidden bush and climbed down along it. When he reached the end of the iron chain, he kicked his feet against the mountain wall, and his body fell toward a platform.

After reaching the spacious platform, Xiao Yan breathed a sigh of relief. After all, he was about to become an alchemist, and he felt quite excited. Alchemists were national treasures of the Dou Qi Continent, like giant pandas, and their status was incomparable. If Xiao Yan stayed in Wutan City, he could easily bring down the Jia Lie Clan and the Aoba Family just by becoming an alchemist.

Xiao Yan looked at the two storage rings on his left hand, a smile appearing on the corner of his mouth. Now he was wealthier than the entire Xiao Family. Don't look at them as just low-level storage rings; only his father, Xiao Zhan, and the Great Elder had one, but he possessed two.

Xiao Yan caressed one of the storage rings, flicked his finger, and a red medicine cauldron nearly half a meter wide appeared in Xiao Yan's hand. Xiao Yan weighed it and found it quite heavy.

The medicine cauldron was dark red all over, carved with two ferocious snake heads, and the surface of the cauldron was also painted with magical beast carvings, looking lifelike, as if they were alive.

Xiao Yan looked at the medicine cauldron left and right and found it exactly the same as the medicine cauldron of Xiao Yan in the original work, but this was normal; after all, these medicine cauldrons were mass-produced and not unique.

After Xiao Yan understood how to use the medicine cauldron, he immediately asked: "What should I do now?"

"Your Yin-Yang Dual Flames are composed of white and black flames. If both are used together, they are just ordinary Exotic Fire, but if used separately..."

"Hehe, didn't you experiment before? Using the white flame alone to refine medicine can increase the healing effect of the refined pills, the quality will be improved, and there are some unexpected effects," Yao Lao said with a smile.

Under the burning of the Exotic Fire, the Coagulation Grass refined a white powder, the Vitality Fruit refined slightly black tiny particles, and the Poppy Flower refined a light red liquid.

However, under Yao Lao's explanation, Xiao Yan still understood some knowledge about the medicine cauldron. At this time, he couldn't pretend to understand when he didn't; after all, refining medicine was not a simple matter, and failure would occur if there was the slightest mistake.

But this most difficult and important step was incomparably simple for Xiao Yan, because Xiao Yan not only had powerful soul perception but also had perfect control over the Exotic Fire, without the slightest awkwardness, not at all like someone who had just obtained an Exotic Fire.

As soon as the Coagulation Grass touched the Exotic Fire, it instantly turned into ashes and was expelled from the medicine cauldron by a special device inside.

Through the ice mirror surface of the medicine cauldron, Xiao Yan carefully observed the Coagulation Grass constantly rolling in the flames inside the cauldron. However, at this time, Xiao Yan did not directly start refining the Coagulation Grass but began to slightly increase the flame temperature. As the flame temperature increased, the Coagulation Grass turned directly into black ashes after reaching a certain critical point.

Xiao Yan sent the white flame in his palm into the medicine cauldron and asked Yao Lao with a smile: "Should I inject the wood power in my body into this flame next?"

With the temperature of the Coagulation Grass as a reference, after paying the price of more than a dozen Vitality Fruits and a few Poppy Flowers, Xiao Yan soon found the temperature range for these two medicinal materials.

Listening to Yao Lao's quite envious voice, a smile appeared on the corner of Xiao Yan's mouth, and he recalled the pill recipe for Coagulation Powder in his mind.

"Coagulation Powder: one Coagulation Grass, one Vitality Fruit, two Poppy Flowers."

Xiao Yan saw that all three medicinal materials were refined and knew that the most important step had arrived, which was to fuse all three different medicinal materials together. Because the temperature required for the three medicinal materials was different, the alchemist had to master the temperature of any flame color. These things could only be done by alchemists with sufficiently high soul perception.

Looking at the Coagulation Grass that directly turned into ashes, a smile appeared on the corner of Xiao Yan's mouth. He took another Coagulation Grass from the storage ring and threw it into the medicine cauldron. This time, the Coagulation Grass did not turn into ashes and stayed quietly in the flames. Before the Coagulation Grass was refined, Xiao Yan began to lower the flame temperature. When the temperature reached a certain critical point, the Coagulation Grass also turned into ashes.

Xiao Yan listened to Yao Lao and summoned the Exotic Fire in his body. Just as he was about to send the black and white flame in his palm into the medicine cauldron, Yao Lao's voice sounded at this time.

Whether refining medicinal materials or fusing pills, the flame temperature cannot be too high or too low, otherwise, it will fail.

Xiao Yan lowered the temperature of the flames in the medicine cauldron by a few degrees, took another Coagulation Grass from the storage ring, and threw it into the medicine cauldron. The Coagulation Grass turned into ashes again after touching the flames. Xiao Yan lowered the flame temperature by a few degrees again, constantly trying. After paying the price of dozens of Coagulation Grasses, the Coagulation Grass finally stayed quietly in the flames.

"A two-mouthed cauldron?" Xiao Yan scratched his head, somewhat confused. Although he knew it was a two-mouthed cauldron, he didn't know much about the tricks inside.

Yao Lao saw this scene and nodded with satisfaction, thinking to himself: "This disciple of mine truly has alchemy talent I have never seen before! His control over flames is not like a novice at all, but as skilled as an old hand like me."

Xiao Yan flicked his finger on the storage ring, and a dark red Coagulation Grass appeared in his hand. He threw the Coagulation Grass into the medicine cauldron through the snake head mouth at the top of the cauldron.

After everything was ready, Xiao Yan divided the flames in the medicine cauldron into three, and all three groups of flames burned at different temperatures. He then took a Coagulation Grass, a Vitality Fruit, and two Poppy Flowers from the storage ring and threw them into the three burning flames respectively.

Xiao Yan first controlled the liquid refined from the Poppy Flowers to wrap the pure white powder, making the two fuse together. What was fused was a light red viscous liquid. He continued to nourish these liquids until they turned into a dark red paste shape. After the two were completely fused, Xiao Yan began to increase the flame temperature around the black particles refined from the Vitality Fruit.

"Hehe, because you have an Exotic Fire, you don't need to convert it through the fire mouth anymore; just summon the Exotic Fire and put it into the medicine cauldron," Yao Lao said with a smile.

At this time, Yao Lao turned into a white light and floated out of the ring, then said indifferently: "A two-mouthed cauldron is just right for a novice like you."

"Hahaha! You know quite a bit, but other alchemists naturally need to do this, but you don't. This kind of Exotic Fire of yours seems to be specially used for refining medicine. To tell you the truth, if I had to choose, I would definitely choose the Yin-Yang Dual Flames instead of the Bone Chilling Flame. You just need to put the medicinal materials into the medicine cauldron to refine them now," Yao Lao laughed loudly.

"Does Teacher mean to use the two flames separately and use the white flame directly to refine medicine?" Xiao Yan asked with confusion.

Xiao Yan extinguished the flames in his hand and beckoned again. A white flame appeared in Xiao Yan's palm. This white flame emitted vitality, and it smelled refreshing.

Xiao Yan saw that he failed the first time he refined medicine, blinked his eyes, and didn't feel surprised. Although he could control the flame temperature at will and knew what temperature was needed to refine Coagulation Grass, he didn't have a thermometer, so how could he know what the flame temperature was? So there was no other way, he could only constantly experiment to increase experience.

The black particles refined from the Vitality Fruit finally burst under the constantly rising temperature, and wisps of pitch-black powder slowly drifted into the light red paste, dyeing the latter's color even deeper.

After Xiao Yan fused all the black powder, he extinguished the flames in the medicine cauldron. He opened the cauldron lid and took out the newly refined Coagulation Powder. Looking at the large mass of dark red paste in his hand, a smile appeared on the corner of Xiao Yan's mouth.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 39 =====