[A/N: I hope you like it. I took most of this scene from another novel and adapted it, so I hope it turns out well and that you don't mind. Well, Happy Reading!]
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Chapter 9° Alchemy / Success?
Xiang Yun continued walking between the shelves, analyzing each of the available furnaces. Soon, his eyes stopped on one of them.
It wasn't very large—slightly smaller than a bucket—red in color, with a flaming aura. It also emitted a deep sense of calm.
"How much is this furnace?" Xiang Yun asked.
"You've got a good eye! This furnace is one of the best in the Alchemist Association. It's Silver ranked, and only Spiritualists above Bronze One-Star level can use it… Its price is five hundred and sixty thousand Demon Spirit coins."
He knew Xiang Yun seemed to have money, but he didn't expect him to afford such a large amount. Still, he remained polite.
"Five hundred and sixty thousand Demon Spirit coins? That really is a bit expensive, but it's fine. I'll take it," Xiang Yun said.
The Alchemy Furnace was made of high-quality materials and was at least several dozen times better than a Bronze Rank one. Besides, he would need to buy an even better one once he got more skilled in refining, so getting a slightly more suitable one now wasn't reckless.
"Are you sure you don't want to… maybe go grab more money before coming back?" the shopkeeper began, but went silent as soon as he saw Xiang Yun wave his hand.
Swoosh!
Xiang Yun stacked a pile of purple banknotes worth fifty thousand each and slid them toward the shopkeeper, along with one more note worth ten thousand. "It's paid. Now let's look at the medicinal herbs."
"What?"
It was paid? Just like that?
When he first saw him at the entrance, the shopkeeper had imagined Xiang Yun might be "wealthy"… but he didn't expect him to walk around with that much money on hand. And it didn't even seem to be his limit.
"Of course, of course!" Epe nodded as he took down the furnace and placed it in a beautifully carved box. Xiang Yun waved his hand and stored it in his spatial ring.
The two of them then proceeded to the next room, where there was a book listing all the available medicinal herbs.
Xiang Yun wrote down everything he needed—nearly twenty sets—and paid another two hundred thousand Demon Spirit coins, before leaving under the shopkeeper's respectful and flattering gaze.
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After leaving the Association with all the materials he needed, Xiang Yun quickly returned to the inn he had rented. He first entered his cultivation room and then began using the blood of two Silver Rank beasts to draw various intricate patterns across the room.
It wasn't a very complex inscription, but it had the effect of blocking all sound—whether from inside out or outside in. That's because he knew that once he began, he couldn't afford any distractions, or the Furnace would explode.
The pill he was going to attempt refining was one he found in a library book—"Spiritual Gathering Pill."
According to the description, this was a pill that could increase cultivation speed tenfold. In other words, one day of cultivation would be equivalent to ten days.
Since it was a basic pill and didn't seem too difficult to refine—and would bring immediate benefits to Glory City—he decided to use this one for practice.
"Let's analyze this…"
The basic steps of alchemy include: pouring soul force into the alchemy furnace to activate the fire inscriptions; roasting the spiritual herbs, waiting for the herbs to start forming their unique spiritual powder; controlling those various spiritual powders and mixing them with dried spiritual herbs, gathering them in one place, and then freezing them into one or more Pills.
Xiang Yun sat in front of the furnace and placed his hands on its two side handles, pouring his soul force while simultaneously activating the inscriptions inside.
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His soul force flowed into the alchemy furnace, making it start to tremble, while his other hand began placing the spiritual herbs inside and drying them.
Unfortunately, some impurities were not completely burned away from the dried herbs, so in less than ten minutes—Boom!—his first attempt ended in a small explosion.
"Looks like it's not as simple as just following the book's steps. Cough! Cough!" Xiang Yun coughed out the smoke he'd inhaled, then cleaned up the mess in his room before sitting back down again.
Even so, he wasn't discouraged by this. He had learned a few things. He discovered how strong his soul force really was, that he needed to improve his control over it, and that he needed to better burn away the herbs' impurities.
Xiang Yun grabbed the next set of herbs.
This time, he made sure to pay close attention to his control in order to properly manipulate the flame inscriptions. He carefully roasted the herbs in the furnace, cautiously burning away the impurities, but once again—he failed.
After failing three times in a row, Xiang Yun began to accumulate experience. His knowledge of herb preparation and flame inscription control improved with each attempt.
On the fourth attempt, Xiang Yun finally managed to extract all the Spiritual Powder, which was also the essence of the herbs. Now he could move on to the next phase of alchemy.
While injecting his soul power into the alchemy furnace, he peeked inside. Xiang Yun saw various colors of Spiritual Powder being released by the herbs.
'So far so good. Let's take it slow,' he murmured.
Then, he began to manipulate the Spiritual Powder with his soul force, spinning it into a rainbow-colored vortex. The dried herbs slowly disintegrated into ash.
After they had completely transformed, Xiang Yun gathered all the released Spiritual Powder and combined it with his soul force, forming a "spiritual ball" the size of a fist.
Xiang Yun was now at the Bronze Two-Star level. He had a decent amount of soul power, but he was already nearing his limit.
That was mainly because he had split the rainbow vortex of "Spiritual Powder" into five mini-vortexes, trying to fuse them simultaneously with five equal portions of "Herb Powder."
Exactly.
On his first day, he was already trying to refine five Pills at once!
As he formed the five vortexes, Xiang Yun's brows began to furrow, and he was sweating profusely.
He not only had to use his soul force to form and maintain the flames, but also control all the Spiritual Powder while attempting to freeze the Pills—which required vast amounts of soul power.
"This better work!" Xiang Yun shouted to himself.
The five vortexes of Spiritual Powder spun rapidly and even started the fusion process. Now he just needed to add the right amount of Bronze-ranked beast blood and let the two solidify successfully into five Pills.
Xiang Yun's forehead was drenched in sweat, and he looked extremely exhausted. Even so, he continued pouring out his remaining soul power.
He had already used up almost all of it—only about 20% remained.
But suddenly, Xiang Yun's expression became solemn. Xiu, xiu, xiu… From his spatial ring, five porcelain vials flew out. At the same time, his fingers formed quick, complex seals, pressing and pointing toward the mouth of the furnace.
Xiang Yun finally let out a relieved sigh, withdrew his hand, and gave the furnace a light tap. With a hum, the furnace lid opened instantly.
Xiu, xiu, xiu, xiu, xiu—four snow-white medicinal pills and one coal-black one shot out as if alive, floating in the air before each was drawn into a porcelain vial.
"Yes!" Xiang Yun clenched his fists, grabbing the five vials in his hand.
"Finally did it." He picked up the five vials and looked out the window. "Wow, looks like I spent the whole day refining just these five pills. Alchemy really takes a lot of time!" Xiang Yun sighed, but with a satisfied smile.
Even though one of the pills turned out useless, he still managed to create four that looked to be in good condition.
"Not bad for a first refinement… Now, I just need to see if they actually work."
Xiang Yun took out a Spiritual Gathering Pill and immediately began to experience its effects.
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[A/N: Just letting you know that there won't be any new chapters tomorrow. Have a good weekend everyone!]