Even the most favored darlings of heaven, who did not need pills to help break through cultivation realms, still required pills like the Dao-Comprehension Pill to assist them in comprehending the Dao.
With various factors stacking up, alchemy reigned supreme among the four arts, and the status of alchemists naturally rose with the tide.
Of course, not just anyone could become an alchemist. First, one had to possess either a fire or wood spiritual root; a wood spiritual root had a natural affinity with spiritual plants, making it the absolute best for refining pills.
Second, one needed a certain amount of talent. The higher the rank of the alchemist, the more their ability to draw inferences from one instance was tested.
The Dao of alchemy was vast and profound. Almost all high-grade alchemists would abandon other paths to focus solely on alchemy. This also meant that alchemists were highly fragile and required extra protection.
Dao protectors were guardian cultivators who signed contracts with alchemists.
The protectors sought pills from the alchemists, while the alchemists required capable cultivators for protection.
Wen Shuyi was currently an eighth-grade alchemist. Even though she was also a spell cultivator, the Pill Sect still treated her as their most precious treasure, with at least four Mahayana Stage cultivators accompanying her whenever she went out.
While this ensured her safety, she also lost her freedom.
Of course, her actual cultivation had already reached the Tribulation Passage Stage, and she was only one opportunity away from ascension.
For Wen Jingshu's sake, she was not actively looking for that opportunity to ascend just yet.
She did not need worldly trials, but the newly initiated Wen Jingshu did. If Wen Jingshu were to reveal her astounding talent for alchemy right now, the Pill Sect would definitely guard her like the apple of their eye.
This was not what Wen Shuyi wanted to see.
Hothouse flowers were the most fragile and prone to an early death.
Back then, with her father and mother backing her, she had initially focused on spell cultivation as her primary path and alchemy as a supplement. Only later, as her cultivation rose and her lifespan extended, did she gradually begin to delve deeper into the Dao of alchemy.
Although Dao protectors took oaths under the Heavenly Dao, they were ultimately outsiders and external forces. In cultivation, only by being strong oneself could one truly succeed.
Having already died once, the fragile talisman cultivator Wen Jingshu deeply related to this. Without Wen Shuyi needing to say more, she already understood the stakes.
The tribulation and heavenly phenomenon triggered by Wen Jingshu's Foundation Establishment Stage breakthrough had been brushed off by Wen Shuyi as the advancement of her own natal treasure.
Whether others believed it or not, this was the only explanation she would offer.
Besides, no matter how much they speculated, they would never suspect a five-year-old toddler like Wen Jingshu.
After Wen Jingshu rested for another month, Wen Shuyi officially began teaching her pharmacological knowledge.
In their spare time, Wen Shuyi would also introduce various weapons and magical treasures to Wen Jingshu, helping her explore other paths she might be interested in or have a talent for.
To enter the Dao of alchemy, one first had to memorize tens of thousands of spiritual plants, and then learn how to cultivate and nurture them.
Only after mastering both could one qualify to become an alchemy apprentice and observe an alchemist refine pills.
Without a background, even a cultivator with extremely high talent for alchemy would have to spend ten years of quiet study before they could actually start refining pills.
Wen Jingshu was an exception. With an eighth-grade alchemist like Wen Shuyi personally teaching her, combined with the Intelligence Awakening Pill she had consumed which greatly enhanced her comprehension, Wen Shuyi finally took Wen Jingshu to the alchemy room after six months of one-on-one instruction.
Today, Wen Shuyi was going to guide Wen Jingshu in refining a first-grade, low-tier pill: the Rejuvenation Pill.
“Since you don't have a fire spiritual root, you will use the pill fire that comes with the cauldron. Once your foundation is solid in a couple of years, you can subdue an exotic fire to use for refining pills.”
Listening to Wen Shuyi's arrangements, Wen Jingshu's mouth watered with tears of deep gratitude.
Being a second-generation cultivator was truly awesome!
Wen Shuyi brought out the medicinal herbs needed for the Rejuvenation Pill and began refining on the spot.
“All things in the world generate and overcome one another, and the attributes of spiritual plants are no exception. The so-called alchemy is to extract the parts of the spiritual plants that are beneficial to cultivators, while filtering out impurities and toxic substances.”
“Different pills require different primary and auxiliary herbs. The primary herb for the Rejuvenation Pill is the Spirit Spring Grass. The grass itself possesses the effect of restoring spiritual energy, which is why it serves as the primary herb. The auxiliary herbs are used to assist the Spirit Spring Grass in maximizing its medicinal properties, suppress its toxicity, or increase the success rate of the refinement.”
“The first step of alchemy is to extract the required parts from the spiritual plants.”
As Wen Shuyi spoke, she tossed the spiritual plants into the cauldron one by one, from the primary to the auxiliary. Her hands formed hand seals as she patiently refined each plant.
Under Wen Shuyi's actions, the spiritual plants vanished one after another, replaced by droplets of multi-colored spiritual plant extracts.
“Once the extracts are obtained, they must be further purified. Finally, they are fused together in an order based on how their attributes generate and overcome one another.”
The droplets of extract shrank visibly to the naked eye. After purification, the dozen or so droplets began to merge.
Each fusion caused slight fluctuations, which was a normal reaction when different extracts repelled one another.
What the alchemist needed to do was stabilize this repulsion.
Ultimately, all the extracts merged into a single sphere. The fire spiritual energy inside the cauldron surged with doubled intensity, enveloping the liquid sphere.
“The final step, forming the pill!”
Under the effect of the spiritual fire, the liquid sphere rapidly evaporated its excess moisture, and its volume compressed once more.
Once compressed to the limit, Wen Shuyi used her spiritual sense to divide the extract into ten equal parts. The spiritual fire was instantly withdrawn. The moment the lid was opened, the rapid temperature change caused any remaining moisture to instantly evaporate. The pills were formed.
The principles of alchemy were simple; the difficulty lay in the control of one's spiritual sense, the proficient application of pharmacological knowledge, and experience.
Having watched the entire process, Wen Jingshu did not rush to replicate it. Instead, she simulated the process hundreds of times in her mind.
Wen Shuyi did not rush her either, waiting for two shichen before she finally saw her sister make a move.
“Eh?”
The moment Wen Jingshu picked up a spiritual plant, she felt a strange sensation.
As a talisman cultivator in her past life, the moment she picked up a talisman brush, she would subconsciously channel spiritual energy into it.
Carrying this habit over, she subconsciously channeled her wood spiritual energy into the spiritual plant as soon as she held it.
Instantly, she could feel a sensation that was seventy percent gentle, twenty percent volatile, and ten percent cold.
Meanwhile, Wen Shuyi could visibly see the spiritual plant in Wen Jingshu's hand perk up.
Using wood spiritual energy to nourish spiritual plants could restore some of their vitality and enhance their medicinal properties.
However, that effect was limited; restoring them to ninety percent of their original vitality was already considered the absolute best outcome.
Yet the spiritual plant in Wen Jingshu's hand looked as fresh as if it were still growing in the soil.
“Did you channel wood spiritual energy into the spiritual plant?”
Hearing Wen Shuyi's question, Wen Jingshu nodded.
Wen Shuyi reached out, took the spiritual plant from her hand, and inspected it, only to find that its medicinal properties had actually grown stronger.
Its medicinal potency did not resemble that of a twenty-year-old plant, but rather a hundred-year-old one.
Could it be because of Wen Jingshu's mutated wood spiritual root?
With this hypothesis in mind, Wen Shuyi handed her another spiritual plant of a different species. Wen Jingshu channeled her wood spiritual energy into it once more. This time, she felt fifty percent gentleness and fifty percent volatility.
Seeing that the medicinal potency of this plant had also increased, Wen Shuyi frowned.
Pondering this mysterious sensation, Wen Jingshu fell into deep thought.
“Does your mutated wood spiritual root have other effects?”
“There seems to be something unusual about my wood spiritual root.”
The two sisters spoke at the same time.
Wen Shuyi spoke first. “I sensed it just now. Your wood spiritual root can actually increase the medicinal potency of spiritual plants.”
Wen Jingshu followed. “Aside from that, I also seem to be able to feel the medicinal efficacy of the spiritual plants.”
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