This time, Alex followed the same steps that he took during the first time, but he lowered the temperature of the flames before the 'Bloodvine root' was completely turned into essence.
It took 10 breaths of time for the 'crystal root grass' to be refined after he had thrown it in. Now there were 4 different color medical essences moving inside the cauldron without any residues of spiritual energy and were emitting a unique flavor.
When Alex saw that, he used his mana to rotate the medicinal essences in a circular motion.
Finally he could enter the next phase of alchemy.
Now he has to rotate them appropriately without any mistakes, and Alex's eyes started glowing purple, which made the moving liquid in the cauldron slow down by two times, consuming his mana at a rapid speed.
He started manipulating these essences carefully, rotating them to form a rainbow whirlpool.
"This had better be successful!" Alex shouted in his heart. The four different liquids were revolving rapidly and even began the process of fusing together.
He now only needed to drop in the right amount of spiritual water and let them fuse at the right moment.
A burst of fragrance came from inside the cauldron as the scent of medicinal herbs suddenly filled the room.
Alex stood up and opened the lid of the cauldron as he looked inside.
Looking at the five snow-white pills within the dissipating mist, Alex could not help but grin. He refined two low-grade and three middle-grade pills.
If Elder Frank finds out that Alex had refined five pills of low and middle-grade at his fourth try, then he would probably die from a heart attack from it.
Alex swiftly gathered both of them and placed them inside the pill bottle. Alchemists stored their pills in containers to prevent loss of effectiveness when exposed to air for extended periods.
Having already succeeded once, the concoction of the pills was even easier the second time around. The refinement process sped up, and when he opened the lid, there were five more pills inside the cauldron.
Alex continued refining the pills, and four months passed in the blink of an eye.
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Currently, Alex is in the Alchemy room preparing a 'Marrow Cleansing Pill' used by individuals below the Golden Core stage to aid in breaking through the Qi barrier experienced during attempts to reach the 4th, 7th, and 9th levels in Foundation Establishment, particularly for those with low level talent.
The Marrow Cleansing Pill serves the same purpose as the Origin Heart Pill, but the ingredients for Origin Heart Pills are ten times more expensive due to their potent spiritual energy, unlike the materials for the Marrow Cleansing Pill that Alex is refining from the memories of Pill God.
Herbs below 500 years old are categorized as Mortal Rank herbs. Depending on their spiritual energy, unique properties, and growth conditions, the prices of these herbs vary from 100 low-grade spirit stones to 1000 low-grade spirit stones.
Alex extracted the five ingredients necessary for the Marrow Cleansing Pill.
First, he picked up a silver-colored fruit, about the size of a walnut, known as the Silver Elemental Fruit.
Alex began by squeezing the juice from the silver-colored fruit while carefully controlling the furnace's flames. After ten breaths of time, he added the Crimson Flower and Tidal Star Flower, two opposing elements, into the furnace.
If anyone had seen this, they would call Alex a foolish person or mentally retarded. Since no sane person below King Rank Alchemist would dare to do it.
While controlling the flames with his mana, Alex immediately began drawing symbols on the heated herbs using the first level of the Heaven and Earth Inscription technique.
His soul force started rapidly depleting.
Soon, a symbol appeared in the air, divided into halves called the "Aquaflame Harmony Seal," it was a circular emblem depicting gentle waves on one half and flickering flames on the other. The merging point in the center signified the harmonious union of the two energies.
Even within the same symbol, due to subtle differences in shape, technique, soul force strength, and other factors, ten thousand masters would create ten thousand different symbols.
Although Alex's symbols couldn't compare with his master Pill God, who reached the fourth level in the technique, he was still satisfied with the result.
According to his estimate, Alex would need at least a hundred years to reach the second level of this technique, a stark contrast to his master who took 300 years.
The only reason he was progressing quickly was due to the memories of his master, and to use the second level of the technique would require the strength of atleast Soul Resonance stage.
Soon, the symbol started interacting with the two medicinal essences that were initially not fusing with each other, and slowly they began to combine.
If Elder Frank had witnessed this, he would have been shocked. Even as an Innate Rank Alchemist, he wouldn't be able to combine two opposing elements simultaneously.
Typically, only a King Rank Alchemist could achieve this using a Special Essence Fire , which can be refinined into the body when you reach the Nirvana Stage.
Finally, Alex poured the dream root and star root grass into the furnace, and after ten breaths of time, a colorful spiritual energy emitted from the furnace.
At this moment, Alex used his eyes to manipulate time, slowing it down, and increased the flames to their maximum.
Bang!
A horrid sound reverberated through the air, and a rapid energy wave burst out from the alchemy furnace.
Alex quickly retreated, staring at the fallen lid with a stunned face and sweat dripping down his back.
"Shit! The furnace exploded!"
After catching his breath, Alex inspected the alchemy furnace for any damages.
Surprisingly, it remained unharmed.
Having calmed down, he took a few moments of rest and then brought out more herbs.
One, two, and three hours passed, and once again, Alex arrived at the last step only to fail. Fortunately, the furnace did not explode this time.
Alex sighed, thinking, 'This is too difficult to refine. There is only one set of herbs remaining, which means I only have one more chance left to succeed today.'
Shaking his head to stay focused and clear his mind of distractions, Alex took more than an hour of rest to recover his spent mana.
Once fully rested, he attempted to refine the pill again, and this time it was twice as quick. After about an hour and a half, he reached the last stage of solidifying the pill.
A moment later, Alex opened his eyes. Filled with excitement, he propped the lid of the furnace open.
After seeing what was inside, he jumped in excitement and shouted in joy, "I did it! I refined the Marrow Cleansing Pill at my 100th try!" looking at the five silver-colored pills, with two being low grade, two being middle grade, and one being a high-grade pill.
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I know it may be boring but for the future chapters to become more exciting, these chapters are necessary.