Again

The first time he searched for the Wood Force within his body, it had taken nearly half an hour. Yet now, Xiao Yan had found it in a single breath?

Could he really be a genius?

"Good, good, good..."

Old Yao could no longer find words to describe how he felt. After saying "good" three times in succession, he lightly tapped Xiao Yan's forehead, sending a stream of information into his mind as he said:

"This is a formula for a Healing Medicine I compounded myself. Try refining it. I'll remind you whenever necessary about controlling the flame's temperature and the timing for extracting the medicinal properties."

Xiao Yan nodded and carefully studied the information in his mind. A moment later, he took out the medicinal ingredients from his Storage Ring.

"Blood Coagulation Powder: one stalk of Blood Coagulation Grass, one Vitality Fruit, two Poppy Flowers..."

Then, he did his utmost to suppress the temperature of the flames inside the medicinal cauldron.

Heavenly Flames were no ordinary Dou Qi flames. Even their low temperatures were only low relative to Heavenly Flames themselves. Compared to ordinary flames, they were anything but low.

With a wave of his hand, the dark-red Blood Coagulation Grass appeared in his palm. After a brief hesitation, Xiao Yan tossed it into the coiled beast head atop the medicinal cauldron.

The instant the Blood Coagulation Grass entered the cauldron, Xiao Yan refined it at an astonishing speed into pale white powder. Before he could add any other ingredients, however, it was burned directly into a scorched yellow. Though Xiao Yan hurriedly suppressed the flames again, quite a bit of charred black ash had still mixed into it.

That stalk of Blood Coagulation Grass was ruined.

With a thought, the cauldron automatically expelled the waste.

Looking at the failed result of his first attempt at extracting medicinal ingredients, Xiao Yan frowned. He had been just a little short of success.

"For your first time using Heavenly Flames, getting this far is already quite impressive."

Even Old Yao was somewhat surprised by Xiao Yan's performance.

After all, ordinary Dou Qi flames, when suppressed by soul power as strong as Xiao Yan's, would never be able to burn medicinal ingredients. Yet Xiao Yan had not even had time to react.

But Xiao Yan was using Heavenly Flames. Even Heavenly Flames in their infant stage were still Heavenly Flames.

When Old Yao had subdued Heavenly Flames back then, he had already been a Sixth-Grade Alchemist. Even so, he had needed some time to adapt to their extreme heat.

Yet Xiao Yan, a complete beginner, had successfully extracted the essential medicinal potency on his very first try with Heavenly Flames. Such talent was truly astonishing!

"Don't rely solely on soul power to suppress them. Reducing the output of both Dou Qi and Heavenly Flames can also effectively lower the temperature of the flames."

Coming back to himself, Old Yao offered a soft reminder.

"Alright!"

Xiao Yan nodded. He immediately tossed in another stalk of Blood Coagulation Grass. His soul perception tightly compressed the flames' temperature while, following Old Yao's advice, he reduced the output of Dou Qi and Heavenly Flames. Through the Ice Mirror, he stared intently at the Blood Coagulation Grass hovering above the flames.

This time, the Blood Coagulation Grass was still quickly stripped of its outer skin, while the essential medicinal potency within its leaves was roasted into a small pinch of pale white powder. It floated steadily inside the cauldron, wrapped in a tiny, faintly red flame that nurtured its medicinal potency.

With his earlier experience refining Blood Coagulation Grass, the following extractions became much easier. After ruining one Vitality Fruit and one Poppy Flower, Xiao Yan successfully extracted the medicinal essences needed to compound the Healing Medicine from the two ingredients.

What he extracted from the Vitality Fruit were tiny, slightly black particles. These particles could disperse blood stasis and promote circulation. In the wilderness, experienced injured mercenaries who lacked sufficient Healing Medicine would often crush Vitality Fruits into pulp to ease their wounds.

What he extracted from the Poppy Flowers was a pale red liquid. This liquid had a numbing effect on the nerves and could be used to relieve pain.

Looking at the three medicinal essences inside the cauldron, Old Yao nodded slightly and said softly, "The necessary ingredients have all been extracted. Now, fuse their medicinal properties together. This is the most important step in alchemy!"

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Yan nodded solemnly. He then directly fused the pale white powder from the Blood Coagulation Grass with the pale red liquid from the Poppy Flowers.

Under the tempering of the Heavenly Flames, the two gradually merged into a pale red, viscous liquid.

As the flames continued to roast it, the viscous liquid changed from pale red to dark red, becoming like paste.

Staring fixedly through the transparent mirror at the dark-red paste inside the cauldron, Xiao Yan waved his hand and tossed the black particles from the Vitality Fruit into it as well.

He immediately separated off a stream of flame to envelop the black particles, and the temperature of the fire abruptly rose.

Inside the cauldron, the tiny black particles quickly could not withstand the high temperature of the Heavenly Flames. They burst apart, becoming clumps of jet-black powder that slowly drifted into the dark-red paste, staining it an even deeper shade.

After the final clump of black powder drifted into the paste, Xiao Yan nurtured it for a little while before drawing the Heavenly Flames back into his body. His palm slowly moved away from the fire port.

Seeing the excitement in Xiao Yan's eyes, Old Yao smiled faintly and waved his hand. The cauldron lid flew open. With a beckon of his right hand, the large mass of dark-red paste flew out under the control of his soul power and hovered in midair within the cave.

Glancing at the dark-red paste that gave off a rich medicinal scent, Old Yao sliced his hand through the air. With that motion, the continuously flowing paste was divided into at least several small portions.

Taking the Storage Ring from Xiao Yan's hand, Old Yao flicked a finger and retrieved several small jade bottles.

After arranging the jade bottles, Old Yao casually waved his hand. The portions of paste in the air accurately dropped into the bottles.

Picking up a jade bottle, Old Yao smilingly handed it to Xiao Yan. "Congratulations. Your first attempt at alchemy was a success!"

Xiao Yan accepted the jade bottle and looked at the impure dark-red paste inside, then shook his head.

"Teacher, I think I still need more practice. This shouldn't count as a proper medicinal pill, right? The quality is still far from good enough."

Xiao Yan was not satisfied. Thanks to the formula and the Heavenly Flames, this batch of medicinal liquid could even rival some lower-quality First-Grade Healing Medicine in effectiveness, but it still fell short of the standard Xiao Yan had set for himself.

"If some alchemy apprentices heard you say that, they'd probably die of shame!"

Though he said so, Old Yao's eyes were full of amusement. This kind of composed and enterprising temperament pleased him greatly.

Many years ago, he had once taught a disciple. That disciple had decent talent; after more than twenty attempts at extraction, he had grasped the essentials and soon refined his first batch of finished medicine.

Old Yao still remembered the delight on that disciple's face. Especially after learning that his results were even slightly better than his teacher's, he had become so smug that he even jokingly teased Old Yao.

Compared to Xiao Yan now, the difference between them was immediately clear.

Burning with enthusiasm, Xiao Yan did not notice Old Yao's expression. He merely took a deep breath, poured Heavenly Flames into the medicinal cauldron once more, and waved his hand. Another stalk of Blood Coagulation Grass flew into the cauldron, while the youth's energetic voice rang out:

"Again!"