Master Jiang, Teach Me Alchemy!

"Bastard!"

Fang Yao's face darkened, and he slapped the disciple beside him across the face, rebuking him, "Didn't I tell you to bring out the finest herbs? What the hell have you been doing?"

"Get back there and fetch them again, you useless thing!"

The disciple looked utterly aggrieved. "Yes, Master Fang..."

After berating the disciple, Fang Yao put on a fawning smile. "Master Jiang, you really are a fifth-grade alchemist."

Jiang Yuan waved a hand and sighed. "A good man does not boast of past glories. This old man is rusty now; I can only refine some third-grade pills."

"Third-grade?"

Fang Yao's eyes lit up. "Third-grade is fine too!"

"Master Jiang, please teach me alchemy!"

"This..."

Jiang Yuan looked troubled. "This old man has never intended to take on disciples..."

"You needn't take me as a disciple, no need at all. Just let me observe you refining pills once."

Fang Yao's face was full of excitement. "This little brother is willing to offer up the finest herbs. Please grant my request!"

Though second-grade and third-grade differed by only one grade, their value was as far apart as heaven and earth.

He had been unable to refine a third-grade pill for so long.

If he could observe a master refining pills just once, perhaps he might gain a sudden enlightenment!

With such an opportunity before him, how could he not be excited?

Ding Wu said nothing from the side, but his eyes clearly showed that he too wanted to observe Jiang Yuan refine pills, so he could report back to Zhu Hu.

Seeing this, Jiang Yuan nodded slightly and reluctantly agreed. "Fine, then. Only this once!"

At this moment, inside the Medicine Hall's alchemy hall.

Jiang Yuan stood before an alchemy furnace in the hall, surrounded by Medicine Hall disciples who had come to observe. All eyes were upon him.

Since he was going to show off, he decided to openly give a lesson!

Whether it was the Medicine Hall or the White Tiger Hall, only by finding a chance to show his skills could he dispel their doubts about him and make them willingly offer him herbs in the future.

Jiang Yuan did not begin at once. Instead, he carefully reviewed the Beauty-Nourishing Pill formula in his mind, only making his move after confirming there were no mistakes.

Strictly speaking, this was his first time refining pills in public. It was impossible to say he was not nervous at all.

After all, when refining pills publicly, he could hardly sneak a look at the formula, could he?

The first step in pill refinement was selecting the herbs.

After Fang Yao had given new instructions, the pile before him contained all the herbs in the Medicine Hall that met the requirements.

Generally speaking, the first thing an alchemist did was select the best or most suitable ingredients from among them before beginning the refinement.

Yet Jiang Yuan did not spend any more time choosing. He casually grabbed a handful of Yellow Bud and tossed it in, carrying himself like a master who had everything under control.

"Master Jiang, aren't you going to carefully select them first?" Fang Yao asked, voicing his doubt at just the right moment.

Ding Wu also looked toward Jiang Yuan. He did not understand alchemy, but he knew the herbs had to be the best.

What Jiang Yuan was doing seemed far too casual.

"No need. Yellow Bud between ten and twenty years old will do. Why waste time on that?"

Jiang Yuan replied calmly.

"Oh? Shouldn't one choose the highest-quality ones?" Fang Yao seemed to have gained some insight and pressed on.

"Hehe, then let me ask you: what counts as the highest quality? Is Yellow Bud closest to ten years the best, or Yellow Bud closest to twenty years?" Jiang Yuan countered.

That question stunned Fang Yao.

There were many ways to define the highest quality of herbs. Every alchemist had his own understanding. Some judged by color, some by age, and others by moisture or texture. Each had their own reasoning.

But no matter how they analyzed them, it was all to determine the herbs' medicinal potency.

He had asked because he wanted to know how Jiang Yuan judged medicinal potency, yet he had not expected Jiang Yuan not to care about any of that at all.

"This old man knows what you mean—you want to use the herbs with the strongest medicinal potency."

"But if you use herbs with even stronger potency for a second-grade pill, can you refine it into a third-grade pill?"

"The key to herbs lies in their proportions. Older herbs have stronger potency, so when adding the other herbs, their potency must also be correspondingly stronger. There is only suitability or unsuitability; there is no such thing as higher or lower quality."

"So long as the proportions are perfect, the pill produced will be of the highest quality!"

"You don't even understand that. No wonder your skill is so poor!"

Jiang Yuan spoke without the slightest courtesy, though he was really being utterly unreasonable—easy for him to say while standing there. Who could guarantee that every handful they added would make for perfect proportions?

He had a cheat, along with an innate sense for pills. That was why he had the confidence to put on such a show.

In truth, ordinary alchemists still needed to select their herbs in advance. Choosing the highest-quality herbs was actually done to standardize their medicinal potency.

What alchemists selected was not the quality of the herbs, but the qualitative proportions of their medicinal potency. That was why they all had different ways of putting it.

Fang Yao seemed to have realized something. Looking at Jiang Yuan as though he stood high as a mountain, he said excitedly, "Thank you for your guidance, Master Jiang!"

He had learned something. He truly had!

After adding the herbs, Jiang Yuan flicked a finger. A dark violet flame shot into the alchemy furnace, and a blazing fire instantly rose up, an especially spectacular sight.

At once, the entire Pill Hall erupted into an uproar, with cries of amazement breaking out everywhere.

"Damn, look at that! What kind of flame is Master Jiang using? It's fucking cool!"

"My god, a dark violet flame?"

"I've broadened my horizons. In all my years, this is the first time I've ever seen a flame that color."

The disciples were astonished, but some sharper-eyed people recognized it and cried out even more loudly.

"Could this be... the legendary demon flame?"

"What? This is demon flame?"

"Damn it all, Master Jiang actually has demon flame in his hands? Just who is he?"

By then, Fang Yao was already dumbstruck. His gaze was fixed tightly on the demon flame Jiang Yuan controlled, his eyes filled with shock, envy, and a trace of greed.

Demon flame—this was the legendary demon flame!

Generally speaking, alchemy furnaces used true qi as fuel, burning with ordinary furnace flames and consuming an enormous amount of true qi.

But with Jiang Yuan using demon flame to refine pills, the process was countless times easier than it was for ordinary alchemists.

It was something every alchemist dreamed of possessing.

Demon flame was exceptionally difficult to find. Once discovered, it would immediately be snatched up by wealthy alchemists, with demand far outstripping supply.

As a mere second-grade alchemist, he would probably never have a chance to obtain a strand of demon flame in his lifetime.

But this also proved something from another angle.

Jiang Yuan must have once been a master alchemist. Only then would he have had the means to possess demon flame!

At this point, Fang Yao was almost completely convinced of Jiang Yuan's identity.

After heating the furnace, Jiang Yuan skillfully controlled the temperature of the flames through the amount of true qi he fed in, gradually adjusting them to the temperature most suitable for refining the herbs.

He was unhurried and orderly in every movement.

Throughout the process, Fang Yao stared without blinking, his eyes wide with shock and confusion.

Generally speaking, alchemists had set formulas for controlling fire, and such things were clearly written in pill formulas.

For instance, when refining the Beauty-Nourishing Pill, the formula at this stage was one breath of high heat followed by three breaths of low heat, repeated one hundred times to completely refine the herbs.

Yet Jiang Yuan changed it to one and a half breaths of high heat followed by two and a half breaths of low heat. Later, he changed it again to half a breath of high heat followed by three and a half breaths of low heat.

A tiny error could lead to a difference as vast as the distance between heaven and earth!

Fang Yao simply could not understand such fire control.

Yet what puzzled him even more was that Jiang Yuan's method actually made the fragrance of the herbs somewhat richer, indicating that they had been refined more purely and contained fewer impurities.

Though it was only by a tiny amount, an expert like Fang Yao knew just how difficult that was.

Many times, the quality of a pill depended on precisely that tiny trace of impurity.

A master—this was a true master!