As Jing Wen listened to Doctor Jiang, an approach to alchemy from a game he had played in his previous life flashed through his mind like lightning.
Based on what they knew so far, the amount of purple spirit flower used in a pill formula could vary considerably.
Even when larger amounts were used, no trace of purple spirit herb ever remained in the residue after the pills were refined.
Jing Wen privately speculated that purple spirit herb might not be the principal ingredient determining a pill's effects at all. It might not even count as a secondary ingredient, but merely serve as a medicinal catalyst.
Of course, Jing Wen knew that he had far too few samples at present.
This was only a conjecture based on the information available to him.
Jing Wen looked intently at Doctor Jiang and asked, "Fellow Daoist, would it be possible to replace purple spirit herb with the lower-grade purple lily?"
"Purple lily?" The jade slip in Doctor Jiang's hand fell to the floor with a clack. The wrinkles on his face smoothed out in shock, making him look a few years younger.
As he bent to retrieve the jade slip, his fingers trembled slightly. "Surely you're joking, fellow Daoist? Purple lily is nothing but an ungraded weed. It doesn't even qualify as a spirit herb!"
Unhurriedly, Jing Wen took out a withered little purple flower and a purple spirit flower, placing them on the jade table between them.
The little flower was shaped like a bell, its dull coloring in stark contrast to the crystalline purple spirit herb.
"Take a look, fellow Daoist." Jing Wen gathered a thread of spiritual power at his fingertip and touched the purple lily. "Its quality may be poor, but its basic medicinal structure is seventy percent similar