Longzang

Chapter 428 Pill Research Institute (Thanks to the Alliance Leader for loving his adorable Sisi)

"Today we are refining the Netherblood Youth Pill. This batch will yield a maximum of nine pills..."

"Before this red snow velvet is put into the alchemy furnace, it must be sliced ​​first so that it can be transformed into a medicinal base as quickly as possible, laying the foundation for the entire batch of pills..."

As Xu Henshui continuously added medicinal herbs to the alchemy furnace, he explained the characteristics of each herb and how to process them in this formula to maximize their efficacy, and so on.

He spoke only about the basic principles of alchemy, and those listening were all loyal and reliable people. However, Xu Henshui omitted the main ingredients and directly used his Dao power to shield the appearance and aura of the herbs to prevent the formula from being leaked.

Ordinary Lesser Life Pills are fine, as there are many higher-grade pill formulas in the Creation Temple. However, the formula for the Netherblood Lesser Life Pill, which uses Blood Tassel as the main ingredient, is extraordinary. Inspired by the ancient immortal formula, Xu Henshui's new pill will greatly reduce the negative effects of Blood Tassel and slightly extend the lifespan, while also being unaffected by other life-extending pills.

Without Wei Yuan's permission, Xu Henshui naturally wouldn't leak this pill formula to anyone else, and the finished product would be handed over to Qingming for unified distribution.

As Xu Henshui refined the elixir, he explained its principles, his light blue sleeves fluttering in the fire, giving him an ethereal and otherworldly air. His voice was also exceptionally pleasant, explaining the Dao of alchemy in a simple yet profound way, revealing extremely deep principles of alchemy in seemingly mundane details.

While Wei Yuan was refining pills nearby, an idea struck him, and he sent out several Foundation Establishment cultivators to record the images with stones in hand.

"What does this mean?" Xu Henshui asked quietly in a whisper.

"I want to record all the lessons you teach, preferably in video format, so that I can show them to new alchemists whenever I want, and let them learn from them."

"I see."

Xu Henshui immediately straightened his chest, his eyes smiling, and his voice gained several resonances, like a celestial being chanting, indescribably melodious and pleasing to the ear. His eyes shone like morning stars, and occasionally he would slightly raise his eyebrows, as if the entire alchemy room was filled with ethereal energy.

At this moment, Wei Yuan continuously scanned the alchemy furnace in front of him with his divine sense, and he had a complete grasp of the situation in every part of the furnace.

At this moment, another virtual giant alchemy furnace appeared in the vast landscape, simultaneously reflecting the situation inside the furnace in front of Wei Yuan.

A group of mortals with talent in alchemy have gathered around the orchid and the Ice Glass Immortal Wood. Based on five nodes of these two immortal plants, they are working hard to track and analyze the situation of this batch of pills and provide timely advice.

"The furnace temperature has risen too quickly and has exceeded the optimal temperature."

Wei Yuan immediately reduced the flames in his hand.

"The blood garland nectar did not fully mix with the medicine, or its purity is insufficient. It is recommended to add a little more..."

Wei Yuan picked up a piece of blood necklace. At that moment, a detailed suggestion arrived: "...the blood necklace will increase by three coins."

With a flick of his Dao power, Wei Yuan cut off a small piece of the Blood Necklace, exactly three qian (a unit of weight), and threw it into the alchemy furnace.

Xu Henshui was somewhat surprised, not understanding why Wei Yuan had added a little more of the main ingredient. However, he didn't think too much about it. At this moment, several cultivators were capturing images from different angles, and he naturally couldn't tolerate any imperfections in himself. So, he suppressed the urge to ask and continued to teach in a perfect manner.

……

"...The final step is not to form the pill, but to collect it..."

Amidst the beautiful sound, the alchemy furnace in front of Xu Henshui opened, and a beam of five-colored light immediately shot out from the furnace mouth. Then, several white cranes circled the beam of five-colored light three times before the strange phenomenon slowly disappeared.

With a gentle tap of her orchid-like finger, Xu Henshui caused a continuous stream of pills to spray out from the furnace. These pills were dark red, and surprisingly, ten pills were produced in one batch, with one of them even displaying a golden Dao pattern!
Xu Henshui's eyes lit up, then he pretended to be calm and placed the pill with golden Dao patterns in his palm, displaying it to everyone.

The disciples of the Creation Temple were all moved and exclaimed in amazement, "As expected of Uncle-Master Xu, he has actually refined a rank-grade spiritual pill!"

"This pill formula was originally not even a grade-level pill, yet Uncle Xu was able to refine it into a first-grade spirit pill. That's truly amazing!"

These disciples from the Creation Temple weren't flattering him; it was simply the truth. Upon hearing this, Xu Henshui found it difficult to maintain a slight smile; he couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth.

This one-patterned spirit pill was indeed beyond his expectations. Xu Henshui had already done his best to refine ten pills out of a batch that was supposed to produce nine, which was already something to boast about. Now that he had produced a one-patterned spirit pill, he would deserve praise even from Dan Mingzi.

"This batch should have yielded nine pills, but if the timing of the harvest is right, it's possible to get even more. For example, this time we got ten pills..."

At this point, Xu Henshui suddenly paused, noticing that Wei Yuan was still continuously pouring true fire into the alchemy furnace. However, the flame in his hand was somewhat strange, with a faint red tinge in the platinum, clearly possessing an aura of immortality.

Xu Henshui then said, "If the collection is delayed, it will affect the quality and quantity of the pills. However, if some steps were not done perfectly before, we can make some corrections at this stage..."

The disciples of the Creation Hall exchanged glances, realizing that Xu Henshui was trying to make amends for Wei Yuan. Using the same formula, Xu Henshui produced pills of higher quality and in greater quantities than the original, indicating that the timing of the harvest was perfect. Wei Yuan, on the other hand, had delayed for so long; even if all the preceding steps were flawless, this batch of pills would be lucky to yield a third of the normal yield.

At this moment, prompts kept ringing in Wei Yuan's mind:
"Maintain the purity of the low-temperature Immortal Fire Elixir at 95% to 96%..."

"...The purity of the elixir is 98.3%..."

"Perfect purity! Blessed with good fortune!"

Wei Yuan instantly threw more than ten streams of green energy into the alchemy furnace, and then a faint musical sound rang out from inside the furnace, which was quite pleasant to hear.

Then Wei Yuan activated the pill-collecting technique, the furnace lid opened, and a cloud of white mist shot out. Countless celestial birds flew out of the furnace, each carrying a pill in its beak!
A moment later, the strange phenomenon dissipated, and there were eighteen pills in the air, most of which had a pill pattern. The one in the middle was larger than the others and had two blue pill patterns!

It wasn't until the batch of pills clattered to the ground like pearls falling onto a jade plate that Xu Henshui snapped out of his shock.

When a pill is formed, it gathers the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, aligning with the Great Dao, which is why it develops pill patterns. Pills with pill patterns are considered to have reached a higher grade, and their medicinal effects far surpass those of ordinary pills.

Xu Henshui no longer cared about his image. He snatched the two pills with one pattern and the pill with two patterns, cast spells on them one after another, and at the same time, his eyes shot out water-blue light as he began to carefully examine the quality of the pills.

Wei Yuan then used his divine sense to command the entire alchemy process to be preserved. He then issued another task: optimization.

Wei Yuan refined this batch of pills himself, so he could consider it practice. He was now pondering who would refine the pills in the future. The Dragon Guards and Foundation Establishment cultivators standing there seemed capable of doing the job.

After assigning the task, Wei Yuan returned to reality and saw Xu Henshui looking him up and down as if he were a monster.

The disciples and spectators around were all dumbfounded, while the cultivators on the periphery didn't understand what had happened, only that something extraordinary had occurred.

Wei Yuan then collected images of several enlightened Daoists who had left behind their images. Suddenly, Xu Henshui grabbed his wrist and said urgently, "Come, come with me to see the Patriarch!!"

Wei Yuan naturally wouldn't go. Besides, True Monarch Danming is currently at the Northern Mountain Gate, and Wei Yuan only recently returned. Judging by the time, Zhang Sheng should still be in seclusion, so there would be nothing for him to do at the Northern Mountain Gate.

Xu Henshui said, "No, you must go! How can someone of such great talent be confined to the Azure Sky Palace? You should transfer to the Creation Temple; the next abbot will be you!"

Wei Yuan knew his own limitations; his alchemy skills were not even close to Xu Henshui's, let alone his inheritance of the concept of creation.

Furthermore, the good effect of this batch of pills is the result of the addition of Qi and luck, and it also happens to have the power of the moon's essence from the laurel tree as a low-temperature immortal fire. A different formula would not have the same effect.

At this moment, Wei Yuan was not concerned about the quality of the pill patterns, but rather something else: "How much is this batch of pills worth?"

Xu Henshui picked up an ordinary Netherblood Short Life Pill and said, "Although this one can only extend life by three years, its advantage is that there are no restrictions. As long as you haven't consumed a large amount of Blood Necklace or burned your lifespan, you can add three years to your lifespan. This quality of lifespan costs a thousand taels of immortal silver per year, so this pill can be priced at three thousand taels. If it weren't for the extremely heavy residual karma, the price would be even higher."

Xu Henshui picked up the Netherblood Pill with a pill pattern on it and said, "This one has the essence of heaven and earth, which increases the life-extending effect and reduces karma. It can add four years to one's lifespan and can be sold for six thousand taels."

Finally, Xu Henshui picked up the Netherblood Pill with two pill patterns that Wei Yuan had given him and simply said, "This pill can be doubled in price, selling for 12,000 taels."

Wei Yuan's batch yielded eighteen pills: one with two patterns, eight with one pattern, and nine ordinary pills. According to Xu Henshui's estimate, this batch of pills was worth 87,000 taels. If Wei Yuan's record was accurate, the medicinal materials for the batch were worth approximately 500 taels.

Xu Henshui's batch was worth 33,000 taels of silver. Moreover, these longevity pills were never hard to sell; they could be produced in any quantity they had.

Wei Yuan silently calculated the profit multiple and then felt that the percentage measurement tool in the outer world was completely unnecessary.

For a fleeting moment, Wei Yuan even considered going back with Xu Henshui to see Ancestor Danming.

Wei Yuan immediately remembered his debt of 20 million taels of silver, wondering how much of it had become the resources for the Dao to be attained by the Creation Temple.

Only after personally refining a batch of pills did Wei Yuan truly understand how profitable alchemy could be. Wei Yuan was currently very short of money, and after experiencing firsthand the transformative earning power of alchemy, he immediately decided to add pill refining to Qingming's core businesses.

Wei Yuan then ordered that mortals with alchemy talent establish a special research institute to study the Dao of Alchemy.

So a group of mortals were selected, and they found a rather large courtyard, where they hung a plaque at the gate that read: "Supreme Sage and Benevolent Heart Medicine Research Institute".

However, it's not the first professional research institute in the world of mind and perception. The first is the [Research Institute for War Equipment for the Equality of All Beings] right next door.

(End of this chapter)