Su Heng, the Cauldron Blaster

Su Heng had waited a full fifteen days for this moment!

Watching the blazing flames inside the medicinal cauldron, Su Heng trembled with excitement. It was as though the goddess who had haunted his dreams had truly become his one day.

"Try controlling the heat, then put in the herbs. I need to... I need to..."

Perhaps he was too excited in such a short span of time, but Su Heng's mind suddenly went blank for an instant.

"Boom!"

While Su Heng was distracted, the medicinal cauldron before him suddenly erupted with a deafening blast. The violent flames instantly ran wild, bursting outward as the bronze cauldron's lid was blown into the air and slammed fiercely into the Alchemy Hall's bluestone ceiling.

Cauldron explosions were the most common mishap in the profession of an Alchemist. Even the slightest error in controlling the heat could trigger one.

But exploding the cauldron before even adding any herbs was exceedingly rare, even among the most basic apprentices.

"I told you this guy was useless. He blew up his cauldron right after lighting the fire. I really don't know what Teacher saw in him!"

Lin Fei impatiently turned around for a glance. When she saw that it was Su Heng, the junior brother she disliked, who had blown up his cauldron, her expression immediately darkened as she spoke irritably.

"Hmph, worthy of being your junior brother. He blew up his cauldron before even getting started. I advise you not to fuss over your junior brother. I'm afraid you'll blow up your own cauldron too."

With mockery on her face, Xue Mei coldly watched Lin Fei, a disdainful smile on her lips. She had long heard that Master Otto had exceptionally accepted a new disciple, but she had never expected him to be this incompetent.

The other apprentices nearby either cast pitying looks or gazed at him with contempt. Some even let out long sighs, as though they could already see Su Heng's miserable future.

As for Su Heng, the sudden blast of heat and explosion turned his already blank mind into an even greater mess. It felt like lighting a firecracker fuse without having time to run away, only for a double-bang firecracker to explode right in front of him.

Intense ringing echoed in his head. Su Heng felt completely dazed, his eyes stinging as his vision went dark, followed by a splitting headache.

Su Heng swayed and lost control, crashing heavily onto the floor.

Seeing Su Heng in such a state, Master Frank on the platform was startled as well. He hurried over, gentle Dou Qi spreading from his body and softly enveloping Su Heng.

With Frank's help, Su Heng's discomfort gradually faded. He took several deep breaths and slowly rose to his feet.

"Master Frank, thank you."

Frank nodded lightly, his expression grave. He helped the recovered Su Heng up and spoke sternly.

"When refining medicine, avoid intense emotional fluctuations. Fortunately, you hadn't added the herbs just now. Otherwise, the explosion would have been even more powerful. You were overly excited because you successfully lit the fire."

"Children are all like this. They get carried away the moment they achieve something. Alchemy is a serious matter. You must stay completely focused and cannot slack off in the slightest. That Otto is far too careless."

With only one look, Frank had identified Su Heng's mistake. This deeply shocked Su Heng. A Fourth-grade Alchemist truly was terrifying!

Seeing that Su Heng had recovered, Frank did not linger. He needed to monitor the entire Alchemy Hall at all times and could not spend too much time on Su Heng.

Pulling himself together, Su Heng lit the flames again. This time, none of his previous excitement remained, replaced by utmost seriousness and concentration.

"Try controlling the flames. Inject Wood Qi and adjust the temperature of the fire."

Following Su Heng's soul fluctuations, strands of green Wood Qi began adjusting the flames' temperature. After repeated attempts, Su Heng was finally able to control the fire's temperature through the power of his soul and the fluctuations of the Wood Qi in his body.

"This is a low-grade herb. The flame temperature can't be too high. Try the lowest temperature."

Su Heng lowered the flame temperature to its minimum, then tossed a stalk of Blood-Stanching Grass into the medicinal cauldron.

Once the herb entered the cauldron, the surrounding flames seemed to show no reaction at all. Su Heng had been too cautious this time, leaving the temperature inside the cauldron far too low. Forget refining the Blood-Stanching Grass—even deforming it slightly was impossible.

Better not to burn it than to turn it straight into ash. Seeing that the Blood-Stanching Grass remained stable, Su Heng began gradually raising the temperature, increasing it by as little as possible each time.

This approach seemed safe, but in truth, gradually raising the temperature was not advisable.

The flames generated in the medicinal cauldron were fundamentally driven by the Alchemist's Dou Qi. If the Dou Qi was depleted too soon or failed to keep up, the result would still be a cauldron explosion.

Su Heng's cautious heating method could keep the herbs from being damaged by fierce flames, but the overly slow heating pace consumed Dou Qi several times faster. This was especially true since Su Heng was merely a Two-Star Dou Zhe, and the depth of his Dou Qi was already extremely poor.

"Boom!"

As another explosion rang out, black smoke billowed upward, and the poor cauldron lid once again had an intimate encounter with the bluestone ceiling. This time, it bounced straight off the ceiling and smashed heavily into Su Heng's forehead.

This time, Su Heng's vision went completely black, and he toppled to the ground. With a huge amount of Dou Qi depleted and a heavy object striking his head, he fainted on the spot.

Blowing up his cauldron twice in a single day—such a "record" was unprecedented even among all the apprentices of the Black Rock City Alchemist Guild.

"This trash blew up his cauldron again!"

A heavy frost had already settled over Lin Fei's face. Su Heng now made her feel like she could no longer hold her head up before the others.

After all, Su Heng was Otto's disciple and her fellow junior brother. If this junior brother was so weak, did that not mean Master Otto was incapable?

And if Master Otto was incapable, did that not mean Lin Fei's master was incapable? How could Lin Fei swagger around after that?

"Hmph, birds of a feather flock together. Even when it comes to humiliating yourselves, you're one of a kind."

Xue Mei seized the chance to mock Lin Fei again. She did not care what happened to Su Heng. As long as Lin Fei felt miserable, she was delighted. No one knew when their rivalry had turned into constant, needle-sharp opposition.

"This trash..."

Lin Fei's pretty face flushed red. She gritted her silver teeth, trembling with rage, and this sudden emotional collapse caused the flames in her cauldron to instantly go out of control.

A muffled bang suddenly came from Lin Fei's cauldron. Thick black smoke burst from its mouth, and the herbs that had been on the verge of successful refinement all turned into a pool of pitch-black ash, automatically expelled by the cauldron.

"You were mocking someone else, yet you blew up your own cauldron first. Sigh... if you're bad, practice more."

A smug smile appeared on Xue Mei's usually icy face. Her rival's embarrassment put her in a wonderful mood, making her seem less cold and more like an ordinary young girl.

Pouting, Lin Fei stomped her foot fiercely. The greatest pain in the world was making a fool of herself before her mortal enemy. If Master Frank had not been watching, she would have rushed over and kicked Su Heng several times already.

Su Heng blowing up his cauldron twice in one day gave Frank quite a headache. What had Otto been thinking, taking such a child as his disciple?

Frank let out a long sigh and hurried to Su Heng's side once more, using his Dou Qi to heal him.

After a long while, Su Heng finally woke up slowly. This time, he had truly lost consciousness for a brief moment.

As Su Heng had gradually raised the flames' temperature, he had clearly felt a brief interruption in the Wood Qi he was feeding into the medicinal cauldron. The Dou Qi consumed by alchemy far exceeded his expectations. It felt even more draining than his bloody battle against the Snake-People Tribe.

Frank noticed this as well. He took out a Second-grade Qi-Replenishing Pill from his Storage Ring and handed it to Su Heng.

"Gradually raising the temperature consumes a great deal of Dou Qi. Alchemists generally use that technique only to determine the temperature required to refine herbs. Your idea of seeking stability through gradual heating is not bad, but your strength as a Two-Star Dou Zhe does not support it. Do you understand?"

"Even as a Da Dou Shi, the Dou Qi in my body cannot sustain refining herbs through gradual heating. Do you understand what I mean?"

Su Heng had used an extremely cautious method to avoid damaging the herbs. This was exceptionally rare among all the apprentices.

Looking at the pale child before him, Frank suddenly felt that he understood Otto a little. Perhaps this child's talent really was greater than imagined.

He simply had not found the right method of alchemy yet. He seemed unbearably foolish, but in truth, he had already gone farther than every other student in the entire Alchemy Hall.

After taking the Qi-Replenishing Pill, Su Heng's complexion visibly improved.

This Qi-Replenishing Pill was a Second-grade Pill refined by Frank. Its quality was considered high among Second-grade Pills. Even if a Dou Zhe had completely exhausted all the Dou Qi in their body, they could fully recover within minutes.

Su Heng sat on the ground for a while and felt the Dou Qi in his body recovering at a visible rate. After all, when he had exhausted his Dou Qi before without pill assistance, it had taken him an entire night and another morning just to barely recover.

No wonder Alchemists held such high status on the Dou Qi Continent. This high-grade Second-grade Pill could be worth a life to many Dou Zhes and even Dou Masters!

"Thank you, Master Frank. I'm much better now."

Frank watched as color gradually returned to Su Heng's face and nodded approvingly. His disappointment this time was much weaker than before. He had begun looking forward to what Su Heng would do next.

With his Dou Qi restored, Su Heng stood again, set up the cauldron, and lit the fire.

With his previous experience, Su Heng tossed another stalk of Blood-Stanching Grass into the medicinal cauldron. This time, he did not deliberately keep the flames at a low temperature.

Before the last cauldron explosion, Su Heng had felt signs that the herb within the cauldron was beginning to be refined. This time, he only needed to raise the temperature slightly, and he should be able to refine it.

As the temperature rapidly rose, the Blood-Stanching Grass inside the cauldron began tumbling up and down amid the flames. The scorching fire no longer allowed it to retain its original shape.

After an unknown amount of time, the Blood-Stanching Grass in the cauldron began melting under the flames. Its outer skin was scorched into ash and expelled from the cauldron through the fire vent.

The herb's juices gradually boiled under the flames' heat, and the moisture evaporated. The stalk of Blood-Stanching Grass had turned into a mass of grayish-white powder within the cauldron.

At this point, if Su Heng took out the powder, he could pass this assessment and slap the faces of those who had looked down on him.

But Su Heng did not do so. After the Blood-Stanching Grass became powder, he vaguely sensed that the purity of this medicinal powder was not high.

He tried using the power of his soul to inspect the medicinal powder rolling within the cauldron, hoping to see whether it could be improved further.

Very quickly, he sensed many black particles within the grayish-white powder. They possessed no medicinal effect for stopping bleeding and were purely impurities.

If he could remove and refine those black particles, the medicinal powder should turn pure white. Pure white medicinal powder held the strongest medicinal effect. If formed into a pill, it would definitely become a top-tier First-grade Pill.

With that thought, Su Heng focused completely and began refining the impurities.

Time passed second by second. Before he realized it, Su Heng had spent three hours before the medicinal cauldron. Yet after such a long time, only a small portion of the impurities had been refined away. The powder remained grayish-white and full of impurities.

By now, the other Alchemist Apprentices had almost all completed their assessments. Lin Fei and Xue Mei had even refined all their herbs, though what they submitted was all grayish-white powder.

Frank looked at the successfully refined herbs, which had only average purity, and revealed a satisfied smile.

For apprentices like them, successfully refining herbs was already a difficult feat. Only powerful soul strength and precise temperature control could refine herbs.

Many First-grade Alchemists would burn their herbs into black clumps of residue because they failed to control the heat properly.

Had Lin Fei not been distracted and blown up her cauldron, she could have successfully refined all five portions of herbs. That was already terrifying talent, beyond comparison with ordinary people.

Now, everyone's attention turned toward Su Heng. They all carried an inexplicable anticipation. Except for Lin Fei, they were waiting for Su Heng to blow up his cauldron.

After all, if someone who had blown up his cauldron twice in one day succeeded the third time, it would actually be rather disappointing.

People seemed to enjoy watching a spectacle. The feeling of not wanting to see others do well seemed carved into their bones.

At this moment, Su Heng also sensed the strange looks from those around him, but he did not care. The only thing he cared about now was how to purify this medicinal powder.

After the long refinement, the impurities in the powder had indeed decreased significantly, but it was still far from the ideal state in Su Heng's mind.

"Could it be that the flame temperature isn't high enough?"

There was still room to raise his flame temperature, and these impurities could clearly be refined away at a higher temperature. However, rashly increasing the temperature carried the risk of blowing up the cauldron.

"If it blows up, it blows up. As long as I can determine the temperature needed to purify the herbs, what does it matter if the cauldron explodes!"

Su Heng knew that if he kept grinding away like this, he might not be able to fully purify the medicinal powder even by tomorrow morning.

Rather than that, he might as well raise the flame temperature and determine the exact temperature needed to purify the powder. If the cauldron exploded during the process, then so be it.

Having made up his mind, Su Heng began urging that strand of green Wood Qi. Inside the medicinal cauldron, the flames' temperature started rising, and the impurities in the powder also began changing noticeably.

Under the high temperature, the black particles began dissolving rapidly!

"Raise the temperature!"

Seeing the impurities dissolve faster, Su Heng immediately urged his Dou Qi and continued raising the temperature of the flames within the cauldron. However, just as he tried to increase the furnace temperature further, an invisible barrier suddenly appeared, blocking him dead in his tracks.

No matter how hard Su Heng tried, his Dou Qi flames could not rise any further in temperature. Beads of sweat the size of beans dripped from his forehead. He poured in a massive amount of Dou Qi, but the flames in the furnace did not change at all.

"It's over! The cauldron's going to explode!"

Su Heng's heart tightened. The Dou Qi in his body seemed to be sucked dry, and in the blink of an eye, not even a wisp remained.

Within the medicinal cauldron, the furnace temperature instantly plunged from scorching heat. When hot and cold switched in an instant, only one thing could happen!

"Boom!"

Thick black smoke surged into the air once more, and joyous laughter instantly erupted throughout the Alchemy Hall...