Judging that the time was about right, Jin Ming gave a low shout: "The final step is to add the main ingredient, condense the pill!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the brain fluid of the dragon whisker fish flew out of the bottle, condensed into a water ball, and fell into the alchemy furnace with a bang.
Zhao Sheng's heart tightened as he saw the blue earth fire gradually weakening under Jin Ming's control.
At the same time, the elixir inside the furnace and the main fish marrow fluid immediately came into contact, combined, and reacted violently.
In the blink of an eye, countless tiny gray bubbles appeared on the surface of the elixir, and their volume rapidly decreased.
The gray bubbles burst open, turning into wisps of gray smoke, which were instantly burned away by the invisible high temperature.
In just one minute, the originally light brown liquid turned pure white and its volume shrank to half of its original size.
Just as the elixir was about to completely solidify, Zhao Sheng was very nervous and almost shouted out a warning to Jin Ming.
Just then, the experienced Jin Ming suddenly formed a series of hand seals, and streams of spiritual light instantly entered the alchemy furnace.
With a loud shout: "Condense, the pill is complete!"
At that moment, Zhao Sheng "saw" the liquid in the alchemy furnace suddenly wriggle and then split open into nine parts.
Four portions instantly dissipated, burning into a pile of ashes, while the other five portions of the elixir spun around and condensed into grape-sized, pure white pills. These pills suddenly flew out from the furnace opening above, tracing a beautiful arc before tinkling into the prepared elixir bottles.
Jin Ming breathed a sigh of relief, handed the pill bottle to Zhao Sheng, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and grinned, "Finally, it's done! But there are only five pills, so the success rate is just so-so!"
In the art of alchemy, nine is the ultimate number, and a single batch of elixirs can yield a maximum of nine pills.
Five is already quite a lot.
Jin Ming's words were clearly an attempt to show off in front of Zhao Sheng, which meant he was putting on airs.
Zhao Sheng examined the fish marrow pills in the bottle, completely ignoring the other party.
Seeing this, Jin Ming awkwardly scratched his chin, then regained his composure and asked, "Fellow Daoist Zhao, what do you think? Would you like me to demonstrate a couple more times for you?"
"Alright, I'll trouble you to refine two more batches." Zhao Sheng was quite straightforward and said directly.
Jin Ming was taken aback upon hearing this, and looked at Zhao Sheng with a surprised expression.
He originally thought the other party would be eager to try it out. Only after several failures would the other party truly realize the difficulty of alchemy.
But to my surprise, they weren't in a hurry at all.
Alright, let's refine two more batches!
If one could learn alchemy simply by glancing at it, then alchemists would be everywhere in the world, and they wouldn't be so highly regarded wherever they go.
Jin Ming didn't say much. He went forward and used the morning dew to wash the inside of the alchemy furnace clean. Then he turned around and returned to the futon, where he sat down cross-legged.
"First, warm and nurture the alchemy furnace!"
Jin Ming's movements were clean and swift. As he cast the spell, eight fire-breathing vents spewed out earth fire once more.
A moment later, the voice rang out again: "Refine the elixir foundation, the coral worm corpse emerges, and the five-leaf cistanche sprouts!"
...
Fifteen minutes later, "Refine the medicinal properties!"
Three-quarters of an hour later, "Add the main ingredient and prepare to condense the elixir!"
Bang!
The furnace lid was moved aside slightly, and six pure white fish marrow pills, carrying a rich medicinal fragrance, flew out, leaped a distance of ten feet, and landed in the empty pill bottle.
Jin Ming wiped away his sweat, looking slightly tired, and handed the bottle of pills back to Zhao Sheng, saying smugly, "Hehe! Six pills. Although it's not as good as the usual eight, it's still passable."
Zhao Sheng subtly concealed the glint in his eyes, took the pill bottle, and gave Jin Ming a thumbs-up with a beaming smile, praising, "Fellow Daoist Jin, your pill-refining skills are truly superb! Would you mind doing it again?"
"Alright! As long as you don't mind, I'll keep you company to the end today."
Jin Ming had produced two batches of elixirs in a row, and his confidence was soaring that he spoke with great pride and arrogance.
"Warm the furnace first!"
...
"Refine the elixir foundation again"
...
"The third step is to refine the medicinal properties!"
...
"Fourth step: Add the main ingredient and prepare to condense the elixir!"
...
"Condensation complete, the elixir is formed!"
Just as Jin Ming uttered the word "凝" (Ning), Zhao Sheng's eyes flashed with divine light.
In an instant, the world slowed down dramatically, and time seemed to stretch out many times over.
With the aid of bullet time, Zhao Sheng clearly "witnessed" the entire process of condensing the elixir.
What might have been a mere second to others felt like an eternity to Zhao Sheng. It seemed as if a minute had passed before the Fish Marrow Pill "slowly took shape" and solidified into a pill.
"Dan Cheng, come out here!"
Ding ding dong!
With a series of crisp sounds, seven fish marrow pills entered the pill bottle one after another.
Jin Ming laughed heartily, and only then did the glint in Zhao Sheng's eyes slowly fade away.
"Well? Did you see it clearly, fellow Daoist? Would you like to give it a try?" Jin Ming asked Zhao Sheng with a smile.
Zhao Sheng nodded slightly and readily said, "Then I'll trouble Fellow Daoist Jin to provide guidance at any time."
"no problem!"
With that, Jin Ming gave up the main seat.
Zhao Sheng immediately stepped forward and used the morning dew to wash the alchemy furnace clean.
Then he turned around and walked to the central prayer mat, where he sat down cross-legged.
Zhao Sheng suppressed his smile, his expression turned solemn, and he released his divine sense, enveloping the alchemy furnace in front of him and the earth fire platform below.
With a thought, he unleashed several spiritual spells in succession, and the fire-regulating array inside the Red Toad's mouth suddenly activated. Eight thick, blue flames burst forth from the mouth.
"The first step is to nurture the alchemy furnace!" Zhao Sheng calmly repeated Jin Ming's words.
The reason for this was not that he was pedantic or inflexible, but rather to make a deeper impression.
Beside him, Jin Ming nodded secretly as he watched Zhao Sheng's hand seals. Although the movements were a little clumsy, the fire control technique was executed perfectly, and the spiritual power was controlled just right.
As expected of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, this level of control is truly impressive!
Jin Ming was wrong this time. Zhao Sheng had not practiced any fire control techniques in this life, but he was a master of fire in his previous life, and he had already mastered the fire control techniques and the like.
A moment later, the surface of the alchemy furnace faintly turned red.
Seeing that it was almost time, Zhao Sheng pointed to the earthenware jar containing the corpse of the coral insect, and then to the porcelain bottle containing the five-leaf cistanche.
"The second step is to refine the foundation of the elixir!"
The insect corpses and medicinal powder were successfully thrown into the alchemy furnace. Zhao Sheng made a series of hand seals, and streams of spiritual light entered the furnace, causing the two spiritual herbs to slowly decompose in the invisible high temperature and extract their medicinal essence.
"The third step is to refine the medicinal properties!"
Bang! Bang!
The remaining medicinal herbs flew into the alchemy furnace one after another. Zhao Sheng's hands kept moving, and the spiritual power in his dantian was circulated to his fingertips, quickly transforming into streams of spiritual light and pill formulas, which then entered the alchemy furnace.
As the fragrance of the pills gradually intensified in the air, Jin Ming couldn't help but stroke his long beard, his eyes widening involuntarily. He muttered to himself, "Has this person studied medicine before? The aroma is quite authentic, which means he has a very precise grasp of the heat. Even with the assistance of divine sense, it's quite abnormal that the refining process went so smoothly!"
Most beginners fail to properly control the heat when refining the elixir base, resulting in insufficient refining or the elixir turning into a pile of waste.
A beginner in alchemy often can't even get past the second step without failing dozens of times.
"Could the other party truly be a genius in alchemy?"
Thinking of the other party's previous amazing performance, Jin Ming suddenly had a strange idea.
"Fourth step: Add the main ingredient, condense the elixir!"
After the main ingredient, the dragon beard fish brain fluid, was poured into the alchemy furnace, Zhao Sheng unleashed his full divine sense, staring intently at the reaction between the liquid and the main ingredient. His hands moved faster and faster, continuously casting out incantations.
As the elixir was about to completely solidify, Jin Ming was extremely nervous, carefully observing Zhao Sheng's next move.
Zhao Sheng knew that the most difficult step in alchemy was how to condense the elixir.
Since it was his first time trying alchemy, he decided from the beginning to abandon the other eight portions of elixir and only condense one portion for the time being.
As the time drew near, Zhao Sheng's eyes blazed with divine light, and the world seemed to slow down considerably. This gave him ample time to slowly refine the elixir.
Under his control, a portion of liquid was easily condensed into a spiritual pill with a flick of the wrist.
At this point, the bullet time hadn't even reached the halfway point.
"There's still plenty of time. Should we refine another one?"
The moment the thought crossed Zhao Sheng's mind, he felt a surge of desire.