Lu Changfeng immediately felt a profound respect for the Medical Canon.
With this skill, at least he would never have to worry about starving to death.
After lunch, he continued studying the alchemical methods in Xuanyangzi's Secrets of the Jade Satchel, wrestling with the pill furnace.
Not all Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures could be eaten directly.
Some spiritual herbs possessed fierce, domineering medicinal properties. Taking them directly was no different from setting oneself on fire.
Dragon blood grass, for instance, was supremely yang and intensely fiery. Without cold-natured supporting herbs to temper its violent properties, its scorching medicinal power could burn the meridians to ashes. Conversely, certain supremely yin substances, such as ninefold netherworld cold marrow, could freeze the organs in an instant unless accompanied by warming, yang-nourishing herbs.
Other treasures could only reveal their true miraculous effects through a specific combination of principal, supporting, assisting, and guiding ingredients, which activated, harmonized, and ultimately elevated their properties. Vermilion fruit, for example, could greatly increase one's cultivation, but when combined with jade marrow fungus and earthcore fire lotus and refined into pills under precisely controlled heat, its medicinal potency could increase severalfold while becoming easier to absorb, yielding twice the results for half the effort.
As for unusual substances that contained mild toxins or derived their power from poison, such as certain venomous insects and poisonous plants, they required exquisite alchemy even more: discarding the dross and preserving the essence, transforming poison into medicine, and turning them into precious remedies that healed the sick, saved lives, and advanced cultivation.
Thus, alchemy was far more than simply piling medicinal ingredients together. It was a method of wresting the creative power of heaven and earth into one's own hands, using furnace flames, Spellcraft, and an ultimate understanding of medicinal properties to bring