LZR Chapter 5 Part 4) Settling Into A New Life

My mother went about cleaning while made my way to the first floor of the pagoda. “Little Nine, do you think I am wasting my time by refining low-level pills?”

“I think it is at least worth a shot to see if you can get something, even if it is little. Effort is not always rewarded, but even if you can’t sell it to a medical hall, you could always try to set up a stall as well.” Little Nine’s thoughts aligned with mine. But I also planned to try to sell to an auction house if they would accept the pills I make. Because I now have a furnace, I should be able to refine high-grade yellow-rank pills.

With such pills and my age, I am hoping I can get them to buy them at at least the market price. Old people shouldn’t take advantage of a child, right? Not unless they were completely evil.

“I need to make a few bottles of Qi Pills and a few bottles of Restoration Pills. Oh! And a Beautifying Pill! Although this will only be a yellow rank version, it should still sell…” I was starting to get slightly anxious. We left home with no money, and my mother was relying on me. While we did not need much of anything as of now, that did not mean I wanted my mother to always live inside my space. She needed fresh air as well. A place to call home.

“I will get the herbs prepared right away.” Little Nine’s voice rang out in the air, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

“Thank you. You saved me some time.” I couldn’t help but smile. It was nice having a helper!

I walked into the small hut, sat down on the soft cushions on the floor, and looked at the furnace in front of me. “I hope you will help me make lots of silver in the coming days!”

“Master, there are the herbs. I separated them by pill and type. There are six sets each.” Little Nine explained as a tray of herbs floated through the air and landed at my side.

“Thanks, Little Nine. Can I trouble you to put them in the furnace when I tell you to?” I couldn’t move qi out of my body that my hands were not touching, so It would be impossible for me to put the herbs in my self. Once they were in the furnace, I could easily use the runes to manipulate the spiritual qi to deal with each herb. Of course, this was all in theory. I had yet to test it. Otherwise, I will need to use the crude method of making pills.

“Just tell me when.” Little Nine seemed happy she could help. I was also happy to have her around, or else this would not be possible.

I took a deep breath and let it out before calming my nerves. I lit up my pill flame and sent it into the pill furnace. “Add three stalks of silver grass.”

From here on out, Little Nine put the herbs in, as I told her. My hands were pressed against the furnace so that I could direct my spiritual qi. With each thought I had to control the temperature of the pill flame as well as refine the herbs inside.

Refine the herbs at a high temperature that was consistent. Slowly extract the essence of the herbs before letting the dregs burn up in the pill flame. Once the essence was extracted, you had to slowly merge it with the other essences before condensing them and forming the pill. Each action took a lot of mental fortitude. A single slip-up could be a furnace explosion.

I could feel the sweat dripping from my forehead. I had no idea how long I had been sitting here, but I can say that I was already starting to feel the strain. I was currently on the last process, which was forming the pill. If I messed up here, everything would be lost! “Come on, form!” I shouted while slapping the side of the furnace with my hand.

A strong scent began to fill the air as I slowly pulled my hands back from the sides of the furnace. “I did it!” The furnace lid opened, and six pills slowly floated down in front of my eyes. Each one was pearly white. I licked my lips, just smelling the scent of them. “Now, this is high quality! Hehehe… Hahahaha!”

If my memories were right, to get such results on the first try was pretty heaven defying. I wonder how the old fogies who spent years refining pills would think if they knew I had done such a feat. “Master, you refined high-grade yellow-ranked Qi pills on your first try!”

It seemed Little Nine understood how amazing this was. “I did, but it took a lot out of me. I need to rest for a while. I will go cultivate. I will refine more tomorrow. Can you stick these in a bottle?”

I held out five of the six pills. I decided to take one for my own use. “Of course, Master. I will store the herbs so that they can be used for tomorrow as well.”

“Thanks, Little Nine. I really owe you a lot. I will work hard so you can gain your body back.”