Over the next few days, Ye Xuan signed in repeatedly in the spirit fields.
With every sign-in, Ye Xuan's wood Spirit Root improved, and his cultivation speed increased considerably, leaving him immensely excited.
If he could sign in in the medicinal fields for several years, his wood Spirit Root might even reach supreme grade.
Aside from spending four hours each day meditating and resting, Ji Fenghe spent all his remaining time refining pills in the Alchemy Chamber.
Effort never betrayed a determined heart. The spiritual efficacy of his Qi Gathering Pills finally reached seventy-nine percent, just one percentage point short of his goal.
Practice made perfect, and Ye Xuan grew faster and faster at preparing medicinal ingredients, leaving him time to watch Ji Fenghe refine pills. However, he knew nothing about pill refining and could offer no suggestions of his own.
"Another failure! Just a little short!"
Ji Fenghe inspected the freshly refined Qi Gathering Pills, somewhat dispirited. Several consecutive batches had shown no improvement whatsoever. Clearly, he had hit a bottleneck and would only be able to refine Qi Gathering Pills with eighty percent spiritual efficacy after breaking through it.
"I really can't build a cart behind closed doors. But I don't know any Alchemists who can refine pills with eighty percent spiritual efficacy. Do I have to ask Master?"
Ji Fenghe felt somewhat unwilling. Wouldn't asking his master mean surrendering to him?
Ji Fenghe quickly shook his head, abandoning the thought, then noticed Ye Xuan beside him, his face full of eagerness to learn.
"Ye Xuan, are you interested in pill refining too?"
"Yes, yes, I am. I just don't know anything about pill refining."
Over these past few days, Ye Xuan had witnessed Ji Fenghe's outrageously lavish spending and had come to yearn deeply to become an Alchemist.
"Then I'll explain the basics of pill refining to you, along with how to refine Qi Gathering Pills."
Reviewing the old could reveal the new. Ji Fenghe had no intention of keeping anything to himself, either, and went over everything he had learned with Ye Xuan, taking the opportunity to see whether he could gain any inspiration from it.
"Thank you, Senior Brother Ji!"
Ye Xuan cupped his fist, sat cross-legged, and listened attentively.
He had not gone out today, so he had not used his sign-in yet. Listening to Ji Fenghe's explanation, Ye Xuan silently recited in his mind.
System, sign in!
[Ding!] [Sign-in successful!] [Congratulations, host! You have obtained the Pill Refining Technique!] [Claim your sign-in reward now?]
Claim the reward!
Host: Ye Xuan Age: 16 Aptitude: high-grade Spirit Root: wood; crippled Spirit Roots: metal, water, fire, earth Realm: Qi Refining Third Layer Cultivation methods: "Chaos Dao Scripture," "Wind Thunder Step," "Qi Refining Formula," "Black Tiger Fist," "Lesser Cloud and Rain Formula." Skills: Pill Refining Technique (level 1) Items: none
Flame control, spiritual essence purification, liquid condensation, pill formation... Vast quantities of knowledge about pill refining flooded Ye Xuan's mind.
This knowledge was more profound than Ji Fenghe's explanations, yet straightforward and easy to understand.
Before long, Ji Fenghe finished explaining. Unfortunately, he had gained no inspiration from it. He sighed, turned around, and continued refining pills.
After assimilating the pill-refining knowledge in his mind, Ye Xuan watched Ji Fenghe refine pills again and soon spotted his problems.
The pill flame was too fierce, damaging the medicinal ingredients' spirituality. The spiritual essence purification was insufficient, failing to bring out the ingredients' full effects. His techniques for liquid condensation and pill formation also had serious problems.
The greatest problem was that Ji Fenghe's heart was not calm. He was far too impatient.
A still heart became clear, and a clear heart became discerning!
Soon, this batch of Qi Gathering Pills was finished, but their spiritual efficacy had still not improved.
"Senior Brother Ji, when controlling the flame, if you took things a little slower and purified the spiritual essence repeatedly, could you remove more impurities? Also, you've been refining pills for several hours straight. You should take a rest."
As someone who was ostensibly a complete novice at pill refining, he dared not offer overly profound suggestions.
"That's true."
Ji Fenghe sighed, then sat cross-legged in meditation to restore his state of mind.
An hour later, Ji Fenghe began refining pills again. This time, Ye Xuan could clearly sense that his heart had grown much calmer.
"Success! Eighty-two percent spiritual efficacy!"
The pills were finished, and Ji Fenghe shouted excitedly. After days of painstaking practice, he had finally refined Qi Gathering Pills with spiritual efficacy exceeding eighty percent.
"Congratulations, Senior Brother Ji!"
Ye Xuan cupped his hands in congratulations. Having witnessed Ji Fenghe's persistence over the past few days, he was genuinely happy for him.
"Here's your payment for this task. You can leave on your own in a bit."
Ji Fenghe took out ten Spirit Stones, then eagerly ran outside, wanting to prove his talent for pill refining to his master.
"Senior Brother, may I borrow the Pill Furnace to try refining pills?"
Ye Xuan shouted after the distant Ji Fenghe. Now that he had the Pill Refining Technique, he wanted to test his own ability too.
"Sure. Just take whatever ingredients you need."
Ji Fenghe's generous reply drifted back from afar.
Taking a set of ingredients, Ye Xuan sat before the Pill Furnace. He first adjusted the furnace and cleaned out the remaining dregs. Only after calming his heart and stilling his mind did he begin refining pills.
Following the techniques of pill refining, Ye Xuan successfully avoided every mistake Ji Fenghe had made and refined his first batch of pills at an unhurried pace.
"Twenty pills formed, with ninety-eight percent spiritual efficacy!"
Ye Xuan was extremely satisfied with his results. Ji Fenghe had refined pills for years, yet had only managed eighty-two percent spiritual efficacy, with just seventeen pills formed.
Leaving behind the token Ji Fenghe had given him, Ye Xuan departed Wood Spirit Peak alone.
The Pill Refining Technique, a high-grade wood Spirit Root, dozens of highly efficacious Qi Gathering Pills, and ten low-grade Spirit Stones.
This task had truly filled Ye Xuan's pots and bowls to the brim.
Not long after Ye Xuan left, Ji Fenghe returned from the mountaintop with his head hanging dejectedly.
"That old man, honestly. He wasn't even satisfied with eighty-two percent spiritual efficacy. He wants me to refine Qi Gathering Pills with ninety percent spiritual efficacy within a month. Even among inner disciples, there can't be many who can refine Qi Gathering Pills with ninety percent spiritual efficacy, right?"
Ji Fenghe muttered, rapidly waving the folding fan in his hand.
Still, Ji Fenghe had not come away empty-handed. At least his master had pointed out some of his mistakes in refining Qi Gathering Pills.
Flame control, spiritual essence purification, liquid condensation, pill formation-his master had criticized every one of them.
"Too bad I just let Ye Xuan leave first. Now I'll have to prepare the medicinal ingredients myself."
Ji Fenghe arrived at the Alchemy Chamber, saw that Ye Xuan was gone, and sighed. Then he took a set of medicinal ingredients and continued refining pills.
At the same time, he considered his master's advice, improving his pill-refining technique.
"Huh? Why is the spiritual essence purification taking so long this time?"
Ji Fenghe noticed that this round of spiritual essence purification was taking considerably longer than before. Looking down, he discovered that the pill flame's intensity had been reduced considerably.
"Did Ye Xuan adjust it? I wonder how his first attempt at pill refining went. It looks like the furnace didn't explode. I wonder whether the spiritual efficacy reached twenty percent."
He still remembered how his furnace had exploded several times when he first tried refining Qi Gathering Pills.
"Huh? Eighty-seven percent spiritual efficacy! Following the old man's experience actually improved the spiritual efficacy this much."
Ji Fenghe looked at the pill flame beneath the Pill Furnace. The flame had played a major role in this refinement. Its intensity had perfectly matched the experience his master had imparted, leaving Ji Fenghe astonished.
"Could Ye Xuan actually be an expert at pill refining?"
Ji Fenghe thought for a moment, then started laughing himself.
Most likely, Ye Xuan's cultivation was too low to control a fierce pill flame, so he had reduced its intensity, only to coincidentally hit upon the ideal intensity.
"Yes, that must be it."