Refining Qi Replenishing Pill

Under Little Yue'er's curious gaze, Qin Shaofeng began his first attempt at alchemy.

Qin Shaofeng had seen alchemists refine pills before, but the ones he'd witnessed had only been apprentices.

In Lanjiang City, most of the people called alchemists weren't actually alchemists at all. They were merely alchemy apprentices.

There was only one true alchemist in all of Lanjiang City.

He was a junior alchemist whom the merchant Wang Family had hired at great expense.

That's right, a junior alchemist. Even so, having him stay with the Wang Family was cause for great celebration.

When that junior alchemist first joined the Wang Family, he had specially held an alchemy demonstration in Lanjiang City, refining a pill before a huge crowd.

Qin Shaofeng remembered clearly how the alchemist had brought out a cauldron nearly three meters tall. Then, while he refined the pill, more than a dozen alchemy apprentices had fed wood beneath it to keep the fire burning.

Thinking of that scene made Qin Shaofeng feel a little uneasy.

This was the system's alchemy skill. Surely he wouldn't need to burn wood during the refining process, would he?

That was what he thought, but Qin Shaofeng still wasn't sure.

That was one of the reasons he'd chosen a large pot.

A large pot would be easier to heat, after all.

But before doing anything else, he wanted to try it out. Could he make a pill simply by activating the skill?

After setting the large pot in place, Qin Shaofeng began tossing in Vitality Grass.

Normally, one stalk of Vitality Grass could be refined into a single Qi Replenishing Pill.

Since this was his first time refining a pill, Qin Shaofeng didn't put in much. He tossed just one stalk of Vitality Grass into the pot.

But the sight of him doing this looked strange to the little girl.

Grass?

When Qin Shaofeng tossed something into the pot, the little girl took a closer look. Realizing it was nothing more than a stalk of grass, she widened her eyes. Her crescent-moon eyes became round as full moons, filled with suspicion.

Was Young Master going to boil grass?

Then why wasn't he lighting a fire?

Boil grass?

If Qin Shaofeng had known what was going through the little girl's mind, he would have been so angry he'd have grabbed her and given her a good bamboo-shoot stir-fry on her tender little bottom.

Young Master was refining pills! What did she mean, boiling grass?

But Qin Shaofeng was too nervous to notice the strange look on her face, so the little girl escaped unscathed.

Paying no attention to her odd expression, he covered the pot, pressed his right hand against it, and silently activated the Alchemy skill.

Then he felt something stir in his dantian. A small stream of Inner Qi flowed out at once, passing through his right hand and into the pot.

Then, something that astonished Qin Shaofeng happened.

The Inner Qi that entered the pot seemed to serve as his eyes. He could sense everything inside it, as if he could see what was happening within.

Buzz!

As soon as the Inner Qi entered the pot, it trembled slightly. And then...

Nothing. The pill Qin Shaofeng had been hoping for didn't appear. Just as he'd "seen" everything inside the pot, the Qi Yuan Grass burst into flame and turned into a pile of charred ashes.

At that very moment, Qin Shaofeng also lost his connection to the stream of Inner Qi inside the pot. He could no longer "see" what was happening within.

Uh, what was that?

Qin Shaofeng froze for a moment, then immediately lifted the lid to take a look.

Just as he'd expected!

There was no Vitality Grass in the pot now, only a small pile of charred ashes, just as he'd "seen" before.

Uh, did that mean he'd failed?

Looking at the Qi Yuan Grass that had been burned to ash, a trace of disappointment flickered in Qin Shaofeng's eyes.

But he quickly pulled himself together.

It was his first try. Failing was only natural.

As they said, failure was the mother of success. He couldn't give up.

The self-reassurance seemed to help. Qin Shaofeng immediately swept the ashes out of the pot, then put in another stalk of Qi Yuan Grass.

But this time, the result was the same as before. The moment he activated the Alchemy skill, the bright green Qi Yuan Grass turned into charred ashes.

Another failure?

Staring at the ashes in the pot, Qin Shaofeng felt speechless.

"Damn it, I refuse to believe it! It's only a one-star Mortal-grade Qi Replenishing Pill. There's no way I can't refine one!"

Muttering under his breath, Qin Shaofeng started putting in more Vitality Grass.

But the next attempts were no different from the first two.

Failure!

Failure!

Failure again!

After failing several times in a row, Qin Shaofeng was starting to lose track of what was going on.

Seriously? This was only low-grade Qi Yuan Grass, and all he was refining was a one-star pill, yet he'd tried five or six times without succeeding once?

Puzzled, Qin Shaofeng checked the Alchemy skill on his attribute screen again.

It was right there. The success rate of the Alchemy skill really did depend on its level and the pill being refined!

Even if a level-one Alchemy skill had a low success rate, surely that didn't mean it would fail five or six times in a row to refine a one-star Mortal-grade Qi Replenishing Pill?

Could it be because of this large pot?

Before long, Qin Shaofeng seemed to have found the reason. He stared intently at the pot.

Sigh. A pot was still just a pot, not an Alchemy Cauldron. It was no wonder the pill refining had failed!

Mm, the problem definitely wasn't me. It was this pot.

Looks like I'll have to find a proper Alchemy Cauldron.

Qin Shaofeng sighed to himself. Whether he was looking for comfort or making excuses, he muttered for a while, then blamed all his failures on the pot.

At that moment, the little girl, who had watched Qin Shaofeng stay silent for some time, glanced at the pot and then at the few ashes on the ground beside it.

She couldn't quite figure out what was going on!

Young Master hadn't even lit a fire, so why had the grass been burned to a crisp?

She didn't understand!

But the little girl didn't dwell on it. After thinking for a moment, she hesitated, then finally spoke to Qin Shaofeng. "Young Master, if you're boiling grass, you should add some water. That way, it won't get burned."

Qin Shaofeng had been wondering where he could find an Alchemy Cauldron. When he suddenly heard the little girl say that beside him, he nearly toppled over.

B-boiling grass?

This girl actually thought he'd been boiling grass all this time?

Qin Shaofeng couldn't hold back any longer.

"You're just a little girl. You don't understand. Young Master is refining pills! What do you mean, boiling grass? Where did you get such a ridiculous idea?"

As if defending the dignity of a young master, Qin Shaofeng gave the little girl a stern warning.

Where did she get such a ridiculous idea?

The little girl suddenly felt a little aggrieved. She couldn't help murmuring, "Isn't it because I saw you doing it like this, Young Master?"

Uh...

Qin Shaofeng was speechless.

But the little girl quickly recovered, then gazed at Qin Shaofeng with sudden admiration. "Alchemy? I had no idea Young Master could refine pills! Could it be that you're an alchemist too?"

Uh...

Qin Shaofeng was still speechless.

An alchemist?

He had the Alchemy skill, so he supposed he could call himself an alchemist.

Even if he hadn't managed to refine a single pill yet.

But the little girl didn't care about that. She continued speaking excitedly.

"Little Yue'er heard people say that alchemists are really impressive big shots! There's only one in all of Lanjiang City, the one from the Wang Family. And he's an old man with a white beard. Young Master is much younger than him."

"But Little Yue'er also heard that alchemists use those big cauldrons when they refine pills. Why are you using a pot, Young Master?"

Her voice rang out like a string of jade beads, and the little girl finally let loose.

At first, Qin Shaofeng was rather pleased to hear the admiration in her voice as she talked about alchemists.

But then her words took a turn, especially that last question, which left him feeling awkward.

It wasn't as if your young master had chosen to use a pot! The problem was that he couldn't find an Alchemy Cauldron!

But the more she spoke, the more Qin Shaofeng wanted to successfully refine a Qi Replenishing Pill.

Just seeing the little girl's excited, admiring expression gave him fresh motivation.

A pot was a pot. He refused to believe he couldn't refine even one Qi Replenishing Pill!

He took out another stalk of Qi Yuan Grass and tossed it into the pot, then covered it and silently activated the Alchemy skill once more.

Alchemy!

At that silent command, Qin Shaofeng's Inner Qi Points instantly dropped by ten. Then the familiar scene unfolded again.

Once more, Qin Shaofeng "saw" what was happening inside the pot.

But this time, a thought stirred in his mind.

Before, he'd only "watched" and let the Inner Qi act on its own. What if he tried controlling that small stream of Inner Qi himself this time?

Qin Shaofeng didn't know the exact principles behind refining pills, but he figured it had to involve melting the ingredients into Liquid Potion, then using the Liquid Potion to form a pill.

If that was the case...

A gleam flashed in his eyes. Qin Shaofeng made a slight effort and tried to control the small stream of Inner Qi inside the pot.

To his surprise, it worked.

It really worked?

Qin Shaofeng was delighted, but he didn't let his guard down.

Remembering how the Vitality Grass had instantly turned to ash in his previous attempts, Qin Shaofeng carefully controlled the stream of Inner Qi, guiding it little by little toward the stalk of Vitality Grass in the pot.

And this time, it worked!

As the Inner Qi approached bit by bit, the stalk of Vitality Grass wasn't instantly burned to ash. Instead, it began to melt little by little.

So that was it!

Seeing what happened, Qin Shaofeng finally understood.

The problem hadn't been him, and it hadn't been the pot, either. In his previous attempts, he'd failed because he hadn't controlled the Inner Qi, allowing it to burn the Vitality Grass to ash all at once.

But Qin Shaofeng didn't know that the pot really was the problem.

When an alchemist refined pills, they used proper Alchemy Cauldrons. That was because an Alchemy Cauldron could temper the Inner Qi released by the alchemist, making it gentler.

That was why an Alchemy Cauldron was an essential tool for any alchemist!