The main steps for refining any elixir were basically the same.
Preheating the pill furnace, melting the medicinal ingredients, neutralizing the medicinal properties of the spirit plants as the medicinal liquids blended, removing impurities as the elixir fused into shape, and finally collecting the pills.
Those were the broad steps; specific problems still required specific analysis.
Melting a First-grade Top-grade Spirit Plant, the Jade Spirit Fruit, and melting a Foundation Establishment Spirit Item, the Blood Dragon Ginseng, naturally required different heat and timing.
In alchemy, the slightest discrepancy could lead a thousand miles astray; the heat had to be controlled with absolute precision.
Most importantly, the Melting Pill Hand Seal differed for every type of elixir.
Furthermore, insufficient heat could not perfectly temper the spirit plants, affecting the elixir's quality.
Excessive heat could char the spirit plants, cause their medicinal potency to leak away, or even result in a furnace explosion.
Li Qingyuan had already refined and absorbed three Blood Dragon Ginsengs, so he understood its medicinal properties quite well. As long as he proceeded step by step, melting the spirit plant was not difficult.
Very soon, he reached the second Foundation Establishment Spirit Item, the Mystic Ice Heart-Cleansing Fruit. He had obtained it by killing Qin Chuan; it had been guarded by a pair of second-tier mid stage Mystic Ice Pythons.
After being replicated, he had obtained two of these as well, completing two sets of materials for refining Foundation Establishment Pills.
"Mystic Ice Heart-Cleansing Fruit..." Li Qingyuan murmured. He continued using his Fire Control Technique to raise the furnace's temperature. His magic-power flames seeped through the pill furnace and entered it, refining the Mystic Ice Heart-Cleansing Fruit bit by bit.
The Mystic Ice Heart-Cleansing Fruit was a Foundation Establishment Spirit Item that helped Nourish the soul and improve