Torch Lanterns

The medicinal fragrance inside the alchemy room grew richer, refreshing the heart and mind.

A long while passed.

Ding, ding, ding...

Several faint, crisp chimes came from inside the bronze pill furnace.

The pills were ready!

Lin Fan relaxed. He quickly withdrew most of the flames beneath the furnace, leaving only a faint residual heat. Then he lifted the heavy bronze lid, and a rich medicinal fragrance surged out of the opening.

Six round, plump Foundation-Replenishing Pills lay quietly at the bottom of the furnace. They were reddish-brown, with a lustrous sheen and a faint glimmer playing across their surfaces. Several pill patterns stood out clearly on each one.

Lin Fan took out the pills. Every one was perfectly formed, its patterns winding across a warm, lustrous surface, its medicinal power abundant. All six were high-grade.

He took a porcelain bottle from the nearby shelf, gently placed the six pills inside, and sealed it. Then he set the bottle in a brocade box to sell at Azure Elixir Hall on his next visit.

All six were high-level pills, each worth more than ten thousand taels. Together, they were worth sixty thousand.

Refining the six pills had taken Lin Fan a little less than half an hour. At that rate, he could refine around twenty high-level pills an hour.

Three hours slipped quietly by as Lin Fan refined batch after batch.

By then, he had refined roughly sixty high-grade pills in all. Looking at the rows of jade bottles filled with pills on the wooden table, he felt a trace of satisfaction.

High-grade pills contained almost no Pill Toxin, so martial artists could take several a day. Lower-grade pills were different; take too many, and the body would suffer.

Lin Fan pushed open the alchemy room door. Outside, darkness had fallen