Soon, the duo arrived at a spacious room.
"Apothecary Mingyu will be forging a Spirit Gathering Pill today. If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask me, but don't cause a commotion! Also, don't speak carelessly. What apothecaries hate the most is being disturbed! "Chen Xiao Yue instructed.
Su Yin nodded his head. Looking into the room, he saw a massive cauldron placed at the center of the room. A middle-aged man in his forties was sorting the medicinal herbs not too far away.
Upon seeing them enter, the middle-aged man frowned in displeasure. Chen Xiao Yue stepped forward and explained.
"Teacher gave him a jade token?"
After hearing the explanation, the middle-aged man named Mingyu looked at Su Yin doubtfully, as though he couldn't believe what he had just heard.
He was Shen Fei's direct disciple, and he knew of the old man's temper and personality. Even a genius like him wasn't able to obtain a jade token. Yet, this seventeen to eighteen-year-old fellow who didn't seem to possess any cultivation actually did... What was going on?
"Yes!" Chen Xiao Yue nodded her head.
"Forget it!" Even though Apothecary Mingyu was perplexed, he still waved his hands. "Since teacher appreciates him, there must be something extraordinary about him. Then, I'll forge a Spirit Gathering Pill for him to see and see how much he can learn from it..."
After which, he ignored the duo and continued sorting the medicinal herbs. Every single one of them was carefully identified before weighing them.
"This is the concoction of medicinal herbs. One has to determine the age, medicinal properties, and weight of each medicinal herb. It can be considered as the foundation of pill forging. Not even the slightest mistake is tolerated!"
Walking up to the young man, Chen Xiao Yue explained with a hushed voice.
"Un!" Su Yin nodded his head. After taking a look, he frowned.
He knew about concocting medicinal herbs. He had learned about it in the forbidden grounds. One had to determine the medicinal properties, age, and weight of the medicinal herbs before matching them together. Just that... the person before him was doing it too crudely!
Putting everything aside, Midnight Yellow and Green Radish Blue had conflicting medicinal properties. Putting them together, it was easy to neutralize them. Yet, the other party took both of them... Even though the medicinal properties of Green Canopy Grass and Ten Heat Wood were similar, when mixed together, it would result in a different attribute, making it incompatible with the Spirit Gathering Pill...
You call this concocting medicinal herbs? You must be joking!
If Zhang Xuan were to do so, he would definitely be scolded to death by Li Shier.
"That's not right... He is a true apothecary, how can he be inferior to me, someone who has never learned pill forging?"
Even though he was perplexed, he still patiently continued reading.
"Alchemist Mingyu has a deep understanding of alchemy. In just ten years, he has already concocted seventeen brand new pill formulas. Even in the entire Great Salt City, he is an extremely famous existence. To be able to see him concoct pills with my own eyes is definitely a blessing!"
Seeing the frown on Zhang Xuan's face, Chen Xiao Yue thought that he didn't understand what was going on.
"Good fortune?"
Su Yin's face twitched.
It would have been fine if the other party had just randomly mixed and taken the medicinal herbs. However, his control over the medicinal properties of the herbs was poor, and his concocting technique was extremely crude. Furthermore, he piled up the medicinal herbs carelessly, not caring whether the medicinal properties of the herbs would be neutralized or not...
I only took one look at these, and I felt like vomiting … You're actually telling me that it's a blessing?
Are you sure you're not kidding me?
"Could it be that the way an alchemist concocts medicine is different from what I learned? Only by messing things up can we refine pills? "An idea popped up in his mind.
It was not impossible. Otherwise, why would Li Shihun not know alchemy?
"After the medicine is concocted, it's time to start a fire for the furnace. Don't underestimate this process. Many people have died here, unable to become a true alchemist!"
Oblivious to Zhang Xuan's thoughts, Chen Xiao Yue continued.
"Start a fire?"
Su Yin turned to look at her.
At this moment, Alchemist Mingyu had already finished concocting the medicinal herbs. He walked up to the furnace and flicked his finger.
Hu!
A ball of flame flew out from his finger, immediately igniting the charcoal beneath the furnace.
Zhenqi gushed out and landed on the charcoal. Gradually, the flame turned from a faint yellow to a faint blue, and its temperature rose.
In less than a minute, the massive furnace was already dyed red, and waves of heat emanated from it.
"Incredible …" Su Yin praised.
He was confident that he could concoct pills better than the other party. However, he was unable to do so. After all, he had yet to cultivate, so he was unable to drive his Zhen Yuan.
Of course, if one were to use firewood instead of charcoal, one would still be able to make the flames burn as ferociously as well. In fact, the temperature might even be higher!
Hu!
Alchemist Mingyu placed the medicinal herbs into the furnace one by one. When they came into contact with the heat of the furnace, they swiftly melted, and a fragrant aroma immediately filled the room.
"This is the process an alchemist uses to purify the medicinal properties of the herbs …" Chen Xiao Yue continued.
Su Yin frowned once more.
He had never learned the art of purification before, but he had a good grasp of medicinal properties. There were some medicinal herbs that needed to be melted under high temperatures before their medicinal properties could be extracted. However, there were some that … didn't!
Putting everything aside, just the Woodscented Flower that the other party had just placed in the cauldron would evaporate as soon as it came into contact with the heat of the cauldron. While it might be able to stimulate some of its medicinal properties, ninety percent of it would be wasted.
There was also the Imperial Mausoleum Incense. If one were to soak it in water for three minutes beforehand, its medicinal properties would definitely be better!
On the surface, the other party seemed to be tempering the medicinal herbs, but in reality, he was destroying the medicinal properties of many of them.
However, this was just the opinion of an outsider like him. Perhaps, the methods of alchemists were different.
After tempering the medicinal herbs for ten minutes, Alchemist Mingyu closed the lid of the furnace and drove his zhenqi to control the flames.
"This is the process of forging the medicinal properties to form pills!" Chen Xiao Yue said.
After another ten minutes, just as Alchemist Mingyu's face was turning paler and paler, and he was on the verge of collapsing, the furnace began to move restlessly.
Boom!
With a loud explosion, the lid of the furnace opened and ten pills flew out, landing in the other party's palm.
They were Spirit Gathering Pills. Judging from their quality, they were no different from the ones he had bought from the Great Salt Market previously.
"I see …"
After watching the entire process, Su Yin came to a realization.
He thought that it would be mysterious and complicated, but in the end, it was just to fuse the medicinal properties of all the medicinal herbs together and compress them into a pill …
The other party's method seemed scientific, but in reality, more than ninety percent of the medicinal properties were wasted. It was no wonder why the medicinal properties of the pills were all mixed together.
If … he could fuse all the medicinal properties together perfectly, even if he didn't use the final heat of the furnace, it should still be possible!
"This friend, what are your thoughts after watching me forge pills? Why don't you comment on it?"
Just as Su Yin was deep in thought, a voice sounded by his ear. Raising his head, he saw Alchemist Mingyu. At this moment, he was done forging the pills and had already walked up to him.
"Comment?" Su Yin was taken aback. He hurriedly waved his hands and said, "This is my first time seeing someone forge pills, so I can be considered an outsider. I don't know anything about pill forging, so how could I dare to comment on it!"
"The fact that teacher gave you the jade token means that he thinks highly of your talent. Why … are you unwilling to comment on it?"
Alchemist Mingyu sneered.
Since his teacher didn't give him the jade token, he wanted to see whether the other party was truly talented or not.
Su Yin scratched his head, not knowing how to reply.
"To be able to win teacher's favor, it can't be that you can't see through it. If that's the case, I really suspect that teacher has been duped …" Sneering coldly, Alchemist Mingyu continued.
"I …" Just as Su Yin was about to explain, he suddenly thought of something and came to a realization!
That's right!
How could he be so stupid!
It was no wonder why an apothecary would concoct such trash pills. From the looks of it now, he was doing it on purpose to test his eye of discernment!
Back in the forbidden grounds, didn't the remnant spirits often test him as well?
It was laughable that he thought that an apothecary wouldn't make such a low-level mistake. In the end, it was all an act!
After understanding the situation, Su Yin heaved a sigh of relief. Since it was a test, he had to perform well. He had to point out all the problems that the other party had encountered when he concocted the pills so as to let the other party know that … he still had some foundation!
This way, he wouldn't be letting down the other party's goodwill!
(Everyone is really supportive. Five thousand votes have already been passed. The face slapping is about to begin. Please continue to add me to your collection and recommend me! This is the greatest support for a cute newcomer! Love you all, muacks!)
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