The Mighty Cauldron: Extreme Alchemist! - Chapter 28

Chapter 28: Inner Strength Pill

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Elder Gu roared in rage, “Fang Lin, do you even know how to respect me as an elder?”

Fang Lin maintained the innocent look on his face. He spoke as if he had been mistreated, “Elder, I respect you from the bottom of my heart. However, these are two independent things. Elder, you shouldn’t bully a disciple. I don’t want to exchange them anymore. Please return my pills.”

Xu Shangao charged into the place hastily at that very moment. His face was filled with helplessness as he attempted to pull Fang Lin outside once again. However, to his brief bewilderment, Fang Lin hinted at him with his eyes. After that, Xu Shangao did not try to stop Fang Lin anymore, but the worries in his heart prevailed.

Elder Gu was in a fury. Many of the official disciples strolling in the alchemy pavilion were also glancing over in succession as they appeared to be watching the scene.

In a rush, Elder Gu attempted to make himself appear calmer. This was the alchemy pavilion, and news about the elder of the alchemy pavilion losing his temper because of a newly-promoted low-grade disciple would ruin his reputation immensely.

At once, Elder Gu lowered his voice and said through clenched teeth, “This time, I won’t haggle over this matter with you. Choose three more items as you wish. You can choose anything on this level.”

Upon listening to his words, Fang Lin beamed with joy instantly. “Thank you very much, Elder!” Then, he walked to a row of display racks immediately.

Xu Shangao stood in the same spot in a daze. He did not expect Elder Gu to compromise. It seemed as if Fang Lin came fully prepared as he took the liberty to walk to the front of the display rack and retrieved two items with his agile movements.

Albeit Elder Gu being old, his vision did not fail him. His eyelids twitched once when he saw what Fang Lin took. He muttered to himself, “This is bad.”

Fang Lin turned around and went to the front of another wooden rack after taking those two items. He took another item from the top of this second rack. With his three new selections, he sauntered back joyously and stored those items straight into his Nine Palaces Pouch before Elder Gu’s eyes.

“Farewell for now,” he said before pulling Xu Shangao along to leave the alchemy pavilion in a hurry.

Elder Gu’s expression was practically pitch black due to rage. He wanted to say something to stop Fang Lin a few times as he watched the kid’s rapid departing silhouette, but he could not bring himself to do so. In the end, he heaved a sigh softly.

“This boy! I must grind him down the next time he comes to my alchemy pavilion,” Elder Gu muttered resentfully. Then, he went back to his original drowsy expression.

Xu Shangao noticed that Fang Lin was pacing quickly with an anxious expression. He could not help asking puzzledly, “Junior Brother Disciple Fang, why are you in such a rush?”

Fang Lin glared at him. “If we don’t walk faster, what should we do when that old man comes chasing after us later?” Upon saying that, he sped up, so Xu Shangao had no other choice but to follow along and trot behind him.

They hurried all the way until they were back in Fang Lin’s courtyard. They only sat down to rest after the door was completely shut.

“Junior Brother Disciple Fang, what did you actually take? Why are you so nervous?” asked Xu Shangao in curiosity.

Fang Lin sniggered aloud. He patted the Nine Palaces Pouch once and summoned the last three items he had taken. The three items appeared on the stone table.

Xu Shangao took a closer look and found that these three items were all medicinal herbs with strange shapes and appearance. Unfortunately, he did not manage to identify the nature of these three items.

Fang Lin noticed Xu Shangao’s confusion. When he could tell that Xu Shangao could not recognize these medicinal herbs, he pursed his lips and said, “I can tell that you don’t know what they are, judging by your look.”

Xu Shangao was extremely embarrassed because it was true that he could not identify those items.

Fang Lin did not continue to banter anymore. He explained, “These medicinal herbs are the main ingredients for refining the Inner Strength Pill. I can refine a cauldron of Inner Strength Pills with these.”

Instantly, Xu Shangao was shocked. “Inner Strength Pill? Are you talking about the Inner Strength Pill that can restore one’s inner strength rapidly upon consumption?”

Fang Lin nodded. It was precisely the elixir he mentioned.

Xu Shangao looked at him as if he was looking at a monster. “Junior Brother Disciple Fang, the Inner Strength Pill seems to be one of the most difficult Grade-1 elixirs to refine. Are you sure that you can refine it?”

Xu Shangao did not doubt Fang Lin’s capability, but the Inner Strength Pill was universally established as an elixir that was extremely difficult to refine. The difficulty of refining a Grade-1 Inner Strength Pill was at least thrice as complicated as the Health-nurturing on the same grade. Even the real Cauldron-1 alchemists’ success rate of refining the Inner Strength Pill was relatively low. Only alchemists with exceedingly rich experience had a success rate of close to 70%.

In Xu Shangao’s perception, although Fang Lin was an alchemy genius, he had yet to become a real Cauldron-1 alchemist after all. It was truly a wild idea for him to try and make the Inner Strength Pill.

Fang Lin noticed Xu Shangao’s bewilderment, but he was too lazy to explain himself. “You shall see by then. Don’t ask me for some when I’ve completed refining the elixir!” he teased with a faint smile.

“You can’t do that. If you’re truly capable of refining the Inner Strength Pill, you have to give me two pills anyhow,” said Xu Shangao, grinning.

Both of them chatted leisurely for a while more before Xu Shangao returned to his residence. Fang Lin closed the door to his courtyard. While he was not in a rush to refine the Inner Strength Pill, he chose to engage in closed-door cultivation at once. He would strive to enter the level-5 primordial man realm as soon as possible.

Of course, Fang Lin managed to plant the medicinal herb seedlings he had gotten from the alchemy pavilion before he engaged in the closed-door cultivation. At last, the spacious courtyard did not seem empty anymore.

Fang Lin was already not far from the level-5 primordial man realm. He could make the breakthrough successfully just by consuming two more Health-nurturing Pills. He would strive to break through the realm in advance before he considered other matters such as refining the Inner Strength Pill and attending lessons in the alchemy academy.

In reality, he was not intrigued by the alchemy academy. He believed that no one in this world was worthy of being his teacher due to his background as an Extreme Alchemist. His current task would be to elevate his realm as soon as possible. Then, he would refine the elixir before he attempted to elevate his realm once again.

He cultivated for ten days consecutively, consuming two Energizing Pills during the process. On the tenth night, Fang Lin finally made the breakthrough successfully and achieved the level-5 primordial man realm.

Level-5 primordial man realm was considered a superior level amongst the junior alchemy disciples but was nothing impressive among the official disciples. At the very least, Fang Lin had the ability to protect himself now.

Moreover, the higher one’s realm was, the more helpful it was in refining elixirs. Hence, with this upgrade, Fang Lin would be able to refine more elixirs with better quality.

After breaking through the level-5 primordial man realm, Fang Lin considered taking a stroll in the alchemy academy. Even though he did not plan to stay there for a long time, he would like to take a look at what was inside the alchemy academy. It would be a shame if he could not even tell where the location of the alchemy academy door was later on.

However, Fang Lin made up his mind to refine the Inner Strength Pill first after a long consideration. Then, he would go to the alchemy academy. After figuring things out, he did not hesitate anymore. He procured some necessary medicinal herbs from Xu Shangao before he began to refine the Inner Strength Pills.

The Inner Strength Pill was a Grade-1 elixir. Moreover, it was considered an elixir that had a high difficulty among all the Grade-1 elixirs.

Of course, the statement only applied to ordinary alchemists and was not applicable to a man like Fang Lin.

If he was still on the level-4 primordial man realm, perhaps it would be quite difficult for him to refine the Inner Strength Pill. After all, it would be exhausting for him to refine Grade-1 elixirs if his realm was far too weak.

On the other hand, Fang Lin was already on the level-5 primordial man realm now. Even though he had only elevated by a level, the effect of the elevation on refining elixirs should not be neglected either. In addition to that, he had a rather impressive Golden Flame Cauldron.

Eventually, he spent five days to refining a cauldron full of Inner Strength Pills successfully. It was all set.

Exhausted, he slept for an entire day before he regained his energy. He had produced a cauldron of 20 Inner Strength Pills which was slightly more than he expected. As for its quality, he only achieved medium-grade quality due to the slightly weak remedial effects of the medicinal herbs. Fang Lin heaved a sigh of disappointment.

It was disappointing to Extreme Alchemist Fang Lin because he had only managed to refine medium-grade Inner Strength Pills. Had it not been for the limited supplies, in the past, Fang Lin would have destroyed the product and refined a new cauldron of it.

Fang Lin naturally refused to take all 20 Inner Strength Pills for himself. He gave Xu Shangao two pills. After all, many of the medicinal herbs he used to refine the Inner Strength Pill had been harvested from Xu Shangao’s courtyard. Furthermore, they had a close relationship, so it was fine for Fang Lin to give two Inner Strength Pills to him.

Fang Lin pondered for a while and decided that he would not be able to use all the remaining 18 pills. He would keep a few and sell the rest.