Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Upon hearing his words, Zhao Sheng touched his chin and suddenly said, "Taoist, you have mentioned so much. Does this mean that the first Spirit Pill you are teaching me to refine today is the Bone Marrow Spirit Pill?"

"Exactly! Taoist Zhao, you truly are extraordinarily perceptive, no wonder you succeeded in the Foundation Establishment at such a young age. Today, I will teach you to refine the Dragon Whisker Fish Marrow Pill. It is a First-stage Spirit Pill, and it is not difficult to make, quite suitable for practice," praised Jin Ming, unable to help himself.

After speaking, he took out twelve bottles and jars from his Storage Bag, and finally, he pulled out a square porcelain box.

He opened the porcelain box, inside which there were nine fist-sized transparent crystal bottles, each filled with a half finger-deep, clear jelly-like liquid.

Zhao Sheng looked down at them, while Jin Ming also opened each of the other bottles and jars and then asked, "The Elixir Recipe for the Dragon Whisker Fish Marrow Pill, do you remember it?"

"I remember! One portion of Dragon Whisker Fish Marrow Liquid, three coins weight of Orchid Stone Powder, three liang six qian of Five-leaf Cong, one Coral Worm Corpse of thirty years old," Zhao Sheng said skillfully.

Jin Ming heard this and gave a pleased smile, praising, "Taoist Zhao, you really are quite attentive. However, alchemy is a highly practical art. Knowing the recipes is one thing, but nothing compares to trying to refine a Spirit Pill yourself."

"Come, let me first introduce you to the facilities of this Earth Fire Room," he said.

As he spoke, Jin Ming rose from his cushion and walked to the center of the stone room, with Zhao Sheng following behind him, observing his surroundings intently.

The entire Earth Fire Room was roughly circular in shape, about forty to fifty zhang in area, with its stone walls made up of Fire-Resistant Stone. In the interior of the stone chamber, there was a stone platform about a foot high. In the center of the platform, there was a round depression as thick as a water bucket.

Around the depression, an entire circle was embedded with eight thick Earth Fire Pipes, the mouth of each fashioned from the head of a Red Toad, the giant mouth of the toad gaping open. Furthermore, the mouth was tilted upward, precisely aimed at the center above the pit, made to mimic a spewing action, very lifelike.

By then, Jin Ming had already started explaining proactively to Zhao Sheng, pointing at the depression and saying, "This is the Earth Fire Mouth, the Earth Fire spouts from here. However, for refining a First-stage Spirit Pill, the main fire mouth is usually not used; these eight secondary fire mouths should be sufficient."

"You see, within the toad's mouth is embedded a Fire Control Array, capable of using Spiritual Power to manually adjust the size and height of the Earth Fire. Of course, it is even more convenient for you to use your Divine Sense," said Jin Ming.

At this point, Jin Ming's tone shifted, "Although refining with Earth Fire is convenient, it ultimately doesn't compare to using Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fire. Taoist, you must make an effort to refine a type of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fire in the future. Otherwise, the potential of the Nine Dragon Tripod cannot be fully realized."

Zhao Sheng listened and silently nodded his head.

At this time, Jin Ming also briefly mentioned a few alchemy precautions, as well as the usage rules of the Earth Fire Room.

The usage time of the Earth Fire Room is counted by the day, requiring fifty Merit Points per day, which is equivalent to eighty Spirit Stones per day.

If Merit Points are insufficient, it is also possible to rent the room by the hour, but there must be a minimum of three hours.

"Well, that's all for now, let's start alchemy!"

After speaking, Jin Ming turned and walked back to where the cushion was and sat down cross-legged. Seeing this, Zhao Sheng felt a rare flicker of excitement and nervousness.

He immediately sat next to Jin Ming, released his Divine Sense, and focused intensely on every move Jin Ming made.

"Go," he uttered in a low shout.

Afterward, a silver-white Three-legged Elixir Furnace suddenly enlarged several times, transforming into a large alchemy furnace the size of a water vat, flying down to hover above the pit, tightly covering it.

"Firstly, the first step is to temper the alchemy furnace!"

Following this instruction, Jin Ming pinched a spell with both hands, and eight beams of spirit light flew from his fingertips, shooting into the mouth of the Red Toad, disappearing in a flash.

The next second, eight toad mouths violently spouted thick, arm-thick blue flames, which converged at the bottom of the Pill Furnace, and immediately a vast expanse of blue Earth Fire burst into flames.

A few breaths later, the temperature inside the Earth Fire Room rapidly increased, the air became dry and hot, and the silver-white Pill Furnace quickly heated up.

Jin Ming continuously cast Alchemy Formulas onto the Alchemy Furnace.

Soon, the walls of the furnace started to faintly glow red.

At this moment, with a serious expression, Jin Ming said in a low voice, "There are countless techniques in the art of Alchemy, but broadly it is divided into Fire Refining and Water Refining; nowadays, the mainstream of Alchemy Dao primarily uses Fire Refining. Watch carefully, I am about to add the Spiritual Medicine."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the lid of the silver-white Pill Furnace suddenly opened a crack, and Jin Ming pointed at the bottles and jars on the ground in front of him.

Suddenly, a vase with a narrower top and wider bottom emitted a four-foot long, arm-thick, light-blue scaled worm corpse that flew out.

The worm corpse soared high, traveling over a distance of more than ten meters, and fell into the Pill Furnace.

Simultaneously, Jin Ming flicked his finger, and a gray powder from a transparent crystal bottle floated out and swiftly entered the Alchemy Furnace.

Bang!
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The lid of the furnace snapped back into place, and Jin Ming continuously cast the Spirit Light Technique. The Earth Fire from the eight Red Toad mouths weakened significantly, becoming as thin as a finger.

While carefully observing the alchemy furnace, Jin Ming did not forget to explain to Zhao Sheng, "The current step is refining the Elixir Base, and it will take about half an hour."

Zhao Sheng touched his chin, gradually becoming excited.

In his past two lives, although he had not tried alchemy, he had spent a considerable amount of time studying the Art of Alchemy in his leisure time.

Therefore, he was not unfamiliar with the Dao of Alchemy.

Zhao Sheng knew that the success of an elixir primarily depended on the fire control of the Spiritual Medicine during alchemy, the degree of integration of the medicinal properties, and the most critical aspect - timing the Elixir Formation.

If the time was too early, the Spirit Pill would not have fused completely, and the Elixir Pills would not form.

If the time was too late, the Elixir Pills would burn into a pile of residue.

As for the amount and components of the Spiritual Medicine, it had been clearly detailed through countless experiments by predecessors in the Elixir Recipes, and there was generally no need to worry about these.

Of course, if you wanted to improve a type of Spirit Pill, it was possible to increase or decrease certain components or their purity as long as you could afford the loss from failed alchemy attempts.

However, while sounding simple, practicing it proved to be extremely difficult!

In the Cultivation World, there was a catchphrase: "The poor make talismans, the rich refine artifacts, those with mines learn alchemy."

Another common saying was, "Years to master spells, a lifetime of sorrow in alchemy."

It stated that nurturing an alchemist required excessively high resources and time investment.

Just to mention two difficulties, one is precisely controlling the furnace's temperature, and the other is accurately timing when to open the furnace.

These two difficulties are the nightmare of any alchemist. Even an Alchemy Master inevitably admits that the success rate of alchemy is not high. Having over a fifty percent success rate in refining the same stage Spirit Pills is a cause for great celebration.

The Cultivation World universally recognizes alchemy as a skill that extensively depends on experience and practicality.

In terms of difficulty, it ranks just below divination and formations among the Hundred Arts of Immortal Cultivation, truly difficult to learn, master, and advance in.

With these thoughts, half an hour passed in a flash.

"Next step, melt the medicinal properties!"

Jin Ming called out in a low voice, and several auxiliary Spiritual Medicines continuously flew out in front of him, landing perfectly into the alchemy furnace as the lid opened.

"Increase the heat! Forty-five minutes, watch carefully!" Jin Ming said more succinctly as his concentration deepened.

As several Spirit Light Techniques were cast, the Earth Fire spewing from the eight Red Toad mouths suddenly thickened, and the room's temperature swiftly increased.

At that moment, Zhao Sheng's expression changed, his face showing a look of astonishment.

He was at the Foundation Establishment Realm and had already developed Divine Sense.

Compared to Jin Ming, who relied solely on observation and experience, Zhao Sheng's Divine Sense had already penetrated the alchemy furnace, precisely observing the melting of the Spiritual Medicines, the extraction of their medicinal properties, and the many reactions occurring within.

This was very direct and very shocking!

Divine Sense is indeed a tool for alchemy, and also an advantage for Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

As Zhao Sheng minutely observed the reactions and changes inside the furnace, memorizing all the phenomena, time gradually passed.

Forty-five minutes later, a fist-sized, light brown semi-solid Elixir Liquid bobbed up and down in the center of the alchemy furnace, nearly fully fused under the invisible high temperatures.

In the Earth Fire Room, Jin Ming occasionally cast an alchemy formula and constantly controlled the intensity of the fire, with a few beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

But at this moment, he couldn't afford to wipe them, estimating that the temperature was about right.