Chapter 49

: Refining Medicinal Essence
Translator: 
celefoata_ 
 Editor: 
RegiusProfessor
At the Dan Wu Academy, alchemy instructors had their own personal pill refinement chamber. Of course, Feng Ruoqing was not an exception.
Feng Ruoqing’s pill refinement chamber had a very well-planned layout. All sorts of medicinal herbs were categorized and stored neatly.
In the center of the chamber was a red-colored pill cauldron. With Ye Yuan’s judgment, he could obviously tell with a glance that this pill cauldron was a superior-grade Tier 2 pill cauldron. Most likely, there was no better one than this among the alchemy instructors in the Dan Wu Academy. However, a pill cauldron like this was worthless to Ye Yuan.
Ye Yuan pursed his lips and found a place to sit down.
That scene happened to have caught Feng Ruoqing’s eyes, suddenly making her feel irritated.

It seems like you despise my Red Lotus Cauldron?


Ah? 
This cauldron? Not bad, not bad. Haha.
Ye Yuan laughed it off.
With just one look, she could tell that it was completely insincere.

You have seen better Tier 2 pill cauldrons?


Me? Haha. 
I’m just a student who isn’t even an Alchemy Apprentice. Where would I see such a high-tier pill cauldron? It’s called Red Lotus Cauldron right? Good name, good name!

Ye Yuan did not expect that his subconscious contempt for the pill cauldron would actually result in a series of questioning from Feng Ruoqing, so he had to humor her a little.
But he really did look down on this sort of pill cauldrons. Back in his past life, he would not even bother to use this sort of pill cauldron to boil water with.
In the past, if someone were to say that her pill cauldron was not good, Feng Ruoqing will immediately flip out. But Ye Yuan gave her an exceptional feel.
The corner of the iceberg that Ye Yuan revealed during the medicinal theory class had already exceeded the boundaries of the Dan Wu Academy’s students.
Even the first place on the Alchemy Roll of Honor could not possibly know how to refine the Tier 2 Qi Returning Pill using the Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique.
It was possible to have coincidentally seen the pill formula before, but the Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique was not something that the average person would know.
Even Feng Ruoqing only happened to have seen this refinement technique from an extremely obscure ancient record.
Back then, it was like she obtained a treasure. She spent a period of time practicing this refinement technique in a frenzied craze, but she had no choice but to give up in the end.
This refinement technique was too hard!
And because of that, Feng Ruoqing was very interested in Ye Yuan, making him her assistant.
To think that this fellow did not appreciate it and even repeatedly hid from her. This made the proud Feng Ruoqing go crazy. Hence, her actions today.
Feng Ruoqing did not know why, but even though Ye Yuan repeatedly brushed her off and also looked down on her, she felt that Ye Yuan’s scorn came naturally from the heart. He was not pretending to be an expert.
Like just now, Feng Ruoqing had always been very confident with her Red Lotus Cauldron. Virtually every alchemist who came by her pill refinement chamber would be shocked by the cauldron. But Ye Yuan only pursed his mouth and had a scornful look.
Feng Ruoqing did not detect even a trace of amazement from Ye Yuan’s eyes.
Could it be . . . that Ye Yuan really knew the Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique?

Feng Ruoqing was frightened by her own thought. How was it possible?
Feng Ruoqing practiced the Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique before and was well aware of the difficulty of this refinement technique. Ye Yuan was only fifteen. How could he know this refinement technique?

I asked you to be my assistant, not be a lord. What are you sitting there for? Hurry up and come prepare the herbs,
Feng Ruoqing said coldly.

O-oh. 
Coming, coming.

Ye Yuan staggered up to the operating stage. There were all sorts of medicinal herbs placed on it. He took a look at the herbs and asked curiously,
Aren’t you going to refine a Tier 2 Qi Returning Pill? Why all the ingredients you prepared are Tier 1?

Feng Ruoqing flushed slightly and immediately replied angrily,
I asked you to prepare the medicines, so just do it. Why are you asking so many questions?!

Looking at the situation, Ye Yuan instantly understood that this woman had yet to master the Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique. She was using these Tier 1 medicines to practice.
However, this Yin-Yang Separation Flow Technique was not something that could be mastered in one or two days. How long would he have to accompany her to train with these Tier 1 medicines for practice?
His time was highly precious, and he did not have the time to accompany this woman to refine pills!
Ye Yuan sighed and just turned around to prepare the medicines.
Feng Ruoqing turned around and entered the quiet chamber to meditate and trying to adjust her mental state.
Pill refinement was a highly complicated form of knowledge. One must not be distracted even in the slightest when refining pills. It must be finished in one go.
Even the smallest disturbance could affect the quality of the medicinal pill, possibly even resulting in a useless pill.
Hence, the majority of alchemists would choose to meditate before refining pills. They would only start refining after they adjusted their mental state to be unperturbed by anything.
But Feng Ruoqing had just adjusted herself and was yet to fully enter a meditative state when there was a knocking on the quiet chamber’s door.
This time, Feng Ruoqing really got angry. Dropping the fact that Ye Yuan repeatedly hid from her despite that being her assistant was a wonderful task that every man in the academy would fight to do, now that he was helping out as her assistant, he was causing trouble instead of properly performing his tasks!
If there was no justified reason, she would definitely beat him up brutally, and then hang him for three days to warn the public.
The door creaked open, revealing the raging Feng Ruoqing.

Haha. 
I didn’t expect Teacher Feng to open the door so hastily. It made me jump.
Ye Yuan gave a startled expression.
Ignoring Ye Yuan, Feng Ruoqing raised her right palm. Traces of essence energy flowed along the palm as if it would strike any moment.

I asked you to prepare the herbs! What are you doing?! Don’t you know that I’m meditating?! If your reason isn’t justified, be ready to receive this palm!
Feng Ruoqing snarled.

Don’t! Teacher Feng, if you said you had violent tendencies, then I wouldn’t have become your assistant even if I had to copy the ‘Herbal Compendium’ a hundred times back then! The herbs are all prepared already. I even finished refining two sets of medicinal essences before coming over to call you. I didn’t think that you would take so long to meditate!
Ye Yuan jumped far away with a shout.

What? The medicinal essences are all refined?

Feng Ruoqing could not immediately process his words. It had only been about 15 minutes since she entered the quiet chamber. Not only did Ye Yuan finish preparing so many herbs, but he also managed to refine the medicinal essence?
How was that possible?

That’s right. This reason is passable, right? I don’t want to be smacked to death,
Ye Yuan said gloomily.
Putting down her hand, Feng Ruoqing gave a cold humph 
 and said,
If I find out that you are talking nonsense, then it wouldn’t be as simple as a single palm.

After saying this, Feng Ruoqing walked over to the operating stage and was immediately stunned.
Two sets of medicinal essences quietly sat in their jade containers. The color was extremely pure. It was clear that they were excellently refined with all the useless medicinal dregs purged away.
Feng Ruoqing looked at Ye Yuan and opened her mouth, but no words came out of it.

Teacher Feng, do you want to say something? Aren’t you going to smack me to death? At most, I will call you later next time. How long do you normally take to meditate?
Ye Yuan asked innocently.

. . . . . .

Feng Ruoqing was speechless.
After a while, Feng Ruoqing finally sucked in a deep breath and asked Ye Yuan,
This is the medicinal essence you refined?

Ye Yuan looked around and asked curiously,
Are there other people in here?


B-but how did you do it so quickly?

An ordinary Alchemy Apprentice would spend an hour just to prepare the herbs. In addition to refining the medicine essence, it would take at least two hours!
Preparing the herbs was not merely just pairing it together. One needed to accurately weigh out the quantity. Even the tiniest bit of error would not be tolerated.
Hence, an alchemist’s assistant would always be very cautious when preparing the herbs. As a result, a lot of time was spent on it.
Even Feng Ruoqing herself needed over an hour to refine a Tier 1 pill’s medicinal essence.
But Ye Yuan only used 15 minutes. This was just unheard of!

Isn’t it just refining a Tier 1 pill’s medicinal essence? Why do you need to spend so long on such a simple task?
Ye Yuan nonchalantly questioned her.