Even if they ultimately co up with just one pill, it still counts as a success.
After all, most people believe that dicine preparation is extrely difficult. If it wasn't the case, then all over Eastwood Continent there would be only two major pharmacists.
Even skilled pharmacists aren't very common, and most of them have no hope of ever becoming Master Alchemists.
Of course, the real reason is... most people simply can't access the resources needed to truly develop into skilled pharmacologists.
But in the end, if soone works in this field long enough, their chances of eventually becoming Master Alchemists grow much greater. Therefore, most believe the best way to improve the success rate in dicine preparation is by a lot of practice!
This is why most people rely pursue practice.
Once familiar with the process, your confidence in success will increase. Of course, at the sa ti, skilled pharmacists view failure as a routine matter. After a failure, one can start over again, gradually improving, especially for more common pills. Ingredients for such pills aren't very expensive and can be used as fuel for hard practice.
However, Yan Xiaobao's path is different from others. He goes much slower and spends more ti analyzing the reasons for his failures rather than focusing on the actual preparation process each ti.
This is largely related to his cautiousness. You might call him ticulous. While researching plants and vegetation, he only needs a little cautiousness. Now that he's attempting dicine preparation for the first ti, his ticulous nature has sharply increased, becoming the most prominent feature.
Due to this cautiousness, he can identify more problem areas than the average person. In fact, the number of problems others might find can't even compare. He thinks and analyzes the issue in ways others wouldn't even consider, determining various fishy areas.
Because of his cautiousness, even the tiniest of issues are things he hopes to control before continuing any preparation. It is for these reasons he spends a lot of ti thinking.
Months pass by; Yan Xiaobao's hair is disheveled and his face is covered with ash. He leaves the dicine Making Hall exhausted and returns to his courtyard, where he sits and reflects.
"There are still nine problem areas. Once I solve these issues, I can continue dicine preparation." Through gritted teeth, he sits in the courtyard, eyes closed, analyzing materials, occasionally taking dicinal plants for observation and study.
Half a month passes, he suddenly rushes out and spends rit points, re-entering the dicine Refining Hall.
The fifth batch... failed!
After analyzing the issue for seven days, he discovered more problems, resolved them, and then tried again.
The sixth batch... failed!
His eyes are bloodshot. Before attempting the seventh batch, he spent twenty days considering the issue.
Two hours into the process, there was no booming sound. Instead, a dicinal fragrance spread, and Yan Xiaobao's face lit up. Inside the pill furnace were two green pills. The seventh batch was a success!
He tried again, the eighth batch... success, producing three pills!
The ninth batch... success, producing five pills!
The tenth batch... also successful, but ultimately only produced one pill. It wasn't green, but black. Moreover, it had no dicinal fragrance, but rather a strange scent.
As Yan Xiaobao curiously pondered this matter, the entire dicine Making Hall was stirred. There are no rats or mice on Xiangyun Peak. Such things can't exist at a cultivation site unless they're spiritual creatures. However, ants are common on the mountain.
Ants are part of nature, typically living in cracks and crevices of large boulders that might exist throughout the mountain range. They don't pose a problem to cultivators, essentially only part of mountain life. Therefore, most give them little attention.
However, today, the staff around the dicine Making Hall were shocked to discover countless ants marching tirelessly toward the hall.
The disciples on duty were breathless; there were so many ants that determining their number was impossible. The sight alone was enough to make their scalps tingle. "What... what is happening!?"
anwhile, in various pill-making workshops, many disciples shouted in panic, explosions resulted from failed pill batches could be heard. Though pill-refining workshops are protected by spell formations, they are also built into the mountainside, allowing ants to easily enter through various small cracks in the mountain.
They all advanced toward a particular workshop.
That, of course, was the workshop Yan Xiaobao occupied. As he looked at the black pill, he manifested curiosity. Around this ti, he noticed the commotion outside and quickly realized his workshop was filled with ants.
The ants seed nearly frantic, all of them advancing directly toward him.
"A disaster of ants is striking Xiangyun Peak!" Yan Xiaobao shouted, jumping up. To his surprise, even when Yan Xiaobao jumped, the ants directly approached the black pill he held.
Yan Xiaobao's scalp went completely numb, and the first thing he thought to do was throw the pill. Almost the mont it left his hand, the ants shifted direction, converging upon it.
The pill was instantly engulfed, becoming a mass of ants, whose sight drained the blood from Yan Xiaobao's face.
After a mont, the ball of ants suddenly collapsed, hurrying back into cracks and crevices. The pill bore no trace.
In fact, the dicine Making Hall had no ants at all. The ants ca quickly and left quickly. Of course, many disciples were sowhat frustrated by the loss of their studied spiritual dicine, but they were powerless to change this. Furthermore, as no major losses were ascertained, the disciples on duty decided not to report the strange incident.
Yan Xiaobao understood why the ants went crazy, but to others, all they saw were vast numbers of ants passing through.
Yan Xiaobao's heart was still pounding with fear. The pill he had just prepared seed no different from any ordinary pill. However, he had focused on performing perfectly, and now considering it, he realized he had actually made so adjustnts in the proportions during his Spiritual Supplent Pills batch last ti.
"Could the final Spiritual Enhancent Pills be incredibly beneficial to ants?" Yan Xiaobao shook his head while pondering the impossibility. Not only could he prepare astonishing pills, but also concoct dicine pills that drive ants insane.
After leaving the workshop, he heard the frustrated murmurs of other disciples, feeling a bit guilty. He lowered his head and hurried away.
Days passed, and Yan Xiaobao confird that the events at the dicine Refining Hall had not stirred any waves. Finally, he returned, using his rits, then chose a different workshop for dicine concoction.
This ti, he began studying longevity incense.
Concocting incense and preparing dicine are two different things, requiring different techniques. dicine is consud, while incense is inhaled. Of course, the final form is also different, one being a pill, the other an incense.
Considering what happened the last ti, Yan Xiaobao was extrely cautious regarding the workings of longevity incense. Two months passed, and after using ten batches of ingredients, he finally obtained seven sticks.
Feeling very satisfied with seven sticks of longevity incense in hand, he returned to his small cabin. After a triple spiritual enhancent, the longevity incense turned deep purple. Although the triple spirit designs were a bit unclear, they were still visible. Additionally, the sensation he felt upon seeing the incense was entirely different from before.
Yan Xiaobao thoughtfully gazed at the longevity incense and realized that he was as different as ever. Before, he barely knew spiritual dicine, but after concocting so himself, his knowledge had grown. For instance, he understood that any type of spiritual dicine has impurities, which shouldn't be absorbed into the body, yet are difficult to separate. These impurities can accumulate in the body, ultimately becoming so-called dicinal toxins.
This is why many experienced mbers of the Inner Sect hesitated, advising that inexperienced disciples consu pills cautiously. In theory, most dicinal toxins can be expelled. However, if one were to consu too many dicinal dicines and accumulate too many dicinal toxins, it might affect their future cultivation.
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