Chapter 81: Earth-rank Pill Success on the First Try

After revising the recipe, Snowy handed the paper to Feng Xue who quickly ordered two servants to purchase the ingredients according to the list.

"Please buy the ingredients as much as you can, here is the money," Snowy took a pouch from her spatial ring; inside the pouch, she put around half of the money she had.

"Snowy, let me pay for the ingredients. You don't need to spend your own money for this," said Feng Xue as she took the pouch and wanted to give it back to Snowy.

Snowy shook her head and waved her hand in refusal, "I had the thought of buying some ingredients in order to practice my Alchemy skill since yesterday, Xue. It's just convenient that I have another reason for doing it today. You don't need to think too much about it."

"If you need more ingredients later, just tell me okay?"

"Un."

Snowy agreed to Feng Xue's request straight away as she knew that Feng Xue would definitely feel uneasy if she didn't contribute anything even though it was related to her father's recovery.

Elder Yang didn't waste his time to check the new recipe provided by Snowy.

Although the recipe was coming from him, he was absolutely clueless about the practice.

Regardless, he would know soon whether Snowy spoke the truth or not so he wasn't in a hurry.

On the contrary, he felt a little bit excited.

"Will she make a miracle again?"

Should Snowy succeed in refining Golden Core Congealing Pill, she would be the youngest Alchemy Grandmaster in the Eastern Region.

Furthermore, a Qi Transformation Alchemy Grandmaster was also unprecedented.

The Eastern Region would be strongly shaken if Snowy's ability in alchemy was revealed to the world.

Elder Yang couldn't help but chuckled as he was about to witness history in the making.

***

The servants didn't dawdle around and hastily went to the city as ordered by Feng Xue.

Meanwhile, Snowy, Feng Xue, and Elder Yang moved to a vacant room in the mansion which had been prepared as a refining chamber.

"Is it okay for us to be here?"

Usually, alchemists wouldn't allow anyone besides their helper or apprentice to be present when they wanted to perform an alchemy routine.

It was necessary to be cautious if they didn't want their secret methods that were painstakingly obtained with their sweat and blood to be exposed to outsiders.

Although Elder Yang was oblivious to the matter of alchemy and wouldn't be able to steal Snowy's technique, he still felt it was inappropriate for him to remain in the room as Snowy was about to do her job. 

Feng Xue also shared the same sentiment with Elder Yang. 

She couldn't be of any help to Snowy and was afraid that she would accidentally disturb her.

"It's okay, don't worry," said Snowy curtly.

Elder Yang and Feng Xue finally felt at ease when Snowy gave them approval.

While waiting for the ingredients, Snowy summoned her Myriad Flame Golden Cauldron and channeled her Primordial Qi into it.

Buzz.

A large array appeared underneath the cauldron as the cauldron's body glowed.

"What an amazing treasure!" 

Elder Yang suddenly exclaimed when he saw the appearance of the cauldron and the array that sprung from it.

He had seen many incredible treasures; he had even seen an upper Heaven-rank before.

But compared to the cauldron in Snowy's hand, they were as good as scrap metals.

The rune embed on the cauldron's body was enough to make any expert salivate.

Even Elder Yang felt that he had a surge of enlightenment despite only seeing a glimpse of the rune.

'Is this the true resource of the Ancient Family?' 

Elder Yang's misunderstanding only grew deeper.

Not long after, the servants returned with more than twenty sets of ingredients.

Snowy also had finished her preparation.

"I'll start," said Snowy calmly.

She deftly divided the various ingredients, her hands moving at such a breakneck pace that Feng Xue and Elder Yang, who were standing to the side, felt that their vision was blurring.

Elder Yang was finally convinced that Snowy knew how to make pills and wasn't just knowledgeable about alchemy theory.

Snowy tossed a number of medical ingredients into the cauldron. She did not, however, throw everything inside. She had barely used roughly one-third of the items he had on hand.

She waved her hand as she channeled her spiritual sense inside the cauldron.

There, her spiritual sense made contact with Myriad Flame and quickly got a handle on it.

Alas, although she was quite fast, the Myriad Flame was extremely fierce that the ingredients were incinerated completely, not leaving any trace behind.

Her face frowned a little bit as a result.

"Do you think Snowy can make it?" said Elder Yang worriedly as she saw Snowy's expression.

"Don't worry, Master. Maybe she needs a little bit of time. It's just like her first time cooking, she had started clumsily but eventually her movement became flawless," replied Feng Xue confidently.

"So, you want to say this is her first time concocting pills?" Elder Yang squinted his eyes and stared at Feng Xue intensely.

"Uh… Uh… I don't know, Master," Feng Xue stammered a little bit and then decided to give an honest answer,"I haven't seen her do alchemy before. But, knowing her, she will be just fine."

"Yeah, I hope so," said Elder Yang softly as his expression turned complicated. 

Fortunately, Snowy wasn't disheartened by this failure as she was aware that controlling Myriad Flame wouldn't be an easy task.

Concocting pills was a daunting challenge because it was difficult to control the temperature level.

If one used firewood to start the fire, it would be exceedingly difficult to control the heat level of the flames, let alone attain the precision required to concoct pills. In theory, the greater the grade of alchemical pill, the more stringent the rules for regulating the fire.

Aside from precision, the alchemist had to be able to raise the heat to an extreme level; the alchemist's cultivation had to be exceptionally high in order to achieve this. In general, an alchemist should be able to create pills that are no more than one level higher than his own cultivation level.

For example, for Snowy who was in the Qi Transformation stage, her limit should be concocting an upper level Profound Grade pills.

However, the primary requirement was the ability to control fire. 

Obviously for Snowy — a former being with an unimaginable amount of calculative prowess — a minute precision in fire control was a child's play.

Although she had failed her first step due to the Myriad Flame's wildness, her next attempt was warranted a success.

Snowy's left hand continued to stir, heating every nook and cranny of the cauldron. 

The heat required for various parts of the furnace was different–to concoct high grade alchemical pills would require a furnace with high specifications, such as the level of heat penetration and the level of heat endurance, to name a few of them. 

A good furnace was something over which any self-respecting alchemist would go to war! 

And the Myriad Flame Golden Cauldron was indeed one of the top ones among the universe.

She threw the remaining two-thirds of medical ingredients into the cauldron. 

This time, she successfully extracted their essence without burning them into nothingness.

After making sure that the heat was sufficient, Snowy proceeded into the next steps.

Sometimes, she would open the lid of the furnace, while at others, she would keep it closed. 

Her movements were carried out at such a fast speed that they would just be a blur in any observer's eyes.

Elder Yang, who had been standing at the side, was already speechless, his eyes wide opened.

The higher the temperature of the flames, the more Spiritual Qi the alchemist had to use. 

If it was an ordinary alchemist, they would already feel really exhausted by now. 

Refining an upper Earth-rank pill required a huge amount of spiritual Qi and was very strenuous to Alchemist's mental strength.

Of course, Snowy was a different case.

Her Qi reserve was abundant and the purity of Primordial Qi made the efficiency a lot better than ordinary spiritual Qi.

In truth, Snowy didn't even feel anything as she continued to control the heat and stirred the medicine's essence.

After two hours, Snowy suddenly increased the heat's intensity and stirred the inside of the cauldron even more rapidly.

Boom! 

"Pill completed!" She suddenly retracted the flames. The final surge of the flames was the finishing touch that increased the effects of the alchemical pill by about five percent. Added with the efficacy of Alchemy Array, the effect of the pill was even more potent.

She lifted the lid of the cauldron and a faint medicinal fragrance instantly wafted out.

Feng Xue and Elder Yang could not help coming closer to peek into the cauldron. There were exactly ten-round vermilion-colored pills inside. The surface of the pills sparkled temptingly, appearing almost translucent. Although they themself did not know anything about alchemy, they were certain that Snowy had succeeded in concocting the pills.