Chapter 94

Chapter 94: Pill Refining

The visual impact created by the wall covered in medicinal herbs would likely awe anyone entering the room.

Zhou Luo sat in the armchair, not rushing to start refining pills. Instead, his gaze settled on the ledger resting on the nearby redwood table.

The cover of the ledger bore four large characters: "Pill Refining Ledger".

This was specifically used to meticulously record alchemy data and had to be submitted daily to the Immortal Sect for auditing. This ensured they didn’t cut corners or substitute the required task potions with ones they brought themselves.

For Zhou Luo, completing the task assigned by the Immortal Sect was effortlessly simple.

What he pondered now was whether he should "divert resources".

Being a top-level first-level Pill Master, faced with such a variety of medicinal ingredients, he simply couldn’t bear to only refine the middle first-level potions demanded by the Immortal Sect.

Especially since he had long desired to refine the top-level first-level potion: Gathering Spirit Potion.

As the first-level potion offering the greatest cultivation boost, the materials for the Gathering Spirit Potion were always the most sought-after on the market.

This had left Zhou Luo, despite his skill, consistently unable to acquire the necessary alchemy materials.

Now, with the materials right before him, how could he not be tempted?

"Using a little secretly… no one should discover it," Zhou Luo muttered to himself, his gaze shifting to the cabinets lining the wall.

With so many herbs here, using a little was surely something the wealthy Immortal Sect wouldn’t notice…

"What ‘stealing’? This is merely normal wastage!" The next moment, Zhou Luo said with justified solemnity, a resolute gleam in his eyes.

Anyway, on the first day of refining, that Steward Zheng had simply told them to refine ten types of potions freely.

He might seize this chance to set aside a small portion of materials for the Gathering Spirit Potion.

This thought solidified into a plan in Zhou Luo’s mind.

Refining the Gathering Spirit Potion required nine types of herbs.

He could refine middle first-level potions that each required one of these nine herbs.

Then, during the refining process, he could pretend to fail a few times. Wouldn’t that allow him to keep the "wasted" materials?

That Steward Zheng certainly wouldn’t suspect a thing!

After all, he’d never imagine Zhou Luo had a hundred percent success rate for middle first-level potions.

He decided to act immediately!

Zhou Luo instantly picked up the ledger and began searching his memory for middle first-level potions that used these nine herbs.

Thankfully, the reward of first-level Alchemy Techniques from the system not only contained all alchemical knowledge but had also granted him mastery over all first-level potions.

Soon, he had selected nine potions and recorded them on the first page of the ledger.

As for the tenth choice, he didn’t pick randomly. Instead, he wrote down the words "Beast Spirit Potion".

This middle first-level potion, true to its name, was a potion fed to Spirit Beasts.

Back in the family, he had originally intended to foster the growth of Little White.

But first, he was not a beast tamer, and second, he discovered that the materials required for the Spirit Beast nurturing potion were scarce on the market.

As a result, he simply entrusted Little White to his daughter and let it grow on its own.

At the moment, Little White was right beside him, and since the first day of the Immortal Sect did not specify the type of potion, refining the "Beast Spirit Potion" shouldn’t pose any problem.

After noting down the last potion.

Zhou Luo put down the booklet and stood up, in high spirits, starting to search for the materials required for the potions.

Soon, the materials for the first potion were gathered.

Zhou Luo placed them on the workbench beside the furnace, glanced outside the room, confirmed no one was present, secretly took out some of the material needed for the Gathering Spirit Potion, and then threw the remaining materials into the furnace.

Then he began alchemy.

Whoosh—

Flames surged out from the furnace, engulfing all the materials, and then instantly dissipated.

"Ah, it failed!"

Zhou Luo looked at the pile of pitch-black materials in the alchemical furnace and said with deep regret.

Then he picked up the booklet beside him and recorded this alchemy session using mental strength.

"First refinement of Fire Wood Elixir… Due to careless operation, causing excessively high heat, the materials were destroyed… failure!"

After the record was completed, Zhou Luo did not forget to preserve the evidence and placed it into the scrap heap beside him.

After finishing all this, Zhou Luo repeated his old trick, drew out that portion of materials, and kept refining.

Succeeded in refining a potion once.

After that, as expected, he "failed" again.

"Second refinement of Fire Wood Elixir… During the fusion of the medicinal liquid, mental strength briefly lost control, causing the medicinal properties to dissipate… failure!"

Next, Zhou Luo wrote the records of refining the potions with utmost detail in the booklet.

"First refinement of Morning Light Potion… Operation of the pill formula had an omission… failure!"

"Second refinement of Morning Light Potion… Took thirty minutes… success!"

"First refinement of Grey Soil Potion… Insufficient mental strength during pill formation… failure!"

…

"Second refinement of Invigorating Potion… Medicinal properties conflicted… failure!"

"Fifth refinement of Beast Spirit Potion… Top quality… success!"

…

Piece by piece, the information was recorded. Fortunately, this booklet could automatically adjust its size; otherwise, one sheet truly couldn’t hold it all.

Looking at the densely packed alchemy records, Zhou Luo was not at all frustrated by so many failures; instead, he felt very cheerful.

Because through this method, the materials he had accumulated were sufficient to refine at least six Gathering Spirit Potions.

However, he did not dare go too far.

Otherwise, if someone spotted something suspicious, it would be highly awkward.

In the afternoon, Zhou Luo had completed refining all ten types of potions he needed.

At the same time, while refining beast spirit potion, he had reserved a bottle of thirty spiritual pills, intending to keep them for Little White later.

Since the time to submit homework was still long away, Zhou Luo walked to the door, and took out several soundproof symbols he had previously removed from the room from inside his robe, pasting them on the door.

Fortunately, he was a first-level spiritual symbol master, otherwise it would have been quite difficult to detach these fixed spiritual symbols.

Although the soundproof symbols could not stop a Foundation Establishment strong person, it still provided some psychological comfort.

Moreover, those Foundation Establishment powerful figures probably had no time to bother with a minor character like him.

After finishing these preparations, Zhou Luo returned to the furnace and brought out the stockpile of materials he had gathered earlier.

After today, there would be no more opportunities to find materials and refine in the future.

After all, once the sect regulated the daily types of potions, he could not openly carry out such activities.

He took a deep breath, placed some materials into the furnace first, then raised his right hand and circulated the spiritual energy within his body.

In a blink, a flash of white light surged from his palm into the furnace.

Whoosh—

The white light flickered, igniting fierce flames that began to melt the materials.

Zhou Luo slowly controlled the flames according to the steps, then started adding the remaining materials in sequence.

A few minutes later, under the intense fire, the materials gradually transformed into pools of golden liquid, boiling incessantly.

At that moment, the patterns engraved on the inner walls of the furnace suddenly glowed, casting a gentle light that enveloped everything, and the previously agitated liquid gradually calmed.

Zhou Luo’s eyes lit up.

This furnace actually had a function of eliminating restlessness and stabilizing properties.

Truly befitting of a magical artifact.

Only unknown was what rank it possessed.

With the furnace’s assistance, Zhou Luo no longer needed to expend energy managing these tasks; he guided the liquid medicine, making it intertwine.

As different medicinal properties collided, the liquid that should have stirred restlessly showed no anomalies under the enveloping soft light, remaining still.

Everything proceeded very smoothly.

Zhou Luo focused intensely, continuing to control the liquid to achieve thorough integration.

The Gathering Spirit Potion was a top-level first-level spiritual potion, requiring immense mental effort to refine, as not even a top-level first-level Pill Master could guarantee one hundred percent success.

Before long, beads of sweat appeared on Zhou Luo’s forehead; he stared fixedly at the golden liquid, fully immersed in the process.

Then, at his chest, the Spirit Xiyu emitted a faint glow, and a refreshing force penetrated his skin, flowing into his mind.

The taut-nerved Zhou Luo suddenly felt relaxed, with the fatigue from mental expenditure vanishing completely.

He performed the pill formula smoothly, controlling the formation of the liquid medicine with fluidity.

Time passed slowly, and after about thirty minutes, a lightly fragrant aroma of potion began to drift out.

Within the hazy soft glow, the original golden liquid had condensed into pill-like forms.

Boom—

A muffled sound echoed from inside the furnace.

The next moment, soft light surged, and in the dense brilliance, faint golden glimmers flickered, followed instantly by a thick fragrant aroma of potion filling the nostrils.

The potion was complete!

Zhou Luo withdrew his focus, breathed a long sigh of relief, leaned forward, and peered into the furnace.

As the glow faded, six golden potions lay there quietly, round and glossy.

Zhou Luo took them out as if they were treasures, examining them closely.

At close range, the entire Gathering Spirit Potion had no flaws at all.

Zhou Luo then channeled spiritual energy to test it; instantly, he sensed a vast aura contained within.

His face brightened with delight.

Among these six Gathering Spirit Potions, four were superior grade, and the remaining two were medium grade.

This quality was exceptionally good!

He quickly stored them away.

Afterwards, he removed the soundproof symbols and prepared to return them.

As luck would have it, just upon stepping out, he ran into Lin Xin from next door who had also emerged.

Yet this Third Young Lady seemed to have an unpleasant expression…