Before it got dark, Ning Fa took the last Spirit Boat back to Pingchang Island.
As soon as he returned home, he locked the door tightly, determined not to leave until he had refined the Essence Replenishing Pill.
First, he recalled the details of his last failed alchemy attempt in his mind, then took a deep breath and took out the first set of Spiritual Materials for the Essence Replenishing Pill to begin refining again.
During the second alchemy attempt, his performance was clearly much better than last time.
He successfully extracted the Spiritual Materials into spiritual liquid, and the timing of placing the spiritual liquid into the Alchemy Furnace was also perfectly controlled. Everything went smoothly until the final stage of pill formation.
This was also the most difficult part of the entire alchemy process. Not long after it began, a muffled thud came from the Alchemy Furnace, indicating that this alchemy attempt had also failed.
Ning Fa wasn't too disappointed. He had estimated it would take around three attempts to refine a Failed Pill.
When he opened the Alchemy Furnace, he saw only a mass of milky yellow, viscous liquid inside. This was much better than the ball of charred blackness from last time.
A thought struck Ning Fa. He pulled up the sleeve of his right arm and touched the white mark on it. The Mysterious Scroll reappeared.
This time, the scroll finally reacted.
Just like last time, the scroll first flashed with mysterious white Runes, then displayed a pattern of the milky yellow viscous liquid. Following that, white lines extended, and below them, the patterns of the seven Spiritual Grasses appeared.
Ning Fa was overjoyed. It seemed his guess was likely correct, and even better than he had previously imagined.
He had previously thought it was necessary to reach the Failed Pill stage for the restoration to occur. Now, it could happen as soon as the pill was formed. This greatly lowered the threshold for the Mysterious Scroll's function, naturally making it much more useful.
Ning Fa immediately touched the patterns of the seven Spiritual Grasses on the scroll. A mysterious white light flashed in the air, and the seven Spiritual Grasses appeared. The milky yellow viscous liquid in the Alchemy Furnace then vanished.
Ning Fa suppressed his excitement, rested briefly, and analyzed the reasons for his failed alchemy attempt before starting another one.
This time, Ning Fa was in excellent condition, persevering all the way to the final stage of opening the furnace.
Ning Fa opened the Alchemy Furnace. After the scorching white mist dispersed, besides some residue, there was a perfectly formed, oval-shaped, milky white pill exuding a faint fragrance.
Ning Fa clenched his fist tightly, feeling incredibly invigorated. He had finally refined a Failed Pill, and from now on, he could use the Mysterious Scroll to restore the materials.
But then, something occurred to him, and his expression became hesitant, as he thought of a crucial problem.
This alchemy attempt had produced both residue and a Failed Pill. He knew the residue couldn't be restored by the scroll. If there was only one Failed Pill, could it still completely restore all seven Spiritual Grasses?
If not, it would be a bit troublesome, as he couldn't guarantee he would refine five Failed Pills every time.
However, dwelling on it was useless. Ning Fa activated the Mysterious Scroll again.
To his delighted surprise, the pattern of that single pill reappeared on the scroll. Then, white lines extended, and the seven Spiritual Grasses also appeared.
As a flash of white light swept through the air, the seven Spiritual Grasses, each with a unique appearance and radiating colorful glows, reappeared in the air. Not one more, not one less.
"This... this doesn't conform to the principle of conservation of energy..."
Ning Fa was stunned, but immediately overjoyed. This meant that as long as there was one Failed Pill in a batch of alchemy, all the Spiritual Materials could be completely restored. This effect was practically heaven-defying.
Ning Fa pondered for a moment why this was possible. Connecting it with the patterns that appeared sequentially on the scroll, he came up with a possible explanation.
The Mysterious Scroll might not simply restore the pill, but rather trace the origins of the Spiritual Materials used to refine it.
Therefore, as long as there was one Failed Pill, it could trace back to the source and restore them.
This would explain how the Spiritual Materials could be completely restored, even with losses during the alchemy process.
Normally, one set of Essence Replenishing Pill Spiritual Materials could be used to refine six perfect pills. The previous two alchemy attempts had significant losses, but they were successfully restored, which undoubtedly supported this explanation.
Ning Fa felt like kissing the Mysterious Scroll. After a brief rest, he began refining again.
On the third attempt, he refined three Failed Pills.
On the fourth attempt, he refined five Failed Pills.
On the fifth attempt, he refined six Failed Pills.
On the twenty-first attempt, he refined one perfect pill and four Failed Pills.
Ning Fa seemed to have fallen into a state of obsession, dedicating himself wholeheartedly to alchemy.
He would only stop to meditate and recover his magic power when it was insufficient.
If he was hungry, he ate a Grain Abstinence Pill. If he was tired, he rested briefly, completely foregoing sleep.
Even during his brief rests, his mind was entirely occupied with reviewing the alchemy process.
In this way, Ning Fa quickly mastered the alchemy skills of his predecessor, consistently refining at least five Failed Pills.
The next day, he even refined a perfect Essence Replenishing Pill for the first time, which made Ning Fa ecstatic.
As Ning Fa continued his uninterrupted alchemy and constantly summarized his experiences, his alchemy level also improved.
On the tenth day, Ning Fa could finally consistently refine a perfect Essence Replenishing Pill. Although he only obtained one perfect pill each time, it represented a qualitative improvement, signifying that he had reached a new stage in refining the Essence Replenishing Pill.
By this point, it was Ning Fa's 150th-plus alchemy attempt. If he had purchased the Spiritual Materials normally, it would have cost over two thousand Spirit Stones, a fortune.
This price was enough to buy a decent high-grade magical artifact. The shop Ning Fa's father had left him could at most sell for that much.
Most alchemists would basically not have this many Spirit Stones to practice with. Even for a cultivator family, it wasn't easy to come up with such a sum.
Ning Fa had actually only used three sets of Spiritual Materials. Everything else was restored using the Mysterious Scroll, or more accurately, by tracing their origins.
After this, Ning Fa finally gradually mastered the knack of refining the Essence Replenishing Pill, and the number of perfect pills gradually increased.
By the fifteenth day, Ning Fa could consistently refine at least two perfect Essence Replenishing Pills, and occasionally three or four.
To be honest, at this point, the success rate for Essence Replenishing Pills had reached thirty percent, which met the standard for the family's Alchemist assessment and was the success rate his predecessor had always dreamed of.
However, Ning Fa was not satisfied. He felt he could do better and continued to refine pills tirelessly, as if possessed.
After a few more days, Ning Fa could consistently refine at least three Essence Replenishing Pills, marking a new stage in his mastery of this pill.
Three days before Ning Fa and Ning Huarong's bet was to take effect.
Inside Ning Fa's alchemy room, the Alchemy Furnace was opened again. With a burst of fragrant aroma, six perfectly round, plump, milky-white pills were clearly visible within the furnace, without a single crack, looking as exquisite as works of art.
Ning Fa let out a hoarse laugh.
He was disheveled, with a scruffy beard and bloodshot eyes, but his eyes were clear and bright, carrying a hint of a smile.
"This Daoist Master has done it!"
Ning Fa chuckled, then collapsed into sleep.