Chapter 109: One Furnace Yields Three or Five Grains

White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer: Second-layer Prohibition/1/100

"Sure enough, the effect of bones refined by a cultivator is much stronger. If the quantity is insufficient, one can make up for it with quality."

Chen Ci withdrew his gaze from his personal panel and nodded with satisfaction.

Just as I thought, refining a hundred catties of white bones a day must refer to the lower limit of refining; otherwise, if the bones of mortals and cultivators had the same effect, then this immortality would have been cultivated in vain.

By the same logic, I fear the flesh and blood required for the Five Yin Evil Qi Bag is the same.

"I reckon it weighs about two hundred and twenty catties."

Chen Ci gripped the White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer and unleashed a 'Force Splitting Mount Hua' strike. The air passing through the skull hammerhead emitted a shrill, wailing blast. If this could be paired with the Five Ghosts Soul-Confusing Method, wouldn't it be effortless when fighting?

"But in my hand, it feels like less than twenty catties. Swinging it doesn't affect my body's balance in the slightest, nor does it affect my attack speed."

Chen Ci put away the White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer. No wonder Side Door Cultivators all like to refine powerful Dharma Artifacts and are less concerned with cultivation techniques and Daoist practice. With a good Dharma Artifact in hand, one can truly compensate for a gap in cultivation level when fighting fiercely.

I dare not speak of things too far off; after all, Chen Ci does not understand what kind of means or differences a Qi Refining cultivator who has broken through the Hundred Apertures possesses. But if his own White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer had over ten layers of Prohibition, I fear a single hammer strike would have finished off that man surnamed Liu.

Of course, that is provided one can find the opportunity.

"Although Hutou Daoren has a Jiao Zhenren behind him, the prestige of the Copper Tuo Yao Clan of the He Mountain Sect is clearly even greater. When those above fight, it is the small fry below who suffer. It is both an opportunity and a risk."

Chen Ci pondered for a moment; he still needed to carefully contemplate this path of advancement.

There is no future in just being a thug; even a street hoodlum can understand this principle.

"Just this much Yellow Dragon Grass and Earth Bright Stone?"

Chen Ci pinched a grain of Divine Sand shaped like a large pearl and rubbed it in his palm a few times. A firefly-like glow seemed to flicker within it, but as the spiritual energy gradually stabilized, that bright light slowly faded away.

This Earth Bright Stone is actually a type of Earth Attribute Five Elements Divine Sand, but it is the essence condensed together and has the effect of harmonizing medicinal properties. It is similar to Spirit Pearls that have been mutated by contamination with spiritual energy, so its value has multiplied; one catty is worth ten catties of Five Elements Divine Sand.

The medicinal materials sent by Fuhu Altar included three grains of Earth Bright Stone, which is three taels in weight, thirty catties of Yellow Dragon Grass, and the rest were all common items like aged Mountain Ginseng, Solomon's Seal, and Fleeceflower Root. Although the total value was similar to the contribution points he had recorded, he was not lacking in these common materials, so he was truly at a bit of a loss.

"Reporting to Martial Uncle, the medicinal materials in the altar's storehouse were not enough to meet the count, so we could only barely scrape them together. I hope Martial Uncle will forgive us."

The Apprentice Ding Jiang, who delivered the medicinal materials, explained cautiously, sweat seeping from his forehead.

"Fine."

Chen Ci did not make things difficult for this Daoist; what could an errand runner decide? He tipped him five taels of gold and said indifferently: "Go back and give Junior Brother Ding a message: Copper Tuo Yao Clan, Yao Daosheng. Did you remember that?"

"I have remembered it."

The Daoist went over the sentence several times in his heart, and after confirming there were no omissions, he accepted the reward and slowly retreated.

Chen Ci had originally wanted to have him take that pale jade plaque back, but upon second thought, it seemed somewhat inappropriate.

This thing might still have some use in his hands.

After all, it was given by his sworn brother; it could be a token of trust or a memento. Keeping it to cherish the memory is also excellent.

Sanyin Temple, Pill Room.

Yellow Sprout Rice, ninety-nine catties.

Yellow Dragon Grass, forty catties.

Earth Bright Stone, three taels.

A small amount of aged Qi-nourishing medicinal materials.

"Looking at it this way, I can start two or three furnaces of Yellow Sprout Pill. The main issue is that the amount of Yellow Dragon Grass and Earth Bright Stone is still a bit low."

Chen Ci put down the Yellow Sprout Pill recipe and slowly adjusted his state.

The method of the Pill Dao, though varied, cannot escape the three major categories of herbs, metals/stones, and flesh/blood. Essentially, it is still about using Pill methods to harmonize medicinal properties, subdue spiritual energy, and bring them into one's own use.

The pill recipe is merely the wisdom of predecessors, but how to harmonize the medicinal properties and subdue the spiritual energy is the individual method of each alchemist.

"First, process the mundane medicinal materials. With the 'Lin Family Herbal Notes', I can save quite a bit of effort."

It took more than an hour to process these auxiliary materials, which were then packed into jade bottles separately.

The Earth Bright Stone does not need processing; take one tael and grind it for later use.

Yellow Sprout Rice, twelve parts to one, yields one portion of Yellow Sprout Essence.

Yellow Dragon Grass, fifteen parts to one, yields one portion of Yellow Dragon Essence.

"I hear that some brilliant alchemists, fearing their pill recipes and methods will be leaked during alchemy, will refine the main ingredients into pills in advance. When refining, they toss the pills into the furnace so that others cannot learn their alchemy method."

Chen Ci set up his pill cauldron, placed charcoal underneath, and then carefully sprinkled in half a catty of Fire Attribute Five Elements Divine Sand, which could help stabilize the fire power.

"For one portion of Yellow Sprout Pill materials, with my current cultivation of the medicine-gathering method, the cost is about six catties and two taels of Five Elements Divine Sand, which is over six thousand taels of silver."

Lighting the charcoal and waiting for the fire to stabilize, Chen Ci even had the heart to calculate his accounts: "A bottle of twelve Yellow Sprout Pills has a market price of seven Spirit Pearls. I must produce twelve pills in one furnace to avoid a loss, and twenty-four to make a name for myself in Xishan Market. However, there is still a lot of room for the cost of materials to drop; the future is promising."

Chen Ci estimated that a brilliant alchemist specializing in Yellow Sprout Pills should be able to control the cost of one furnace of pills to between two and three Spirit Pearls.

"Profiteering!"

Chen Ci was instantly so jealous his eyes turned red: "Live for pills, die for pills; the Pill Dao without me is like a long night. Pills, come!"

Seeing that the fire in the pill cauldron was about right, Chen Ci waved his sleeve to lift the lid, used True Qi to send the Yellow Sprout Essence and Yellow Dragon Essence inside, and quickly pinched the Fire Control Method spell to control the temperature inside the furnace.

If not for this spell to control the fire, truthfully, whether it was the essences or the herbs, given the heat in this pill cauldron, they would have been refined into ashes in a moment; how could they ever become pills?

Immortal Spirit Pills must use temperature changes and True Qi harmonization to slowly bring out the medicinal properties.

After half an hour passed like this, Chen Ci held the Fire Control Method spell while operating the Observation Qi Method to sense the changes in medicinal properties within the cauldron. Suddenly, he sent in the Earth Bright Stone and the Qi-nourishing auxiliary materials, then spurred the fire power to begin a fierce, intense roasting.

With the cooperation of True Qi, the Yellow Sprout Essence and Yellow Dragon Essence produced a very wondrous spiritual reaction with the help of the Earth Bright Stone, and absorbed the essences of those Qi-nourishing auxiliary materials to compensate for the lack of medicinal properties.

But he was also drenched in sweat.

Fire Control Method spell, Qi Observation Spell, and True Qi harmonization—with all three methods applied, Chen Ci consumed one aperture of True Qi every quarter of an hour. After this hour passed, plus the previous consumption for extracting essences, nearly half of his True Qi was exhausted. If not for his cultivation having improved, this Spirit Pill would never have been refined.

"And this is only a low-grade Spirit Pill."

Chen Ci tried hard to stabilize his mind. Whether brilliant alchemists are powerful in combat might be debatable, but their True Qi cultivation is definitely stronger than others.

Before long, through the Qi Observation Spell, Chen Ci saw a wisp of misty essence rising above the pill cauldron, and within the cauldron, spiritual energy also began to slowly condense.

Chen Ci knew that this was where the essence of the Yellow Sprout Pill lay, and it was also the time for Condensing the Pill.

How many pills this furnace could ultimately condense depended entirely on this step, which was an extreme test of an alchemist's level of the Condensing Pill Method.

"Open!"

Chen Ci fiercely triggered the Fire Control Method incantation, forcing the furnace fire to stimulate the medicinal properties while simultaneously opening the cauldron lid.

With a "bang," the pill cauldron opened, and the medicinal essence surged out on a wave of heat; as the spiritual energy within made contact with the air, having no carrier, it would completely dissipate in just a few breaths.

Chen Ci used both hands, activating the Condensing Pill Incantation, and used his own True Qi to vaguely grasp at it; he had expected this medicinal essence to wrap around the spiritual energy and fall, but he did not expect this mass of essence to be unexpectedly powerful, as if high-pressure gas could not contain it. He was in a flurry of confusion, only barely managing to control three or five wisps of essence to fall and collide with several streams of liquid that looked like pure paste, condensing into five pale yellow pills.

Chen Ci hurriedly reached out to scoop them up, placing them into a pill bottle he had prepared in advance; five pills were condensed, but only three could be considered presentable Yellow Sprout Spirit Pills.

Producing three pills from one furnace is very few.

Chen Ci wiped the sweat from his forehead, but a flash of surprise crossed his eyes; it was not that he felt disappointed by the number of pills formed, as he was already very satisfied to have successfully formed pills on his first attempt at alchemy.

The main thing was that this Yellow Sprout Spirit Pill seemed not as difficult as he had imagined; if not for his slip-up with the Condensing Pill Method at the end, he felt he could have formed several more.

"Difficult, me, heaven?"

Chen Ci gasped, could it be that he was truly a hidden alchemy genius?!

(End of chapter)