Lin Zhiyue was in the alchemy room, sorting through the spiritual herb residue from the previous day, when the system's light screen popped up once again.
She put down the dustpan in her hand and brightened the screen. After reading the task details clearly, her movements paused for a moment.
Task Name: 【Advance to Alchemist within one month. Reward: Gold Ticket ×4.】 She stood frozen in place.
An Alchemist, not an Alchemy Apprentice.
She had already figured out the hierarchy of alchemists on Qingli Peak—Alchemy Apprentice, Alchemist, Alchemy Venerable, Alchemy King, and Alchemy God. The gap between each rank was even wider than the gap between spiritual root grades.
The threshold for an Alchemist was a fourth-grade pill. Currently, the highest-grade pill she could reliably refine was the second-grade Foundation Establishment Pill. Although its quality was excellent, she was still two full grades away from the fourth grade.
She looked down at the row of bottled second-grade pills beside her.
The reward of four Gold Tickets was indeed substantial, but the difficulty of refining a fourth-grade pill far exceeded that of a second-grade one. The requirements for herb processing, heat control, and spiritual energy consumption doubled with each rising grade. The slightest error would ruin the entire batch.
Fourth-grade pills typically required years of accumulated experience to master, yet she had been on the alchemy peak for less than two months.
The system's tasks were becoming more and more demanding—
...
The next day, Lin Zhiyue set up an extra worktable in the corner of the alchemy room.
She had spent most of the previous night searching through Tiance Palace, trying to find tools she could use to replicate the extraction experiments from her past life. This was the only way she could think of to reach the threshold of an Alchemist in the shortest possible time.
Accumulating conventional experience took time, and time was exactly what she lacked. Therefore, she had to find an alternative path—
But she soon realized that these mundane or low-grade spiritual tools were far less precise in extraction efficiency than her direct control over spiritual energy.
When performing chemistry experiments in her past life, she had been accustomed to relying on equipment for separation and purification, but that was a method for a world without spiritual energy.
Now, possessing both Ice and Wind spiritual roots, her ice element governed low-temperature condensation while her wind element controlled airflow pressure. The combination of these two was the most precise instrument in itself.
She discarded the traditional tools and began to adjust her methods.
Instead of stubbornly forcing things, she integrated the chemical concepts from her past life—such as cold extraction, fractional distillation, and reflux—entirely into her alchemy.
Replacing mundane equipment with spiritual energy control was not only more efficient but also better aligned with the cultivation laws of this world.
Lin Zhiyue hesitated no longer and immediately put her ideas into practice.
Suspending her palm above the medicinal liquid, she silently released her ice spiritual energy, slowly lowering the temperature.
At the same time, her wind spiritual energy created an extremely subtle airflow circulation over the liquid's surface, forcing the extract to naturally separate into layers under a stable temperature gradient.
Next, using her wind spiritual energy as a guide, she stripped the low-boiling-point active components from the crude liquid, then used her ice spiritual energy to condense and collect them above the container.
This technique seemed simple, but it actually demanded extremely high precision in spiritual energy control.
If the airflow was too strong, the liquid would splatter; if the condensation was too rapid, the components would degrade. The slightest deviation meant a world of difference in purity.
She spent three days repeatedly calibrating the airflow pressure, condensation temperature, and distance from the liquid's surface.
It was not until her sixth attempt that the extracted liquid finally appeared with unprecedented clarity.
When Zhou Zhengqing entered the alchemy room, he saw her condensing frost at the bottom of the container, her palm cradling a mass of medicinal liquid that was slowly flowing under the guidance of her spiritual energy.
He paused at the doorway for a moment, his gaze sweeping over her continuous actions of separating, isolating, and recombining the liquids. He then walked over to the table and looked down to inspect the state of each layer after the separation.
“This method of yours,” he said in a flat tone, yet it carried a hint of inquiry, “where did you learn it?”
Lin Zhiyue held the container steady, glanced at him, and replied, “I experimented with it myself.”
She paused before explaining calmly, “The medicinal properties of many high-grade spiritual herbs are extremely delicate, especially the highly precious ones. If one blindly extracts them using intense heat and high temperatures, the heat will directly destroy the active components, leading to a loss of spiritual efficacy.”
“Conversely, by utilizing low-temperature condensation and airflow pressure differentials, one can precisely strip away those core medicinal liquids with low boiling points.”
Zhou Zhengqing frowned slightly, a trace of lingering doubt remaining in his eyes.
Lin Zhiyue knew full well that the terms she had just casually tossed out sounded like gibberish to Elder Zhou.
She pondered for a moment, organizing her words in her mind.
Patiently breaking down the obscure principles, she re-explained them using the simplest alchemical terminology.
Zhou Zhengqing listened quietly, his already furrowed brow tightening even further.
After she finished, he stared at the vials of clearly separated liquids. His expression shifted several times before finally settling into a disbelieving sigh. “This... is simply running counter to the ancient alchemy methods of the past thousands of years.”
“Elder,” Lin Zhiyue met his gaze, her tone neither humble nor arrogant, “this is not abandoning tradition, but rather conforming to the physical laws of the herbs themselves. The path of alchemy should progress alongside the changes of all things in heaven and earth, rather than drawing a circle around oneself and blindly stagnating.”
Zhou Zhengqing did not question her further. He merely stood by the table for a moment, pointing at a thin layer of frost cooling on the upper layer of the container. “The flow rate is too fast. Slow it down by half a beat, and the separation will be cleaner.”
With that, he turned and walked back to his own cauldron.
Lin Zhiyue took his words to heart and readjusted the rhythm of her spiritual energy output.
The condensation flow rate was indeed a bit fast. Once she slowed it down, the boundaries between the layers of medicinal liquid became noticeably clearer than before.
She stored the separated liquids in individual containers, labeled the batches, and placed them in a designated spot on the shelf.
Afterward, she glanced at the ash distribution inside the furnace to confirm that the fire intensity had remained even throughout the entire refining process. Only then did she record the new operating steps in her logbook, leaving some blank space for subsequent verification.
...
The two third-grade pills were successfully refined on the third day after she adjusted her methods.
The condensation process was smoother than ever before. There was almost no repulsion when the medicinal liquids fused, and the condensation time was shortened by nearly half a cup of tea compared to her estimates.
When she lifted the cauldron lid, two evenly lustrous pills lay quietly at the bottom.
Lin Zhiyue did not retrieve them immediately. Instead, she first observed the residue left inside the furnace and made corresponding marks in her logbook.
Only then did she take out a pill and hold it up to the light, slowly turning it to confirm that the surface was flawless, without a single crack.
It was a success—
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