AWB Chapter 31 The Days of an Alchemy Apprentice
Chapter 31 The Days of an Alchemy Apprentice
Senior Brother Lin led Ye Xiaobai to a pill-making room. Upon seeing Yang Xiaotian, the third-grade pill master in charge of the room, he said, "Senior Brother Yang, this is a new pill-making apprentice. I heard that you were short of people to handle spiritual herbs, so I specially brought one here. His name is Ye Xiaobai, and he's quite quick-witted."
"That's great, thank you so much, Junior Brother Lin. I'll definitely save some good Qi Refining Pills for you next time," Yang Xiaotian said happily.
"Then I'll have to trouble Senior Brother Yang!" Senior Brother Lin said before leaving.
Ye Xiaobai quickly greeted him, "Hello, Senior Brother Yang!"
Yang Xiaotian looked at Ye Xiaobai and said, "Junior Brother Ye, right? Come with me."
Ye Xiaobai followed Yang Xiaotian into the alchemy room. Ye Xiaobai noticed that the room was a huge, long, narrow space, and the temperature inside was significantly higher than outside. Along one side of the room were ten alchemy furnaces, each about half a person's height. Each furnace had two to three people working on it; some were probably apprentices controlling the heat, while others were checking on the progress of the alchemy process.
Yang Xiaotian led Ye Xiaobai into a side room, where three apprentices were processing spiritual herbs. Upon seeing Yang Xiaotian enter, they immediately stood up and greeted him, "Greetings, Senior Brother Yang!"
"Alright, today I've brought you a new helper." Then, looking at a petite girl, he said, "Xiao Lele, Ye Xiaobai is new here. Could you help him familiarize himself with the process of handling medicinal herbs here?"
Ye Xiaobai looked in the direction of Yang Xiaotian's voice and saw a petite and lovely girl. The fragrance of spiritual herbs wafted over her, and her eyes sparkled from time to time, which made Ye Xiaobai a little stunned.
"Okay, Senior Brother Yang!" Xiao Lele said with a smile, revealing sweet dimples on both sides of her mouth.
After explaining some precautions, Yang Xiaotian left.
Just as Xiao Lele was about to greet Ye Xiaobai, an annoying voice rang out.
"Hey newbie, you're still watching!" shouted the skinny alchemy apprentice next to Xiao Lele.
"Wei Yize, what are you saying? Junior Brother Ye is new here, don't scare him!" Xiao Lele said to Wei Yize.
Ye Xiaobai quickly looked away and obediently waited for instructions.
Xiao Lele turned to Ye Xiaobai and said, "Junior Brother Ye, don't worry about it. Let me tell you about the precautions for handling spiritual herbs first."
"Thank you for your help, Senior Sister Xiao!"
Next, Xiao Lele guided Ye Xiaobai through the process of handling spirit herbs. She also gave Ye Xiaobai a basic manual for processing spirit herbs.
"For example, when processing the Five-Directional Spirit Herb for medicinal use, the stems need to be removed, crushed with a locust wood, and then dried on a rack facing east in two or three days..."
Ye Xiaobai had cultivated techniques to enhance divine sense, so his learning ability was quite strong. Xiao Lele explained it once, and Ye Xiaobai basically remembered it. However, he still needed to practice it in practice to become proficient.
After introducing several common ways to process spiritual herbs, Xiao Lele demonstrated them herself, and then said to Ye Xiaobai, "Junior Brother Ye, why don't you give it a try?"
"Okay, Senior Sister Xiao." Ye Xiaobai followed Xiao Lele's instructions step by step to process the spiritual herb. However, since it was her first time doing it, and someone was watching her, Ye Xiaobai was too nervous and wasted the entire spiritual herb.
"That's a pity, Brother Ye. Don't be too nervous next time," Xiao Lele comforted him.
"Looks like he's not cut out for alchemy. He'll probably be gone in a few days," Wei Yize mocked.
"I wonder how long it took Senior Brother Wei to master it?" Ye Xiaobai suddenly became a little unconvinced and looked at Wei Yize provocatively.
"Haha, do you want to challenge my record?" Wei Yize laughed loudly.
"Can't I?" Ye Xiaobai was very unconvinced.
"I mastered the pretreatment of ten kinds of spiritual herbs in just three days!"
"Then let's find out in three days. Are you willing to take the bet?"
"What are you gambling?"
"From now on, call me Senior Brother Ye!" Ye Xiaobai said confidently.
What about failure?
"I'll avoid Senior Brother Wei whenever I see him!"
"A word is settled!"
"A word is settled!"
Xiao Lele wanted to try to persuade Ye Xiaobai, but seeing the two of them locked in a fierce argument, she couldn't get a word in edgewise and could only wait and see what would happen in three days.
Wei Yize's talent was quite good; among the many alchemy apprentices, he was second only to Xiao Lele. Moreover, he had already learned how to refine the Bigu Pill. Once he successfully refined two more first-grade pills, he could become a first-grade alchemist. Ye Xiaobai heard this later.
Since Ye Xiaobai has already wasted a spirit herb, this will be deducted from the 12 spirit stones distributed each month.
Ye Xiaobai didn't dare to be careless, so he could only follow Xiao Lele and the others to familiarize himself with the process and do some simple physical labor first.
The first day of apprenticeship in alchemy came to a quick end. Ye Xiaobai originally wanted to stay a little longer to review the familiar procedures of the day.
Seeing Ye Xiaobai's furrowed brows, Xiao Lele asked with concern, "Junior Brother Ye, would you like me to tell you more about the precautions for handling spiritual herbs?"
Just as Ye Xiaobai was about to agree, he heard Wei Yize sneer, "A fool's efforts in the short term can never compare to those of a genius!"
Hearing this, Ye Xiaobai was about to retort when Wei Yize vanished without a trace. Ye Xiaobai turned around and smiled at Xiao Lele, saying, "Senior Sister Xiao, you've worked hard today. I'll treat you to a nice meal another day!"
"No need, I've already started fasting!" Xiao Lele said with a smile.
Ye Xiaobai was slightly embarrassed, forgetting that most of the inner disciples had already surpassed the ninth level of Qi Refining and no longer needed to eat.
"Then I won't trouble Senior Sister Xiao today. Go back and send your message as soon as possible."
"Then I'm leaving. You should go back and rest early too!" Xiao Lele said and left.
Ye Xiaobai stayed for a while before going back.
Ye Xiaobai needs to go back and thoroughly familiarize himself with the manual on handling spiritual herbs before putting it into practice the next day.
Back in his cave, Ye Xiaobai immediately opened the manual on handling spiritual herbs and began to read it carefully. After an unknown amount of time, Ye Xiaobai finally finished reading the entire manual. He used his powerful mental energy to continuously simulate the handling methods of various spiritual herbs in his mind. When he got tired, he would practice the Divine Travel to the Nine Heavens technique for a while to restore his spiritual consciousness.
Through repeated simulations and cultivation of the Nine Heavens in his mind, Ye Xiaobai gained a great deal in just one night.
On one hand, Ye Xiaobai had thoroughly mastered the processing methods for hundreds of spiritual herbs in the spiritual herb processing manual. On the other hand, his cultivation of the Divine Travel to the Nine Heavens had also reached the Great Perfection stage, and his divine sense had been greatly enhanced, probably comparable to that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.
The next day, Ye Xiaobai arrived at the alchemy room early to practice his familiar method of processing spiritual herbs.
With few people around, Ye Xiaobai easily completed the pre-processing of a spiritual herb. Focusing his attention, he quickly processed more herbs, soon finishing a whole batch.
Ye Xiaobai didn't even notice Xiao Lele's arrival. Xiao Lele was also shocked; Ye Xiaobai had already successfully mastered the processing of a spiritual herb the very next day.
Wei Yize arrived shortly after. After Xiao Lele's shocked expression, he immediately retorted, "You only learned how to process one kind of spiritual herb in two days, and that's all your strength can offer."
Ye Xiaobai smiled slightly and said, "Congratulations! In three days, you'll have a new Senior Brother Ye!"
"You!" Wei Yize was so angry he couldn't speak!
"Keep talking!" Wei Yize said, then went about his own business, ignoring Ye Xiaobai.
Ye Xiaobai then asked Xiao Lele about some questions he had regarding the manual for processing spiritual herbs. Xiao Lele answered them very enthusiastically.
After the explanation, Ye Xiaobai suddenly understood. Now he was completely familiar with the pre-processing of spiritual herbs. With just a little hands-on practice, Ye Xiaobai could quickly master the processing of a spiritual herb.