Lightning Refining Method

After waking up in the early morning.

Li Mo, Ma Ling, Niu Li, and Yang Guang did some light morning exercises before heading to the mess hall of the Advanced Study Hall for breakfast. It was the same simple fare as always, day after day.

Wang Feng walked over, with Zhu Yidan and Zhao Xiaonan behind him. He greeted Li Mo.

"Li Mo, in a few days it will be the Flower Festival. Shall we go on an outing to the foot of the mountain together then?"

"Flower Festival?"

Li Mo couldn't help but recall the time he went on an outing by the Tan River with Wang Pan's family. A hint of melancholy flickered in his eyes before he concealed his emotions and looked at Ma Ling, Niu Li, and Yang Guang.

"Are you guys going?"

"Sure."

"I don't have any objections."

Seeing that none of them objected, Li Mo looked at Wang Feng and said with a smile, "Shall the seven of us go together?"

"And Ye Xuan too."

Upon hearing this, Li Mo suddenly felt self-reproach and nodded with a smile.

"Right, the eight of us will go together then!"

As Li Mo was speaking, a sound transmission talisman suddenly flew in from outside and stopped in front of him. Seeing this, Wang Feng bid farewell to the four of them and left with Zhu Yidan and Zhao Xiaonan.

Li Mo picked up the sound transmission talisman and channeled some spiritual energy into it.

"Be at the Alchemy Hall for your assessment at noon, precisely."

This was a sound transmission talisman from Chen Rong. Li Mo glanced at the clepsydra; it was only early Si hour, so there was still plenty of time.

The way time was reported varied slightly in different regions.

In some remote areas, an hour was commonly divided into eight ke, so one might hear of "Si hour, six ke" or "Si hour, seven ke".

However, in the various prefectures and counties, an hour was generally divided into an early and a main phase, with each phase further divided into four ke. Thus, time would go up to "early Si, three ke" before transitioning to "Si hour" and then "main Si".

These details aside for now.

At noon, Li Mo arrived at the Alchemy Hall.

A moment later.

Led by a gatekeeping disciple, Li Mo, enveloped by the fragrant aroma of spiritual herbs, passed through layers of courtyards and arrived before the main hall of the inner court.

The disciple entered the hall to report, while Li Mo gazed at the vast spiritual fields protected by arrays and restrictions.

The enormous spiritual fields were divided into many sections. Spiritual energy permeated the medicinal fields, and he could vaguely see some inner disciples of the Alchemy Hall toiling diligently among the crops.

At this moment.

A male and a female disciple walked out from a side courtyard of the Alchemy Hall. They stopped when they saw Li Mo standing before the main hall.

The woman sized Li Mo up with a curious expression.

"Are you Li Mo?"

Li Mo turned his head. These two were actually Chen Lan and Chen Yu from the Chen Family.

He nodded and smiled at Chen Lan.

"Yes, I am Li Mo."

Chen Lan nodded and smiled, "My aunt Chen Rong has mentioned you many times, saying you are serious, have extraordinary insights, and possess a unique talent for Alchemy. You might become an Alchemy Grandmaster in the future. Keep it up!"

Her tone was gentle, and her words were as refreshing as a spring breeze.

This Chen Lan was indeed as gentle and fond of Jiang Sheng as the rumors suggested.

However, Chen Yu, who had confronted Zhou Zheng and Tao Ran alongside Ye Xunhuan, Ye Fuhu, and Lu Shun, was clearly not easy to get along with. His gaze towards Li Mo was filled with arrogance.

"If my sister and I weren't uninterested in alchemy, this alchemist assessment wouldn't be your turn."

"Uh?"

Li Mo didn't know how to respond.

Fortunately, a light snort was heard at this moment.

Chen Lan, Chen Yu, and Li Mo quickly bowed.

After Chen Rong emerged, she looked at Chen Yu and reprimanded him, "You little brat, you've been spoiled rotten. You dare to say anything!"

"Aunt."

Chen Yu looked somewhat embarrassed.

Chen Rong signaled for them to dispense with the formalities and then lectured Chen Yu, "The Alchemy Hall belongs to the Lingmu Sect, not our Chen Family. I always prioritize attitude, aptitude, and ability when recommending disciples. If you say such rebellious words again in the future, I will go back and tell your father to discipline you properly."

She specifically emphasized the word "properly."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yu's face turned pale, and he put on a pleading expression with a crestfallen face.

"Aunt, you've misunderstood me. I meant that I would be more diligent and more talented than him, and strive to earn your recommendation spot."

Chen Rong let out a light laugh upon hearing this.

She knew Chen Yu wasn't inherently bad, just too harsh on himself and others, looking down on those inferior to him. Noticing another person arrive outside the courtyard, she waved to Chen Lan and Chen Yu.

"The assessment is about to begin, you two should go back first."

"Yes."

At this moment, Li Mo also noticed someone else arrive behind him.

When he turned his head and recognized the identity of the newcomer, he was inwardly surprised. It was Tao Ran.

He immediately thought of Tao Ran's Divine Wood Physique aptitude, which was highly beneficial for practicing Alchemy. He was a registered disciple of Wang Wenhai, the Vice Hall Master of the Alchemy Hall, and his doubts were instantly resolved.

So, Li Mo smiled and gestured to Tao Ran.

Upon seeing Li Mo, Tao Ran was also a bit taken aback. He clearly remembered this disciple who had defeated his friend Wu Xin. However, seeing Li Mo's humble attitude, he quickly smiled and responded.

At this moment.

Two cultivators, a man and a woman, walked out of the Alchemy Hall.

The female cultivator had an indifferent demeanor, as if detached from the mundane world. The male cultivator had an aged and kind face, with a red nose, like a playful old man. He smiled and waved at Tao Ran.

"Good disciple, come quickly and meet your Aunt Chen."

Generally, the seniority among cultivators is divided by cultivation realm.

Therefore, Tao Ran and Li Mo, who were at the Qi Refining Stage, should have addressed Head Chen, who was at the Golden Core Stage, as Martial Aunt Ancestor. However, Tao Ran had now become a registered disciple under Vice Hall Master Wang, so addressing her as Aunt Chen while by Vice Hall Master Wang's side was within reason.

"Aunt Chen."

Tao Ran respectfully bowed upon hearing this.

Chen Huiling glanced at Tao Ran and then rolled her eyes at the red-nosed old man beside her. Their relationship seemed very harmonious.

"This child's Divine Wood Physique is indeed extremely rare, inherited from your lineage. From now on, you will have a successor in Da Gan Kingdom. Excellent."

After speaking.

Head Chen took out a jade box and handed it to a surprised Tao Ran.

"Since you are Old Ghost's disciple, I can't not show my appreciation. In the past, I wasn't valued by my family or sect, and I only gradually attained enlightenment after being a spirit herb cultivator for a long time. This is some of my experience in cultivating spirit herbs from back then. You should find it useful later."

"Thank you, Aunt!"

Li Mo, standing nearby, felt a pang of envy but was also puzzled.

What did she mean by having a successor in Da Gan Kingdom?

Why was she giving him experience related to cultivating spirit herbs?

However, Chen Huiling Head Chen clearly wouldn't explain anything about this. She nodded and then looked at Li Mo.

"You two, follow me."

"Wait a moment."

The red-nosed old man chuckled.

"Sister, your assessments are always a bit too monotonous. These two little fellows know that regardless of the outcome, they will gain the status of Alchemy Hall disciples. For their first furnace, they certainly won't unleash their true potential. Why not add some stakes?"

Saying that.

He took out a jade box from his Storage Pouch.

When he opened the jade box, a red spirit herb was revealed, emitting a fragrant aroma that immediately drew the attention of Li Mo, Tao Ran, and Chen Rong.

"Heh heh, a stalk of Hundred Year Red Essence Fungus. Whoever among you two takes first place will get this Hundred Year Red Essence Fungus!"

Seeing this, Chen Huiling shook her head and smiled lightly. She knew this old rascal was up to his tricks again.

"It seems my junior brother has great confidence in this registered disciple?"

Wang Wenhai grinned, looking up at the sky with a smug expression.

"A mere stalk of Red Essence Grass, even over a hundred years old, is almost useless to Golden Core cultivators like us. In the hands of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, it's just a supplementary ingredient. But if it falls into the hands of these two Qi Refining disciples, hehe, it's enough to be the main ingredient for a Qi Gathering Pill. It would be making the best use of it."

"Since my junior brother says so and is willing to offer this Hundred Year Red Essence Fungus, then as Junior Brother Wang suggested, let's add some stakes this time."

With that said, Chen Huiling entered the main hall first.

As Li Mo and Tao Ran were about to follow, Chen Rong stepped forward and comforted Li Mo.

"Don't get distracted by this. Both of you are opening your furnace for the first time. The sect is providing the alchemy materials for free this time. You should try to perform as steadily as possible and let the sect see your potential. That way, after your graduation assessment in two years and you join the Alchemy Hall, you will be entrusted with public alchemy tasks by the sect, and thus obtain..."

"Yes."

Li Mo had indeed been a bit nervous earlier.

If he could win this Hundred Year Red Essence Fungus, he wondered how many Spirit Stone it would be worth.

Then, whether it was learning spells, buying magical artifacts, or even learning his so-called secret techniques from Tian Fen, searching for clues about the elusive Demon Core, or studying the method of tribulation ascension recorded in the Mystic Box, none of it would be out of reach.

However, as Head Chen had said.

The fact that Hall Master Wang dared to offer this spirit herb as a stake, rather than gifting it privately, clearly showed his confidence in Tao Ran.

Upon entering the main hall.

Two stone tables were set up in the hall. On each table was a delicate, small alchemy furnace, five Spirit Stone of different attributes, over a dozen spirit herbs of low years, some clear water, and an Elixir Recipe.

Under Head Chen's instruction, Li Mo and Tao Ran each took a stone table, one on the left and one on the right.

"Today's assessment is to refine the Plague-Dispelling Pill within three hours, based on the Elixir Recipe before you. Whether you refine them one by one or all at once is up to you. After the assessment, the Elixir Recipe for the Plague-Dispelling Pill, the alchemy furnace, and any remaining Spirit Stones and spiritual herbs will be your reward from the sect."

Just as Chen Rong had said.

The result of the alchemy assessment wasn't important; obtaining the recommendation was the most crucial part. This made Li Mo even more grateful to his Martial Aunt Chen Rong. He quickly picked up the Elixir Recipe for the Plague-Dispelling Pill and began to study it carefully.

The refinement process for the Plague-Dispelling Pill was not complicated.

The elixirs did not have a classification of beginner, intermediate, or advanced. Instead, they were divided according to the applicable level of the person. As Chen Rong had said before, taking elixirs indiscriminately could lead to the danger of exploding.

The Elixir Recipe for the Plague-Dispelling Pill was clearly not precious, being a mortal-grade elixir that could be consumed by both mortals and cultivators.

This was perfectly suitable as the first furnace-opening assessment for the two of them.

Alchemy was not something that could be mastered solely through theoretical knowledge; it also required certain aptitude, intuition, and luck.

With the ownership of a Hundred Year Red Essence Fungus at stake, Li Mo repeatedly studied the Elixir Recipe three times before meticulously organizing the spiritual herbs before him. While it appeared he was striving for perfection, he was actually covertly observing Tao Ran's actions.

After studying the Elixir Recipe, Tao Ran surprisingly put away the three Spirit Stones on his table, leaving only the fire and wood attribute Spirit Stones placed side-by-side, which he then stimulated with his Magical Power.

The two Spirit Stones ignited with a "whoosh," creating a spiritual fire.

His expression was calm, his demeanor proper, his movements elegant, and with a confident smile, he set up the alchemy furnace. He began to process and place each spiritual herb into the furnace according to the Elixir Recipe.

The entire process flowed like water.

But Li Mo did not believe he had prepared in advance.

Because after activating his Spirit Eyes, he noticed faint strands of pale green spiritual energy appearing between Tao Ran's hands. Many of these spiritual energy threads were like rootlets of grass and wood, penetrating into the spiritual herbs. When he officially began alchemy, these spiritual energy threads actually entered the furnace with the spiritual herbs, moderating the elixir within and forming a resonance with the spiritual fire, which contained a slight wood attribute.

It was as if an invisible hand was constantly sensing the subtle changes in the medicinal properties within the alchemy furnace for him.

"Is this the ability of the Divine Wood Physique?"

Li Mo appeared calm on the surface, but his heart was exceptionally shocked.

The advantage of the Lingmu Sect's alchemists was that they could perceive some of the medicinal property changes within the alchemy furnace through Spirit Eye techniques. Tao Ran, however, had amplified this advantage further.

After fiddling with the Elixir Recipe and spiritual herbs before him for nearly an hour, Li Mo still had not made a move.

This was because he had clearly realized that if he competed with Tao Ran using conventional methods, to win, he would need to surpass the opponent in basic skill proficiency, fundamental alchemy theory, and luck.

Judging by the opponent's technique, his basic skill proficiency could only be higher than his own, his fundamental alchemy theory was also solid, coupled with the opponent's Divine Wood Physique...

Unless the opponent had bad luck and made a major mistake.

Otherwise, if he refined the elixir using the conventional methods learned in class, he would have no chance of winning.

"Life is like a play, it eventually ends. I hope you will do your best in the future and seize the opportunities before you, not like this old man, who will regret it for life."

Zhang Guoyin's words still echoed in his ears.

Li Mo's gaze slightly sharpened. He took a deep breath and surprisingly also took away three Spirit Stones, leaving behind the water and wood dual-attribute Spirit Stones.

After stacking the two Spirit Stones on top of each other, he used a special luck-based method from the Creation Pill formula to mobilize the lightning-attribute Magical Power in his Dantian, connecting the two to form a lightning arc, which continuously crackled in the air.

"This is?"

Not only was Tao Ran stunned, but Chen Huiling also frowned.

It wasn't until Li Mo placed the alchemy furnace above the lightning arc, with wisps of lightning converging into the furnace, that Chen Huiling's pupils suddenly contracted. The originally calm and composed expression on her face was instantly replaced by an incredulous look.

Li Mo decided to take a risk and refine the Plague-Dispelling Pill according to the Lightning Refining Method described in the Creation Pill formula!

Chen Rong did not know that the reason Li Mo learned Alchemy was simply because he wanted to learn Alchemy, not to join the Alchemy Hall and pursue a career as an alchemist. He had never forgotten his original intention; his ideal was to become an Inspector, to uphold justice and punish evil!

Therefore, stabilizing his performance here to gain the attention of the higher-ups and being assigned to the Alchemy Hall for cultivation after graduation was not the outcome he desired.

"Refining with lightning should have a miraculous effect in removing impurities, greatly improving efficiency when refining low-grade elixirs, and might have extraordinary effects when refining elixirs with Demon Cores as the main ingredient. However, it should not be very suitable for refining intermediate and high-grade elixirs that primarily use thousand-year or ten-thousand-year spiritual herbs, as it might significantly increase the chance of the elixir breaking."

This was Chen Rong's evaluation of the Lightning Refining Method, considering it a unorthodox path rather than the righteous one.

But in the current situation, even an unorthodox path was something Li Mo had to fight for!

This method was only applicable to alchemists with a single lightning-attribute spiritual root.

After activating the Lightning Refining Method through a special Magical Power circulation method, alchemists had to constantly endure the backlash of the lightning. However, the Elixir Recipe did not record any methods to avoid the backlash or weaken the side effects.

His hands were enveloped by a slight numbness, forcing Li Mo to rely on his strong willpower and proficiency to place the various spiritual herbs into the alchemy furnace one by one.

"Lightning corresponds to wood, Kan corresponds to water, tempering and purifying, cleansing residue, heaven is round, earth is square, a perfect elixir is formed..."

An hour later.

Chen Huiling's face was flushed as she opened the wooden door of the Alchemy Hall's main chamber.

"Senior Sister, how did the two of them perform?"

Wang Haiwen asked with a smile. Chen Rong, standing beside him, looked slightly nervous.

Chen Huiling smiled gently.

"This was their first time opening a furnace, and both of them succeeded in forming elixirs. They are both rare geniuses of the Alchemy lineage. As for the specific rankings, you two can go and see for yourselves."

Wang Haiwen was taken aback.

But seeing that Chen Huiling had already left and Chen Rong had eagerly entered the hall, he also followed, wanting to see for himself what was going on inside.

He first saw Tao Ran looking bewildered.

On the stone table before Tao Ran, a large amount of medicinal dregs were scattered. Amidst the dregs, three Plague-Averting Pills had appeared. Although these pills looked slightly shriveled and lacked full potency, for a first-time alchemist, such a result was already quite impressive. Tao Ran's face immediately lit up with joy.

"Not bad!"

"Li Mo, Li Mo! Are you alright?"

"I... I'm a little sore."

Wang Haiwen turned his head and looked at Li Mo at another stone table.

Li Mo's hair was disheveled, his body trembled uncontrollably, and his eyes were slightly bloodshot, clearly indicating a disturbance in his qi and blood.

When his gaze fell upon the stone table before Li Mo, and he saw that there were a full twelve Plague-Averting Pills among the sparse medicinal dregs, his eyes immediately widened.

"This is impossible!"

He strode over to Li Mo's stone table and carefully examined the medicinal properties of these pills. Each one was perfectly round and lustrous, brimming with potency. Only two pills had cracks, their medicinal properties destined to gradually dissipate over time.