The Divine Nine-Dragon Cauldron
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chapter-744
Once an elixir was refined to the Classless level, then the elixir would usually possess an extraordinarily powerful effect. However, even in the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands' long history, such elixirs had appeared only a few times, and even then, they were mostly just low-grade spirit pills.
But, Tian Jizi, who possessed the Extreme Limit Elixir Manufacturing Technique, had once refined a high-grade Classless elixir, which caused a great sensation. Spirit elixirs were divided into the three grades of low-grade, middle-grade, and high-grade.
The elixirs that were most effective for early stage Fairies were called low-grade spirit elixirs. These elixirs included the Fairy Expansion Pill and the Pure Yang Vital Return Pill.
The elixirs that were most effective for middle-stage Fairies were called middle-grade spirit elixirs, which included elixirs like the Heart Refining Mortal Dust Liquid. The elixirs that were most effective for late-stage Fairies were called high-grade spirit elixirs, and the recipes of such elixirs were extremely rare.
They were so rare, even the Blue Mountain Range didn't have a single one of them! As for the Zhenlong World's elixirs, they were just ordinary elixirs."The Fairy Expansion Pill is a low-grade spirit elixir, but it's a pity that I can't refine even one at the first-grade, while my big sister can already refine one at the third-grade! As she's our family's great genius, how great would it be if I could reach such a level one day?" Yuan Yingying was clearly quite envious of her.
Su Yu thought inwardly... If you had an elixir manufacturing technique, then you wouldn't be inferior to her any longer!
After all, she had almost managed to refine a first-grade elixir all by herself, and her talent was greater than her big sister's.
"Yingying, yesterday your teacher appeared in my dream and taught me a pill manufacturing technique. Do you want to learn it?" Su Yu suddenly asked her.
Yuan Yingying was startled for a moment, but when she came back to her senses, she quickly nodded. "Yes! I want to learn it! I always want to learn more!"
Su Yu smiled faintly as he passed the Extreme Limit Elixir Manufacturing Technique to her. As Tian Jizi had already died and his legacy had come to an end, by passing his technique to such a good-hearted girl, Su Yu could ensure that his legacy would continue on. Otherwise, if Su Yu died someday without sharing it with anyone, then such a legacy would die right along with him!
"It's your teacher who passed it to me, so you must swear that you won't pass it on to anyone else," Su Yu said.Yuan Yingying tilted her head sideways. "Not even to my father and sister?"
"You mustn't pass it even to them." Su Yu shook his head.
Yuan Yingying bit her lips. "Okay. I won't divulge it to anyone." She had no idea yet what kind of great legacy she had just received.
After this, Su Yu and Yuan Yingying started refining elixirs, and each took a batch of materials and started refining the Fairy Expansion Pill. The Extreme Limit Elixir Manufacturing Technique was hovering around three limits, which were the materials' purity extreme limit, the flames' temperature extreme limit, and the number of fusion extreme limit. The first two limits weren't things that ordinary people could try reaching, as they could only try reaching the extreme limit of fusion.
Su Yu followed his elixir production technique's instructions strictly, which had him cut off the materials' veins, pull out their fur, wipe the dust off of them, wash them with water and crush them into powder.
Su Yu had never once refined elixirs before this, but the Extreme Limit Elixir Manufacturing Technique was the fruit of Tian Jizi's whole life efforts, so even though Su Yu was just a novice, he still managed to quickly comprehend it and use it skillfully.
After he finished preparing the eight materials, he threw them into the furnace in the order that was instructed in the pill recipe. He then covered the furnace with its lid and ignited the flames.
There was a device for controlling the flames' intensity, but it couldn't control it precisely. So, even though Su Yu was extremely careful and prudent, he still didn't have enough experience, and the smell of something burning fluttered out from the furnace! His refining process had failed because he didn't have any experience in controlling the flames!
Su Yu couldn't help but sigh. Outsiders assumed that making elixirs was extremely easy, yet they didn't know how many failures had to occur before elixirs reached an acceptable degree of quality.
As he was a bit discouraged by his failure just now, Su Yu happened to look over at Yuan Yingying, who was engrossed in controlling the flames' intensity. In contrast to him, she seemed to be quite skilled at it!
A faint fragrance started permeating out of her furnace, and after two hours passed, that fragrance filled the whole room.
"I will now fuse it into a pill. This is the step where I always fail!" Yuan Yingying was somewhat full of expectation, as she was now aware of the insights from the Extreme Limit Elixir Manufacturing Technique.
It was recorded in this technique that a thousand wisps of Vital Energy must be imbued into the pill while forming it. So, she knew that she must pay great attention to the intensity of each wisp of Vital Energy, as just a single mistake would cause the pill to explode.
As Yuan Yingying took a deep breath, her hands flickered like lighting and she imbued ten wisps of Vital Energy into it in just ten breaths' time. While she was engrossed in refining the pill, she had an extremely different air than her usual clumsy one.
By the time she had finished this step, Yuan Yingying's forehead was already filled with beads of sweat. Her face also looked a bit pale, as she had exhausted most of her physical and mental power.
"I finished the fusion process, but I just finished it according to the low tier of the Extreme Limit Elixir Manufacturing Technique. Although there are still the middle and high tiers after this, as well as the top tier, I can't do any one of them right now." Yuan Yingying wiped the sweat off of her forehead, while her eyes flickered with confidence. Her instincts were informing her that this time refining was a success.
Full of expectation, she opened the furnace, and an intense pressure, as well as a purple pill, came out of it. Yuan Yingying swiftly took a jade bottle and imbued the pill with her Vital Energy, then placed it in the bottle.
"After the elixirs just come out of the furnace, they are in an unstable state, so they mustn't be touched by one's hands. Instead, they should be quickly stored in a jade vessel, which will prevent their medicinal energy from leaking out," Yuan Yingying explained.
Her two big eyes were looking at the pill that was rolling around in the jade bottle, and only when it stopped moving and stabilized did two green stripes appear on it.
"Two stripes! That means that it's a second-grade pill." Yuan Yingying's eyes were filled with disbelief. "Uncle Su, what kind of elixir manufacturing technique did my teacher give you? It's amazing!"
Before waiting for him to answer, she kept chattering excitedly, "My sister started learning elixir production from the time she was just nine years old, yet she only managed to successfully refine a second-grade elixir when she was fifteen years old. She spent six years working on it!"
She shook her head. "Even my father took five years to reach such a level! So, how come I reached such a level in just one night?" Yuan Yingying couldn't believe it, and she felt she was maybe just dreaming!
But, Su Yu wasn't baffled by it. After all, if she had only refined a first-grade elixir, then he would start suspecting whether Tian Jizi's Elixir Manufacturing Technique was really authentic!
However, all of this had happened because Yuan Yingying had finished just the low tier in the fusion process, and if she could instantly imbue it with a 1,000 or 10,000 wisps of Vital Energy and let it fuse countless times, then she would be able to refine a higher grade pill.
When Su Yu opened his own furnace, he found that it was only filled with some charred black substance. "We still had another batch of materials. Yingying, refine it once again." As Su Yu took out the materials, a wisp of Milky Way's radiance flickered in his palm for a moment.
Yuan Yingying was extremely eager to continue refining elixirs. "Okay, I will try… But, why are those materials somewhat different than usual?"
Yuan Yingying looked at them carefully, astonishment soon appearing on her face. "Those eight spirit herbs seem purer than usual spirit herbs, and they have just a slight amount of impurities in them. Why is that?"
Su Yu wore a smile as he urged her, "Quickly, start making it!"
"Oh! Okay." Yuan Yingying started making an elixir excitedly.
After two hours.
Yuan Yingying's small face became pale, while her body was shuddering, as she was extremely tired. But, she was still concentrating carefully, while looking at the furnace.
Swoosh!
As the furnace was opened, a current of air surged out of it, while a deep purple pill shot out of it.
Thump!
An aged hand, which was already holding a jade bottle in preparation of it early on, swiftly moved to take it into the bottle, then covered the bottle with a lid. The pill emitted a crisp sound as it flew around in the bottle and collided against it unceasingly.
It was only after three breaths' time had passed that it finally calmed down. At that moment, three vein-like stripes appear on it!
"A third-grade elixir!" The dumbfounded Yuan Yingying exclaimed as she covered her small mouth with her hands. She couldn't believe that she had made a third-grade elixir!
"It's impossible, as all those who can refine third-grade elixirs are considered to be primary alchemists, and in our Yuan family, even if we counted my sister in, there wouldn't be more than 10 such alchemists of this caliber!" She was greatly astounded by this.
Without practicing for dozens of years, it was impossible for someone to manage to refine a third-grade elixir, so her achieving it after practicing for just one night was like a fantasy story!
Su Yu nodded, as he had deliberately increased the materials' purity by fifty percent. One of the three extreme limits was the material's purity, and Su Yu, who possessed the Milky Way Star Sand, could increase all materials' purity to a hundred percent. This caused them to become completely pure. Once such an extreme limit was achieved, then the elixir made from it would surely be a fourth-grade elixir!
It was only because he needed to take Yuan Yingying's current situation into consideration that he did he not purify it completely. As the Yuan family wasn't really treating Yuan Yingying kindly even before this, many jealousies and bad blood might arise if she had gone any further in her progress this day.
Once an intermediate alchemist, who could refine fourth-grade pills like the Family's Master appeared, then those obstinate elders might really be displeased about it. Moreover, there was still the Elixir Production Alliance to consider, which might set its eyes on her.
The appearance of an intermediate alchemist might make them harden their hearts towards Yuan Yingying. They may even try to harm or kill her!
"Now, let's try refining the Pure Yang Vital Return Pill." Su Yu's eyes were filled with expectation, as this was the pill that he needed the most.
Yuan Yingying nodded readily. "Okay, but we only have enough materials to make two of them, so let's split them evenly."
Su Yu nodded at her.
After an hour passed, the smell of something burning fluttered out of Su Yu's furnace once again. Although he had progressed further when compared to his previous try, he still had a long way to go before mastering it.
As for the excited Yuan Yingying, she managed to successfully refine a third-grade Vital Return Pill! It was blue and was filled with veins that were similar to a human's meridian. It also contained an extremely mild energy.
"Can you gift this pill to me?" Su Yu asked.
Yuan Yingying wiped the black ashes from her face and revealed a bright smile. "Uncle Su, as you passed me such a precious pill manufacturing technique, I will gladly gift you this pill!"
Su Yu replied solemnly, "Yingying, you have misunderstood, as it was your teacher who appeared in my dream who entrusted it to me..."
Yuan Yingying shook her head firmly as a serious expression appeared on her innocent face. "Uncle Su, you don't need to deceive me! I know that it's you who has been helping me all along."
She shook her head, then added, "I'm not pretty, and only my father cares about me, so why would a Divine Master senior suddenly appear to help me?"
As she spoke, Yuan Yingying's small face was filled with an intense loneliness, "My big sister is better than me at everything. She's smarter, prettier, and more sensible than me, and everyone is more fond of her, so why would that Divine Master senior show an interest in me without reason? Out of all of the people that I know, apart from my father, it's only you, Uncle Su, who doesn't despise me."