Chapter 2179 - 2176: Squandering Precious Resources

Chapter 2179: Chapter 2176: Squandering Precious Resources

Quite a bit of preparation is needed for alchemy—water, jade bottles, fuel, medicine cauldron, herbs. The cauldron was already taken care of, fuel would be Purple Flame, and as for water, the well water behind the mountain was excellent, no worse than Sea Eye Water. It was the finest water from Eight Hundred Miles Langya Mountain.

There were jade bottles too—Zhuge Cai Zhe had plenty, so there was no need to go searching everywhere. Once everything was ready, Lin Tian ignited the Purple Flame.

Since this was a new elixir, Shennong Emperor’s Medical Scripture had no record of it, nor did any Pharmacist’s notes. Lin Tian could only grope his way forward. Fortunately, there were only two herbs, Red Fungus and the Unknown Root, and he had refined them many times already, so he was familiar with the properties of both.

Purple Flame coiled and danced, heating the Bronze Tripod. Lin Tian discovered that ever since he had cleared the meridians in his right hand, his control over fire power had risen to a whole new level. At the same time, he activated his Super Clairvoyance, monitoring the situation inside the cauldron at all times.

Once the temperature rose, Lin Tian put in the Red Fungus. Since this was just a trial, he didn’t use much. Heating, adding water, controlling the flame—smooth as flowing water. The two old men watching from both sides were utterly absorbed.

Before long, a bottle of medicinal liquid was successfully produced. Zhuge Cai Zhe noticed that the liquid refined by Lin Tian was much clearer, its purity obviously several grades higher.

"A Pharmacist is a Pharmacist. I’m just someone who picked this up halfway; sure enough, I can’t compare." Old Man Ling stroked his beard and sighed.

Lin Tian smiled casually. "Practice makes perfect. Senior Ling can do it too. All you’re lacking is time."

"No, no..." Ling Xuesong shook his head and said solemnly, "You’re gifted by nature and cultivate fire attribute energy. No one can match your fire control. You’re a born Pharmacist."

Lin Tian didn’t deny it. Using fuel versus using Purple Flame made a clearly different impact. No matter how good the fuel was, it could never be controlled as freely as Purple Flame—after all, Purple Flame was something he had cultivated himself.

After refining the Red Fungus, Lin Tian went on to refine the Unknown Root. For him, it was no difficult task. Very soon, a bottle of crystalline Unknown Root liquid was refined.

"So that’s it?" Ling Xuesong asked curiously.

"Not yet. Next I’ll fuse the liquids and refine them into elixirs. But since this is a brand‑new elixir, it might fail." Lin Tian didn’t conceal anything and said it directly.

Failure is nothing shameful. The birth of every elixir has to go through many rounds of research. There are no ready‑made Elixir Recipes, no ready‑made methods.

In a certain sense, refining this elixir with only two herbs was harder than refining the Spirit-Boosting Pill. Though the Spirit-Boosting Pill uses many herbs, it has an Elixir Recipe and a refining method.

Hearing this, the two old men unconsciously lightened their breathing, afraid to disturb Lin Tian.

Lin Tian opened the tripod lid again, adding the Red Fungus and Unknown Root liquids one after the other, then covered the lid, lit the fire, activated Super Clairvoyance, and focused all his attention on the changes inside the tripod.

The two liquids slowly merged and churned, and with the constant heating from the Purple Flame, the moisture gradually evaporated. The liquid grew thicker and, as it rolled, formed one medicine liquid sphere after another.

The liquid spheres were heated further, turning semi‑solid. When most of the moisture had evaporated, the semi‑solid spheres turned into elixir pellets each the size of a soybean. Only then did Lin Tian withdraw the Purple Flame.

Under the expectant gaze of the two old men, Lin Tian lifted the tripod lid. A wave of heat flowed out, and the pellets finally appeared—there were eight of them in total.

The old men were even more excited than Lin Tian, just about to say something when a soft popping sound suddenly came from inside the tripod, like corn bursting over a fire. Several elixirs actually cracked apart and shattered!

"Uh... it failed." Lin Tian scratched his brow, a bit troubled. This was, after all, his first time failing at alchemy.

Sure enough, refining a brand‑new elixir was not an easy thing.

Lin Tian shook his head and simply dumped the elixirs onto the ground. The two old men were so startled by this move that they jumped up. Old Man Ling was downright frantic. "Damn, little brother, there are still a few that didn’t crack open! Why toss them away!"

The old man’s reaction left him stunned. Lin Tian asked in puzzlement, "Senior, you should know about elixir grading, right?"

"Of course. From low to high, elixir quality is divided into inferior, common, good, superior, fine, and supreme. I may not be a Pharmacist, but Langya Pavilion has auctioned elixirs before, so I have to know the grading." Ling Xuesong said with certainty.

Lin Tian nodded. "Good, then please take a look, Senior. Among these elixirs, the cracked ones needless to say are complete failures and don’t even count as elixirs. These two, though they haven’t cracked, are misshapen and pitted, which shows extremely poor formation. They’re inferior‑grade."

"That one is the best of the lot, nearly round, but still uneven and pitted. It only counts as common‑grade." Lin Tian pointed at the elixirs on the ground, explaining them one by one.

"Inferior grade is still elixir, and there’s even one that reached common grade. You’re just squandering resources." Ling Xuesong looked at him like a prodigal and stuck to his opinion.

Lin Tian scratched his brow, quite helpless. "By my standards, anything below superior grade doesn’t count as an elixir."

"Little brother, you really don’t understand the situation in the Ancient Martial World. Let alone these inferior‑grade elixirs, even complete failures are something people scramble for." Ling Xuesong said seriously.

Lin Tian’s eyes widened. He could hardly believe it. "They scramble even for failures?"

"Of course. Elixirs are a scarce resource." Lin Xuesong replied with absolute certainty, then bent down, ready to pick up the elixirs off the ground.

Lin Tian was dumbfounded. He quickly grabbed the old man and said, "Don’t pick them up, Senior. If you want them, I’ll refine a few bottles of good stuff for you. Elixirs of this quality—I just can’t bring myself to hand them out."

"Really?" Lin Xuesong asked in surprise.

"Of course. I’m a Pharmacist, and pursuing perfection is my way. I can’t let low‑quality elixirs spread out." Lin Tian spoke in a very righteous tone—but in his mind, the Sword Spirit quietly snarked that he was putting on airs.

"You know shit. When someone with strength shows off, it’s badass. When someone without strength shows off, that’s just dumbass." Lin Tian shot back in his mind, feeling perfectly justified.

"Haha, pursuing perfection—not bad, you’re like me in my younger days." Old Man Ling was thick‑skinned and narcissistic too, quite similar to Lin Tian in that respect.

Lin Tian continued refining elixirs. Experience is built up step by step through practice. In alchemy, a slight difference in temperature can lead to vastly different results.

Finding the right heat level can’t be achieved by mental simulation alone, because some outcomes are unknown.

On his second attempt, Lin Tian actually slowed down, especially in the purification phase, because during refinement he could observe subtle changes in the herbs.

These changes could guide him to choose a more suitable temperature. Lin Tian simply had that stubborn streak.

He spent an hour refining the first batch of elixirs. For the second batch, he took twice as long—a full two hours.

When the lid was lifted again, the two old men held their breath, a bit nervous. Six elixirs—this time, not a single one cracked, and the best one had reached good‑grade quality.