Chapter 38 - First Refining Session

When Li Lang woke up today, he immediately knew what the day had in store for him.After finishing his routine of cultivation, food, and hygienic needs, he quickly moved outside to the small courtyard by the well. The innkeeper had agreed to allow him to store the cooking stove he had bought the day before there. It wasn't uncommon for travelers to bring along a portable stove with them, but the one he had was a size or two larger than what most people would travel with.Li Lang set up the furnace in the corner of the courtyard and readied all the other equipment he would need today. There were containers, materials, tools like tongs, and even a mortar and pestle.As he laid out everything, the workers who were using the well all curiously looked on. None of them dared to bother their guest, but they slowed their steps as they walked by to earn themselves more time to view the spectacle.Once Li Lang had gotten his makeshift alchemy setup in order, he quickly ran toward the front of the inn to find an unoccupied staff member. He found the innkeeper, the middle-aged lady who had initially greeted him, scribbling on a piece of paper as she worked the abacus."Good morning. Do you think I could buy some firewood?"The lady looked up and recognized Li Lang before nodding as she smiled at her little guest."Of course." She cupped her hand to her mouth and yelled. "Hong Er, go get some firewood from the kitchen for our guest here.""Yes!" a distant voice replied.The middle-aged innkeeper then quickly resumed her calculation on the abacus while chatting with Li Lang."So, I heard your little drink business is doing pretty well. Soda, was it? Why don't you let me give it a try?""Hm, are you looking to sell it at your place?""Maybe…But our guests usually prefer wine during dinner, and they don't order too much in the morning and afternoons, as they tend to be in a rush.""Give it a try first, then. It's a good alternative for those who don't want alcohol. I'll bring you some later."The lady gently smiled at the boy, and before they could continue their conversation further, a young girl stumbled over with a stack of firewood in hand and placed it on the ground. She let out a sigh of relief at having completed the laborious task."Here, Mom. I've got to help out in the kitchen now. Bye!"Li Lang examined the wares and swiftly paid for them after finding no issues."That stupid girl, how inconsiderate of her to just leave it here. Do you need help carrying all that?""It's okay, I got it."Li Lang walked over and picked up the firewood to the surprise of the proprietress. His continuous cultivation had gotten him to the third stage of the Energy Gathering realm, the stage where most commoners stopped.Every bit of progress after that required a much greater amount of hard work, willpower, and resources. That was because it wasn't good enough anymore to simply absorb the ambient Qi into one's body."Oh my, aren't you strong for such a young boy?"Li Lang heard her mutter as he took his leave.He made it back to his makeshift alchemy area and quickly worked on starting a fire with the new stove he purchased. It was quite heavy and Li Lang wouldn't have the physical strength to carry it around if it wasn't for his cultivation.As it was new, he paid particular care when eyeing the flame. The most critical part of today's pill refining session was in controlling the flames.He had no precise measurement tools to rely on, nor the experience to eye the color of the flame like a seasoned blacksmith.As he waited for the flame to grow larger, Li Lang reviewed the steps he would need to go through.He glanced over at the materials and ran through how he would proceed in his mind. Once the stove got going and no longer needed his constant attention, he began preparing the materials.Based on his findings during his time in Ruby's artifact space, the first step was to grind down the two main herbs, Lighthorn and Bulseed Grass. He took a cleaver and chopped them up before using the mortar and pestle to grind them down further.Next, he had to do the trickier part of preparing the Jade Leaves. When he had access to his lab, he simply needed to command the machines to filter out the active ingredient from the leaves, but it wasn't so simple in the real world without the same machines.To address this, Li Lang tested several ways to prepare the leaves using what was available in the city of Xiang Yang. The result of his hard work was discovering that another material by the name of Moonshadow Lotus could be used in an adsorption process with a paste made from Jade Leaves. The results were ninety percent similar to what he got when using his fancy machines in his lab.After he had finished processing all the materials in their raw form, he neatly placed them in the order he would need them and went back to attend the fire. The flames didn't seem to be strong enough, so he took one of the hollow bamboo poles nearby. He used it to blow air into the base of the fire to enhance the combustion.Li Lang wiped the sweat building on his brow as the intensity of the fire grew. Once he felt it was nearing the optimal temperature he wanted it at, he took out a piece of metal and gently placed it into the fire.He didn't dare to take his eyes off the piece of metal and before long; it began to light up as it got hotter.Using the piece of metal's color as a guidepost, Li Lang tended to the flame and worked to stabilize it once it reached his targeted temperature."Now then, the easy part is done. The hard part is to keep this temperature consistent."As if he were in a race against time, Li Lang quickly placed the pot on the stove while intermittently blowing more air to keep the fire consistent.His antics had attracted even more attention from the staff who passed by until one of the older ladies couldn't take it anymore."Child, what are you doing? Do you need help?""No, thank you. I'm just keeping the fire consistent. I can do it myself."The old woman shook her head as she flashed a smile at Li Lang."Silly child, you don't have to work so hard if you only want to keep the flames stable. You just need to adjust the air vents over here."The old woman pointed out toward a section on the side of the stove that could be opened up to allow for more air to enter."...Thank you!"Li Lang was sure his face was red, but he quickly brushed aside his embarrassment as he remembered he was in the body of a child. It was normal for a kid to not know how to properly man the stove.His pill-refining session continued after the brief hiccup, and he began throwing the ingredients into the pot, one after the other. At times, he would pour water in while he would sometimes take the pot off the stove and let it rest.Following the method he had tested inside Ruby's artifact space, the final and most vital part soon came. He would have to form the pill quickly before the Qi essence escaped. As he was only refining a mortal pill, meant for cultivators below the Foundation Establishment realm, he didn't require any special techniques. However, he still needed to get the ratio of binders to ingredients properly for it to settle into a round pill.He took one last deep breath before taking the lid off the pot and immediately got to work.Unbeknownst to Li Lang, the aroma from the pot escaped at the same time and rushed into the inn. It drew the curiosity of many guests, but thanks to the proprietress, none of them were let through.Li Lang managed to swiftly finish the last step within two minutes, completing his very first batch of pills."It's done!"He didn't hesitate to immediately bring one into Ruby's artifact space and throw it into the auto-analyzer. The machine showed it would take several hours, and Li Lang frowned.Exiting from his lab, he stared at the two remaining pills in his batch. He took a deep breath and took hold of the cleaver he used to chop up the herbs before using it to lightly cut his forearm.A thin trail of blood dripped down his arm and he swiftly popped one of the pills into his mouth. An overwhelming bitter taste took over his taste buds before he felt a rush of Qi flowing through his body. His body heated up, but what drew his attention more was how the cut visibly started to scab.Interesting…I can't wait for the auto-analyzer's result to see how effective this is compared to the standard Recovery Pill I bought.With his work complete, he finally realized that the entire day had gone by, and the fatigue hit him all at once. Seeing he wouldn't be getting any results for a few hours, he decided to take a meal, go through his nightly routine, and retire early for the night.I can't wait to go to the Alchemist Guild tomorrow to have them take a look at it. It should be enough for them to recognize me as an alchemist, allowing me to buy raw materials from them! Then it'll actually be profitable to start selling the Recovery Pills!Despite feeling giddy from his success, it didn't stop the fatigue from pulling Li Lang into a deep slumber.