Improving Alchemy

After listening to Wang Delu's explanation, a question suddenly flashed through Lin Fan's mind. "Manager Wang, why are the medicinal herbs kept on the first floor while the pills are placed on the second?"

"It has become a habit. Alchemists select their herbs on the first floor, take them to the third floor to refine pills, then place the finished pills on the second floor. Moreover, the second floor is an independent level with many pills on display. Idle people are not allowed in, which also guards against those collecting medicine taking advantage of the crowds and confusion to steal pills." After thinking for a moment, Wang Delu added, "As for the herbs on the first floor, they are worth far less than pills. And herbs are much bulkier, unlike pills, which fit in a tiny bottle, so they are not easily stolen even when kept on the first floor."

After hearing Wang Delu's explanation, Lin Fan understood. That's true. Even though this is all the Su Family, there must be hundreds or even thousands of people here. It's inevitable that some would want to take extra.

Seeing that the row of seven or eight alchemy rooms on the right had no plaques, Lin Fan asked in confusion, "Can anyone enter these alchemy rooms freely?"

"Of course. Every alchemist is treated the same. Young Master Lin may enter and use any pill room that is unoccupied."

Once he had figured it out, Lin Fan immediately wanted to go in and refine some pills. Although he had more or less mastered Alchemy through the system, he had truly never refined pills with his own hands before. "Can I refine anything I want each day?"

"The Pill Pavilion assigns daily pill-refining tasks. Besides you, Young Master, there are four or five other alchemists here. I distribute the day's refining tasks to each alchemist on the first floor," Wang Delu explained. He then added, "But you are special, Young Master. Miss Su Qingwei instructed that you need not come every day. Only when the refining tasks are particularly heavy and the other alchemists cannot complete them will the Pill Pavilion send someone to invite you. If you are free, you may come refine pills then."

Lin Fan had not expected Su Qingwei's arrangements to be so meticulous. It seemed he would not have to clock in for work every day. After hearing Wang Delu's explanation, Lin Fan silently gave Su Qingwei a thumbs-up.

But since he was here today, he still had to refine a few batches of pills. He immediately asked Wang Delu for several refining tasks, went to the first floor to collect the herbs and medicinal ingredients, then entered an empty alchemy room on the third floor.

Lin Fan gently pushed open the heavy wooden door, which was left slightly ajar. The alchemy room was fairly spacious, with a high window leading directly outside to disperse the medicinal smoke that rose during pill refinement. A large purple-copper pill cauldron stood in the center of the room, its body carved with ancient cloud patterns. It felt weighty and steady beneath his hand. Wooden racks around it were neatly arranged with jade medicine trays, grinding mortars, medicine-filtering gauze, and all manner of other tools.

Lin Fan closed and locked the door behind him, and the room instantly became even quieter. He took out the several sets of task ingredients he had collected from the first floor and spread them across the jade trays. These were the ingredients for basic Strength-Nourishing Pills, the pills the Pill Pavilion needed most in its daily operations. For his first refinement, he would start with these.

Lin Fan calmed his mind and sorted each spiritual herb properly, removing the yellowed, withered leaves before picking up the mortar and grinding them slowly. The three thousand jin of force from the Bone Tempering Realm could be controlled freely, and he regulated his strength to perfection, crushing the herbs into fine medicinal powder. He lit the charcoal in the fire trough, and crimson flames licked at the bottom of the pill cauldron as its purple-copper body gradually heated up. Lin Fan focused his mind and, following the order of the prescription, added each portion of medicinal powder into the cauldron in turn.

A faint white mist slowly rose from within the cauldron, while a strange medicinal fragrance gradually spread through the entire pill room. Pill refinement placed the greatest emphasis on the precise control of heat. If the fire was too fierce, the ingredients would burn to a crisp; if it was too weak, the medicinal properties could not meld together. Lin Fan carefully sensed the changes in the ingredients inside the cauldron.

A short while later, it was time to collect the pills.

"Buzz—" A soft tremor came from within the cauldron. Lin Fan raised a hand and lifted the lid, and a rich, gentle medicinal fragrance rushed toward him, instantly filling the entire pill room.

At the bottom of the pill cauldron lay eight round, plump Strength-Nourishing Pills. Their color was even throughout, with a golden glow faintly flowing across their surfaces. Their shapes were perfectly formed, with scarcely a single blemish to be seen.

Not bad, Superior Strength-Nourishing Pills! Lin Fan picked one up and weighed it in his hand. It felt solid and heavy, its medicinal potency sealed within without the slightest leak.

"Not bad. While the pill furnace is still warm, I'll refine some more pills." Lin Fan let out a soft breath, unable to stop a trace of joy from rising in his heart.

Lin Fan continued until he had refined all the ingredients in his hands. When he checked the time outside, only one shichen had passed. His already perfected Alchemy, coupled with the powerful five senses of the Bone Tempering Realm, gave him a sense of smell, hearing, and sight far superior to those of ordinary alchemists. This made Lin Fan's pill-refining speed and quality much greater than anyone else's.

But what ordinary Bone Tempering Realm expert would be willing to spend years or even decades immersing himself in such side paths as Alchemy? After all, aside from refining pills, Alchemy could neither increase one's strength nor extend one's lifespan, nor could it strengthen the body like the martial path.

After leaving the pill room, Lin Fan registered the pills and returned them to the second floor, then went to read the alchemy-related books on the third floor.

Under the doubled acceleration of his thousandfold cultivation effect, Lin Fan read, comprehended, and understood these volumes at an astonishing speed. More knowledge of Alchemy was rapidly understood and mastered by him. Skills never weighed a person down. This trip to the Su Family's Pill Pavilion had truly been worthwhile, Lin Fan thought with a sigh.

It was not until evening, when night had fallen, that Lin Fan finally left the Pill Pavilion. Since he did not urgently need to improve his cultivation recently, Lin Fan planned to first finish reading all the books in the Su Family's Pill Pavilion and raise his Alchemy as far as it could go before considering his cultivation. With his doubled thousandfold cultivation acceleration, one day of study was equal to three years for others. On top of that, Bone Tempering Realm experts naturally learned much faster than ordinary people. In only a few days, Lin Fan would be able to say that no one in the Pill Pavilion possessed Alchemy superior to his own.

After leaving the Pill Pavilion, the evening breeze blew against his face, carrying the faint scent of cooking fires from the town at dusk. Lin Fan walked beneath the twilight along the bluestone path back to his courtyard. In his mind, the knowledge from the countless alchemy classics he had just read was continuously being fully comprehended and fused together. The thousandfold cultivation acceleration did not apply only to seated cultivation; it worked equally well for studying classics and grasping skills. Vast numbers of pill formulas, fire-control techniques, and even every method of handling spiritual herbs were gradually being digested and absorbed by Lin Fan.

When he returned to the small courtyard where he lived, Lin Fan reached out and knocked on the door. "Ruo Ruo, open the door. Your brother is back."

Lin Ruoruo, who had been sitting on the stone steps outside the house waiting, immediately brightened. She ran over and opened the courtyard gate. Once Lin Fan entered, the golden rat Mao Mao shot over with a whoosh, scampering up his trouser leg onto his shoulder. Its little claws gently pawed at him, like a small dog welcoming its master home.