Zombie World: Starting as an apprentice of the Thunder King

The two left the town and walked along the main road for most of the day.

As evening fell, we arrived at a dilapidated mountain god temple. The temple gate had collapsed, and the statue of the god was broken in half.

The two went inside to rest. Bai Ling walked around the temple and only returned to Lin Bei's side to squat down after confirming that there was no danger.

"What are your plans for the future?" Zhang Zhiling sat on a stone stool, toying with a copper coin in her hand.

"Let's keep gaining experience."

Lin Bei wiped the Demon-Slaying Sword clean and put it away. "The Luo Tian Grand Ceremony is still more than half a year away. We can't just sit around doing nothing."

Zhang Zhiling smiled and suddenly took out a palm-sized bronze cauldron from his bosom and placed it on the stone between the two of them.

The cauldron was dark red all over, with fine runes engraved on its surface, and emitted a faint medicinal fragrance.

As Zhang Zhiling unleashed a burst of magical power, the cauldron rapidly grew to over a meter in height!

"What is this?" Lin Bei leaned closer to take a look.

"A cauldron used for alchemy, a high-grade magical artifact."

Zhang Zhiling placed the cauldron in front of him. "I took it from my sect when I left home. I happen to have some free time today, so I'll show you what I've got."

"You can also refine pills?" Lin Bei's eyes lit up.

"For disciples of the Celestial Master's Mansion on Longhu Mountain, alchemy is a compulsory course."

Zhang Zhiling glanced at him: "Otherwise, how do you think I accumulated this level of cultivation? Did I just rely on God's gift?"

Lin Bei chuckled and leaned closer: "Then you forge a batch and let me see."

Zhang Zhiling was taken aback, then said with slight surprise, "From what you're saying... you don't know such a basic thing?"

Lin Bei scratched his head: "It's not that I don't know how. I've seen many pill formulas in Maoshan and memorized quite a few, but I've never practiced them myself."

Zhang Zhiling stared at him for a while, then couldn't help but shake his head and laugh, "The dignified Little Thunder King of Maoshan, can't even refine pills?"

"If this gets out, people will laugh their heads off."

"Are you going to teach me or not?" Lin Bei looked at him irritably.

"Of course I'll teach you."

Zhang Zhiling sat down cross-legged and took out three medicinal herbs from his storage bag: "When refining pills, first classify them into grades, with grade one being the lowest and grade nine being the highest."

"The more inner alchemy patterns of the same grade, the better the quality. One to three patterns are low grade, four to six patterns are medium grade, and seven to nine patterns are high grade."

"A pill with nine cinnabar patterns can actually be considered top-grade."

"As for the realm of nine pills formed, with a perfect and flawless appearance... that is the legendary realm of perfection, which I have never seen."

"I'm practicing the most basic Spirit Gathering Pill, a first-grade pill."

"Its effect is to quickly restore depleted spiritual energy. It requires only three kinds of spiritual herbs: Earth Spirit Grass, Spirit Gathering Flower, and Clear Spring Mushroom."

As he spoke, he put the medicinal herbs into the cauldron, and then injected a stream of magical power into it.

A warm, spiritual light shone from the surface of the cauldron, followed by a surge of heat rising from within it.

Then, the medicinal herbs were added to the cauldron one by one in order, with the timing of each addition being extremely important.

"First, release the Earth Spirit Grass, then release the Spirit Gathering Flower after three breaths, and then release the Clear Spring Mushroom after another five breaths."

"The heat must be just right; too high and the medicinal power will dissipate, too low and the medicinal power won't be absorbed."

Lin Bei squatted down beside him and watched intently, his Dharma Eye activated as he carefully observed the changes inside the cauldron.

Zhang Zhiling moved quickly and her technique was very skilled.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a slight humming sound came from the cauldron, and a wisp of medicinal fragrance wafted out from the crack in the lid.

Zhang Zhiling patted the cauldron, and six round, earth-yellow pills flew out of the cauldron and landed neatly in his palm.

Each pill has four fine lines on its surface, gleaming with a warm luster.

"First-grade Spirit Gathering Pill, six pills made, four pill patterns."

Zhang Zhiling poured the pill into his palm. "It's of slightly below average quality."

"It's just a casual refining process; if you refine it seriously, the quality will be much better."

"That's it?" Lin Bei took the pill and looked at it.

"How difficult do you think it is?"

Zhang Zhiling stood up and conceded, "Want to give it a try?"

"Let's give it a try."

Lin Bei sat down cross-legged and then took out the spiritual herbs he had previously plundered from the Qingye Sect from his spatial stone.

"Wow, you have quite a lot in stock!" Zhang Zhiling exclaimed in surprise.

Lin Bei followed Zhang Zhiling's example, first preheating the furnace, and then putting in the medicinal herbs one by one.

He did it very carefully, strictly following Zhang Zhiling's procedure step by step.

However, a problem arose when the magical power was poured into the cauldron and it began to heat up.

His magical power was too strong, and the temperature rose too quickly. The medicinal herbs in the furnace were burned before they could release their medicinal properties.

A plume of black smoke billowed from the crack in the stove lid, choking him and causing him to cough.

"Cough cough... Failure." Lin Bei sighed.

"The heat control was too rushed."

Zhang Zhiling chuckled from the side, "Alchemy can't be like fighting; you can't go all out right away. You have to take it slowly."

Lin Bei nodded, cleaned out the slag from the furnace, and started again.

The second time, he reduced the heat, but the medicinal properties were not properly balanced again.

The incorrect ratio of the medicinal properties of the Earth Spirit Grass and the Spirit Gathering Flower caused the medicinal energies in the furnace to clash, ultimately turning into a furnace of black slag.

He failed eight times in a row, the third, fourth, fifth... and each time for a different reason.

Either the mana output is not stable enough, causing the temperature to fluctuate, or the order in which the herbs are added is incorrect.

Another issue is that my mental power wasn't able to accurately perceive the changes in the medicinal liquid inside the furnace.

Zhang Zhiling sat beside him, watching with great interest: "Your mental energy fluctuation just now was too great; the medicine was almost boiling, and you were still heating it up."

"Also, your mana output should be as steady as flowing water, not as erratic as thunder."

Lin Bei wasn't angry; after each failure, he would stop and think for a while.

Zhang Zhiling, standing nearby, couldn't help but say, "Why don't you take a break first?"

"Let's do it again." Lin Bei took a deep breath and threw in the ninth batch of medicinal herbs.

This time he was extra careful, his magic remained steady, and the temperature slowly rose.

The herbs slowly release their medicinal properties in the furnace, blending together.

After an incense stick had burned for a while, a faint medicinal fragrance wafted from the burner.

"There's hope!" Lin Bei thought with delight.

But just as he was about to collect the pills, the cauldron suddenly began to shake violently, and a surge of violent spiritual energy erupted from within.

Holy crap!

Lin Bei suddenly opened his eyes, quickly suppressing the surging spiritual energy with both hands. "What's going on!"

"Don't panic! Stabilize the furnace!"

Zhang Zhiling reacted quickly, slapping the side of the cauldron with his palm and using his magic power to stabilize it.

The two exerted their strength simultaneously and finally suppressed the violent fluctuations of spiritual energy.

When Lin Bei opened the lid of the cauldron, all that was left inside was a clump of charred residue.

Zhang Zhiling said irritably, "Damn it, you almost blew up this furnace."

Lin Bei was not discouraged. He sat down and carefully reviewed each step of his operation, then stood up and said, "Let's try again."

"Again...?" Zhang Zhiling's eyes widened!

(The data for the past two weeks has been extremely poor...sigh!)