Longzang

Chapter 656 Find a new way
Wei Yuan had previously modified the formula for the Great Sun Morning Glory Pill, only to suffer a major setback. Therefore, this time, Wei Yuan is determined not to repeat the same mistake.

Although the old Taoist priest Zhi Dan said he wanted to innovate, he didn't necessarily mean changing the pill formula. Wei Yuan planned to start from other aspects and innovate properly, since the pill formula couldn't be changed anyway.

At this moment, Xu Henshui had completed the new pill formula, removing one auxiliary ingredient and adding three new ones. Zhi Dan Sanren scanned it with his divine sense and nodded secretly.

The disciples of the Creation Temple who had come with the Hermit of Alchemy were filled with heartfelt admiration. To be able to modify the formula on the spot and increase the medicinal properties instead of decrease them, Xu Henshui's alchemy skills were absolutely terrifying. He was indeed a candidate for the next abbot.

The reason for not mentioning the word "popular" is that Danming Zhenjun is in his prime, and Xu Henshui's desire to become the abbot is at least three to five hundred years away. Anything can happen in three to five hundred years, so there is no such thing as a sure thing.

Wei Yuan also began preparations.

He waved his hand, and dozens of cultivators rushed in from outside, each one bustling about, carrying various items as if they were moving house, full of energy.

The cultivators worked together to install various equipment on the spot. They divided the work in an orderly manner and worked quickly. In the blink of an eye, they built a workshop in the Dan Guan, which, together with the alchemy room, occupied most of the courtyard.

The alchemists were all puzzled and shocked. Alchemy was a highly refined art, and many alchemists would stay in their caves for decades or even centuries to refine a single batch of peerless pills, only to have the world know of their success upon completion. They had never seen Wei Yuan's display before; it didn't seem like he was refining pills, but rather like he was opening a market.

Wei Yuan looked around and felt that there weren't enough people, so he waved his hand, and more than a dozen cultivators rushed in from outside the door.

The old Daoist Zhi Dan watched coldly, knowing that these were all Wei Yuan's puppets, but he didn't say anything and just watched.

Once Wei Yuan and the others were all in place, they began the process according to the established steps. All the Dao Foundation Warriors instantly received their orders, and one by one they took out, sorted, weighed, and began pre-processing the medicinal herbs.

The warriors meticulously washed and processed the medicinal herbs, which was fine, but what followed was not right.

Some are sliced, some are shredded, some are boiled in water, some are stir-fried in a pot, some are soaked in alcohol, some are soaked in oil, some are repeatedly squeezed, and some are ground into powder, soaked in water, and then a few drops of something are added, and then large flocculent substances immediately form at the bottom, which are then carefully scooped out.

There's another medicinal herb that actually needs to be brushed with seasonings before being roasted over a fire.

For a moment, the aroma of medicine filled the air, as if one had entered a medicinal cuisine restaurant.

Zhi Dan Sanren raised an eyebrow, but managed to hold back thanks to his years of self-cultivation.

Then, several warriors assembled some pots, pans, and pipes together, removed the lid of the alchemy furnace, installed the device, set up an array under the furnace, and added five things with nozzles.

After a chaotic flurry of activity, the alchemy stage finally arrived. Several disciples of the Creation Temple sneered; they had already realized that Wei Yuan hadn't altered the formula at all, which meant they had already lost the first round.

However, it must be said that more people means faster progress. While Xu Henshui was still processing medicinal herbs, Wei Yuan had already started refining pills, though it looked a little different from ordinary pill refining.

A dozen Dao Foundation Warriors surrounded the alchemy furnace. One of them sat at each of the five nozzle devices below, while three others stood on the shelf above, each responsible for one end of the complex machine.

Then came the lighting of the fire. Wei Yuan flicked his sleeve, and the alchemy furnace was lit. More than ten Dao Foundation Warriors filed in one by one, putting in the prepared materials, and began refining pills.

Everything seemed normal up to this point, but things went wrong from there. Several Dao Foundation Establishment warriors with exceptional spiritual senses gathered around the alchemy furnace, measuring the flame temperature at the top, middle, bottom, edges, and center of the furnace.

The complex device at the furnace opening was lit up, displaying an image of the furnace's interior. Although it was still somewhat blurry, it was much clearer than the divine sense of an ordinary cultivator.

Then everyone discovered that this device could also be used to add medicinal herbs, and depending on different needs, it could be added to the upper, middle and lower sections of the alchemy furnace. It could be thrown in whole pieces, blown into the furnace as powder, or added drop by drop.

Then the device began to flash, displaying the five elements of spiritual energy within the furnace in five colors, with fire being the primary element.

Next, the Dao Foundation Warriors responsible for monitoring constantly monitored the furnace temperature, the five elements of spiritual energy, and the refining process of the medicinal herbs inside. If the fusion wasn't quite right, they could stir the herbs inside the furnace to ensure the herbs were evenly mixed.

If the five elements of spiritual energy are uneven, then the five devices under the alchemy furnace will correspondingly emit fire, blowing the five elements of spiritual fire into the furnace. The five Dao Foundation warriors were single-minded and focused on following instructions, blowing fire when told to and stopping when told to stop.

The three warriors standing on the shelf, two of whom were in charge of the Yin and Yang energies, and one of whom was a Dharma Image, was responsible for using his Dao power to break up the tiny clumps of medicine in the furnace.

Through analysis and comparison, Renjian Yanhuo concluded that the uneven quality of the medicinal materials in these tiny lumps was the culprit that lowered the quality of the pills. Therefore, Wei Yuan specially arranged for a Dharma Aspect Warrior to do this task.

The disciples of the Creation Temple were dazzled and speechless. It took them a long time before someone remembered something: What was Wei Yuan doing?
He looked around and saw Wei Yuan sitting under the shade of a tree, engrossed in reading a storybook. Soon, the other disciples of the Creation Temple also noticed Wei Yuan's unusual behavior, and they all could hardly believe their eyes. From beginning to end, Wei Yuan seemed to have never personally lifted a finger to prepare this batch of pills.

When did alchemy cease to require alchemists?

Dozens of Dao Foundation warriors were busy at work. After a while, the alchemists all saw the pattern: it was nothing more than an imbalance of the five elements plus the fire element, an imbalance of yin and yang spraying yin and yang qi, constant monitoring of temperature, and immediate treatment of uneven medicinal quality.

These are all basic operations for alchemists, and every senior disciple of the Creation Temple present possesses this skill. But no one expected that dozens of ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators who knew absolutely nothing about alchemy, each handling a few simple tasks, would eventually become equivalent to an alchemist from the Creation Temple?

By this time, Wei Yuan had finished reading one storybook and picked up a second one. He not only read it, but he read it with great interest, even making numerous annotations in the book, filling it with dense text, as if he were reading the Daoist canon. In the blink of an eye, he had finished reading all three storiesbooks. Only then did Wei Yuan get up to check on the alchemy furnace, bow to the old Daoist Zhi Dan, and then leave.

The disciples of the Creation Temple were all bewildered. The alchemy furnace was still burning; why had Wei Yuan left? He just left?
At this point, the human world had taken over the entire alchemy process. For example, the Dao Foundation Warrior sitting under the alchemy furnace received the order: "Blow the fire... Stop the fire, blow the fire... Stop the fire."

He will only receive this one command: click when told to click, and stop when told to stop.

The other Dao Foundations are largely similar. Only the tasks of the few Dao Foundations waiting on the periphery are slightly more complicated, requiring them to find the medicinal herbs, weigh them, and then add them to the furnace as needed. This kind of work doesn't require any brainpower; all you need are your hands.

At this time, Wei Yuan first went to the Netherworld to check on the construction site, and then went to play in his senior sister's dream... After observing for a while, of course, he once again refused the proposal to become the leader of the evil cult. In ancient times, it was customary to refuse three times, and Wei Yuan adhered to the ancient etiquette.

After surveying the Azure Netherworld again and finding nothing amiss, Wei Yuan rebuilt the Twelve Heavenly Forging Immortal Array and used the Chaos Immortal Blade to cut a slash in the void, creating a ball of chaotic energy.

Wei Yuan did not use up all of this chaotic energy; instead, he took a small amount and kept it on himself.

It was now the ninth day since the furnace was opened. Nine is the ultimate number, and Xu Henshui opened the furnace.

A beam of three-colored light shot into the sky, surrounded by countless falling petals, melodious celestial music, and the fragrance of elixirs. Then the door to the alchemy chamber opened, and Xu Henshui emerged with a smile, carrying a tray of elixirs.

There are twelve pills in this plate, three of which have two patterns and nine have one pattern. Surprisingly, there are no ungraded pills!

Such a high-quality pill moved even the Pill Master, who praised it several times. The Pill Master could naturally tell that Xu Henshui had tampered with the medicinal ingredients to produce this batch of pills. The three auxiliary ingredients he added were all of his own caliber, each over five hundred years old, and their medicinal power was extremely potent.

However, Zhi Dan Sanren would not mention such a trivial matter.

Xu Henshui thoroughly enjoyed the congratulations from his fellow disciples. He happily walked out of the courtyard, glanced at Wei Yuan, and then froze.

Wei Yuan's side still had a grand display, with dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators busily working, but after a short while, it became clear that they were basically doing the same few things in a repetitive cycle.

The problem is, Xu Henshui didn't see where Wei Yuan was.

"Where is Wei Yuan?" Xu Henshui asked his junior brother beside him.

The junior brother said, "He left on the first day of his cultivation and hasn't shown up since."

Xu Henshui was taken aback: "He's relying on these people to refine pills?"

“That’s true.” The disciple from the Creation Temple couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

Xu Henshui was very suspicious, so he stood aside and watched. He then discovered that each Dao Foundation cultivator had a clear division of labor. What could be done by one alchemist was divided into dozens of parts, and the division was quite reasonable. They were busy but not chaotic.

He stole another glance at the old Daoist Zhidan's expression. The patriarch was meditating with his eyes closed, his mind wandering in the vast emptiness.

Based on Xu Henshui's understanding of him, no reaction was the strongest possible reaction. This meant that Wei Yuan's alchemy method actually had some merit, at least it hadn't enraged the patriarch.

At this moment, the Hermit of Alchemy slowly said, "Although this method is absurd, it is indeed effective. What is rare is that there has not been a single mistake in the past ten days. Being able to break down alchemy into so many steps demonstrates that one's understanding of alchemy is beyond the reach of ordinary people."

However, this method of alchemy is too contrived, lacking the natural inspiration and serendipitous skill. You can learn it this way if you want to become an ordinary alchemist. But if you want to refine high-quality, superior, or even top-grade alchemy, it won't work.”

Which disciple of the Creation Cultivation Sect would be content to be an ordinary alchemist? Naturally, they all aspire to refine elixirs with Dao patterns. Hearing what the Daoist of Alchemy said, their hearts immediately calmed down. Wei Yuan's alchemy method was merely refining mortal objects. No matter how many mortal objects one possessed, without elixirs, one could hardly be called an alchemist.

Everyone was curious to see what Wei Yuan could come up with by messing around like this.

On the eighteenth day, Wei Yuan unleashed another Chaos Blade and received a reminder from Human Fireworks, so he returned to Qingming and went back to Dan Guan.

Suddenly, Zhi Dan Sanren opened his eyes with a soft "hmm," looking at Wei Yuan with some confusion. The disciples of the Creation Temple felt that Wei Yuan was somewhat different, but they couldn't quite put their finger on it; they just felt a strange flutter of excitement and unease.

Zhi Dan Sanren suddenly nodded slightly and said, "So you went to gather qi."

"Luckily, the pill was ready in time." Wei Yuan then went to the pill furnace and directly threw in a thousand strands of azure energy. The pill inside the furnace was already mature, and under the influence of the energy, it instantly burst forth with five-colored light, forming a dazzling pillar of light that shot straight into the sky!

One by one, the spiritual pills flew out of the alchemy furnace, and Wei Yuan waved his hand, collecting them all into a plate. Eighteen days, a full eighteen Great Sun Morning Radiance Pills, all with a single pattern!
As the disciples of the Creation Temple stared in disbelief, Wei Yuan flicked his finger, sending out two more points of chaotic energy. As a result, the spiritual essence of the two pills suddenly became stagnant and obscure, and a Dao pattern appeared on each of them.

(End of this chapter)