Han Yu had read about all of the herbs ntioned before, and even used two of them in a few pills he’d worked on.
But the way the instructor explained their interactions was sothing else.
"...When refining an alternative recipe for the Flesh nding Spirit Pill," Gai Qing intoned, "the Blood Orchid Leaf must be exposed to gradual heat over a minimum span of nine breaths. Otherwise, the active healing component will dissolve prematurely. This is why your Fla Array control must not rely be accurate—but asured."
Han Yu sat up straighter. That was the sa issue he’d faced in his first two failures with the pill. He had rushed the early stages and burned off half the active compound without realizing it.
And that wasn’t the only insight.
Over the next two hours, Gai Qing explained how herbal essence polarity could be neutralized using harmonizing agents like Stone Dew or Silverroot Powder—neither of which Han Yu had ever used before.
The instructor’s breakdown of property sequencing in multi-herb concoctions was so thorough that Han Yu began to understand why even a simple three-ingredient pill could explode if made carelessly.
’This... isn’t bad at all.’ Han Yu marveled.
In fact, it was almost on par with Li i’s instruction—but with one major difference.
While Li i’s teachings were deeply intuitive and often rooted in feel and instinct, Gai Qing’s thods were structured. He mapped out rules, steps, and conditions. It was thodical, even rigid. But it helped clarify concepts Han Yu had only ever felt out before.
’So this is what formal training from the Peak is like...’
The hours ticked by.
At hour three, half the class looked like they were barely hanging on. The girl who had warned him earlier was sipping spirit tea like it was her lifeline.
But Han Yu?
He was wide awake. Fully engaged.
At hour four, they began analyzing several failed pill attempts via illusion arrays—exploding cauldrons, blackened sludge, lted herbs—all while Gai Qing explained exactly why they failed and how to avoid it.
At hour five, Gai Qing issued an impromptu quiz with six theoretical pill problems and a twenty-minute window. Han Yu scribbled down his answers with more confidence than he expected.
And when the lesson finally ended at the six-and-a-half-hour mark, Han Yu was one of the few still sitting upright and taking notes as Gai Qing began erasing the illusion diagrams with a flick of his hand.
"Lesson ends," the instructor said. "If you do not understand what was covered today, do not attempt to refine anything above your level. Alchemy is not forgiving. You are dismissed."
The students staggered out.
Han Yu, on the other hand, walked out with a thoughtful expression.
’It really wasn’t that bad. Long, yeah—but worth it. I actually learned a lot.’
Still, he made a note to bring tea next ti.
And snacks. Maybe a lot of snacks.
A couple hours later...
Back at Li i’s pill refining hut, Han Yu sat cross-legged beside the cauldron, a brush in hand and a roll of fresh parchnt stretched across a wooden writing board.
A faint herbal fragrance still lingered in the room, but he ignored it, too focused on the illusion diagram he was sketching.
With careful strokes, he replicated one of the fla sequences Instructor Gai Qing had demonstrated during the lesson—the exact mont when the Blood Orchid Leaf was supposed to be roasted slowly over nine breaths.
He annotated the timings, the fla height, and the herb’s color transition at each interval. The more he transcribed, the more questions he found.
’Why does the Nine-Spice Fern only harmonize with Silverroot but not Stone Dew when their effects are listed as equivalent in most compendiums?’
He scribbled that question in red ink and boxed it for later.
’Would lowering the fla intensity reduce impurity formation during essence extraction, or would it prolong the reaction and destabilize the mixture instead?’
Another question, another note.
From the corner of the room, Li i finally looked up from her notes, brow raised. "What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously.
Han Yu didn’t look up. "Howork."
Li i blinked. "Howork?"
"I’m refining yesterday’s lesson," he said, casually flipping the scroll and writing on the next section. "Instructor Gai Qing went over multi-phase pill theory, and I realized there were so areas I didn’t fully grasp, so I ran a few fla cycle simulations using the cauldron. Then I noted where I ran into problems."
"You’re taking notes?" Li i’s voice pitched upward in disbelief. "You, Han Yu, are voluntarily doing lesson revisions?"
He finally looked up, wearing a smug smile. "Don’t look so shocked, Master Alchemist. I’m a changed man now."
She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "No one changes this quickly. Are you being threatened?"
"Only by the crushing weight of my own ambition and my yearning for money."
Li i didn’t respond for a mont, just watching him with a perplexed expression. Then she gave a quiet hum, turned back to her notes, and muttered, "Hmph. Nerd."
But her lips twitched slightly as several wisps of Surprise and Joy Eight Emotions Energy wisps silently drifted over to Han Yu. He was so focused on his work that he didn’t even realize he’d absorbed them.
The next day, Han Yu woke up well before dawn, splashed so cold water on his face, downed a mild stamina-recovery pill with a basic Grain Pill for breakfast, and set off for the Hall of Golden Instruction.
The air was still cool, the sun barely rising, and a few misty clouds drifted lazily across the Alchemy Peak.
When he arrived, the large pill hall was empty save for two instructors reviewing teaching scrolls near the entrance. They looked up with mild surprise when Han Yu pushed the doors open and strode in.
"Disciples don’t usually co this early," one of them murmured.
The other squinted at Han Yu. "Isn’t this Gai Qing’s class?"
"Yeah," Han Yu replied, offering a polite bow. "I wanted to review the diagrams before the lesson began."
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