Chapter 40 - Pursuing perfection
Humming a lody, Bai Xiaochun joyfully stepped through the sect doors. When he returned to his courtyard, he couldn’t help but lant.
“Cultivation is for the sake of immortality, these people, who always go on about fighting and killing, must have sothing wrong with their heads.”
In his courtyard, Bai Xiaochun organised the storage pouches of Chen Fei and his gang. These three people weren’t wealthy and their pockets were rather shallow. Even though the loot this ti wasn’t large, Bai Xiaochun wasn’t particularly disappointed with it. He took out the dicinal plants he bought, and looked at them closely as he held them in his hand, thoroughly inspecting each and every one of them.
Although he had a strong foundation in plants and herbs, he still didn’t have many opportunities to truly co in contact with actual dicinal plants and herbs. And at this mont, as he studied the dicinal plants, his observations and analysis gradually rged with the knowledge in his mind. He even lightly slit open the plants and conscientiously observed its inner structures.
After consolidating his knowledge of all of them, Bai Xiaochun fell deep in thought as he took out the two dicinal recipes. He only took a single glance towards the dicinal recipe for the Spirit Replenishing Pill, then shifted his attention onto the dicinal recipe for strengthening a mortal’s body.
“Longevity Incense Stick……” Bai Xiaochun murmured softly; this dicinal recipe did not require a lot of dicinal plants - only seven kinds - and it did not have any unique points when it ca to mixing the plants. This dicinal recipe only used the principle of allelopathy to maximise the strength of these seven types of dicinal plants by grounding them into powder and then coagulating it into an incense.
(ED note: Allelopathy (sen.wikipedia/wiki/Allelopathy) is the chemical inhibition of a plant (or other organism) by another, when exposed to substances acting as germination or growth inhibitors.)
Especially for two of the plant types in the dicinal recipe, they were actually poisonous. Although it wasn’t any kind of lethal poison for cultivators, one would still get diarrhea for about half a month. But for ordinary people, such poison could be a threat to their lives.
“Between the Heavens and the Earth, there is a boundless diversity of spirit plants and herbs; so can be eaten directly, so can be refined into pills for a better effect, and so, due to their poisonous content, can only be refined into incenses.” Bai Xiaochun pondered as he carefully scrutinised each and every dicinal grass used to refine the Longevity Incense Stick, until he could understand each of these seven types of dicinal grass down to the last detail.
“It’s still not safe. The main point of refining dicine is the success rate of completing the dicine, and even if it is just the most simple Grade One spirit dicine, there still exists a high risk of failure.”
“I only have ten sets of each type of dicinal grass, I can’t afford to be wasteful.” Bai Xiaochun’s personality has always been a cautious - one that seeks safety and stability. When he was morising the plants and herbs, he made sure to rember them down to the finest detail. And at this mont, before Bai Xiaochun started refining dicine, he first approached the subject with a similar attitude - choosing not to start the refinent imdiately, instead, thoroughly studying the dicinal recipe.
Ti passed, one day after the other, until seven days later, he had completely comprehended the dicinal recipe; Bai Xiaochun had closed his eyes as he continuously analysed and simulated the dicinal recipe in his mind. Not until the sun was about to set did Bai Xiaochun finally opened his eyes again. After thinking for a mont, he took out the dicinal recipe for the Spirit Replenishing Pill and started studying again.
Half a month later, blood vessels filled Bai Xiaochun’s eyes; he had thoroughly comprehended both recipes and the dicinal plants they required. After pondering for a short mont, he suddenly stood up and walked out of his courtyard.
dicine refinent required a pill furnace, however, the price of a pill furnace was not cheap and Bai Xiaochun could not afford to obtain one. Luckily, within the sect, there was a dicine Refinent Pavilion specifically built for disciples to refine their dicine. A disciple only had to spend a certain amount of contribution points in exchange for the opportunity to refine dicine within the pavilion.
The dicine Refinent Pavilion lay on the eastern side of the Scented Cloud Mountain, which was not too far away from where Bai Xiaochun stayed. The dicine Refinent Pavilion was also peaceful, unlike the Ten Thousand dicine Pavilion which was always packed with crowds of people. After all, even if one searched the entire Scented Cloud Mountain, there still wouldn’t be many who had the skills to refine dicine. Moreover, so of these people already possessed their own pill furnaces and as such they had no need to co here.
After paying the specified amount of contribution points, Bai Xiaochun obtained a month’s ti in the dicine Refinent Pavilion. As Bai Xiaochun walked in, a structure made up of over a hundred individual rooms greeted his eyes. Each room also had an array formation around it to prevent the dicine-refiner from being disturbed by the outside world.
Holding on to the wooden tablet he received, Bai Xiaochun walked into the thirteenth room and swept a glance around its interior. The room wasn’t big, it was almost empty except for a single pill furnace placed in the center of the room. Under the pill furnace, a fla seed to be faintly burning.
Sitting down cross-legged, Bai Xiaochun took in a deep breath as he laid his eyes on the pill furnace. After closely inspecting it, he looked at the fire beneath the pill furnace and tried to stimulate it with his spirit Qi. In an instant, the fire grew fiercer, causing the temperature in the room to rise. The pill furnace also started to redden at a speed visible to the naked eye.
After trying nurous tries, Bai Xiaochun soon managed to control the strength of the fire with the help of his mastery in the Purple Qi Cauldron lting Technique. Once he familiarised himself with the control and could accurately manipulate the fire, he slapped his storage pouch and retrieved the dicinal plants and grasses.
“The Longevity Incense Stick is of great importance to . I shouldn’t refine it first, only when I familiarised myself with dicine refinent should I refine this incense. In this case, I should start practicing with the Spirit Replenishing Pill first. This pill is ranked Grade One and is suitable for those under the fifth level of Qi Condensation.” Bai Xiaochun made up his mind as his expression turned to one filled with concentration. As he once again recalled the dicinal recipe of the Spirit Replenishing Pill in his mind, he imdiately began refining the dicine.
He took out a stalk of a dicinal plant required for the Spirit Replenishing Pill and held it in front of his eyes. With a wave of his right hand, the leaves on the stalk of the plant imdiately fell off. Bai Xiaochun’s eyes turned serious as he spread out his spirit Qi from within his body to form a gust of wind that instantly compressed the leaves together. Nine drops of sap dripped out of the compressed leaves and fell into the pill furnace.
‘Pfft’ ! Plus of green mist imdiately rose from within the pill furnace as Bai Xiaochun increased his concentration to its peak. The mont this mist had appeared, Bai Xiaochun rapidly waved both of his hands and removed the stem’s vessels from the dicinal plant in his hand. He threw each of them into the pill furnace while controlling the fla at the sa ti. During the process, more and more mist started to form within the pill furnace.
However, this mist refused to dissipate, instead, it coalesced together. As the mist continuously rolled in the furnace, Bai Xiaochun took out the second stalk of dicinal plant and catalysed it as he held it in his hand. Flowers imdiately blood on the stalk of the plant from which Bai Xiaochun plucked the petals that he had thrown into the furnace.
Ti passed by, Bai Xiaochun devoted his entire heart and soul into dicine refinent; he continuously took out dicinal plants and threw them into the furnace. After he had put in eight different plants, his gaze shone with a bright light as he stared at the pill furnace. He then slowly changed its temperature by controlling the fire. Under this intense concentration, beads of sweat ford on his forehead and they trickled down the silhouette of his face.
Two hours later, a dull sound echoed from within the pill furnace. At the sa ti, billows of black charred smoke dissipated into the air; although it was rapidly sucked away by the array formation in the room, Bai Xiaochun still coughed a couple of tis from choking on the smoke. Looking at the the black residue in the pill furnace with an ugly expression, Bai Xiaochun couldn’t help but frown.
“Failed……” Bai Xiaochun sat down and propped his chin with his hand. His eyes revealed that he fell into deep thought, carefully recollecting the details from the dicine-refining process. Since his personality was cautious, he did not continue attempting to refine the dicine again. Whether it was morising the plants and herbs or dicine refinent, Bai Xiaochun always pursued perfection.
This lasted over three days. On the third day, Bai Xiaochun had replayed his first dicine-refining process in his mind over a thousand tis, finding no less than fifty mistakes. Finally, he took in a deep breath, resting for a mont, and lit up the furnace once again.
The actual ti to refine the pill did not take long. Four hours later, the sa sound resounded from the pill furnace as a similar smoke spread into the air, revealing the residue in the furnace once again.
The tenacity and stubbornness in Bai Xiaochun’s character surfaced once again. He scooped out the residue and carefully studied it. Coupled with the recollection of the dicine-refinent process, Bai Xiaochun studied the dicinal recipe and the dicinal plants once more. This ti, the analysis took ten days, after which, with bloodshot eyes, Bai Xiaochun finally started the furnace for the third ti.
The third attempt with the furnace started out steady, however, just when the pill was about to form, cracks appeared and the dull sound echoed once more. Bai Xiaochun jumped and fixed a death stare on the residue inside the pill furnace. Silence reigned for a long ti, and then finally, Bai Xiaochun sat at one side, closed his eyes, and once again fell into deep thought.
This ti, he pondered for almost half a month, not until his ti with the dicine room was almost over did Bai Xiaochun finally open his eyes, grit his teeth, and start the furnace for the fourth ti.
At the mont his ti with the dicine room ran out, this attempt had already ended up as a failure.
If other dicine Apprentices were to see this scene, they would definitely find it unbelievable. In a single month, if it was any other person, they would have easily refined over ten tis, and no matter what, at the very least, they would produce so dicine.
Even if the dicine was refined into just a single grain, that was still an achievent.
After all, no matter how one looked at it, dicine-refining was extrely difficult. Otherwise, throughout the entire Eastern Forest Continent, there would not have been just two true dicine Masters.
Even if one counted all the dicine Apprentices, they would not amount to a particularly large number. Moreover, most of them wouldn’t have the chance to promote themselves into a dicine Master their whole life.
In reality, the main reason for this was…...there simply weren’t not enough resources to groom a dicine Apprentice. If one had enough resources, and under constant and repeated practice, though it may not necessarily ensure that one would definitely beco a dicine Master, the chances would definitely be much higher.
Hence, the success rate of dicine refinent in the eyes of everyone only had a single thod to be increased - through constant practice and increased proficiency.
And what everyone was pursuing was indeed this kind proficiency.
Only when one has reached a sufficient level of proficiency could they increase the success rate of dicine refinent. Even when the dicine-refining failed sotis, most dicine Apprentices think of it as nothing out of the ordinary; one just had to learn their lesson and start refining again, only then would their proficiency increase. Especially when it ca to refining ordinary pill dicines, where the ingredients were inexpensive, dicine Apprentices would use the chance and spare no effort in practicing.
As for Bai Xiaochun, though his path was the sa, his speed was much slower than normal. Every single ti he failed, he would spend countless of his precious dicine-refining ti to continuously study, analyse, and simulate the process in his mind.
All of this stemd from his personality - cautious and ticulous. This ticulousness had just barely been revealed when he was studying the plants and herbs. However, now that he had co into contact with dicine refinent, this trait had been exponentially magnified, overtaking his character and attitude.
And because of this ticulousness, Bai Xiaochun was able to discover more mistakes than the average person, and this amount was not just a small amount. Instead, because he pondered a lot and thoroughly analyzed everything, including areas where others would not even think there was a mistake, he would still feel there was a problem when he looked at it.
And because of his cautiousness, no matter how miniscule the mistake was, he would always make sure he corrected it first before continuing with dicine refining. As a result, his ti spent on thinking was many tis that of the ti spent on dicine refining.
The month's worth of ti had finally ended, Bai Xiaochun walked out of the dicine Refinent Pavilion exhausted; his hair disheveled, his face black with soot. Once he returned back to his courtyard, he fell silent for a long ti as he constantly recollected his experiences in his mind.
“There are still nine areas with mistakes, once these nine areas have been cleared up, I can continue with the dicine refinent.” Bai Xiaochun gritted his teeth as he sat in his courtyard. With his eyes closed, Bai Xiaochun was deep in thought. He continuously analysed the problems in his mind, taking out the dicinal plants to observe them in detail from ti to ti.
Half a month later, he fervently dashed out from his yard and once again spent so contribution points to enter the dicine Refinent Pavilion.
The fifth ti…..failed!
He used seven days in analysing the process, seeking out the problems, and solving them before starting to refine again.
The sixth ti…….failed!
With his eyes bloodshot, this ti, Bai Xiaochun spent twenty days before he finally felt that there were no more mistakes, then started the furnace for the seventh ti.
Two hours passed, yet the dull sound did not appear, instead, a pill aroma rose toward Bai Xiaochun, and he excitedly looked at the two green-coloured dicine pills within the pill furnace. He sucked in a deep breath, it was the seventh attempt, and he had finally succeeded!
Following that, he continued to refine. The eighth ti…... success, with three pills!
The ninth ti…... success, with five pills!
The tenth ti…...still a success, however, when the pill appeared from the tenth refinent, there was only one of it. Moreover, it wasn’t green coloured, instead, it was black. It did not exude any pill aroma, and when one tried to sll it, there would even be a strange scent…...
Just when Bai Xiaochun was still in shock, the entire dicine Refinent Pavilion imdiately trembled.
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Translated by: Xin
TLCed by: Xin, Nat Nat
Edited by: Arch, Crimsonguard
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