Time flowed on, and another three months passed.
Zhou Fang still had not come out of seclusion. Over these three months, Xuan Xiao's alchemy skills had improved significantly. However, it seemed he truly lacked any natural talent for the craft; after failing ninety-seven times with the cauldron gifted by An Xiaoran, he finally began to gradually control the flame's temperature.
Following the alchemy methods and pill recipes left in the jade slip, he started refining other pills. The recipes recorded in Zhou Fang's jade slip were the most basic kind, making them ideal for him to practice with. Xuan Xiao had tried all the spiritual herbs in the courtyard one by one, but the failure rate was so high that he could barely succeed once out of nearly ten attempts—sometimes failing all ten times. If things went on like this, it was likely that by the time Zhou Fang came out of seclusion, the herbs in the courtyard would be completely ruined by Xuan Xiao.
Chapter 1532