The Extreme Alchemist of the Mighty Cauldron

Upon hearing this, Elder Qian froze, then said incredulously, “Impossible! There was only one Pill Formula, how could I have taken an incomplete one?”

Fang Lin was speechless, “But this Pill Formula is indeed incomplete, refining anything per this formula will result in nothing.”

Elder Qian was stumped at this moment. Was it really possible? The Pill Formula that he had been cherishing for decades turned out to be an incomplete one.

No wonder he had tried so many times without being able to produce a complete Pill. He had thought it was due to his inability to fully understand the Pill Formula.

Now it turned out that it was not the case at all. It would be strange if he could actually refine a successful pill using an incomplete formula.

Elder Qian gazed at the Pill Formula blankly. The paper had turned yellow with age, and the script on it was old. Any way one looked at it, it seemed to be a tremendously cherished ancient formula.

But it was incomplete. Elder Qian was so angry that he felt a pain in his liver. How could he have missed the fact that it was incomplete after studying it for so many years? Could he really be aging?

“Alas, it seems I really am incapable. I’ve spent decades researching an incomplete formula, and still, I foolishly treated it as if it’s a treasure. How laughable I am.” Elder Qian said with a bitter smile.

Fang Lin placated, “Perhaps, Master, you were too close to the subject. Even though this formula is incomplete, it does look complete. Anyone else in your place would have done the same.”

Elder Qian just shook his head. He had spent decades on an incomplete formula, and the bitterness of seeing all his efforts go in vain wasn’t something he could get over instantly.

However, Elder Qian very quickly turned to Fang Lin with a face full of astonishment, “How did you, young lad, notice it?”

Fang Lin scratched his head, “Although this formula is incomplete, I seem to have seen the complete one, so I realized it.”

“What? You’ve seen the complete Pill Formula?” Elder Qian sprang to his feet abruptly and looked at Fang Lin with amazement.

Fang Lin nodded, “I seem to remember a formular that an elder had me memorize when I was young, which is very similar to this one. At least everything on this paper is identical to my memory, so I made the judgment that it is not a complete formula.”

Elder Qian stared at Fang Lin in astonishment, then burst into laughter, “Good! Good! I didn’t take you as an apprentice in vain! Quick, tell me the complete Pill Formula!”

Without any hesitation, Fang Lin immediately took out paper and pen and wrote down the latter half of the Pill Formula quickly.

Elder Qian stayed by his side, watching what Fang Lin wrote intently, not even blinking, occasionally flashing a look of surprise.

When Fang Lin finished writing, Elder Qian’s expression showed utter astonishment, as if he had encountered something inconceivable.

“Hahaha!” The next moment, Elder Qian laughed like a lunatic, holding a formula in each hand, running wildly in the medicine field, laughing hysterically.

Fang Lin was a little dumbfounded. What was wrong with Elder Qian? Had the shock caused him to go mad?

Members of the Purple Mist Sect who happened to pass by wore astonished expressions as they watched Elder Qian madly running and laughing in the medicine field.

“What happened to this elder? Why does he seem to have gone mad?”

“Who knows? But I heard that this Elder Qian has always been a bit like a madman!”

“Alas, how can someone go mad all of a sudden?”

After some murmuring, they all left hastily, as if fleeing a plague, afraid that the mad old man would give them trouble.

It was only after a while that Elder Qian came back, his eyes were shining as he gazed at the two Pill Formulas. Although he was no longer running wildly, he would still occasionally burst into laughter.

“Master, are you okay?” Fang Lin cautiously asked.

Elder Qian seemed to totally disregard him, and continued to gaze at the two Pill Formulas. Suddenly he patted the Nine Palace Bag, and a huge Pill Furnace appeared in front of him.

This Pill Furnace was extraordinarily large, even larger than usual, and was carved with an extremely intricate array of decorations including Hundred Birds Adoring a Phoenix and Ten Thousand Beasts Charging, showing a grandeur uncommon to ordinary ones.

Fang Lin was taken aback. This Pill Furnace was quite something! It was just as good as the Nine Treasure Luminous Cauldron that the Ten-thousand Medicine Sect had given to Gu Daofeng.

Fang Lin felt a greedy urge. If he could swallow this Pill Furnace, how much would his strength improve?

However, this was Elder Qian’s possession after all. Fang Lin just muttered in his heart and didn’t entertain any other thoughts.

Ignoring everything else, Elder Qian immediately threw himself into busy preparations, sometimes picking medicinal herbs, and sometimes holding the formulas close to his face to scrutinize them, as if he was completely obsessed.

Fang Lin knew that Elder Qian was indeed obsessed, but he wasn’t bewitched. He was simply consumed by his realizations and wanted to give form to his decades-long understanding.

Fang Lin moved aside to give Elder Qian space to work on his Pill refining, as he also wanted to see what level the elder’s Pill refining skill was at.

Most of the medicinal herbs on the formula could be easily procured, but a few were missing from Elder Qian’s garden.

However, it was not a problem. Having lived so many years, Elder Qian had collected many divine and ancient medicinal herbs. Even for the rarer herbs listed on the formula, he had them in his Nine Palace Bag and took them out at once.

Once all the medicinal herbs had been prepared, Elder Qian drew in a deep breath. His face looked radiant, and with a violent slap on the Pill Furnace, flames soared. He tossed huge amounts of herbs into the furnace.

Seeing this, Fang Lin was slightly taken aback. He then focused on the giant Pill Furnace.

“I see.” Suddenly, Fang Lin smiled, making some sense of the situation.

The furnace was not only large in size, but its interior was etched with an array. The moment the flame was produced, the furnace became hot instantaneously, no waiting was required.

Elder Qian’s Pill refining technique was incredibly bold and free, eschewing finesse for the sake of efficiency. It had a quality of largeness and directness, with no fancy or exquisite moves.

Interestingly, Elder Qian’s approach to Pill refining was quite similar to Fang Lin’s.

Fang Lin favored a straightforward approach to Pill refining, valuing efficiency above all else. Those who meddled with fancy gimmicks often ended up with a pile of useless residue.

After all the medicinal herbs were put into the furnace, Elder Qian closed the furnace lid. Then, he saw Elder Qian slapped the body of the Pill Furnace.

Upon his action, the furnace started to spin like a top. Flames formed a whirlpool, completely covering the furnace.

This caught Fang Lin by surprise. It seemed Elder Qian really had tricks up his sleeve. This spinning move was performed very skillfully.

However, before Fang Lin could dwell in astonishment for too long, there was a boom from the furnace. The lid shot up, and black smoke started to billow out, accompanied by a strong smell of something scorched.