The Alchemy Peak lecture room finally touched upon the art of alchemy today. The Senior Sister first explained the principles of alchemy: how to take pre-processed medicinal herbs, place them in the cauldron in chronological order, and go through the steps of purification, refinement, and amalgamation until pills were finally produced. The lecture was rather hazy and confusing, but to conclude, the Senior Sister demonstrated her own process of refining Clearing Mind Pills and urged everyone to bring their own alchemy cauldrons to the next class.
After returning, Jiang Yuejing pondered that if she lacked any talent for alchemy, buying a cauldron would be a waste of money. It would be better to borrow one and test whether she had the aptitude; if she did, she could buy one then. Thus, she sought out her master, and playing the spoiled disciple, she asked, "Master, do you have an alchemy cauldron you don't use? Could you lend it to your disciple for a few days?"
Hearing this, Jing Yi had a fair idea of what was going on. He searched through his various storage magic treasures, picked out the finest one, and handed it to Jiang Yuejing. Looking at the cauldron in her hands, she saw intricate patterns of auspicious clouds and mythical beasts carved on the exterior, and upon touching it, she could feel the faint flow of spiritual power. Her intuition told her that this cauldron was of no small grade, so she said, "Master, you could have just given me any ordinary one. It doesn't need to be this good. I'm just using it for class, and I don't even know if I have any talent for alchemy."
Jing Yi patted his apprentice's shoulder and spoke with earnest gravity, "Ages ago, I helped an artifact craftsman, and he gave me this in return. I don't know how to make pills, so keeping it just takes up space. Take it, apprentice. A fine alchemy cauldron can increase your success rate in pill-making. What if the only thing standing between you and becoming an alchemist is a good cauldron?"
Seeing that Jing Yi insisted she keep it, Jiang Yuejing accepted the cauldron.
When the next alchemy class arrived, the Senior Sister once again explained and demonstrated in detail how to refine Clearing Mind Pills. The Clearing Mind Pill was among the simplest kinds of pills, requiring only four types of medicinal ingredients, and was classified as a tier-one pill. Once the Senior Sister finished refining hers, she distributed three portions of ingredients to each person, telling the disciples below to practice on their own.
Jiang Yuejing received her three portions of ingredients as well. She neatly arranged the herbs before her, took out her alchemy cauldron, drew a small flame from the Senior Sister's side, and controlled its size with her spiritual power. Then, following the steps the Senior Sister had outlined, she placed the herbs into the cauldron one by one to melt, purify, and fuse them. During the process, Jiang Yuejing heard the sound of someone else's cauldron exploding, which only made her more nervous. While continuing to supply spiritual power, she took deep breaths in an attempt to relax.
When the pills finally fused, a wave of medicinal fragrance drifted from the cauldron and reached Jiang Yuejing's nose. She let out a long breath—she had succeeded! Using her spiritual power, she carefully extracted the pills from the cauldron, resting two round, glossy pills in the palm of her hand. She muttered to herself, "So you can make pills without mercury and cinnabar after all."
"What mercury and cinnabar?" A female voice came from right above her head. It was the instructor, who had noticed another success and had come over to check the quality of the pills.
Looking at the pills in her hand with great satisfaction, Jiang Yuejing replied, "I always thought alchemy involved adding mercury and cinnabar, and that eating them would poison people to death."
Hearing this little junior sister's words, the Alchemy Peak Senior Sister was amused. She tapped Jiang Yuejing gently on the forehead and said, "What are you imagining? Have you been scammed? You're the third person to finish. Let me see the quality of your pills." Jiang Yuejing immediately held her hand up high for the Senior Sister to inspect. "Mmm, not bad, both are middle-grade. But a single portion of ingredients can yield more than two pills. You have two portions left, so keep up the good work."
Filled with joy, Jiang Yuejing happily replied, "Thank you, Senior Sister. I'll work harder."
"Hmm? Where did you get this alchemy cauldron?" As the Senior Sister prepared to leave, she noticed Jiang Yuejing's cauldron.
Jiang Yuejing answered honestly, "My master gave it to me."
"A lower earth-tier alchemy cauldron. Your master is truly good to you. You mustn't let this cauldron down; strive to yield even more pills next time," the Senior Sister said, nodding to suppress a twinge of envy as she encouraged the young junior sister.
Magic treasures were divided into four tiers: Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow, with Heaven-tier being the highest in quality and extremely rare. Many second-rank sects possessed a Heaven-tier treasure as their founding heirloom. The Earth-tier cauldron in Jiang Yuejing's hands could be considered a superb magic treasure capable of making many alchemists green with envy.
With her initial experience, the subsequent two batches went much more smoothly, and the number of successful pills increased. From the three furnaces, she obtained a total of ten pills, including three upper-grade Clearing Mind Pills.
Jiang Yuejing asked the Senior Sister if she could take these pills away, and the Senior Sister naturally permitted it. These ingredients were provided free of charge to disciples by the sect, with a limit on each person's allotment; exceeding the quota required purchasing more at Alchemy Peak. Therefore, pills refined from ingredients within one's allotment belonged to the disciple to keep. Beaming with joy, Jiang Yuejing returned to Yiqing Peak and presented the ten refined Clearing Mind Pills to her master, sharing her happiness.
Jing Yi, who doted on his apprentice, offered endless praise and even popped one into his mouth. Seeing her master swallow one straight away, Jiang Yuejing grew somewhat worried, terrified that her unskilled hands had produced a flawed pill. After finishing it, Jing Yi praised the flavor once more. In truth, all Clearing Mind Pills tasted more or less the same, but anything made by his apprentice simply tasted better in a master's eyes.
Noticing the worried look in her eyes, Jing Yi spun around to show he was completely fine. Only then did Jiang Yuejing relax. She kept one of the pills from her very first batch as a keepsake and gave the rest to her master.
During subsequent classes at Alchemy Peak, Jiang Yuejing successively refined several other kinds of pills, among them the tier-two Spirit-Restoring Pill, which could rapidly replenish a cultivator's depleted spiritual power. She organized the pills she had refined over the past few days, divided them into several portions, gave one portion to her master, and then headed to Sword Peak to find Xing Tiantian. Of all the disciples in the Taqing Sect, the one closest to her was undoubtedly Xing Tiantian. Although Yun Shuo had helped her quite a bit, he always gave off an aloof, unapproachable vibe that kept people at a distance.
Looking at the bottles of pills on the table and opening the lids to sniff their fragrance, Xing Tiantian asked somewhat skeptically, "You made these?"
Jiang Yuejing raised her eyebrows slightly, wearing a proud, triumphant smile. "Yes."
"Really?"
"Of course it's real."
Receiving a definitive answer, Xing Tiantian straightened up, pulled Jiang Yuejing into a hug, and laughed, "Not bad at all! You're amazing."
After the two of them bantered and playfully shoved each other for a while, Xing Tiantian suggested going to the dining hall to treat Jiang Yuejing to a meal to celebrate her success in alchemy. Just as they stepped outside, they spotted a tiny white dot flying in the distance. Squinting her eyes, Jiang Yuejing couldn't help asking, "Who's that?"
Since Xing Tiantian was already in the Foundation Establishment Stage, her eyesight was sharper than Jiang Yuejing's. After watching for a moment, she said, "It's Senior Brother Yun returning." Then she patted her companion's shoulder. "Junior Sister, did you prepare any pills for Senior Brother Yun?"
Jiang Yuejing had indeed included Yun Shuo when dividing up the pills. "I did, but these pills are too low-grade. Senior Brother Yun probably won't have any use for them. I'm afraid he might not want them." As she spoke, Jiang Yuejing lowered her head.
Xing Tiantian immediately grabbed Jiang Yuejing's hand and comforted her, "Why wouldn't he want them? This is your token of sincerity, the best thing you could produce within your capabilities, representing your genuine heart. Did Master Jing refuse the pills you gave him?" Seeing Jiang Yuejing shake her head, Xing Tiantian continued, "Most Alchemy Peak disciples can refine these pills, but a pill given to me by an Alchemy Peak disciple versus one given to me by you—to me, they are entirely different. Besides, these are foundational pills. The more foundational a pill is, the more people use it. Senior Brother Yun won't turn them down."
Xing Tiantian's sincere gaze convinced Jiang Yuejing. Seeing her nod, Xing Tiantian teased, "So, are we still going?"
"We are."
Having received the answer she wanted, Xing Tiantian pointed in the direction of Yun Shuo's dwelling and instructed, "Senior Brother Yun lives right over there. However, there is a small formation near his residence. If you see a single, exceptionally straight tree, you've entered the formation. The paths you see inside the formation aren't real paths; following them will only lead you in circles. So you must close your eyes. Starting from that large tree, take seven steps to the left, then three steps forward, three steps right, and seven steps forward, and you'll be right at his front door."
Jiang Yuejing memorized Xing Tiantian's instructions. "Senior Sister, you explained it in such detail—aren't you coming with me?"
With a cheeky grin, Xing Tiantian fabricated an excuse: "I won't go this time. I suddenly remembered my master told me to go see him today at this very hour, and I almost forgot. Seeing Senior Brother Yun just now reminded me." In reality, she was secretly thrilled, congratulating herself on her cleverness for fueling the young couple's romance and giving herself a mental thumbs-up.
Jiang Yuejing looked at Xing Tiantian suspiciously, but seeing her maintain a completely straight face, she finally believed her.
Yun Shuo had accepted a sect mission to hunt down an evil cultivator who had been harming cultivators and ordinary mortals. To his surprise, the informant had provided incorrect intelligence: the villain was not at Peak Golden Core, but at Mid Nascent Soul. Since Yun Shuo was only at Mid Golden Core, there was a vast gap of a major realm between them. After pursuing the villain for over a month, he finally managed to slay him, but Yun Shuo himself sustained heavy injuries. After swallowing a few pills to stabilize his condition somewhat, he rushed back to the sect.
Back at his quarters, Yun Shuo stripped off his upper garments. A long, bleeding gash ran across his back. During their battle, seeing that he was about to lose, the evil cultivator had gritted his teeth and detonated a magic artifact, hurling it toward Yun Shuo's right side. Yun Shuo instantly dodged to the left, but the villain immediately pulled out a jade token, shattered it, and threw it toward the right—directly behind Yun Shuo. The token contained a blade of sword energy, and caught between attacks from front and rear without enough time to evade, Yun Shuo's back had been slashed by that burst of sword energy.
Following the footwork Xing Tiantian had described, Jiang Yuejing entered the formation. When she opened her eyes, a door stood right before her. She knocked and called out, "Senior Brother Yun, are you in?" Hearing the knock, Yun Shuo immediately tried to put his clothes back on. When Jiang Yuejing waited a moment without hearing a response, she caught the scent of blood. Worried that something had happened to him, she panicked and pushed the door open directly.
Stepping inside and turning right, Jiang Yuejing saw Yun Shuo sitting on the bed, his clothes only half on, the back of his garments soaked red with blood. His face was deathly pale.
"Senior Brother!" Appalled and frantic, Jiang Yuejing hurried to the bedside.