Chapter 20: Senior Brother Yang Fan's Guidance

Before Yang Fan could finish his sentence, Protector Ye flashed in, waved his hand to restore the restriction, then turned and disappeared again.

Yang Fan’s face twisted in disappointment. “Tch, I thought I could be extravagant for once.”

Cao Xuan shook his head helplessly. He figured that even if Protector Ye forgot to close the restriction, should Senior Brother Yang Fan really dare squander the herbs, he would have to face the consequences sooner or later.

“Forget it, I’ll show you some tricks when the chance comes. For today, we’re still making Qi Gathering Pills.”

“You’re in luck—you might get to witness your senior brother’s best performance.”

Watching Yang Fan’s face change in an instant, Cao Xuan couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. The world of cultivation was truly more about human relations than fighting and killing.

Earlier, when he heard of Cao Xuan’s lack of experience, Yang Fan’s attitude soured. Now, after passing the assessment and with it seeming as though he had some connection to Protector Ye, Yang Fan’s demeanor shifted back at once.

Sure enough, Yang Fan leaned over and whispered, “So, kid, you actually know our eldest senior sister. Not bad. That’s no simple feat.”

Though he hadn’t heard Protector Ye’s voice transmission, when Cao Xuan was gathering herbs earlier, Yang Fan had caught Ye’s words: “Kid, what’s your name, and how do you know Cai Xuan?”

There might be many people named Cai Xuan in the sect, but the Cai Xuan in Protector Ye’s mouth could only be the eldest senior sister of the Alchemy Peak, Ye Cai Xuan.

Cao Xuan realized who they meant. Thinking back to his earlier questions about flour and the age of the herbs, he began to understand. His affinity for plants and herbs had allowed him to taste the pills refined by Ye Cai Xuan, leading to a misunderstanding with Protector Ye.

But indeed, not just anyone could detect the presence of flour in a pill.

Soon, Yang Fan began skillfully tossing five lower-grade spirit stones into the pill furnace, activating the formation.

As he added the herbs, he said to Cao Xuan, “Don’t just stand there. Keep processing nine portions each of Yellow Ganoderma, Ginseng, and Qi Gathering Orchid. I plan to refine ten furnaces of Qi Gathering Pills today.”

Cao Xuan nodded and continued preparing the ingredients, while also observing Yang Fan’s pill refining process.

Ordinary alchemy disciples needed to focus all their attention when preparing herbs, leaving no time to learn by watching others.

But Cao Xuan was different. Having absorbed the full insights of the “Thousand-Spirit Herbal Compendium,” handling these basic herbs was as simple as breathing for him.

For the first furnace, he saw Yang Fan heat the pill furnace for about a quarter of an hour before first adding ginseng. Through two observation holes in the furnace, he watched the ginseng melt into a golden liquid. At once, he added the Yellow Ganoderma.

When the two merged, another quarter of an hour passed before Yang Fan divided the prepared Qi Gathering Orchid and added it to the furnace in four separate portions.

Cao Xuan noted that, by this stage, Yang Fan was entirely focused on the furnace, his hands continuously adjusting the temperature with his spiritual energy.

Finally, after another half hour, Yang Fan infused the furnace with spiritual energy, extinguished the fire, and just as the pill liquid was about to cool, parted his hands.

“Open for me!”

With a soft exclamation, ten pills flew out from the furnace. As they hit the air, seven failed to solidify and fell as dregs to the floor, while the remaining three hovered steadily midair.

Yang Fan breathed a sigh of relief, taking out a porcelain bottle from his storage pouch and placing the three Qi Gathering Pills inside.

Only then did he turn with a face full of pride. “Junior brother, what do you think of your senior brother’s alchemy skills?!”

Cao Xuan was briefly stunned. So each furnace could yield ten pills, yet only three survived—is that good?

His own affinity for plants told him at a mere sniff that these three Qi Gathering Pills were of mediocre quality at best.

If Senior Sister Ye’s pills were considered top grade, then Yang Fan’s would only count as lower grade.

Still, having lived two lives, Cao Xuan could hear the pride in Yang Fan’s words. With a touch of theatrical admiration, he exclaimed, “Senior brother, you’re incredible! Your mastery of alchemy is truly unmatched—my respect for you is as boundless as the great rivers of Cloud Province!”

Yang Fan was practically tingling with pleasure. Whether this junior was sincere or not, a senior brother could tell!

“Heh heh, not as exaggerated as you say, junior brother.”

“But you should know that, for most alchemists, getting three successful furnaces out of ten is already considered good. Your senior brother succeeded on the very first try—no need to mention my talent!”

In high spirits, Yang Fan continued, “The cost for one furnace of Qi Gathering Pills is one spirit stone. Whether sold to the sect or at the Green Mountain Market, each of my pills fetches three spirit stones.”

“So, just from this furnace, I netted eight spirit stones.”

“Which means, even if the next nine furnaces all blow up, I’d only lose one spirit stone!”

“But you know, with my skills, how could they all blow up?”

“Now you understand. Once you become an alchemist, your path of cultivation will be smooth and unhindered.”

Cao Xuan nodded. Now he realized just how generous the Herb Pavilion was to offer him four spirit stones per Qi Gathering Pill.

After all, the pills retailed for five spirit stones each—alchemy truly was a lucrative craft.

Seeing how “shocked” Cao Xuan was into silence, Yang Fan’s mood soared. He recalled his days as an outer disciple, struggling by on a monthly stipend of twenty spirit stones, while an alchemist could earn that in a single afternoon of refining.

From then on, he was resolute in his ambition to become an alchemist.

…

The afternoon passed, and Yang Fan lived up to his reputation as an alchemical prodigy, with only four out of ten furnaces failing.

Of the remaining six, the lowest yielded two pills, and one produced as many as six.

In his good mood, Yang Fan even took the initiative to explain the entire process of refining Qi Gathering Pills to Cao Xuan.

“All right, do you have any questions?”

Cao Xuan shook his head. “Thank you, Senior Brother Yang, for your guidance!”

Yang Fan waved it off. “Theory is just theory. Even if I said nothing, after watching a few times you’d pick it up yourself.”

“The key is to practice!”

He pointed to the herbs on the rack. “These, you can’t use unless you’re an alchemist, but you can buy them at the Green Mountain Market’s Herb Pavilion for about the same price.”

“As for the Earthfire Pill Furnace, each use costs five spirit stones.”

“I know outer disciples get twenty spirit stones a month.”

“My advice is, spend at most six spirit stones a month on practice and spend the rest of your time observing.”

With spiritual energy flowing in his hands, he continued, “If possible, I’d even suggest using all twenty on cultivation.”

“Senior Brother Ding Qing may not be as skilled at alchemy as I am, but he’s already at the peak of Qi Condensation Ninth Layer…”

He paused, then said, “Strength is always the most important thing.”

“Unless you’re sure you can make pills before reaching the seventh layer of Qi Condensation, otherwise you’re just wasting your time and spirit stones…”

Hearing Yang Fan’s earnest advice, Cao Xuan cupped his fists in respect. “Thank you, Senior Brother, for your guidance.”