The second challenge was the extreme demand for precision during the fusion process. One had to know exactly when to merge each essence, how long the fusion should last, and at what stage of the reaction to add the next ingredient. It was a complex dance. A single slip-up would ruin the entire batch.
These two hurdles stopped countless cultivators in their tracks. Without talent and immense practice, success was impossible—even for a simple potion.
From the difficulty of refining a potion, one could catch a glimpse of the staggering difficulty of true alchemy. Concocting a pill was at least ten times harder, involving more intricate steps and requiring specialized pill furnaces and spiritual fires.
For rare herbs like Centennial Blood Ginseng and fifty-year-old Streaming Light Grass, an ordinary cultivator would be devastated by a failure. It might take years of work to earn enough to try again.
Despite the stakes, Qi Ping wasn't overly worried. During the time he spent nurturing the herbs, he had already practiced the process several times! He had even successfully refined a "reduced" version of the potion using younger herbs. This gave him the confidence to attempt the real thing once his ingredients reached the required age.
In fact, ever since returning from the Qingshi Market, he had been practicing his extraction techniques in the forest. This technique wasn't exactly a spell but a skill that any Qi Condensation cultivator could learn, though the results varied wildly based on the individual.
He chose the forest because the Jungle Druid bonuses to perception, spiritual power, and mental energy gave him a unique advantage in both extraction and fusion. Combined with his Wood Spiritual Root, his innate affinity for plants, and the Brewing Artisan talent, he had practiced on common herbs until he was proficient.
Extraction of common herbs was simple, and he mastered it quickly. But when he moved on to Blood Ginseng, he faced failure after failure, despite his advantages. Spirit herbs were on an entirely different level than common plants. He finally understood why alchemy was one of the most expensive professions to pursue. He had failed countless times before mastering even the most basic extraction technique.
By the time he was proficient, most of the Blood Ginseng plants in his patch were scarred and pitted from where he had cut away small pieces for his hundreds of practice runs. He had been careful to take only small amounts that wouldn't kill the plants, then used Plant Growth to heal them, repeating the process with tiny quantities.
After hundreds of attempts, he slowly mastered the extraction of Blood Ginseng essence. Fortunately, the process didn't always ruin the herb; whether he succeeded or failed, most of the material could still be used by the bees for honey. Only a small fraction was truly lost, though that small amount still made his heart ache. For the past half-month, the bees had mostly been making honey from his extraction successes and failures.
Eventually, he was not only proficient in the technique but had also familiarized himself with every ingredient in the recipe hundreds of times over. Since Centennial Blood Ginseng and fifty-year-old Streaming Light Grass took nearly a month to grow even with his skills, he had to do everything possible to minimize the risk of failure.
Beneath the giant Ancient Cedar in the dense forest—the place where the wood energy was most concentrated—Qi Ping sat on the ground. A wooden table stood before him, covered with his prepared herbs and several jade bottles.
"Let's begin!"
With everything in place, he took a deep breath to center himself.
First, he divided the herbs on the table according to the recipe's proportions. After some effort, he had enough for ten batches. There was a little extra Blood Ginseng and about twenty percent more Streaming Light Grass.
He didn't refine everything at once for two reasons. First, his spiritual power couldn't sustain the extraction of a whole Centennial Blood Ginseng in one go; smaller portions increased his success rate. Second, he estimated his success rate for a century-old herb was about seventy percent. By dividing it into ten batches, unless he was incredibly unlucky, he would succeed with at least five.
If he tried everything at once and failed, he would be back at square one. The fusion followed the same logic. Since the potion only required correct proportions, the specific volume didn't matter.
He began the extraction. The ten portions of common herbs were finished quickly, with almost no risk of failure.
"Common herbs are easy. Now for the Streaming Light Grass."
Since he had more portions of the grass, it was better to use it to warm up his hands. He picked up a portion and began the extraction, guiding his spiritual power with practiced ease.
Predictably, the first attempt failed.
Qi Ping wasn't discouraged. Instead, he felt more confident. 'The fifty-year-old grass has much stronger medicinal properties. I need to adjust the steps and the intensity slightly.'
The second attempt... failed again.
'Another failure? But I know where the problem is!'
A confident smile touched his lips. His hundreds of practice sessions gave him the certainty that the next one would work.
Third attempt... Success!
Fourth attempt... Success!
Ninth attempt... Failure.
Twelfth attempt... Success!
In the end, he had three failures and nine successes.
"Not bad!"
He was satisfied with the result. The success rate was slightly higher than he had anticipated. More importantly, the experience of refining the fifty-year-old grass gave him a better feel for the upcoming Blood Ginseng extraction.
After circulating his Wood Shield Art to recover his spiritual power, he focused all his attention on the century-old ginseng.
First attempt... Failure.
'As expected.'
He wasn't worried; he felt a strong sense that the next one would succeed.
Second attempt... Success!
Third attempt... Failure.
Fourth attempt... Success!
Tenth attempt... Success!
Ultimately, he succeeded with eight of the ten portions of Centennial Blood Ginseng.
"Excellent! An eighty percent success rate, even higher than my seventy percent estimate!"
It was a great start. He now had eight sets of essence. How many potions he would ultimately produce depended on the success rate of the fusion process.