Inside the narrow mountain cave, the flames in the Alchemy Cauldron reflected off the stone walls, dancing and flickering with wild abandon. Xiao Yan watched the churning fire within the cauldron with absolute concentration, his slightly pale face covered in beads of sweat. Prolonged alchemy was an incredibly demanding task that consumed Dou Qi at an alarming rate. With his cultivation method still at the lowest Earth-tier level, he had no advantage in terms of Dou Qi reserves or endurance. To have managed nearly two hours of continuous refinement was already quite impressive.
Squinting as he watched Xiao Yan successfully extract the Blood-Staunching Herb into white powder once more, Yao Lao—who knew the boy had reached his limit—nodded slightly and said softly, "That's enough. Rest for a while."
At these words, Xiao Yan's shoulders, which had been straining to maintain posture, immediately slumped. His body went limp like a rag doll, collapsing onto the cold ground. He gasped for air, his chest heaving violently. Every muscle in his body ached with exhaustion; right now, he couldn't even be bothered to lift a single finger.
"This is the best time for cultivation," Yao Lao remarked casually, glancing at Xiao Yan who lay on the ground like a puddle of mud.
After a brief internal battle between laziness and diligence, Xiao Yan let out an unwilling groan and forced himself into a sitting position. His trembling hands formed the cultivation hand seal, and he slowly closed his eyes.
Seeing Xiao Yan like this, Yao Lao chuckled. His gaze shifted to the dozen or so jade boxes arranged before the Alchemy Cauldron. Each box was filled with the pale white powder extracted from the Blood-Staunching Herb—these were the fruits of Xiao Yan's earlier efforts.
Reading from left to right, the white color grew increasingly pure. By the final jade box, the powder inside had achieved an almost pristine white texture.
Observing this obvious progress, Yao Lao nodded with mild amazement, silently praising Xiao Yan's exceptional soul perception once again.
Glancing at Xiao Yan who was recovering his Dou Qi, Yao Lao leaned against the stone wall, legs crossed, and closed his eyes to rest. Xiao Yan had only refined the first ingredient so far. Two more remained, waiting for him to push through the exhaustion.
...
After nearly an hour of rest, the Qi Vortex within Xiao Yan's body—which had dimmed from complete depletion of Dou Qi—finally began to emit a bright glow again. This time, the luminosity seemed even slightly brighter than it had been several hours ago.
Slowly opening his eyes, Xiao Yan found that most of the aching weakness had dissipated. He twisted his neck, and the satisfying crack of his vertebrae made him let out a contented breath.
"Rested? Then let's continue." Yao Lao opened his eyes and smiled at the revitalized Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan shook his head with a bitter smile. After the grueling refinement process earlier, he finally understood—he had been fooled by Yao Lao. In the past, when Yao Lao refined medicine, he would simply extend his palm and casually manipulate the fire, and pills that drove countless people into a frenzy would emerge effortlessly from the cauldron. This deceptively simple process had left Xiao Yan with the impression that alchemy was easy. But now that he had attempted it himself, he realized it was even more exhausting than hard labor hauling ore.
Realizing this a bit too late, Xiao Yan could only sigh dejectedly and settle back before the Alchemy Cauldron, ready to extract the essence from the remaining two ingredients.
With the experience of refining the Blood-Staunching Herb behind him, this round proved considerably easier. After burning through eight Vitality Fruits and ten Poppy Blossoms, Xiao Yan finally succeeded in extracting the necessary components from both ingredients.
From the Vitality Fruits, he obtained tiny, slightly dark particles. These granules possessed the ability to disperse blood stasis and promote circulation. In the wild, experienced wounded mercenaries lacking sufficient healing medicine would often crush Vitality Fruits into a pulp to alleviate their injuries.
From the Poppy Blossoms came a pale red liquid. This fluid had a numbing effect on the nerves and could be used as a painkiller.
Surveying the three medicinal substances neatly arranged before him, Yao Lao nodded approvingly and said, "All the required materials have been extracted. Now, you must fuse their medicinal properties together."
Xiao Yan took a deep breath, his expression turning serious. With practiced movements, he dropped the pure white powder into the Alchemy Cauldron. After gently heating it for roughly ten minutes, once the powder had turned slightly reddish, he swiftly poured in the Poppy Blossom liquid.
The moment the liquid entered the cauldron, it enveloped the white powder. The mixture churned within the flames for a brief moment before gradually merging into a viscous, pale red liquid.
His soul perception worked diligently to control the flame temperature, slowly heating the viscous substance.
Under the continuous heat, the liquid gradually transformed into a dark red paste.
Staring intently through the transparent Frost Crystal panel at the dark red mass inside the cauldron, Xiao Yan hesitated briefly before casting the black particles from the Vitality Fruits into the mix.
The black particles entered the cauldron, but nothing happened immediately. The clusters of tiny granules bounced about within the flames, refusing to merge into the dark red paste as desired.
"Each ingredient has a different tolerance for temperature. You must learn to control the flame temperature at any point within the cauldron at will. Where low heat is needed, you must suppress the flame. Where high heat is required, you must release that suppression and raise the temperature..." Yao Lao spoke calmly as he watched Xiao Yan, whose face was drenched with anxious sweat.
Xiao Yan licked his dry lips and nodded, hurriedly extending a wisp of soul perception to carefully raise the temperature beneath the granules.
*Whoosh—*
As his soul perception released the temperature suppression, an uncontrolled burst of flame surged upward. In mere moments, it incinerated a portion of the black particles into ash, sending cold sweat streaming down Xiao Yan's face as he frantically clamped down on the fire.
His soul perception simultaneously maintained the temperature on one side while raising it on the other. This demand for split concentration gave Xiao Yan a splitting headache.
But after several close calls, Xiao Yan finally calmed himself amidst the chaos. He wiped the cold sweat from his brow, took a deep breath, and channeled every last drop of remaining Dou Qi into the Fire Channels.
Inside the Alchemy Cauldron, the tiny black particles finally succumbed to the rising temperature, bursting apart. Pinches of jet-black powder drifted slowly into the dark red paste, deepening its color further...
When the last wisp of black powder settled into the paste, Xiao Yan let out a long, relieved breath. His palm slowly withdrew from the Fire Channels, and as he pulled back, the flames inside the Alchemy Cauldron gradually extinguished.
Watching the panting Xiao Yan, Yao Lao smiled faintly. With a wave of his palm, the cauldron's lid flew off. His right hand beckoned, and the mass of deep red paste levitated from within, hovering in mid-air at the center of the cave.
Glancing at the paste radiating a rich medicinal aroma, Yao Lao made a slicing motion through the air. With each sweep of his hand, the flowing mass was divided into at least a hundred smaller portions of paste.
He took the Spatial Ring from Xiao Yan's hand with a flick of his finger, and hundreds of small jade bottles materialized, filling the narrow cave.
After arranging the jade bottles, Yao Lao casually waved his hand. The paste portions floating in mid-air dropped precisely into each bottle.
He picked up one jade bottle and handed it to Xiao Yan with a teasing grin. "Congratulations—your first successful refinement!"
Xiao Yan snatched the bottle eagerly. Staring at the deep red medicine inside—its color not entirely pure—his heart swelled with an irrepressible surge of excitement and pride.
"Heh heh... from now on, I suppose I can call myself an alchemist!"