"From today on, you'll follow me to learn how to refine dan. This month's task is simple, five pieces of Biegu Dan, regardless of grade, by the end of the month give them to me." Shi Fengrong said coldly: "I've prepared ten sets of materials for you, not enough for you to buy crystal stones yourself. The method for refining Biegu Dan is in the study room. All the jade slips in the study room you can look at, those that exceed your cultivation level you won't be able to read anyway. Everything is in the right wing's dan house, from now on that will be your dan house. Alright, go do it yourself."

  After finishing speaking, Shi Fengrong turned around and entered the Dan room, with a loud bang, the Dan room was tightly closed.

  Zuo Mo stood stupidly in place.

  Is this... is this what it means to learn alchemy from a master?

  Turning around and looking at the surroundings, there is no one in sight.

  Zuo Mo couldn't help but bitterly smile, why did he always encounter this kind of person? When learning from Pu Yao, it was the same, never explaining anything. And now this master was even more extreme, abandoning him to one side without a word, and stipulating that he had to complete a certain amount.

  When Lao Mo walked into the study, he was completely stunned.

  What's going on?

  Inside the study, hundreds of jade slips in different colors floated around, like a group of mischievous children, drifting and fluttering about. Each jade slip was surrounded by colorful whirlwinds, which supported the jade slips as they flew back and forth.

  "Break the fast!" Tsumara shouted after deliberating for half a day, with no other choice.

  The jade slips floated back and forth on their own, without any reaction.

  The method is incorrect! But there's nothing else in the study, Zu Mo scratched his head fiercely, at a loss.

  Is it with divine consciousness?

  After hesitating for a moment, he activated his divine sense. As soon as his divine sense touched the aura of a jade slip, some things flooded into his mind.

  "Lingyao Pu Tu, written by Xiao Lian Jie Xuan Dong Ming San Ren, contains more than 400 kinds of spiritual medicine spectra..."

  Zuo Mo's spirit suddenly lifted, and his consciousness rapidly touched upon the other jade slips. The information on each jade slip appeared in his mind. Soon, he found the method to make the Buang Xing Dan in one of the jade slips. This jade slip contained a total of three basic methods for making dan medicines.

  Bigu Pill is the most basic of elixirs, its effect very simple, just filling hunger, after taking it can keep from getting hungry for a long time, and can be considered a relatively practical elixir. Shenzhi locked onto this jade slip, the jade slip automatically flew to his face. Picking up the jade slip, he poured spiritual energy into it, and the method of making Bigu Pill instantly appeared before him.

  However, poor Zuo Mo was once again left stunned!

  "Your lordship is like a lotus leaf, I am like yellow rock, threefold currents of fire, tripod energy sinks to the bottom..."

  Every word, Luo Mo recognizes, but when these words are combined together, he is like falling into clouds and fog, completely bewildered.

  Calm down, must calm down!

  Zuo Mo was going crazy in his heart, telling himself to hold on. All along, he had thought that becoming an inner sect disciple meant the end of his hard days and the beginning of good ones! However, he only now realized that he was wrong, and wrong to a ridiculous degree! He had simply jumped from one pit into another even deeper one, and what made him feel like crying without tears was that this was still something he had done with his own free will, using all his heart and soul! Previously, he had always been tormented by the lack of anyone to guide him. Now that he had become an inner sect disciple and had a master, wasn't it just the same as before?

  It wasn't until half an hour later that his emotions stabilized.

  Zuo Mo was thoroughly ignored by his master, but he suddenly became even more determined. Wasn't it just a Breaking Taboo Pill? Wasn't it just refining dan? Wasn't it just not being taught?

  After spending half a day, he touched all the hundreds of jade slips in the study room, and counted a total of 517 jade slips. But what he could see was only 21 jade slips.

  The twenty-one jade slips screened out all floated in front of him.

  "Huo Yun Dan Pian", not what he wanted, thrown aside.

  "Blue Ice Dan", no, put it aside.

  "Mo Huadan Pian", lost.

  ……

  Until he saw "Alchemical Fundamentals", Zuo Mo's spirit lifted and he grabbed it in one motion, this was what he wanted.

  He read "Introduction to Alchemy" with great enthusiasm, and soon he became completely absorbed in it. The things in the jade book were extremely novel to him, as if they were a new world. "Introduction to Alchemy" did not have too complicated content, all of which were some basic contents about alchemy, such as the ratio of medicinal materials, the use of furnace and cauldron, and fire control, etc.

  When he raised his head, the night had darkened, and unknowingly, he had been in the study for several hours.

  He let out a long breath, stood up, and stretched his sore neck and legs. His eyes still had a few hints of dullness as he savored the moment. "The Initial Refining of Elixirs" wasn't some high-level jade slip, but its contents were incredibly detailed and realistic, absolutely not something that could be bought on the market. Having been an outer sect disciple before, Zuo Mo deeply understood how rare this opportunity was.

  As for whether the master taught him or not, he had long been thrown to the back of his mind, and he started re-reading it carefully again, as if he had discovered a treasure.

  For several days in a row, he stayed in the study. Every possible jade slip, he didn't let one go. Who knows when it will be used in the future? Now put in more effort, and later when needed, there's no need to worry. If these jade slips are converted into crystal stones, they can buy ten Zuo Mos.

  If one day you become impoverished, you can still sell the contents of these jade slips for crystal stones.

  In the study, Zuo Mo was smiling secretly.

  He memorized until he was dizzy and his eyes were blurred, but Zuo Mo finally managed to recall all the contents of the 21 jade slips. Only then did he remember that Master said the Dan room in the right wing would be for his own use later, so he excitedly ran to the right wing.

  The most eye-catching thing in the room was a bronze tripod furnace in the center, about two people high and three-legged with a round belly. Several tatami mats were placed around it, and several tables were arranged against the wall, on which many things were piled up. The ten materials prepared by the master for him were also placed there.

  Zuo Mo circled around the alchemy furnace, muttering to himself: "Really petty."

  Don't look at the big guy in front of you, it's actually just a first-class alchemy furnace. The most important thing about an alchemy furnace is the fire-separation array at the bottom of the furnace. There is a yin-yang bagua disk on the body of the furnace, and pouring spiritual power into it from the inside can control the fire-separation array.

  Controlling fire is the most important step in the entire alchemy process. For example, the "三三之流火" (Three Three Flowing Fire) that Zuo Mo saw earlier, where three refers to the vertical and horizontal arrangement of three, and flowing fire refers to a very special flame, whose main flame will roll along the flame path.

  Zuo Mo placed his hands on the Eight Trigrams disk and channeled ling energy into it. Suddenly, a flame ignited at the bottom of the furnace.

  According to the method recorded in "Lian Dan Chu Yao", carefully control the Li Huo Fu Zhen array. The Li Huo Fu Zhen array in the first-class Lian Dan furnace is not a high-end product, and can only produce six changes. Before long, Zuō Mò was able to play with it quite skillfully.

  Playing along, Zuomo suddenly felt that the feeling of controlling fire was quite similar to when he used "Chi Yan Jue".

  The five basic methods of Ling Zhi Fu belong to the five elements of yin and yang. It is said that Ling Zhi Fu believed that all things in heaven and earth are divided into yin and yang, and also belong to the five elements. The "Chi Yan Jue" belongs to fire among the five basic methods, from this perspective, the two indeed have commonalities. However, although the five elements of yin and yang were once widely practiced, with the rise of sword cultivation, it gradually became a separate system, and most researchers are individual cultivators.

  The alchemy of this subject is not clear whether it has anything in common with Ling Zhi Fu's theory.

  However, since Jianyi can merge with "Geng Jin Jue", he wouldn't find it strange if "Chi Yan Jue" and controlling fire have some connection.

  The "Chi Yan Jue" heart method he bought was very rough, and after reaching the third layer, it had already reached its limit. There were no hints afterwards, and he could only refer to the previous three layers.

  With eyes closed, both hands stuck to the eight trigrams plate on the furnace wall, carefully feeling the subtleties of the Li Huo Fu formation.

  After half a day of contemplation, there was still no breakthrough. He had an intuition that these two things should be able to combine together, but no matter how he changed them, there was no reaction. Helpless, he could only temporarily put this idea aside. In terms of alchemy, he was just a newcomer who couldn't get any newer, and talking about innovation was really too early.

  Better get down to making the Wudang pills conscientiously, lest by the end of the month you can't hand in five, and who knows how that cold-faced master of yours will punish you.

  The method of refining Biegu Wan is remembered in his heart, now lacking only practice.

  The ten portions of materials piled on the table had all been processed. One of the main tasks of those outer sect female disciples in the courtyard was to do some simple processing of various medicinal materials. The most basic dan medicine, Biegu Wan, would not involve too complicated processing either.

  Carefully put various medicinal materials into the alchemy furnace in proportion, sit facing the alchemy furnace with both hands stuck to the Bagua plate, input spiritual power inward.

  The bottom of the alchemy furnace emitted a faint red glow, and Mo Xiao carefully and nervously manipulated her spiritual energy.

  An hour passed, and beads of fine sweat appeared on Zuo Mo's forehead.

  He felt exhausted. Maintaining a stable spiritual energy input for a long time was quite a tiring task. Damn it! An hour had passed, and the medicine had just shown signs of melting. At this rate, in a few more hours, it would probably be hopeless.

  Thinking about maintaining such a high level of spiritual energy output for several hours in a row, Zuo Mo felt it was a big hassle.

  Another hour passed and he was drenched in sweat.

  Suddenly, his spiritual power became unstable.

  Hmph!

  A wisp of black smoke emerged from the alchemy furnace, filling the room with a burnt smell.

  Huffing and puffing, he didn't have time to regret, Zuo Mo hastily withdrew his spiritual energy and sat on the ground, panting nonstop. His entire body was drenched in sweat, partly due to the prolonged output of spiritual energy that left him exhausted, and partly because he was too close to the pill furnace, the flames heating him up like a cooked shrimp, red all over.

  He didn't start his second attempt at refining the elixir right away, but instead struggled to get up and climbed onto the Grey Wing Goose to head back to the West Wind Valley. Fortunately, as an inner sect disciple, he could also ride a mount within the mountain, earlier he hadn't noticed, but now lying on the Grey Wing Goose's back, he only felt his whole body was weak, not even willing to move a single finger.

  He had never felt such deep-seated fatigue as he did today. Fighting was a matter of gathering all his strength at once, whereas alchemy was like peeling an onion, bit by bit, until it drained the last bit of spiritual energy from his body. Even with his current level of spiritual power, which wasn't weak, he still couldn't handle this intensity of spiritual energy input. Moreover, if he wasn't careful, all his previous efforts would be undone.

  Zuo Mo sighed in his heart, from his point of view - indeed, anything that was easy to obtain crystal stones wasn't simple.

  Making money is tough!