Qin Furnace No. 8
"You surnamed Dong, you actually intend to refine pills yourself?"
"What, you look down on me?"
"Tch, absolutely!"
Li Shaojun came at the invitation.
Of course, Li Shaojun was more curious about the Jinghe River Palace. After all, the Dragon King was hard to find, and he didn't have any special skills in the water. He had never been to the Dragon King's Palace in his life.
After waiting for two days by the Jing River, Li Shaojun entered the underwater palace.
Leaving aside his knowledge, he still relied on his discerning eye to select a Pill Furnace sealed in the Jinghe Water Palace for Zhang Xuezhou.
The Pill Furnace in the Jinghe Water Palace was far inferior to the Nine Dragon Cauldron, but Li Shaojun felt that the Pill Furnace was not bad. After all, these Pill Furnace were used by the Inner Court during the Qin Dynasty, and each one was a top-quality item.
The Pill Furnace is a good Pill Furnace, but Li Shaojun has no way of judging whether the Alchemist is a good Alchemist.
As Zhang Xuezhou's partner, Li Shaojun must say that he rarely, if ever, saw Zhang Xuezhou practicing alchemy.
He had known Zhang Xuezhou for years and he had always been like this. Li Shaojun felt that it would be difficult to expect someone who hadn't practiced alchemy for several years to produce good pills.
During the nighttime whirlwind that swept into Shanglin Garden, Li Shaojun also visited the Alchemy Chamber that Zhang Xuezhou had set up after taking over the Pill Furnace.
Everything was arranged beautifully, the only problem was that Zhang Xuezhou was using this slow-burning Pill Furnace to cook fermented soybean milk and stuffed tofu.
Li Shaojun described Zhang Xuezhou as "not doing his job properly," and while wandering around aimlessly, he couldn't help but make a few more sarcastic remarks about Zhang Xuezhou.
Zhang Xuezhou wasn't angry; he made his hand-ground tofu quickly and well.
Although the actual testing of tofu took place in a real laboratory, the formalities still had to be done to avoid the new emperor having no tofu when he inquired.
Using this Pill Furnace to cook bean juice also helped him make adjustments.
The speed at which the Pill Furnace heats up, the control of the heat, the time it takes for the herbs to dissolve, and the warming of the medicinal mud are all controlled by a single Pill Furnace, unlike in reality where multiple instruments work together. This requires extremely precise adjustments.
Zhang Xuezhou even took out his old Law Artifact, the "Heng," hoping to refine the elixir using the most scientific method to achieve a higher success rate.
"Then don't come asking for it after I've refined the pill!"
Zhang Xuezhou answered Li Shaojun casually.
"That's not very meaningful. I'll share any good things I have with you, and you should share any good things you have with me too," Li Shaojun said.
"I need real capital to refine pills," Zhang Xuezhou said. "If you bring me the materials for ten Creation Pills, I'll give you two after I've successfully refined them!"
"Your alchemy skills are terrible! Who can handle someone with your level of alchemy!"
"I don't know who has failed time and time again in refining the Eight Steps to Immortality Pill, and still hasn't produced a proper finished product!"
"You surnamed Dong, you insult people without ever bringing up their weaknesses!"
Li Shaojun muttered a few words, thus understanding what kind of pill Zhang Xuezhou was going to refine.
Creation Pill is the most common elixir among advanced cultivators, with a large demand and wide applicability, but it is also one of the most difficult elixirs to refine.
The process involves complicated materials and refining procedures, and the varying quality of the Creation Pill is even more daunting.
It's not uncommon for one side to recover 30% of their Law Power after taking a Creation Pill, while the other side recovers 50 Law Power. Even with the same trump card, the quality of the Creation Pill can lead to disastrous consequences.
However, cultivators at the Divine Ability Realm and above cannot do without Creation Pills. Not to mention using them for cultivation, the key is that these pills can save lives when needed.
Even someone as fearless as Li Shaojun wanted to possess a high-quality Creation Pill, since he preferred to live rather than die.
Moreover, he is skilled in flying, and if he wants to have enough Law Power to deal with unexpected situations after landing, the Creation Pill is a necessity for him.
"You have the Yin-Yang School's heritage, so your skill in refining the Creation Pill can't be so bad that your success rate is only 40%?" Li Shaojun asked.
"That's too kind of you!"
"What, you don't even have a 40% success rate in completing the pill?"
Li Shaojun pondered that Zhang Xuezhou divided ten materials into two for him, which was their agreed-upon rule for sharing the materials. This also allowed him to deduce Zhang Xuezhou's abilities.
But after Zhang Xuezhou said that, Li Shaojun felt that Zhang Xuezhou's skills were not as good as those of ordinary Alchemist.
"I've never refined a Creation Pill before, how would I know the success rate?" Zhang Xuezhou said. "If the success rate is only 20% or 30%, then there's nothing I can do!"
"I've never refined it before!"
Upon hearing this, Li Shaojun wanted to take his leave.
He had never refined the Eight Steps to Immortality Pill before; his attempts relied entirely on gambling, resulting in an alarmingly low success rate.
If it weren't for finding a fool like the new emperor who was willing to provide materials and try his luck, Li Shaojun felt he would never have had any hope of succeeding in his life.
He wanted to practice with Zhang Xuezhou, but he felt that Zhang Xuezhou was far from mastering the craft, and he was determined not to become a sucker who would contribute materials.
At least for now, he had little interest in Zhang Xuezhou's alchemy.
I hope that after you master your skills, you will benefit all living beings!
Li Shaojun circled the Pill Furnace several times, then glanced at the neatly arranged medicinal herbs in the Alchemy Chamber. He decided to check on the situation in a few days.
Even Rong Tianding didn't stay here to wait for the results, so Li Shaojun obviously wouldn't linger here either.
He opened his mouth to give a word of encouragement, then tiptoed to open the window.
Upon seeing the Imperial Guards patrolling outside heading towards the corner, Li Shaojun dove out, creating a gust of wind as he soared into the night sky.
"I refine elixirs to benefit all living beings? How could I possibly benefit all living beings? I can barely even benefit myself!"
Zhang Xuezhou was pressing tofu, took a bamboo winnowing basket, placed the tofu in it, and hung it in Tongfeng area. He then covered it with a coarse cloth and waited for the tofu to mold and grow hair.
After finishing making the tofu, Zhang Xuezhou complained and then rinsed the Pill Cauldron with clean water.
Unlike the Yin-Yang School's water and fire Pill Furnace, and also different from the common private Pill Furnace, the Pill Furnace that Ao Li treasures in the Water Mansion is very large, reaching a height of three meters after being assembled.
This is a large-scale, standardized Pill Furnace that can produce a large batch of pills in one go. The Pill Furnace is marked with the inscription "Qin Furnace No. 8, for refining longevity and immortality" in small seal script.
The advantage of this type of Pill Furnace is that as long as the strict alchemy process is mastered, a large number of pills can be produced according to the process, and it is not uncommon to produce hundreds of pills at a time.
The disadvantages of Pill Furnace are also obvious. If any part of the process goes wrong, the loss of materials from a single failed attempt at alchemy can be heartbreaking.
Only the imperial court had the confidence to use such Pill Furnace to mass-produce elixirs, and these Pill Furnace were mostly used for low-end elixirs, such as Origin-Nurturing Pill and Zhixue San.
It is extremely difficult to use this type of Pill Furnace to produce high-grade elixirs.
Li Shaojun's choice of this type of Pill Furnace was not to trick Zhang Xuezhou, but because Pill Furnace in Ao Li's water mansion were of this type.
Zhang Xuezhou wasn't picky; he even really liked using standard Pill Furnace.
If one does not rely on occasional high-standard pills produced due to factors such as personal skill, mood, or stable control of Law Power, the output of standardized Pill Furnace will be very stable once they reach a stable standard.
For Zhang Xuezhou, who is accustomed to modern laboratories, even the most ingenious Pill Furnace cannot compare to the accuracy of specifications and dimensions.
The Law Artifact he created, 'Heng', is a product of standardization.
Only with sufficiently precise standards can he adjust the experimental environment to suit himself in this world.