The Desire to Be Eternal

Chapter 40: Pursuing the Peak

Bai Xiaochun returned to the sect humming slightly and secretly feeling pleased. Upon reaching his courtyard, he sighed.

“i practice immortal cultivation to live forever. Such people who always fought and killed were total madmen. ”

He sat in his courtyard, and began to organize the various items he had taken from Chen Fei and his friends. They weren't rich at all, which meant that Bai Xiaochun didn't really succeed with much, even though he didn't really care. When he finished, he took out the medicinal plant he had just bought and examined it carefully for a while.

Although he had a solid foundation in herbs and herbs, he actually did not have much experience dealing with the plants themselves. Now that he could examine this plant directly, his observations fused with the information he already had in mind. He even scratched the surfaces of some plants to check their internal structure.

After performing a few tests, a thoughtful expression appeared on Bai Xiaochun's face, and he took out two random formulas he had obtained. After glancing at the formula to replenish spiritual energy, he focused on another formula, designed for humans who wanted to strengthen their physical bodies.

"Long Life Incense ..." he muttered. This particular medicinal formula does not require the use of very many medicinal plants, only seven. In addition, there is nothing very special about the way they interact. However, using the techniques of mutual augmentation and suppression, it was possible to concoct the strength of the seven medicinal herbs, crush them into powder, and then turn them into incense.

Two plants are even poisonous. If a cultivator consumed it, it would only cause two weeks of diarrhea. For humans, they would be fatal.

“There are many kinds of spirit plants in heaven and earth. Some can be directly ingested, whereas others need to be concocted into pills to bring out their optimal effects. There are many who, due to their toxicity, can only be used to make incense. ” Muttering to himself, Bai Xiaochun took out the medicinal herbs needed for Longevity Incense, where he began to study them in detail.

"I'm still not fully confident in this, yet" he thought. “The most important thing to think about in concocting medicine is its success rate. Even the simplest level-1 spirit medicines still had a high degree of potential failure.

“I have ten sets of each medicinal plant. I can't waste it. " Bai Xiaochun was a cautious person, and preferred to be confident before doing anything. That was exactly how he came back when he absorbed himself in memorizing all kinds of different plants and herbs, and the current situation was the same. Instead of immediately trying to concoct a medicine, he preferred to research the medicinal formula first.

Seven days passed. After fully absorbing the information from the medicinal formula, he then closed his eyes and began to analyze the matter further. It was the night when he finally opened his eyes. Then, after thinking further, he produced a formula for the spiritual energy replenishment medicine and began to examine it.

Two more weeks passed. Bai Xiaochun's eyes were red, but now, he felt that he completely understood all the various medicinal herbs that were part of this medicinal formula. After thinking further, he got up and walked out of the courtyard.

Concocting medicine required a pill furnace, but it was quite expensive, more expensive than Bai Xiaochun could do. Thankfully, in the Medicine Making Pavilion, there were pill furnaces available for use by the disciples in concocting medicine, at the price of a few merit points.

The Medicine Making Pavilion was on the eastern side of Fragrant Cloud Peak, not too far away from where Bai Xiaochun lived. It was unlike the 10,000 Medicinal Pavilion, which was always full of crowds. The Medicine Making Pavilion was a relatively quiet and peaceful place. After all, even at Fragrant Cloud Peak, people who were qualified to concoct medicines were relatively few in number. Of that small amount, some already had their own personal pill furnaces, and there was no need to come here to rent one.

Bai Xiaochun paid the right to use the facilities of the Medicine Making Pavilion for an entire month. He was given a personal workshop, complete with a protective spell formation that prevented outside interference while he worked.

Clutching the wooden key that had been given to him, Bai Xiaochun quickly found the #13 workshop and walked in. It was not very large, and was completely empty except for the pill furnace and the flames that lit up underneath.

After sitting cross-legged, Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath, then inspected the pilus furnace closely. When he tried to manipulate the flame with spiritual energy, he discovered that he could cause the flame to become hotter, filling the entire room with intense heat. At the same time, the pill furnace itself began to glow bright red.

Drawing on his foundation in the Violet Qi Control Art, he performed several tests, and quickly got used to the intense heat. It didn't take long before he became accustomed to how to control the level of the flame. Finally, he slapped his bag to produce various kinds of plants and herbs.

“Dupa Longevity is too important to take first in the list. First I will get used to the general concoction process, then I will try. I will start with the Spirit Refilling Pill. It was a level-1 pill, useful for the fifth level of Qi Condensation and lower. " Bai Xiaochun is now fully determined. A very serious expression, he mentally reviewed the medicinal formula for the Spirit Refilling Pill, then started making.

He produced the first medicinal plant, then waved his hand, causing the leaves to fall off. With eyes glittering with concentration, he sent his internal spiritual energy out, forming a powerful yet gentle force that crushed the leaves together into nine sap grains, which he then dropped onto the pill furnace.

The sound of an eruption could be heard, and a green mist instantly rose within the pill furnace. Bai Xiaochun's eyes gleamed brightly, and as soon as the mist completely appeared, his hands flew through the air as he extracted the stems and veins of the medicinal plants, which he then threw into the furnace as well. Every now and then, he adjusted the flames, ensuring that more and more fog accumulated within the furnace.

However, no mist escaped outside. It froze together, circling around as Bai Xiaochun took out a second medicinal plant. After catalyzing it briefly, the medicinal plant bloomed with flowers, petals that he picked up and put into the pill furnace.

Time pass. Bai Xiaochun was completely focused on what he was doing as he took out one medicinal plant after another. Immediately he was on the eighth plant, and his eyes shone brightly as he stared at the pill furnace. As he continuously adjusted the temperature of the flames, sweat trickled down his face.

Two hours later, a muffled roar sounded from within the pill furnace. Black smoke shot out, to be absorbed by the spell room formation. Bai Xiaochun choked and coughed, and a frown was visible on his face as he stared at the charred slag inside the pill furnace.

"Failure.." he muttered. Sitting down and putting his chin on his hand, he began to think. After reviewing everything he had done, he did not immediately start another batch. After all, he was a cautious person, and whether it was regarding memorizing plants and herbs or concocting medicines, he always wanted to do so in the wisest manner.

He pondered over the matter for three whole days. During that time, he revisited what he remembered about his first attempt at least a thousand times. It helped him identify at least fifty problem areas. Finally, he took a deep breath, rested for a moment, and once again heated the furnace.

The actual time it took to produce the pill was not long. Four hours later, the pill furnace emitted a rumbling sound once again, and as the smoke dissipated, the broken pill remnants once again became visible.

At this point, his stubborn determination once again rose. After taking out the slag from the pill furnace, he examined it carefully, then compared it to the information he had gathered so far about medicinal herbs. He then spent another ten days researching the medicinal formula, as well as the plants and vegetation involved. Finally, with red eyes, he began to try for the third time.

This time, he spent almost half a month. His time in the Medicine Making Pavilion was almost up. Finally, his eyes opened, and he gritted his teeth as he began the fourth wave.

Finally, the time is up, and the most recent batch is failure.

If any daily apothecary could observe what was happening, he would find it hard to believe. Almost everyone will try at least dozens of drugs within a month, and will succeed in at least a few of them.

Even if they only produced one pill in the end, it would still be considered a success.

After all, most people consider drugs to be something that is very difficult. If that was not the case, then there would be more than two major apothecaries in all of the Eastwood Continent.

Even daily worker pharmacists were not very common, and most of them had no hope of becoming a master pharmacist.

Of course, the real reason for that is .. most people do not have access to the necessary resources to actually develop as a day-worker pharmacist.

However, in the end, if one worked long enough in that regard, their chances of eventually becoming a master apothecary would be much greater. Therefore, most people believe that the best way to increase one's success rate in concocting medicine is to practice a lot!

And that is why most people are just pursuing exercise.

Once you get used to the process enough, your confidence in success will increase. Of course, simultaneously, the travel worker pharmacist came to see failure as common. After the failure, one could start again, and thus slowly improve. That was especially true for the more ordinary medicinal pills. The ingredients for such pills were not very expensive, and could be used as fuel for that hard work and practice.

However, Bai Xiaochun walked on a different path from the others. He became much slower, and after each failure, he would spend more time analyzing why he failed than he had in the actual concocting process.

This has a lot to do with his caution. It would even be appropriate to call him carefully. Only a little bit of precision came out during his time studying plants and plants. Now, after he plunged into medicine to concoct, his meticulous nature increased dramatically, becoming the most prominent aspect.

Because of that rigor, he was able to identify more problem areas than the average person. In fact, the number of problems that others might identify cannot even be compared. He thought and pondered the matter in a way that not even others would consider, and thus identified various suspicious areas.

Due to his prudence, even the slightest problem was something he wanted to control before he proceeded with concocting. It was for this reason that he spent a lot of time thinking.

The moon had passed; bai Xiaochun's hair was disheveled and his face was covered in ashes. Tired, he left the Medicine Making Pavilion and returned to his courtyard, where he sat there thinking and reviewing.

“There are still nine problem areas. After I resolve the matter, I should be able to proceed with concocting the medicine. " Gritting his teeth, he sat there in the courtyard, with his eyes closed, analyzing the matter, occasionally taking medicinal herbs to observe and study.

Half a month passed before he suddenly rushed out, exhausted his merit points, and entered the Medicine Conferred Pavilion again.

Fifth batch ... failed!

After analyzing the matter for another seven days, he found more problems, solved them, and then tried again.

Sixth batch .. failed!

Her eyes are bright red. He spent twenty days pondering over the matter before attempting the seventh generation.

Two hours into the process, no rumbling sounds could be heard. Instead, a medicinal fragrance spread out, and Bai Xiaochun's face shone. There, inside the pill furnace were two green medicinal pills. Seventh batch successful!

He tried again, and the eighth batch .. was successful, producing three pills!

The ninth batch ... was successful, producing five pills!

The tenth batch ... also succeeded, However, in the end, only one pill appeared. It is not green, but black. Moreover, it did not emit a medicinal scent, but a distinct strange scent.

Even as Bai Xiaochun pondered over the matter curiously, the entire Medicine Conferred Pavilion was thrown into an uproar.