Fu Yuan Sheng’s face flashed with different expressions very quickly. Finally, giving a long sigh, he said, “Though this man is a little arrogant, he does indeed have a talent in alchemy that corresponds with his level of arrogance. I had previously thought to gift him with a rare opportunity, yet never imagined that… ai!”
He raised his clasped hands in Ling Han’s direction in apology and said, “Young Master Han, please don’t take his actions to heart.”
Ling Han smiled softly and said, “It’s fine.” This time, because of Fu Yuan Sheng, he would not pursue the issue, but if He Lin dared to act so pompous in front of him again, he would definitely shatter all the teeth in the latter’s mouth!
“Then let’s begin!”
Fu Yuan Sheng had already brought all the medicinal ingredients Ling Han had requested for, and Ling Han had also taken out the Second Star Grass.
All the people here were Black Grade alchemists, so how could they not recognize the Second Star Grass. A few of them instantly looked resentful—they were actually called here to observe a young junior concoct the Refreshing Pill? This was practically an insult to them!
Unfortunately, they did not have a father who was also a Black Grade high level alchemist. Thus, though they were slightly displeased with Fu Yuan Sheng’s actions, they dared not express that displeasure. However, their faces had all turned a bit sour.
When Zhu He Xin and Zhang Wei Shan saw the behavior of the others, both of them felt the urge to draw out their weapons to drive these people out. They actually dared to doubt Young Master Han? At the same time, Zhang Wei Shan also felt a bit of shame, for he had also doubted Ling Han before.
Ling Han did not bother himself with worrying over what the others were thinking. As the Alchemy Emperor, what need was there for him to obtain the respect of other alchemists?
He grabbed the alchemy furnace and began to toss various medicinal ingredients into it.
“Does this brat actually know how to concoct alchemical pills? How can he simply toss in so many different ingredients all at once?”
“That’s right. The first step of the concoction process is purification, and different ingredients require different levels of heat to be purified. If they are all thrown in at once, the only result would be that all ingredients would be damaged.”
“Forget it, just take it as wasting a bit of our time.”
A few of the alchemists present could not hold themselves back from mumbling complaints to each other quietly. It was not that they did not trust Fu Yuan Sheng, just that Ling Han was really too young. Moreover, in their eyes, his actions were simply too reckless.
They were not the only ones feeling doubtful. Even Fu Yuan Sheng, Zhu He Xin, and Zhang Wei Shan were extremely surprised, for the purification of the medicinal ingredients was the first step to concocting an alchemical pill. It was also a very crucial step. Could it be that Ling Han would cause a mess-up from the very first step?
It was really too bad that Li Si Chan was not present. She had previously watched the whole process of Ling Han concocting an alchemical pill from start to finish. Purification was only a piece of cake to him.
After tossing in seven different ingredients, Ling Han’s hands trembled, and instantly, flames gushed out. His figure began to circle around the furnace and struck the furnace with his palms repeatedly.
“Weng, weng, weng, tong, tong, tong.”
From within the furnace, steam instantly gushed out. A herbal fragrance also began to spread out within the room.
“What?!” All of the alchemists in the room widened their eyes in shock at the exact same moment, expressions of absolute disbelief on their faces. They all looked as if they had just seen a ghostly apparition.
“Master, what’s wrong with all of you?” Qi Zhan Tai asked in confusion. She had just barely entered into the field of alchemy, and had only just learnt the basic theoretical knowledge, thus she had no idea what everyone was so flabbergasted about.
“Gods, seven different ingredients really can be purified at the same time… am I dreaming?” One of them gasped in shock before Zhang Wei Shan could manage to answer.
“All of these seven ingredients require different temperatures to be purified, and it should have been impossible to purify them all at once. But this brat used a very intriguing technique. It seems like he has split a single furnace into seven parts, and the temperature in each separate part is different, allowing for the simultaneous purification of these seven ingredients to be possible.”
“Amazing!”
They slowly regained their composure, though their faces still could not hide the admiration they were feeling.
“But this does not appear to have much meaning,” one of the alchemists said hesitatingly after a while. After all, he was not capable of accomplishing such a feat, so the tone he used to voice out his evaluation lacked a bit of confidence.
“Indeed!” Even Fu Yuan Sheng nodded, “Being able to purify all seven ingredients at the same time is indeed an amazing ability, but to purify the ingredients one by one would only expend a bit more time.”
He pointed out in his own evaluation.
This was what would be called a flashy but useless move, for if there was even the slightest bit of a mistake in the process of purifying all seven ingredients simultaneously, that would mean that all seven ingredients would have gone to waste.
“No!” Fu Yuan Sheng suddenly shook his head, his eyes wide, “How could this herbal aroma be so strong?”
When he brought this up, the others all looked as if they had come to a sudden realization, and consequently, looked very astonished.
As Black Grade alchemists, the number of times they had purified medicinal ingredients in preparation for the concoction process was uncountable. They were especially familiar with those medicinal ingredients that were frequently used in alchemy. But when they smelled this herbal aroma that was currently spreading out in the room, it was obviously very different from the aroma that was produced when they had purified ingredients in the past.
The stronger the herbal aroma was, the purer the essence of the medicinal ingredients produced from the purification it indicated; also, when the alchemist advanced to the actual concoction process, the success rate of concocting the alchemical pill would be much higher as well.
It was a very simple logic. The fewer impurities there were, the less interference there would be with the actual concoction process.
But the problem was that as far as these Black Grade alchemists were concerned, the purification process was already improved to its limits. There was no room for even the slightest bit of improvement anymore, yet why was it that the medicinal essence that Ling Han had obtained from his purification was so much purer than their own?
“Could it be, that this was why all seven ingredients had to be purified at the same time?”
“That is the only possibility!”
“That’s right, I’ve heard a senior of mine tell me before that in ancient times, the really capable alchemists were able to purify various medicinal ingredients all at the same time, taking advantage of the mutual effects of the different ingredients to make it possible for the medicinal essence derived from the purification process to be even purer.”
“Could that actually be true?”
“Hiss!”
Now, everyone could no longer remain calm. Whether the purification process took a longer or shorter time was not something that anyone would really bother about. After all, it was just a bit more or a bit less time. But if it was possible to actually increase the purity of the medicinal ingredients through the purification process, that would be an astonishing feat, and an immeasurably valuable contribution to the field of alchemy.
All of them could not help feeling remorse secretly. Because they had all thought that there was not much significance to this step, they had missed a lot of Ling Han’s moves and techniques. Thankfully, there were still a lot of ingredients left over, so Ling Han would obviously be repeating the purification process.
All nine of them opened their eyes wide, not daring to miss any single movement of Ling Han anymore.
Qi Zhan Tai was very bored, but there were too many important people here, so she did not even dare to breathe too loudly.
Ling Han was very focused. After purifying all of the ingredients, he began the concoction process of the Second Star Pill.
The technique he had used was called the “Four Forms Seal”. It was very effective in controlling the heat of the flames. In his last life, this control technique was also extremely impressive, and found a very widespread use in the field of alchemy at the time.
Because he himself had been an alchemist in his last life, Ling Han could not bear watching the field of alchemy degrade to such an extent. Thus, he did not mind imparting relevant knowledge of alchemy at appropriate times to improve the overall level of alchemy in this age.
While he continued to concoct the alchemical pill, he also spoke about the key details and features of the Four Forms Seal.
All of the alchemists present, including Fu Yuan Sheng himself, behaved like they were absolute newbies to the art, listening attentively to his lecture with their faces filled with utter reverence. If this scene had been witnessed by others, they would definitely go crazy—it could be argued that all of the most capable alchemists of Rain Country were gathered here, yet they were all very seriously observing a young man concocting an alchemical pill.
There was indeed no age limit to learning… whoever’s capable would be the teacher!
When Ling Han had finished the process of concocting the Second Star Pill, all of the nine alchemists were deeply engrossed in comprehending and figuring out the workings of the Four Forms Seal. They were all sitting cross-legged on the floor. Occasionally, it would appear that they were in pensive thought, and sometimes one of them would strike at the air with a palm. They were all trying to digest as much of Ling Han’s lecture as possible.
“Let’s go and eat some meat!” Ling Han smiled faintly, and picked Hu Niu up. He looked very pleased, because he had managed to concoct seven Second Star Pills this time, and this would allow his divine sense to improve a considerable amount.
Hu Niu was instantly happy. Her favorite activity was eating.
“I’m going too!” Qi Zhan Tai said quickly. She was really too bored.