Deduct 1 for merit. I am really not a child of luck.

Chapter 177 Controlling fire and refining medicine!
"Bald... Uh, Big Brother!"

Lin Mo raised his hand and looked behind him hesitantly, but did not see Zhuang Weiwan.

The bald senior brother seemed to notice his gaze and said with a smile:

"Junior Sister Zhuang has just been promoted to an inner sect disciple. This first season ranking after her promotion is very important to her, so she may need to stay in the main hall's alchemy room to make pills in the next few days."

"Senior Sister Zhuang is so busy?"

"Yes, I've been taking leave a lot these past two days. Now it's the end of the month and I'm afraid I'll have to stay up a few more late nights to catch up on the progress."

The bald senior brother sighed: "My junior sister just loves to worry about other people's affairs."

He glanced at Lin Mo, who indeed followed suit and said, "Senior Sister Zhuang is kind and beautiful, and is truly a role model for our generation."

"Indeed." The bald senior brother nodded with satisfaction, then raised his head to look at the sky and said, "I think it's getting late, why don't we start earlier?"

Lin Mo's voice trembled: "Start, start what?"

The bald senior brother said with a smile:

"Of course, it's to refine the herbs and extract the liquid medicine."

"When I heard Junior Sister Zhuang say that you were interested in the path of alchemy and wanted to try taking on some small refining tasks, I was also extremely relieved."

I didn’t, I didn’t, Senior Sister Zhuang, you are talking nonsense!

Lin Mo rejected the three consecutive requests in his heart and said with gritted teeth:

"Will this be too much trouble for Senior Brother? The Alchemy Institute is very busy, and it is also the month for the finalization of the Alchemy Cauldron Season Ranking."

The bald senior brother shook his head slightly and said:
"I just happen to have some free time during this period. And the Dan Ding Ranking is only for young people to play, so there is no need for me to get involved."

What a loud tone!
Lin Mo couldn't help but marvel in his heart.

But considering that the other party is the leader of the third generation of disciples in the Alchemy Academy, he is naturally qualified to act like this.

If I think about it carefully, with the guidance of the senior brother from the Danyuan Academy, maybe I can really get started quickly.

The efficiency of refining medicinal materials last night was really low.

Besides the fact that it was his first time and he was unfamiliar with the process, extracting the medicinal materials was more difficult than he had imagined.

"Then I'll trouble you, Senior Brother!"

Lin Mo said with a cupped hand.

……

Everyone moved into the cave, and as soon as they entered, Lin Mo waved to Chu Wange:

"Go play somewhere else."

In addition to daily sword fighting, sword practice is also one of Chu Wange's daily tasks.

Start at least two hours every day, and don't change your mind.

When Chu Wange heard what he said, she just said "oh" and said nothing else, then walked obediently towards the training ground next to her.

When the bald senior brother Ka saw this scene, he narrowed his eyes slightly and pretended to be casual:
"Junior Brother Lin, you have a very good relationship with this genius from the Sword Academy."

Lin Mo couldn't help but complain: "What's so good about it? It's just the relationship between a creditor and a debtor!"

"I see……"

The bald senior brother laughed, but didn't say much, only said:
"Junior Brother Lin, let's get started. I heard from Junior Sister Zhuang that you have already learned the basic refining process yesterday. Why don't you show it to me first?"

"All right."

Lin Mo took out the cold tobacco that Zhuang Weiwan had given him yesterday from his storage ring.

This is a low-grade second-level spiritual herb of average quality. To Zhuang Weiwan, it is basically considered "waste", so it is most suitable for him to practice.

After Lin Mo took out the spiritual herb, he did not start refining it immediately, but recalled the refining process in his mind.

Simply put, there are only three steps.

Extract the essence, filter out impurities, and then there is the final step of concentration.

But each step requires high fire control.

If the temperature is not well controlled during the process, the spiritual herbs will be directly destroyed and completely lose their spiritual energy.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, and first channeled his energy into the spiritual grass to transfer his true essence, causing it to slowly float in the air.

When a thin layer of true essence film covered the bottom of the spiritual herb, Lin Mo released the three-colored strange fire and began to transmit firepower from below.

Through the thin film of true essence, the fire continued to roast the spiritual herbs, slowly squeezing out the moisture and medicinal power from the herbs...

This is a common fluid extraction method.

During the process, the Dao fire cannot be allowed to directly touch the spiritual herbs, as that would easily burn them, so they are wrapped in true essence to isolate them from direct high temperatures.

But the true essence cannot be too thick, otherwise the Dao fire will not be able to reach the required temperature and will continue to prolong the extraction process.

If the process is long, mistakes are likely to occur.

In addition, filtering and concentration are basically the same steps, but they are more sophisticated.

A drop of sweat appeared on Lin Mo's forehead as he concentrated on the refining process.

The whole process was very slow, and it took him nearly half an hour just for the first step.

Fortunately, the bald senior brother next to him not only did not urge him, but patiently observed every detail of him.

About half an hour later, Lin Mo finally carefully placed a thumb-sized ball of concentrated liquid medicine into an ordinary jade bottle.

He let out a long breath and said to the bald senior brother next to him:
"I'm sorry, but this is all I can do for now."

The bald senior brother looked at the liquid medicine without any mockery or contempt in his tone:

"About fifty-two drops, not bad."

After saying this, he smiled and said:

"Most of the Alchemy Academy disciples need at least two or three months to be able to completely extract the medicinal liquid. Junior Brother Lin was able to complete it on his first try yesterday, which is enough to show how talented he is!"

Is it possible that it’s not that I have high talent, but that I have gained a lot of merit points?

Ordinary disciples in the early stage of foundation building are not like Lin Mo, who can possess an innate magical power of fire shortly after ascending.

After completing the initial stage of [Lihuo Magical Power], his understanding of fire magic reached a new level.

Therefore, when learning to control fire, they are naturally much faster than those novices of the same period.

"Of course, if I must say, there are still a few details that need to be improved."

The bald senior brother said so.

Such a familiar line... Lin Mo raised his hand and said, "Please give me some advice, Senior Brother."

The bald senior brother nodded slightly and said:
"Let's not talk about the first two steps for now. In the last step, there is too much concentrated liquid medicine, and the medicinal power cannot be condensed. This liquid medicine is equivalent to waste liquid and is useless."

Lin Mo was a little confused when he heard this: "Waste liquid?"

"It's just garbage that can't be used in alchemy." The eldest brother spoke very bluntly without any concealment.

No wonder Senior Sister Zhuang didn’t tell me the value of the medicine I extracted yesterday. It turns out this thing can’t be sold at any price!

Lin Mo thought to himself, and then said with regret: "Isn't that a waste of spiritual herbs?"

The price of a plant of cold tobacco is about one to three low-grade spirit stones. Together with the three plants he refined last night, he had wasted nearly ten low-grade spirit stones in total.

It’s not like I don’t know, it’s just a shock.

The cost of alchemy is too scary, the loss alone is so great.

He suddenly began to understand why elixirs were so expensive.

"It's OK, and it's not irreversible."

The bald senior brother said so.

After saying that, he raised his hand slightly, and a thumb-sized ball of medicine in the jade bottle slowly floated in the air.

"Shh!"

A ball of orange-yellow flame ignited from his fingertips, quickly roasting the liquid medicine. Lin Mo slightly widened his eyes, looking at the other party's flame, which actually did not add any "shield" to isolate it, and directly roasted the liquid medicine.

The technique is extremely crude and there is no sophistication at all.

But gradually, the thumb-sized liquid medicine was condensed and concentrated again...

Until it is concentrated into a drop of cold tobacco liquid.

The color of the medicine liquid was not as turbid as before. It floated in the air, with a crystal-clear appearance and a flowing white mist inside, reflecting a little bit of light.

However, the medicinal power emitted was several times stronger than that of the liquid medicine just now.

"Tick tock~!"

The bald senior brother flicked his finger and accurately ejected the drop of liquid medicine into the jade bottle, and said in a light tone:

"That's about it."

So cool, I want to learn!
Lin Mo looked at the other party's operation and couldn't help but marvel again

It’s not that Zhuang Weiwan didn’t demonstrate the refining techniques to him yesterday. His skills were superb and his various fire-controlling techniques were skillful and fluent. There was not a single unnecessary movement in the process, which looked very pleasing to the eye.

In comparison, the bald senior brother's "violent demolition" method of refining, although not as beautiful and gorgeous as Zhuang Weiwan's, gives people a sense of simplicity.

The final flick of the finger was clean and neat, giving people a sense of "it's just a small method of refining, nothing more than this".

The bald senior brother said: "Now, the price of this drop of medicine has risen from worthless to 10 low-grade spirit stones."

"Oh, by the way, this month is the season settlement month, and the price will go up a bit, probably around 12 low-grade spirit stones."

The price is three times higher than Lingcao's original price!
Lin Mo's eyes revealed a hint of passion, and he finally raised his hand respectfully and bowed:

"Please teach me, Senior Brother!"

Fortunately, the eldest brother did not really say: If you want to learn, I will teach you!
He just smiled faintly:

"Junior Brother Lin Mo is eager to learn, so I will naturally not hide anything. Although the method of refining and extracting is the most basic for alchemy, it should not be underestimated."

"Once the impurities are not filtered out, or the medicinal power cannot be condensed, it will easily lead to the failure of the elixir to condense, and the furnace will explode."

"Of course, these are all things for later... Now, Junior Brother Lin needs to complete the first step of refining the medicinal materials."

Lin Mo also nodded enthusiastically.

Little did he know that this simple nod would control him the entire night.

……

The next morning.

The bald senior brother straightened his clothes slightly, walked out of Cave 404, and said to Lin Mo at the door:

"Junior Brother Lin, there's no need to see me off. It's the same time tonight. I will be there on time."

Lin Mo's face turned pale, and the corners of his mouth twitched: "Come again?"

The bald senior brother nodded: "Of course! The path of alchemy requires diligence and persistence. Junior Brother Lin, you still need to work harder!"

He patted Lin Mo's shoulder hard to encourage him.

After a simple farewell, he waved his sleeves and rode away in the wind.

Lin Mo looked at his back as he flew further and further away in the air. He gritted his teeth, his face turned pale as paper, and a dark circle gradually appeared around his eye sockets.

His true essence was drained five times in one night, and his energy and physical strength were consumed enormously.

But fortunately, the harvest was quite fruitful.

He turned around and looked at the four extra jade bottles on the table.

Each jade bottle contains at least three or four drops of concentrated medicine.

Four jade bottles are equivalent to more than ten drops of concentrated medicine.

Without exception, all of them were extracted from low-grade second-level spiritual herbs.

Each drop of medicine costs about 3-5 low-grade spirit stones.

Since these spiritual herbs were all given by Senior Sister Zhuang, there was no significant cost for them.

So, he earned more than sixty low-grade spirit stones in one night.

For starters, this number is inflated.

Even after deducting the costs, he still earned at least thirty low-grade spirit stones.

You should know that it is normal for most alchemy disciples to make losses when they first start.

Even in the first two or three months, as long as you don’t lose too much cost, you can consider it a victory.

Those who can avoid losses are already considered to be gifted.

If you can break even and even make a little profit, it means you have mastered the art of refining.

Of course, there are two reasons why Lin Mo was able to achieve this.

The first is that before this, he had already received fire control training from the senior brother and senior sister Zhuang, and the bald senior brother personally certified that he had already mastered the art of fire control.

The second reason is naturally because the bald senior brother taught him personally.

As the leader of the current generation of disciples in the Alchemy Academy, his knowledge of refining methods is not much worse than some of the deacons and elders of the Alchemy Academy.

For the disciples, it was even more of a crushing defeat.

Having him teach is equivalent to giving Lin Mo a human plug-in.

If there is any detail that is wrong, he can detect it and correct it in advance.

Therefore, with him by his side, there was no possibility for Lin Mo to fail in the refining process.

In other words, it is difficult to lose money.

Lin Mo waved his hand and put several jade bottles into the storage ring. Then he slowly returned to his room and saw Chu Wange lying on his bed.

Chu Wange seemed to be resting, with a calm face and light breathing, but her posture was sprawled out, lying on the soft and comfortable big bed.

When Lin Mo saw this scene, he was immediately furious.

I stay up late to earn money to pay your debts, but you sleep soundly!

No, I want to charge interest!

After a while, Chu Wange's low moan came from the room...

……

……

On the Sword Platform.

"Fire bomb!"

When Lin Mo fired a fire bomb from his fingertips, he clearly felt that the fire condensation became much smoother and more natural.

He tried releasing it several times and found that his control over the trajectory became more precise.

The fire bombs that previously required adjusting the shooting angle to hit the target now seem to be unnecessary.

The accuracy and rate of fire bullet release have been improved!
After just one night of special training, the improvement is so obvious?
A look of joy appeared on Lin Mo's pale face, and he quickened the pace of the battle.

About half an hour later...

[Ding! Congratulations to Qingshan Sect Lin Mo for winning 117 consecutive games. Reward: 30 low-grade spirit stones. ]

[Ding! Liangyu Ranking changes, Lin Mo's ranking increases: 606→598]

As the system's instructions were transmitted to his ears, Lin Mo successfully won his first victory of the day.

When the audience in the stands saw the golden prompts that kept refreshing, their expressions showed a hint of confusion.

"Hey, I saw him fighting reluctantly yesterday, but why does he seem to be fighting more easily today? Is it my illusion?"

(End of this chapter)