I awakened the cultivation panel.

Chapter 30 Who told you that an alchemy furnace has to be an alchemy furnace?
For alchemists, or those at the lower or mid-level, the alchemy furnace is an indispensable tool.

But the alchemy furnace is not a mysterious thing; it is essentially just a container.

The specific container doesn't really matter.

As long as certain conditions are met, the medicinal materials won't suddenly fall apart during the refining process, thus affecting the alchemy process.

Chen Jingle wanted to buy a new one mainly because he wanted to separate it from the daily cooking utensils at home, and use it specifically for refining medicine.

Furthermore, as a beginner, it's essential to be grounded and practical.

That's it.

Many families use special earthenware pots to cook medicine to avoid the taste of grains being mixed in.

It doesn't necessarily have to be the kind of Bagua alchemy furnace seen in movies and TV dramas.

"Squirrel Hang uses a hot pot basin, but he still refines pills, doesn't he?"

Chen Jingle disagreed.

The key to alchemy lies in the specific operational techniques.

You really can't do this without someone teaching you.

Just like many people who don't even know the simple technique of heating the pan and adding oil when cooking, alchemy also needs to be taught.

If you try to figure it out on your own, you'll waste countless medicinal herbs before you even get the hang of it.

Alchemy has fixed formulas and methods. Some special elixirs even have special alchemy techniques to increase the success rate.

It's not like what you see online, where you just gather various medicinal herbs together, grind them into powder, and then roll them into pills.

That's not alchemy; at best, it's medicine making.

There was no technique involved.

For basic pills like the Qi Gathering Pill, it's crucial to specify the order in which ingredients to add and the desired level of refinement before adding the second ingredient.

When medicinal materials reach a certain temperature, their medicinal properties will be released, but if the temperature exceeds this level, their medicinal properties will be affected.

Medicinal herbs are truly amazing.

Therefore, to increase the success rate of alchemy, one must first have a sufficient understanding of the medicinal properties of the herbs; one cannot be careless.

Every step must be executed according to strict standards, otherwise failure will be your next challenge.

Only those who are highly skilled in Daoist alchemy should not easily alter the details.

Every prescription is the culmination of the wisdom and practice of countless predecessors. Before attempting to modify it, it is best to ask yourself if you are an expert in this field.

Otherwise, it's like a chef trying to be innovative and ending up with a dish of candied white-cut chicken or chocolate-coated sweet and sour pork.

Isn't that ridiculous?
……

After much deliberation, Chen Jingle finally bought a 316 stainless steel soup pot from a local supermarket to use as his alchemy furnace.

A specially designed sealed tempered glass lid is included, primarily for easy observation of the changes in the medicinal herbs inside the pot.

This is much cheaper than any alchemy furnace used by Taoist sects.

There's no rule that an alchemy furnace has to be an alchemy furnace.

Nine out of ten alchemy furnaces sold online are only good for burning incense and serving as desktop decorations.

As for those antique-style bronze stoves that claim to be handcrafted unique pieces by masters, they dare to sell one for more than 20,000 yuan.

How is this any different from robbery?
Chen Jingle must be out of his mind to buy that stuff.

"Modern technology is clearly superior, so what's the point of making these antique imitations? They're nothing but fooling complete idiots!"

As far as he knows, Taoist doctors nowadays basically grind the ingredients into powder, boil them, and finally roll them into pills.

As for the medicinal effects, they certainly exist, but it's unclear how much of them will be effective.

At least it won't kill anyone.

Therefore, alchemy furnaces are somewhat of a waste of money.

Especially antique-style pure copper.

A 316 food-grade stainless steel pot like this is already quite good. These days, if you're willing to spend the money, you can get anything from titanium alloys to pure titanium.

It's just not necessary.

316 stainless steel is strong enough to withstand temperatures of over 1000 degrees Celsius and is also corrosion-resistant, making it far superior to ordinary copper alchemy furnaces.

Unless it's a magic weapon-grade alchemy furnace, it's already the optimal solution.

If we had a magic weapon-grade item, that would be best, as it would increase the success rate. But we don't have one!
Why go through the whole planetary engine stove just to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes?

Enough is enough, as long as it's suitable.

Chen Jingle was just curious: "Why did you push an old-fashioned popcorn machine on me when I searched for the alchemy furnace?"

What does this thing have to do with an alchemy furnace?
One can't help but shake one's head and sigh.

"It can only be said that Taobao's algorithm is getting worse and worse. No wonder it is being defeated by Pinduoduo and Douyin merchants."

Compared to other platforms, it doesn't seem to have any advantages anymore!

……

With the alchemy furnace problem solved, the next issue is the medicinal herbs.

Chen Jingle discovered that many of the medicinal herbs in the prescription he obtained had their names changed countless times, or that there were differences between their common and scientific names.

Therefore, the first step is not to buy medicinal herbs, but to learn how to identify them.

For example, the root of the resurrection plant is actually the common aster.

Gan!
"This thing tastes bitter and is warm in nature. It is mainly used to treat cough with phlegm, cough with pus and blood due to weakness, lung abscess, chest pain, and urinary retention, but what does it have to do with the resurrection herb?"

Chen Jingle couldn't understand it.

The older generation was being a bit too mysterious.

However, it does frequently appear as a medicinal ingredient; at least several prescriptions contain this herb.

To ensure accuracy and success in the alchemy process, Chen Jingle had to work through the night to study the voluminous text on traditional Chinese medicine and thoroughly review all the Chinese medicinal herbs recorded in previous books.

Fortunately, his memory has been enhanced, and he can remember these points of knowledge after only reading them once, so things are going relatively smoothly.

After comparing the medicinal herbs in my mind that I had never even heard of, I found the corresponding ones for many of them.

This step is the most difficult.

"I suddenly understand why almost all medical students wear glasses and have so little hair."

It's all because of reading and memorizing books.

Then comes buying medicinal herbs.

The medicinal materials needed for the Qi Gathering Pill are mostly common herbs, with only one or two being relatively precious. Fortunately, they can all be bought in pharmacies, the only difference being the quality.

If you're buying online, be sure to choose a well-known brand's flagship store, because there are just too many counterfeit products these days.

For example, people use Saposhnikovia divaricata to impersonate Codonopsis pilosula, mulberry branches to impersonate Astragalus membranaceus, and tapioca flour to impersonate Poria cocos; the list goes on and on.

How can a person be so heartless?

Not only did they rob people, they also took lives; even being executed wouldn't be an exaggeration!

Chen Jingle bought the medicinal herbs offline. He took the prescription and went to several pharmacies before he could barely get all the herbs.

Some medicinal herbs are not of the required quality for alchemy, but there's nothing that can be done about it nowadays. If you want good quality herbs, you have to specify a particular brand.

However, often only two or three types of medicinal herbs from a particular brand are of good quality, while the others are just average.

Doing that would take more than just two or three days; it could take almost half a month.

With the idea of ​​just testing the waters, Chen Jingle didn't have high requirements for the quality of the medicinal materials. The current issue was to refine them and see what could be produced.

It would be best if it succeeded on the first try.

If you fail, learn from the experience and keep trying.

With his current skill level, even if he's not incredibly skilled, he shouldn't be so bad as to fail multiple times when refining the simplest and most basic Qi Gathering Pill.

(End of this chapter)