Along the way, Lou Xingyao didn’t forget to tell Wen Hanshan what he had just realized. At the same time, he didn’t forget to express his gratitude to Wen Hanshan.
If it wasn’t for the other person’s words, he wouldn’t have been able to gain this.
It was just that Wen Hanshan wasn’t willing to take credit. “This should be thanks to yourself. You can wake up in time.”
“After all, I still have to thank Brother Wen for your advice.” Lou Xingyao smiled. His gratitude to Wen Hanshan didn’t diminish in the slightest.
As they spoke, the two of them had already returned to the small courtyard.
Wen Hanshan wanted to ask Lou Xingyao why he was so indifferent when he saw the corpse, but he found that the other person’s mind had long flown away.
“We are finally home. I still need to sort out what I gained today.” What Lou Xingyao said was naturally not the experience he had on the street.
It was the alchemy-related items that Wen Hanshan bought for him in exchange at the black market.
The moment his wish of many years came true, as early as when he first got those items, Lou Xingyao already had the urge to take them out and read them carefully.
However, he was afraid of the complicated environment of the black market and reluctantly suppressed that idea.
Now that he had finally returned to the small courtyard, Lou Xingyao felt that he was returning home. Naturally, he no longer needed to forcibly suppress his thoughts.
Seeing that the other person looked completely impatient, Wen Hanshan naturally had no reason to stop him. “Go ahead.”
“Once I understand my research, I will take care of all of Brother Wen’s elixirs in the future!” Before leaving, Lou Xingyao didn’t forget to draw a big pie.
Back in the room, Lou Xingyao took out the books as soon as possible.
Perhaps Wen Hanshan explained it when he was trading, but this set of books was extremely comprehensive, from the most basic parts to the third-grade pills.
If someone from his previous life was asked to name such a set of books, it would probably be Learning Alchemy from Scratch.
A person with no foundation could grow into a third-grade alchemist by obtaining such a set of materials. It was enough to see the degree of care with this set of materials.
“No wonder it took two years to collect it completely.”
Lou Xingyao’s eyes were a bit more clear. He was moved by Wen Hanshan’s meticulous preparation. At the same time, he made up his mind that when he had the opportunity in the future, he would definitely confess the matter of the space to the other person.
As for now…
It was only by making the best use of these materials that he could live up to the other person’s intentions.
As he thought this, Lou Xingyao picked up the most basic book and read it carefully.
Soon, Lou Xingyao had a basic understanding of alchemy in the cultivation world.
Combine this with the descriptions of alchemists in the original novel, and it could be seen that in the world of cultivation, alchemists were sorted by grade. First-grade alchemists were also called first-level alchemists.
The highest was ninth-grade, and the pill refined then even had the reputation of a half-immortal pill.
However, due to the influence of the level of Tianming Continent, the alchemist with the highest level of achievement was only fourth-grade.
The pills made by alchemists were divided into four grades: Low, medium, top and best. Among these, the low and medium-grade pills were the easiest to obtain.
They also consisted of the largest proportion of pills circulating around the Tianming Continent.
As for the top-grade pill, it was extremely rare on the market. It wasn’t easy to obtain unless they had a really close relationship with an alchemist.
The top-grade pill was like this, and the best-grade pill was even more difficult to find.
It couldn’t be found even for the lowest-level, first-grade pill.
“So Brother Wen really wanted to embarrass the Zhou family…”
He couldn’t help showing some amusement as he thought about Wen Hanshan’s move of asking the Zhou family to collect the best-grade meridians reconnection pill for him. Still, the movement of flipping through the book in his hand didn’t stop at all.
After a general understanding of alchemists and the grade division of pills, it was time to return to the alchemy itself.
Seriously speaking, alchemy and dispensing of traditional Chinese medicine had a lot in common.
Traditional Chinese medicine prescribed and dispensed medicine, paying attention to the principles of Jun-Chen-Zuo Shi (compatibility principle, where herbs are chosen based on their functions and compatibility). Alchemy was the same.
In the world of cultivation, the spiritual plants in the world were divided into yin, yang and the five elements. When refining a pill, it was necessary to balance the yin and yang of the spiritual plants, and the circulation of the five elements.
There were also cases of uneven yin and yang, as well as the absence of the five elements. Then it depended on what condition the specific pill was meant to address.
If the person taking the medicine was missing the five elements, the alchemist needed to pay attention to the missing attributes when refining the pill to make up for it.
In addition, the most different thing between alchemy and traditional Chinese medicine prescription and dispensing was the process of refining the plants into a pill.
The process of boiling Chinese medicine wasn’t complicated. It could even be said to be simple. Even if there was a special recipe, they only needed to pay special attention to the boiling time and heat. It could easily be completed as long as they put in a bit of care.
Alchemy was much more complicated.
Among them, the harmony of the five elements and the yin and yang of the spiritual plants almost ran through the entire process of creating a pill.
It started from the removal of impurities in the spiritual plants to the later stimulation of the medicine properties in the medicinal plants, and the mutual integration between plants… There must be no mistakes in every step, every process.
In the process, it was also necessary to pay attention to the adjustment of the alchemy fire, or the alchemy would fail and the furnace wasted.
With just a few lines of text, Lou Xingyao could already feel the difficulties in alchemy.
It was no wonder that on the Tianming Continent, alchemists were rare despite there being no shortage of cultivators with the two spiritual roots of wood and fire.
Lou Xingyao sighed while continuing to read.
In addition to the introduction to alchemy, the basic book also mentioned several types of flames commonly used by alchemists.
Among them, the qi condensation and foundation building cultivators often needed to rely on external flames in alchemy since their cultivation was weak.
Among the many aids, the most common one was a natural ore called a flint.
Seeing this, Lou Xingyao’s expression changed slightly, and a pitch-black stone appeared in his hand.
Originally, Lou Xingyao was still thinking about why such an ordinary stone would be put together with the alchemy furnace. Now it was clear.
Thinking of this, red spiritual power flashed on Lou Xingyao’s fingers.
The next moment, the flint was indeed covered with a layer of dark red flames. He increased the input of spiritual power, and the color of the flame started to gradually change to orange.
The temperature from the flint became hotter and hotter.
Such a transformation speed was enough to show that the quality of the flint was excellent.
Lou Xingyao was obviously not surprised by this.
Flint wasn’t a rare thing on the Tianming Continent. Even this high-quality flint stone was a bit less valuable compared to the other items in the storage bag.
Now that the alchemy materials and alchemy furnace had been given, the people who traded with Wen Hanshan didn’t have to be stingy with the flint.
Lou Xingyao thought as he dispelled the spiritual power in the flint.
Then the flames on the flint gradually dissipated until they were completely extinguished.
As for the flint except, it hadn’t changed from when Lou Xingyao first took it out of the space except for an extra layer of light gray powder on its shell.
Lou Xingyao used a bit of force to wipe the layer of gray powder clean. These were the ashes left after the flint burned.
For example, the fist-sized flint in his hand was enough to burn uninterrupted for half a year, but it was still durable.
This flint might be durable, but it was still a consumable item that needed to be replenished from time to time.
In addition to this, the flint had many disadvantages.
For example, when adjusting the strength of the flame, he first needed to adjust the spiritual power input method to the flint. There was naturally some delay in the time it took for the flame to change.
A good quality flint could minimize this lag, but it couldn’t completely wipe it out.
The error tolerance rate was higher when refining low-grade pills, and it didn’t hurt.
However, when refining a third-grade pill or higher, the flint would inevitably reduce the quality of the pill due to this subtle influence.
Therefore, in addition to the flint, there was also a type of flame called the earth fire. This was more favored by high-level alchemists and refiners.
Not only did this earth fire require the alchemist to use less spiritual power to control it, but it was a great help to the alchemist forming a pill due to the trace of spirituality contained in it.
Due to the advantages, the earth fire naturally became the first choice of alchemists at the higher levels.
But unlike the flint, which could be carried around, the earth fire only existed in the earth fire vein. Once it left the fire vein, the earth fire would gradually degenerate into a mortal fire and would no longer be usable.
In the entire Tianming Continent, there were only three earth fire veins that could be counted.
One existed in Canglan City and had been built into a training room for rent.
It was said to be for the use of fellow practitioners in need, but the rent was very expensive. It was enough to discourage ordinary casual cultivators.
However, the rent obtained from this was divided between the six major families in Canglan City who had a golden core cultivator.
Therefore, even if many people spurned this practice, they didn’t dare to make any superfluous moves.
As for the other two earth fire veins, they were respectively in the hands of the only two fourth-grade alchemists on Tianming, and the families where these alchemists belonged.
The preciousness of alchemists and refiners on Tianming Continent was self-evident, especially for a fourth-grade one who was at the top of the pyramid.
Even a golden core cultivator had to make friends with them, and didn’t dare to force them.
These two earth fire veins were safely controlled by these two families.
To sum up, it could be seen that even though the earth fire was good, it wasn’t an existence that ordinary alchemists could covet.
Fortunately, there was another type of flame that was between the earth fire and the flint.
It had the portability of a flint, but it wouldn’t freeze for a moment when manipulating it like a flint.
This was the beast fire possessed by the fire attribute demon beasts.
Most of the first attribute demon beasts were equipped with a natal fire. Cultivators could use special techniques to peel off this fire.
The fire that was stripped away could be transformed into a treasure that could be subdued and contracted by cultivators after special treatment.
Even if they weren’t an alchemist, a cultivator could contract it and use it as a means of attack.
Therefore, every time a beast fire appeared on the market, it always caused many cultivators to rob it.
It was often pocketed by alchemists and refiners in the end, but this was because these two professions had the ability to make money every day.
Money was thrown at them, and they would naturally be much richer than ordinary cultivators.
Of course, in addition to the three flames mentioned in these alchemy books, Lou Xingyao also knew that in The Dao and Heaven are Equal, there was a type of flame that was above the flint, beast fire, and earth fire. It was known as the heavenly fire.
In the original text, a strange fire was born between heaven and earth. It was a naturally cultivated existence like a spiritual root. It was an existence that cultivators competed to chase even in the big world.
In the original novel, Ye Hantian’s luck was strong, but he never obtained a strange fire. Its preciousness was no less than Lou Xingyao’s space.
Being able to get the space was already an unexpected joy. A heavenly fire was an existence that he couldn’t imagine right now.
On the contrary, the beast fire was a bit more down-to-earth. The price…
Lou Xingyao glanced at the final transaction price recorded in his hand. He only felt that his already lacking wallet seemed even more shriveled up.
So it was better to save money first!
Thinking of this, Lou Xingyao directly picked up the Low-Level Spiritual Plant Collection book on the side.
In the Overview of Alchemy, the influence of the medicinal properties of spiritual plants on alchemy was mentioned more than once.
If he wanted to understand the properties of medicine, he naturally needed to have a comprehensive understanding of the attributes, growth, efficacy, and other information of spiritual plants.
It was only by knowing the basic knowledge that he could easily use it while refining alchemy.
Perhaps thanks to the solid foundation laid in his previous life, Lou Xingyao read this book, which seemed particularly boring in the eyes of others, with relish.
He already possessed a memory that surpassed that of ordinary people. Now he had the blessing of spiritual power, so he could never forget it.
The Low-Level Spiritual Plant Collection became thinner in Lou Xingyao’s hand. By the time he finished reading the book, Lou Xingyao had already memorized the content.
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