Chapter 11: The Alchemist Emerges

Luo Yu continued refining all the way until noon.

His father, Chu, emerged from the studio after finishing his retreat, intending to make lunch. As soon as he entered the kitchen, he saw Luo Yu busy at work: the lid of the furnace floated in mid-air, and a mass of faintly glowing green substance rose from the furnace, flying into the porcelain jar in Luo Yu’s hands.

Although Father Chu had seen Luo Yu’s “flying shoes” performance several times in the past couple of days when he showed off his treasures, this time the glowing alchemical furnace and the mysterious green object still piqued his curiosity.

“Are you making elixirs?” Chu looked at the pile of porcelain jars on the counter, opened one, and sniffed it. “Smells pretty good, nice and fresh... but you added too much liquid; it’s a bit watery.”

Luo Yu replied smugly, “This is just a semi-finished product, the pure essence of the herbs—no additives, all natural. Take a look at this!” Luo Yu opened a small jar, took out a bead-sized, black, translucent solid, and held it up to the sunlight, revealing a faint pomegranate-red glow within. “This is essence extracted from blood amber. Even the finest amber pales in comparison now!”

Chu took it and examined it calmly. “You’re going to make a fortune.”

Luo Yu nodded gleefully. “I was just worrying about not having money to buy ginseng. If I string these into a bracelet and sell it, I’ll make it all back, won’t I? Such a beautiful bracelet, it should fetch at least ten thousand, right?”

Chu said, “The color is gorgeous—make one for me first.” Luo Yu cried out in alarm, “Then you’ll have to provide the capital yourself!”

Chu was exasperated, “You have the nerve to ask me for money when making me a bracelet?”

Luo Yu retorted, aggrieved, “And you have the nerve to spend your son’s pocket money? I’m poor, I need to buy materials!”

And so the father and son bickered in the kitchen, one occupying a stove to refine elixirs, the other frying vegetables on the other side.

Luo Yu felt immense pressure—the nearby frying pan occasionally splattered oil, and Chu banged the spatula with a racket. Fortunately, all he had to do now was watch the heat; if this happened during the critical stage of opening the furnace, it would be a disaster. Luo Yu wanted to complain but didn’t dare—after all, he’d still have to eat lunch soon, and if he angered his father, he’d surely be in trouble.

Just before lunch, Old Master Luo came home right on time. He ran his shop as he pleased, leaving whenever he felt like it, never caring about the customers. Smelling the aroma, the old man headed directly into the kitchen, and was surprised to find Luo Yu at the stove as well. After figuring out what was going on, he also requested a bracelet, leaving Luo Yu on the verge of tears from being bullied. Luo Yu protested, “These aren’t antiques—what’s the point of playing with these? Is there any meaning to it?” The old man replied, “I just want to show off and dazzle my old friends with these. Even if it’s not an antique, such fine amber has its own charm... Oh, and make the beads bigger—these are too small.” Even as he sat at the table, he put on a solemn air and lectured Luo Yu: “You have to learn to earn a living. Capability only emerges when you’re squeezed.”

With joy and frustration mingled, the family finished lunch. Luo Yu obediently cleaned the kitchen and returned to his alchemical endeavors. The old master didn’t bother going back to his shop and instead stood by, eager to watch. Luo Yu tried to shoo him away, but the old man promised not to disturb him, even vowing to protect him—he would not allow Chu to make dinner until the elixirs were finished. Only then did Luo Yu permit him to stay and watch.

After a while, all the essences were finally extracted. The old master, though amazed, remained silent. Luo Yu breathed a long sigh of relief and began to evaluate the various essences with his grandfather. The essence extracted from dried herbs was mostly powdery, though some turned out to be gelatinous; curiously, mica—clearly a mineral—also produced a gelatinous essence.

Recalling what his mentor had said, that this was the time to test the medicinal properties and accumulate experience, Luo Yu and the old man each scraped a bit to taste: some were bitter, some sweet, some bland and tasteless, and none produced any noticeable effect in the body. Luo Yu wondered if he was just too insensitive to detect the properties and asked, “Grandpa, do you feel any changes after swallowing it?” The old man shook his head. “...Maybe we just tasted too little?” Luo Yu eyed the precious essences. There was just enough for two batches of elixirs—if they tasted more, it would all be gone. Surely those immortals, upon obtaining rare and precious herbs, wouldn’t eat it all to test it, would they?—Wait, why not try ‘internal observation’? Isn’t that method specifically meant to monitor changes within the body?

He tried again, using internal observation as he sampled the essences, and this time, results appeared: after taking the goji berry essence, it immediately dissolved into the body and increased cell vitality; the mica essence, once swallowed, darted madly between cells, its purpose unclear; the aloe essence traveled through the body, then slowly seeped out through the pores... Each type of essence had its own unique character.

Although Luo Yu didn’t fully understand, he made a mental note of these strange reactions—what’s unclear now will become evident with experience. Next, it was time to begin true alchemy.

After a short rest, Luo Yu repeatedly reminded his grandfather to remain quiet and protect him from disturbances, then opened his notebook and followed the steps for adding ingredients, starting with the gelatinous mica essence. Using his spiritual sense, he observed its transformation, and after about an hour it finally began to soften. Following the book’s instructions, he added amber essence—this time using a piece of gold amber. When the gold amber softened noticeably, he added several more essences in turn. Soon, most of the essences became liquid under the furnace’s heat, though three or four remained stubborn—perhaps added at the wrong time—but a faint medicinal fragrance began to seep from the furnace. He couldn’t wait any longer; if he did, the earlier essences would spoil.

Luo Yu circulated his spiritual power, condensing it into invisible rods to gently stir the mixture, watching as the essences slowly blended into one mass, their quality and internal structure becoming uniform. Soon, this mass began to separate, like water droplets from an eave, automatically forming individual pills according to some mysterious principle of “proportion.” Luo Yu isolated them with his spiritual power to prevent them from merging again. At this moment, the furnace’s array seemed to sense something and stopped its “washing machine cycle.”

Once the pills had separated, they began to solidify. Luo Yu focused all his spiritual sense on each pill, not daring to lose concentration. The separation and solidification times varied, a true test of his skill in “opening the furnace.”

He watched as they transformed slowly from translucent to a solid, opaque golden-brown. Luo Yu knew it was time to open the furnace. He carefully released spiritual power to envelop each pill, nourishing them and gently protecting them from the heat radiating from the furnace walls. If he was too forceful, the pills would “explode”—not in the sense of a blast, but rather shatter due to the temperature difference between interior and exterior.

As the pills slowly absorbed spiritual energy, Luo Yu felt a pang—he’d spent ten days painstakingly storing up that energy, and now half of it would be gone in an instant. As he lamented, some of the pills—having absorbed enough spiritual energy and cooled—suddenly began to emit a strong medicinal fragrance and developed a glossy, lustrous appearance. Luo Yu’s mind cleared: time to collect the pills! He seized the moment and opened the furnace. The rush of outside air caused some of the unfinished pills to shatter with a pop, the reaction with spiritual energy immediately ceasing and leaving behind gray-brown fragments, clearly unusable. However, over a dozen perfect pills floated in the furnace, round and lustrous.

Overjoyed, Luo Yu turned off the gas and lifted them out: gold-brown pills the size of mung beans spun nimbly in the air, faintly suffused with spiritual energy—utterly adorable. Luo Yu planned to show them off to the old man, but when he turned—where was he?

The old master had been standing by at first, but with the furnace closed he couldn’t see what was happening inside. Seeing Luo Yu standing there motionless, he grew bored and wandered off.

Luo Yu admired the pills by himself for a while, then peered into the furnace: more than half had shattered—what a pity! Clearly, his control over spiritual energy needed further practice. If he could slow down the absorption for the earlier-solidified pills and speed it up for the later ones, then all of them could be successfully formed when opening the furnace.

Now—what should he use to store these pills? After so much effort, he couldn’t let the spiritual energy dissipate.

Once the gas was turned off, the array on the furnace gradually powered down, and its exterior became indistinguishable from an ordinary bronze vessel. Luo Yu’s eyes lit up: he’d use it to store the pills! He would first find a jade box or bottle, then proceed to refine the second batch.

[End of Chapter 11: The Cultivator’s Companion—The Alchemist Emerges]