Chapter 11
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Chapter 11: First Attempt at Alchemy
The explosion from the alchemy furnace wasn’t too intense, but it left Xu Fan covered in dust.
After pondering for a while, Xu Fan realized that the explosion happened because he had rushed the Pill Forming Technique, speeding up the process too much.
Just as he was thinking about how to improve, Xu Fan suddenly rushed toward the alchemy furnace.
“Please, don’t let anything happen to my furnace!”
He carefully inspected the furnace from top to bottom and eventually found a small crack near the fire pit.
It was then that Xu Fan remembered what the disciple had told him when he bought the furnace.
“A furnace of this level can only handle about ten explosions at most. Be careful, Senior Brother.”
The disciple had also given him a meaningful look at the time.
Now, Xu Fan understood what that look meant.
“Alchemy really has nothing to do with being rich or poor.”
If someone with average talent tried this, who knows how many furnaces they’d blow up.
In the alchemy world, there’s a saying: twenty furnaces to produce pills, fifty to master them, a hundred to become a teacher, and a thousand to become a grandmaster.
This saying not only highlights the difficulty of alchemy but also makes it clear that without spirit stones, you can’t even afford a furnace.
“Do I really lack the talent for alchemy?” Xu Fan muttered sadly, staring at the crack.
After cleaning up, he decided to start another batch. This time, he was working on the most basic fasting pill in the cultivation world.
A high-quality fasting pill could even boost a cultivator’s cultivation level.
Half an hour later,
‘Boom!’
Xu Fan experienced his second furnace explosion.
“Dammit, I refuse to believe I’ll blow it up a third time!”
With slightly reddened eyes, Xu Fan quickly cleaned up the alchemy room and started his third attempt.
Another half hour passed,
‘Boom!’
The furnace exploded for the third time.
This time, however, Xu Fan stayed calm.
He removed his protective spells and began to think things through carefully.
An hour later, Xu Fan started by closely examining the spirit herb essence he had prepared earlier, trying to sense the medicinal power and the amount of spiritual energy within the herbs.
After another half hour, he set the herbs aside, placed his hand on the alchemy tool, and focused his consciousness to carefully inspect every detail of the furnace.
“During the last attempt, my mind was too restless. I was too fixated on making a top-tier fasting pill.”
Xu Fan took a deep breath. No matter what you’re doing, an unstable mindset is a big problem.
He closed his eyes and mentally went through every step of the alchemy process once again.
Light the furnace, ignite the spirit fire, add the spirit herb essence, shape the pill, refine and reorganize…
Throughout the entire process, Xu Fan remained in a highly focused state.
“Pill complete!”
At the final stage, Xu Fan took out the jade bottle he had prepared earlier.
The lid of the pill furnace opened automatically, and ten fasting pills, each the size of a glass marble, were guided into the jade bottle using his pill-guiding technique.
Only after the alchemy was completed did Xu Fan allow himself to smile.
“Not bad! A grand slam on my first attempt. A good sign!”
Xu Fan picked up the jade bottle and gently took out one fasting pill.
“It has a spiritual glow and a rich pill fragrance. This is a mid-grade fasting pill.”
“If I were to sell it, this mid-grade fasting pill could fetch two spirit stones.”
“Not counting the furnace wear and tear, the spirit fire cost four spirit stones, and the spirit herbs for four fasting pills are worth ten spirit stones.”
“So, after all that effort, I only made six spirit stones.”
As he spoke, Xu Fan began to frown slightly, feeling that the profit was far from the windfall he had imagined.
He forgot that just a month ago, he was a humble outer disciple earning seven hundred spirit stones a year.
“But if I succeed in one furnace, with one spirit stone for the fire and 2.5 spirit stones for the herbs, I could earn 17.5 spirit stones from this furnace.”
“A profit of nearly six hundred percent—this business has potential!” Xu Fan said with a smile, rubbing his chin.
“Alright, I’ll keep at it and try a few more furnaces.”
Meanwhile, the other nine disciples in Xu Fan’s class were experiencing the same scene, holding fragments of their broken pill furnaces, nearly in tears.
The next day, Xu Fan appeared in class, full of energy.
Sha Yan was already waiting in class with a middle-aged cultivator.
This middle-aged cultivator was Xu Fan’s main instructor, an alchemist at the peak of Foundation Establishment cultivation, named Sha Jing Tian, who was also Sha Yan’s father.
Once all the disciples were present, the middle-aged cultivator slowly spoke, “Did any of you succeed in making the fasting pill yesterday?”
Xu Fan, sticking to his principle of keeping a low profile, remained silent. He glanced around and noticed that all the other disciples wore frowns.
At this moment, Sha Jing Tian laughed, as if recalling his own early days of learning alchemy.
“That furnace explosion wasn’t pleasant, was it? If I’m not mistaken, those of you who were too eager probably destroyed your furnaces yesterday.”
“How did you know, Teacher?”
“Haha, you guessed wrong; I exploded two pill furnaces.”
“Yesterday, during the alchemy session, I nearly lost my life.”
Xu Fan looked at the complaining disciples, wondering to himself: Is alchemy really that hard?
After everyone had shared their thoughts, Sha Jing Tian continued, “Don’t doubt yourselves. Exploding furnaces is completely normal at this stage.”
“You’ve probably heard the saying: twenty furnaces yield pills, fifty furnaces make pills, a hundred furnaces create masters, and a thousand furnaces bring forth grandmasters.”
“Let me tell you, these are the standards for geniuses. If you want to become a basic alchemist, it’s completely normal to explode over a hundred pill furnaces.”
“By the way, just to add, the standard for a basic alchemist is to refine ten kinds of grade-less pills and one first-tier pill.”
“Only then do you qualify as a basic alchemist.”
“If you have the resources to support you, you can take your time learning.
“If not, here’s a piece of advice: If you can’t master three pill formulas before exploding ten furnaces, it’s better to give up early.”
“Without resources, the path of alchemy is too difficult.”
He glanced at three people in the audience, including Xu Fan; these three lacked family support or ample resources.
However, when Sha Jing Tian looked at Xu Fan, an unusual light flickered in his eyes, so faint it was almost imperceptible.
“Alright, enough chit-chat. Now, let’s discuss why you all failed in refining the fasting pill.”
The entire morning passed in reviewing mistakes. Once Sha Jing Tian finished his lesson and all the disciples left, he turned to his daughter.
“Do you know that disciple named Xu Fan?” Sha Jing Tian asked.
“He’s just an ordinary outer disciple with a bit of talent in spirit value.”
“Very ordinary, a low-key disciple,” Sha Yan replied.
“Pay more attention to him. This disciple might be extraordinary,” Sha Jing Tian said. As an alchemist, he was particularly sensitive to the aroma of pills. From the moment Xu Fan entered the classroom, he detected a faint scent of fasting pills from him, which was quite pure.
“Why?”
“He might be a genius. If so, you’ll have another junior brother.”
