Xu Changqing washed the Sun-Piercing Lingzhi and Warm-Sun Mushrooms with slightly chilled spring water. Then he picked up a jade knife as thin as a cicada's wing and sliced them into tiny pieces.
Next, he washed the Jade Dew Grass, placed it in a mortar, and gently pounded it with a pestle until no sound remained.
By then, the Jade Dew Grass's juice had been squeezed out. But since it contained many impurities, Xu Changqing took out a silk sieve and deliberately filtered it several times, until no more impurities seeped through and only a pale green, slightly viscous liquid remained. Only then was he satisfied.
The last remaining secondary ingredient was the Soul-Congealing Flower.
It was comparatively troublesome.
It had to be placed in a medicine grinder, then rolled back and forth with a stone roller, cycling and repeating again and again until it was all ground into powder.
Yet even after all of that was done, it was merely the first step in refining the Warm-Sun Pill.
What came next was the most important part—the crucial second step.
What was it?
Alchemy!
Xu Changqing first glanced at the temperature of the Starfall Secret-Gold Cauldron. Seeing that three of the fire-aspect constellations had gone out, with only the eastern Tail Fire Tiger still faintly glowing, he knew the temperature had reached the gentle-fire stage, making it perfect for refining Warm-Sun Pills.
Thus, he decisively placed the sliced Sun-Piercing Lingzhi inside.
The instant hot and cold met, a reaction immediately occurred.
A sharp "sizzle, sizzle, sizzle" rang out, as though something were being fried in a pan of oil.
A wisp of green smoke even drifted up from within.
Before long, a faint fragrance of grass and wood spread through the air.
Of course, that was not the key point,