Refining Elixirs

Him, guide her?

How was he supposed to guide her?

If she already knew how, why didn't she say so earlier?

Why play dumb?

Chen Qi looked at Jiang Lu's sincere eyes and choked on his words.

“No, you did very well. You really are quite talented...” he said dryly, his gaze shifting away to look elsewhere.

The others could only grit their teeth and swallow their pride. No rush, stay calm! If this didn't work, there was always next time! Next time, they would definitely make her suffer a setback.

Looking at everyone's varying expressions, Jiang Lu laughed inwardly. Making her suffer a setback wouldn't be that easy.

“What is everyone doing? Have today's spiritual plants been processed yet?”

A sharp voice suddenly rang out from outside the door. Everyone turned their heads toward the entrance to see a woman in a green robe standing there, her expression cold and aloof.

Everyone fell silent instantly. It was Senior Sister Huang Mei. She was extremely strict, and if she caught them slacking off, a punishment would surely follow.

Huang Mei scanned the room, her gaze finally resting on Jiang Lu. This was the new disciple who was rumored to have a knack for processing spiritual plants. She walked over to Jiang Lu.

Looking down at the spiritual plants laid out on the table, the neat arrangement made it obvious that these were the ones Jiang Lu had already finished processing.

She swept her gaze over them, then picked up a spiritual plant that had just been processed. The stem was clean and free of impurities, and the leaves retained their most essential parts, with all waste material meticulously removed.

It was processed almost perfectly...

“Did you process this?” Huang Mei asked, holding the spiritual plant up in front of Jiang Lu.

Jiang Lu nodded. “Yes, Senior Sister.”

“From now on, you will handle all of my spiritual plants.” With that, she turned and left.

Jiang Lu was a bit bewildered. Once Huang Mei's figure disappeared, she looked over at Chen Qi, only to find everyone staring at her with looks that said, "Good luck, you'll need it."

There was no longer any trace of their previous subtle schadenfreude.

Jiang Lu: ...

What exactly were they pitying her for?

Seeing Jiang Lu's utter confusion, Chen Qi sighed. Considering she was about to face a miserable time, he would show some mercy and enlighten Junior Sister Lu.

“Junior Sister Lu, there's something you don't know. Senior Sister Huang Mei is our youngest Tier Two alchemist, and she is incredibly strict about the quality of her spiritual plants. Since she has personally designated you to handle her spiritual plants, you'd better be careful.”

Jiang Lu came to a sudden realization. So that was it. However, from what she had seen just now, Senior Sister Huang Mei seemed decent enough.

“Senior Brother Qi, I understand. Thank you for explaining.” Jiang Lu nodded, feeling quite grateful to Chen Qi. After all, not everyone would take the time to explain so much to a newcomer.

When Alchemist Lin Wei found out about this, he merely nodded indifferently. She was just a disciple who sorted spiritual plants; although she had some talent, she wasn't worth too much of his attention.

For an alchemist to want a dedicated disciple to process their spiritual plants was a very common occurrence in the Medicine King Pavilion.

It was actually Jiang Lu's good fortune to be chosen by Huang Mei. Although everyone said she was strict, how could one go far on the path of cultivation without such rigorous standards?

Jiang Lu sought out the herbs Senior Sister Huang Mei needed and began processing them according to the requirements.

Alchemists had a set quota of elixirs to refine each day. What to refine today and what to refine tomorrow followed unified guidelines. After all, these elixirs were in high demand; although they were not cheap, their quality was guaranteed.

“Senior Sister Huang Mei, here are your spiritual plants.”

Jiang Lu brought the spiritual plants to the alchemy room. Seeing that Huang Mei had not yet started refining, she placed the plants down and stepped to the side.

If Huang Mei had been in the middle of refining, Jiang Lu would have had to remain absolutely silent to avoid disturbing her, simply placing the plants on the wooden rack and leaving.

In truth, preparing spiritual plants for a dedicated alchemist was much easier than working in the general spiritual plant storage room. Once she finished processing them, she could stand to the side and learn how to refine elixirs.

However, the margin for error was also much lower. Since different alchemists had different requirements, she naturally had to be far more meticulous when processing the plants.

Huang Mei raised an eyebrow. The spiritual plants had been delivered much earlier than usual. She walked over and picked up the plants from the rack to inspect them.

The quality was no different from before, showing that Jiang Lu had clearly put in effort.

She nodded in satisfaction, then retrieved the spiritual plants needed to refine the Qi-Restoring Elixir and opened her elixir cauldron.

Watching closely, Jiang Lu immediately connected Huang Mei's actions with the steps she had read about in the Library.

The timing and control of the spiritual fire's intensity were extremely crucial. Most importantly, the order of the spiritual plants had to be precise; any deviation in the sequence would affect the efficacy of the refined elixirs.

The flames in Huang Mei's hands expanded and contracted inside the cauldron in response to her spiritual energy, causing the surrounding air to grow scorching hot.

Then, with a soft clink, the lid at the bottom of the cauldron closed, and the spiritual fire blazed fiercely inside.

As the temperature reached a certain point, she threw the spiritual herbs in her hand into the upper chamber of the cauldron in sequence. Under the control of the spiritual fire and spiritual energy, the plants rapidly melted into liquid.

Next came the extraction and purification, followed by condensing the liquid into pills.

During the condensation phase, one could not afford even a single moment of distraction. The quality of the elixirs was determined entirely during this step. Whether they would be low-grade, medium-grade, or high-grade hung in the balance.

Huang Mei's expression turned solemn as the spiritual energy flowing from her hands grew increasingly steady.

Before long, she slowly withdrew her spiritual energy. After letting the spiritual fire burn inside the cauldron for a bit longer, she extinguished it.

When she opened the cauldron, a wave of medicinal fragrance wafted out, instantly refreshing anyone who caught a whiff of it.

Seven round, plump elixirs lay inside the jade dish. They gleamed with a lustrous sheen. There were five high-grade and two medium-grade elixirs. She nodded in satisfaction.

She then looked at Jiang Lu. “Do you know the difference between these elixirs?”

Jiang Lu stepped forward to look at the elixirs in the jade dish. Five of them were round and plump, while the remaining two, though round, looked much rougher.

“Their level of plumpness is different,” Jiang Lu replied.

“Correct. These five are high-grade elixirs, smooth, delicate, and flawless. These two are medium-grade; though round, they are not smooth enough. When an alchemist refines elixirs, producing more than five high-grade elixirs in a single batch is considered excellent.

“I usually refine seven to eight elixirs per batch. Some powerful alchemists can produce ten to twelve per batch, with every single one being high-grade. That is the lifelong pursuit of an alchemist,” she said as she placed the elixirs into a bottle and prepared to refine the next batch.

Jiang Lu nodded as she listened. Although she had read about this in books, written descriptions could never compare to witnessing the actual process in person. Still, since Senior Sister Huang Mei's words perfectly aligned with what was written in the books, the knowledge was undoubtedly useful.

She continued to observe and learn. Remembering her two damaged cauldrons, she figured she could go have them repaired during her upcoming days off. Once she bought another cauldron, she could start planning her own elixir refining.

As for practicing the sword, she would put that off until after she mastered refining. Since she was currently in the Medicine King Pavilion, she needed to prioritize. Having entered the Medicine King Pavilion, what would be the point of focusing on the sword?

With her current low cultivation, it was best not to do anything that would make her stand out too much.

When the others saw that Jiang Lu's expression remained completely unchanged, they couldn't help but suck in a breath, any trace of their previous mockery completely vanishing.

To be able to return unscathed from working under Senior Sister Huang Mei meant she definitely had some real ability!

They had all underestimated her.