AST 0070 – Figuring out Alchemy

Qing Shui froze, as he stood there dumbly. That gentle little hand that lightly rapped on his head caused him to instantly enter into a mysterious state of mind, as various emotions surfaced – contentment, peace, happiness.

Other than that, there was also a feeling that was akin to an epiphany, causing knowledge to once again bloom in his mind. Qing Shui focused on his inner state, on his sea of consciousness, having no inclination of what’s happening outside.

Enlightenment! This is enlightenment!

The beautiful eyes of Wenren Wu-Shuang stared incredulously at Qing Shui. He was just standing there, lost in a state of mind. Radiant joy blossomed on his face, and his eyes were not glazed over like they were entranced in another dreamlike world, but were instead exceptionally clear, and emitting a sense of extreme peace. Wenren Wu-Shuang, who had already went through a bout of enlightenment, knew that Qing Shui was undergoing a bout of enlightenment as well.

At this moment, the area of content for alchemy that was previously greyed out in his mind, began to blaze with a golden yellow radiance within Qing Shui’s sea of consciousness.

Qing Shui did not know if the alchemy in this world was similar to the information contained within his mind. Although he did previously identified a herb in this world that could be found inside the [Western Fantasy], he was unsure if the pills concocted would be any similar.

Qing Shui swiftly inspected the newly unlocked information, but to his dismay, the contents that were unlocked, were only of the preliminary grade. Before this, Qing Shui was feeling extremely excited, because he discovered there was actually alchemy recipes that were unlocked as well. Even if one had an abundance of spiritual herbs and ingredients, there was no way for an Alchemist to concoct a pill if he did not have a recipe. But….

Alchemy Recipe? Why was there only one!?

Golden Ointment Alchemy Recipe, the ingredients needed are: Blood-Cease Plants, Ginseng, Angelica Sinesis, etc….

Golden Fragrance Jade Pills Alchemy Recipe, Mastery Level Insufficient, Information locked!

Martial Dragon Pill Alchemy Recipe, Mastery Level Insufficient, Information locked!

Small Revitalizing Pellet Alchemy Recipe, Mastery Level Insufficient, Information locked.

Refined Revitalizing Pellet Alchemy Recipe, Mastery Level Insufficient, Information locked.

Glowing Buddha Seed Alchemy Recipe, Mastery Level Insufficient, Information locked.

9 Souls Reincarnation Pellet Alchemy Recipe, Mastery Level Insufficient, Information locked.

When Qing Shui finished inspecting all the Alchemy Recipes, there were over 10 others, and he realized that there were plenty of other types of medicinal pills that were not in [Western Fantasy]. After all, at the end of the day the game was still just a game. There are bound to be things in reality that were not fully captured by the game.

Qing Shui then looked at his Mastery Level experience bar, pitifully, it was at 0%. The him now could only concoct Golden Ointment Medicine but even so, he did not have sufficient ingredients.

“Hmm, I have not seen the concoction methods yet.” Qing Shui hurriedly began to look at the contents unlocked again.

Methods of Pill Concoction: requires a suitable type of flame to purify the ingredients. Other than that, when all the ingredients are placed inside a cauldron, one must continually activate the Ancient Strengthening Technique, to increase the rate of pill concoction success. The higher the Mastery Level, the higher the rate of success.

Other than mastery experience, taking into account the grade of the pill concocted, the grade of the ingredients, in addition to the type of cauldron, and the type of flame used, they would all affect the rate of success!

“Pill Concoction Cauldron? Types of Flame? Qing Shui once read about these in one of the medical books. A good quality cauldron was something that alchemist couldn’t do without, but the type of flame used was even more important.

The type of flame required, at the very least, had to be originated from one of the specially manufactured items named firesoil. Other than that, stonefire, earthfire, and after reaching the Xiantian realm, one could also use the flame of Xiantian to refine the pills. It was impossible to refine pills by using the normal fire from firewood or charcoal.

It is not impossible, so to speak, but flames arising from firewood or charcoal simply had too low of a temperature to be able to refine pills. The flames that were more frequently used by alchemists, were the flames from stonefire or earthfire.

To use Xiantian flames continually, was just too draining on the cultivator. For pills concocted whose grades were not especially high nor valuable, alchemists would usually just use stonefire or earthfire to refine the pills. As for firesoil, it was usually used by those alchemists who had yet to reach the Xiantian level. Needless to say, the effects were far inferior when compared to stonefire and earthfire.

The current Qing Shui, was in a miraculous state of being. Losing his sense of his worldly body, and becoming something more like an Astral Projection. The current him, could actually enter into his sea of consciousness physically, when previously, he could only view it like a spectator.

However, Qing Shui himself did not know that he was in the midst of enlightenment. The most fundamental state of being in enlightenment, requires the subject to enter into a state of obliviousness, a state where one forgets everything – even oneself.

Wenren Wu-Shuang stood by the side as she stared at the motionless Qing Shui. This fellow is just too lucky, just a light rap on the head and he obtained such huge benefits?

She decided to leave Qing Shui alone as she descended. After all, there was no way to tell how long Qing Shui would take to finish processing his bout of enlightenment. Initially, she almost mistook the stunned look on Qing Shui’s face to be him suffering from attacks of heart demons, and had almost woken him up. This would have destroyed the benefits that he would have obtained from the full bout of enlightenment.

“Wu-Shuang, why did you come down alone? Where is that little fellow?” Wenren Wu-Gou laughed with a hint of craftiness.

“He is undergoing a bout of enlightenment.”

“Oh, okay.” Wenren Wu-Gou replied nonchalantly.

“WHAT?!” She shrieked, as the pupils of her eyes widened, looking at her sister Wu-Shuang.

Wenren Wu-Shuang smiled as she explained, “This little fellow, seemed to have the luck of the devil, he actually entered into a state of enlightenment after I rapped his head with my hand, unbelievable.”

Stunned for a moment, Wenren Wu-Gou drew in a breath as she recovered, “The state of enlightenment, is something that cannot be sought after. There is no absolute guarantee that one could enter that special state. It is only brought about by karmic luck, and various combinations of the right circumstances. There were many who were interrupted before they could obtain the full benefits brought to them, and had their cultivation stuck there. This guy, just what is going on with him.”

“That is true. Lucky for him, he met me today. If not, who knows how many years in the future it would have taken him to experience that bout of enlightenment.” Wenren Wu-Shuang slightly blushed as she smiled lightly.

“Wu-Shuang, this little fellow is destined to be someone extraordinary. You know my judgement is never wrong. You would do well to consider him as your future husband. After all, good men are hard to find.” Said Wenren Wu-Gou.

“Hmm, I have no intentions to do so in the near future. I have no wish to marry so soon. What I want to do now is to focus on increasing my strength, and wait for elder sister to reach Xiantian before I consider matters such as marriage.” Wenren Wu-Shuang seriously replied.

Wenren Wu-Gou ignored the cheeks which were reddening on those angelic features of Wenren Wu-Shuang, as she continued on unabashedly.

“Me reaching Xiantian? Forget it. Having a sister like you at the Xiantian level could already be considered a gift from heavens. As for Xiantian, I have never harbored any hopes of breaking through to that realm. My only wish, is for you to live happily. With greater power, comes greater danger, that was why I wanted you to get acquainted with that little fellow. Being able to reach the realm of the Truth before Xiantian, I have never heard of anyone that has been able to do so. It would only do you good to be friends with him. As for matters of marriage, I will leave it to your own discretion.”