CHAPTER 110: CHAPTER 97 ALCHEMY

The cold wind swept the fallen yellow leaves, leaving the tree branches bare and stark.

Although Shang Yunfang was a Martial Practitioner, his injuries had not yet fully healed, and he was still convalescing. Thus, he wore a fur-lined jacket to stay warm, yet his movements were not cumbersome.

Handing the box to Chen Ku, he said, "In Medicine King Hall, we have a variety of pill prescriptions and medicine prescriptions, totaling one hundred and twenty-four. The most precious is called the ’Five Elements Great Rejuvenation Pill,’ a sixth-grade Pill Prescription, corresponding to warriors of the Sixth Realm..."

Chen Ku nodded. "Disciple has heard of it. It is said that this Five Elements Great Rejuvenation Pill not only can bring the dead back to life, but also heals all internal and external injuries and increases Skill, granting thirty years of Qi Power in one pill..."

"Bringing the dead back to life is an exaggeration. Life and death are decreed by fate, and longevity is determined by heaven. To break free from life and death, one must go against the heavens and enter the realm of legends. No single pill can achieve this." Shang Yunfang first denied the most exaggerated claim of ’bringing the dead back to life,’ then added, "However, healing most internal and external injuries and increasing thirty years of Qi Power is true. Unfortunately, since the establishment of Medicine King Hall more than one hundred and fifty years ago, only the founder, our first Pill Master, successfully refined it—nine pills in one formation. In our entire Medicine King Hall, even the Store Manager, in his entire lifetime, can only consume one pill. Outsiders should not even dream of obtaining it, much less buying it."

"Even the Pill-Refining Master doesn’t qualify to get one?" Chen Ku asked curiously.

Shang Yunfang shook his head. "If it were fifty years earlier, perhaps. But nowadays, the number of Five Elements Great Rejuvenation Pills most likely does not exceed two, and it’s possible that only one remains..."

Chen Ku understood.

The chill wind brushed against his face as Chen Ku listened to the teachings in the courtyard.

Shang Yunfang slowly said, "The reason I am telling you this story is simple. Among the generations in Medicine King Hall, while many have managed to refine fifth-grade pills, none could refine the sixth-grade pill of our ancestor. It is a sorrowful tale of each generation being inferior to the last... Therefore, I needed to find a disciple whose Talent and Root Bone surpass my own."

Chen Ku looked at the box in his hands and cautiously asked, "What is the Pill Prescription in this box?"

He wasn’t vain or bold enough to think that the box contained the sixth-grade Pill Prescription.

"In Butcher Court, we have twenty-four Hundred Beasts Pill Recipes. Although fewer in number compared to the other courts, they are by no means of lesser quality..."

Shang Yunfang pointed to the box in Chen Ku’s arms and said, "This is a first-grade Seven-Blood Pill prescription. It requires three types of demon blood and four types of potent beast blood, totaling seven bloods, supplemented with seven marrows and seven bones, making up twenty-one types of beast medicine altogether."

Chen Ku opened the Pill Prescription and saw:

Seven-Blood Pill.

Within the pill, take six taels, three money, two fen, and five li of Black Spirit Pigeon Blood; eight taels, seven money, six fen, and one li of Iron Horn Deer Blood; five taels of Blue Feathered Eagle blood... ten jin of tiger blood, ten jin of Leopard Blood...

Tiger Marrow, Ox Marrow, Deer Marrow, Ox Marrow...

Pangolin bone, Elephant Bone, Leopard Bone...

Chen Ku noted down this formula.

"In pill refining and medicine making, the most important aspect is the proportioning," Shang Yunfang told Chen Ku. "A little too much or too little affects the efficacy. Failure to form a pill is a minor issue. Some ingredients conflict with one another, and it’s all about achieving the right balance. Once that balance is broken, instead of forming a pill, it becomes poison."

"I have prepared twenty-one large portions of the twenty-one materials required for this Seven-Blood Pill for you. Now, come inside with me. You’ll grind, powder, and mix these yourself. Then, prepare the materials for ten pills. I will see how many mistakes you make. If you can perfectly control the amount for any one item, we might try making the pill today."

"Alright, I’ll start mixing the medicine," Chen Ku replied.

Once Chen Ku became a Disciple, the medicine-making room was no longer off-limits to him. He had often observed Pharmacists making medicines over the past half month...

However, he had never seen a Pill Master refine pills.

Clearly, the identity of a Pill Master in Medicine King Hall was almost always a guarded secret, not readily disclosed to the outside world, with individuals often using assumed names. Even now, Chen Ku didn’t know who the specific Pill Masters refining for Medicine King Hall were, only that they definitely existed. Generally, they were ordinary masters, perhaps even those who wielded the ladle in the kitchen. Their identities were kept secret. This was not only for their own safety but also to ensure the confidentiality of Medicine King Hall’s Pill Prescriptions, protecting them from being targeted, kidnapped, and their secrets leaked.

Thus, matters related to pill refining were never handled by fetching ingredients from the pharmacy; materials were secretly conferred. The Pill-Refining Pavilion area was guarded day and night by half of the warriors from Guardian Hall.

He entered Shang Yunfang’s room. On the floor were fourteen jars and seven large bags, the bags containing materials like Tiger Bone and Leopard Bones. The jars contained either processed Blood Powder or fresh blood. There was also a small scale nearby, along with some grinding tools.

Shang Yunfang watched as Chen Ku squatted on the ground, while he himself sat in the Taishi Chair, poured himself a cup of tea, and settled in to wait.

Chen Ku began sorting, processing, and grinding on the floor, carefully weighing each component according to the Pill Prescription. Because he didn’t have a pre-made Seven-Blood Pill for reference, he could only activate the Ling Transformation to enhance his concentration, ensuring he made no mistakes.

With enhanced spiritual power, Chen Ku switched to Golden-eyed Falcon vision. Relying on his freely adjustable eyesight, he could differentiate the exact amounts of blood, marrow, and bones necessary, even in the most minute details.

Shang Yunfang gave Chen Ku an entire day. As he sat drinking tea, he also watched Chen Ku, wondering if the timeframe was a bit tight. After all, achieving the exact proportions in a pill is a meticulous task requiring slow and careful work... And it was for a total of ten batches. Even when he himself first attempted to make this pill, it took him three full days and nights just to get one batch right without any mistakes. Yet, he also hoped that Chen Ku could outperform him.

It wasn’t long before Shang Yunfang noticed something was amiss with Chen Ku.

Wait... what is he doing...

He was momentarily distracted, and when he looked again, Chen Ku had already crushed the bones into powder and begun preparing the medicine. That earnest concentration, the unwavering steadiness of his fingers and the medicine spoon, stable as Mount Tai, was eerily reminiscent, almost making Shang Yunfang feel as if he were seeing his deceased Pill-Refining Master at work...

His master, a deceased Fifth Grade Pill Master from Medicine King Hall, had successfully refined three Fifth Grade pills and mastered sixty Pill Prescriptions of Medicine King Hall, truly a living treasure of the hall. But the old man had already passed on to the Yellow Springs thirty years ago.

For a moment, he was dazed. Shang Yunfang felt as if he were seeing his old master mixing the medicine here again—such steady hands, such earnest concentration, as if his whole being were absorbed in the task of medication preparation. It made him unconsciously drift into reverie, recalling the days when he was a young Apprentice preparing medicine in the pharmacy.

Old men often ponder the past; memories fade to yellow.

Suddenly, Chen Ku’s voice awakened Shang Yunfang, who didn’t know how long he had been lost in his memories.

"Master, I’ve finished preparing them. Ten portions. Please take a look. It seems there are no mistakes; all ten can be used."

Shang Yunfang, still slightly dazed, murmured, "Oh, you’ve finished..."

He then slightly rose from his seat. Suddenly, he looked up, as if mishearing, and stared at Chen Ku. "What did you just say? Ten portions? No mistakes?"

Shang Yunfang was incredulous, feeling as if his own ears were failing him. But Chen Ku slightly stepped aside, revealing the table behind him. Indeed, ten large jars sat on the table, each containing the materials for the Seven-Blood Pill.

In fact, Shang Yunfang had already smelled a faint scent of the blood pills, but he immediately went to inspect the ten large jars one by one. In each of the ten large jars was a basin of medicinal slurry, its blood-red color topped with a faint golden layer.

This... they are all in the golden ratio...

Shang Yunfang couldn’t believe it. This was exactly the golden ratio that could only be achieved when the Seven-Blood Pill was perfectly proportioned, ensuring the refined pills were not blood-red but a pale gold-red color. Only then could it truly be called a "Pill."

"How did you do this?" Shang Yunfang’s voice trembled with excitement.

Chen Ku modestly said, "Just by focusing a bit more, observing more carefully, and handling things a bit more gently, I managed to separate them correctly..."

Who would have expected him to have the eyes of a falcon, the nose of a dog, and the spiritual power of an extra person?

Is it really that simple? Shang Yunfang murmured to himself. Just that simple?

At this moment, looking at Chen Ku again... All these skills of mine! If the disciple is not as skilled as the master, what reason is there to hold anything back? If the disciple is more skilled than the master, what reason is there to hold anything back?

This year, he was eighty and had finally taken Chen Ku as his disciple, his heart set on passing on all his knowledge to him. If the disciple was incompetent and couldn’t learn, what would become of his experiences and legacy? They could only follow him to the grave. But if the disciple was better than him, then why would he hold anything back? He practically wanted to chase him down and force-feed him everything he knew!

"Let’s go! We’re going to refine pills now!"

Shang Yunfang felt the blood throughout his body surge with heat. To prepare medicine for the first time and achieve the golden ratio for all ten portions—this was the mark of a born Pharmacist.

If he could now take these golden-ratio preparations, place them into the Pill Furnace to refine impurities, concentrate the essence, capture Fire Essence Qi, and converge it all into a single pill... Wouldn’t Medicine King Hall then have a new Alchemist, only seventeen years old?!

Shang Yunfang eagerly led Chen Ku, carrying the ten jars of raw medicine, to Medicine King Hall’s most secret Pill-Refining Pavilion, where six large Pill Furnaces stood.

Igniting the smallest Pill Furnace, Shang Yunfang said with anticipation, "The most crucial part of alchemy is the fire. The fire under this Pill Furnace isn’t ordinary charcoal or coal; it comes from Fire Essence stones found within volcanoes. When lit, they can burn for up to ten days, providing steady heat. Refining the Seven-Blood Pill requires alternating between Literature Fire and Martial Fire seven times. This is written in the Pill Prescription, which specifies the exact timings for each. You try it."

"Pour the raw medicine through these ten openings. Inside the Pill Furnace, it will twist and turn countless times. Whether or not the pill forms by tomorrow morning remains to be seen."

Chen Ku did as instructed. Then, he spent that night inside the Pill-Refining Room. Shang Yunfang stayed with Chen Ku, advising him on the Pill Prescription, and when to fan the flames to achieve Martial Fire and when to reduce them for Literature Fire.

「The next day.」

The rooster crowed at dawn.

"Alright, let’s open the furnace and see."