"no!"
Zhao Sheng thought about it again and immediately gave up the idea.
His identity is sensitive, and he needs to keep a low profile. His reputation as a "genius alchemist" is too eye-catching and could easily attract unnecessary trouble.
Thinking of this, Zhao Sheng slowed his movements and watched helplessly as the other eight portions of elixir slowly turned into dregs.
Bang bang bang!
A series of muffled cracking sounds came from inside the alchemy furnace.
Just as Jin Ming thought the alchemy had failed, Zhao Sheng reached out and the furnace lid suddenly opened.
As wisps of black smoke and a bitter smell wafted from the furnace, a pure white elixir suddenly leaped from the lid, streaking across the sky in a flash of white light, and landed with a tinkling sound in the prepared elixir bottle.
"Huh?! You actually succeeded on your first try!" Jin Ming's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets in shock, and he stammered in astonishment.
Zhao Sheng shook the elixir bottle, listening to the clinking sounds of the elixirs inside, and said modestly, "This is all thanks to Master Jin's excellent teaching! Of course, there's also a bit of luck involved."
Jin Ming shook his head violently, looked at Zhao Sheng with a very complicated expression, and said very seriously, "One time doesn't count, let's try refining it again."
He believed there were geniuses in the world who succeeded in alchemy on their first try, but he didn't believe Zhao Sheng was such a person.
Jin Ming preferred to believe that Zhao Sheng had previous experience in alchemy, which explained his performance today.
Without hesitation, Zhao Sheng readily replied, "Okay!"
This time, Zhao Sheng misjudged the situation.
He thought Jin Ming said this to help him consolidate and improve the success rate of refining Fish Marrow Pills, but he didn't realize that the other person was unwilling to admit that he was a genius at alchemy.
That's right!
Zhao Sheng's definition of "genius" is completely different from Jin Ming's definition of "genius".
Zhao Sheng thought he was being low-key enough, but little did he know that his performance was still too outstanding.
It is important to know that there are countless types of elixirs in the world, which can be roughly divided into those for detoxification, healing, replenishing vital energy, enhancing cultivation, increasing spiritual power, warding off disasters, and prolonging life. The difficulty of refining each type of elixir is also different.
In the alchemy world, it is generally acknowledged that, apart from a limited number of special elixirs that defy the heavens, such as those for prolonging life and averting calamities, the most difficult to refine are those that enhance cultivation and increase spiritual power.
Don't underestimate the Fish Marrow Pill just because it's only a basic first-tier elixir with only one main ingredient and twelve auxiliary ingredients. It's an elixir that increases spiritual power, and its refining difficulty is much greater than other elixir of the same tier.
Jin Ming chose the Fish Marrow Pill for two reasons. First, to give Zhao Sheng a warning and establish his authority as "teacher." Second, the Fish Marrow Pill was one of the few elixirs he was skilled at making, and its difficulty in refining was neither too high nor too low.
Unexpectedly, someone acted unpredictably, which made Jin Ming lose face.
Recalling the miserable experience of being scolded by his master for dozens of days when he was learning to refine fish marrow pills, Jin Ming still remembers it vividly.
This time, Jin Ming concentrated intently, observing Zhao Sheng's every move in refining the pill with utmost care.
The second time Zhao Sheng refined the Dragon Beard Fish Marrow Pill, he was clearly much more skilled than the first time. His pill-refining incantation and magic incantation were very smooth, and his control was three points more precise than before.
Without a doubt, he performed the first three steps of alchemy quickly and steadily, showing no signs that this was only his second attempt at alchemy.
"Condensation complete, the elixir is formed!"
With a low shout, as the alchemy furnace emitted billowing black smoke, a pure white and round fish marrow pill flew over and landed in the pill bottle.
The soft "ding" sounded like a thunderclap, exploding violently in Jin Ming's mind.
Jin Ming couldn't help but groan, "...It succeeded again!"
Zhao Sheng was startled when he saw this.
Only then did he realize that his actions had been somewhat reckless.
A complete novice alchemist, just starting out, succeeded in refining pills twice in a row. This is not just rare, it's extremely rare.
Zhao Sheng's mind raced, and he joked, "Fellow Daoist Jin, what's so surprising about that? I'm a Foundation Establishment cultivator after all, with the help of divine sense, plus decades of experience in alchemy. It's perfectly normal for me to refine several batches of first-grade spirit pills right away!"
"That's right! Fellow Daoist Zhao is at the Foundation Establishment stage, so refining a first-tier spirit pill of this difficulty is nothing to you. I almost misunderstood just now!" Jin Ming suddenly realized, and a relieved smile finally appeared on his face.
"Haha! I may be a novice alchemist, but I'm not 'novice' at all!" Zhao Sheng laughed heartily and made a self-deprecating remark.
Thinking this way, Jin Ming felt much better.
But after this turn of events, he clearly began to value Zhao Sheng even more.
"It seems that you have already grasped the essence of refining Fish Marrow Pills. However, in order to increase the number of pills produced and the success rate, you should still practice more."
There are six portions of medicinal herbs left for alchemy. Would you like to refine them all today?
Jin Ming meant well, but Zhao Sheng had his own plans.
He smiled slightly and tentatively asked, "Fellow Daoist Jin, we have plenty of time today. Would you mind teaching me another method for refining elixirs?"
Upon hearing this, Jin Ming frowned.
Alchemy is an extremely difficult skill to learn and master.
Zhao Sheng's words inevitably imply that he wanted to run as soon as he learned to crawl, which seems overly impatient.
After thinking for a moment, Jin Ming sighed and said, "Fine! Since you want to learn, I'll teach you how to refine the Water Spirit Pill."
Was Zhao Sheng in a hurry? No, he wasn't.
Based on his experience of refining the Fish Marrow Pill, he realized that he could also use his talent to speed up the process of refining other spiritual pills, which was like "copying".
In the art of alchemy, having a master to teach you and figuring it out on your own are two completely different concepts; the difficulty of the two is not even on the same level.
They could have found a teacher to teach them, but they insisted on figuring it out on their own.
Zhao Sheng considered this behavior, which wasted time, energy, and money, to be utterly foolish.
We did it right away.
Once Jin Ming made up his mind, he took out the spiritual herbs for refining the Water Spirit Pill from his storage bag.
The Water Spirit Pill is also a first-tier spiritual pill, belonging to the category of pills that increase cultivation. Its main ingredient is century-old sea basket silk, and its auxiliary ingredients include fifteen kinds of spiritual herbs such as Emerald Heart Powder and Hooked Marmot. The difficulty of refining it is three times greater than that of the Fish Marrow Pill.
The steps for refining the Water Spirit Pill are almost identical to those for the Fish Marrow Pill, except that the refining time is much longer. The third step, melting the medicinal properties, takes at least an hour.
The process of refining any elixir requires the refiner to be fully focused throughout every step, from the beginning to the final condensation. Often, a moment of carelessness can lead to failure.
This is only one of the difficulties in alchemy. There are many other more difficult aspects, such as the conflict and fusion of medicinal properties, the complexity of the alchemy reaction, the number of cycles the pill undergoes, and the alchemical tribulations.
An hour and a half later, a batch of Water Spirit Pills was successfully produced, yielding five pills of superior quality.
Jin Ming breathed a slightly tired sigh and chuckled, "Fellow Daoist Zhao, did you see that? Alchemy isn't that easy."
Zhao Sheng stroked his chin and suddenly said, "Fellow Daoist Jin, why don't you refine two more batches?"
Jin Ming was taken aback upon hearing this, and after making two 'uh-uh' sounds, he hesitated and said after seeing the expectant look in the other party's eyes, "Let's refine another batch! There's only one batch of ingredients left for the Water Spirit Pill."
Once you've finished refining this batch, go and refine the Fish Marrow Pill! Remember, in alchemy, quality is more important than quantity; don't bite off more than you can chew!
Seeing this, Zhao Sheng did not expose the other party's lie, but nodded with a smile.
Since it was the last time, Jin Ming was clearly more attentive to alchemy this time, not to mention Zhao Sheng.
Another hour and a half passed, and a new batch of Water Spirit Pills was successfully refined!
This time, four pills were produced, and their quality was quite good.
Jin Ming was not satisfied with the result; it was only just passing.
However, Zhao Sheng was very satisfied and felt that he had gained a lot.