Zhu Yanyi watched everything closely. She had to pay attention to Ouyang Tianyun’s changes, as well as the changes inside the pill furnace.
The fire beneath the furnace burned steadily. However, Zhu Yanyi noticed that as Ouyang Tianyun threw the herbs in bit by bit, the fire seemed to adjust itself automatically. Sometimes it flared up, sometimes it dimmed down.
It was just like cooking daily meals. Frying fish needed high heat, while stewing meat needed low heat. People often said, "High heat for fish, low heat for meat." Now, making pills seemed like a mixed stew, except the ingredients were herbs instead of food.
Zhu Yanyi watched carefully. Slowly, a herbal scent drifted from the furnace. At first, it was just a raw herbal smell, not fragrant, and the air felt a bit muddy. Gradually, as the fire lowered, a true fragrance emerged. The muddy smell disappeared, as if the essence of the herbs was being refined.
Finally, Ouyang Tianyun added a small amount of something called "purple sand." It was tiny, no bigger than a broad bean.
Its function was like adding gypsum to make tofu. The refined essence inside began to coagulate.
Then, Ouyang Tianyun placed his hands on both sides of the furnace. He used his spiritual power to shape the coagulated mass into pill forms.
That was how the pills were made. The whole process took less than half an hour.
Zhu Yanyi noticed that although the pills Ouyang Tianyun made were round, they were slightly oval, not perfectly circular.
"This pill is considered high-grade," Ouyang Tianyun said, putting the pills into a small porcelain bottle and smiling. "A true top-grade pill must be perfectly round and smooth, with no irregular shapes. My pills are not perfectly round, but oval is still round, so they count as high-grade."
Zhu Yanyi nodded. "I didn't know there were so many details in pill refining."
"Do you want to try?" Ouyang Tianyun pointed to the herbs nearby. "I have plenty of materials for Yuanling Pills. You can waste a few batches. For a pill refiner, theory is useless. Practice is what matters."
Zhu Yanyi thought for a moment and nodded. "I’ll try. But if I waste your herbs, Senior Brother, please don’t blame me."
"When we refiners make pills for others, we always ask for extra herbs. For example, if someone orders twenty Yuanling Pills, they must give me materials for thirty. This is for two reasons: first, to prevent waste; second, any extra herbs beyond the twenty are ours. It’s part of our payment." Ouyang Tianyun explained the basic rules of pill refining to Zhu Yanyi. "It’s a standard rule: for every two pills, prepare three sets of herbs. One set is the payment."
"Is that really the rule?" Zhu Yanyi genuinely didn’t know this. After hearing it, she nodded. "Actually, that payment method makes sense."
"So, ten sets here are mine. Feel free to practice." Ouyang Tianyun smiled. The herbs for Yuanling Pills were not rare, and she was happy to let Zhu Yanyi practice.
Zhu Yanyi smiled and nodded. "Then I won’t be polite." Then she looked embarrassed. "I don’t have a pill furnace yet."
Ouyang Tianyun laughed and took out a pill furnace about one foot in diameter. "I knew you didn’t have one. I prepared this for you. It’s suitable for your current level. Once you learn to refine pills, you can use other furnaces."
"Thank you, Senior Brother." Zhu Yanyi didn’t hesitate. She picked up the furnace, recalled Ouyang Tianyun’s techniques in her mind, closed her eyes, and when she felt ready, she said softly, "Binglan."
Binglan appeared and surrounded the furnace. Zhu Yanyi began refining the pills slowly, following Ouyang Tianyun’s steps.
Because she used Binglan’s fire, which was connected to her mind, she didn’t need to speak much. Binglan automatically adjusted the heat. Soon, a herbal fragrance emerged.
Zhu Yanyi began to condense the pills according to her own method. With a thought, she carved a symbol onto the pill—a symbol shaped like a red spider lily.
After collecting the pills, Zhu Yanyi looked at her result. "Senior Brother, did I do okay?"
She didn’t hear Ouyang Tianyun answer. She turned around and found her staring at her, her eyes full of shock.
"Senior Brother, what’s wrong?" Zhu Yanyi didn’t understand why she had such an expression.
"Fifteen, are you even human?" Ouyang Tianyun felt this way for the first time. She felt Zhu Yanyi no longer belonged to the category of normal humans.
Zhu Yanyi felt strange at Ouyang Tianyun’s sudden dissatisfaction. She looked at her, confused. "What’s wrong?"
"What’s wrong?" Ouyang Tianyun asked back. "Do you know how many batches of herbs I wasted before my first successful pill?"
Zhu Yanyi shook her head slightly, already having a guess. "You mean it’s abnormal that I didn’t waste any herbs?"
"Which pill refiner succeeds on their very first try?" Ouyang Tianyun said speechlessly.
"Actually, I didn’t succeed that much either. Your batch of Yuanling Pills had over ten pills. I only got seven." Zhu Yanyi said. "The effect wasn’t that great."
"Heh, what more effect did you expect?" Ouyang Tianyun felt she didn’t know what to say to someone like her. Whenever she met Zhu Yanyi, she was the one getting crushed.
Zhu Yanyi scratched her head and frowned slightly. "Is this abnormal?"
"You’re abnormal, period!" Ouyang Tianyun rarely swore.
"I consider myself a genius in pill refining, and I still wasted three batches of herbs before succeeding for the first time. How can you succeed on your first try?"
The more she spoke, the more Ouyang Tianyun felt Zhu Yanyi was not normal. She continued, "So I say you’re not human. Am I wrong?"
Zhu Yanyi tilted her head and thought. "This has nothing to do with being human or not. I just have a bit more talent, or maybe I’m a top student, or a genius student."
"I’m not talking to someone whose brain is wired differently. Go tell Elder Dan about this yourself later. I’m crushed." Ouyang Tianyun acted defeated, but still threw a few batches of herbs at Zhu Yanyi.
"Hurry up and refine pills. Since I’m already crushed, I’d feel guilty if I didn’t exploit your labor a bit."
Zhu Yanyi saw that Ouyang Tianyun wasn’t truly angry. She smiled, took the herbs, and began refining beside her.
Elder Dan entered and saw the two siblings refining pills. It just happened that Zhu Yanyi had a batch of pills ready to come out.