94:

  Xiao Feng’s features were scrunched up in concentration as he reached for a vial that was full of a thick silver liquid that he knew to be the bone marrow of a Stoneback Ursine. He took a deep breath to still his nerves, knowing what the consequences would be if he failed to refine even a single pill out of all the sets of ingredients he had available.

  Then he poured the valuable bone marrow onto the metal plate that isolated the interior of the pill furnace from the outside world.

  A vial full of pinkish-red liquid, the blood extract of a Lesser Shadow Wyrm, a spiritual beast that he now knew to be Tier 3, just like the Stoneback Ursine. The value of the ingredients was made much clearer in Xiao Feng’s mind, upon knowing that the spiritual beasts could have reached the Core Formation Stage if given enough time and resources to grow. Of course, Lianhua had made it clear that the ingredients he had bought were of early foundation establishment quality and that he could not purchase ingredients at the Core Formation stage even if he wanted to— that honour was reserved for Senior Alchemist designations and higher.

  Xiao Feng observed as the melange of the two ingredients formed into a deep orange paste.

  “High quality ingredients,” He remarked.

  “Correct.”

  Nodding, Xiao Feng twisted the pill furnace’s handle counter-clockwise. A gurgling noise followed as the dark orange mixture settled at the bottom of the pill furnace, a process Xiao Feng could clearly see due to his Essence Cultivation Art being active.

  He ignited the amethyst dragonstone burner with a practiced motion, keeping his right hand on the knob so he could supply the Qi the amethyst dragonstone needed to emanate it's scorching heat and modulate said heat by varying the volume and intensity of Qi he supplied.

  Interesting, Xiao Feng thought to himself as he observed the two abutting patches of Qi that he could only distinguish because of the slight difference in their luminscence before his Essence Cultivation Art. Each time I’ve worked with these ingredients, I’ve noticed that the Stoneback Ursine’s Bone Marrow always glows brighter than the Lesser Shadow Wyrm’s Blood Extract. Is that because the Bone Marrow of Spiritual Beasts naturally has a higher concentration of Qi or because the Stoneback Ursine simply has larger Qi Reserves?

  As the boundaries between the two abutting patches of the two liquid ingredients began to blur, impurities began to form in the shape of lumps that were as clear as day for Xiao Feng.

  Taking a deep breath, Xiao Feng ensconced the surface of his left palm with a layer of Wind Qi and pressed it up against the side of the pill furnace, as close to the bottom of the furnace as he could get without being overwhelmed by the heat.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Then, Xiao Feng employed the modified kneading method he had developed for use in conjunction with the Essence Cultivation Art, as he willed small whirlwhinds of Wind Qi to target the individual lumps that were forming with an efficiency that far surpassed his earlier attempts due to the hours he had spent practicing. Once he had managed to clear all the lumps, he willed the small whirlwinds to clump up together, into one large whirlwind of Wind Qi that nearly occupied the entire circumference of the pull furnace, targeting the abutting boundaries separating the two mixtures directly until more lumps appeared.

  His forehead was beaded with sweat, for this was merely one of two tasks he had to accomplish simultaneously.

  The eighth ingredient of the Beast Bonding Pill was his own Qi and the method Lianhua used to imbue her Qi onto the finished product was to initiate the process from the moment the first two ingredients were being refined.

  I underestimated how difficult this part is, Xiao Feng wryly thought as he tried to keep track of the unattuned Qi via use of his Essence Cultivation Art. As it turned out, unattuned Qi was wispy beforand diffused quickly if left exposed to the environment, atleast in the quantities he was outputting it. There was a reason why he hadn’t detected Lianhua imbueing her Qi into the pill furnace but even if Xiao Feng had focused enough to catch the soft, hazy clouds of Qi that diffused quicker the longer they were exposed to the environment, it wouldn’t matter because the moment they seeped into the Pill Furnace, the luminescence of the ingredients completely overshadowed it’s presence.

  Xiao Feng had expected to hit road blocks upon trying to refine a pill that was far above his skill level, but what he hadn’t expected was for his essence cultivation art to fail him. With no way to tell how well he was managing to imbue his unattuned Qi into the mixture, Xiao Feng decided to increase the amount he was outputting.

  Ten minutes later, when the melange of two ingredients was one unified paste in both consistency and luminescence, Xiao Feng reached for the third ingredient.

  The pearl orchid bulb was his next test and given that Xiao Feng had never gotten this far before with the actual ingredients, he couldn’t help but feel excited as he reached for the circular bulb that was packed to the brim with seeds.

  The most difficult part of the shielding process came easily to Xiao Feng as he caught the pearl orchid bulb in mid-air, half a second after it was released by the metal plate. Tightly ensconscing it’s form with a layer of Wind Qi and held it in place before slowly lowering it in the mixture.

  Just before the pearl orchid bulb could interact with the refined mixture of bone marrow and blood extract from two different ingredients, Xiao Feng pulled back the extent of his shielding to expose a part of it’s flesh.

  A sizzle sounded out as the pearl orchid met the heated melange, beginning to dissolve upon contact even as Xiao Feng held most of the bulb in place above the mixture, adding an extra layer of cooling to it.

  There were no problems until the bulb was half-dissolved in the now brighter mixture, then without warning, it began to swell.

  Had Xiao Feng had more experience with the real ingredients, he would have noticed that his refined mixture of bone marrow and blood extract was significantly brighter than Lianhua’s had been.

  His eyes went wide with panic as he reached for a Flashfrost Pill and sent it right onto the metal plate.

  A moment later, his first refinement ended in a frozen, multicolored statuette.

  His first attempt at refining the Beast Bonding Pill had resulted in failure.

  two chapters ahead on patreon if you want to.

  Rating and the story helps more people get their chai.

  Join it and grab a role here if you're interested, it's a pretty nifty feature