Phoniex Requiem
Chapter 91: Purifying the Pill

Chapter 91: Purifying the Pill

Yun Ruoyan was naturally unaware of the tactics of Madam An and her three sisters. All of his attention was focused on his own cultivation. After saluting matriarch Yun in the morning, Yun Ruoyan headed towards the Lin family. Lin Zainan, Lin Qingchen, and Lin Qingxue had finished their preparations and were just waiting for Yun Ruoyan to appear.

As soon as Yun Ruoyan entered, they held an official ceremony to appoint her as Lin Zainan's disciple. They were all gathered in the pill-making room of the Lin family, with Lin Zainan sitting on the seat of honor. Lin Qingxue and Lin Qingchen stood on both sides, and Yun Ruoyan knelt on the floor.

"Murid Ruoyan greeted Master Lin!" before prostrating three times.

Lin Zainan beamed as she asked him to get up, very satisfied with his new disciple.

Yun Ruoyan picked up a bottle of wine from Lin Qingchen, poured a cup, and presented it respectfully to Lin Zainan, who finished it all at once.

Then the ceremony was over.

"Ruoyan, from now on, you are not only my grandson, but you will also be the first external disciple of the Lin family for over a hundred years, as well as my last disciple." Lin Zainan stroked her beard, proudly saying her words. After all, Yun Ruoyan's talent and temperament were incomparable.

"Ruoyan's sister, oh, no, I mean ..." Lin Qingxue mischievously clasped her hands behind her back and took action. "Young Murid Ruoyan, quickly greet your older sister!"

Yun Ruoyan smiled, took two steps forward, and started massaging her cheeks.

“Ahh! Sister Ruyoan, be softer!” Lin Qingxue shouted.

The quiet rooms are once again infused with excitement and hospitality.

As Lin Zainan sent sister Lin to their room with more homework, Yun Ruoyan prepared to get her first lesson as a pill master. Lin Zainan moved some of the medicinal herbs and grass he had prepared onto the table. He pointed at one of them and asked, “What kind of banquet is this?”

Yesterday, Lin Zainan had given Yun Ruoyan a summary of a low-grade basic pill and assigned him to memorize its contents. Today's first lesson is meant to test how well he's doing.

“This is the reeds of heaven, used to treat deep wounds,” Yun Ruoyan replied.

Lin Zainan nodded in satisfaction before pointing to a few more herbs, whose functions were clearly known to Yun Ruoyan.

"Very good. In that case, let's start refining the pill immediately. Let me demonstrate". Lin Zainan led Yun Ruoyan to the furnace placed in the center of the pill-making room, about half an adult in height. It was made of old copper, stored in pure condition so that he could see its shadow on its surface. On his four legs were carved four qilin, about to be taken to the sky.

Because of how often it was used for pill refining, the scent of medicine seeped into the furnace. He could smell an intoxicating scent from a considerable distance away.

“Furnace this pill has been with us Lin for three generations. While there are better furnaces out there, long-term use has incorporated them into spirituality. In this case, the pills from this furnace will not be worse than the pills from a high-grade furnace, ”Lin Zainan introduced.

Yun Ruoyan reached out and touched the furnace, feeling the warmth radiating from it.

Ever since he was a child, he had seen his grandfather sitting in front of this furnace and refining pills. He never expected that he would also have the chance to do so someday.

As Lin Zainan sat in front of the furnace, Yun Ruoyan could feel the aura of a master sharply. He spread his hands wide, forming a crescent moon, and a red spiritual mist seeped out from his palm. Although his cultivation had dropped, his decades of experience had weakened his movements and actions, making him look graceful and elegant in his eyes.

When the spiritual mist had formed a vortex in front of him, he pushed his palm forward and sent the vortex to the inside of the furnace. With a sudden flash, an orange flame filled the furnace. Amidst the flames, the four qilins seemed to be alive, staring at the flames and baring their teeth, as if wanting to devour them entirely.

The orange glow, reflected on Lin Zainan's snowy hair, beard, and brows, made her seem like an immortal being descending from heaven.

"Ruoyan, come here." Lin Zainan gestured to Yun Ruoyan, who was standing in a daze to the side. “Furnace is endowed with its own spirituality, and our spiritual flame has its own distinctive features. Before using the furnace for the first time, you need to make sure that the furnace is familiar with your signature.”

Under Lin Zainan's supervision, Yun Ruoyan dripped a single drop of blood into the furnace, and the flames of the person inside seemed to rise to capture him.

“Alright, that's enough! Now, watch carefully. I will refine a low-level spiritual pill, a dark sky pill, based on the ingredients from before."

“By controlling the rate of release of your spiritual energy, you can control the size and heat of the resulting fire. You will do this until the ingredients fuse with each other and the pill is finished. Lin Zainan's eyes were firmly fixated on the fire inside the furnace and spiritual herbs were floating on it. “Creating pills requires talent and perseverance, I might be able to teach you the basics, but everyone's alignment is different. To improve, you have to work diligently on your own and figure out what works for you."

Yun Ruoyan looked at the four spiritual herbs that were beginning to change color and shape under the scorching heat. Along with the change in seasoning, the flame in the furnace also began to change in size, fluctuating between large and small, between red and orange.

Perhaps fifteen minutes later, the plant was slowly transformed into a gum-like viscous substance that mixed with each other in a round blob. As it spun on top of the furnace, it finally became a mud-yellow pill, about the size of a marble. A strong and concentrated medicinal aroma was released with the finished pill.

Lin Zainan cupped his palm, and the pill floated into the furnace and into his hand. Without any further input of spiritual energy, the spiritual flame in the furnace slowly extinguished, and the pill-making room darkened once again.

"The dark sky is done." Lin Zainan smiled as she looked towards Yun Ruoyan.

Only then did he realize that his original reddish skin had become a little pale, and even though he was smiling, it was unable to hide the fact that he looked a bit tired.

"Grandfather!" Yun Ruoyan's heart jolted as she immediately stepped forward to help support him.

"I'm getting older, nothing more." Lin Zainan smiled. “And to think that I was once awake for three days, not eating and drinking anything, produced thirty-two low grade pills and four middle grade pills in a row!”

Every time he was reminded that Lin Zainan had changed from fifth rank to third rank pill expert solely to help him, Yun Ruoyan could not help but turn miserable.

How hard did his grandfather work for those two levels of cultivation? It was half of his life's effort, but he was willing to give it up just for her. This kind of affection felt like something Yun Ruoyan could not pay for, no matter what she did.

“Grandfather, you will never grow old in my heart. You will always be the best pill master I know, "murmured Yun Ruoyan while supporting her.

Lin Zainan smiled once more. His point of view was very different from Yun Ruoyan's view, in his eyes, having a more talented successor who could advance Lin's legacy was much more important than two trivial ranks.

And this successor was even his own grandson. How could he be disappointed with this trade?

Yun Ruoyan helped carry Lin Zainan out and poured a cup of tea for her. His grandfather hurriedly took a sip of it before showing the mud-yellow pill to Yun Ruoyan.

Yun Ruoyan knew about the effects of this pill, during the early stages of cultivation, it could help cultivators condense spiritual energy and quickly reach the level of a third level sword master, a support type pill.

But cultivators who used such pills often found it difficult to pass the fifth rank, so only troops and guards usually hired them. Despite these flaws, however, such pills were still in great demand and hard to find in the Chenyuan continent.

Spiritual pills are divided into three levels based on the ingredients, the spiritual energy they contain, and their efficacy, low, medium, and high levels. Within each level, there are finer, inferior, middle, and superior gradations.

“Look at this dark pill of heaven! It's shiny and shiny, and almost like a perfect ball. You can smell its thick aroma even from afar, so it is a superior low-grade pill.” Lin Zainan held the pill before Yun Ruoyan's eyes and instructed her how to discern the quality of the pill.

“You will be able to distinguish the cultivation of pill masters based on their pills. If pill masters tried to forcibly refine pills of a higher grade than they could afford, in many situations, they would fail. Even if they succeed, the resulting pills will be of lesser quality.”

Yun Ruoyan took Lin Zainan's pill and put it in a special pill box. If such a pill were to be exposed to the air for a long time, its spiritual energy would easily dissipate.

"What was the reason Wang Meng wanted to buy you a pill to check your cultivation?" yun Ruoyan asked.

Lin Zainan frowned while stroking her beard.

“The young man from the Wang family was indeed a rare genius. I've heard that, since childhood, he was able to detect and analyze the pill-making process just from looking, kissing, and touching the final product.”

Yun Ruoyan could only be shocked. Wouldn't someone who possessed such talent be a living arsenal of pill refining knowledge?

"Should have been, he was almost crazy about refining pills." Lin Zainan's tone turned severe. “Ruoyan, you are indeed talented, but trying to defeat him will not be easy. You have to do many times his efforts over the next two years to do it."

Yun Ruoyan looked back at her grandfather and replied solemnly, "Grandfather, I won't let you down."