novelapdf Chapter 557 Pretending to be weak while actually being strong? Alchemy!
Chapter 557 Pretending to be weak while actually being strong? Alchemy!
"Surprised?" Chen Fan said calmly.
"It's too late to regret it now!"
He raised his hand and grabbed at the air, and a jet-black banner appeared out of thin air.
The banner moved without wind, and countless twisted ghostly figures howled silently on it, spreading a chilling aura that lowered the temperature in the mountain valley.
The Black Soul Banner, having been refined in the golden bowl, had been upgraded to a late-stage Nascent Soul magic weapon, and the malevolent aura of the millions of souls within it was more than twice as strong as before.
The moment the gray-robed cultivator saw the banner, his face turned deathly pale.
He knelt down with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly: "Senior, spare my life! Senior, spare my life! I was blind and ignorant, I was only following orders, please have mercy..."
Chen Fan ignored him and waved his hand dismissively.
A thick cloud of black mist surged from the Black Soul Banner, transforming into countless pitch-black arms that tightly bound the gray-robed cultivator.
Those arms tore at his soul directly, and the gray-robed cultivator let out a shrill scream. His protective aura at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm shattered like paper in front of the black mist.
In just a few breaths, a dim nascent soul was forcibly ripped from the body and sucked into the banner with a scream.
Chen Fan put away the Black Soul Banner and squatted down to search the body that had lost its nascent soul.
Inside the storage bag were several bottles of low-grade pills, thousands of mid-grade spirit stones, a token of identity for a guest of the Wang family, and a communication jade talisman engraved with a flame emblem.
He casually put the item into his sleeve, flicked his finger, and a gray-white flame landed on the corpse, instantly turning it to ashes.
A mountain breeze blows, and not even a speck of dust remains.
After doing all this, Chen Fan changed out of the blood-stained gray robe, put on a new cloak and mask, took a different route around the city gate, and quietly returned to the inn from another direction.
The inn remained quiet. Han Yueshan and Qin Dao were not in the courtyard; they had probably gone out to visit officials in the capital again.
After returning to his room, Chen Fan set up two isolation barriers at the entrance and reinforced the four corner trapping formations with the "Fixed Character" technique.
After confirming that nothing had been missed, he made a thought and disappeared from the room.
A world within a bowl!
Chen Fan appeared in the quiet room.
The Qiankun Furnace in the center of the quiet room was ready, with dark golden refining runes slowly flowing on its surface, exuding an ancient and profound aura.
On the stone shelf next to the stove, the medicinal herbs he brought back from Baicaotang were neatly arranged, including four-hundred-year-old Ninglu grass, five-hundred-year-old Chiyang flower, the inner core of a third-tier demon beast, and dozens of auxiliary medicinal herbs, each of which was of excellent quality.
Chen Fan took out Dan Yangzi's alchemy manual from his sleeve and read the chapter on refining the fourth-grade Rejuvenation Pill carefully again!
He even closed his eyes and repeatedly rehearsed the alchemy process in his mind several times until he knew every detail by heart before slowly opening his eyes.
For his first attempt at refining a fourth-grade pill, Chen Fan chose the Rejuvenation Pill.
This pill is the most commonly used elixir for restoring spiritual energy by Nascent Soul cultivators. It has a wide range of uses and a relatively high market price, making it perfect for practice.
According to Danyangzi's experience, the difficulty of the fourth-order Rejuvenation Pill lies in the two main ingredients!
The Xuan Yin Grass and the Chi Yang Flower have conflicting properties. They need to be wrapped separately with Ning Lu Grass and then slowly fused together to have a chance of forming a pill!
With his thoughts churning, Chen Fan sat cross-legged in front of the Qiankun Furnace, his hands forming a hand seal, and the infant fire at the bottom of the furnace slowly ignited.
He put a Xuan Yin grass into the furnace and slowly extracted its medicinal power over a low flame.
The Xuan Yin Grass gradually melted in the flames, quickly turning into a dark green liquid, exuding a chilling aura.
Chen Fan did not rush to add the second medicine, but patiently wrapped the medicinal liquid with layers of dew-covered grass until the dark green was completely covered by a layer of light white dew film.
Next is the Red Sun Flower.
The Red Sun Flower is as fiery as fire, and its medicinal power is much more violent than that of the Mysterious Yin Grass. If you are not careful, it will break through the condensation membrane.
With extremely precise divine sense, Chen Fan controlled the heat, dividing the Crimson Sun Flower into three portions and adding them in one after another. He waited until the medicinal power of the previous portion was completely enveloped by the condensation membrane before adding the next portion.
Fusion.
This is the most crucial step.
The two conflicting medicinal forces slowly approached each other under the protection of the condensation membrane, and fine beads of sweat appeared on Chen Fan's forehead.
He used his divine sense to guide the two clumps of medicinal liquid to rotate slowly in the center of the furnace, at a moderate speed and angle, just like two dancers performing an extremely exquisite duet.
Just as the two medicinal powers were about to fully merge, the condensation membrane suddenly emitted a faint cracking sound and split open with a gap the size of a pinhead.
Two opposing medicinal energies spilled out from the crevice and collided with a loud crash.
With a muffled bang, a cloud of black smoke rose from the furnace.
My first attempt resulted in an explosion.
Chen Fan remained expressionless as he cleaned the residue from the furnace and put the medicinal herbs back in.
This time he was much more careful, doubling the thickness of the condensation film and slowing down the fusion process by two times.
However, when the medicinal power had reached 70%, the violent force of the Crimson Sun Flower still broke through the confinement of the dew membrane, causing a second explosion.
The third time, the medicinal power fusion was successful, but the spiritual power compression was not uniform enough when the core was condensed. When the pill was formed, it split in two, and the medicinal power was completely lost.
The fourth time, the core of the pill was successfully condensed, but the heat was too high, and the surface of the pill was charred black. After taking it, it would probably not only fail to restore spiritual power, but would also damage the meridians.
The fifth time, the sixth time, the seventh time...
Time passed day by day in the bowl.
Chen Fan never left his house. When he was hungry, he would eat radishes. When his spiritual energy was exhausted, he would meditate to recover. He spent the rest of his time in front of the Qiankun Furnace.
Every failure was a lesson for him, and a time to gain experience!
The reasons for failure are varied: the heat was slightly off, the ratio of medicinal power was slightly off, the condensate film was too thin, or the fusion rhythm was too fast.
This led Chen Fan to record the reasons for each failure in the jade slip, repeatedly pondering and verifying them.
Nearly three months passed quickly in the bowl.
Chen Fan sat cross-legged in front of the Qiankun Furnace, his eyes bloodshot, but his face remained calm as still water.
The infant fire within the Qiankun Furnace was like a docile sheep, changing into various forms under the guidance of his divine sense.
He had failed 237 times, and each failure deepened his understanding of fourth-tier pills.
This time, he made no mistakes from beginning to end.
The medicinal power of the Xuan Yin Grass and the Chi Yang Flower was perfectly fused under the wrapping of the dew membrane, and the core was steadily condensed under the compression of spiritual power. The timing of the fire was perfect, alternating between gentle and intense fire.
The Qiankun Furnace emitted a clear, melodious hum.
The furnace lid flew off, and a blue pill the size of a longan flew out of the furnace. The surface of the pill was as smooth as jade, with three faint pill patterns flowing around it, emitting a rich and pure spiritual energy fluctuation.
Fourth-order Rejuvenation Pill, completed.
Chen Fan reached out and caught the pill, feeling the pure medicinal power contained within it, a barely perceptible smile appearing on his lips.
Although this Rejuvenation Pill is not of the highest quality, with only three pill patterns, it is still a genuine fourth-grade pill.
He finally crossed the threshold from a third-grade alchemist to a fourth-grade one.
He stood up, stretched his limbs, and pushed open the door of the quiet room, walking towards the courtyard.