The force from the explosion of the Elixir Furnace was not strong. It simply covered Xu Fan's face with a layer of ash.
Xu Fan thought for a long time about the reason. In the end, he discovered that it was because the speed at which he circulated the Pill Molding Technique and the speed at which he condensed the pill was a bit too fast. Thus, the furnace exploded.
Just as he was thinking about how to improve the process, Xu Fan suddenly rushed towards the Elixir Furnace.
"My Elixir Furnace! Please don't let anything happen to you!"
He carefully looked at the Elixir Furnace from head to toe and finally found a tiny crack near the fire trough.
Xu Fan remembered what the disciple said to him when he was buying the Elixir Furnace.
"An Elixir Furnace of this level can only withstand ten explosions. I hope Senior Brother will take care of it."
At the end, the disciple also shot him a meaningful look.
Now, Xu Fan understood what that look meant.
"Indeed, the poor have no affinity with alchemy."
If it was someone with ordinary aptitude, who knew how many times their Elixir Furnaces would explode.
There was a saying in the world of alchemy. It would take 20 cauldrons to produce pills, 50 cauldrons to form pills, 100 cauldrons to become a master, and 1,000 cauldrons to become a grandmaster.
This was not only to tell the world how difficult it was to refine pills, but also to tell the world that without Spirit Stones, one could not even afford a furnace.
"Do I not have the potential to refine pills?" Xu Fan looked at the crack with a pained expression.
Xu Fan packed up and started a new batch. What he was currently cultivating was the most basic pill in the cultivation world, the Fasting Aid Pill.
A good Fasting Aid Pill could even increase a cultivator's cultivation level.
An hour later.
Boom!
Xu Fan completed the second explosion in his life.
"Son of a b*tch. I don't believe I'll blow up the furnace a third time."
Xu Fan's eyes were slightly red. He quickly cleaned up the refining room and started refining pills a third time.
Another hour passed.
Boom!
The Elixir Furnace exploded for the third time.
This time, Xu Fan calmed down.
After removing the defensive spells on his body, Xu Fan began to think calmly.
Two hours later, Xu Fan first began to carefully observe the spirit medicine essence that he had refined in advance. He sensed the medicinal strength contained within the spirit medicine and the amount of the spiritual energy present.
An hour later, Xu Fan put down the spirit medicine in his hand and placed his hand on the Dharma artifact. He released his perception and began to carefully perceive every detail of the Elixir Furnace.
"When I was refining the pills just now, my state of mind fluctuated a little too much. I simply wanted to refine top-notch Fasting Aid Pills all the way."
Xu Fan heaved a sigh of relief. No matter what he did, it was a taboo to have an unstable mental state.
Closing his eyes, he went through all the details of refining pills in his mind.
He had to start the furnace, light the spirit flame, release the spirit medicine essence, mold the pull, and start the refinement…
Xu Fan maintained a highly focused state until he collected the pills in the end.
"Form the pill!"
When the pill was finally formed, Xu Fan took out the jade bottle that he had prepared long ago.
The lid of the Elixir Furnace automatically opened, and ten fasting pills the size of glass balls were brought into the jade bottle by Xu Fan's Medicine Drawing Technique.
Only when the pill refinement was completed did Xu Fan reveal a smile.
"Not bad. I achieved a grand slam on my first successful attempt at alchemy. That's a good sign."
Xu Fan picked up the jade bottle and took out a Fasting Aid pill.
"It has a spiritual glow and a strong pill fragrance. This is a middle-grade Fasting Aid Pill."
"If I want to sell it, this middle-grade Fasting Aid Pill can be sold for two Spirit Stones."
"Excluding the cost of the Elixir Furnace, the spirit fire cost four Spirit Pills. Meanwhile, the spirit medicine used to refine the Fasting Aid Pill is worth 10 Spirit Stones."
"That means I spent half a day earning six Spirit Stones."
As he spoke, Xu Fan started to frown slightly. He felt that it was very different from what he had imagined. He had thought that he would be able to make great profits with a small amount of capital.
He had forgotten that a month ago, he was still a lowly outer sect disciple who earned 700 Spirit Stones a year.
"However, if I succeeded on my first, I would have used up one Spirit Stone for the spirit fire and 2.5 Spirit Stones for the spirit medicine. In that case, I can earn 17.5 Spirit Stones from each batch."
"That's a profit of nearly 600%. Isn't this business very promising?" Xu Fan rubbed his chin and wondered with a smile.
"Alright, let's try to make a few more batches since I've grasped the gist of it."
At the same time, the other nine disciples in the same class as Xu Fan experienced the same scene. They held the fragments of the Elixir Furnace and started to cry without tears.
The next day, Xu Fan appeared in high spirits in class.
Sha Yan was already waiting in the classroom with a middle-aged cultivator.
This middle-aged cultivator was Xu Fan's main teacher, an alchemist at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Stage. His name was Sha Jingtian and he was Sha Yan's father.
After all the disciples had arrived, the middle-aged cultivator on the stage slowly said, "Did you succeed in refining the Fasting Aid Pill yesterday?"
Xu Fan kept a low profile and did not speak. He looked around and realized that all the disciples had bitter expressions.
At this moment, Sha Jingtian burst into laughter, as though he was recalling the time when he had just started learning alchemy.
"The feeling of witnessing an exploding furnace doesn't feel good. If nothing went wrong, those disciples who were anxious to succeed yesterday should have their Elixir Furnaces destroyed."
"Teacher, how did you know?"
"Haha, teacher, you're wrong. I blew up two Elixir Furnaces."
"I almost lost my life yesterday while refining pills."
Xu Fan looked at the complaining disciples and mumbled inwardly, "Is refining pills that difficult?"
After everyone had expressed their views, Sha Jingtian continued, "Don't doubt yourself. It's normal for you to blow up the furnace now."
"You must have heard of this saying before. It takes 20 cauldrons to produce pills, 50 cauldrons to form pills, 100 cauldrons to become a master, and 1,000 cauldrons to become a grandmaster."
"Let me tell you all this. These are the standards of geniuses. If you want to become the most basic alchemist, it's very normal to blow up more than 100 Elixir Furnaces."
"By the way, the standard of a basic alchemist is to be able to refine 10 ungraded pills and one Grade-1 pill."
"Only then will you be qualified to become a basic alchemist."
"If you have the resources, you can learn slowly."
"If you don't have the resources, I'll give you a piece of advice. If you can't master three pill recipes before blowing up 10 pill furnaces, then give up early."
"Without resources, alchemy is too difficult."
As he spoke, he glanced at the three people below him. Among them was Xu Fan. These three were people who didn't have the support of their families or had large amounts of resources.
However, when Sha Jingtian looked at Xu Fan, a strange look flashed across his eyes. It was very faint and could not be detected at all.
"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Now, let's talk about why you failed in refining the Fasting Aid Pills."
The morning passed by in a mess. After Sha Jingtian finished his lesson and all the disciples left, Sha Jingtian looked at his daughter.
"Do you know that disciple named Xu Fan?" Sha Jingtian asked.
"He is just an ordinary outer sect disciple with a bit of talent in spiritual value."
"He's a very ordinary, very low-key disciple," said Sha Yan.
"Pay more attention to him in the future. This disciple might not be simple," said Sha Jingtian. As an alchemist, he was especially sensitive to the smell of pills. As soon as Xu Fan entered the classroom, he could smell the faint smell of Fasting Aid Pills on Xu Fan's body. This smell was relatively pure.
"Why?"
"He could be a genius. If he is, you're going to have another junior."