When Chen Xian returned to the side courtyard, he didn't waste any time.
After clearing the ashes from the Standard Bronze Pill Furnace, he set it back in the open space at the center of the courtyard.
"I'm an independent Pill Master with a mission now. I'd better take this seriously."
Muttering to himself, Chen Xian opened the Essential Guide to Alchemy Basics that Qiu Daowen had given him.
He didn't disappoint: as an introductory book for Pill Masters, it covered nearly every first-grade pill recipe, along with all the precautions.
The Qi Induction Pill appeared on the first page after the table of contents.
He studied the detailed instructions for the "Qi Induction Pill" word by word, his brows furrowing and relaxing by turns.
"So that's why. I nearly blew up the furnace last night because I condensed too much medicinal essence at once, making its medicinal properties so potent that they collided inside the furnace."
"The herbs have to be refined one at a time so the liquid can be 'separated' promptly. That way, they won't all clump together. No wonder I ended up refining a ball."
Most of his confusion had been cleared up.
Chen Xian took a deep breath to steady himself, then once again sent Dao Power into the furnace's formation.
Dark red flames leapt up, illuminating the old face set in a look of fierce concentration.
Sorting the herbs, loading them into the furnace, refining them.
This time, he wasn't in a hurry.
As each Origin Spirit Leaf and Bitter Cold Grass went into the furnace, he used Dao Consciousness to precisely envelop the medicinal essence that seeped out.
Once the ten herbs had turned into ten portions of liquid, he held his breath and controlled the liquids from the Origin Spirit Leaves and Bitter Cold Grasses, combining them in equal proportions!
"Combine!"
Chen Xian barked the command.
Inside the furnace, the medicinal liquids blended evenly into five portions.
At the same time, with the support of [Masterful Pill Crafting (Mystic)], Chen Xian felt his control over the furnace's temperature become as precise as a strand of hair.
Condense, quench, and nurture.
Half an hour later, Chen Xian lifted the furnace lid. Five milky-white pills, each about the size of a pinkie knuckle and as round as pearls, settled neatly onto the tray inside.
"Success! Now that's a proper Qi Induction Pill!"
Chen Xian picked one up and inhaled its fresh medicinal fragrance, his eyes brimming with satisfaction.
But when he glanced at the mission token's requirement—"one hundred pills"—then at the mountain of herbs, his little mental abacus started clicking again.
"Five pills per batch means I'll need twenty batches for a hundred. Each batch takes half a shichen, so I'd be at it until the middle of the night. No way. That's too slow."
Having successfully followed the proper procedure to refine pills, Chen Xian's thoughts began to stir again.
With his successful experience and Masterful Pill Crafting as a safety net, he was feeling bold.
As long as he made sure the medicinal liquid could be separated properly, there was no risk of refining another ball!
"Let's do it! Double the herbs, double the yield in one batch!"
He grabbed twice the usual amount of herbs and shoved them all into the furnace.
If Qiu Daowen had seen this, he would've been so furious he'd have dropped dead on the spot.
So much for reading the Essential Guide to Alchemy!
Refining twice the usual amount of herbs at once wasn't impossible, but it was an operation only a third-grade Pill Master would dare attempt!
First- and second-grade Pill Masters had to practice diligently and build their proficiency the old-fashioned way.
Sure enough, as the double batch of herbs went in, the furnace trembled just as it had the night before.
The flames flickered, clearly not strong enough.
Chen Xian gritted his teeth and opened his sea of consciousness to its fullest, gradually increasing the heat.
The herbs' surfaces cracked beneath the licking flames, and trickles of medicinal liquid began to seep out.
His Dao Consciousness shifted again, forcibly separating and independently condensing each portion of liquid.
Fortunately, this time he was only refining two batches of herbs, not three like the night before. He didn't need a Consciousness Returning Pill; gritting his teeth, he could just barely manage.
At last, after half a shichen, it was over without a hitch!
A quarter of an hour later, ten perfectly rounded Qi Induction Pills clinked into the tray.
"Heh, I really am a damn genius!"
Having figured out the trick, Chen Xian began working like a man possessed.
He found that the more he refined, the more smoothly it went. With his Dao Consciousness intensely focused, he could even faintly sense a curious rhythm in the herbs as they moved through the flames.
He also grew faster at refining the herbs.
By the afternoon, Chen Xian had thoroughly mastered the process.
He realized the most terrifying thing about Masterful Pill Crafting was that it caused zero waste.
Ordinary Pill Masters needed three batches of herbs to guarantee a batch of pills, resulting in a high loss rate.
But with him, one batch of herbs reliably yielded five pills.
"Liu Yuanbao issued me three times the herbs I needed. Does that mean I'll still have two batches left after refining a hundred pills?"
Chen Xian's eyes gleamed. "This isn't a mission. It's a supply line!"
The more he refined, the more energized he became, and the faster his hands moved.
What was more, as he refined more and more pills, the medicinal fragrance wafting from the furnace took on a cool, crisp hint of herbal scent by evening.
When the last batch of pills came out, Chen Xian froze.
The few Qi Induction Pills in his palm had snow-white skins, but faint green, flowing patterns had appeared on them, their surfaces even seeming to shimmer with emerald light.
"Pill patterns?"
Chen Xian flipped through the Essential Guide to Alchemy to check. "There it is, the Water Emerald Pattern. A mid-grade first-rank quality! It forms when the medicinal essence is exceptionally pure."
Qi Induction Pills of this quality had one and a half times the medicinal potency of ordinary ones, and contained even less Pill Poison!
Chen Xian was filled with emotion. "This is what being a genius looks like."
He packed the hundred pills into jade bottles and returned to the Mission Hall before night had fully fallen.
Inside the Mission Hall, the steward Liu Yuanbao was rubbing his sore arms when Chen Xian sauntered over.
He froze. "Granduncle? Are you... out of herbs already? It's fine. There's a lot of waste the first time you refine pills. Don't take it to heart."
Chen Xian said nothing. He simply pulled ten warm jade bottles from his Jade Ring and lined them up on the counter.
"One hundred Qi Induction Pills, all here. Count them."
Liu Yuanbao's raised arm froze in midair, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.
He reflexively picked up one of the jade bottles. The warmth against his fingertips convinced him these really had just come out of the furnace.
"Granduncle, did you refine these hundred pills in half a day?"
Seeing his incredulous expression, Chen Xian frowned slightly. Had he spent too long refining them?
He gave an awkward laugh. "Ahem, I'm still new at this, so I'm a bit rusty. I was indeed a little slow, but I should get faster once I've got more practice."
Liu Yuanbao: ???
Liu Yuanbao felt as if his entire worldview had crumbled.
An ordinary first-grade Pill Master needed at least two days to refine a hundred Qi Induction Pills, including breaks and time to recover their energy, if they wanted to ensure a decent success rate.
And the granduncle, who had only just started learning the Alchemy Path, thought that was slow?
Liu Yuanbao refused to believe it and tipped out a bottle to inspect the pills.
But the moment he saw the faint, barely visible green Water Emerald Patterns, he was utterly petrified.
"Water Emerald Patterns... mid-grade first-rank? Granduncle, is this really your first day refining pills?"
Liu Yuanbao muttered to himself, looking at Chen Xian as if he were some ancient Alchemy Path monster wearing human skin.
"Only about half the pills have Water Emerald Patterns. Just count them as ordinary ones when you calculate my Contribution Points."
Chen Xian explained, afraid Liu Yuanbao might think they all had the pattern.
Liu Yuanbao didn't respond. He just stood there, dazed.
Seeing him staring blankly, Chen Xian casually took two more mission tokens from the wall.
"Um, Yuanbao, I think I can refine some more."
"I'll take these two missions as well. One hundred Qi Induction Pills within three days, plus a hundred Foundation Building Pills."
As he spoke, Chen Xian urged him on. "Come on, hurry up with the herbs. I'm in a rush."
Liu Yuanbao mechanically took out the herbs. Only after Chen Xian had walked off did he shudder violently.
"A monster... No, Granduncle is an Alchemy Path prodigy bestowed upon the Sword Sect by heaven!"
Liu Yuanbao didn't even bother with the mission paperwork. He ran to the entrance and summoned a Flying Boat.
He had to hurry to Sect Master Peak and report this to his superiors!