One of a Series of Experiments [Part Two]

"This system truly lived up to being the creation of some passing great power. It really left no loopholes for anyone to exploit..."

In the woodshed, Lin Feng worked hard to use Sword Qi to chop spiritwood into three-foot wooden strips two fingers thick, grumbling under his breath as he did so.

This spiritwood was needed for alchemy. It was not merely used to sustain the fire; the vigorous Wood Element spiritual power steaming from within the wood could also accelerate the gestation of medicinal pills.

However, different pills had different requirements for spiritwood. Some pills required none of this wood at all, relying entirely on the alchemist's mouthful of true fire. Some pills not only required spiritwood, but demanded that it be soaked five times in ginseng broth made from ten-thousand-year-old ginseng before entering the pill furnace—though no one on Linghuang Island did that anymore. It was simply too extravagant.

Some pills even had requirements for the cultivation method used by the person chopping the wood.

The Quenching Fire Pill of Luo Chen Sword Palace was one such pill. It required Heaven Azure Wood, exceptionally rich in Yimu essence, as fuel to maintain the pill furnace's temperature. This Heaven Azure Wood also had to be weakened with faint Gengjin energy, triggering the pattern of "wood strong, metal insulted," before it could be used in alchemy.

Chopping spiritwood according to such requirements was also an extremely demanding task. First, the woodcutter had to chop the firewood to the prescribed thickness and length, which was an enormous torment to one's mind. Second, the woodcutter's cultivation could not be too high, or the pattern of "wood strong, metal insulted" could not form. With every chop, the woodcutter had to channel Gengjin Sword Qi to the fullest. For Qi Refining Cultivators with insufficient