Chapter 106 - Pill Refining - Part Three

Back in the Library of Alchemy...

Li Ming grabbed scrolls after scrolls as she looked through the shelves. She was currently on the fifth floor of the library.

After the little test, she had her dinner in the orphanage and then returned back to Xiao Tiantang to start working on the new idea that had suddenly appeared in her mind.

It was currently past seven o'clock and the moon had finally made its appearance. Shining brightly in the star-filled sky and illuminating the magical land of Xiao Tiantang.

The pixie dust tree sparkled under the moonlight as the pixies also started closing their works to retire for sleep.

As the calming silence took over Xiao Tiantang, Li Ming put all the scrolls on the coffee table. She settled down on one of the bean bags and started reading through the notes on Body cleansing pills.

It took her nearly two hours to surf through all those notes as she herself wrote down some points on a parchment. 

It was past nine o'clock when she finished gathering all the information that she needed. She decided to take a breath of the fresh air of Xiao Tiantang when she felt the slight disturbance in the air.

Since neither the portal nor Mallow alerted her, it was clear that whoever entered into Xiao Tiantang was either a familiar figure or someone who was accepted as a guest by the land of Xiao Tiantang on its own. 

Rather than using the portal, she directly teleported outside the library but to her surprise, there was no one as she had thought.

The area was as silent and undisturbed as before but she sure had felt the disturbance in the air.

A frown appeared on her delicate beautiful face as she tried to pinpoint exactly what could be the source behind the disturbance.

After a long time, she still came out empty-handed. She could not find anything but the slight feeling that something or someone was there with her didn't disappear.

She closed her eyes and started casting a spell. A red fireball started forming between her hands which grew as her chants increased in volume.

After five minutes when she finally finished casting the spell, the fireball in her hands had turned into a big ball of blazing fire.

Li Ming launched the fire towards the sky and within a few seconds, the fireball reached high above the mountains and dispersed into tiny red sparks around Xiao Tiantang.

Li Ming sighed and after glancing around for the last time, she once again teleported back inside the library.

"Where were you?" Mallow greeted her with this question as soon as she appeared on the first floor.

Li Ming raised her eyebrows and looked at the baby fox as she asked, "When did you come here?"

"Just a few minutes ago. I thought you will appreciate some help. So, what are you planning to do now?" Mallow asked her while signaling towards the dozens of scrolls that were lying across or around the coffee table.

"To refine more pills," Li Ming said as she folded all the scrolls one by one and neatly arranged them on the table.

"You said that those pills are of no use. Then why are you planning to refine them now?" Mallow asked her in confusion.

"Yep. Those third rank low-grade pills are indeed of no use for me. That's why I've found a way to make them useful," Li Ming said as she picked up the parchment on which she had scribbled some notes.

"What are you exactly trying to say?" Mallow asked with a slight raise in her eyebrows.

"I told you that the pills won't be of much use to us but on the other hand, the potion was twice as powerful as the pills. So, I researched a little about the body cleansing pills and finally came across a perfect idea," Li Ming said as she started taking out ingredients for pill refining.

"I searched about the properties of each of the ingredients that are used in refining Body Cleansing Pills and then matched them with the properties of the ingredients that I used in making the potion. There are some similarities while there are some differences. So, I'm going to replace some of the spiritual herbs with the ingredients that I used in the potion and then we will try refining the pill. Let's see if we get some better results," Li Ming explained as she once again set up the refiner.

Mallow kept sitting on the bean bag, looking deep in her thoughts. After a minute or two, she jumped down and walked towards where Li Ming was working and said, "I like the idea. Let's start."

Li Ming smiled at the little baby fox and started purifying the ingredients.

She filled half of the refiner with the water from the pond as it had a very dense amount of spiritual qi in it.

Next, she added the spiritual herbs and a golden sparkling jelly-like stone which was barely the size of a candy.

Mallow started the furnace and watched Li Ming who had closed her eyes and her hands were crossed in a lotus seal.

A blue color energy string started coming out from both of her hands and joined in the middle. It grew to the same size as the jelly-like golden stone that she had added to the ingredients.

The small energy ball was glowing brightly as Li Ming stopped channeling more energy into it. She dropped the energy ball into the refiner and covered it with the lid.

She started the timer and fixed the flames, before dropping on one of the bean bags. The furnace had increased the heat inside the room and Li Ming was sweating so much that she wanted to get those long tight clothes off her body immediately.

The timer went off and Mallow immediately put off the furnace.

When Li Ming opened the lid this time, a waft of the fragrance of different spiritual herbs rose into the air.

Inside the refiner were six black pills with a golden circle drawn through its center. The pills were looking perfect and without any defect.

"Whom are we going to test this on?" Mallow asked as her golden eyes took in the unique looking pills.

"If I'm not wrong then these pills should be more powerful than the potion. I drank three vials of potion last month and it only cleaned fifty percent of the impurities in my blood. Maybe, I should test this pill on my own. If something went wrong my healing powers would deal with it," Li Ming said as she took out one of the pills.

"Well, that makes sense. Try it!" Mallow showed her approval of the idea.

Li Ming gulped down the pill and settled down in a lotus position. Her eyes were closed and a calmness could be seen on her face. 

It barely took about ten seconds this time when the pill started acting. Black colored tiny particles started coming out of her body pores and dissipated out of the open window into the air.

About five minutes later a bright yellow light covered Li Ming for a second and then vanished completely.

Li Ming opened her eyes and seemingly looked at Mallow as she asked, "Did you see that? It barely took five minutes and a single pill to purify my body and blood from all the impurities!"

"Let me first see what's the rank of this pill," Mallow said as she completely ignored Li Ming's excitement.

The fox took one of the pills in her small paws and closed her golden eyes. A faint whitish light circled around the pill for a second and then Mallow opened her eyes. Her expressions were full of amazement.

"What did you find?" Li Ming asked as she lightly poked Mallow's cheek to bring her out of the dreamland.

"This is so amazing, Master! It's a third rank middle-grade pill and this pill can be used by a person who's on a lower level of cultivation than the Fifth level of High Cultivator Rank. That means that in both Han and Wang Empire, the children who are in their teens could use it. There's barely any prodigy here. Normally, an eighteen-year-old in Wang Empire could maximumly reach the third level of High Cultivator while in the Han Empire, it's the ninth level of High Cultivator. Those who are above the fifth level of High Cultivator Rank would need to consume two pills. But consuming more than two pills would be fruitless," Mallow explained as she one by one checked the rank of all the pills. 

Only one out of the remaining five pills was a first-rank low-grade pill otherwise all of them were third rank middle grade pills. 

Just when Li Ming was about to reply, a loud screeching sound came from outside the tree.

Li Ming immediately knew that the trap that she had cast, finally succeeded in capturing the intruder.