Chapter 466: Simplifying the Pill Recipe

Indeed, with the Immortal Path having vanished for ten thousand years, the art of alchemy had gradually declined as well. The various pill-refining techniques had all been modified and repackaged to suit the rules of martial cultivation. Over the course of these ten millennia, even the herbs had changed drastically—their names alone were now completely different. The jade slip Zhang Xiaohua had obtained now contained the orthodox alchemy methods once used by the Immortal Path. Though the content was a true inheritance, the herbs required were entirely different from the current system.

Thus, without the [Herbal Encyclopedia], even if the correct herbs were placed right in front of Zhang Xiaohua, he might not be able to recognize that they were the very ones specified in the pill recipe.

This [Herbal Encyclopedia] had arrived like timely rain, delivering precisely what Zhang Xiaohua had dreamed of. He had originally intended to ask Elder Zhang more about the ancient and modern names of various herbs, but now all he needed to do was follow the diagrams and seek the correct herbs. Names? They were nothing but labels.

The jade slip of the [Herbal Encyclopedia] was quite thin, yet its contents were vast, recording countless pieces of knowledge about herbs—more than enough for Zhang Xiaohua to study. Seeing that the hour was still early, he began slowly committing it to memory and studying its contents.

The next day, Nie Qianyu arrived at the pill room on time, bringing with her many herbs. Upon seeing Zhang Xiaohua, all traces of yesterday’s frustration had vanished. Smiling, she said: “Brother Ren, I heard from my father that you had quite a fight with Elder Zhang’s Dabai yesterday?”

Zhang Xiaohua scratched his head and said: “What are you talking about, Little Fish Nie? Is that any way to speak? A hero like me—how could I stoop to the level of a little white wolf? If Elder Zhang hadn’t shown up in time, I would’ve flattened it with just three punches and two kicks. Where was there anything like a ‘fight’ in that?”

Nie Qianyu pursed her lips and laughed. “Brother Ren really is impressive. That Dabai is considered a tyrant in the valley—always bullying other animals. And since it’s Elder Zhang’s favorite, he always spoils it. Now that you gave it a beating yesterday, I imagine it’ll behave itself for a while.”

That made sense. Yesterday, Dabai had indeed charged in aggressively, and if not for Zhang Xiaohua’s formidable martial skills, he might have suffered under those wolf claws. Anyone else might not have fared so well. But thinking back to Dabai’s tragic look of defeat and its desperate attempt to perish together with him, Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help but nod inwardly in appreciation.

After chatting with Zhang Xiaohua for a while, Nie Qianyu’s face flushed slightly and she said: “Elder Zhang, honestly… Last night he called me over to my father’s place and, out of nowhere, started talking about all sorts of things…”

Zhang Xiaohua chuckled and said: “Oh? I bet he was passing on his years of experience digging for herbs in the valley.”

“Bah!” Nie Qianyu couldn’t help but spit lightly. “I’d love to ask Elder Zhang for advice, but he’s completely fascinated with that method you taught my father. After speaking a bit with me, he just kept pestering Father endlessly with questions.”

Zhang Xiaohua’s heart stirred upon hearing that, and he spoke solemnly: “Little Fishy Nie, that cultivation method is extremely important. You must remember—aside from your father’s instructions, you mustn’t speak of it to anyone else. Especially…” He paused, then smiled bitterly, “The affairs of your Spring Rebirth Valley are not something I wanted to get involved in, so don’t blame me for speaking out of turn—just make sure you don’t tell your two elder sisters.”

“Sisters?” Nie Qianyu exclaimed, “Brother Ren, do you have something against my sisters? But you’ve only met them once! Oh—wait, is it because Eldest Sister asked you to go up and compete, and you weren’t too willing?”

The question was somewhat childish, but of course, Nie Qianyu was merely probing for Zhang Xiaohua’s reasoning—just tossing out bricks to attract jade.

Zhang Xiaohua shook his head. “Just as you said, I’ve only met your two sisters once—how could I have any bias against them? It’s just that both of them are married outside the valley. They might very well keep a secret, but if even one of them lets something slip, it could spread—and that would bring serious trouble to Spring Rebirth Valley.”

“But,” Nie Qianyu’s bright eyes fixed on him, “if this method belongs to your Big Dipper Sect, then at worst, you’d only be leaking your sect’s secret. I’d ask Father to stake the entire Spring Rebirth Valley’s future to plead forgiveness—surely your sect wouldn’t blame you too harshly. But, if I remember correctly, that’s not what you said back then. Could it be that this method…”

There was no denying it—Zhang Xiaohua’s repeated warnings had finally stirred Nie Qianyu’s suspicions. She had begun to wonder about the method’s true origin.

Zhang Xiaohua’s expression turned grim. “This technique… its origin is indeed somewhat unclear. However, since it can bring about a fundamental transformation to Spring Rebirth Valley’s pill refinement, tell me—could your father possibly reject it? And tell me, could I not share it with you?”

Nie Qianyu let out a long sigh. “Exactly. Thank you, Brother Ren. Even knowing it’s like drinking poison to quench thirst, Father still couldn’t turn it down. And your intentions are nothing but kind—I understand, I really do, I…”

Just as she was about to launch into another speech, Zhang Xiaohua quickly raised his hand to stop her. “I already discussed this with Valley Master Nie and Elder Zhang yesterday. This method is only used for refining pills—no one can tell just by looking. As long as no one knows such a method even exists, there’ll be no trouble. I’m only telling you this today to remind you to be cautious and keep it secret.”

“I understand. When that Senior Brother Lu from the Artifact Refining Sect came to provoke us, I was already on alert. If someone hadn’t tipped him off, how would he have known to challenge you to a contest of strength? The truth is, he just wanted to show you that Spring Rebirth Valley isn’t some utopia and push you to leave sooner.”

Seeing that Nie Qianyu had already sensed the undercurrents, Zhang Xiaohua said no more. Pointing at the large pile of herbs beside them, he said: “Looks like Valley Master Nie plans to make full use of this free laborer. Little Fishy Nie, what kind of pills are we refining today?”

Nie Qianyu rolled her eyes at Zhang Xiaohua and said with a smile: “If Brother Ren feels you’re being taken advantage of, how about we settle it at three qian of silver per day? What do you think?”

“Ugh~” Zhang Xiaohua rolled his eyes right back. “That’s the going rate for common labor. This hero is a top-tier expert—shouldn’t I be compensated accordingly? How about one tael of gold per pill recipe refined?”

“Pfft,” Nie Qianyu scoffed. “Keep dreaming.”

Zhang Xiaohua burst into hearty laughter.

He picked up some herbs from the ground and walked toward the cauldron, shaking his head and muttering, “Exploitation. This is pure exploitation.”

Nie Qianyu pursed her lips into a smile and followed behind him.

That day’s pill refining went as swiftly as ever. Although Nie Qianyu had already prepared a considerable amount of herbs, over a dozen pill recipes were still completely refined within the span of a single morning.

Watching the disciples store all the pills into porcelain bottles, Nie Qianyu said with a wry smile: “Brother Ren, this kind of practice might not be very appropriate.”

Zhang Xiaohua chuckled and narrowed his eyes. “So you’ve noticed too, huh? Little Fishy Nie, go on—let’s hear what you have to say.”

Nie Qianyu said: “I know you’re trying to practice pill refining techniques, Brother Ren, but going through each recipe one by one like this—aren’t you just refining pills for my Spring Rebirth Valley? It’s not actually helping improve your alchemy much. If you keep going like this, we really should start paying you.”

Zhang Xiaohua nodded. “Exactly. At first, I also intended to refine each recipe one by one. But plans never keep up with changes. Before I even finished practicing this booklet, I noticed something was off.”

“Exactly. Brother Ren, the pill recipes in this manual mostly follow the same refining method. As long as you refine a few of them, you’ll naturally grasp the rest. There’s really no need to practice every single one!”

“Precisely.”

Zhang Xiaohua agreed firmly and decisively.

“In that case…” Nie Qianyu hesitated a little and said, “There are hundreds, even over a thousand pill recipes in Spring Rebirth Valley. If you practice them one by one, when will it ever end? Tonight, I’ll go back and talk to my father. We don’t need you to practice them all. I’ll sort through the recipes and pick out those with distinct techniques or preparation methods. Brother Ren, you’ll only need to refine the representative ones—that’ll be enough.”

Zhang Xiaohua was genuinely touched by her words. He almost reached out to pinch her nose, but held back. With a smile, he said, “Will Valley Master Nie really agree to that? He has a free laborer here—why would he let me go to waste?”

“Bah.” Nie Qianyu spat lightly and said, “Do you think we’re all squeezing you like a laborer?”

As she spoke, her own face flushed red first.

Zhang Xiaohua nodded. “Then I’ll leave it to you, Little Fish Nie. Let’s keep this pill recipe booklet for one more day—I want to give it another thorough read and also refine a few pills for myself. Poor me, I’ve been working for others lately. Only later will I finally get to tend to my own field.”

“Pfft!” Nie Qianyu laughed aloud and said, “Alright, Brother Ren, you go on refining. I’ll head back and talk to Father. This afternoon, I’ll prepare the pill recipes you’ll be using tomorrow.”

“Great, thanks a lot, Little Fish Nie. But—I still want to see all the recipes. Don’t you dare hide any from me.”

“Fiiiiiine~~~” Nie Qianyu drew out her words in mock protest. “I got it. I’m just your labor manager from Spring Rebirth Valley…”

Saying that, her cheeks flushed red, and she darted out of the room.

Watching Nie Qianyu’s lively and energetic figure vanish into the distance, Zhang Xiaohua touched his nose and smiled wryly, “Am I really that charming?”

After closing the door, Zhang Xiaohua didn’t rush to start refining. Instead, he sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion and began attuning himself to the Dao of Heaven. After quite a while, a faint, unreadable smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. Only then did he rise and walk to the pill furnace embedded in the groove.

He would soon need to use this furnace to refine pills, so for now, it was best to get some practice in.

Looking at the pill furnace in the groove, Zhang Xiaohua performed the familiar incantation he used to expand and contract his usual pill furnace. But this furnace showed no reaction. He couldn’t help but frown—he had thought that spell would work on all pill furnaces.

Fortunately, once he raised the earth fire and cast the fire-control incantation, the temperature in the furnace began to rise. Then, after throwing in some herbs and injecting several commonly used alchemical seals, the herbs gradually began to liquefy. Only then did Zhang Xiaohua relax. It seemed the furnace expansion spell was unique to his own furnace, while the pill-refining techniques themselves were still universal.

Following the instructions recorded on the jade slip for the second type of alchemical method, it wasn’t long before Zhang Xiaohua successfully refined over a dozen types of pills.

That method was, after all, one used by the Immortal Dao to refine top-grade elixirs. The pills Zhang Xiaohua was working on now were not only meant for martial cultivators—they were also merely basic-level pills. Using such a method on them was truly… like using a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken.

Afterward, Zhang Xiaohua recorded the insights he had gained from refining those dozen types of pills, along with their Five Elements deficiencies, onto the jade slip. Then, he took the recipe booklet and transcribed over a dozen remaining pill formulas into the jade slip as well, finally stopping his work.

After all, he had only just discovered the path of the Five Elements in pill refinement. Only through extensive practice could he eventually arrive at a conclusive understanding.