Urban Extraordinary Immortal Doctor
Chapter 1417: Pill Condensation Technique

Chapter 1417: Chapter 1417: Pill Condensation Technique

For someone like Sun Jing, an "Alchemist," the difficulty of refining elixirs far exceeded that of cultivating martial arts techniques.

Over the next two days, Sun Jing stayed by the pill furnace, hardly taking a single step away. Her eyes remained fixed on the furnace as she continuously injected strands of pure Wood Element Qi into it. Her Divine Sense also entered the furnace periodically for monitoring.

However, no matter how powerful a martial artist was, such frequent use of Spiritual Energy and Divine Sense would be hard to sustain for long periods.

So, after two days, Sun Jing felt her Qi Sea had been emptied of Spiritual Energy. Her Divine Sense was significantly depleted, leaving her exhausted both physically and mentally. She had no choice but to entrust the task of watching and monitoring the furnace to Fang Bai and retreat to the side for recovery, aiming to quickly replenish her depleted Divine Sense.

Previously, when Sun Jing needed to rest during alchemy, the responsibility of watching the furnace would fall on Sun Li.

However, Sun Li could not sense the changes in the furnace’s flames promptly, and combined with Sun Jing’s own deficiencies in skill, many attempts at alchemy ended in failure, leaving Sun Jing incredibly exasperated.

Although Fang Bai had an innate Fire Spirit Root and was extremely sensitive to changes in flame, Sun Jing still couldn’t fully trust him. Thus, before recuperating, she repeatedly reminded Fang Bai not to let his guard down and to immediately inform her of any unusual occurrences.

"Elder Sun... Elder Sun... The spiritual medicine in the pill furnace melted into a liquid late last night. Now the liquid is solidifying; could it be that it’s about to become elixirs?"

Early the next morning, while meditating and recuperating in the adjacent room, Sun Jing suddenly heard Fang Bai’s soft call.

"What?"

Sun Jing’s Spiritual Energy and Divine Sense hadn’t yet fully recovered from the previous day’s exhaustion. However, upon hearing Fang Bai’s voice, she immediately broke out of her cultivation state and swiftly dashed into the alchemy room with lightning speed.

"How... how is this possible?"

When Sun Jing inserted her Divine Sense into the furnace and observed that the melted medicinal liquid was gradually solidifying into pills, her eyes widened in disbelief.

In the past, whenever Sun Jing refined Spirit Pills, it would take at least three days for the spiritual medicine to completely melt into a liquid. Then it would take another three days for the liquid to begin solidifying into pills, as was happening now.

Yet this time, from the moment the spiritual medicine was placed into the furnace to the stage of near-solidification, it had taken only a mere three days—half the usual time. This was simply incredible.

"Elder Sun, it’s like this..."

Seeing Sun Jing’s perplexed expression, Fang Bai explained: "Last night, I noticed the flame inside the furnace was a bit weak, so I took the liberty of adding some Fire Spirit Energy. As a result, the spiritual medicine melted into liquid more quickly, turning into what you see now... Elder Sun, there’s not going to be a problem because of this, is there?"

Sun Jing, overwhelmed with emotion, shook her head and said, "No... no... Fang Bai, you’ve been a tremendous help this time! It seems that, perhaps because of your innate Fire Spirit Root, the Fire Spirit Energy you injected enhanced the potency of the fire inside the furnace. This not only sped up the melting process but also ensured there wasn’t a trace of impurity in the liquid... something I’ve never been able to achieve before!"

"Really?"

Fang Bai chuckled and said, "I was just worried that acting on my own might ruin your batch of Spirit Pills. I’m glad it’s all fine... really glad!"

"If this batch of Spirit Pills succeeds, you’ll deserve a great deal of credit!"

Sun Jing enthusiastically praised Fang Bai before channeling all her attention back into the pill furnace, closely observing every change within.

During the process of the liquid solidifying into pills, Sun Jing focused intensely on controlling the flames with precision. She worked to avoid even the slightest error, constantly infusing Wood Spirit Qi into the process. Her palms were slick with sweat from the tension.

She became so engrossed in her task that she didn’t even notice Fang Bai observing quietly from the side.

Fang Bai refrained from disturbing her, instead stepping back a few paces to quietly sit cross-legged on a meditation cushion, watching to see if Sun Jing could ultimately succeed in condensing the pills.

"Condense!"

Several hours later, Sun Jing let out a light cry and slammed her left palm onto the pill furnace, shaking the lid loose. Her right palm immediately performed a Pill Condensation Technique toward the ten pills flying out of the furnace.

A rich medicinal aroma filled the air as ten equally sized and uniformly shaped Spirit Pills fell into Sun Jing’s hands.

"Ah... Just a little short!"

Looking at the ten Spirit Pills in her hands, Sun Jing felt a mix of delight and disappointment.

She was delighted because it was her first time achieving "ten pills in one furnace," with a one hundred percent success rate.

Yet she was disappointed because, although these ten pills were slightly better than low-grade Holy Grade, they still fell short of reaching the mid-grade Holy Level standard.

"What a pity..."

Fang Bai had already predicted this outcome when Sun Jing performed the final Pill Condensation Technique. He knew this batch of Spirit Pills wouldn’t meet her expectations.

In this world, martial artists cultivated martial arts techniques.

Meanwhile, alchemists had to master various pill techniques.

The Pill Condensation Technique, in particular, was the final and most critical step in alchemy.

Sun Jing didn’t know where she had learned her Pill Condensation Technique from, but it was incomplete and overly simplistic. As a result, the Spirit Pills she produced had drastically reduced potency, making it impossible to reach mid-grade Holy Level quality, thereby wasting a precious batch of ingredients.

"Let’s try again!"

Perhaps the unprecedented success of creating ten Spirit Pills in one batch gave Sun Jing newfound confidence. After a brief moment of disappointment, she regained her spirit and began refining with a second set of ingredients.

Fang Bai smiled wryly to himself, knowing that without a proper Pill Condensation Technique, it was impossible for Sun Jing to create mid-grade Holy Level Spirit Pills. He considered teaching her the complete Pill Condensation Technique he knew, but he didn’t know how to bring it up.

Several days later, another batch of Spirit Pills came out of the furnace. However, the results were even worse this time: only five pills formed, and they were still low-grade Holy Level.

"What’s going on? Why is each batch worse than the last..."

Seeing that only half the medicinal ingredients remained and that the desired Spirit Pills had yet to be produced, Sun Jing couldn’t help but feel anxious.

Sun Jing had completely forgotten that alchemy required a calm and tranquil mindset. The more impatient one became, the more likely mistakes were to occur. As a result, the third batch of ingredients was ruined, resulting in a furnace full of waste pills.

Looking at the last set of ingredients before her, Sun Jing was on the verge of tears and didn’t dare to try again.

If this final batch failed too, she didn’t know how many more years it would take to gather enough cultivation resources to exchange for another set of ingredients. This delay would mean her granddaughter, Sun Lin, might be unable to recover from her injuries for a very long time.

"Elder Sun, how about this? Teach me your pill technique, and let me use my furnace to refine the final batch of ingredients. What do you think?"

Fang Bai suddenly suggested.

"You?"

Sun Jing glanced at him. Thinking of his innate Fire Spirit Root and the furnace he had that could generate its own Wood Spirit Qi, her heart stirred. She asked, "If I teach you my pill technique, how confident are you?"

Fang Bai thought for a moment and replied, "I’d say... I could be about fifty or sixty percent confident at least."