Chapter 124: Boiling Soup Flow, Refining Pills Technique

One has to admit, mastery-level passive skills are truly like cheats; they forcibly inject knowledge into you, saving a significant amount of practice time.

The heat control in "Chu Yi Jing Tong" is precisely like this—what should require effort and sweat feels as if you've been steeped in it for years.

Xu Xiaoshou placed a compressed fire seed beneath the Dan Ding, and the illusory flame burned, causing the herbs inside to sizzle and quickly turn to ash.

However, a drop of refined medicinal liquid was successfully retained!

He was overjoyed. Was this only the first attempt? And he succeeded?

According to Sang Lao's recorded experiences, refining this pile of spiritual herbs in his ring into even a single drop of medicinal liquid would be quite good.

This... how many resources had he saved!

Xu Xiaoshou was excited.

He tried a few more times, constantly switching between various heat controls, and surprisingly, he didn't fail even once!

"Perfect realm!"

Xu Xiaoshou enveloped the medicinal liquid with Ling Yuan, placed it in the Dan Ding, and took out the "Ning Dan Shou Fa" that Sang Lao had given him.

It described the rather brute-force "Jin Zhao Ning Dan Shu," which was the same as what Xu Xiaoshou had seen Sang Lao do twice before—directly fusing the medicinal liquid and then baking it into a pill.

It didn't use the ordinary alchemist's seals, spirit arrays, or other auxiliary methods; there were no special techniques at all—just one word: bake!

"This flame is really domineering..."

Besides "Jin Zhao Ning Dan Shu," there were also two pill recipes: Chi Jin Dan and Lian Ling Dan, both of which Xu Xiaoshou had taken before.

One was a tenth-grade pill, and the other was ninth-grade.

Xu Xiaoshou glanced at the tenth-grade Chi Jin Dan; the spiritual herbs required were all in his ring, which was perfect for practice.

Refining the medicinal liquid was just a matter of time. He tried multitasking and found he could actually do it.

He then tried refining three types of spiritual herbs at the same time, but that was a bit overwhelming.

After barely managing it, he decided not to try four at once and instead proceeded at a pace of three at a time.

Only then did he realize how strong Sang Lao was—able to refine and categorize over a hundred types of pills without any mistakes.

"Hmm, no rush, take it slow, it's just the beginning..."

He steadied himself, and as time passed, he finished refining all sixty-four types of acquired spiritual herbs needed for Chi Jin Dan.

The resulting medicinal liquid was only about the size of a fist, nothing compared to the head-sized amount Sang Lao had refined—that was because Sang Lao was making multiple pills at once.

"Jin Zhao Ning Dan Shu" emphasized a one-strike kill, using a sudden spike in temperature to char the outside and condense the inside, thus forming the pill!

But if you weren't careful...

Sizzle.

Xu Xiaoshou looked at the empty Dan Ding; the medicinal liquid he had painstakingly refined was now completely evaporated...

"Damn it, it really doesn't work. I thought I could succeed right away!"

He wasn't discouraged; after all, this was supposed to be a process of practice makes perfect, and he felt he had already taken a huge shortcut.

"Keep going!"

As the sun set, after over a dozen attempts, Xu Xiaoshou could finally condense a pill the size of a yellow bean.

"This should count as half a tenth-grade alchemist, right?"

The progress was faster than expected, but Xu Xiaoshou still wasn't entirely satisfied.

Although this stuff could be consumed and had some minor uses, the process wasted way too much medicinal liquid, leaving him deep in thought.

"Change the method?"

"Don't use 'Jin Zhao Ning Dan Shu,' use... 'Chu Yi Jing Tong'?"

Xu Xiaoshou's face took on a strange expression—not because the idea wouldn't work, but quite the opposite. In a flash of inspiration, his mind was flooded with a bunch of ideas.

Why were they all so weird?

He felt a bit of a toothache, but he couldn't help wanting to try; maybe it would have an amazing effect?

He decided to just do it!

The step of refining the medicinal liquid stayed the same, and after putting in the effort to complete it, Xu Xiaoshou didn't use "Jin Zhao Ning Dan Shu." Instead, he chose what he thought was the most reliable plan from his mind and adjusted the flame to a "gentle simmering" state.

Simmering soup style, alchemy technique!

He didn't know if his idea would succeed...

Xu Xiaoshou felt a bit excited inside. If this really worked, wouldn't he have created history? Would it lead to a new trend in alchemy in the future?

Gurgle, gurgle.

The medicinal liquid rolled steadily, and thick spiritual mist was evaporated, hovering over the surface of the Dan Ding.

Though the top of the Dan Ding was open, it was covered by an array that prevented the medicinal properties from escaping—that's why Xu Xiaoshou dared to boldly try the simmering soup style.

The spiritual mist flowed back and was continuously absorbed into the original medicinal liquid. As time went on, the liquid decreased.

"Reducing it down..."

The thick, golden-red medicinal liquid made Xu Xiaoshou a bit hungry just looking at it. He glanced out the window; night had already fallen. This pot of soup... well, this cauldron of medicinal liquid had been simmering for several hours.

Once all the medicinal properties were fully recycled, what remained in the cauldron was a drop of reddish-gold liquid... no, it wasn't quite liquid anymore; it was in a semi-solid, semi-liquid state, very chewy.

There was no exciting instant pill formation; everything followed the natural flow of the simmering soup style.

Xu Xiaoshou drew out this drop of "Chi Jin Liquid" and held it in his palm, already sensing that its medicinal properties were much richer than those of an ordinary Chi Jin Dan!

Filled with excitement, he drew his Cang Ku sword and stabbed it into his palm.

Blood flowed out, and "Sheng Sheng Bu Xi" activated wildly, but Xu Xiaoshou waited until he had absorbed the "Chi Jin Liquid" into his stomach before pulling out the black sword.

A moment later,

The young man clamped his elbows to his sides, knocked his knees together, hunched his shoulders, tilted his head back, and collapsed straight to the ground.

Hehehehehe...

The medicinal power of this Chi Jin Liquid was several times more terrifying than that of Chi Jin Dan.

He had thought his resistance was strong enough, but he still couldn't handle this wave of intense sensations.

It lasted for several breaths before Xu Xiaoshou gradually recovered, only to find that the wound on his palm had completely disappeared, and there was still a lot of medicinal power left in his body.

He stabbed himself again, and the medicinal power surged to the wound, healing it instantly without even leaving a scar.

"This is amazing! This one drop of Chi Jin Liquid is probably equivalent to over a dozen Chi Jin Dans!"

He had taken Chi Jin Dan before, so he knew even better the value of Chi Jin Liquid. This research of his seemed not only successful but also a major breakthrough beyond the limits of Chi Jin Dan.

"This is just Chi Jin Dan. If I can use the simmering soup style to make similar liquids from Lian Ling Dan and Yuan Ting Dan in the future..."

Xu Xiaoshou's mouth dropped open, his eyes flashing with the gleam of money.

"I've struck it rich, struck it rich!"

Then he thought, the simmering soup style alchemy technique not only lacked the final step of pill formation, but the effects of the resulting drops might also depend on the amount of spiritual herbs used.

Thinking about it this way, could he achieve a qualitative change through quantitative increase?

For example, using several portions of herbs but only condensing one drop—the effects of that drop would probably be even stronger than what he had just swallowed!

"Very possible!"

"But alchemy has been around for so long; surely someone else has thought of the simmering soup style, yet it never caught on?"

Xu Xiaoshou pondered this. He didn't believe he was the only one to come up with this method; there must have been other geniuses with similar ideas.

"Could it be that it's hard to preserve?"

Various judgments flashed through his mind, but in the end, he decided to wait until he mastered "Jin Zhao Ning Dan Shu" before asking Sang Lao about it all at once.

Speculating on his own might not lead anywhere and could even steer him in the wrong direction, which would be a loss.

"All that's left is 'Jin Zhao Ning Dan Shu'..."

He had to learn this one, even if it meant grinding it out.

He could continue exploring the simmering soup style, but he couldn't neglect the fundamental alchemy techniques, since the outside world only recognized pills.

If he went out with a drop of liquid, no one would buy it!

A look of determination appeared on Xu Xiaoshou's face.

"Three days—master it!"