Pill Refining

He was going to instruct her?

How was he supposed to instruct her?

If you knew how, you should have said so earlier!

Why were you pretending to be such a big fool?

Chen Qi choked when he saw the sincerity in Jiang Lu's eyes.

"No, you did very well. Your talent truly is quite good..."

He spoke stiffly, his gaze drifting evasively elsewhere.

The others could only grit their teeth and swallow it down. No rush, stay steady!

If not this time!

Then next time!

Next time, they would definitely make her suffer a setback.

Jiang Lu looked at their varied expressions and secretly laughed. Making her suffer a setback would not be so easy.

"What are you all doing? Have today's spirit plants been processed?"

A sharp rebuke suddenly came from outside. Everyone turned toward the door and saw a woman in a blue-green long robe standing there, her expression filled with cold severity.

Everyone immediately fell silent. It was Senior Sister Huang Mei. Senior Sister Huang Mei was strict in her work; if she caught them, they would not escape punishment.

Huang Mei swept her gaze over them before finally stopping on Jiang Lu. So this was the new disciple, the one rumored to be skilled at processing spirit plants. She walked over to Jiang Lu.

Lowering her head, she looked at the spirit plants arranged on the table. From their neat placement alone, she could tell they had already been processed.

She inspected them briefly, then pinched up a spirit plant Jiang Lu had just finished processing. Its roots and stem were clean, without impurities; its leaves retained their most essential parts, and the impurities within had been removed.

The processing was nearly perfect...

"Did you process this?"

Huang Mei held the spirit plant before Jiang Lu and asked.

Jiang Lu nodded. "Yes, Senior Sister."

"From now on, you will handle all of my spirit plants."

With that, she turned and left.

Jiang Lu was somewhat at a loss. After Huang Mei's figure disappeared, she looked toward Chen Qi and saw him and the others gazing at her as though telling her to pray for herself.

Their earlier hidden gloating was nowhere to be seen.

Jiang Lu: ...

What exactly were they pitying her for?

Seeing Jiang Lu's baffled expression, Chen Qi sighed. Since she was about to have bad luck, he would be magnanimous and enlighten Junior Sister Lu.

"Junior Sister Lu, you don't know this, but Senior Sister Huang Mei is the youngest second-grade alchemist here. She is especially demanding when it comes to the quality of spirit plants."

"Since she has specifically appointed you to handle the spirit plants for her pill refining, you had better be careful."

Jiang Lu suddenly understood. So that was how it was. Yet from what she had seen just now, Senior Sister Huang Mei seemed fairly amiable.

"Senior Brother Qi, I understand. Thank you for clearing up my doubts."

Jiang Lu nodded, deeply grateful to Chen Qi. After all, not everyone would tell a newcomer so much.

When Alchemist Lin Wei learned of it, he merely nodded casually. She was only a disciple who sorted spirit plants. Though she had some talent, it was not enough to warrant much of his attention.

For alchemists, having a dedicated disciple to process spirit plants was quite common in the Medicine King Pavilion.

Being chosen by Huang Mei was Jiang Lu's good fortune as well. Although everyone said Huang Mei was strict, on the path of cultivation, how could one go far without being so?

Jiang Lu found the herbs Huang Mei needed and processed them according to the listed spirit plants.

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The pills alchemists refined each day were all assigned in fixed quantities. What they refined today and what they refined tomorrow were subject to uniform requirements.

After all, these pills sold extremely well. Though they were not cheap, their quality was guaranteed.

"Senior Sister Huang Mei, your spirit plants."

Jiang Lu brought the spirit plants to the refining room. Seeing that Huang Mei was not currently refining pills, she set the plants down and stepped aside.

If Huang Mei had been refining pills, Jiang Lu could not make a sound lest she disturb her. She only needed to place the spirit plants on the wooden rack.

In truth, sorting spirit plants for a dedicated alchemist was much easier than working in the spirit plant room. Once the processing was complete, she could stand nearby and study how pills were refined.

However, the margin for error was correspondingly much lower. Different alchemists had different requirements, so she naturally had to be even more meticulous while processing spirit plants.

Huang Mei raised an eyebrow. Jiang Lu had delivered the spirit plants much earlier than usual. She walked over and picked up the spirit plants from the rack to inspect them.

Their quality was not much different from before. Clearly, Jiang Lu had put care into them.

Huang Mei nodded in satisfaction, then selected the spirit plants needed to refine Qi-Replenishing Pills and opened the pill furnace.

Watching, Jiang Lu immediately connected Huang Mei's movements with the steps she had read about in the Scripture Pavilion.

The timing intervals and control over the strength of the spiritual fire were especially important, particularly the order of the spirit plants. If the order differed, the medicinal properties of the refined pills would differ as well.

The flame in Huang Mei's hand expanded and contracted within the pill furnace in response to her spiritual power, and the air around them gradually became scorching.

Then, with a ding, the lid beneath the pill furnace closed, and the spiritual fire blazed fiercely within.

Once the temperature reached a certain point, she sent the spiritual herbs in her hand into the upper portion of the pill furnace in sequence. Under the control of the spiritual fire and spiritual power, the spirit plants swiftly melted into liquid.

Next came extraction and refinement, condensing it into pills.

During the condensation process, one could not lose focus.

A pill's quality was determined in this step. Whether it became low-grade, mid-grade, or high-grade depended on this single moment.

Huang Mei's expression sharpened, and the spiritual power in her hand became increasingly steady.

Before long, she slowly withdrew her spiritual power. The spiritual fire in the pill furnace continued burning for a while longer before she recalled it as well.

She then opened the pill furnace, and a burst of pill fragrance wafted out, leaving anyone who smelled it feeling refreshed and clear-headed.

Seven round, plump pills appeared on the jade tray.

Their color was lustrous. Five were High-Grade Pills and two were mid-grade. Huang Mei nodded in satisfaction.

Then she looked at Jiang Lu. "Do you know the difference between these pills?"

Jiang Lu stepped forward and looked at the pills on the jade tray. Five were round and plump, while the remaining two, though round, looked much rougher.

"Their fullness is different."

Jiang Lu answered.

"That is correct. These five are High-Grade Pills, smooth, delicate, and flawless. These two are mid-grade; they are round, but not smooth enough. When an alchemist refines a batch, producing more than five High-Grade Pills is considered excellent."

"When I refine a batch, I usually produce seven to eight pills. Some powerful alchemists can produce ten to twelve pills in a single batch, every one of them high-grade. That is an alchemist's lifelong pursuit."

As she spoke, she placed the pills into a bottle and prepared to refine the next batch.

Jiang Lu listened and nodded. Though she had read about these things in books, how could the information in books compare to seeing the actual process firsthand?

Still, what Senior Sister Huang Mei said matched the contents of the books exactly, so it was surely useful.

After continuing to study for a while, Jiang Lu thought of her two damaged pill furnaces. When she had a day off in a few days, she could have them repaired, then buy another pill furnace. After that, she could begin planning her pill refining.

As for sword practice, that could wait until after she began refining pills. Now that she was in the Medicine King Pavilion, she needed to distinguish her priorities. Having joined the Medicine King Pavilion, what did it mean to specialize in the sword?

Her strength was still low. She should not do something so conspicuous.

Seeing that Jiang Lu's expression had not changed at all from before, everyone secretly sucked in a breath. None of their earlier mockery remained.

To return unscathed after being under Senior Sister Huang Mei's hand, she really did have some ability!

They had all underestimated her.

If you cannot find it by searching the book title, try searching for the author. Perhaps it was only renamed!