FVN Chapter 35 The Birth of the Qilin Child
Chapter 35 The Birth of the Qilin Child
This small cauldron, which was taken out of the demon cultivator's storage bag, was only the size of a water bucket at home. It was completely black and covered with a thick layer of verdigris.
Su Qingyan held it in his hand; it was icy cold to the touch and so heavy it didn't feel like ordinary iron, but rather like it was filled with lead.
Instead of feet, the furnace has three bronze legs shaped like scorpions. These three scorpions are connected head to tail, supporting the furnace body. Their tails are raised high, with the ends pointing directly at the air inlets, as if they are ready to spew out poisonous fire at any moment.
Su Qingyan tried to inject spiritual energy into the alchemy furnace, but the furnace did not react.
"It's just an ordinary object. I thought it was a magical artifact." Su Qingyan smiled with a hint of disappointment and made a comment.
However, it's sufficient for refining the most basic pills like the Crimson Sun Pill.
After making the decision, Su Qingyan asked Mei Dong to bring firewood and set up a simple alchemy environment under the old camphor tree outside the cultivation room.
"I've heard that a magic-grade alchemy furnace can use spirit stones to start a fire, allowing alchemists to control the heat inside the furnace at will, which is very convenient."
"In comparison, this ordinary alchemy furnace at the mortal level requires firewood, which is really troublesome."
"Mei Dong, you must follow my instructions promptly and control the heat carefully," Su Qingyan instructed Mei Dong.
He was about to start refining his first batch of pills, and Mei Dong was helping him. Her main job was to tend the fire and control the temperature inside the furnace.
Su Qingyan took a deep breath, took out the already ground Red Blood Yang Ginseng powder from his storage bag, and mixed it with several auxiliary medicines according to the proportions.
"Open the furnace!"
Mei Dong added a handful of dry pine wood as instructed, and the fire suddenly surged high, the orange-red flames licking the three scorpion-shaped bronze legs at the bottom of the furnace. Strangely, although the furnace was an ordinary object, it had excellent thermal conductivity, and the furnace walls quickly became scorching hot. Under the high temperature, the thick layer of verdigris even faintly emitted a strange red glow.
Su Qingyan concentrated and calmed himself, following the process of refining the Crimson Sun Pill recorded in the "Alchemy Handbook," and put the medicinal powder into the furnace mouth one by one.
"Make the fire three times stronger!" he whispered.
Mei Dong quickly squatted down and used a palm-leaf fan to fan the stove opening rapidly.
However, trouble soon followed.
A magical alchemical furnace can heat evenly, but this mortal furnace is uneven in temperature. Su Qingyan could feel that the temperature on the left side of the furnace was extremely high, while the right side was slightly insufficient. The medicinal power of the Crimson Blood Yang Ginseng was extremely domineering; under the high temperature, it not only failed to fuse but instead turned into dry wood meeting a raging fire, instantly charring black.
"Withdraw the fire! Withdraw the fire now!" Su Qingyan's expression changed, and he quickly called for a halt.
Mei Dong hurriedly removed the burning firewood from under the alchemy furnace.
Su Qingyan opened the furnace lid and saw that there were no formed pills at the bottom of the furnace, only a few clumps of black, burnt slag that smelled of burning and were as hard as stones.
"Sigh, it failed."
Su Qingyan sighed and poured out the waste.
The first batch of pills yielded no results whatsoever; all the medicinal herbs were wasted, and the 16 spirit stones were simply thrown away.
"No wonder they say you shouldn't get involved in alchemy without a certain amount of wealth. Turning 16 spirit stones into a pile of charcoal in less than half an hour—even the Zhou family of Jin Su Mountain or the Su family of Xian Keng Bay would feel the pinch at that rate of spending money, right?"
Su Qingyan thought to himself, but instead of rushing to start refining the second batch of pills, he calmed down and summarized the experience of the previous failure in refining the Crimson Sun Pill. He made records, analyzed the details, and collected data to compile into a booklet.
Then I rested for a night to recharge and restore myself to my best condition.
By this time, he had almost digested the knowledge and experience he had gathered yesterday, and with a little more confidence, he began refining the second batch of Crimson Sun Pills.
Forty minutes later, a pungent, burnt smell wafted from the alchemy furnace, and Su Qingyan once again harvested a batch of blackened slag.
The refining process of the second batch of Crimson Sun Pills went much more smoothly than the first. Su Qingyan had resolved the problem of uneven heating on both sides of the alchemy furnace, but a mishap occurred when the medicinal materials were being fused together as juice.
In the end, all their efforts were in vain, and the 16 spirit stones worth of medicinal herbs went down the drain once again.
At this point, the two newly cultivated Crimson Blood Yang Ginseng plants had been completely consumed.
Su Qingyan was neither anxious nor annoyed. It was normal to suffer some losses and make some investments during the learning and exploration process.
He patiently continued to summarize his experience, analyze the process and data of refining the Crimson Sun Pill, and constantly simulated the process of refining the Crimson Sun Pill in his mind and identified areas for improvement.
More than half a year has passed.
During this period, Su Qingyan cultivated seven more Crimson Blood Yang Ginseng plants, which he then devoted to learning how to refine Crimson Yang Pills.
The final result was... complete failure.
Not a single low-grade Crimson Sun Pill was refined.
"The art of alchemy is indeed not easy to learn. Whether it's the processing of medicinal materials, the control of the heat, or the wrong timing of adding the medicinal materials, it can all lead to failure in refining pills."
"I feel like I still lack talent."
"I've refined nearly ten batches of Crimson Sun Pills, and not a single one has been successful by chance."
"If one of my descendants were to have a talent for alchemy, I could replicate him. That would make learning how to refine pills much easier," Su Qingyan mused, his mood somewhat downcast.
As was his usual practice, after failing in alchemy, he would organize the lessons learned and data from the failure.
But today is a special day. Just as he was refining the elixir, his wife Zhang Hui showed signs of giving birth. The midwife, servants, and all the necessary preparations had been arranged. After this batch of elixirs was finished, whether it succeeded or failed, he, as her husband, would go and stay by her side.
However, compared to when the eldest brother, Su Yuanxian, was born last time, Su Qingyan felt no worry at this moment.
Because his wife, Zhang Hui, had become a cultivator, her physique was far stronger than when she was a mortal.
Correspondingly, cultivators experience much smoother childbirth, feeling almost no pain and being less likely to encounter life-threatening situations.
Outside the delivery room, a tense atmosphere filled the air.
After about an hour and a half, a loud baby's cry came from the delivery room.
At the same time, a light blue attribute panel popped up:
[A descendant with spiritual roots has appeared in the next generation of the family; the family's fortune increases by 1.]
[Family Luck: 1]
[Your family has produced a descendant with three spiritual roots and a purple-quality talent. With such talent and ability, his cultivation speed will be faster than that of a typical genius with two spiritual roots. This is the Su family's prodigy. As long as he doesn't die young, becoming a Foundation Establishment cultivator is no problem. Even at the Golden Core stage, with sufficient resources and opportunities, he has a chance.]
From this moment on, your family has ushered in an opportunity for rise.
Unlock feature: Improved Comprehension.
[Enlightenment Enhancement: Consumes family fortune. Within one hour, your enlightenment will be greatly enhanced (the degree of enlightenment enhancement is directly proportional to the amount of family fortune you invest).]
【…】