Time always slipped away unnoticed. The sun rose and set another four times, and throughout those four days, Liu Yu devoted himself to accelerating the growth of Origin-Returning Flowers and the other spirit herbs needed to refine Azure Origin Pills.
By accelerating their growth in the Black Spirit Field within the Immortal Mansion, he spent a little over fifteen hundred spirit stones and obtained fifty sets of the spirit herbs needed to refine Azure Origin Pills.
Four days later, Liu Yu sat cross-legged with his eyes closed in the Alchemy Room, the Mystic Yellow Cauldron standing a short distance before him.
He gathered his qi and focused his mind, embracing his origin and holding to oneness. Once his body and mind had reached a favorable state, his eyes snapped open.
With a sweep of his hand, Foundation Establishment true fire appeared and swiftly floated beneath the Mystic Yellow Cauldron, beginning to preheat it.
After just under a quarter of an hour, the preheating was complete. Liu Yu guided the first supplementary herb into the cauldron, discarding its dross and extracting its essence.
Igniting the fire, preheating, extracting the essences, merging the essences, pill condensation, and opening the cauldron.
Pill refinement was generally divided into these six steps. Broadly speaking, the first three were much the same, with no major variations.
Different pills, however, used different formulas and varying numbers of spirit herbs. Their medicinal properties differed enormously and underwent entirely different changes, resulting in considerable differences in how the herbal essences were merged, the pill condensation techniques used, and when the cauldron was opened.
Thus, the final three steps tested an Alchemist's attainments and experience the most. Without prior experience refining a particular pill, even an Alchemy Master with exceptional experience and attainments could not succeed on the first attempt.