As dawn broke, a slight chill lingered in the air, yet the streets of the capital city of Gama were already bustling with traffic, people rising early to prepare for the day's work.
The throngs of people, viewed from above, resembled a giant ant colony at work.
However, inside a high-class private room in the Alchemist Guild, a stark contrast to the outside noise was chillingly quiet.
Strangely, two people stood within this room. Why?
Standing before the massive six-cauldron alchemy vessel, Lin Feng had been meditating for a full quarter of an hour, determined to reach his optimal state.
"Hoo!"
Sensing that his aura was now perfectly balanced and under his control, Lin Feng slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and slowly opened his eyes.
"Lin Feng, are you ready?"
Seeing Lin Feng finish his meditation, Fa Ma could no longer contain his excitement, as if he himself was about to undergo a breakthrough in alchemy, not Lin Feng's.
Indeed, Lin Feng was refining a fifth-grade pill—the Seven-Star Spirit Wood Pill.
The Seven-Star Spirit Wood Pill, classified as a fifth-grade pill, primarily stabilizes the meridians of wood-attribute cultivators and enhances their perception of the wood attribute. Its main ingredients are a fifth-tier wood-attribute magic core, a fifty-year-old Seven-Star Grass, and a hundred-year-old spirit wood heart.
Two months had passed since Lin Feng returned from the Monster Beast Mountain Range . Aside from occasionally spending time shopping with Little Fairy Doctor, he had devoted most of his time to improving his alchemy skills.
Of course, aside from a good rest on the night of his return from the Monster Beast Mountain Range, Lin Feng had been cultivating every night instead of sleeping, constantly refining his battle qi, even though he had reached a plateau.
However, continuous cultivation not only improved his control over his battle qi, making the use of battle techniques smoother, but might even provide an opportunity to break through to the Dou Wang realm!
The scene shifts back to the alchemy room, where Lin Feng's expression is serious; every advancement in his alchemy skills requires meticulous attention.
With a wave of his hand, Lin Feng took out the three sets of materials for refining the Seven-Star Spirit Wood Pill. After confirming them once more, Lin Feng no longer hesitated, and the sixth-tier beast fire, Azure Flame, appeared in his palm. With a
"bang," the flames
surged into the cauldron, serving as fuel and igniting a fierce fire.
Following the instructions on the pill formula and the experience taught by Fa Ma, Lin Feng first placed the easiest-to-refine Seven-Star Grass into the cauldron.
Recalling the characteristics of the Seven-Star Grass, Lin Feng used his soul power to control the temperature of the flames within the cauldron, keeping it within a stable range, continuously roasting its exterior while only heating the juices inside.
After a period of refining, Lin Feng successfully extracted the Seven-Star Grass, but he did not show any joy.
"As expected, it's a fifth-grade pill. Even the Seven Star Grass, which is the easiest to refine according to the description, wouldn't yield enough juice for a fourth-grade alchemist to make a pill, even if they managed to extract it by chance."
Lin Feng sighed inwardly, but wasn't too stressed. He then added the remaining herbs to the cauldron one by one, continuously refining the substances needed for the final fusion into the pill.
Flames burned continuously within the cauldron, emitting a hissing sound. At this point, Lin Feng had finished refining all the materials, including the fifth-grade wood-attribute magic core. A dozen or so light clusters of varying sizes and colors floated within the cauldron.
Without much time to adjust his breathing, Lin Feng waved his hand, and with the energy cluster formed from the fifth-grade magic core as the core, the light clusters began to rotate around it.
As the rotation speed increased, under Lin Feng's control of his soul power, smaller light clusters occasionally began to merge into the central magic core cluster.
As time passed, when only three energy clusters—one large and two small—remained in Lin Feng's perception, his expression became terrifyingly serious.
Beads of cold sweat began to appear on his forehead. It wasn't that the energy fluctuations were beyond his control, but rather that his refining steps seemed to have gone astray. The energy clusters showed no sign of mixing; instead, they seemed poised to explode.
"Boom!"
Sure enough, just as Lin Feng was about to fuse the last energy cluster formed from the spirit wood heart into the demon core, as if some reaction requirement had been met, a massive energy fluctuation began to occur, and before he could react, it exploded.
"Thud!"
But Fa Ma, quick-witted and agile, slammed his palm, imbued with powerful battle qi, onto the cauldron, forcefully dispersing the energy surge that seemed poised to shatter it at its peak.
"Pharaoh,"
Lin Feng, regaining his senses, said to Fa Ma with a dejected expression, seemingly still in disbelief that this was the first time he had ever shattered a cauldron. As for the strange things he had created before, that's another story.
"Hahaha, Lin Feng, are you already discouraged?" Fa Ma, seemingly having anticipated Lin Feng's situation, stroked his beard and laughed, his expression showing no doubt about Lin Feng's failure, as if he had already foreseen Lin Feng's inevitable demise.
"Lin Feng, when I was refining this pill, I had no one to teach me. Guess how many times I tried before I succeeded?"
Seeing that Lin Feng seemed to have developed a slight doubt about him, Fa Ma quickly shifted his attention, narrowing his eyes slightly as he stroked his beard and asked.
"What does Pharaoh mean?"
Lin Feng didn't directly answer Fama's question. He knew that as an experienced fifth-grade peak alchemist, Fama wouldn't ask such an irrelevant question at this time; there must be some profound reasoning behind it.
"Eight times, Lin Feng, I failed a full eight times." Fama spread his five fingers and slowly said to Lin Feng, "Moreover, this isn't even my limit. If it weren't for the fact that this Overlord herb wasn't the only one available in the Alchemist Guild at the time, I could have failed even more."
Not understanding Fama's meaning, Lin Feng could only listen attentively.
Seeing that Lin Feng seemed to have recovered from the setback, Fama couldn't help but secretly praise him. This kind of setback was most fatal for a genius. It was entirely possible that Lin Feng, who had always had smooth sailing, would be discouraged by this.
Of course, this was only because Fama didn't know Lin Feng's past experiences. After so many years of honing his skills, he wouldn't be so easily defeated. However, unlike his previous easy success in creating pills, this time the cauldron exploded, which still left him somewhat frustrated.
"I won't keep you in suspense any longer," Fa Ma stroked his beard and said to Lin Feng, "This may be the last lesson I can teach you."
"Pharaoh?"
Seeing Lin Feng's moved expression, he waved his hand slightly, indicating that Lin Feng didn't need to worry, it wasn't what he imagined.
"You brat, now that you've reached the fifth rank, what else can I teach you?"
"Listen carefully," Fa Ma's expression became serious, "After a pill reaches the fifth rank, it can no longer be refined simply according to the description of the pill formula; it only provides a general direction."
"At this level, you must understand how to fully harmonize the properties between the medicinal materials and make them consistent with the fluctuations of the energy of heaven and earth."
"This is also the reason why a fifth-rank pill will produce huge energy fluctuations after it is formed!"
Hearing Fa Ma's words, Lin Feng felt as if he had been enlightened, and suddenly understood.
His tightly furrowed brows smoothed out in an instant, and his thoughts flowed like a spring, and he suddenly understood why the pill hadn't condensed into a solid form but instead exploded.
"I see!"
Lin Feng clapped his hands, his expression slightly excited, and said to Fama, "Pharaoh, I've figured it out! Let's continue!"
"Lin Feng, young man, let me teach you another lesson. When faced with trouble," Fama's expression remained unchanged, but he narrowed his eyes slightly and said seriously to Lin Feng, "First, calm down!"
Hearing this, Lin Feng was clearly stunned. After a long while, he seemed to truly understand, bowing slightly to Fama, sincerely convinced.
"Pharaoh, I've learned my lesson!"
Although Lin Feng had experienced many trials and tribulations and was already quite accomplished compared to his peers, the impetuousness of youth was still unavoidable. Coupled with the anxiety he had felt since Qing Lin's departure, the experienced Fama's further lesson was necessary to help him settle down. This lesson was extremely important. This is also a variation of my imitation of Yao Chen being captured in the original work.