Returning to the individual dormitory prepared for him by the academy, Xiao Ming took out the Storage Ring given by Elder Huo and placed it in his hand first before his soul power gushed out from his eyebrows and into the ring.
This ring was like the one he had received before, a low-grade storage ring with about five cubic meters of space.
Inside were some neat books, a pile of gold coins, and a tripod-shaped object.
Ignoring the others for now, with a thought, he took out all the books inside and examined them one by one.
The books were the low level Qi Method Huang Class "Fiery Flame Duel", high level Dou Technique Xuan Class "Red Flame Sword", high level Dou Technique Xuan Class "Red Flame Palm", and the high level Dou Technique Xuan Class "Creeping Shadow Chasing Wind".
Xiao Ming sighed inwardly as he looked at these high level techniques.
'Master is worthy of being a fifth tier alchemist, with the Jia Nan Academy behind him, his wealth is really great, the lower grade Dou Technique are all high level Xuan'.
'There are some thicker books, let's see which one is good'.
'The encyclopedia of the properties of medicinal materials', 'introduction to pill refinement' 'the manual of pill appreciation', the manual of identification of medicinal herbs', 'five years of pill refinement and three years of fire control', and 'self-cultivation for alchemists' ...
Elder Huo was really a good master, looking at these books, Xiao Ming vaguely recalled his life of study during the last year of high school in his previous life, it was a rough time where he came out victorious, though hairless ...
After a brief glance, Xiao Ming took everything back, leaving only one book to study carefully.
...
The next day, after the initial class, as Elder Huo had instructed when he parted yesterday, Xiao Ming came alone to the Alchemy Department to look for him.
In one of the study rooms of the Alchemy Department, Xiao Ming met Elder Huo.
When he saw Elder Huo, Xiao Ming respectfully said, "Xiao Ming greets the master."
"My good disciple is here, come, sit down first. As I said yesterday, when you'll come, you will begin to familiarize yourself with pill refining, so today we will begin to learn the art of pill refining." When Elder Huo saw Xiao Ming arrive, he stroked his white beard and flashed a smile, very pleased with Xiao Ming's attitude.
"You have not been exposed to pill refining before, so let me first tell you some general knowledge about pill refining, if you want to refine pills, you must first have a medicinal cauldron. Medicinal cauldron is like a warrior's weapon, it is indispensable."
"The more outlets for fire a cauldron's furnace has, the higher tier a medicinal cauldron is and thus the rarer it is. Of course, if you want to control several outlets for fire, you need a strong soul perception."
"Other than medicinal cauldron, the flames we use for pill refinement are usually flames catalyzed by our Dou Qi, so in order to practice high quality pills, you need deep Dou Qi cultivation, even the lowest tier pills require Dou Practitioner cultivation, which you have already attained early."
Speaking of this, the smile on Elder Huo's face became even bigger.
"Master, in addition to the flames produced by one's own cultivation, can't an alchemist also absorb external flames?"
"Hmm, not bad, it seems like you've been reading the books I gave you."
"For us alchemists, the best flames are of course the Heavenly Flames that are naturally bred with energy from heaven and earth, all of them are born in the most treacherous and difficult places in the world, so they can be found, but not sought after." Elder Huo's eyes also showed his desire for the Heavenly Flames. "And our Jia Nan Academy has a Heavenly Flame."
'More than one, there are two!' Xiao Ming muttered inwardly, he was someone who knew the background of the Jia Nan Academy, a mature flame and a newborn, both being the Fallen Heart Flame, but it was a pity that the upper management of the Jia Nan Academy did not know that there was such a thing.
Otherwise, that Fallen Heart Flame that had been causing so much unrest would have been refined long ago.
Elder Huo saw Xiao Ming's gaze that had turned fiery with his narration.
Thinking that he had paid attention to the academy's Fallen Heart Flame, he shook his head unconcernedly.
"You must not think of playing with that Heavenly Flame, that Heavenly Flame is the base of the academy, whoever dares to attempt against it would become the enemy of Jia Nan Academy, you will know the details when you reach the inner courtyard and do not inform others that the academy has a Heavenly Flame, although the academy is not afraid of others looking for trouble but also does not want others to cause it."
Xiao Ming listened to Elder Huo's warning and nodded solemnly "I know master, I won't tell anyone."
"You also don't have to be depressed about not having a heavenly flame, besides the heavenly flame, you can look for other flames instead, such as the beast fire, which is equally effective."
With that said, Elder Huo stretched out his right palm, a dark black flame emerged from his palm, the space around the flame became vaguely distorted, Xiao Ming who was not far away from Elder Huo could feel a terrifying heat.
"Practice a lot, when you become a first tier alchemist, I will find you a high rank magical beast flame." Elder Huo said as he retrieved the flame in his hand and stroked his beard.
This was actually a means of motivation given by Elder Huo.
With the temptation of a beast flame, one would think that this disciple of his would be more into pill refinement.
It had to be said that Elder Huo was really good to this disciple of Xiao Ming.
"Thank you, master."
"Alright, that's it as far as the lecture goes, go to the alchemy room and I'll show you once, then you practice on your own and ask me if you don't understand something."
As Xiao Ming left the study and went to the alchemy room, he saw a medicinal cauldron that was about half a meter away.
The medicinal cauldron was dark and black in color, with a slight tinge of light on it. On the bottom of the medicinal cauldron, two hideous snakeheads were carved, and a snake mouth was wide open, forming three outlets for fire that were connected to each other, the outlets were curved and continuous, and the deeper you went inside, the smaller their diameter, faintly looking like there were mysteries hidden inside. On the top of the cauldron, a giant snake is coiled in the dark red lid of the cauldron, and there is a special hole in the lid, which is used to place medicinal herbs inside.
Beautiful figures of magical beasts are painted on the surface of the medicinal cauldron, with a realistic appearance, as if they were living creatures.
"The Pill Refining Hall is a special place for the Alchemy Department to refine pills, and it is equipped with tier 3 medicinal cauldrons like the one I gave you earlier." Elder Huo walked over to the pill cauldron, and with a wave of his hand, a bunch of medicinal herbs appeared beside it.
"Look at this, I will only demonstrate it once."
Next, Xiao Ming saw the pill refining process in a real sense for the first time.
A dark black flame entered the medicinal cauldron, and one herb after another was devoured by the cauldron flame, leaving behind medicinal essences in the form of powder and paste.
In the end, the various medicinal essences melted into a prototype pill with a pitted surface. As the flames were extinguished, the pill in the cauldron took on a round shape acquiring a green hue, and a faint medicinal fragrance spread from the cauldron.
Originally, an alchemist needed a quiet environment to refine the pills, and there should be no disturbance.
But since it was a first tier pill, it was easy for Elder Huo, so at every step, Elder Huo explained in detail.
The pill was quickly created, and Elder Huo circulated his Dou Qi to grasp the elixir in his hand, then put it in a jade bottle and threw it to Xiao Ming.
Looking at Xiao Ming hurriedly taking it, without waiting for him to ask Elder Huo opened his mouth and said "This is a first tier pill, the Restoration Pill, which can restore a certain amount of Dou Qi. Did you see the process clearly now?".
"Mm, I saw it clearly." Xiao Ming put away the pills and replied.
"Fine, then do it."
...