Water Emerald Pattern

Back at the side courtyard, Chen Xian didn't waste any time.

He cleaned the ash out of the Standard Bronze Pill Furnace and set it back up in the open space at the center of the courtyard.

"I'm an external alchemist with a mission now. I need to take this seriously."

Chen Xian muttered to himself as he spread open the Essential Guide to Alchemy Basics that Qiu Daowen had given him.

As expected of an introductory alchemy manual, it covered almost all the refining methods and precautions for first-grade pills.

The Qi Induction Pill was on the very first page after the table of contents.

He read through the detailed explanation of the "Qi Induction Pill" word by word, his brow sometimes furrowing, sometimes relaxing.

"So that's it. Last night's near-furnace explosion happened because I condensed too much liquid essence at once, making the medicinal properties too strong and causing them to clash inside the furnace."

"The reason you have to refine the herbs one by one is to make it easier to 'separate the liquids' in time, so they don't all clump together. No wonder I ended up refining a ball."

Most of the confusion in his mind was resolved.

Chen Xian took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and channeled Dao Power into the furnace array again.

Dark red flames leaped up, illuminating his old, serious face.

He picked the herbs, fed them into the furnace, and began refining.

This time, he didn't rush.

As each Origin Spirit Leaf and Bitter Cold Grass entered the furnace, he used Dao Consciousness to precisely wrap the extracted liquid essence.

When the ten herbs had turned into ten globs of liquid, he held his breath and focused, controlling the liquid essences of the Origin Spirit Leaves and Bitter Cold Grass to merge in a one-to-one ratio!

"Merge!"

Chen Xian shouted in a low voice.

The liquid inside the furnace blended evenly into five portions.

At the same time, with the boost from Masterful Pill Crafting (Mystic), Chen Xian felt his control over the furnace temperature had become precise down to the width of a hair.

Condensation, flame withdrawal, gentle warming.

Half an hour later, Chen Xian opened the furnace lid. Five milky-white pills, each the size of a pinky knuckle and round as pearls, sat steadily on the tray inside the furnace.

"Done! Now this is a proper Qi Induction Pill!"

Chen Xian picked one up, sniffed its fresh medicinal fragrance, and his eyes were full of accomplishment.

But then he glanced at the "one hundred pills" requirement on the mission board, then at the mountain of herbs piled up, and the little abacus in his head started clicking again.

"Five pills per batch, one hundred pills means twenty batches. One batch takes half an hour—this old man would be refining until the dead of night! No way, too slow."

Having successfully refined a pill using the proper procedure, Chen Xian's mind started working again.

With a successful experience under his belt and the safety net of Masterful Pill Crafting, he was feeling bold.

As long as he could ensure the liquid was properly divided, there was no fear of refining another ball!

"Talk is cheap! Double the herbs, double the batch in one furnace!"

He grabbed twice the amount of herbs and stuffed them all into the furnace at once.

If Qiu Daowen had seen this move, he would have been so furious he'd have keeled over on the spot.

Had he read the Essential Guide to Alchemy for nothing?

Refining double the herbs in one go wasn't impossible, but it was a move only third-grade alchemists dared to attempt!

First- and second-grade alchemists had to obediently practice and build up their proficiency.

Sure enough, with double the herbs thrown in, the furnace started trembling slightly, just like last night.

The firelight flickered, clearly showing insufficient heat.

Chen Xian gritted his teeth, opened his sea of consciousness wide, and gradually raised the flame temperature.

The herb surfaces cracked under the licking flames, and strands of liquid essence began to seep out.

His Dao Consciousness shifted again, forcibly separating each portion of liquid and condensing them independently.

Luckily, it was only double the herbs this time, not triple like last night. He didn't need to take a Consciousness Returning Pill; gritting his teeth, he could barely manage.

Finally, half an hour later, it was a close call but no disaster!

A quarter-hour later, ten perfectly round Qi Induction Pills clinked into the tray.

"Heh, this old man is a goddamn genius!"

Chen Xian had found the trick and started grinding like crazy.

He discovered that the more he refined, the smoother it became. In a state of extreme Dao Consciousness concentration, he could even vaguely sense some wondrous rhythm of the herbs within the flames.

His herb-refining speed also grew faster and faster.

By the afternoon, Chen Xian had gotten the hang of it completely.

He realized the most terrifying thing about Masterful Pill Crafting was—zero waste.

Normally, an alchemist would need three portions of ingredients just to guarantee a single batch of pills, with an extremely high loss rate.

But for him, one portion of ingredients consistently yielded five pills.

"Liu Yuanbao gave This Old Man three portions of ingredients per the rules. That means after refining a hundred pills, This Old Man still has two portions left over?"

Chen Xian's eyes gleamed sharply. "This isn't doing a mission—this is a supply channel!"

The more he refined, the more energized he became, and his movements grew faster and faster.

Not only that, but as he refined more and more pills, by evening, the medicinal fragrance wafting from the furnace carried a faint, cool scent of grass and wood.

When the last batch of pills came out of the furnace, Chen Xian froze.

The few Qi Induction Pills in his palm had faint, pale green flowing patterns emerging on their snow-white surfaces, and they even shimmered with a hint of emerald light.

"Pill patterns?"

Chen Xian flipped open the Essential Guide to Alchemy to compare. "There it is—Water Emerald Pattern, first-grade mid-tier quality! A pill pattern condensed due to extremely high medicinal purity."

Qi Induction Pills of this quality had one and a half times the medicinal power of ordinary ones, and far less pill toxicity!

Chen Xian sighed with deep emotion. "This is what a genius is like."

He packed the hundred pills into jade bottles, and while the sky wasn't fully dark yet, he headed back to the Mission Hall.

Inside the Mission Hall, the steward Liu Yuanbao was rubbing his sore arms when he saw Chen Xian strolling over leisurely.

He froze for a moment. "Grandmaster Uncle? You... ran out of ingredients? No worries, it's normal to have a high loss rate on your first time refining pills. Don't take it to heart."

Chen Xian didn't say a word. He simply pulled ten warm jade bottles from his Jade Ring and set them on the counter.

"A hundred Qi Induction Pills, all here. Count them."

Liu Yuanbao's raised arm froze mid-air, and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

He instinctively grabbed a jade bottle, and the warmth from his fingertips confirmed that these really had just come out of the furnace.

"Grandmaster Uncle, you refined a hundred pills in half a day?"

Seeing Liu Yuanbao's expression like he'd seen a ghost, Chen Xian frowned slightly: Had he taken too long to refine the pills?

He gave an awkward chuckle. "Ahem, This Old Man is still new to this, after all, and my hands are unpracticed. The pace is indeed a bit slow. Once This Old Man gets the hang of it, it should be faster."

Liu Yuanbao: ???

Liu Yuanbao felt his worldview crumbling.

An ordinary first-grade alchemist refining a hundred Qi Induction Pills, counting rest and qi recovery, would need at least two days just to guarantee a success rate.

And the Grandmaster Uncle, who had just stepped onto the path of alchemy, actually thought it was slow?

Liu Yuanbao refused to believe it and poured out a bottle of pills to inspect.

But when he saw the faint, pale green emerald pill patterns, he completely turned to stone.

"Water Emerald Pattern... first-grade mid-tier? Is the Grandmaster Uncle really on his first day of alchemy?"

Liu Yuanbao muttered to himself, looking at Chen Xian as if he were an ancient alchemy master wearing human skin.

"Only half a bottle here has the Water Emerald Pattern. Just count them as ordinary pills for my Contribution Points," Chen Xian explained, afraid Liu Yuanbao might think they were all like that.

Liu Yuanbao said nothing, just stared blankly.

Seeing him dazed, Chen Xian casually grabbed two mission plaques from the wall.

"Hey, Yuanbao, This Old Man thinks he can still refine a bit more."

"I'll take these two missions too—a hundred Qi Induction Pills in three days, and another hundred Foundation Building Pills."

Chen Xian said as he urged, "Hurry up, hurry up, the ingredients. This Old Man is in a rush."

Liu Yuanbao mechanically took out the ingredients, and only after Chen Xian had walked far away did he suddenly shudder.

"Monster... no, the Grandmaster Uncle is a divine alchemy prodigy bestowed upon our Sword Sect by heaven!"

Liu Yuanbao couldn't be bothered with mission registration anymore. He ran to the door and summoned a Flying Boat.

He had to rush to Sect Master Peak and report this immediately!