My health recovery is incredibly fast.

Xia Zuo took a deep breath to calm his turbulent emotions and slowly said:

"Professor, just you wait and see. I'm sure I'll be able to comprehend the properties of elements... Maybe I can even become an expert-level poison alchemist in the future."

Kulov chuckled softly upon hearing this:

"Imagining all the elemental properties is not as easy as you think."

"The higher your spiritual ocean level, the easier it is to detect elemental properties. It's just that you don't take them seriously."

"Like a watery cough."

He almost let it slip, so he coughed lightly and continued:

"In short, whether you can grasp the characteristics of elements without attending classes depends entirely on whether you have paid attention to the details around you before."

"Don't be discouraged if you can't figure it out on your own. Most formal monks learn about them through classes."

That's what they say, but time is everything.

Since there's a shortcut that doesn't interfere with my regular studies, I should give it a try.

Xia Zuo clenched his fist tightly, determined to comprehend these 16 elemental qualities on his own!

Kulov reached for a vial of poison, paused for a moment, and then put it back.

"Your temperament, personality, and alchemical talent are all excellent; they always remind me of myself back then."

He stroked his beard, his eyes gleaming, a look of reminiscence on his face:

"My mentor is the head of the department."

"About 50 years ago, after I became a novice poison alchemist, I spent two months comprehending all the elemental properties."

"Then my mentor taught me the basic meditation method. She said it was thanks to the ocean of the mind."

"As people grow older, they have more and more burdens. Only when they are young can they play freely."

"If you have a good spiritual ocean during your childhood, then the characteristics of the elements have already been engraved in your mind."

"All you have to do now is summarize them and write them down in specific words."

"I was lucky; my spiritual ocean was nearing a transformative level at birth. After joining the academy, everything went smoothly..."

"But later..."

Kulov's voice trailed off as he silently immersed himself in his memories.

The wall clock ticked away, the only sound being the ticking of the gears on the second hand.

About 1 minutes later.

He snapped out of his reverie and asked in a low voice:

"Since you aspire to become an expert-level poison alchemist, I can offer you some assistance in understanding the elements."

Kulov left the alchemy table, walked to a wall in the alchemy room, reached out and flipped open a stone brick, and pulled the lever inside.

The stone bricks on the wall shifted to the left, revealing a lighted passageway.

Xia Zuo caught up with his mentor and entered the room. After turning a right-angle bend, he arrived at another alchemy room.

The layout here is more compact than the alchemy room outside.

The main difference is that the central alchemy station is more professional and complex than the external alchemy stations.

Its footprint has more than doubled, squeezing the toxin cabinet against the wall, where it stands close to the wall.

The alchemy table outside has a crucible in the center and shelves on the left and right sides; its structure is relatively simple.

The alchemy table here has four shelves, which are arranged in the four corners of the alchemy table.

In the center of the alchemy table, besides the crucible and furnace for heating, there is a condensation stove, a baking oven, and a pool of flowing water.

These four alchemical instruments surround the central circular platform.

The four corner shelves are empty; there is nothing on them.

Kulov instructed the only student present to bring in the tray from outside and place it on the designated shelf.

As Xia Zuo carried the poison bottle, his gaze was unconsciously drawn to the patterns on the ground.

On the stone floor of this alchemy table, rectangular markings outline the placement points for four alchemical instruments, while circles mark the positions of shelves and platforms, connected by straight lines.

The blank spaces on the floor were filled with star and moon patterns.

Chapter 27 Refined Poison Powder

“This is an advanced alchemy table; you were originally using a basic one. On the ground is the four-pointed star array invented by Lady Starry Night,” Kurov said with admiration.

He climbed the three steps of the alchemy table, stood beside the central circular shelf, and pointed to the shelf to the due north:

“That place is specifically for storing basic toxins related to the fire element.”

He pointed to the shelves in the due east, due south, and due west directions, saying, "These three places respectively contain the basic toxins related to the earth, water, and wind elements."

Kulov stretched out both arms, pointing to due west and due south respectively:

"The clear water pool is located to the southwest of these two shelves."

"You can use the clean water in the pool, or wash alchemical tools such as glass bottles and ladles in it. Pull the rope ring above the pool to change the water."

He changed direction and introduced the crucible located in the due northwest direction and the furnace located in the due northeast direction.

Finally, Kulov pointed to the condensing stove in the due southeast direction and said:

"This condensing stove is used in a similar way to a regular stove."

"Pulling the rope once sets it to the first setting, and the stove temperature will drop from 20 degrees to 15 degrees. Each subsequent pull lowers the temperature by 5 degrees, down to a minimum of 0 degrees. The fifth pull will reset the stove temperature to 20 degrees."

Xia Zuo nodded to indicate that he understood.

He looked around and felt that behind this layout of the alchemy table lay profound alchemical truths:

"Professor, is the way Ms. Xingye arranged the shelves and alchemical instruments based on the relationships between elements?"

Kulov looked at the other person with a slightly appreciative gaze. "That's right, this is what you need to understand."

"Let's begin the lesson."

He had Xia Zuo stand outside the advanced alchemy table and pointed to the shelf beside him:

"The complete formula for the refined poison powder requires 20 basic toxins. We'll take it one step at a time, starting with the simplest simplified formula."

He picked up the glass bottle containing the compound toxin:

"White palate toxin contains only traces of earth element, and none of the other three elements."

"You've noticed the patterns on the alchemy table floor. Now tell me, what element is associated with earth?"

"It's fire and water elements."

Xia Zuo quickly glanced at the ground and answered, then opened his mouth but didn't say anything more, suppressing the urge to ask more questions and keeping the question "Why can't earth and wind elements be related?" to himself.

Kulov noticed the student's expression and guessed at his confusion.

He pointed to the ground, tracing lines in the air with his finger:

"In the field of alchemy, there is no absolute possibility or impossibility."

"These patterns underfoot are merely a reference, not inviolable rules. Their greatest purpose is to help alchemists think and remind us not to make mistakes."

Kulov uncorked the vial of poison, poured the white palate toxin into a glass container, and used a glass rod to spread out the clump of white flocculent matter, saying at the same time:

"In the first class last semester, I had you, Mason, and Brandon identify the white palate toxin. Your identification report was largely correct."

"It is a toxin that can dissolve in liquids, which is why it is associated with the element of water."

"It can be ignited with an open flame and emits pungent smoke, which is its connection to the element of fire."

"To enhance the toxicity of white palate toxin, we must start with these two related elements."

Kurov walked to the shelves in the two corners and took two vials of basic toxins from them:

"These are blue gill extract and red bilirubin. I don't need to explain their functions again, do I?"

“I remember, Professor.”

Xia Zuo found the records of these two basic toxins in his knowledge base, quickly flipped through them, and confirmed that he had not remembered them wrong.

Blue gill extract is derived from the gills of a certain humanoid amphibian.

When it acts on the human body, it causes a continuous flow of salty, fishy-smelling sewage from the mouth.

This toxic effect is easy to deal with and is generally not fatal; simply open your mouth and let the dirty water flow out.

Red bile is derived from a fire-breathing organism.

Its gallbladder functions similarly to that of a human gallbladder, specifically designed to concentrate and store bile that can trigger explosive combustion.

Red bilirubin comes from the gallbladder of this organism.

When it acts on the human body, it causes a burning sensation. If the dose is large enough, it can even ignite internal organs.

Kulov dissolved the white palate toxin into the base medicine, then poured in powdered bilirubin. The two were mixed together while stirring, turning into a pale red liquid.

He poured the liquid into a crucible, evaporated the water over medium heat, then used a spatula to scrape off the light red, crispy shell and placed it in the oven to bake.

The baking is complete when the crispy shell cracks into crumbs.

"Watch my movements carefully. This powder needs to be condensed."

Kulov, carrying a tray just taken out of the oven, lifted a flat-bottomed metal pan and placed it on the condensing stove:

“There are many ways to use condensation. This time we’ll be using cold stir-frying. This pan is specifically designed for cold stir-frying. You’ll learn about other condensation methods later, and I’ll introduce the corresponding tools for them then.”

He poured the crumbs from the tray into a cold pan, added the gel-like blue gill extract, and then quickly stirred it with two spatulas, his movements resembling those of stir-frying noodles or rice on a hot plate.

The gelatinous substance in the cold pan cooled down rapidly, turning into something like ice crystals.

Kulov collected the ice shards and used a crucible and furnace to remove the moisture again, finally obtaining a small pinch of pale purple powder.

Xia Zuo stood for nearly an hour, immersed in his mentor's skillful alchemy operations, until the other cleaned the stains on the alchemy table before he came back to his senses and used a detection spell on the light purple powder.

..