"An induction cooker, not an alchemy furnace? You mean the kind used for cooking?" Northern River's Loose Cultivator felt his blood pressure rising.
"Yes," Song Shuhang replied sheepishly.
"Haha, that's Senior Song for you," Soft Feather said.
"Then what about the furnace? What did you use as an alchemy furnace?" Northern River's Loose Cultivator pressed.
"Uh, if you insist on calling it an alchemy furnace, I suppose it was a hot pot," Song Shuhang said, feeling embarrassed. It hardly fit the image of immortal cultivation.
"A hot pot? What model of alchemy furnace is that? No... wait, let me calm down. Don't tell me you mean an actual pot for eating hot pot?" Northern River's Loose Cultivator hammered out the words.
"Yeah, that one," Song Shuhang confirmed.
"..." Northern River's Loose Cultivator sent a string of ellipses.
Northern River's Loose Cultivator felt as though all his years of alchemy experience had gone to the dogs. This guy had made Body Tempering Liquid on his first try with an induction cooker and a hot pot, while Northern River still botched one or two batches out of every ten.
After a long pause, he asked, "Can I swear?"
"Fuck!" Mad Saber Three Waves beat him to it.
"Fuck!" Copper Trigram Immortal Master followed.
"Fuck!" Drunk Moon Hermit kept the pattern going. Come to think of it, Drunk Moon Hermit was an ID that appeared in the group fairly often. He must have been an active senior. Yet whenever Song Shuhang saw him post, he felt the name was familiar, only to forget him the moment he looked away.
"Bastards, you three used up all the fucks! What am I supposed to say?" Northern River's Loose Cultivator grumbled. "Time for my ultimate move. @Medicine Master, you're up, Brother Medicine Master!"
"Here." Medicine Master appeared. He had been reading the chat all along.
After a long while spent writing and deleting, he finally squeezed out a sentence: "Young friend, can you describe your refining process? Especially what happened when you added the forty-first ingredient."
Soft Feather's eyes lit up. "Oh, oh! Senior Song, I want to know about that step too! I've failed there several times!"
With Soft Feather there, Song Shuhang slipped easily into the Nine Provinces No. 1 Group's conversation without seeming out of place. Of course, lurking for over ten days and getting to know everyone's personalities had helped.
"No problem. I'll give you a rough rundown," Song Shuhang said. "First I put sliced ginseng in the pot, then added a ladle of water."
"Wait, you added water?" Medicine Master typed with a sudden burst of speed. "Why?"
"Because the ginseng slices would burn dry in the pot without water, wouldn't they?" Song Shuhang replied. Privately, he realized that the others apparently made Body Tempering Liquid without adding water.
"Oh, right. You used an induction cooker and a hot pot," Northern River's Loose Cultivator said with a sigh. Why does knowing the truth make my liver hurt even more?
Medicine Master silently nodded too. "That makes sense. Go on. Adding water at the start shouldn't affect the later steps much."
As Song Shuhang began his account, the same image formed in every senior's mind.
A scholarly-looking man named "Stressed by a Mountain of Books" sat beside... an induction cooker, with a hot pot on top. He carefully added the ingredients for Body Tempering Liquid and began refining it.
Why did that image feel so strange?
Why the hell were an induction cooker and a hot pot involved in alchemy?
Song Shuhang gave it no thought. He briefly described his remaining steps, along with what he had learned about heat and timing. He also took the chance to mention some problems he had encountered while making the Body Tempering Liquid.
As Medicine Master listened to Song Shuhang explain his modified recipe step by step, he felt deeply gratified. It was like finding someone who truly understood him.
"When I reached the forty-first ingredient, the liquid in the pot suddenly gave off a foul stench and a burnt smell. It evaporated rapidly, losing about a fifth of its volume in the blink of an eye," Song Shuhang said. "I couldn't figure out why. I could only guess that ingredient was some kind of catalyst?"
"That happened to me too! Then the liquid evaporated completely in no time," Soft Feather exclaimed.
"The same happened to this Celestial Master," Copper Trigram Immortal Master agreed. Neither of them was an alchemist, but cultivators could still refine ordinary low-level pills without much trouble.
"That ingredient is the catalyst. Adding it marks the start of the final purification. If your heat and timing were off during the earlier stages, adding the forty-first ingredient will cause exactly that. Avoiding it takes experience; there's no shortcut," Medicine Master replied.
Likewise, once it happened, only experience and a keen eye could save the batch.
"Young friend Song Shuhang, how did you get past it?" Medicine Master asked curiously.
"When I saw the liquid evaporating so quickly, I added another ladle of water. I hoped it would slow things down," Song Shuhang recalled.
"More water? Oh... that might actually be a good way to slow it down. What happened next? Water would only treat the symptom, not the cause," Medicine Master asked. He was already considering how useful adding water might be. Better yet, perhaps replacing it with a specially prepared medicinal liquid would slow the evaporation more effectively.
"Then I threw in all four remaining ingredients and cranked up the heat. In the end, the lid flew off, and about five spoonfuls of Body Tempering Liquid remained from half a pot," Song Shuhang replied.
"Five spoonfuls? Unless you used a baby spoon, that's a lot," Northern River's Loose Cultivator sighed. Under normal circumstances, one batch of Body Tempering Liquid yielded about three spoonfuls.
"How does its potency compare to before? Oh... I forgot this was your first time making Body Tempering Liquid." Medicine Master sounded frustrated. "I'll go try your method myself and share my thoughts once I have the results."
With that, Medicine Master went offline.
"Haha, Brother Medicine Master is always impatient when it comes to refining medicine. Let's wait until he finishes. If he's right and your method becomes a new way to make Simplified Body Tempering Liquid, anyone in the group who uses it later will owe you a favor. For you, that could be priceless," Northern River's Loose Cultivator wrote, adding a smiley face.
By speaking up in the group, Song Shuhang had shown that he wanted to enter the world of cultivation. In fact, after making and taking Body Tempering Liquid, he already had one foot through the door.
"So, young friend Shuhang, welcome to the Nine Provinces Number One Group," Northern River's Loose Cultivator said. "True Lord Yellow Mountain should really be explaining this to you. He was the one who added you and kept you here because he felt a connection with you. But his Great Demon Hound is throwing another tantrum today, so I'll do it instead."
True Lord Yellow Mountain's Great Demon Hound sounds like quite a character, Song Shuhang thought.
"Since you've chosen to walk the path of cultivation, there are things you need to know. It isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. Countless trials await, and disaster could strike at any moment."
"I know a little about that. I saw the Tribulation Lightning in H City from a distance," Song Shuhang replied.
Soft Feather added, "Senior Song lives close to H City, and to J City too."
"You even know about Sixteen's Tribulation Lightning? Looks like you've been following us ever since you joined the group," Northern River's Loose Cultivator teased.
"Haha." Song Shuhang laughed awkwardly. He could hardly admit that he had initially thought they were all delusional and had checked in every day for a laugh.
"Since you're mentally prepared, I'll get straight to the point," Northern River's Loose Cultivator continued. "Young friend Shuhang, staying in this group means you want to learn how to cultivate from us. According to the Nine Provinces Group's tradition, you now have two choices: become an independent cultivator, or join the sect of one of the seniors here."
The Nine Provinces No. 1 Group had so many members that it naturally had its own way of doing things. But a complete newcomer like Shuhang, who knew nothing about cultivation, was a first.
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