Chapter 18 Chapter 18 Soap

While the housekeeper was preparing the lard, Zhu Dan began to refine the materials using the alchemy furnace.

In order to save spiritual energy, she did not use the companion fire, but asked someone to bring firewood and put it under the cauldron.

Tang Yuan emerged from the cauldron wall and covered his face with his hands: "Master, this is too shabby."

It's not like making an elixir at all, it's more like cooking.

Zhu Dan had a nonchalant expression on his face. The companion fire wasn't something that could be found by simply awakening the alchemy furnace. However, in the world of cultivation, the worst it could be was spiritual charcoal. This kind of firewood was really hard to control. "Don't be idle either. Help me watch the fire."

Gongsun Liu, who had been stunned by the appearance of the glutinous rice balls, finally reacted and said excitedly, "Sister, let me show you how to make fire. I can actually make a fire. Master even praised me for being able to make any fire I want."

Tang Yuan narrowed his eyes, and the King's radar was triggered: "You want to steal my job?"

Gongsun Liu's pupils suddenly widened, and she thought to herself, "She is talking to me."

"Um?"

"No, no, I just want to help. You can order me around." Gongsun Liu quickly explained.

Zhu Dan ignored the quarrel between the two little ones and directed the others who were stunned: "Hu Hai, bring that pile over to me. Fusu, go get Liu Bai."

Although there are many things here that Zhu Dan does not recognize, as long as they are tempered in the alchemy furnace, he can preliminarily analyze the properties of the materials.

Drawn by Liu Bai and recorded by Fusu, just right.

As for Hu Hai, he should do physical work. He is so fat, he should run more.

Several people divided the work and got busy.

Although Hu Hai was not angry, the alchemy cauldron and glutinous rice balls that appeared out of nowhere captured his entire attention. After all, he was young and very curious. He didn't want to be driven away by Zhu Dan, so naturally he did whatever Zhu Dan said.

Not to mention, he had been well-fed and well-clothed since childhood, and had no lack of nutrition. He didn't sweat much even when running up and down carrying heavy objects.

He looked at the alchemy cauldron for a while, then at Zhu Dan, his eyes full of curiosity.

He originally thought that the so-called immortal disciple was Zhu Dan's own boast, just like those alchemists who deceived his father.

But now, he doesn't think so at all.

The alchemist couldn't summon such a large alchemy cauldron out of thin air, nor those glutinous rice balls—

She waved her little hand and the fire became smaller, and waved it again and the fire became bigger. Only occasionally did she ask people to add or reduce the firewood.

All the resentment and panic he had when he came here disappeared, and Hu Hai suddenly felt that there was nothing wrong with Lantian County.

After the steward brought the lard, Zhu Dan said to Fusu, "I'll leave this to you. Please follow the order." She pointed to the materials lined up on the ground and said, "Throw them into the alchemy cauldron. Tangyuan, you tell him the results of the analysis. Fusu, you will record them."

"Can you do it?"

"I can do it." He had watched Zhu Dan do it several times. It was not complicated and he had memorized it long ago. Now that he could do it himself, his voice trembled a little.

Hu Hai pursed his lips, not understanding why this elder brother was so likable?

His father values ​​him, even his immortal disciples do.

"Gongsun Liu, come here. I'll teach you how to make soap."

The child was reluctant to leave, and Zhu Dan laughed: "Making soap is much more fun than that."

It’s new to them now because it’s their first time seeing it, but after a while this simple and repetitive work will just become boring.

Of course, Zhu Dan had never made soap before, and she had never even seen anyone make it, so the first time she chose to cheat using her spirit and observe the reaction when the alkaline wood ash solution was added to lard. She thought this was very interesting.

The birth of new substances is always exciting.

"Is this soap?" Gongsun Liu looked at the paste in the pottery jar, curious and nervous.

Zhu Dan didn't quite understand the difference between cold-process soap and hot-process soap, so after using his spiritual energy to detect it, he took a little and said, "Here, try it."

I added some water and rubbed out bubbles.

Gongsun Liu couldn't help but let out a cry.

“You can also use this to blow bubbles.”

Zhu Dan prepared a bowl of bubble water and asked someone to find a soft willow branch and fold it into a circle.

The bubbles that were blown out reflected colorful luster in the sunlight, which was dazzling and dreamy. Not to mention the child Gongsun Liu, everyone was stunned.

"This is Rainbow!"

"The young lady actually created a rainbow!"

When Zhu Dan saw the servants kneeling down and kowtow to him, he realized that things had gone a bit too far.

The ancients were superstitious and viewed natural phenomena as punishment from heaven and as auspicious omens.

For example, a lunar eclipse occurs when the moon is eaten by the heavenly dog, and there is also Mars guarding the heart, which causes chaos in the world.

The rainbow that appears after the rain is colorful, which is naturally a good omen.

Zhu Dan took another look at the bubbles she had blown. They were actually very small, so she even used her spiritual power to catalyze the soapy water.

"Get up, I don't like people kneeling to me, it's shortening my life." Zhu Dan called the housekeeper and finally calmed the situation down.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and taught Gongsun Liu, "This is the way of chemistry. Some of the most amazing things in life can be explained by it. Once we understand the principle, we can replicate it."

"So, do you want to learn?"

"Yes." Gongsun Liu said without hesitation.

He didn't quite understand what his senior sister said, he only knew that she wanted to teach him magic.

"Then I will leave the soap-making to you, just like I left the paper-making to Su. Do you have confidence?" Zhu Dan deliberately mentioned Su.

"Yes." Gongsun Liu shouted loudly.

"This is the simplest method. You'll try to improve it later, just like I did. I'll share some ideas. The soap is in a paste form now. Once it cools down a bit, it will solidify. We can carve some molds out of wood, and the soap will have patterns. The color of this soap is a bit ugly, but if we add bleach, it will become as white as snow, and then dye it..." Zhu Dan counseled, "The more beautiful it looks and the more styles it has, the more people will like it, and the higher the price will be."

"Gongsun Liu, I'm very optimistic about you. When soap becomes popular in Daqin, you will be a great contributor who is no less than Su." Zhu Dan encouraged, "Senior Sister might even need to borrow money from you."

Gongsun Liu's eyes lit up like light bulbs, and she said emphatically, "No need to borrow, I'll give it all to Senior Sister."

The cake that Zhu Dan drew was so round and fragrant that Gongsun Liu immediately devoted himself to the research of soap.

With Fusu and others in the materials analysis, she decided to go to the wild to find the remaining materials for the detoxification pill.

"I plan to go out for a while. I will be back before dinner if at the earliest, or tomorrow if at the latest." He said to the leader of Guard A.

This person was Cao Teng, the deputy commander of the Yulin Guard.

Cao Teng immediately said, "I'll go get ready."

"No, I don't actually plan to take you with me."

Cao Teng's expression changed slightly: "Mr. Zhu, this is not possible. The king asked us to protect you."

Zhu Dan said honestly, "Tomorrow is the seventh day, the last day of my agreement with His Majesty. I must gather all the materials today and return to Xianyang to refine the elixir tomorrow. Bringing you along would be tedious and a waste of time."

Even the housekeeper knew that Zhu Dan was a man of his word, so how could Cao Teng not know it?

He chose to take a step back: "The ceremonial procession won't move. I'll find some good fighters."

Zhu Dan thought about it, but didn't refuse firmly. He just said, "If you can catch up with my speed."

Cao Teng's heart skipped a beat: "Master Zhu, please allow us to prepare a few things."

"A quarter of an hour."

Zhu Dan also packed some things himself: "Fellow Daoist Wutong."

Tangyuan is going to stay here to analyze the materials, but she also has helpers.

A blood-red alchemy cauldron appeared out of thin air. It was not as big as a glutinous rice ball, but as small as a model that could be held in the hand and played with. However, it swallowed Zhu Dan's luggage in one gulp and returned to her soul.

Zhu Dan heard him say, "Daoyou, I will protect you."

For people in the world of cultivation, the natal alchemy cauldron is very important and they will never let it go too far away from them.

It is not only because of the deep contract that if the natal alchemy cauldron is damaged, it will backfire on the owner, but also because it can protect the owner at critical moments.

Because the alchemy furnace is tempered almost every day, it is impossible to break it easily when used for defense.

But Zhu Dan did travel through time after all, and considering that this was the Great Qin, he left the glutinous rice balls behind to familiarize himself with the quenching steps so that he could complete the alchemy in one go tomorrow.

However, she did not reject Wutong's kindness and nodded.

Gongsun Liu actually wanted to go with his senior sister. He was used to sticking to Zhu Dan, but when he thought of his senior sister's expectations of him, he held back.

He didn't want to be just a useless follower.

Su was making paper, Hutou was selling tofu, Xiaohua was leading those little beggars in making bean curd sheets, not to mention Xiang Lichun and Xiang Liyuan had already moved there to build the water-powered mill that their senior sister wanted.

Even Hu Hai, the new arrival today, was busy running around.

He was the only one who could compete with Tangyuan for the job of watching the fire.

But Tangyuan doesn't need him, Tangyuan is much better at controlling fire than him.

How could Gongsun Liu not panic?

His master Lu Sheng's abandonment of him left him with a terrible impression that if you are useless, you will be thrown away.

"Since my senior sister asked me to make soap, I will do it well."

Gongsun Liu encouraged herself.

"Senior sister said that this color is too ugly and we need to make it white, but we need to use bleach to make it white." He had an idea.

He had heard the word bleach a lot.

The reason why Su can make such beautiful paper is that it uses bleach.

But soon, he shook his head.

"We can't use moonstone sand. Senior Sister said it's poisonous. But during the pulp bleaching step, Senior Sister asked them to wrap their hands with linen. Later, when making paper and drying it, Senior Sister said the amount of moonstone sand was very small, and since it was used for writing, it wouldn't be a problem."

"But even if the amount used is small, the toxins in mine are likely to be exacerbated by the use of fire," Gongsun Liu reasoned, drawing on her limited observation. "Soap is for bathing, and it will come into contact with the body and hair. It's not allowed."

"Senior Sister emphasized that safety comes first."

"I should use edible bleach...wait a minute!" Gongsun Liu's eyes lit up when she thought of her senior sister using charcoal to filter salt water and sugar water.

Salt and sugar are both taken orally.

Although charcoal cannot be eaten, it should be non-toxic.

"I can use charcoal as bleach for soap!"

Gongsun Liu decided to give it a try.

Anyway, my senior sister said that we should have a spirit of exploration. It never hurts to give it a try. No matter what it is, you won’t know if it works until you try it.

*

Zhu Dan came back before it got completely dark, looking a little disheveled but in high spirits.

She and Wutong worked together to release their spirits, and with the help of the changes in the map, they were able to locate the target quickly and accurately, and had already found all the ingredients for the detoxification pill.

Seeing her come back, Gongsun Liu couldn't wait to tell her what he was thinking.

Zhu Dan was a little surprised: "Yes, this path is very suitable for you."

He is observant, open-minded, able to draw inferences from one example, and has strong initiative.

Gongsun Liu puffed out his chest proudly.

Since it was still early and there were plenty of materials, Zhu Dan decided to try refining an elixir. Hearing that Zhu Dan wanted to refine the elixir, the housekeeper had the servants light a circle of torches in the yard. Fusu, who had already washed up, got up from his bed. Liu Bai took out a white and soft cloth, intending to record this important event.

This is the second one. The first one shows Zhu Dan taking out the alchemy cauldron out of thin air.

Only the two Qin Mos who were elsewhere were not there.

If he knew what he had missed, he would probably regret it to death. Thinking of Xiang Lichun mocking him for being slow in learning the fairyland painting techniques, Liu Bai felt relieved.

As for Hu Hai, he was the second protagonist in this alchemy, and Zhu Dan had already sent someone to call him.

He was standing aside at this time with a complicated expression.

Hu Hai was a little scared, but also a little expectant.

Everyone's eyes fell on Zhu Dan, but Zhu Dan didn't look at them. He ignited the flames with a calm expression.

It seemed to be no different from the tempering in the morning, but it seemed as if something had quietly appeared, like the sky before a rainstorm, gloomy.

Zhu Dan's focused gaze and serious look seemed to create a unique aura, completely different from his usual carefree and approachable demeanor, making people afraid to approach or speak.

It seems that making any sound would be a disturbance.

They didn't know that there was an invisible and silent audience present at this moment.

"Is this the Dan Emperor? We should really let those old guys come and see."

With a shattered soul and a wasted body, one can start refining elixirs in just a few days in the mortal world where spiritual energy is so scarce. However, some people who claim to be masters have to use all means to collect spiritual objects and even use human materials before they dare to touch the so-called ascension elixir. It is really ridiculous.