Chapter 116: The Collapse of Alchemist Bai Ming (Part 1)

"Impressive!"

"Only Alchemist Bai Ming has such skill, able to refine the Runxue Dan successfully under these conditions!"

"The Runxue Dan is very difficult to refine, and Alchemist Bai Ming's technique is even more complex. I've never seen it before. Let's see what flaws this Zhang Xuan can point out!"

"Heh heh, let's watch the show!"

Seeing Alchemist Bai Ming successfully refine the Runxue Dan, many alchemists all laughed.

The higher the grade of the pill, the more complex the refining technique. The Runxue Dan was considered quite strong among first-grade pills, and its refining technique was extremely intricate. Even they could not confirm the errors in the technique; how could an apprentice possibly see them?

"Alright, the pill is refined. Now tell me the name of the technique and its flaws!"

With a cold laugh, Alchemist Bai Ming steadied his breath and waved his hand grandly.

Relying on some leverage and information obtained from who knows where, he wanted to win the pill debate? Dream on!

Without true skill and correctly pointing out the errors in alchemy, wanting to earn my admiration? No way!

"Are you sure you want me to speak?" Zhang Xuan's expression turned strange again.

"Stop putting on an act here. If you can't explain it, then admit defeat!" Bai Ming sneered.

"Fine then!"

Zhang Xuan shook his head, clasped his hands behind his back, and slowly walked to the center of the room.

"The alchemy technique you used is called the 'Thousand Peaks Hand.' Legend has it that it was created by a second-star alchemist named Feng Xuan. When adding ingredients, you follow a special order, like mountain peaks, layer upon layer, wave after wave. The flame control follows the same order, with power fluctuating between high and low. This method allows the medicinal effects to fully blend, making it easy to form pills! But its flaw is also very obvious: it is extremely difficult to improve the grade of the pills!"

"Thus, although these three Moisture Acupoint Pills of yours succeeded, they are only the lowest grade. To achieve fullness is nearly impossible. This alchemy technique is only suitable for low-level alchemists for mass production. To be honest, any slightly better alchemist would not learn it, because it is equivalent to shackling one's path forward. No matter how many times you practice, you can never improve the quality of the pill by even a fraction. What use is learning it?"

"Unless... you feel that you have no potential left to tap, and then you give up on yourself!" Zhang Xuan smiled slightly, looking at him meaningfully. "Alchemist Bai Ming, am I right?"

"Hmph!"

Hearing this, Bai Ming gritted his teeth, his face alternating between red and white.

As the head of the Bai family and a first-star alchemist, he was held in high esteem, yet in the other's words, he had become... a low-level alchemist... with no potential left to tap...

However, he could not refute it.

The flaws of the Thousand Peaks Hand were exactly as the other had said; although it made refining Moisture Acupoint Pills easy, it allowed for no further progress.

"Don't be smug. Saying all this is useless. You only win if you point out the mistakes I made during my alchemy!" Bai Ming exhaled, forcing down his anger.

"Alright."

Zhang Xuan wasted no time. He stepped forward two paces and arrived before the furnace: "Then I'll start with the basics!"

"Any alchemist knows that to produce good pills, one must have strong control over the flame and the furnace. Just now, Alchemist Bai Ming picked up the herbs and started refining. How much did he know about this furnace? And the furnace fire?"

"Don't bother retorting that all furnaces are similar in design and that details don't matter. I can tell you clearly: with the same herbs, the same fire, and the same furnace, the pills produced can differ. It's because of these tiny differences—even a slight carelessness can lower the grade of the refined pill!"

His fingers lightly traced the furnace as Zhang Xuan continued: "If you don't believe me, I'll tell you now."

"This furnace is seven feet three inches tall and three feet two inches wide. It was crafted by the Sanmo artisans of Shijing Workshop seven years and three months ago. It has been used for alchemy a total of one hundred and forty-seven times, of which eighty-eight times produced first-grade pills and fifty-nine times produced pills below first grade. During transport, it suffered three impacts, leaving thirteen fine marks across the entire cauldron. For refining ordinary pills, these are negligible, but they cause medicinal power to dissipate and primal energy to scatter, resulting in insufficient potency and a lower grade when the pill forms!"

"This cauldron is over an inch thick. For heat to fully penetrate, it takes one incense stick and thirty-four breaths. The thickness of the left and right walls differs slightly—by about three strands of hair. Don't underestimate this difference. Under the same flame, the heat on the two sides will differ by five percent. Therefore, placing herbs on the left or right will completely alter the effects of the Peng Hua Cao and Du Men Dan in the Runxue Pill!"

"Really?"

"A furnace has so many intricacies?"

...

Hearing Zhang Xuan's eloquent speech in the middle, the many alchemists below opened their mouths, nearly going mad.

Although they knew that different furnaces produced different pill grades, they never dreamed that a single furnace could have so many intricacies.

And...

This furnace had just been brought in by the Alchemist Association for this debate. How did he know such details? Even where it was made, its thickness and size, how many times it had been used for alchemy... all perfectly clear?

Damn, this is too incredible!

You can tell all that at a glance... are you a monster?

"Having discussed the furnace, let me now talk about the fire!"

Ignoring the crowd's astonishment, Zhang Xuan pointed at the flame beneath the furnace: "This is burning from [Sky Coal], the hottest part can melt steel into liquid. Combined with a martial artist's true qi, one can easily control the fire's intensity and thus regulate the temperature."

"However... the flame and the medicinal herbs do not come into direct contact. The medicine we refine forms into pills inside the furnace. The flame outside penetrates the furnace wall, and how much heat remains inside the furnace is what we must master."

"Sky Coal is the best coal for alchemy. Not only is its flame temperature high, but its penetrating power is also strong. With ordinary coal, after penetrating a furnace wall about an inch thick, only thirty-seven percent of the heat remains. But with this coal, it can retain forty-six percent! Only by knowing this rule can we determine what temperature the herbs inside can withstand and how long they need for the best medicinal effect to fuse, producing the highest quality pills!"

"Of course, these are just the basics for an alchemist, not flaws. I'm just casually introducing them!"

Zhang Xuan smiled and looked to one side: "But still, I'd like to ask Alchemist Bai Ming, before refining pills, did you... pay attention to these?"

Alchemist Bai Ming felt his scalp tingle and nearly fainted.

Pay attention? Pay attention my ass!

I was just casually refining pills. These things are so complicated, how... how would I know?

And even if I wanted to pay attention, there's no way. Would I first find a ruler to measure the furnace, then test the flame's temperature bit by bit?

If I did that, two or three days would pass, and what kind of pill would I be refining then?