"I'll do my best, Senior Brother Yun!" Feng He promised solemnly. He could tell it from the look on Yun Shu's face that the matter was critical.
"Huang Sheng! Find him! It was Huang Sheng who brought those people here! He must die!" Yun Shu said word by word, his eyes clouded with fury.
"I understand!" Feng He nodded. He was one of the victims, so he also hated Huang Sheng a lot.
"Take care." Yun Shu patted Feng He's shoulder and went back to his stone shelter.
In his own place, the first thing he did was take out the furnace for alchemy. Now, he finally had some time to study this thing.
Yun Shu sized the furnace up with his eyes several times. It just looked like a simple, run-of-the-mill furnace, nothing special. Yet, he knew that there was more to it than what appeared on the surface.
The best way to figure it out was to use the furnace. Yun Shu took out a top ginseng from his cosmic bag. Before he was exiled to the Valley of Crime, Yun Shu had once read a couple of books on refining supreme pills.
More or less, Yun Shu had some basic understanding of alchemy, but he never had a chance to give it a try. Finally, the time was ripe, with all the resources at hand.
Yun Shu put the ginseng into the furnace and turned his Spirit Qi into a flame. Meanwhile, he used his golden pupils to observe the furnace carefully.
As he expected, infused with his Spirit Qi, the furnace started moving the two airflows of Yin and Yang around that supreme-grade ginseng.
Did it work?
Yun Shu was surprised. However, at this time, the two flows suddenly lost the subtle balance between them. The next moment, heavy smoke came out of the furnace as the ginseng had been turned into a pile of ash.
Yun Shu's first attempt was unsuccessful as expected.
This failure would have been a horrible blow to most people. However, it was nothing for Yun Shu. Instead, he focused his mind on that moment when the balance was suddenly lost.
What was the reason behind it?
Yun Shu thought to himself hard, his brain running on all cylinders.
Suddenly, he realized something: the nature of the supreme-grade ginseng was pure Yang. Therefore, when it was being refined, pure Yin herbs were needed to maintain the harmony between the two opposites! But how could Yun Shu find some in the Valley of Crime?
Yun Shu was left with no other choice but to go to the world behind the stone gates. Without any hesitation, he reversed his cultivation technique and went back.
As soon as Yun Shu showed up, the little chick popped out and gave him a warm welcome. The size of the little chick had grown quite a bit, but it was still the same close to Yun Shu.
"Little thing, can you find some more herbs in the mist for me? This time, I don't want ginseng, but something else." Yun Shu patted its tiny head.
The little chick hurriedly nodded and dived into the red mist. Yun Shu's cultivation had been greatly improved in this period. However, the more progress he made, the more acute his senses became. So, he knew how dangerous the red mist could be.
He was well aware of the fact that even a little bit of the red mist could be fatal to him in his current condition. Yet, the little chick was not affected by it at all, which made Yun Shu convinced that it was a mythical creature!
After a while, the little chick came back with three spirit herbs in its beak. Yun Shu checked the herbs with his golden pupils and shook his head.
"They are indeed good, but their nature isn't pure Yin. Go and find something else for me, will you?" Yun Shu said to the little chick.
The little chick went back without any delay. Soon, it brought back another few spirit herbs. Again, they were not the ones that Yun Shu was looking for.
The little chick kept going back and forth into the red mist and brought different spirit herbs. But Yun Shu still had not found the right one.
At the same time, Yun Shu was also shocked. Even though most of the spirit herbs were strange to Yun Shu, he knew how valuable they were.
Although they were not as precious as the supreme-grade ginseng, they were still valuable herbs!
Also, it seemed that every time, it wasn't difficult for the little chick to fetch the herbs, which meant that there was a high number of assorted spirit herbs in the red mist.
If Yun Shu could use them properly, this place would turn into the best herb garden in this world!
Yun Shu had made up his mind to properly study supreme pills when there was a chance. At this time, the little chick returned with two spirit herbs in its beak.
Seeing them, Yun Shu immediately exclaimed, "That's what I want!"
One of the spirit herbs was pure white, and he instantly felt that pure Yin air emanating from it. Yun Shu took the white spirit herb with both his hands from the little chick's beak, his heart beating fast.
"Give me a second. I need to try something!" said Yun Shu to the little chick.
Then he took out the furnace. After putting another supreme-grade ginseng together with that pure white spirit herb into it, Yun Shu started using his Spirit Qi to refine them again.
This time, the furnace didn't burn the ingredients. The two airflows of Yin and Yang slowly turned the ginseng and the herb into liquid and blended them together into one whole mix.
The process sounded easy, but it was, in fact, quite challenging. Yun Shu had great control over his Spirit Qi, along with a pair of golden pupils. Nevertheless, producing these twelve pills was still very difficult for him.
That was not yet the end, though. Turning the blended liquid into twelve pills was just one of the steps. During the process, he even destroyed two by accident.
After another two hours, the work was finally done, and Yun Shu was totally exhausted by then.
Fortunately, he had successfully made the first set of pills in his life.
Yun Shu couldn't wait any longer. He hurriedly opened the lid of the furnace and looked inside. There they were, so round and beautiful, their fragrance wafting into his nose.
Maybe it was just Yun Shu's illusion, but the moment Yun Shu inhaled that scent, he felt greatly refreshed.
Holding the ten pills in his palm, Yun Shu suddenly noticed something.
"This is… This is the Alchemical Halo?!" Yun Shu blurted to himself.
Among the ten pills in his palm, there were three covered in a soft halo.
Yes! That was the halo!
Elixirs were divided into nine grades according to their efficacy. Above the nine grades, there were mysterious pills that only existed in legends.
The higher the grade of a pill was, the better the efficacy it had.
Moreover, pills and pills within the same grade could be further divided according to their conditions.
There were four different conditions: Defective, Ordinary, Fine, and Supreme. These conditions were decided by the materials used and the techniques applied.
Defective and Ordinary pills were the most common, while Fine pills were rare. An alchemist who could produce Fine pills was highly respected.
As for supreme pills…
Only top-notch alchemy masters could refine them.
The Alchemical Halo would only show upon Fine pills and above. So, there were three Fine pills in the first set of pills ever made by Yun Shu.
Yun Shu couldn't believe his own eyes!