After returning safely to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Jiang Xuan shut himself in his room and immersed himself in studying Lao Jun's Alchemy Dao Inheritance day and night.
Because it was a system reward, Jiang Xuan had easily grasped the essence of this inheritance at first.
However, the problem came soon enough.
He had mastered the methods of alchemy and memorized the required materials, but the Douluo Continent seemingly didn't have any of the materials needed to refine those immortal pills!
With only the techniques but none of the suitable medicinal ingredients, how could he refine immortal pills?
Fortunately, besides the methods of alchemy, Lao Jun's Alchemy Dao Inheritance also allowed Jiang Xuan to understand some of the fundamentals of alchemy.
This enabled him to replace the immortal herbs that couldn't be found on the Douluo Continent with spirit herbs that were far less potent but could actually be found.
Even so, collecting a complete set of alchemy materials was extremely difficult.
After all, although the medicinal ingredients that could serve as substitutes were far inferior to the originals in medicinal potency, they were still priceless treasures on the Douluo Continent.
By his rough estimate, even with the wealth of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, they could collect only around ten sets of ingredients at most.
Clearly, he needed to lower the requirements a little further.
And so, after spending several days painstakingly studying the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's ancestral compendium of spirit herbs, Jiang Xuan finally reduced the ingredient requirements to the theoretical minimum through his calculations.
As the saying went, every beginning was difficult. All he needed to do now was gather the minimum required ingredients, and he could officially begin refining pills.
As for how to gather them...
Naturally, he would have to trouble his future father-in-law!
Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, main hall.
It had been seven full days since Jiang Xuan returned from Star Dou Forest, and he had kept himself shut in his room the entire time.
Although he had told Ning Rongrong not to worry about him before entering seclusion, so much time had passed that she could no longer suppress her concern. She went to her father for some emotional reassurance.
At first, Ning Fengzhi was quite happy that his daughter had come to see him of her own accord. He hadn't expected her first words to be an expression of concern for another man:
"Dad, why has Brother Jiang Xuan been in seclusion for so long this time? Could something have happened to him?"
Although Ning Fengzhi himself thought highly of Jiang Xuan, at that moment, he still felt the displeasure of seeing someone else take away his precious cabbage.
However, at that very moment, a voice familiar to both father and daughter came from outside the hall:
"Uncle Ning, are you busy?"
Upon hearing this, Ning Rongrong froze for a moment before a smile instantly blossomed across her face:
"It's Brother Jiang Xuan! He's out of seclusion!"
It seemed his little padded jacket was really about to be worn by someone else...
Ning Fengzhi sighed helplessly, quickly composed himself, and put on his usual gentle expression:
"It's Jiang Xuan. I'm free right now. Come in."
Hearing Ning Fengzhi's voice from inside the main hall, Jiang Xuan walked straight in.
Seeing that Ning Rongrong was there as well, he smiled and greeted her first before directly explaining his purpose to Ning Fengzhi.
Ning Fengzhi had assumed Jiang Xuan's visit would be nothing important, but after hearing his explanation, he was immediately startled:
"What? You want to try refining pills?"
When Jiang Xuan nodded, Ning Fengzhi frowned:
"Why did you suddenly get this idea? Can you tell me about it?"
Naturally, Jiang Xuan couldn't tell Ning Fengzhi the truth. After thinking for a moment, he used a sudden whim as an excuse, saying that he merely wanted to try it because of his Martial Soul and that it wouldn't affect his Soul Power cultivation.
The reason did fit the impulsive way young people sometimes acted on a whim, and Ning Fengzhi understood it perfectly. After only a brief hesitation, he nodded:
"If that's the case, there's no harm in letting you try. As it happens, our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's treasury contains quite a few rare medicinal ingredients. I'll give you the key and have Rongrong accompany you."
Although Jiang Xuan had expected Ning Fengzhi to agree, he hadn't expected his future father-in-law to be so generous!
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was opening its treasury, which had been passed down for hundreds or even thousands of years, to him. This showed that Ning Fengzhi truly regarded him as one of the family...
No, he should say Ning Fengzhi already viewed him as his son-in-law.
There was nothing more to say. Jiang Xuan immediately gave his father-in-law a solemn bow to express his gratitude.
Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, treasury.
Looking at the dazzling array of treasures inside, Jiang Xuan felt no particular reaction.
Although the collection was enough to arouse the greed of most Soul Masters on the continent, it was truly nothing worth mentioning to Jiang Xuan, whose Twin Martial Souls were both supreme innate treasures.
It was no exaggeration to say that even if all the treasures on the entire Douluo Continent were added together, their value might not match that of a single furnace brick inside his Eight Trigrams Furnace.
Thus, he merely took a hurried look before putting those thoughts aside and heading straight for the medicinal ingredient storage area.
As it happened, all the alchemy ingredients he needed could be found here!
A rough estimate showed that the ingredients stored here were enough for him to refine pills more than a hundred times.
It truly deserved to be the sect with the strongest "money power" on the Douluo Continent...
After thinking it over, Jiang Xuan conservatively took three sets of ingredients.
He had intended to return for more after successfully refining the pills, but Ning Rongrong, who had been following him, was dissatisfied:
"Brother Jiang Xuan, why are you taking so little? Will that really be enough for you to refine pills? I've watched the alchemists supported by the sect refine pills before. Each time, the ingredients they needed were at least twice as much as what you've taken!"
Jiang Xuan had originally thought he had taken too much. Only after hearing Ning Rongrong's words did he realize that he had actually taken too little.
There was nothing more to say. Since the host didn't mind, he might as well take as much as he needed!
After collecting the ingredients and returning to his room, Jiang Xuan tossed the treasury key to Ning Rongrong, who had followed him back.
As for her proposal to watch him refine pills, Jiang Xuan thought it over carefully and didn't refuse. However, he made one demand:
She could watch, but only watch. Before he finished refining the pills, she absolutely couldn't disturb him.
Being allowed to stay and watch was already Ning Rongrong's greatest wish, so she naturally had no objection to this demand.
Seeing Ning Rongrong agree, Jiang Xuan gestured for her to hang a "Do Not Disturb" sign outside the door, then close it.
Once everything was ready, Jiang Xuan took out the ingredients, summoned his Eight Trigrams Furnace Martial Soul, and enlarged it.
Using the control over fire granted by his second soul skill, he ignited the Six-Ding Divine Flame inside the furnace. Then, controlling the ingredients with his Soul Power, he placed them into the furnace one after another.
However, despite having mastered the theory so well, Jiang Xuan discovered after actually putting it into practice that refining pills was nowhere near as simple as he had imagined.
After he put the ingredients into the Eight Trigrams Furnace, he failed to control a single thought properly, causing the flames to flare up too fiercely and burn all the ingredients he had added into ashes.
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