Developing a pill formula

After choosing a two-opening cauldron with Manager Liu, Xiao Yu's funds shrank by a quarter-a full five thousand gold coins. With another ten thousand or more spent on medicinal herbs that aided cultivation and ten first-tier magic cores, his shopping trip was over.

By a stroke of luck, however, Xiao Yu spotted a medicinal herb commentary written by a physician at a street stall on his way back.

The physician had recorded a lifetime of pharmacological knowledge in that commentary. Figuring it was better than nothing, Xiao Yu spent a few hundred gold coins to buy it.

By the time he returned to his lodgings, night had fallen. Xiao Yu sighed inwardly at how quickly time passed. To avoid being seen carrying a medicine cauldron and a large sack of herbs, he had forced himself to linger outside for several hours.

In the end, he had still needed the Myriad Transformation Flame to conceal his aura before returning.

"If only I had a storage ring. Why go through all this trouble?"

Xiao Yu rubbed his aching shoulders and made up his mind: once he had money, he would get a storage ring, even if it was the lowest-grade kind.

For now, though, he could only dream. Even the cheapest storage ring cost around a hundred thousand gold coins, while he had only a few hundred left. Buying one was still a long way off.

Seeing how late it was, Xiao Yu did not rush to refine pills. He had failed to obtain the pill formula he wanted today, and his gold coins were nearly gone. His only option now was to develop a pill formula himself using the herbs he had bought.

He had purchased the medicinal herb commentary precisely to learn about their medicinal properties.

He planned to get a good night's rest and replenish his energy before starting tomorrow. Impatience would not let him eat piping-hot tofu.

Lying down on his bed, Xiao Yu drifted off to sleep.

The next day.

Xiao Yu rose early, sorted the herbs he had bought, and began reading the medicinal herb commentary.

"Secluded orchid flower: mild medicinal properties. Consuming it calms the breath and nourishes the spirit."

"Flame-tail grass: scorching in nature and suitable for medicinal use. Consuming it slightly accelerates the circulation of Dou Qi."

One herb after another from the commentary became imprinted in Xiao Yu's mind, and he grew increasingly absorbed.

For the first time in all these years, he was reading a book with such dedication-and a book on pharmacology, at that.

The sun rose in the east and set in the west as the days passed. Studying pharmacology was tedious work, yet Xiao Yu delighted in it.

Perhaps this body's talent was simply too extraordinary, or perhaps Xiao Yu's powerful soul gave him an exceptional memory. This frenzied absorption of knowledge was the greatest reason he enjoyed it so much.

Seven days passed in a flash.

For seven days, Xiao Yu barely spared a thought for food or drink, devoting himself to studying the medicinal herb commentary in hopes of thoroughly mastering it as soon as possible.

Hard work never betrayed a determined heart. Under Xiao Yu's almost feverish study, the medicinal herb commentary was finally committed to memory.

Most fortunately, all the herbs he had purchased were covered in the commentary. He found it a coincidence, and a lucky one at that.

Putting the commentary away, Xiao Yu carried the medicine cauldron and herbs into the spacious courtyard and began preparing for his first true attempt at refining medicine.

"I hope this works. If I can't develop a pill formula within half a year, I'll have to venture out for training and try my luck."

Xiao Yu did not intend to spend too much time developing pill formulas. He was merely hoping for a lucky break. If he failed after half a year, he would abandon the effort and venture out for training.

Without further ado, Xiao Yu decisively got to work.

First, he prepared paper and a brush. Then, drawing on the knowledge from the medicinal herb commentary, he began matching the herbs he had purchased.

"Marrow-washing flower can cleanse and temper the sinews and bones. Add ironbark grass to toughen the skin, then red-blood vine to temper the flesh and blood, and the combination should strengthen the body."

"Qi-gathering grass, plus qi-circulating fruit, then spirit-tempering crystal and a first-tier magic core. I wonder if that can accelerate cultivation... never mind. I'll try this first and adjust the mixture if it doesn't work."

Portions of herbs were sorted into separate areas, while different ingredient ratios were recorded on paper. This was the first step in his plan to develop pill formulas.

In the end, all the herbs were divided into thirty portions: twenty primarily intended to accelerate cultivation, six to temper the body, and four to restore Dou Qi.

To give himself the best possible chance of developing a pill formula, Xiao Yu decided to begin with pills that restored Dou Qi.

As for the ten magic cores, Xiao Yu had no use for them yet, since the main purpose of low-tier magic cores was to provide energy.

For pills that could raise one's level, for instance, the herbs did not contain such vast amounts of energy, so magic cores had to serve as the primary ingredient. The herbs merely moderated the cores' energy, making that violent energy stable and gentle enough for the human body to absorb.

Taking out the two-opening medicine cauldron, Xiao Yu began extracting the herbs' essences.

"First, add purple leaf orchid grass and extract its essence. Then add vitality fruit, and finally blend in ten-year-old spirit-gathering grass..."

One herb after another went into the medicine cauldron for extraction. Xiao Yu watched its interior with complete concentration, noting every slightest change.

As long as the heat was controlled properly, the extraction stage posed little difficulty. Thanks to his earlier experience extracting essences from flowers and grasses, Xiao Yu's flame control was far from poor.

After being tempered by lightning, the medicinal essences became purer and free of impurities, just like those earlier flower and grass essences.

Soon, he reached the crucial fusion stage. The lightning in Xiao Yu's hands was ready, and as he brought the various medicinal essences together, it began raging through the medicine cauldron.

It had to be said that a genuine medicine cauldron lived up to its name. Even under such extreme heat and violent energy, it remained completely unscathed.

But Xiao Yu's expression soon changed. He could feel the resistance to the fusion of the medicinal essences inside the cauldron growing stronger and stronger.

Bang!

The next instant, an explosion rang out, and a plume of black smoke drifted from the medicine cauldron.

The batch had blown up.

Fortunately, Xiao Yu had not added a magic core. Even a first-tier core would have released enough energy in the explosion to crack this two-opening cauldron.

Although that would not have rendered it useless, this thing had cost five thousand gold coins. Even a crack would have left Xiao Yu's heart aching for a while.

Xiao Yu felt no discouragement over his failure. If he could succeed on his very first attempt at refining medicine, every Alchemist on the Dou Qi Continent might as well stop living-the humiliation would be too much.

With a casual wave of his hand, he raised a gust that swept all the residue from the medicine cauldron. Taking out the paper and brush he had prepared, Xiao Yu recalled the changes during the fusion and began recording them:

"The purple leaf orchid grass essence had too little activity, while the vitality fruit essence had too much, making them difficult to fuse. The proportion of spirit-gathering grass was too small to reconcile these two essences with such extreme levels of activity.

The lightning was too strong. Before it could break apart and rearrange the atoms of the three essences, it annihilated them.

The heat also needs to be lower. Otherwise, the atoms of all three essences move too erratically to recombine."

After recording the many changes the herbs had undergone during pill refinement, Xiao Yu began redesigning the ingredient ratios and the intensity of the thunderfire.

Extracting the herbs' essences and fusing them had already taken Xiao Yu most of the day. With the changes during pill refinement still to record and a new formula to calculate and devise, the entire day was gone just like that.

Thus, developing a pill formula was an exceedingly complicated undertaking. Without a teacher or a pill formula, becoming an Alchemist was harder than traversing the arduous Shu Road.

Once he had finished revising the pill formula, Xiao Yu did not continue. He tidied everything up and soon went to bed.

For a long time to come, he would spend his days just as he had today. He needed to keep his mind well rested to face each attempt at refining medicine. If he failed even once to fully grasp the changes in the process, he would waste another portion of herbs along with his time, losing more than he gained.