My dreams can simulate the future.

Chapter 87 Practicing Alchemy

After hearing Guo Lang's words, Jiang Chen was somewhat tempted.

"The ruins of an ancient sect must contain countless treasures. Moreover, there's a chance to obtain Foundation Establishment Pills, so I definitely have to go."

"That ruin might be extremely dangerous, but I have the Dream Butterfly Map. Unless the mortality rate is one hundred percent, I can survive."

"However, it will take about two years before I can enter the ancient ruins. In these two years, I need to improve my strength as soon as possible."

Not only must one prepare talismans and array diagrams to save their life, but one must also try to improve their cultivation level.

"I'm already at the seventh level of Qi Refining. If I take more pills over the next two years, and with the four-fold cultivation speed from the Great Dream Thousand Autumns Technique, reaching the ninth level of Qi Refining isn't impossible."

"However, obtaining enough pills is no easy task. The Pill Hall is controlled by the direct lineage, so we can't rely on them at all."

To obtain enough elixirs, I'll have to rely on myself.

Thinking of this, he immediately asked, "Senior brother, I'd like to take some time to learn alchemy. You mentioned before that the Guardian Hall has an alchemy department; can I go there to learn?"

Upon hearing this, Guo Lang was taken aback.

He hadn't expected Jiang Chen's thinking to be so unpredictable.

They were just talking about ancient ruins, and now the conversation has suddenly turned to learning alchemy, leaving him a little disoriented.

"Of course, that's no problem. Our Talisman Hall and Guardian Hall are closely connected, and it's common for us to learn from each other."

If you really want to learn alchemy, you can go directly to the Pill Refining Department of the Guardian Hall to buy alchemy furnaces, spirit charcoal, and medicinal herbs.

If you have any questions, you can always consult the alchemists in the Guardian Hall.

"Although it is not uncommon for cultivators to be proficient in two or three crafts, your cultivation level is still too low, and time is precious."

"We mustn't let greed for more hinder our cultivation and the development of our talismans."

If an ordinary person wanted to learn alchemy, it would indeed take a lot of time.

But for Jiang Chen, this was no big deal. Learning technical skills and encountering pitfalls could be done entirely in his dreams, with negligible costs.

"Don't worry, senior brother, I know what's important. I won't neglect either the art of talismans or my cultivation."

Guo Lang simply nodded slightly and said nothing more.

……

After leaving Iron Case Mountain, Jiang Chen headed straight for Heavenly Sword Peak, where the Guard Hall was located.

Because on his way to the mountain gate a year ago, he saved many people on the same boat, indirectly saving Li Wusheng's reputation, and also received a message jade talisman from Master Tiejian.

Therefore, the people of the Guardian Hall were very friendly to him.

Upon arriving at the Alchemy Department, the head of the department personally received them, not only recommending a suitable alchemy furnace but also selling fifty portions of materials for the Spirit Gathering Pill and several hundred kilograms of spirit charcoal at a 20% discount.

He even copied down his own accumulated experience in alchemy over many years for Jiang Chen.

Of course, Jiang Chen didn't let them work for nothing; he sold a lot of high-grade first-rank talismans at a 30% discount.

He also purchased some high-quality Spirit Gathering Pills from the Alchemy Department, but unfortunately, there were only a dozen or so.

……

[Day 10 of the Dream]

After seven or eight days of practice, Jiang Chen finally mastered the basics of fire control.

Then, full of confidence, he began refining elixirs.

Instead of directly refining the Spirit Gathering Pill, he started with the simplest Bigu Pill.

There are many versions of the formula for the Bigu Dan (a type of fasting pill), the simplest of which uses only spiritual grains.

By extracting its essence and condensing it into pills, one can refine the Bigu Pill.

A cultivator can eat one or two ounces of first-grade spirit grains and be guaranteed not to be hungry for a day.

Consuming one fasting pill can also guarantee that you won't be hungry for a day.

Spiritual grains need to be cooked, while Bigu pills can be eaten directly.

One Bigu Pill weighs only one qian (approximately 3 grams), and one hundred Bigu Pills weigh only one jin (approximately 500 grams), enough to last one hundred days.

One pound of spirit grain can only last for ten days.

A common storage bag is essentially a high-quality burlap sack; the weight of the bag depends on what it holds.

Even the more advanced storage bags are equipped with levitation patterns, which can consume mana to offset the weight of the storage bag.

However, the more items you store, the more mana you consume.

Of course, there are also storage artifacts that ignore the weight of goods, but such treasures are too rare, even Core Formation cultivators find them difficult to obtain.

Therefore, when cultivators go out, they try to carry as light a thing as possible. Carrying fasting pills is obviously much more convenient than carrying spirit grains.

Jiang Chen went to the training room in the backyard, took out a heavy black iron pill furnace, and lit a flame under the furnace with spirit charcoal.

He then used fire control techniques to manipulate the flames to scorch the bottom of the alchemy furnace. This was an essential step before the actual alchemy process—warming the furnace.

Once the temperature reached the appropriate level, Jiang Chen immediately took out a pound of spirit grain and poured it into the alchemy furnace.

Then, the flames are controlled to heat the spirit valley, refining its essence.

Under the scorching heat of the furnace walls, Jiang Chen used his divine sense to draw upon the energy within the rice grains. Without much effort, a tiny droplet of liquid flowed from the grain—the very essence of the spiritual grain.

After losing its essence, the rice grains turn to ash in a very short time.

After a hundred breaths, all the rice grains had disappeared, leaving only a fist-sized ball of essence.

Refining the essence of elixirs is an extremely important step in alchemy.

The maximum number of pills that can be formed is limited to the step of refining the essence.

Assuming the essence extracted from the tempering process is only enough to form two pills, no matter how exquisite the subsequent fire control methods and pill condensation techniques are, at most only two pills can be formed.

He then blended all the essence droplets together to form an essence cluster.

Then, based on the amount of essence, distribute it evenly.

Jiang Chen's first attempt resulted in not enough essence, so he could only divide it into five portions.

After evenly separating the essence, the next step is to reduce the sauce over high heat.

Under the constant heat of the oven, the essence became less and less, and increasingly viscous.

Once the essence turns into a paste-like consistency, it reaches the stage of condensing the elixir.

Reduce the heat and lower the furnace temperature to allow the paste to cool and solidify into pills.

The entire process of alchemy requires the continuous use of fire control techniques to regulate the furnace temperature, which places high demands on one's spiritual sense.

If one's spiritual sense is insufficient and fire control is unstable, the furnace temperature will fluctuate, making it common for alchemy to fail, and there is even a possibility of the furnace exploding.

But for talisman masters, the consumption of spiritual energy by fire control techniques is child's play.

Half an hour later, the pill had roughly solidified.

Jiang Chen opened the stove lid, and a burnt smell wafted out.

There were two pills and three small piles of ashes in the furnace.

The two pills were also different colors; one was bright yellow, and the other was dark yellow.

The golden pill had reached the level of a common pill, and could be considered a qualified product.

However, the dark yellow one emitted a burnt smell, indicating it didn't reach the level of a common-grade pill and was considered a waste pill.

"Everyone says that alchemy is the easiest skill to learn, and it's true. I had absolutely no experience, and I was able to successfully refine two pills on my first try."

"The amount of spiritual energy consumed is really small; it's less than what I would use to draw a high-grade first-rank talisman."

Jiang Chen struck while the iron was hot and started another furnace.

Based on previous experience, this batch produced five pills, four of which were of ordinary quality and one was a defective pill.

"Once you've mastered the technique, there's no need to waste time refining the Bigu Pill anymore; it's time to start refining the Qi Gathering Pill."