That peculiar pill furnace of mine

After attending his last lesson for the day undisturbed, Song Shuhang kept his books and stretched his body.

Once again, the female student with a well-developed body beside him reluctantly left and, at the same time, the thought of confessing to Shuhang surfaced in her mind once more—at least in this sizzling hot summer, she wanted to become Shuhang’s girlfriend and enjoy the human air-conditioner he was.

The girl’s reluctant gaze made him feel chills and slight awkwardness.

Just then, Tubo and another two roommates walked over.

"Damn, it’s so hot I have almost shed off a layer of skin," Tubo used his textbook as a fan and waved while pea-sized beads of sweat continuously dripped from his forehead. "Oh right, Shuhang, do you want to accompany us outside for a walk this afternoon?"

"You guys are still in the mood to walk around in such a hot weather?" Shuhang laughed. The sun today was extremely malicious and it was definitely not a good weather for a stroll.

"Hehe, Yangde, this fella, had developed a computer program recently, and made some money from selling it. So, this little guy is preparing to rent a three-room flat so that he can coop himself up there without being disturbed by anyone. We are just preparing to help him look around for a good place. Maybe it could become our second base in the future—and, conveniently, we’ll be extorting a meal from him in the evening." Tubo cheekily laughed.

Shuhang made a thumbs up posture at his slightly tanned and skinny roommate. "Yangde, you are indeed capable, both of you are good in computer stuff but you are much skilled than Tubo. You know how to earn money, yet Tubo only knows how to spend!"

"..." Tubo.

Yangde meekly laughed and revealed two rows of pearly white teeth. He was already equipped with the temperament of a skilled programmer at a young age. Him not being adept at speaking was because the amount of time they used their keyboards to speak was more than using their mouths.

"Anyway, I have some matters in the afternoon as I have to handle the two boxes of stuff I was mailed earlier on. After you’ve found a suitable house, call me and I will immediately be there!" Song Shuhang swiftly replied—it was great that his roommates were preparing to leave as he could feel relieved and attempt to refine the body tempering liquid.

"You this fella, not willing to contribute yet wanting to freeload!" Tubo raised his head and coldly snorted. "Let me tell you, there’s no open door for you! Instead, there’s a window, and that is to introduce your beautiful sister to us!"

"Scram." Song Shuhang replied. "There’s no open door for you, but there’s a window. Treat me to supper tonight!"

Song Shuhang did not have anything, but coincidentally, he had a few pretty sisters. Whereas that lady named Soft Feather that Tubo was interested in… apologies, that isn’t my sister.

Tubo immediately assumed a fawning attitude and relented. "Deal"

Don’t all of us know of Shuhang’s beautiful sister? Yangde puzzledly thought at one side. They all met that sister of his named Zhao Yaya before as she sent Shuhang to Jiangnan College during the start of the semester. Unless Tubo is intending to chase Shuhang’s cousin?

The difficulty seemed quite high as Sister Zhao’s ‘Lineage Destruction Kick’ was formidable.

He recalled that Sister Zhao who sent Shuhang to school back then had met with a few delinquents who didn’t know better.

Soon after, Tubo and Yangde had witnessed Sister Zhao’s prowess. That slender long leg of hers casually kicked and hit the bullseye—Sister Zhao was definitely trained and the Lineage Destruction Kick was put to use often. That several delinquents fell on the ground in a moment’s time and started shrieking miserably. As for spectators, they would feel pain in their balls too.

❄️❄️❄️

After having lunch, three of his friends strolled out of the dormitory, leaving Song Shuhang alone.

"Hoo." He took a deep breath. The ice bead hung on his neck allowed him to be cool-headed at all times—this was indeed a good state to begin.

Opening a small box with medicinal ingredients, Song Shuhang followed Medicine Master ‘s body tempering liquid recipe and did a comparison.

All the boxes had four different layers, with each containing about ten ingredients.

"Ginseng, Wolfberry, Rising Sun Stone, Maiden’s Fragrance…" Quickly, Shuhang completed checking over thirty medicinal ingredients in the front of the recipe that were searchable via the Internet.

Whereas for Morning Dew Mysterious Grass and the various ingredients in the latter part of the recipe such as Fresh Overlord Branch, sliced Nine-Yang Scarlet Flame Bamboo, and the rest, he was unable to find any information. Even if he did find any, it was basically equipment and items in games.

Fortunately, Soft Feather was an attentive lady. While Shuhang was verifying the medicinal ingredients, he noticed that the ingredients within the small box have already been arranged in a sequence according to the recipe—from left to right, and top to bottom.

Even the medicinal ingredients’ dosage had been measured.

‘An attentive and gentle lady is the best.’ Song Shuhang released a sigh of relief. ‘In that case, I don’t need to seek advice on Nine Provinces Number One Group.’

During the process of refining ‘body tempering liquid’, it was required to follow the sequence as per the recipe to gradually insert medicinal ingredients into the furnace. If the sequence was messed up, the refinement would fail. If the medicinal ingredients Soft Feather mailed over were randomly piled together, Song Shuhang would have a headache.

[Following the ratios in the recipe, add the ingredients one by one into the furnace, simmer for five minutes; add the new medicinal ingredients, and continue to simmer for around five minutes. Do pay attention to fire’s temperature! Repeat this cycle until the medicinal liquid becomes a paste. After that, the completed product should be black, transparent, and exude a strong smell.] was the exact words of Medicine Master previously.

From the looks of it, as long as one was careful, anyone could refine this body tempering liquid?

Indeed, body tempering liquid was only the lowest-grade ‘medicinal liquid’ and couldn’t even be compared with medicine pills or dregs of concoction. Refining it did not require consuming one’s spiritual energy, true qi, or specialized flames such as heaven flames, earth flames and pill flames. 

A mortal was able to refine it if they concentrated well!

However, to refine it successfully was not that simple of a task.

Heat control, and that word ‘around’ before five minutes, meant that it was not a fixed time of five minutes. It was also dependant on the experience of whoever was refining it and the medicinal ingredients’ quality which influenced how much the time should be adjusted.

Furthermore, the entire process of refining the body tempering liquid requires forty-five different ingredients, which was equivalent to four hours of full concentration without being able to be relax for even a moment. If mortals wanted to refine this ‘body tempering liquid’, they would require an enormous amount of perseverance and experience.

Song Shuhang opened the lid of the hot pot and tossed in the sliced Ginseng.

‘Speaking of which, the recipe did not write down if water is required?’ Song Shuhang scratched his head.

I think it’s needed? If not, not only the Ginseng slices, but even the bottom of the pan would be charred?

However, how much water is needed?

‘Should I go onto the group and ask?’ Song Shuhang fished out his phone but cool-headedly placed it down after thinking though.

This was his first time attempting to refine this body tempering liquid and there would definitely be numerous problems during the process. It wouldn’t be possible for him to concurrently concoct and rush over to seek advice immediately after encountering a problem, right?

The members within the group weren’t online every second and if he encountered a problem and sought advice within the group and exceeded the five minutes limit because of it, the refining would be considered a failure. In this way, even thirty-two sets of medicinal ingredients wouldn’t be enough to squander away.

Therefore, it would be best if he adopted a definite failure attitude and attempt it once, following Medicine Master recipe. After that, he would record all the problems during the refining process and clarify all of them within the group in one shot.

‘Let’s pour in a ladle of water first.’ He added a ladle of water into the pot and pressed on the induction stove.

An induction stove… this was a no-other-options choice.

This was because the school did not have a gas source. In order to prevent a fire incident, all flammable items were restricted, and having an induction stove was considered good already.

After all, it was to heat and simmer; there shouldn’t be a difference between using electricity to heat and using fire to heat?

Afterwards, he pressed the function for stewing. The induction stove provided by the dormitory had ‘Fry’, Roast’, Stew’, and ‘Saute’, these four functions. In addition, it had the option of manually adjusting the heat.

If ‘cultivation’ really exists, then I’m definitely the first person in the whole history to use an induction stove and hot pot for refining. Song Shuhang thought while mocking himself.