Chapter 14: Refining the Elixir

  The plan to speed up cultivation by taking medicine and refining elixirs seems to be out of the question for now. Lin Feng exchanged two Qi-boosting pills with the herbs he had collected, but after a few days of enjoyable cultivation, he could only continue his arduous practice with great impatience. The true energy in his dantian was advancing as slowly as a snail crawling, but there was no other way - who made him have poor aptitude? Lin Feng somewhat resigned himself to his fate, but he didn't give up on cultivation; although it was slow, it was still better than nothing.

  Fortunately, Yang Ze's promise to teach Lin Feng how to refine pills after he finished reading the Spiritual Plants Compendium was finally fulfilled, although it was just a manual on pill refinement that he handed over to him, letting him take a look first, which also allowed Lin Feng to see a glimmer of hope for progress.

  The Alchemy Guide is a common sense book for alchemists in the Cultivation Realm, which lists almost all the commonly used pill formulas and refining methods in the current Cultivation Realm, as well as places that need special attention. For Lin Feng, an initial apprentice, it's undoubtedly the most suitable introductory alchemy book.

  After another three months, after Yang Ze had thoroughly read the Dan Lian Zhi Yin, he finally allowed Lin Feng to enter the Dan room to observe him refining the dan. However, there was a condition: he was not allowed to disturb him while he refined the dan; otherwise, he would be expelled from the dan room.

  As the two entered the gate, they walked down the spiral stone steps, getting lower and lower. The temperature, however, got higher and higher. After descending about ten meters or so, the stone steps suddenly became much wider, and a stone gate appeared before their eyes. Pushing open the gate, a wave of heat rushed out to greet them, and Lin Feng immediately felt a scorching sensation on his face.

  Fortunately, this feeling didn't last long. As the stone gate closed, the heat wave no longer rushed towards him, and instead, he felt a sense of ascension. Lin Feng raised his head to look around, only to discover that on top of the small dan room, there were more than ten holes as thick as an arm, with hot air wildly gushing out through them. As a result, the dan room was not as scorching as it had been when he stood outside.

  The room was extremely clean, except for a half-person-high dan furnace in the center, there was nothing else. Under the dan furnace, a sea-bowl-sized pit was spewing out red and white earth fire, Lin Feng knew that this was the special earth fire brought out by the Yang family, but now it seemed to be controlled by the law array, and the flames were not too violent.

  Yang Ze didn't want to explain any more, he had already mentioned these things to Lin Feng before, and the rest were explained in the Dan-making guide, it wasn't particularly difficult. He let Lin Feng stand aside and watch, then sat down in front of the dan furnace, took out the materials for today's refining from his storage bag one by one, arranged them in order, and only then did he start to chant the incantation, striking the forbidden earth fire array continuously.

  "Boom......" The fire on the earth was like a splash of oil, and the flames suddenly surged up, surrounding nearly half of the Dan furnace.

  Lin Feng knew that this was a warm stove, although he didn't know why the dan furnace still needed to be warmed up all the time, but now wasn't the time for talking. Lin Feng just carefully watched and seriously observed every move of Yang Ze.

  Yang Ze is refining the second-order elixir, Xiao Pei Yuan Dan, which is also a commonly used elixir for foundation-building cultivators to increase their cultivation speed and improve their cultivation. The materials needed to refine Xiao Pei Yuan Dan are six in total, Yang Ze had already done the preliminary processing earlier, now he only needs to put them into the crucible according to the formula and start refining.

  The stove used more than a dozen breaths of time, Yang Ze several dao fa jue were struck out, the fire was slightly delayed, he took advantage of the opportunity to open the dan furnace and threw in the prepared Liu Er Lan, Quan Zhi, Bi Sang Mu together. He then said: "Carefully perceive the changes in temperature inside, you have Mulinggen, and can also perceive the changes in Mulingqi."

  Lin Feng nodded, afraid of disturbing Yang Zhe's elixir refinement, and didn't dare to speak, but he understood Yang Zhe's meaning; the highest temperature is when the three medicines react and change the most, at this time, the wood spirit energy inside will weaken from slow to severe decline, which is the best time to add Ganlingcao and Zijinlian. Whether Xiaopei Yuandan is refined well or not depends on this crucial point.

  Yang Ze only has the fire spirit root, and can only judge from the temperature change, without the wood spirit energy change certification. Sometimes he doesn't even know if the medicine inside is fully reacted or not, and whether a good elixir can be refined depends entirely on his many years of experience in refining elixirs.

  Lin Feng, however, could use the two spiritual energies' changes to mutually verify when the medicinal materials reacted most intensely, thereby more accurately controlling the elixir refinement process. This was the advantage of having a dual-spirit root compared to a single-spirit root in learning elixir refinement. Of course, Lin Feng was still in the learning phase now, and even with his dual-spirit root, he was far from being as accurate as Yang Ze's single-spirit root judgment. Telling him to pay attention to the changes within his feelings was just a form of practice.

  Lin Feng carefully sensed the changes in the alchemical furnace, where the temperature was getting higher and higher, and the wood spirit energy was gradually decreasing. After more than a dozen breaths, the change continued. Just when he didn't know how long this change would last, Yang Ze suddenly threw out several spells, and the earth fire suddenly surged up, almost enveloping the entire alchemical furnace. At that moment, the lid of the alchemical furnace was opened, and Gan Lingcao and Zi Jinlian had already been thrown in.

  At that moment, the hot air in the dan furnace suddenly surged up, while the wood spirit energy plummeted. Taking advantage of this heat, the two newly added medicinal materials instantly dissolved into the newly formed dan liquid and began to boil violently.

  "When you feel the intense change inside, it's already too late and some of the medicinal properties of the first three medicines have been wasted. So, you need to add them a little earlier. Mastering this timing has a great impact on the quality of the elixir. This experience can only be gained through accumulation. If you have more opportunities to practice in the future, you will naturally grasp it." Yang Ze didn't even turn his head, but explained a few sentences while staring at the alchemy furnace, as if he knew Lin Feng's question.

  Lin Feng nodded in agreement, it seemed that experience was indeed very important. Just now when Yang Ze opened the dan furnace, he didn't feel that the reaction inside was at its most intense moment, but by the time the second batch of medicinal materials entered the furnace, the reaction inside had just reached its peak, fully demonstrating that Yang Ze was extremely familiar with refining this dan and wasn't someone ordinary people could compare to.

  In less than ten breaths of fierce fire refining, Yang Ze's several dao techniques were released, and the earth fire suddenly shrunk, almost half as small as it was at the beginning. It wasn't until then that Yang Ze poured the medicinal liquid refined from the Lingluo grass into the dan furnace, immediately sealing the furnace. Five breaths later, he reduced the earth fire to its smallest size, almost unable to feel its heat.

  Lin Feng knew that the effect of Lingluo Grass was to maintain the spiritual energy of Dan liquid, regulate the water content of Dan medicine and control the time of Dan formation. Pouring the Lingluo Grass liquid into the Dan furnace indicated that this Dan had entered the fetal Dan period, requiring gentle fire to slowly refine it, which raised the requirements for fire control.

  The fire is too big and urgent, the Dan liquid inside quickly condenses into Dan, but the medicinal properties of the medicine have not been fully combined or have been damaged by the fierce fire, resulting in dry, brittle, and lacking spiritual energy, mostly low-grade Dan, or even waste Dan. The fire is too small, the time it takes to condense the Dan is too long, the spiritual energy in the medicine will slowly dissipate, and there are many unwanted reactions, which can also lead to a decrease in the quality of the Dan medicine, resulting in an increase in the number of waste Dans.

  As for how to control it is best, there is no fixed number, relying on the experience of Dan Shi. The only sentence in the guidance of alchemy is: "Use Wén Huǒ refining, until the successful completion of the elixir."

  The time in the womb was relatively long, Lin Feng had been perceiving the situation inside, and found that neither the heat of the fire nor the spiritual energy of the wood had changed, but looking at Yang Ze's cautious appearance, it seemed that this was the most critical moment.

  This continued for about an incense stick's time. A wisp of cinnabar fragrance wafted over, and upon smelling it, Lin Feng's spirit was stirred. He knew that the elixir was about to emerge.

  As expected, after not too long, when the water vapor evaporating from the Dan furnace became thinner and thinner, almost invisible mist, the fragrance of the elixir had already filled the entire Dan chamber. At this time, Yang Ze took out a transparent jade bottle, cast a spell to open the Dan furnace, and immediately reached into the furnace with his right hand, making a grasping motion in the empty air, "Puff... Puff... Puff..." A string of small finger-sized spiritual elixirs were sucked into the jade bottle.

  Lin Feng took a closer look and saw that there were eight elixirs in the jade bottle. Two of them had impurities and looked like failed products, one was a pale blue color with a crystal-like luster on its surface, obviously a good product, while the other five were pale blue with a hint of green, smooth but not very shiny.

  Lin Feng recognized that these five pills were indeed Xiao Pei Yuan Dan. As for the pale blue pill, he had never seen it before.

  At this time, Yang Ze changed his serious expression from earlier when he was refining the pill and laughed: "Today's luck is not bad, I actually refined a mid-grade Xiao Pei Yuan Dan. This one dan can replace two low-grade dans. En, not bad, not bad!"

  Yang Ze was full of praise, looking extremely delighted. Lin Feng knew that the Ling Dan was divided into many grades, all according to their efficacy and difficulty in refining, but for each type of dan, they were further divided into four levels: lower grade, middle grade, upper grade, and extreme grade, with their highs and lows determined by the materials used and the level of the dan master.

  Yang Ze was only a primary alchemist, and at most could refine second-grade pills. Generally, he could only refine low-grade pills. Whether or not he could refine medium-grade pills depended purely on luck. So now that he had unexpectedly refined a medium-grade pill, he was overjoyed.

  Taking a glance at Lin Feng's sparkling eyes, Yang Ze handed him two waste pellets and said: "The Small Pei Yuan Dan is not something you can take now, it will harm your meridians. Take this waste pellet and examine it carefully to see what impurities are inside, then compare it with the Alchemy Guide. Think about why these impurities appeared and how to avoid them when refining pills. If you have any questions, come ask me when I'm free."

  "Thank you, Master Uncle. I understand." Lin Feng took the waste pellet and was extremely grateful in his heart. He hadn't expected to get a small Prenatal Pellet, that was unrealistic. To know that small Prenatal Pellets were very precious, even the Masters had limited supplies, and any extra would be taken to the market to exchange for other cultivation resources. Master Uncle wasn't his master, but he had treated him as if he were an honorary disciple, Lin Feng truly felt grateful from the bottom of his heart.