Chapter 8: Dan Cheng

  As soon as the flame poured into the alchemy furnace, the spiritual medicine inside was immediately dried up, and the spiritual energy didn't have time to dissipate before it died. It failed from the start, but Shen Xiang didn't get discouraged. At this moment, he knew that his flame was too powerful and needed to be controlled a bit smaller.

  Shen Xiang carefully picked out those spiritual medicines and this time he controlled his flames well, carefully drying the spiritual medicines in the dan furnace, but still failed.

  Just after he failed three times, he grasped some experience and knew it was all because of the ancient fire timing.

  The fourth time, Shen Xiang achieved considerable success and was able to enter the later stages of alchemy.

  The alchemy furnace was specially made, and with the injection of spiritual power, one could see inside. At this time, Shen Xiang could see that the spiritual medicines were emitting different colored auras, and he was also controlling those auras to flow inside, condensing them into whirlpools. The spiritual medicines had already dried up and were slowly turning into ash.

  At this time, Shen Xiang used his spiritual power to control the spiritual energy emitted by those spiritual medicines and mixed it with the "medicinal powder" that was burned from those spiritual medicines...

  Shen Xiang was at the fifth level of the Mortal Martial Realm, and his spiritual power was still quite good. However, he felt that he had reached his limit because he needed to divide that mass of "Medicine Spirit Energy" into five whirlpools and merge it with those "Medicine Powders", which would allow him to cultivate five pellets at once.

  Five whirlpools formed, Shen Xiang furrowed his brow, sweating profusely. At this time, he not only had to consume true energy to release flames, but also use a large amount of spiritual power to control the flames and condense the elixir.

  "It must be done!" Shen Xiang took a deep breath, and the five "Medicine Spirit Orbs" swirled rapidly, merging with the five evenly distributed "Medicine Powders". Now all that was needed was to add an appropriate amount of water, allowing the "Medicine Powder" and "Medicine Spirit Orbs" to condense into a pill, and it would be a success.

  After Shen Xiang added the water that had been nourished by his true energy, five elixir pills appeared inside the alchemy furnace. However, they were still moist and surrounded by a dense spiritual energy.

  "Success!" Shen Xiang shouted in his heart, and saw that the five spiritual pills inside the alchemy furnace were suddenly wrapped in a white gas, which was the steam emitted from the drying of the medicinal herbs.

  Shen Xiang was drenched in sweat and looked extremely exhausted, after all, he had been continuously releasing flames and spiritual energy, almost depleting his true qi.

  "It's finally done, and it actually took a whole day, alchemy really does take time!" Shen Xiang sighed softly.

  Shen Xiang opened the alchemy furnace and watched as the mist on top of the five Tempering Body Pills dispersed, revealing five snow-white pills. He couldn't help but smile, having taken Tempering Body Pills before, but he felt that none of them were as good as the ones he had refined himself.

  If those old alchemists knew that he had successfully refined the Tempering Body Pill in just one day, they would definitely be so ashamed to death. It's known that many people can't succeed in refining a pill within three to five years, and even the most talented ones need at least a year or two, and they all try once to refine one pill.

  But Shen Xiang successfully refined five pellets at his first attempt, which would surely scare to death a large group of old alchemists if they knew.

  Not to mention the old alchemists, even Su Mei Yao and Bai Yu Yu were shocked by Shen Xiang's talent for alchemy. They looked at the pills in their hands with a face full of incredulity.

  "Heh heh, Mei Yao sister, you previously said it would take me a year and a half, but I succeeded in just one day. You guys should reward me." Shen Xiang proudly smiled.

  Su Mei Yao was also very happy and asked in a soft voice: "Then what reward does Young Master Shen want to give us two young ladies?"

  Shen Xiang hugged his chest with both hands and sneered: "Give me a kiss on my cheek."

  "How beautiful!" Bai YuYu said coldly and then returned to the ring.

  Su Mei Yao had a charming smile on her face, leaned in close, and gently touched Shen Xiang's cheek with her tender cherry lips. She smiled sweetly and said: "My good brother, you must continue to work hard, never be arrogant."

  Shen Xiang originally was just joking, but unexpectedly this beautiful woman actually really kissed his cheek. Su Mei Yao saw Shen Xiang's stupid expression, covered her mouth and smiled slyly, then returned to the ring.

  Shen Xiang took a deep breath, savoring the lingering fragrance that refreshed his heart and soul. He muttered to himself, "Indeed, it's a fairy! I've become much more spirited!"

  He stroked the invisible ring on his hand, as if caressing a lover's cheek, and worked diligently to restore the two fairy-like beauties inside the ring to their former strength.

  One pellet of Tempering Body Dan is worth 700 Great Spirit Stones. At this time, Shen Xiang had five pellets and could sell them for 3,500 Great Spirit Stones. He was making a huge profit, not to mention that he still had one more batch of materials left to refine. If it succeeded, that would be another 3,500 Great Spirit Stones.

  Shen Xiang had previously read that one set of materials could produce five pellets of Tempering Body Dan in a single furnace, so he initially aimed to refine five pellets. However, what he didn't know was that producing five pellets in one furnace required utilizing the materials to their limit, and only alchemists with extremely high comprehension could grasp the moment of condensing the dan, which was the most crucial timing.

  Spiritual power control and fire phase control must make subtle changes with the internal changes of the elixir furnace, otherwise it will be a failure.

  Tempering Body Pill, it has a great help in tempering the body, but it is limited to below the third level of Mortal Martial Realm. Shen Xiang is currently at the fifth level of Mortal Martial Realm, so this Tempering Body Pill doesn't have much effect on him, but it can make him quickly recover his true energy.

  Shen Xiang swallowed one of the pellets and his true energy was immediately restored by more than half. Then, he carefully wrapped up the remaining four pellets, intending to take them to Shen Tianhu for him to try.

  "It tastes good, but I ate 700 taels of silver in one go!" Shen Xiang felt a bit painful and then ran to his father's study.

  It was already late at night, but Shen Tianhu didn't sleep. He was still in the study thinking about some martial arts things, which was his habit.

  "Xiang Er, what's going on so late?" Shen Tianhu caught a whiff of sweat stench all over Shen Xiang and immediately furrowed his brow.

  Shen Xiang smiled and said: "I've said it before, once I refine the Dan medicine, the first thing I'll do is let Father try some!"

  "What!" Shen Tianhu suddenly stood up, his eyes wide with incredulity on his face. He had originally thought that Shen Xiang would need at least ten or eight years to refine it, but unexpectedly it only took a day!

  Shen Xiang took out the four snow-white Tempering Body Pills and handed them to Shen Tianhu. Shen Tianhu's mouth opened wide, his face filled with disbelief as he stared at the four snow-white pills.

  "It's still hot!" Shen Tianhu was shocked to the point of being stunned, because he couldn't believe that his son had grasped the door of alchemy in just one day, which was a once-in-a-thousand-years genius.

  This extraordinary talent is a hot commodity for many forces, but also an object of jealousy for many forces. Some people want to win him over, while others want to assassinate him.

  Shen Tianhu took a deep breath, calming the excitement in his heart, and said: "The quality is much better than that of Lingdan Pavilion, at least it can be sold for 800 large spirit coins per grain! I'll take these four Tempering Body Pills first and exchange them for spirit coins. Then I'll help you buy some spiritual medicine seedlings."

  From Shen Xiang's ability to ripen the spiritual medicine and refine the spiritual elixir, it was only a matter of days, but Shen Tianhu knew that his son would eventually become a master of alchemy.

  "You can't be too hasty now, first refine the lower-grade elixirs of the mortal rank, and when you think it's about right, then refine them further."

  Shen Xiang nodded and returned to rest. After recovering his spiritual energy, he refined the last batch of medicinal materials.

  The next day, Shen Xiang got up early and thought that he could refine the Tempering Body Pill, so he was a little excited. After having a successful experience once, he was now familiar with the process and easily reached the final stage of condensing the pill.

  Inside the Dan furnace, five groups of medicinal powder and spiritual energy had merged into a single entity. Shen Xiang was now extremely relaxed, unlike last time when he felt his mental strength and true qi being consumed.

  "Done!" Shen Xiang let out a sigh of relief and opened the lid of the dan furnace, taking out the Tempering Body Dan that was wafting with spiritual energy.

  This furnace has only been used for two hours!

  In the following days, Shen Xiang was busy ripening the spiritual medicine and refining the spiritual elixir. At this time, he not only refined the Tempering Body Elixir but also refined some practical lower-grade elixirs such as the Revival Elixir, Golden Wound Medicine, Detoxification Elixir, and Condensation Elixir.

  Although he failed every time he started refining, after becoming familiar with the properties of those spiritual medicines, he could control the fire and explore some secrets.

  Su Mei Yao's mysterious woman's alchemy skills were extremely impressive. If it were before, Shen Xiang wouldn't have believed that this delicate and charming creature actually understood alchemy, whereas in his impression, alchemists were all old men with white hair.

  Such days also made Shen Xiang's life very fulfilling, which did not affect his cultivation. He usually cultivated at night and took the opportunity to practice "Dragon Saliva Technique" to condense those green dew drops that could ripen spiritual medicine.

  Another month passed, Shen Xiang had already mastered the refining of ordinary low-grade elixirs.