Danwu Refining Spirit

Chapter Twenty-Four: Seven Stars Appear, Pill King is Born

"I got scorned by my father again!" The fat man jumped more than a foot high: "Absolutely impossible! I spent fifty taels of silver."

Considering that he had given all of his monthly allowance to Xiao Chong, he decided to get the money back first.

"You think you can buy a pill formula for a mere fifty taels of silver? Even if it's real, it's probably garbage." Xiao Banyue smiled bitterly, about to scold her son a few more times, but then stopped talking.

After all, our son has become sensible and knows how to plan for the family. He is willing to spend all of his monthly allowance on worthwhile things, so we can't discourage his enthusiasm too much.

Since she knew nothing about alchemy, Xiao Banyue had someone invite the family's alchemist over and casually handed him the alchemy formula, not expecting any surprises.

Master Xu is very old; he has spent his entire life refining pills and has considerable expertise in this field.

With Old Xu's skills, I wouldn't normally be able to hire him. It's just that I saved Old Xu's life many years ago, and Old Xu stayed to work in my family's alchemy room to repay the favor.

Seeing Old Xu holding the pill formula and deep in thought, Xiao Banyue finally took it seriously and asked, "Master Xu, is there anything different about this pill formula?"

"Strange, very strange, truly bizarre."

Old Xu acted as if he hadn't heard, muttering to himself while his eyes were practically glued to the prescription.

"Master Xu. Master Xu?"

After being asked several times, Old Xu finally reluctantly looked away from the prescription, his face showing a mixture of excitement and hesitation as he replied, "It's hard to say now. I've never seen such a strange prescription since I started practicing medicine."

"I wonder what's so special about it? Could Master Xu tell me?" Xiao Banyue's curiosity was also piqued.

"The strange thing about this elixir recipe is that all the herbs and minerals used in it are common items, but the proportions of them are very unusual."

The timing of adding various materials and the refining methods are particularly astonishing, demonstrating that they have done what no one has done before and thought what no one has thought before.

and……"

When it comes to his profession, Lao Xu talks non-stop and can't stop.

"So that means this pill formula is genuine? And very valuable?"

After finally waiting for Old Xu to finish speaking, Xiao Banyue's expression had become serious, her voice was trembling, and even her breathing had become rapid.

"That's not necessarily true. Although this pill formula has many strange aspects, we'll only know its effectiveness after refining it according to the formula."

"Then I'll trouble Master Xu to prepare a new batch of pills?" Xiao Banyue asked, initially disappointed, but then somewhat expectant.

"That's the only way. If it really succeeds, it will bring a lot of inspiration to the current practice of alchemy."

After saying that, Old Xu ran off impatiently towards the alchemy room.

Four days ago, late at night...

Xiao Banyue was restless in her alchemy room. She hadn't slept for two nights, and her eyes were bloodshot.

He couldn't help but take it seriously, for although alchemy was a minor path compared to martial arts, it greatly aided martial arts.

In any family, elixirs are an extremely important strategic resource.

If a family possesses a precious elixir formula or an outstanding alchemist, they can cultivate more exceptional disciples than others, leading to a faster increase in the family's strength and consequently, greater profits. This cycle continues endlessly.

Old Xu was also far from relaxed. He knelt in front of the alchemy furnace, sweating profusely, his head steaming with heat, while solemnly casting incomprehensible spells.

Seeing him like this, Xiao Banyue became even more agitated and confused, like an ant on a hot pan, pacing around the alchemy furnace in circles.

In contrast, the fat man was quite content, hiding in a corner of the alchemy room, snoring loudly and sleeping soundly.

In the oppressive atmosphere, Old Xu's hand gestures became increasingly complex, and at one point they were so fast that even Xiao Banyue, with her near-martial master level of eyesight, could not see them clearly. Meanwhile, the medicinal fragrance emanating from the alchemy furnace grew stronger and stronger.

"It's done!"

Old Xu finally finished making the last hand gesture, gave a soft shout, and opened the alchemy furnace.

With that soft shout, a string of fiery red shadows flew up from the alchemy furnace. Old Xu dared not delay and hurriedly picked up a snow-white jade plate, swung it across the red shadows, and collected them all.

Xiao Banyue was circling the alchemy furnace quickly when she saw this and flew over in one step, her eyes fixed on the jade plate as if her soul had been captured.

There are eight pills in the jade plate, one large and seven small.

The largest one, as big as a chicken egg, floats quietly in the center of the jade plate, while the other seven, of uniform size like longans, are spinning around the largest one.

The eight fiery red pills still emitted wisps of heat, and the fragrant aroma emanating from them was so enticing that it seemed to penetrate the body through the pores.

"hiss!"

Old Xu gasped, pointed to the largest pill in the middle, and said to Xiao Banyue with great uncertainty, "This is the legendary Pill King."

"Have you met him before?"

"Never seen it before," Old Xu shook his head.

"Then why do you say that?"

"I once heard my late teacher mention it when he was drunk." Old Xu stroked his beard, which was scorched by the stove fire, as if he were lost in some fond memory.

It took him a while to come to his senses, and he said excitedly, "My master once said that in ancient times, there were indeed people who could refine pill kings. Many alchemical texts also record this, and the situation is exactly the same as now. But I don't know why this alchemical technique was lost later. I never thought that after so many years, it would reappear in my hands today."

"Master Xu, please explain in more detail how you can be so sure that this is the Pill King you spoke of?" Xiao Banyue asked expectantly.

“Master, look, this pill is red and translucent, with patterns all over its surface that flow endlessly, like flames burning on it.”

Old Xu's excitement hadn't subsided yet. Staring at the large pill, he was beaming and spitting as he spoke: "And look again, the other seven smaller pills surround the Pill King in the middle, circling around it continuously, forming a 'seven stars surrounding the moon' formation. This is also recorded in the alchemy classics."

The alchemical texts say, "When the Seven Stars appear, the King of Elixir is born," and "When the King of Elixir enters the abdomen, one is reborn and transformed." Therefore, I dare to assert that the elixir in the middle is indeed the King of Elixir, without any further doubt.

"Is this Pill King really as powerful as you say? I'll try it out first." The fat man, who had been woken up by the two of them at some point, happened to hear the last sentence and reached out to the jade plate.

"How dare you, Zhu Zi!"

With a sharp shout, Xiao Banyue slapped the fat man's claws away and snatched the Pill King firmly into her hand, saying, "No one is allowed to touch it. I'm going to keep the Pill King as a family heirloom and pass it on to my son!"

"Am I not your son? Could it be... I'm not your biological child? Or are you from outside..."

The fat man felt that his father's words contained too much information and he couldn't digest it all at once. He was so aggrieved that he almost burst into tears.