Chapter 146 Success

As Ye Cheng once again drove his spiritual sense into a counterattack, the fire spirit immediately transformed into a raging blaze. Crimson flames directly blended together the medicinal essences extracted from the various ingredients.

“The ingredients in these medicines all have different tolerances to heat. I must concentrate on every minute change and adjust the temperature of the flames in time, or this entire batch will be ruined again.” Ye Cheng focused all his attention on the task, not daring to let his mind wander even for an instant. After several days of experimentation, he finally had some confidence.

Bang!

Even with all his concentration, Ye Cheng still failed to control the fire spirit perfectly and eliminate the conflicts between the medicinal essences. The muffled explosion startled him, and he hurriedly lowered the temperature of the flames. Only then did he manage to prevent the batch from being completely ruined.

He licked his dry, bloodless lips. This was already his fourth attempt of the day. Given the strain on his mind, even with the ancient soul jade replenishing his spiritual sense, he could manage only five batches of medicine in a single day. As his cultivation advanced and his mind grew stronger, however, the time he could spend refining medicine would increase considerably.

Within the medicine cauldron, his spiritual sense had to control the temperature of the flames formed by the fire spirit while also watching for conflicts between the properties and effects of the various medicinal essences. Such divided concentration consumed his mental strength at an astonishing rate.

This attempt, however, proceeded much more smoothly than the previous ones. Ye Cheng made very few mistakes throughout the entire process, allowing the batch to survive inside the cauldron.

Time slipped quietly away. Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead and slowly rolled down his cheeks, one drop after another, falling into the silent cavern with faint, audible splashes.

Inside the cauldron, the dozen or so medicinal essences were subjected to temperatures that rose and fell continuously. At last, their conflicting properties gradually dissolved, and the essences began to merge bit by bit.

As more and more of them blended together, a refreshing fragrance spread from the cauldron, mixed with a distinctive medicinal scent that had not yet been completely refined away. This was the sign of a seventy-percent completion rate.

The more thoroughly the medicinal scent was refined, the higher the completion rate. Potions with a completion rate above ninety percent gave off almost no discernible medicinal odor unless one sensed them carefully, while a perfect potion possessed a fragrance that penetrated straight into the heart and lungs.

The potion Ye Cheng had yet to remove from the cauldron still carried a noticeable medicinal scent, clearly indicating a seventy-percent completion rate. Even so, reaching this stage meant that he had finally succeeded.

When Ye Cheng caught a whiff of the fragrance, he released a long breath of relief. His palms slowly left the sides of the cauldron. After using his spiritual sense to complete the final shaping, he drew the fire spirit back into his body.

With the fire spirit leaving the cauldron, the flames inside it gradually faded away, leaving behind only a deep-colored liquid tinged with green.

With one hand, Ye Cheng took a specially prepared jade bottle from his storage ring. With the other, he reached out and lightly pressed the mechanism on the serpent’s head. The serpent’s mouth opened at once, and the potion flowed out through it from the cauldron. Ye Cheng collected every last drop in the jade bottle.

Looking at the hemostatic powder he had refined himself, Ye Cheng could not suppress the joy that surfaced at the corners of his mouth. More than two days of effort and the repeated exhaustion of his mental strength had finally allowed him to successfully produce the hemostatic powder in such a short time.

Although it was merely a first-grade potion, it marked Ye Cheng’s successful entry into the profession of potion making. In barely two days, he had completed the transformation from a complete novice into a genuine potion maker. If other potion makers witnessed this, they would either be consumed by envy or filled with resentment.

Even some of the most accomplished potion makers might fight to take him as a disciple if they learned that he had become a potion maker after only two days.

Someone with modest talent needed at least two or three months to become a potion maker. Even a person of exceptional talent would conservatively require a month. But Ye Cheng had done it in two days. What kind of achievement was that?

There was only one word for it: monstrous.

He possessed almost the complete inheritance of a seventh-grade potion maker. His understanding of medicinal principles, his fire spirit, and his exceptionally powerful spiritual sense, far beyond that of others at the same level, were all essential reasons for his astonishing accomplishment.

“From now on, I am officially a potion maker.” Ye Cheng tightened his grip around the jade bottle, his eyes filled with confidence.

“Not bad, boy. Becoming a potion maker in two days is an impressive achievement in this lower plane. But in the Heavenly Plane, it is nothing particularly rare. That place is crowded with geniuses. I have seen plenty of people become potion makers in two days, and even alchemists in two days.”

Just as Ye Cheng was immersed in his happiness, Elder Mu’s calm voice instantly shattered it.

“So there is nothing worth being proud of in this little accomplishment. This world has never lacked geniuses. The question is who can persevere until the end. Only those who do so can truly have the last laugh.”

Elder Mu looked at Ye Cheng and spoke with solemn sincerity.

In Elder Mu’s heart, he had always regarded Ye Cheng as a beloved disciple. The greater a person’s talent, the easier it was for complacency to arise. That was why he struck at Ye Cheng’s pride from time to time, until the day Ye Cheng could truly stand on his own.

“Yes.”

Looking at Elder Mu, Ye Cheng jolted back to his senses from the joy of his success. Elder Mu’s words continued to echo in his ears.

“This world has never been short of geniuses.”

That was true. He was merely an insignificant figure in this vast world. But precisely because of that, he would continue moving forward step by step, until the day he could take control of his own destiny.

His fighting spirit was suddenly rekindled.

After looking at Elder Mu for a moment, Ye Cheng asked, “Teacher, there is something I have never understood.”

“Oh? Ask away,” Elder Mu replied.

“Previously, you often said that alchemy is a realm of the Way of Medicine above potion making, yet the conditions required for the two are worlds apart. An alchemist must possess a fire constitution in order to have any chance of entering that realm. I can understand that. After all, some heavenly treasures cannot be refined by ordinary flames and require a fire spirit.”

“But why was it that when I successfully gave birth to an earthfire, Senior Ye Wentian in the ancient cavern and you both said that I merely had the chance to become an alchemist? Is there another requirement besides possessing a fire spirit?”

Ye Cheng recalled his conversation in the ancient cavern with the supreme potion maker who had passed on the Way of Medicine to him, as well as Elder Mu’s frequent remarks that he had only a chance of becoming an alchemist. For a moment, he was deeply puzzled.

Moreover, within Nanyang Prefecture, he had heard of only a single alchemist, residing in the prefectural city. In other words, across the countless miles of Nanyang Prefecture, with its population of hundreds of millions, there might be only one alchemist. Such an astonishing ratio was enough to prove that becoming an alchemist required more than merely possessing a fire constitution and a fire spirit.