Chapter 274 Master Yin Zhao's Visit
Zhong Cai quickly began refining the second batch.
Because Wu Shaogan was very hardworking, Zhong Cai couldn't help but start working hard as well.
Although their progress wasn't very fast, it was indeed increasing little by little.
Suddenly, a bird's cry rang out in the air.
Zhong Cai had already started the second furnace, so he didn't move, but simply called out, "Old Wu! Go and take a look—"
Wu Shaogan moved swiftly, first appearing beside Zhong Cai and touching her face. Before Zhong Cai could react, he quickly disappeared outside the mansion.
Zhong Cai glanced over there with amusement, then tossed another medicinal herb into the stove.
The flames shot up with a "whoosh," their light shining brightly.
Just like Zhong Cai's mood at this moment, she was quite pleased to be teased by her husband, Wu.
·
After teasing Zhong Cai, Wu Shaogan was already standing in front of the mansion's gate.
With just a glance, he saw a huge eagle hovering in front of a flying crane, facing it through the defensive formation, full of vigilance.
On the flying crane, a young man dressed in a brown robe sat cross-legged.
It looks familiar.
Before Wu Shaogan could even recognize him, the young man spoke from afar, "Junior Brother Wu, I, Yin, have come to pay my respects. Please forgive my intrusion—"
Wu Shaogan vaguely remembered that this seemed to be the Sky Pill King that A Cai had met in Qingyu Town before.
Since he is a fellow disciple, it's not appropriate to ignore him.
So Wu Shaogan smiled and politely cupped his hands, saying, "Senior Brother Yin, please come in! I have failed to greet you properly!"
As he spoke, he took out his disciple token and casually swiped it open.
The defensive formations on the entire island were thus opened up, creating a "gateway".
Qingpeng flew back instantly, transforming into a fluffy little Peng bird, and landed on Wu Shaogan's left shoulder.
At that moment, a silver light fell from its body; it was another silver wolf cub, which landed on Wu Shaogan's right shoulder.
·
The young man then urged the flying crane to land, arriving directly in front of Wu Shaogan.
He returned the greeting with a cupped hand, then asked with a smile, "What a rare occasion! Junior Brother Zhong isn't with Junior Brother Wu today?"
Wu Shaogan replied, "A-Cai is currently refining elixirs, so she couldn't come to welcome her senior brother."
Upon hearing this, the young man's eyes lit up: "Junior Brother Zhong is refining pills? I wonder if I may go and have a chat with him?"
Wu Shaogan made a "please" gesture, indicating that the young man should go with him.
The young man walked forward with a smile, his demeanor more eager than before.
·
After passing through several buildings, Wu Shaogan led the people to a pavilion.
A spacious training ground is not far away.
The young man could tell at a glance that the two junior brothers were inseparable. So when Junior Brother Zhong was refining pills in the pavilion, he had to make sure that Junior Brother Wu was practicing martial arts right under his nose. And when Junior Brother Wu got tired of practicing and turned around, he would definitely get some comfort from Junior Brother Zhong.
He was used to it—although he didn't go out often or visit other fellow disciples, he would still run into them a few times—not to mention the two of them were honing their skills in the same large space, there were also instances of mutual affection and flirtation.
The young man himself did not yet have a Daoist partner, and when he occasionally saw his fellow disciples being affectionate, he inevitably felt somewhat out of place... However, the embarrassment had long since disappeared.
·
When Wu Shaogan brought people over, it naturally attracted Zhong Cai's attention.
When Zhong Cai looked up and saw the young man, unlike his old man Wu who almost didn't recognize him, he immediately recognized him as Yin Zhao, one of the two fifth-level Sky King Pill Masters in the sect, Senior Brother Yin.
Senior Brother Yin Zhao's ranking is ninety-sixth.
·
Zhong Cai immediately greeted him with a smile, "Senior Brother Yin, come quickly! I'm refining the Jade Scale Pill. See if my refining method is different from yours?"
—Communications among alchemists have never involved much idle talk.
Yin Zhao didn't stand on ceremony and quickly walked over, sitting down a little distance away from Zhong Cai. He could clearly see Zhong Cai refining pills, but the distance wasn't too close to avoid upsetting his Daoist partner.
Such movements are performed with great skill.
Zhong Cai didn't pay much attention to this, but continued to refine the pills while explaining her techniques to Yin Zhao.
Yin Zhao would occasionally mention his refining method, and he even took out a pill furnace and began refining the Jade Scale Pill as well.
The two discussed the process as they refined the ingredients.
They both knew how to make Jade Unicorn Pills, but their approaches to processing medicinal materials and handling the furnace fire differed subtly. This was due to the different personal habits of the alchemists and their individual abilities to master the techniques.
They complement each other and also point out each other's flaws, making their own techniques even more perfect.
At the same time, the chances of the two of them successfully forming pills will be higher, and the quality of the pills produced will also be higher.
Gradually, the medicinal herbs began to react rapidly in the two people's alchemy furnaces.
Zhong Cai was faster than Yin Zhao.
This is not surprising.
Perhaps it was Zhong Cai's talent, or perhaps he had always held himself to extremely high standards since he started refining pills, so even when he was only a first-level alchemist, he would strive to achieve the fastest refining speed for each type of pill.
This habit has always been maintained.
So even though Zhong Cai is now at level five, she is still refining the new pill, Jade Scale Pill. Every movement is clean and efficient, with precise control.
Therefore, every step he takes is still the fastest, without any unnecessary movements.
However, there are a few steps in Yin Zhao's process that take a little longer.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that the Jade Unicorn Pill was not the pill that Yin Zhao was most skilled at making.
·
Yin Zhao had started refining pills a step behind Zhong Cai. Now, seeing Zhong Cai's skill and comparing it to his own shortcomings, he quickly adjusted his methods and rapidly improved himself.
As expected of the Azure Sky Pill King, Yin Zhao's learning ability is extraordinary, and his understanding of the Dao of Alchemy is even more remarkable.
Ordinary alchemists might find Zhong Cai's every move perfect when watching him refine pills, and there are many moves they can't understand, and the methods are extremely complicated, etc. But Yin Zhao wouldn't. He could follow every thought process of Zhong Cai's refining. Even if he had some doubts, he would quickly understand them after a little thought or a little guidance from Zhong Cai, and then he would make good use of them.
This process is repeated.
Before long, Yin Zhao had already made considerable progress.
Zhong Cai naturally also sensed some of the techniques revealed by Yin Zhao during the refining process and quickly absorbed their strengths—although they might not be applicable to the refining of the Jade Unicorn Pill, if placed in the research of other pill formulas, they might be more suitable and further improve his alchemy skills.
·
While the two were refining pills, Wu Shaogan sat cross-legged on the other side of Zhong Cai, watching the two while meditating and cultivating.
Time flew by.
Zhong Cai and Yin Zhao's refining process took several hours.
Yin Zhao arrived early in the morning and practiced until dark.
Finally, Zhong Cai is about to produce the elixir.
As the hand seals were formed, the cauldron stopped trembling.
It still has a wonderful, refreshing fragrance.
Zhong Cai received the pills, and their quality was even better than the last time—except for one top-grade pill, the remaining five were all of superior quality!
After collecting the pills, Zhong Cai flashed a bright smile, waved it at Wu Shaogan, and showed off.
Wu Shaogan made a "super awesome" gesture at him.
Beside him, Yin Zhao also noticed the quality of the pills and was slightly surprised.
He knew that Zhong Cai had only recently learned how to make this kind of elixir, but to produce such a high-quality product in just a few days...
Although Yin Zhao had previously exchanged alchemy techniques with Zhong Cai, he had never personally witnessed him refining pills. Now, seeing this, he was truly extraordinary.
As expected of someone who suddenly jumped into the top ten!
As for himself, although he had studied the Jade Unicorn Pill for a longer time, his quality was not as good... Fortunately, his chances of successfully forming the pill were still quite good.
This batch has also been successfully made.
While Yin Zhao was pondering, he didn't delay his work, and it was time to collect the pills.
As he expected, none of the six pills he produced were top-grade; instead, four were high-grade and two were mid-grade.
Yin Zhao shook his head.
He's nowhere near as good as Junior Brother Zhong.
·
After they finished practicing, they both called it a day.
Yin Zhao exclaimed, "Junior Brother Zhong's mastery of the Jade Scale Pill is already quite exquisite."
Zhong Cai shook her head: "There's still a long way to go. I need to improve further."
Yin Zhao didn't say much; their pursuit of alchemy was indeed meticulous and demanding.
The two briefly discussed the issues they had noticed earlier.
At that moment, Wu Shaogan brought over a food box and said, "A-Cai, you've been refining pills for a long time. Please invite Senior Brother Yin to join us for a meal."
Zhong Cai readily agreed, then looked at Yin Zhao and invited, "Come on! Have some!"
Yin Zhao didn't refuse and just followed along.
On the side of the pavilion, there is a stone table with several dishes already laid out on it.
At the invitation of Zhong Cai and Wu Shaogan, Yin Zhao sat down with them and picked up a few more bites of the delicious mutton to enjoy.
Wu Shaogan ladled a bowl of golden lotus fish soup for Zhong Cai.
Zhong Cai placed a piece of mutton on Wu Shaogan's plate.
The two looked at each other and smiled.
Yin Zhao ate silently, his attitude very calm.
·
The group ate and chatted at the same time.
After taking a sip of fish soup, Yin Zhao suddenly said, "The reason I came here this time is actually to tell Junior Brother Zhong something."
Zhong Cai thought Yin Zhao simply wanted to find a fellow disciple to discuss alchemy, but she didn't expect there was something else going on.
Upon hearing that it was about his own Ah Cai, Wu Shaogan became wary even before Yin Zhao had explained in detail.
Yin Zhao didn't keep them in suspense and said directly, "When A Qiu went out, he found a bounty on Junior Brother Zhong in the Crimson Fiend Tower. The reward is a large number of level-five pills and a small number of level-six pills. They simply want Junior Brother Zhong's life!"
A Qiu is Qiu Qiao, one of Yin Zhao's accompanying martial arts practitioners. He is usually not talkative, but whatever he reports is never false.
Yin Zhao was furious when he heard this, but even though he could roughly tell from the reward that it should be issued by a fifth-level alchemist, he could not determine who it was or solve the problem.
Wu Shaogan's expression turned somewhat sinister in an instant.
Zhong Cai squeezed Wu Shaogan's hand under the table.
Wu Shaogan's complexion returned to normal.
Yin Zhao's attention was mainly on Zhong Cai, so he didn't notice that for a moment earlier, his junior brother Wu's expression suddenly changed.
At this moment, Yin Zhao spoke up, "This matter concerns Junior Brother Zhong's safety, so we cannot take it too seriously. In my opinion, we should inform a sect leader. However, I don't know what Junior Brother Zhong thinks, so I came to ask first."
Zhong Cai thought for a moment, but didn't decide immediately. Instead, she asked, "Senior Brother Yin, do you know who took that order?"
Yin Zhao paused.
Zhong Cai was somewhat puzzled.
Yin Zhao replied, "No one has accepted the order yet."
Zhong Cai: "Huh?"
Yin Zhao honestly said, "I heard the task was posted several days ago, but no one has accepted it."
Zhong Cai: "..."
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