Hearing the enormous number caused Meng Hao to stare in shock. Then he smiled wryly, shook his head, and sighed. He took out his own jade slip and inscribed the information on it, then handed the original back to the girl.
“Alchemist Fang, just keep working hard. Um… the most recent Pill Delivery Day has already passed. Do you think you could provide a bit more than the quota? If you do, it will make it easier to make an explanation.” Lin Rui’s smile was like a flower. It was little wonder the master alchemists all liked her. Of course, Meng Hao was the youngest master alchemist by far, so every time she came here she would find opportunities to make fun of him a little. She seemed to love it when Fang Mu blushed with embarrassment.
Meng Hao sighed, then picked up one of the pill bottles. Inside were five Qi Condensation Pills. He handed them to the girl. It was his first time turning over pills toward his quota.
The girl covered her mouth as she giggled. She took the pills and left. Meng Hao watched her depart, after which he sealed the cave door. He held the pill furnace up in his hand and sighed.
“If things keep going like this, considering the level of my pill concocting, there won’t be any Inner Sect disciples from the Violet Qi Division who come looking for me. I’m not going to make any profits whatsoever, and I won’t be able to get any new pill formulas.”
The most important thing was to get invitations from Violet Qi Division Inner Sect disciples to concoct pills. So doing would provide more chances to encounter new pill formulas. The more invitations, the more pill formulas. Over time, his skill in alchemy would grow increasingly high. Not only would he be using medicinal pills that weren’t essentially on loan from the Sect, but also, he would make a handsome profit.
As far as the embezzlement factor, well that had basically become a rule. What could the Violet Qi Division do about that?
Meng Hao took a deep breath as he put the pill furnace down and picked up one of the pill bottles. He opened it up and looked at the medicinal pills inside. They were smooth and round, and spiritual energy wafted up from them. Meng Hao slowly began to frown.
“Perhaps there are some mistakes with my concoction techniques. If there aren’t, then how come it takes so much effort to concoct pills? When Li Tao does it, it seems so much easier.” Lost in thought and muttering to himself, Meng Hao stood up and began to pace around the Immortal’s Cave. Suddenly, he stopped, and his eyes began to glitter.
He lifted his right hand, and the pill furnace floated over. Eyes shining brightly, he slapped his bag of holding, and ten medicinal plants emerged. His hands flew as he catalyzed them and then extracted the sap from them. In the space of about ten breaths, he prepared all the ingredients and then placed them in the furnace.
He stamped his foot lightly on the ground, after which an area just in front of him began to glow red. An intense heat emanated out. He suspended the pill furnace about three inches above the bright red spot and began to gesture incantation symbols. The pill furnace then floated up a bit higher, and then lower, going back and forth at various intervals. Soon, a medicinal aroma filled the Immortal’s Cave.
As it did, Meng Hao sat down cross-legged. His right hand then reached out and pushed down onto the pill furnace. He closed his eyes and began to pour spiritual energy into it, beginning another catalyzing process.
This catalyzing technique he had learned from Li Tao. Not only did it increase the medicinal age, it… was actually required for the pill concocting process.
Soon, Meng Hao’s eyes glittered even more brightly. According to the changes occurring within the pill furnace, he adjusted things here and there. He occasionally added some medicinal plants, or removed sediment from the pill furnace. Previously, he had required ten or twelve hours to finish concocting, but this time, after only six hours, he flicked his sleeve and removed the pill furnace from the heat. He opened the lid, and as the medicinal aroma brushed across his face, he removed four Qi Condensation Pills from inside.
The pills were still soft, but as he removed them, they quickly began to harden, dried by the air.
“I was wrong….” He looked carefully at the relatively crude pills he had just produced, and picked up one of the pill bottles which contained another set of pills, ones he had painstakingly made to be as perfect as possible. After comparing the two types of Qi Condensation Pills, his eyes suddenly filled with enlightenment.
“These exquisitely produced pills wore me out. The medicinal strength is clearly much higher, perhaps seventy or eighty percent. The crude pills, on the other hand, only have a medicinal strength of about thirty or forty percent.
“My previous refining technique was too strenuous. If I had known that I could make pills like I did today, then I wouldn’t have wasted so many pill furnaces.”