Chapter 554
Zheng Fa noticed the way Zhao Jingfan was staring at him, a hint of fear in his eyes, and couldn't help but chuckle.
He wasn't doing it on purpose.
But when it came to alchemy, once the atmosphere was right, it was beyond anyone's control.
He was quite pleased with the efforts of the Qingmu Sect.
As the saying goes, "Qingmu works hard today, and Zheng Fa will achieve his Nascent Soul tomorrow."
Everyone was happy.
Zheng Fa pointed at the group of Foundation Establishment disciples and asked, "How are they doing with the techniques?"
"After breaking it down, it really is much simpler..." Zhao Jingfan looked at the ten or so disciples and sighed, "I just realized that this is how you guys create external elixirs."
"Compared to making external elixirs, the difficulty of refining spiritual pills is much lower."
Zheng Fa gazed proudly at the disciples. Most of them had gone through the training of the "Golden Pill Project" and were quite familiar with this assembly-line style of alchemy.
External elixirs were indeed related to the alchemical methods.
As Zhao Jingfan had said, in terms of difficulty, external elixirs were actually harder to refine than these spiritual pills of the Golden Pill stage.
Thus, in learning the techniques, the Foundation Establishment disciples of the second spiritual pill experimental group faced no particularly difficult challenges.
Their struggles were the same as those of Elder Xiong and the others—insufficient efficacy and excessive pill toxicity.
"Has Xuanhua sent over the new-style alchemy furnace?"
"Yes!"
A disciple hurriedly replied.
Then, a brand-new alchemy furnace was brought into the alchemy room.
This furnace looked quite similar to the previous one, but its surface was adorned with many new runes.
The most striking feature was the furnace's belly, made of transparent glass, allowing a view of the interior.
"What’s this for?"
"Observation. Our data is still lacking, not detailed enough." Zheng Fa explained while nodding at the disciples, signaling them to begin.
Zhao Jingfan stood by, watching the disciples skillfully perform the techniques. The spiritual fire ignited, and through the glass, he could see the Five Elements Orchid and other materials gradually falling into the furnace, slowly burning or melting.
Then, he noticed some numbers and curves on the glass that he couldn't quite understand.
"What’s this…?"
Zheng Fa didn’t hide anything and smiled, saying, "I know too little about alchemy, so I could only simplify the process. In the end, I thought alchemy was just about the materials and the environment."
"As for the secret techniques, they are merely methods to alter the environment."
"So what’s on this?" Zhao Jingfan found some logic in this, at least from the perspective of a Foundation Establishment alchemist, he couldn't see too many flaws, and he curiously asked.
"The materials, we already know. Even how to mix them and how they react, Elder Xiong has helped us refine a rough outline."
"At least, from Xuanhua's validation, this path is feasible."
Zhao Jingfan understood Zheng Fa's point: "So now we just need to consider the environment?"
"Not just need to, but we can only work on the environment now." Zheng Fa said humbly, pointing at the glass, explaining, "Here, we’ve gathered several environmental data."
"Temperature, pressure inside the furnace."
This was something he learned in chemistry class.
"And the spiritual energy scanner."
This was to control the concentration of spiritual energy in the furnace. After all, the biggest difference between the alchemical methods of the Xuanwei Realm and modern chemistry was the presence of spiritual energy.
The concentration of spiritual energy might be the most crucial environmental variable in alchemy in the Xuanwei Realm.
"Lastly, there’s the microscopic array."
"Combined with the Dongxu Spiritual Eye, it can observe the types of spiritual energy inside and clarify the reactions in the furnace under different conditions."
Zheng Fa explained simply, and Zhao Jingfan quickly grasped it. He frowned and questioned, "Will this really work?"
Zheng Fa shook his head slightly, looking at the gradually forming pills in the furnace: "This is just a hypothesis about alchemy."
"Whether the hypothesis is correct... I don’t know."
Zhao Jingfan understood; when it came to alchemy, the Jiushan Sect couldn't hold a candle to the Qingmu Sect.
So they had to find a new framework, but Zheng Fa didn’t seem overly confident, as if he were taking a gamble.
That’s why they needed the Qingmu Sect to continue down the old path.
Soon, he realized... Zheng Fa might be a bit too humble!
The disciples of Jiushan Sect were definitely not relying on luck!
"Master!"
Zheng Fa looked at the few spiritual pills in the furnace and instructed, "Send these to Madam Xuanhua and Jiao Wuji for verification, and prepare for the next batch."
"Yes!"
Watching the disciples leave, Zhao Jingfan curiously glanced at the experimental records.
"…Is this a repeat of the Grand Elder's alchemy session?"
"Elder Xiong has practiced nearly a hundred times, and two of those are particularly noteworthy."
Zheng Fa handed him a thick experimental record, explaining, "On the thirty-seventh attempt, the efficacy of the pill was the strongest."
"On the eighty-second attempt, although the efficacy was weak, the toxicity was also the lowest."
"Our experiments are based on these two attempts."
Zhao Jingfan flipped through the records, his mouth agape, incredulous: "You even recorded when the Grand Elder yawned?"
"Could the reason for that failure be me rubbing my eyes?"
"How do you remember everything?"
Zheng Fa chuckled, feeling a bit embarrassed. They had recorded far more than Zhao Jingfan had seen; what he was looking at was just the tip of the iceberg.
They not only had written records but also visual recordings made with preservation talismans.
Every time Elder Xiong refined a pill, what techniques he used, how long they lasted, and even how much spiritual power he exerted were all meticulously documented.
Elder Xiong had been analyzed frame by frame; privacy was out of the question.
And who knows if Elder Xiong was aware that he had a habit of biting his thumb when releasing spiritual fire...
After the two experiments concluded, Zheng Fa held the testing reports sent back by Madam Xuanhua, reading them carefully. After a while, he looked up and said, "These two pill formations, like Elder Xiong's, one has strong efficacy, and the other has weak toxicity."
Zhao Jingfan listened, not surprised, but unsure of its usefulness.
"So what do you plan to do?"
"On these two occasions, Elder Xiong used fifty-seven and sixty-two techniques respectively, with thirty-four of them being identical. The differences lie in either the duration of the techniques or the techniques themselves."
"We can only use a brute-force method and test them one by one."
"Let’s see what changes the efficacy and what can reduce the toxicity."
Zhao Jingfan thought for a moment and found that although this method sounded clumsy, it seemed very feasible.
He joined Zheng Fa in drafting the experimental plan, quickly coming up with over two hundred experimental schemes.
"First round of experiments, begin!"
"Second round of experiments..."
"Third round of experiments..."
Zhao Jingfan watched the Jiushan Sect disciples tirelessly conducting experiments day after day, validating various schemes.
It was quite dreary.
Very boring.
Most of the disciples looked rather haggard.
Yet, inexplicably, he felt they were purposefully climbing a high mountain.
Months passed.
Over one hundred sixty schemes were tested one by one.
The disciples in the alchemy room hadn’t paused; their expressions had grown somewhat numb while performing the techniques.
"Master!"
A disciple rushed in, shouting, "The last batch of pills, Madam Xuanhua said the efficacy has reached the original maximum value!"
"Experimental report!"
A disciple handed over the experimental report.
"After the thirteenth technique, the concentration of spiritual energy rose to... the types of spiritual energy... temperature... pressure value... the Frostleaf began to melt and absorbed the Five Elements Orchid powder?"
"Melted..."
Zheng Fa suddenly turned his head and asked, "What about the scheme with the least toxicity?"
A disciple rummaged through the vast number of experimental records and finally found a small booklet, handing it to Zheng Fa.
Zheng Fa flipped through it, as if searching for something, and after a while, he softly said, "The mixture of Five Elements Orchid and Frostleaf, at the concentration of spiritual energy... turned into a powder, and..."
He looked at Zhao Jingfan and suddenly asked, "Did Elder Xiong say that both excessive toxicity and weak efficacy could be due to too many impurities?"
"Yes!"
Zheng Fa's eyes suddenly lit up, murmuring, "Too many impurities mean fewer effective components, resulting in low efficacy. On the other hand, impurities might also be toxic..."
"If we reduce the impurities..."
"The Frostleaf melts... extraction?"
Zhao Jingfan didn’t quite understand and was about to ask when Zheng Fa closed his eyes, as if communicating with someone.
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