Bigu Pill

The next morning, at dawn.

Rumble—!!

The steel door to the alchemy room opened, and Yao Yan and Zhu Zhuqing walked in.

Yao Yan went to the workbench, took the Mountain Smelting Cauldron from his Soul Tool, and set it on the table.

He opened the lower compartment and placed a Fire Essence Stone inside. Flames sprang up within the Alchemy Furnace and began heating its inner walls.

Once the Alchemy Furnace radiated a scorching heat, Yao Yan beckoned a Sun Flower inside with one hand. He channeled his Soul Power to open the switch at the back, pushing out the Blood Flame Gold. Firelight flared at once.

The temperature inside the Alchemy Furnace climbed higher.

Yao Yan sent his Spiritual Power into the Alchemy Furnace to observe what was happening. As the flames baked the Sun Flower, its outer layers gradually peeled away and its moisture began to evaporate.

Yao Yan increased the heat.

Suddenly!

Flames rose around the Sun Flower, and in an instant, it turned to ash.

"This..."

Yao Yan cut off the flames and stared at the ashes in the Alchemy Furnace. After a moment's thought, he guessed the heat had been too high. He would have to find the critical point.

Everything, after all, depended on balance.

He put in another Sun Flower. As the temperature inside the Alchemy Furnace rose, it too turned to ash.

"I refuse to believe I can't find that critical point."

Yao Yan took a deep breath and fed in the herbs one after another, losing himself completely in the tedious work of extraction.

Seeing how absorbed he was, Zhu Zhuqing quietly withdrew to the next room. She took several books on herbs from the shelves and read in silence.

She, too, longed to broaden her knowledge so she could help him one day.

Three days passed.

His hair disheveled and dark circles heavy beneath his eyes, Yao Yan trudged back into the alchemy room.

Over those three days, he had used up more than two hundred herbs and had nothing to show for it.

"Making something from nothing... It really is hard." He slumped before the workbench, propped his forehead on his hands, and stared blankly at the Alchemy Furnace.

Controlling the flames and temperature was far more delicate than he had imagined. One careless move could undo everything.

"Flames... temperature..." he murmured without realizing it.

A thought flashed through his mind, and understanding dawned. Perhaps he had gone about this backward, focusing entirely on the herbs.

What he should have focused on was controlling the temperature inside the Alchemy Furnace.

As long as he kept the Alchemy Furnace at a constant temperature, even a tiny flame would eventually stew the toughest bones soft.

It was only a matter of time.

"That's it!" Yao Yan slammed his palm on the table and sprang to his feet, his eyes bright with realization.

He immediately lit the fire again. This time, he added no herbs, concentrating instead on controlling every slight change in the furnace's temperature.

Five days later.

Yao Yan had grown adept at controlling the flames. He could raise or lower the furnace's temperature at will.

He put in another Sun Flower and sent his Spiritual Power into the Alchemy Furnace, watching it closely.

Under the intense heat, the Sun Flower gradually wilted, curled, and shrank, until at last it became a small mound of fine yellow powder.

Success!

Delighted, Yao Yan lifted the cauldron's lid with a gesture, drew out the powder, and collected it in a jade dish.

He studied the Sun Flower essence and breathed a sigh of relief.

He had finally taken the first step in alchemy.

Just then, Zhu Zhuqing emerged from the room. Yao Yan picked up the jade dish and went to meet her, beaming. "Zhu Zhuqing, look."

At the sight of the yellow powder, Zhu Zhuqing could not help being astonished. He really had extracted medicine from blazing fire.

It was a miracle!

"Is this the... extraction you told me about?" She reached out with slender fingers, pinched up a little powder, and channeled her Soul Power to examine it.

"What do you think?" Yao Yan asked expectantly.

"It's remarkably pure. All the essence seems to be concentrated here," Zhu Zhuqing answered after examining it carefully.

"Of course it is." Yao Yan ruffled her hair, then turned back to his work. He intended to master extraction completely.

Each worked on their own task, quietly persevering in the alchemy room and the study.

A month later.

Rumble—!!

The steel door opened again, and Yao Yan and Zhu Zhuqing went inside. As usual, he took out the Alchemy Furnace and set it in place. Beside the workbench stood many Jade Bottles.

They held the results of his work over the past month. By now, he was thoroughly practiced at extracting medicine.

Today's task was to begin refining pills in earnest!

He had chosen the Bigu Pill, a staple of cultivation novels and one of the easiest pills for a beginner to make.

Making a pill required a grasp of three things.

The recipe, the temperature, and when to open the furnace. All of these had been described in the novels he had read in his previous life, especially the books about a certain old fiend. He had read those several times.

As for finding a recipe, that was simple enough.

Even outside cultivation novels, such pills had already been invented in the real world.

They were made by concentrating and combining high-energy foods into a pill that could stave off the need to eat.

As a scholar of traditional Chinese medicine in his previous life, Yao Yan knew that much.

Just then, Zhu Zhuqing came in carrying a basket of prepared herbs. It contained Ancient Konjac, Poria Cocos, Cassia Seed...

Some of the herbs acted on the central nervous system to reduce hunger; others supplied enough energy to replace food.

Yao Yan took the herbs from her and set them on the workbench. He slipped in a Fire Essence Stone with practiced ease, and the flames began to burn hotter.

Zhu Zhuqing sat quietly nearby, watching him work. The days she had spent in Qingshan Town had brought her a peace she had never known.

Whenever Yao Yan looked up in the midst of his work and smiled warmly at her, a quiet sweetness spread through her heart.

When the Alchemy Furnace reached an astonishing temperature, Yao Yan lifted its lid with a gesture. He sent in the herbs and gradually refined them into powder.

Before long, the extraction was complete. He sent some of the powder back in, then intensified the flames.

Soon, a refreshing medicinal fragrance wafted from the Alchemy Furnace and filled the entire room.

"It smells wonderful!" Seated nearby, Zhu Zhuqing closed her eyes and savored the fragrance.

At just the right moment, Yao Yan opened the Alchemy Furnace and added the other portion of prepared medicinal powder.

Soul Power surged from him, driving the two masses of powder to spin and merge inside the furnace. Gradually, an irregularly shaped Nascent Pill began to form.

Yao Yan knew he had reached the crucial step.

His Spiritual Power burst forth. Drawing on every ounce of concentration, he controlled the temperature as he refined, shaped, and compressed the Nascent Pill.

Time slipped by unnoticed.

The pill inside the Alchemy Furnace gradually became rounder and smoother.

Yao Yan grew tense. Sweat already covered his brow; alchemy placed an enormous strain on his Spiritual Power.

He carefully controlled the flames for the final refinement.

The medicinal fragrance grew richer, and, to his delight, golden patterns began to appear on the pill's surface!

"Pill markings!"

Yao Yan could barely contain his excitement. They were a sign of an exceptionally fine pill!

Ten minutes later, the pill was fully formed, round and plump, with golden light flowing across it.

Yao Yan held two fingers together like a sword. The cauldron's lid flew open with a bang.

"The pill is complete—!!"