Inside the stone house, before the Pill Furnace.
Chen Chong spread the pill formula across the stone worktable, weighing down its corners with four small stones. The paper was old, its edges frayed, but the ink was fresh and deep black, every stroke imbued with strength.
Pine-Nourishing True Essence Pill.
The main ingredient was pine-patterned lingzhi, at least three hundred years old, with fine lines circling its cap like the growth rings of a pine tree. True essence grass and jade marrow served as supplementary ingredients, blended with cold spring water.
Beneath the formula lay a pine-patterned lingzhi, wrapped in oilpaper.
Elder Yang had given it to him.
Chen Chong guessed what Elder Yang had in mind. He had provided both the formula and the ingredient. All that remained was to see whether Chen Chong could refine the pills.
He peeled back a corner of the oilpaper. The fine rings on the cap shimmered dark gold beneath the lamplight, releasing an extremely faint pine fragrance. It was not pungent; instead, it carried a cool freshness.
Its medicinal properties were gentle, but controlling the heat was exceedingly difficult. The medicinal potency had to be pressed inward little by little. Too quickly, and it would disperse; too slowly, and the pill would fail to coalesce.
The first batch exploded.
The medicinal liquid churned inside the furnace, then suddenly burst apart. A scorched, bitter vapor rushed out of the opening, sending the papers on the table fluttering noisily. Chen Chong stepped back half a pace and waited for the vapor to dissipate before sitting down again.
The second batch failed too. It was eight-tenths of the way to coalescing when the medicinal potency dispersed on its own.
Chen Chong was not irritated. Instead, he settled his mind. He lowered the furnace flame until