Alchemy (Part Two)

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Yuan Tian searched through that mountain-like pile of materials for ages but still could not find any hundred-year-old ginseng. In the end, Yuan Tian had no choice but to admit that there was no hundred-year-old ginseng among these materials. But they could find something else to replace it—for example, the thousand-year-old ginseng in Yuan Tian's hand. This was already the youngest material Yuan Tian had collected. There truly were no spirit herbs with a shorter age than a thousand years. After all, the Primordial Wilderness had already existed for several billion years, and most of these materials had gone untouched by anyone. Yuan Tian's hands had gone numb from collecting them, and that was only counting materials over a thousand years old. He had not collected anything below a thousand years; otherwise, it would not merely have been "scraping three feet from the sky"—scraping nine feet, or even a whole zhang, would have been possible.

As for the other materials, Yuan Tian had also found suitable substitutes. Yuan Tian believed that the Creation Pill refined from such materials would definitely be better than the one from his previous life. If it was not, he might as well kill himself. Living would only waste air and insult a great reincarnator. Better to die early and reincarnate early. Though it seemed one could still reincarnate in the current Primordial Wilderness—once dead, one was basically done for completely. It was truly rather speechless.

Enough idle chatter. Let them return to the main subject.

Yuan Tian did not immediately begin refining pills. Instead, he first sat down and calmed his mind, carefully recalling the pill formula for the Creation Pill. This task might have seemed superfluous, but it held unparalleled importance.

The scenes of alchemy from his previous life played through his mind like a film. Yuan Tian carefully observed every step of the refinement process. Only after he was certain that he had grasped every minute detail did he open his eyes and calmly rise to his feet.

Although this was his first time refining pills in this life, Yuan Tian felt neither sorrow nor joy. He was wholly immersed in an ethereal state.

Yuan Tian closed his eyes, and a small cauldron flew out from his forehead. It was the Xuanchen Cauldron, which Yuan Tian had refined before and stored within his Primordial Spirit. After flying out, the Xuanchen Cauldron, originally smaller than a palm, expanded in the wind until it reached three zhang in size, spinning in midair.

The lid of the Xuanchen Cauldron lifted automatically. Yuan Tian placed the thousand-year-old ginseng and several auxiliary medicinal herbs into the Xuanchen Cauldron one after another according to a fixed ratio. This was the advantage of the Xuanchen Cauldron: medicinal herbs could be placed into the cauldron all at once, and during refinement, there was no need to mind the conditions inside it. One only needed to control the furnace fire. It could be said that using the Xuanchen Cauldron to refine pills was exceedingly convenient.

Yuan Tian pointed a finger, and a streak of purple fire rose beneath the Xuanchen Cauldron. Yuan Tian officially began refining pills, while the Xuanchen Cauldron hovered in the air.

Although he did not need to concern himself with the herbs inside the cauldron, Yuan Tian still watched every change occurring within it from beginning to end. He needed to thoroughly understand the changes in each herb's medicinal properties during refinement, as well as the new medicinal properties produced when different herbs blended together.

If Yuan Tian had only intended to refine pills according to the formulas already in his mind, then there would have been no need for him to do this now. After all, constantly observing changes in medicinal properties throughout the refinement process consumed considerable mental energy. If it was unnecessary, there was naturally no need to do it. But Yuan Tian did not intend to rely solely on existing pill formulas. Through alchemy, he needed to understand the medicinal properties of every herb, and even the principles behind them. Then, in the future, Yuan Tian could formulate entirely new pill formulas himself. They needed not only to know that something was so, but also why it was so. Yuan Tian wanted to become an Alchemical Grandmaster in the future, not an alchemy apprentice. Therefore, from this moment onward, he needed to understand the medicinal properties of all kinds of herbs, along with the principles behind pill formulas. This would lay a solid foundation for his future.

Under the observation of Yuan Tian's Primordial Spirit, every herb within the cauldron seemed to possess its own distinct vitality. This was the medicinal property belonging to each of them.

These vitalities each possessed their own characteristics, and ordinarily, it would have been impossible for them to intersect. Yet under the catalysis of the power of fire, the various different vitalities silently underwent all kinds of changes. Different herbs seemed to experience different transformations. Some vitalities remained like ten-thousand-year-old mountains, showing not the slightest sign of movement, yet also seeming as though they had begun to stir. In such cases, Yuan Tian knew that the fire needed to be increased a little, and the result might be better. The vitality of some herbs had already become unstable, and they began to merge with one another, becoming a new kind of vitality. Through observation, Yuan Tian continuously analyzed the vitality and medicinal properties of every herb, as well as the principles behind various pills. By this method, Yuan Tian thoroughly mastered the formula for the Creation Pill. He held the medicinal properties and principles of every herb in the formula clearly in his heart.

The Creation Pill was, after all, merely a spirit pill below the immortal grade, so the wait was not long—only one or two shichen. Then, with a ding, the Xuanchen Cauldron came to a stop. Immediately afterward, with a bang, its lid shot into the sky. A hazy green radiance burst forth from within, and thumb-sized green pill pellets rose one after another from the cauldron. An enchanting fragrance instantly spread from its mouth. The spirit pills were complete.

Yuan Tian hurriedly took out the jade vessel he had prepared beforehand. With a gentle beckon toward the pill pellets, they all entered the jade vessel Yuan Tian had taken out like wandering children returning home.

There was also particular care required in choosing containers for pills. Generally, items such as jade vessels were used to store pills, because jade contained spiritual energy. Naturally, restrictions still needed to be placed upon the jade vessels, so as to better preserve the pills' medicinal properties from dissipating. This did not mean that only jade vessels could store pills; other items could also be used. A more famous example was Taishang Laozi's gourd, filled with gourd after gourd of Golden Cores that Sun Wukong had eaten. But jade vessels were ultimately the mainstream. Taishang Laozi using a gourd was considered "non-mainstream"; they could not imitate him.

Fortunately, among the many materials Yuan Tian had collected were jade vessels, so he did not need to fear having nowhere to store the refined pills. Under normal circumstances, different pills could not be stored together; they had to be placed in separate jade vessels. There were two benefits to this. First, it prevented two or more types of pills from being mixed together and confused with one another. After all, some pills looked identical, and some had medicinal properties completely concealed within them. When the time came, one might not even be able to tell which pill was which. Second, storing multiple kinds of pills together could cause their effects to influence one another. If things went badly, two pills originally meant to strengthen the body and increase cultivation could turn into potent poison. Then one might die without even knowing how one had died. Would that not be terribly unjust? You would not even have a Great Wall to cry at.

Fortunately, Yuan Tian had long prepared jade vessels. Did that not show how thoroughly prepared Yuan Tian was?

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