Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Chapter 191 Alchemy Newbie is Not So 'Bad

"No way!"

Zhao Sheng changed his mind and immediately abandoned the thought.

His identity was sensitive, requiring him to remain low-key. The reputation of an "Alchemy Genius" was too eye-catching and could easily bring unnecessary trouble.

Thinking this, Zhao Sheng's movements slowed down as he watched the other eight portions of Elixir Liquid slowly turn into Elixir Residue.

Bang bang bang!

A series of dull bursting sounds came from inside the Alchemy Furnace.

Just as Jin Ming thought the alchemy had failed, Zhao Sheng stretched out his hand and the lid of the furnace suddenly opened.

As wisps of black smoke and a burnt smell drifted from the Alchemy Furnace, a spotlessly white Spirit Pill suddenly leapt out of the lid, drawing a trail of white light and tinkling as it fell into the pill bottle that had been prepared earlier.

"Eh, you... you actually succeeded on your first try!" Jin Ming's eyes almost popped out in shock, his mouth stuttering in surprise.

Zhao Sheng shook the pill bottle, listening to the thudding sounds of the Spirit Pill inside, and humbly said, "All thanks to Master Jin's good teaching! And, of course, a bit of luck."

Jin Ming shook his head vigorously, looking at Zhao Sheng with a very complex gaze, and said seriously, "One attempt doesn't count, try refining again."

He believed there were geniuses in the world who succeeded in their first alchemy attempt, but he didn't believe Zhao Sheng was one of them.

Jin Ming would rather believe that Zhao Sheng had multiple previous alchemy experiences that led to his performance today.

Zhao Sheng didn't hesitate and promptly replied, "Alright!"

This time, Zhao Sheng thought wrong.

He thought Jin Ming spoke this way to help him solidify and enhance the success rate of refining Fish Marrow Pills, yet he did not realize that Jin Ming was unwilling to acknowledge him as an alchemy genius.

Exactly!

The definition of "genius" in Zhao Sheng's mind and in Jin Ming's eyes were not the same thing at all.

Zhao Sheng thought he had been low-key enough, but he didn't know that his performance was still too outstanding.

It is known that there are countless types of Spirit Pills in the world, roughly categorized into detoxification, healing, replenishing Qi, enhancing cultivation, boosting spiritual power, avoiding calamity, extending life, and so on, each with different difficulties in refinement.

Among them, apart from a few limited types of extraordinary Spirit Pills that defy heavens, such as those for extending life and avoiding Tribulation, those for enhancing cultivation and spiritual power are recognized as having the highest difficulty in the Alchemy World.

Although Fish Marrow Pill is just a basic First-stage Spirit Pill, consisting only of a primary ingredient and twelve auxiliary ones, it belongs to the type that enhances spiritual power, making its refining much harder than other pills of the same rank.

Jin Ming selected Fish Marrow Pill partly as a way to give Zhao Sheng a tough lesson and establish his authority as a "teacher." Moreover, Fish Marrow Pill was one of his specialties and was neither too difficult nor too easy to refine.

Who knew... someone would play unconventionally, causing Jin Ming some embarrassment.

Recalling the painful experience of being severely scolded by his master when he was learning to refine Fish Marrow Pills back in the day, Jin Ming still remembered it vividly.

This time, Jin Ming concentrated, observing Zhao Sheng's every move in alchemy extremely seriously.

During the second attempt to refine Dragon Whisker Fish Marrow Pill, Zhao Sheng was noticeably more skilled than the first time, performing the alchemy formula and spells very smoothly, with control precision three times finer than the previous attempt.

Undoubtedly, the first three steps of the alchemy process were executed both quickly and steadily, showing no signs that this was only his second attempt at alchemy.

"Solidify, Elixir Formation!"

Accompanied by a shout, as black smoke billowed from the Alchemy Furnace, a plump and white Fish Marrow Pill swirled its way over and landed in the pill bottle.

The tinkle of the light sound, though soft, exploded like thunder in Jin Ming's mind.

Jin Ming couldn't help but groan, "…to succeed again!"

Seeing this, Zhao Sheng felt a sudden shock in his heart.

It was then that he realized his recent actions had been somewhat reckless.

A novice in alchemy managing to succeed in his first two attempts was not just rare, but extremely rare.

Zhao Sheng's thought flashed by as he teased, "Mr. Jin, what's there to be surprised about? After all, I am a Foundation Establishment Cultivator with the help of Divine Sense and decades of foundation in the Alchemy Dao. Isn't it quite normal to successfully refine several batches of First-stage Spirit Pills right off the bat!"

"Exactly! Taoist Zhao is at the Foundation Establishment Realm. Refining such a low-difficulty First-stage Spirit Pill isn't much for you. I almost thought otherwise just now!" Jin Ming suddenly understood and finally showed a relieved smile.

"Haha! I may be a newbie in alchemy, but I'm not 'green' at all!" Zhao Sheng laughed heartily as he made fun of himself again.

Upon thinking this, Jin Ming felt much better.

However, after this episode, he clearly began to take Zhao Sheng more seriously.

"It seems you have already grasped the basics of refining Fish Marrow Pills. However, to increase the quantity and success rate of the pills, you should still practice as much as possible.

There are six more sets of alchemy ingredients here. How about you refine all of them today?"

Jin Ming meant well with his words, but Zhao Sheng had his own plans.

He smiled slightly and tentatively asked, "Mr. Jin, there's plenty of time today. Why don't you teach me another Spirit Pill refining method?"

Upon hearing this, Jin Ming frowned.

Alchemy is difficult to learn and master.

Zhao Sheng's request might seem too eager, as if he wanted to run before he could walk, which seemed overly impatient.

After some thought, Jin Ming sighed, "Well, since you want to learn, I will teach you how to refine the Water Spirit Pill."

Was Zhao Sheng eager? Not really.

Through his recent experience in refining the Fish Marrow Pills, he realized that he could also speed up the process of refining other Spirit Pills by leveraging his own talent, resembling a "copying" method.

Having a master teach you as opposed to figuring it out on your own are completely different concepts; the difficulty level isn't even on the same scale.

It would be utterly foolish in Zhao Sheng's eyes to choose to struggle on his own when he could simply learn from a master, wasting time, energy, and resources.

No sooner said than done.

Once he made up his mind, Jin Ming took out the Spiritual Medicines needed to refine the Water Spirit Pill from his Storage Bag.

The Water Spirit Pill is also a First-stage Spirit Pill, a type that enhances cultivation. The main medicine is the Hundred-year-old Sea Blue Silk, with auxiliary ingredients like Jade Core Powder, Gourongzi, among fifteen types of Spiritual Medicine, making it slightly more difficult to refine than the Fish Marrow Pills.

The steps to refine the Water Spirit Pill were almost the same as those for the Fish Marrow Pills, but the refining time was much longer, with the third step of melting the medicinal properties requiring at least an hour. Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

Refining any Spirit Pill requires the alchemist's complete and undivided attention from beginning to end. Often, a single moment of carelessness can lead to the failure of the pills.

And this is just one of the difficulties in alchemy; there are many more challenging aspects, such as conflicts and fusion of medicinal properties, the complexity of the Elixir Transformation Reaction, how many turns the Elixir Formation takes, the Elixir Tribulation, and so on.

An hour and a half later, a batch of Water Spirit Pills was successfully refined, with five pills of high quality.

Jin Ming, looking slightly tired, chuckled, "Did you see, Taoist Zhao? Alchemy isn't so easy."

Zhao Sheng touched his chin and said out of the blue, "Mr. Jin, why don't you refine two more batches?"

Jin Ming was taken aback and uttered a couple of hesitations, then seeing the expectant look of the other party, he hesitantly said, "Let's refine one more batch! There's only one set of materials left for the Water Spirit Pill.

Once we're done with this batch, you should go and refine the Fish Marrow Pills! Remember, in alchemy, quality matters, not quantity; biting off more than you can chew isn't helpful!"

Zhao Sheng, seeing the situation, didn't expose the other's lie, but simply nodded with a smile.

Since it was the last time, Jin Ming refined with more care, not to mention Zhao Sheng.

Another hour and a half passed, and a new batch of Water Spirit Pills was again successfully refined!

This time, four pills were produced with decent quality.

While Jin Ming wasn't completely satisfied with this result, as it barely met the passing criteria,

Zhao Sheng, on the other hand, was very satisfied, feeling he had gained a lot.