126 Alchemy Seminar (1/2)
'That sewer girl, wasn't Xu Xiuying gone after her?'
Xu Miao squinted his eyes as he remembered this protagonist's love interest. She was with Xie Tian in the sewer.
Xiong Zhenzhen also stared at Xu Miao in shock.
”Xu Miao? What's he doing here? I thought Xu Xiuying already captured him.”
Behind Xiong Zhenzhen, several women were also surprised. All of these VY disciples had met Xu Miao before.
One of the women didn't hide her killing intent toward Xu Miao. She had long straight black hair, and she wore a wooden mask.
Xu Miao didn't recognize this masked woman, but he sensed a familiar Qi, the flame dragon Qi.
'Huh? That Qi… What the fuck!? Why are you crossdressing, Xie Tian!?'
Xu Miao suspected that this masked woman was Xie Tian in disguise. He didn't know why and how he stayed with them, though.
While Xu Miao and the masked woman were glaring at each other, the garden leader, Ju Shoufen clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention away from Xiong Zhenzhen's group.
”Now, now. Let's continue what we have left off. As for you, junior Xu Miao, if you don't have a cauldron, you can stay there and listen to the lecture.”
Xu Miao came back to his senses. He coughed and brought out the only pot cauldron he had, ”Is this up to the standard?”
Many alchemist women giggled, finding the pot cute.
”That thing can only refine low-grade pills, junior.”
”You should at least get a proper cauldron if you plan to practice alchemist arts, young man.”
”No, no. Don't laugh at him. He's just a rookie. There's no harm starting with the basic.”
”That's right. He might be poor, so he couldn't afford a proper cauldron. Don't belittle him. Young man, you can use that cauldron to practice making basic pills. But if you want to go higher, you should get a yang jade cauldron or buy a high-grade cauldron from the contribution hall.”
Although they laughed at Xu Miao, these alchemists encouraged Xu Miao and suggested him to change his tool instead of mocking him.
Ju Shoufen clapped her hands again, ”Pipe it down, everyone. Well, junior Xu Miao, if you have a cauldron, have you ever transmuted, refined, or concocted anything before?”
Xu Miao didn't hide his experience this time, ”I can make low-grade healing pills, but my success rate is lower than 10%.”
Many newbie alchemists widened their eyes. They were surprised, but they weren't impressed with Xu Miao's success rate.
”Aren't the low-grade pills easy to make? Even those who barely know alchemy have the success rate of 90%.”
”SHH! Don't discourage him. He might have been doing it the wrong way. Let's help him get better. This is a seminar for rookies, yes?”
Several old women consoled Xu Miao. Some of them even took out empty scrolls to write a guide for him specifically.
”I think we should let him concoct the most basic pill for us to see, so we can help him. Is everyone okay with my decision?”
The ladies nodded while the young alchemists abstained their opinion. As for Xiong Zhenzhen's group, they only observed the situation from a distance.
”Thank you very much, senior. Although it's a bit unsightly, please bear with this junior's inexperience attempt.”
Xu Miao brought out a 5-year-old spirit ginseng. His nimble hands plucked the leaves and cut the unused pieces without pausing.
Everything at this point was normal. The feat might be impressive from the perspective of other young rookies and alchemy enthusiasts. But for the experts here, Xu Miao's skill was still clumsy.
”Ah, he cut too deep.”
”The roots aren't protected by his yang Qi.”
”He didn't use the leaves?”
Xu Miao could hear the murmurs and the critics. He took notes in his mind as he continued processing the ginseng.
After the processing was done, he dropped the ginseng into the pot and started baking it.
Everyone stopped talking. They used their sixth sense to observe Xu Miao's cauldron and the ginseng.
As Xu Miao had repeated this process over a thousand times in the past couple of days, his control over his yang essence was smoother. The temperature surrounding the ginseng wasn't too hot or too cold while he was compressing the material into dust and merged it with his essence drop to make a pill.
3 Minutes later, the pill was completed.
Again, Xu Miao's pill quality was average.
”How was it, senior?” Xu Miao took out the pill and asked for advice.
”…”
Everyone stared at Xu Miao with a complicated look. He could see the astonishment, bafflement, and curiosity of the onlookers with their expression.
Even Ju Shoufen had to question Xu Miao.
”When you said that your success rate is less than 10%, does it include the pills with lower quality?”