radicalducati 485. Improvement of Danfang
485. Improvement of Danfang
"Alright!" Yuan Chen shouted, tossing out dozens of pill formulas which hovered in the air. "According to the rules, you can randomly choose one from these formulas."
Xiao Yan simply bent his palm and inhaled, and a scroll on the left came into his hand.
"As long as you don't leave here, and don't start the furnace, you can try it for as long as you want, however you want, as long as you eliminate the errors and tell me your suggestions for improvement."
Xiao Yan opened the scroll, and with a flick of his soul power, he detected the information within.
"Beast bone marrow pills."
"This pill formula was originally created by a seventh-grade peak alchemist in the Central Continent Beast Domain after observing the battles of magical beasts. Within six hours of taking it, the hardness of the bones will increase, the magical beast characteristics within the beast marrow will be activated, the pain in the body will be greatly reduced, the skin will become keratinized, and one can withstand mid-level Xuan-rank combat techniques with bare hands."
Looking at the pill formula, Xiao Yan was certain that it was a pill capable of temporarily strengthening the body. Judging from its ability to absorb beast marrow energy and enhance its physique to the point of ignoring Xuan-rank fighting techniques, it was undoubtedly a mid-grade fifth-rank pill. Although he had never refined this pill before, he had seen three other pills with similar effects.
Xiao Yan then continued to look at the production requirements. He did not need to refine the pill, but he needed to find the deliberately placed loopholes in the refining process described in the pill formula.
"We need three catties of bone marrow from a fourth-tier magical beast, the Earth Demon Scorpion (the bone marrow must be extracted within three days of its birth), two Rock Dragon Blood Ginsengs, ten drops of Iron Bone Vine juice, one catty of fifth-tier Mountain Bear bone powder, five mace of Xuan Iron Sand, three drops of Earth Core Milk, and two pieces of Three-Leaf Green Spirit Grass."
Furthermore, there were quite complete refining steps, which Xiao Yan found very immersive. Although he had never refined Beast Bone Marrow Pills before, as an alchemist he had come into contact with countless medicinal herbs, the difficulty of refining a fifth-grade pill was practically non-existent for him now, so as long as Xiao Yan was given enough time to find the mistakes, it wouldn't be a problem.
Sure enough, two hours later, Xiao Yan found the flaw in the pill formula through his mental simulation.
"Iron Bone Vine Juice is only an auxiliary ingredient, so it's impossible to add ten drops at once. Three to six drops is optimal. The specific amount depends on the quality of the Earth Demon Scorpion bone marrow and the Mountain Bear bone powder. If the quality is high, add more; if the quality is low, reduce the amount. The limit of three to six drops is fixed."
Having resolved the difficulties of the first stage, Xiao Yan shook his head. He then faced an even more important and challenging problem: how to improve the pill formula?
Generally, there are two paths to improvement: one is to enhance the materials, especially by further upgrading the main ingredients of the pill, which will naturally improve the pill's grade. However, upgrading the main ingredients will change the balance of medicinal properties between the main ingredients and the auxiliary ingredients, so changing only the main ingredients can completely alter the pill formula. Making such modifications requires a significant amount of effort and constant adjustments.
But Xiao Yan is currently undergoing a trial, so he can only speculate in his mind and cannot actually set up a medicine cauldron to start refining a batch to test it.
If you can't improve the medicinal materials, you can replace them with inferior or cheaper ones. After all, pills are essentially consumables, and pills made from simpler materials are more likely to be favored by others. As long as you can maintain the medicinal properties, switching to cheaper medicinal materials is an effective method.
However, both methods require a prerequisite: a thorough understanding of the formula itself and complete mastery of the elixir are necessary before any improvement can be achieved.
Xiao Yan didn't rush to decide which method to use for improvement; instead, he continued to carefully study the refining method for the Beast Bone Marrow Pill. He then picked up a pen he had prepared beforehand and began recording his thoughts, constantly imagining the scenario after the refining process began. Time passed slowly in this process.
Yuan Chen, who was standing to the side, nodded in satisfaction as he watched Xiao Yan, who was completely absorbed in the pill formula.
……
"Elder Yuan's words just now were a bit excessive. He still doesn't understand the pressure we're under. Who wouldn't want to shed this responsibility and concentrate on refining medicine?" Xuan Leizi and Xuan Kongzi reappeared at the edge of the trial field. They had both heard Yuan Chen's words, so Xuan Leizi was now speaking up for Xuan Kongzi.
Xuan Kongzi seemed to be deep in thought: "Elder Yuan is right. Old Lei, let me ask you, do you still have the confidence to break through to the ninth rank?"
Upon hearing this question, Xuan Leizi instinctively wanted to answer, but seeing Xuan Kongzi's earnest eyes, he couldn't utter the words that were already on the tip of his tongue.
"Let me ask you a different question. What if I asked you this question a hundred years ago, before you became a leader in the Danta?"
Xuan Leizi looked disappointed: "Of course, I will answer you without hesitation, yes."
"What Elder Yuan said makes sense. People like us who think too much and meddle too much will have their progress in alchemy greatly hindered. To be honest, I've long felt that I have no hope of advancing to the ninth rank in this lifetime." Xuan Kongzi's voice no longer carried the composure of a giant of the Pill Tower, but rather a bitter sorrow.
"But if we don't do these things, what will happen to the Pill Tower? The members of the Little Pill Tower have never cared about such mundane matters," Xuan Leizi said somewhat indignantly.
"I really envy Yao Chen." Xuan Kongzi suddenly mentioned Yao Chen's name and turned his gaze to Xiao Yan: "Not only has he achieved fame and success, but he also has the opportunity to meet a disciple with such extraordinary talent as Xiao Yan. Furthermore, Feng Xian single-handedly handles all the complicated matters of the Starfall Pavilion, so he has never stopped pursuing excellence in alchemy."
"His determination is stronger than ours; the position of leader of the Danta has never stopped him for a single day..."
Xuan Leizi nodded in agreement, showing his strong support: "So Xiao Yan and Wei Jiangyuan, these two youngsters, truly have limitless potential. One is determined, and the other is simple and pure."
"It seems that fate brought these little ones together to create a fierce battle between them."
……
Xiao Yan felt that time passed extremely quickly as he continued to ponder in his mind; two days passed in the blink of an eye. He then focused his attention back on the paper, looking at the corrections and revisions; he had already written down his final answer.
The bone meal of the Mountain Bear is replaced with that of the Iron-Veined Bear; this is the improvement.
Replacing the rock dragon blood ginseng with snake blood flower and reducing the amount of earth core milk by one drop are both ways to reduce costs.
In addition, due to the changes in these three main materials, there are thirteen variations in the other auxiliary materials. This is already the limit of what Xiao Yan can think of.
Xiao Yan handed the answer to Yuan Chen, but he still had some doubts in his heart. He always felt that there was something in his mind, but it was always as if there was a thin fog between them, and he could not see it clearly.