Chapter 45 (1/2)

Meng Wuyou left the place in a hurry with the 17 alchemy prescriptions in his hand. He returned to his residence right away and shut himself in the alchemy room.

There was a dark green cauldron in Meng Wuyou’s alchemy room. It emitted wisps of refreshing coldness that misted the entire alchemy room with a refreshingly cool sensation akin to a bamboo forest.

The cauldron was named the Green Bamboo Cauldron. Even though it was named thus, it was not forged from bamboo but from a bamboo rock where century-old bamboo had taken root. A cauldron that was forged from this type of bamboo rock contained the aura of the Century Old Bamboo, so it could elevate the success rate of refining an elixir by 5 to 10%.

One should not look down on the small elevation of success rate because many alchemists would try anything in pursuit of this achievement. Meng Wuyou was also capable of possessing this cauldron because of his experience from exploring the outside world for a few years.

Meng Wuyou held the Purple Heart Pill alchemy prescription and scrutinized it for a long while. With a solemn expression on his face, he wanted to test and verify if Fang Lin or the recipe recorded in this alchemy prescription was right. After all, he could not convince himself to do something that could create a great stir in the alchemy sect without verifying it first.

The Purple Heart Pill was a grade-1 elixir that cleansed one’s body and mind to prevent the user from suffering the Qigong deviation syndrome during cultivation. The effect was exceedingly impressive. A single Purple Heart Pill could immediately revive the martial arts cultivator even if he was suffering from the Qigong deviation syndrome while cultivating.

In the Purple Heart Pill alchemy prescription, the Serpent Hemp Vine was listed as one of the medicinal herbs required. On the other hand, Fang Lin insisted that this portion of the medicinal herb was unnecessary. If the Nightshade Grass was used in place of the Serpent Hemp Vine, the success rate of refining the Purple Heart Pill would be elevated to 80%. Moreover, the quality of the product would be slightly higher than the Purple Heart Pill that contained the Serpent Hemp Vine.

Meng Wuyou was doubtful about this. In the ranks of grade-1 elixirs, the Purple Heart Pill was considered a type of elixir that was regarded as difficult to refine. Even for an old alchemist with rich experience, the success rate was only about 60% at the most.

As for the quality of the product, he could only compare it after the Purple Heart Pill was refined using two different types of recipes, so he could not determine that at the moment.

He placed the alchemy prescription to the side and began to refine the Purple Heart Pill using the Hemp Serpent Vine as the ingredient first. After three trials, he managed to refine the Purple Heart Pill. Meng Wuyou felt rather ashamed of his success rate. It seemed like he was truly growing older and his skills were getting rustier as well.

He rested for a while before he began to refine the Purple Heart Pill with the Nightshade Grass instead.

On the other hand, it only took him a single attempt to succeed in refining the Purple Heart Pill with the Nightshade Grass. The process of refinement went exceedingly smoothly as well.

When the Purple Heart Pills made of two different prescriptions were compared, Meng Wuyou discovered that the Purple Heart Pills made from the Nightshade Grass achieved medium-grade quality while the other batch made from the Serpent Hemp Vine achieved low-grade quality.

Meng Wuyou was silent for a long while upon receiving the results. Could our alchemy sect predecessors really have been wrong?

Because he still felt uncertain, he attempted to refine again many times. The results shocked him over and over again. The quality of Purple Heart Pills made from the Nightshade Grass was genuinely better than that made from the Serpent Hemp Vine. The success rate of refinement was much higher as well. The disparity between these two products was extremely obvious under such a comparison. It was apparent that the alchemy sect predecessors were wrong for using the Serpent Hemp Vine as part of the prescription for the Purple Heart Pill.

Meng Wuyou heaved a sigh. The result was equal to ousting the alchemy sect predecessors’ painstaking efforts. If it was not handled with care, it would result in an immense outrage.

While he was feeling anxious, Fang Lin strolled his way to the alchemy rooms in the Yellow Building. The ten alchemy rooms were located on the same floor and divided into two rows of five rooms facing one another.

Each of the ten alchemy rooms were numbered one to ten on the doors. At present, the display numbers on nine of the ten rooms were red in color. This signified that they were occupied. The room with the display number nine was blue in color which implied that the alchemy room was unoccupied temporarily.