Xiao Yan's fan snapped against the back of Li Nanzhu's hand. "What's the rush? We start from medicinal liquid extraction. Watch your master's demonstration first."
He conjured a stalk of red flame grass and tossed it into the furnace. Azure flames wrapped around the spiritual plant like flowing water.
Li Nanzhu's eyes widened. She watched the leaves unfurl within the fire, gradually oozing translucent sap. Eventually, Xiao Yan used his spiritual energy to guide the liquid into a bowl.
Suisui curiously extended a bone claw to touch it, but immediately shook its head at the scalding temperature.
"Did you see that clearly?" Xiao Yan looked at Li Nanzhu. "Once you control the temperature, you purify and extract it. Now, you try."
Li Nanzhu immediately channeled her flames. After all, her four months of practicing separate flame control hadn't been for nothing. Unexpectedly, the red flame grass instantly turned to black ash, even scorching a crack into the bottom of the bowl.
"The heat control is off." Xiao Yan conjured a new bowl. "Did you think refining pills was like roasting sweet potatoes?"
Suisui squatted to the side, its soul fire flickering as if it were snickering.
Li Nanzhu's ears flushed. Such a low-level mistake was entirely avoidable; she had let her previous progress make her arrogant. She shook her head vigorously to stabilize her mindset before attempting the extraction again.
This time, she controlled the temperature with extreme caution. The red flame grass finally began to seep red liquid, but just as she was about to succeed, it suddenly boiled and evaporated.
"The spiritual energy penetration isn't uniform enough." The tip of Xiao Yan's fan lightly tapped the edge of the bowl. "Pay attention to your spiritual energy distribution. Make good use of the life force of your Wood Vitality."
On the third attempt, Li Nanzhu used her life force to envelop the red flame grass simultaneously. Only then did she finally manage a perfect extraction of the translucent medicinal liquid.
"Now that's more like it." Xiao Yan conjured over a dozen types of spiritual plants. "Extract all of these. For every mistake, you add ten more practice rounds."
Suisui looked at the plants and then at Li Nanzhu, secretly stuffing a piece of candied fruit into her hand.
...
Three days later, when Li Nanzhu had perfectly extracted all the medicinal ingredients, she finally couldn't help but ask, "Master, can we formally refine pills now?"
Xiao Yan gave a half-smile as he produced a small alchemy furnace. "Try it if you want to blow up the furnace."
"I won't—" Li Nanzhu refused to yield as she performed a hand seal to ignite the fire, tossing in the ingredients according to the steps in the alchemy recipe Xiao Yan had given her.
She wouldn't repeat the mistakes she'd made during extraction. This time, she not only meticulously extracted the liquids but also carefully merged them together.
However, if things could go wrong, they would.
In the next second, a loud boom echoed. The furnace lid shot into the sky, and black smoke billowed out.
Suisui was so startled it literally fell apart, its bones clattering as they dropped to the ground.
"Continue." Xiao Yan said nothing else, simply standing aside to let Li Nanzhu figure it out herself.
Suisui had already reassembled itself into its original form. It tugged at the corner of Li Nanzhu's robe with a bone claw and handed her a handkerchief—her face was entirely covered in black soot.
A third time, a fourth, a fifth... By the time Li Nanzhu had blown through her seventh alchemy furnace, the entire courtyard was shrouded in smoke. Suisui hid behind a water vat, its soul fire turning blue with fright.
"Master..." Li Nanzhu crawled out from the smoke, her face grimy. "I think it's a problem with the furnace... I was clearly being very careful..."
"Continue." Xiao Yan still offered no explanation, merely conjuring an eighth furnace. "Use civil fire this time."
Li Nanzhu bit her lip and started over. The result remained the same: the furnace exploded, another failure.
"Why..." Li Nanzhu murmured to herself. "I'm clearly very proficient with the Fire Control Technique..."
Xiao Yan's voice drifted through the smoke. "Go copy the seventh chapter of 【Introduction to a Hundred Herbs】 three times."
Li Nanzhu walked mechanically to the writing desk, but she suddenly paused as she lifted the brush. A drop of ink fell onto the small annotated note that read, 'Heat control is the surface; medicinal properties are the essence,' spreading into a deep blue stain.
She suddenly realized that she had been obsessed with Fire Control Techniques, too eager for quick success. In doing so, she had neglected the most fundamental understanding of medicinal properties.
She thought back to a phrase her professor often repeated during her university days in her past life—'Know the what, but more importantly, know the why.'
"Master!" She stood up abruptly. "I want to re-learn medicinal property analysis!"
Xiao Yan's fan stopped mid-air, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes. "Oh?"
...
In the following days, Li Nanzhu temporarily set aside the alchemy furnace.
Every morning, she followed Xiao Yan through the medicine fields to identify every spiritual plant, recording their growth habits and changes in medicinal properties. Suisui followed her example, clumsily sketching the patterns of the leaves with its bone claws.
"Look closely." Xiao Yan pinched the leaf of a moonlight grass. "When harvested while the morning dew is still wet, the medicinal properties are at their mildest."
Li Nanzhu leaned in to observe and found tiny silver patterns on the back of the leaf. "This is..."
"Moon-essence veins." Xiao Yan's fingertip lightly touched the patterns. "Only when harvested on a full moon night can this moon-essence power be preserved."
Such details were never mentioned in 【Introduction to a Hundred Herbs】. Even when Xiao Yan had taught her previously, he hadn't explained this specific point.
Li Nanzhu suddenly understood that knowledge in books was ultimately static. The true Dao of alchemy lay in the understanding of the medicinal ingredients themselves.
Finally, another month passed. Li Nanzhu's herbal notes had piled into a thick stack, filled with her dense insights.
"Try again today." Xiao Yan produced a new alchemy furnace. "Use what you've learned."
Li Nanzhu took a deep breath. She didn't rush to ignite the fire. Instead, she meticulously checked the state of every medicinal ingredient. Only after determining all the required heat control temperatures did she begin placing them into the alchemy furnace one by one.
When the flames finally rose, she no longer controlled the temperature mechanically. Instead, she adjusted it at any time based on the reactions of the herbs.
When the fire lingzhi juice began to shimmer with a golden-red hue, she immediately weakened the flame on the left. Suddenly, a hissing sound erupted—the medicinal liquid instantly solidified into a charred, black lump.
She froze in place, her fingers still held in a fire-control gesture. Suisui's bone claw trembled in fear, spilling the medicinal powder it was grinding all over the ground.
"How..." Li Nanzhu stared at the charred lump in the furnace, her voice raspy. "I clearly adjusted based on the herbs' reactions..."
"The medicinal properties of heart-cleansing grass and fire lingzhi conflict." Xiao Yan waved his fan to disperse the smoke, his tone tinged with a bit of helplessness. "What does Rule 37 of the 【Table of Medicinal Incompatibilities】 say?"
Li Nanzhu subconsciously replied, "Adjust the heat control for segmented processing."
"Correct. So..." Xiao Yan produced new medicinal ingredients. "Try again now?"
Suisui had already nimbly retrieved the furnace lid that had been blown off. It tapped a rhythm on the lid with its bone claws, as if urging her to try once more.
Li Nanzhu gathered her spirits again. It was just one failure; there was nothing to be discouraged about!
This time, she waited until the medicinal fragrance became faint and lingering before cautiously adding the fire lingzhi.
"Increase the heat by three parts," Xiao Yan reminded her at the right moment.
Li Nanzhu's fingertips moved slightly, and the flame temperature rose precisely. The crimson fire lingzhi slowly bloomed within the heat. When it merged with the liquid of the heart-cleansing grass, there was no longer a violent conflict.
Two hours later, a wisp of clear, elegant medicinal fragrance wafted from the furnace.
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