Please, Young Master, Slay the Demon!
Chapter 249 - 41 Initial Experience of Refining [Monthly Vote Required!]_1

Chapter 249: Chapter 41 Initial Experience of Refining [Monthly Vote Required!]_1

Legend has it that in ancient times, cultivators, regardless of their level of cultivation, needed to dabble in various aspects such as artifact refining, alchemy, talisman making, array drawing...they needed to be knowledgeable in all these aspects in order to be considered a qualified cultivator.

However, in the subsequent evolution of the Immortal Cultivation World, this model gradually fell out of favor. Cultivators discovered that any field of study, once delved deeply into, requires massive amounts of time and resources.

Being proficient in everything equates to being average in everything.

Spending massive amounts of time studying alchemy, whether one can achieve a high level of accomplishment is unknown. However, in a person’s life, they may only need alchemy a few times. It would be better to spend money to hire a professional Alchemy Master, which is more convenient and reliable.

The Immortal Cultivation World gradually gave rise to specialized Alchemists, Artifact Refiners, Array Masters, Talisman Masters, Beast Control Masters...which has become the mainstream today.

Among them, Alchemists are the wealthiest.

Despite both being high-tech careers, Artifact Refiners are not as wealthy as Alchemists.

Essentially speaking, the reason Alchemists make more money is probably due to one reason...it’s more difficult.

Because it’s difficult, it’s rare. Because it’s rare, they earn more.

Alchemy is more difficult than artifact refining, mainly because once the preparation of an elixir fails, all the previous efforts are wasted; all the ingredients are rendered useless, and there isn’t much room for recovery. However, if artifact refining fails, the materials are often salvageable, and at most, one needs to spend more effort to embed the array rune again.

So, a young man with exceptional talent, if he has an interest in alchemy as a craft, generally starts by learning alchemy. If he fails at mastering alchemy, he is eliminated and guided to study artifact refining instead.

Such as a certain disciple surnamed Wen from Shu Mountain.

Of course, Wen Yulong’s failure to learn alchemy was not so much a lack of talent, but rather because he was on the wrong path.

Today, Chu Liang is also sitting in front of an alchemy furnace.

...

"A foot and two inches of Jade Flower Branch, one joint of Cleary Bamboo, three drops of Green-Eyed Centipede Liquid, one Wood Spirit Crystal...these are the four main ingredients."

"Three petals of White Lake Daffodil, five leaves of Gas Concentrating Lotus, three weights of Spirit Sand, five weights of Ink Cinnabar, a smidgeon of Light Following Powder...these are the five auxiliary ingredients."

This is the Green Pill recipe that he got from Chen Su.

In fact, Chu Liang had shown some interest in alchemy long ago—he was always interested in anything that could make money.

And being stuck on this top-grade Green Elixir had sparked his interest in learning the art of alchemy.

If you don’t control your own skills, you will end up being controlled by others.

Fortunately, after killing that alchemist, he left behind some items suitable for alchemy, and Chu Liang took the opportunity to give it a try.

The recipe for the Green Pill is not too precious. Chu Liang presented some gifts, and Chen Su quietly gave it to him. After all, even if there is a proprietary pill recipe, only the Pill Furnace Elder and a few of his disciples can refine a top-grade Green Pill.

Chu Liang didn’t aim to refine a top-grade pill in one go. This pill also happens to be cost-effective and suitable for beginners, so he used it as a starting point.

He first arranged the Azure Gilded Pill Furnace that he had seized, placed four pieces of Fire Spirit Ointment underneath, and then ignited the Fire Spirits Divine Fire Breath.

It’s not hard to learn the technique to ignite this Divine Fire. Chu Liang briefly studied it for a while and already mastered it proficiently.

Whoosh—

The five-colored divine fire bloomed brilliantly. As soon as it was ignited, the mountain and sea map scroll on the entire furnace seemed to start moving, with the sound of surging waves coming on!

Chen Su had explained to Chu Liang that these luminous runes on the pill furnace are not there just to look good or cool...although this may be part of the reason. Their main purpose is to show the intensity of the flames so that the alchemist can better control the heat.

After all, alchemists can’t feel the intensity of the fire with their hands, and relying on the intensity of the True Qi input to feel it is unfriendly to some novice alchemists. Displaying the intensity of the flames in this way is like dividing it into gear positions, which is clear at a glance.

Chu Liang let the fire heat up for a while before he tossed the first ingredient, the three drops of Green-Eyed Centipede Liquid, into the furnace.

The three drops of blue-green liquid fell into the furnace and immediately evaporated due to the heat. But they didn’t fly out of the furnace, instead, they turned into a ball of green gas that stuck to the bottom of the furnace.

This is the miraculous aspect of Green-Eyed Centipede Liquid. Once heated, it attaches itself to its surroundings.

With this, it was as if there was an additional layer of membrane at the bottom of the furnace. The other ingredients would no longer directly come into contact with the blazing divine fire, allowing Chu Liang to put the Wood Spirit Crystal in.

The Wood Spirit Crystal counteracts with the fire attribute. Direct heating causes wastage, so some buffering is necessary. After a while, it also slowly melted in the protection of the green gas, and drops of liquid fell.

Chu Liang then added clearly bamboo. This semi-transparent green bamboo section became increasingly clear as it heated and absorbed the wood spiritual energy, until it was almost invisible. Only then did Chu Liang add the final main herb, a jade flower branch.

The reason for adding it last was because it was the most heat-sensitive, and by this time, it could just rightly melt with the other materials.

Once all four main herbs were added, Chu Liang slightly activated his true Qi, increasing the flame intensity.

Boom——

In terms of true Qi operation, he had undergone many drills. Now, he was no less than an alchemy apprentice, adeptly controlling the minute changes of the flame.

Throughout the whole operation process, he strictly followed the steps Chen Su had taught him. Despite it being his first attempt, there were no mistakes. If Chen Su had been there to guide him personally, he would have undoubtedly marveled at his surprising talent.

In a few breaths’ time, the main medicinal ingredients in the pill furnace had all melted, turning into a thick and sticky green spiritual energy.

Only then did Chu Liang start to add auxiliary ingredients - the Three-Petal Daffodil of White Lake as soon as they entered the furnace, they turned into a white mist mixed in between.

He used his true Qi to control the white gas, gently stirring it, evenly distributing the energy-rich green gas. This was the role of the White Lake Three-Petal Daffodil, it could serve as a catalyzer to stir spiritual energy, without harming the medicinal properties.

After this, Chu Liang added a substantial amount of spirit sand, the most commonly used type of cinnabar.

The cinnabar floated in the middle of the green gas.

At this time, he added the gas concentrating lotus. As the petals disintegrated, it immediately started absorbing the surrounding green Qi, forming a cohesive force. The cinnabar acted as the nucleus of this force, gradually gathering all the spiritual energy.

It was only after all the spiritual energy had integrated into the cinnabar that Chu Liang added the ink cinnabar. This substance, as gentle as water, instantly enveloped the cinnabar under the control of his true Qi, forming a protective barrier around it.

Now came the crucial step.

If the ink cinnabar was simply allowed to envelop the spirit cinnabar, the elixir could still take shape. This would only produce an ordinary mid to low-grade green pill. At this point, if a little Light Following Powder were swiftly added, allowing it to spread evenly throughout the ink cinnabar, it could result in a high-grade green pill.

Lowl-grade Green Pills can also incorporate the spiritual energy of plants and trees. But for a high-grade one which has been mixed in with Light Following Powder, it can communicate with it directly, achieving a flawless effect.

The difficulty lay in the fact that the Light Following Powder was highly unstable and could easily... explode upon exposure to light.

Mastery of "Craftsmanship".

This was the key to producing a high-grade green pill.

Just as Chu Liang was preparing to display his fine manipulation skills, he suddenly felt a slight tremor from his magical storage tool, where the Soul Summoning Order was kept.

Darn.

Chu Liang’s concentration was momentarily distracted. It was only a momentary lapse, which would’ve been nothing under normal circumstances. However, at the point of laying out the ingredients, timing was already hard to control.

Boom——

...

[East Road Guide]: "White Bone Hall is under siege by three Immortal Sects, is everyone alright?"

[Sixty]: "Alright."

[Fifty Nine]: "Thank you, Guide, for your concern. The three of us weren’t on White Bone Mountain at that time, so we are relatively safe. However, our Hall Master, Black Feather General, has died. Now we are stranded, not knowing how to return to White Bone Hall. Despite the short duration, we have gathered some useful intel. It turns out that Demon Princess Liu from Red Clothes Palace and South Route Guide under the command of the Marquis are lovers! They were originally planning to explore the Black Dragon Secret Realm together, but after the South Route Guide died, Demon Princess Liu partnered with Master Mu."

[East Road Guide]: "What? This is..."

[East Road Guide]: "In that case, the locations of the Marquis and the Silver King were only known to a few of us, their closest subordinates. If this is true, it is very likely that the South Road Guide had leaked it to someone from Misty Mountain Immortal! I didn’t expect him to collude with Red Clothes Palace!"

[Fifty Nine]: "My God! The Marquis treated him so kindly and he betrayed the Marquis? He really is heartless and ungrateful!"

[East Road Guide]: "I will report this to the Marquis, you did well. Since your identities were not revealed this time, I will arrange for you to enter another hall after some time."

[East Road Guide]: "What about Fifty-eight? How come there’s been no news, has something happened to him?"

Only after a while came the reply.

[Fifty Eight]: "I’m fine..."