Inside the crimson Medicine Cauldron, silver-white flames illuminated the surrounding walls, writhing like specters.
Ye Chen's expression was serious, with a hint of nervousness in his heart…
There was nothing he could do; after all, it was his first hands-on experiment. Even though he had everything memorized, and his Old Ancestor was there to remind him at any time, he still felt nervous when it was time to be.
"Don't rush, take your time, first familiarize yourself with this Medicine Cauldron…" The Old Ancestor's gentle voice echoed in his ears, greatly alleviating Ye Chen's nervousness.
Under Ye Chen's control, the flames circled within the Medicine Cauldron, evenly raising its internal temperature, then hovered at the center of the Medicine Cauldron, awaiting the insertion of medicinal ingredients.
For Ye Chen, who possessed Starfire, this first step in Alchemist held a significant advantage.
One must know that even at the Dou Shi Rank, many people couldn't conjure real flames out of thin air; they needed to rely on the special structure of the Medicine Cauldron to generate flames with their own Dou Qi…
Setting aside the temperature of such Dou Qi flames, the sheer amount of Dou Qi required to generate them alone meant enormous consumption.
Watching Ye Chen complete the preparatory work with such ease, the Ye Family Old Ancestor nodded in satisfaction, unable to hide the smile in his eyes.
"Control the flames, so their temperature doesn't fluctuate wildly, gradually increasing the temperature inside the Medicine Cauldron…"
Upon hearing the reminder, Ye Chen merely nodded slightly, controlling the flames to remain constant.
This demonstrated the crucial importance of the 2 points he had added to his fire control…
It is important to know that for a novice Alchemist, among the two major hurdles they first face, the primary one is being able to stably control their flames.
After all, the temperature of the flames inside the Medicine Cauldron is extremely high, and many medicinal ingredients have very strict temperature requirements; even a slight difference can cause damage to the ingredients, leading to the failure of the Alchemist process.
Besides this, the remaining second hurdle was naturally the control of Soul Power…
Seeing that Ye Chen's preparatory steps were proceeding very smoothly, the smile on the Ye Family Old Ancestor's face deepened…
He took out a gray scroll and gently said, "This is a first-Rank Medicinal Pill prescription for healing, with the names of the required medicinal ingredients, the refinement heat, and the medicinal components to be extracted. You can try it first."
Ye Chen took the scroll and read it carefully…
It was merely a first-Rank healing Medicinal Pill, considered among the simplest, so it didn't require many ingredients, only three.
"Blood Coagulation Powder requires one Blood Coagulation Grass, two Muscle Growth Grasses, and one Moon Lotus Flower."
Blood Coagulation Powder is a general term for a very common type of healing Medicinal Pill, all named after the main ingredient, Blood Coagulation Grass.
However, because each family's prescription is different, the required auxiliary ingredients also vary, which leads to different qualities of Blood Coagulation Powder produced by different Alchemist.
The Ye Family's Blood Coagulation Powder was considered among the top tier, as Muscle Growth Grass and Moon Lotus Flower were both valuable and potent in medicinal effect.
Similarly, this also increased the difficulty of refining the medicinal ingredients.
Generally speaking, only those who have reached the peak of a first-Rank Alchemist, or a second-Rank Alchemist, can guarantee a Pill formation rate of over seventy percent.
Of course, Ye Chen only needed to successfully extract the medicinal ingredients for now, without needing to consider the subsequent Medicinal Pill Fusion and preparation work.
After carefully memorizing the requirements and key points on the prescription, Ye Chen took a deep breath and began his first medicinal ingredient extraction.
He picked up a slightly dark red Blood Coagulation Grass that had been laid out beside him, and without hesitation, directly tossed it into the Medicine Cauldron from its ferocious beast-like opening at the top…
As soon as the Blood Coagulation Grass entered the Medicine Cauldron, before Ye Chen could react, the silver Starfire fluttered, eager to pounce on it.
This startled Ye Chen, and in his panic, he strenuously calmed his flames.
Watching the Starfire finally settle down, Ye Chen finally let out a sigh of relief…
He had thought this first attempt would end in just a few short seconds.
The Ye Family Old Ancestor, seeing this, also nodded in satisfaction, "Not bad, very quick reaction, and your control over the flames is also decent."
This situation was originally within his expectations.
The reason he hadn't reminded Ye Chen beforehand was also to let him experience it firsthand, thereby deepening his memory…
He just hadn't expected Ye Chen's performance to be even better than he had anticipated.
Upon hearing the Old Ancestor's praise, Ye Chen felt a slight smugness in his heart, but with just this momentary lapse, the Starfire's temperature in the Medicine Cauldron instantly went out of control for one second…
Although it was only for one second, looking back into the Medicine Cauldron, a Blood Coagulation Grass had already turned into black ash, which was then expelled from the Cauldron by the special mechanism within the Medicine Cauldron.
Ye Chen's face darkened; he felt like he had just been humiliated, didn't he?
Indeed, this thing allowed no room for slackness at all.
The Ye Family Old Ancestor merely smiled slightly at this, without any other expression, and instead comforted him, "It's alright, it's your first time, accidents are bound to happen. Just try again…"
Anyway, the Ye Family Old Ancestor had prepared a very ample supply of medicinal ingredients this time, precisely so that this boy could expend them to his heart's content, until he could successfully extract them even with his eyes closed, and only then would they start combining the Medicinal Pill.
Ye Chen naturally had no idea of his Old Ancestor's terrifying thoughts, otherwise he would have immediately tried to escape.
This first failure instead ignited his competitive spirit. After merely calming his emotions slightly, he picked up another Blood Coagulation Grass and threw it into the Medicine Cauldron.
Of course, Alchemist is truly not an easy task…
Although Ye Chen possessed innate flames and powerful Soul Power, these were merely prerequisites for him to become a high-Rank Alchemist; to truly become a qualified Alchemist, having just these talents is not enough.
"The temperature is too high. When refining medicinal ingredients, it is crucial to avoid impatience. Even a slight temperature difference can cause damage to the ingredients…"
Watching the Blood Coagulation Grass burn away again, the Ye Family Old Ancestor's expression remained calm, and his tone remained gentle.
However, Ye Chen was starting to feel a bit anxious at this point.
After all, he had continuously refined it more than ten times, with only four or five successes. Most of the medicinal ingredients were either damaged due to high temperature or low temperature, with the majority being destroyed due to uncontrolled temperature.
Seeing that Ye Chen's emotions were starting to become agitated, the Ye Family Old Ancestor did not press him further but offered a few pointers and then told Ye Chen to go out and rest.
After all, Ye Chen wasn't even a Dou Zong yet. Although he had the assistance of Starfire, each time he refined four or five times, his Dou Qi would be almost depleted, and he would then need to recover with Medicinal Pill before continuing.
Such high-intensity refining was indeed quite challenging for a child who was only five or six years old.
After Ye Chen left, Ye Zhong emerged from the shadows.
Clearly, while Ye Chen was refining medicinal ingredients earlier, his identity as both the Ye Family Head and Ye Chen's grandfather made him unable to resist coming to observe.