Chapter 104 - Pill Refining - Part One

Li Ming entered into the Xiao Tiantang. She was carrying a basket that was filled to the top with vials, crystals, various herbs, and magical ingredients.

The sun was approaching the horizon as the day was finally about to end, ready to welcome a beautiful and hopefully calm night.

She reached the opposite side of the pond where a bunch of very thick and tall oak trees was growing.

Just as she stopped in front of the first tree which was slightly covered in light green and lime yellow-colored moss, a portal of similar color appeared in the center of the trunk, and Li Ming entered into it without any hesitation.

On the other side of the portal was a five-story library filled with valuable and secret knowledge of this cultivation world.

Mallow had introduced her to the five hidden treasures of the Xiao Tiantang that stored vast knowledge about this world and the Library of Alchemy was one of those five treasures.

Currently, she was inside the library that stored information and secrets of alchemy.

Behind her, both Snowy and Marshmallow also entered into the huge room which was almost empty except the various bean bags and the coffee table that Li Ming had placed beside the only but a large window. 

The library was built inside the trunk of the oak tree, every floor consisting of a single but large enough window that was not visible from outside the tree.

The wooden floor was smooth and the temperature inside the library changed according to the season. Since it was mid-summer the temperature inside the library had lowered to give a better environment.

At the corner of the room, a spiral staircase could be seen which would lead them to the second floor.

The library was divided into separate levels based on the amount of knowledge they provided.

Each floor was different from the others.

The first floor was actually an empty room which was mostly used by the previous Masters of Xiao Tiantang for refining pills or sometimes to just relax as they spent their time reading the books and scrolls.

The second floor basically consisted of the books regarding the information for those who were new to the world of alchemy.

Li Ming had read through about a dozen books and a few scrolls in the past few days to understand more about alchemy and how it worked.

She had also practiced the simple steps that were mentioned in those books, like purifying some simple herbs, cleaning the pill furnaces and cauldrons properly, channeling her spiritual energy to use it in alchemy, etc.

The third floor had books full of information about each and every spiritual herb that could be found in all three realms.

There was a particular part on the third floor which held books and scrolls filled with information about the herbs that could be found in the Demon realm or were somehow related to demonic cultivation.

The fourth floor of the library consisted of books and scrolls that carried the method of refining the most powerful pills and elixirs of the cultivation world.

Li Ming still had to pay this floor a visit and that's not going to happen anytime soon as her current cultivation level was still limited to the second rank of high cultivator.

She broke through the second rank the previous night while cultivating to store her energy for refining the pills.

The fifth and the last floor of the library consisted of the most treasurable information according to Li Ming.

The entire floor was filled with the handwritten notes and scrolls that the previous owners of Xiao Tiantang had left behind for the future masters.

These notes consisted of some special methods of refining that they had come across or their improved versions left behind by the others.

There was also information about some special pills that they had ended up refining on their own and the later ones had improved the pills over the years.

For example, let's say the first owner of Xiao Tiantang somehow ended up inventing a new type of pill that could be used for cultivating. But since it was their first time refining the pill, it wasn't perfect. They improved as time passed and when the next owner of Xiao Tiantang took over their duty they found out about this new invention, the new owner also experimented on the pill and somehow increased its benefits.

As time passed the owners of Xiao Tiantang changed and each of them contributed in making that pill better and better.

Some experimented with its ingredients, some changed the time limit while some others changed the amount of qi used in refining.

And whatever changes they made and the results that followed those changes, they all made notes and stored them on the fifth floor.

"So, what are you up to?" Mallow asked as she and Snowy took their seats on the bean bags.

Mallow's nine tails were spread in different directions, making her look ethereal. Her golden eyes sparkled as the sunlight coming from the window fell on them.

"In these past few months, the children of the orphanage has built a firm base of internal energy after practicing martial arts. The other children who have returned from the iron mines are also doing pretty good. I think it's the perfect time to start their cultivation practice." Li Ming answered Mallow's question as she put the basket on the coffee table.

She took out the small vials full of yellow sparkly liquid from the basket and placed them on the table beside it.

"This is the body cleansing potion. It can clean all the impurities out of your body and also from your blood. And these..." Li Ming took out the bowl consisted of different magical ingredients.

"...these are the ingredients that I used in this potion. Now I'm going to refine the body cleansing pills. I have found a scroll that explains how to refine it. I noticed that nearly eighty percent of the ingredients used are different from those that I used in the potion. I wanna see which one is better and to what extent. Let's give it a try." 

She went towards the opposite wall of that with the window on it and tapped her knuckles three times in the center of the wall.

As she retracted her hand back a door appeared in front of her, leading her to the basement where shelves after shelves were lined, filled with jars and bottles of pills that were left there by the previous owners.

In the middle of the basement room, a shelf was stood where the equipments needed for refining pills were placed.

Li Ming picked up a furnace and refiner and brought them back to the first floor. She took out the scroll in which the method of refining body cleansing pills was written and brought all the spiritual herbs that she needed.

She had bought the herbs from the Herb Hall of the black market and even planted some of them in her Spiritual Herbs field in Xiao Tiantang.

Li Ming cleaned the refiner and fixed it above the furnace as she ordered Snowy and Mallow to take care of the furnace. Her eyes promised them a tour through hell if they fucked up in their job.

It was a good thing that Mallow knew how to take care of the furnace, at least a little bit!

Li Ming purified the ingredients one by one and placed them inside the refiner in order and closed the lid.

She made sure the furnace was ready to go and closed her eyes to collect the right amount of spiritual qi that she needed to transfer to the ingredients.

Since it was her first try of the day, she had not used much of the ingredients, it was barely enough to refine three or four low-grade pills.

There were seven levels in pill refining and each level had three ranks.

1. Early Refiner

2. Intermediate Refiner 

3. Advanced Refiner

4. Master Refiner

5. Expert Refiner

6. Profound Refiner

7. Divine Refiner

The three ranks were - low, middle, and high rank.

Li Ming had recently started practicing alchemy and currently, she was a low-rank Early Refiner.

Her ranks and level would increase as she would spend more time in refining pills and elixirs.

Li Ming pulled her hands near her heart and made an arc while crossing both of her hands. The fingers of her left hand were touching the veins of her right hand and the fingers of the right one were pointed at the refiner.

A stream of spiritual qi started moving from the tip of her right-hand index finger and entered the refiner.

This continued for quite some time. The total time required for making low-grade body cleansing pills was about ten minutes or so. They had already survived eight minutes without any incident but then the calamity hit them in the face of a white furball.