Chapter 32

"Is it an induction cooker, not a pill-refining furnace? You mean the induction cooker used for cooking?" Beihex Sanren felt his blood pressure rising.

Song Shuhang replied embarrassedly, "Yes."

"Haha, you really live up to being Senior Song," Yurouzi said.

"Then what about the pill furnace? What kind of pill furnace do you use?" Beihex Sanren quickly followed up.

"Uh, if I have to say, it should be a hot pot pan, I guess." Song Shuhang felt a bit embarrassed. The style didn't match the immortal world, and he felt very awkward.

"Hot pot pan? What model of pill furnace? No... wait, let me calm down. Don't tell me that the hot pot pan is the one used for eating hot pot?" Beihex Sanren typed out these words forcefully.

"Um, that's the one," Song Shuhang confirmed.

"..." Beihex Sanren responded with a string of ellipses.

Beihex Sanren thought to himself—his years of pill-refining experience had all gone to the dogs. Someone could refine a body-tempering liquid on their first try using an induction cooker and a hot pot, while he still failed one or two out of ten attempts.

After a long pause, he said, "Can I swear?"

"I'll be damned!" Kuangdao Sanlang had already sworn first.

"I'll be damned!" Tonggua Xianshi followed closely.

"I'll be damned!" Zuìyuè Jushi maintained the formation—speaking of Zuìyuè Jushi, he seemed to be a frequently appearing ID in the group, probably a very active senior. However, for some reason, every time Song Shuhang saw his messages, he felt very familiar, but he would forget about him as soon as he turned away.

"Damn, you three have already sworn. What can I swear about?" Beihex Sanren said gloomily. "Watch my ultimate move, @Yao Shi, it's time for you to step in, Senior Brother Yao!"

"Here." Yao Shi appeared, having been reading the chat all along.

After a while, he typed out a message: "Little friend, can you describe your pill-refining process? Especially the unexpected event with the forty-first ingredient you mentioned."

Yurouzi's eyes lit up, "Oh, oh, oh, Senior Song, I really want to know this step too. I've failed at this step many times!"

With Yurouzi around, Song Shuhang easily joined the chat in the Nine Provinces Number One Group without any awkwardness. Of course, this was also related to the fact that he had been lurking for over ten days and knew the personalities of the group members well.

"No problem, I'll describe it briefly," Song Shuhang said. "First, I put sliced ginseng in the pot and added a ladle of water."

"Wait, add water?" Yao Shi's typing speed increased as he asked, "Why add water?"

"Because if I didn't add water, the sliced ginseng would dry out when heated, right?" Song Shuhang answered, but he understood in his heart—people in the group didn't add water when refining body-tempering liquid.

"Oh, that's true. You used an induction cooker and a hot pot pan," Beihex Sanren sighed—why did he feel even more pain in his liver after learning the truth?

Yao Shi nodded silently, "That makes sense. Continue, adding water in the first step shouldn't have a significant impact on the later stages."

As Song Shuhang began to describe the process, all the seniors in the group could picture a scene in their minds.

A man with a scholarly aura named 'Shushan Yali' sat by... an induction cooker, placed a hot pot on it, and carefully added the ingredients for the body-tempering liquid, starting to refine the pill liquid.

Why did it always feel strange?

Why did pill-refining have to involve an induction cooker and a hot pot!

Song Shuhang didn't think too much about it. He briefly described his subsequent pill-refining steps, along with his understanding and experience of the fire control and timing. He also took the opportunity to describe some of the problems he encountered while refining the body-tempering liquid.

Listening to Song Shuhang's description, seeing him gradually break down his improved formula, Yao Shi felt deeply gratified, as if he had found a kindred spirit.

"Up to the forty-first ingredient, the body-tempering liquid in the pot suddenly emitted a foul and burnt smell, and the liquid in the pot quickly evaporated, reducing by about one-fifth in a blink of an eye," Song Shuhang replied. "At this point, I couldn't understand the reason. I could only guess it was some kind of catalyst?"

"I've encountered the same situation, and the liquid evaporated quickly after that," Yurouzi called out.

"This Heavenly Master has also experienced it," Tonggua Xianshi nodded. They weren't pill-refiners, but as cultivators, refining some low-level ordinary pills wasn't a problem.

"Because the forty-first ingredient is a catalyst. When it is added, it marks the beginning of the final purification. When you first refine pills, if you don't control the fire and time well, adding the forty-first catalyst ingredient will cause this situation. To avoid it, you need to accumulate experience; there's no shortcut," Yao Shi replied.

Similarly, if this situation occurs, you can only rely on experience and keen observation to resolve it.

"Little friend Song Shuhang, how did you get through this stage?" Yao Shi asked curiously.

"When I saw the liquid evaporating quickly, I added a ladle of water, hoping to slow down the evaporation," Song Shuhang recalled.

"Add water again? Oh... perhaps that's a good way to alleviate it. Then what? Adding water can only alleviate the issue, not solve it fundamentally," Yao Shi asked. At the same time, he was thinking about the practicality of adding water, but he thought more—replacing the water with some specially prepared liquid might better alleviate the evaporation of the pill liquid if this situation occurs.

"Then I added the last four ingredients all at once, increased the heat, and the pot lid was pushed up. In the end, only about five spoonfuls of body-tempering liquid remained in the pot," Song Shuhang replied.

"Five spoonfuls, if your spoon isn't a baby's, five spoonfuls is already a lot," Beihex Sanren sighed—under normal circumstances, the final amount of body-tempering liquid obtained is about three spoonfuls.

"How does the efficacy compare to before? Oh... I forgot you were refining body-tempering liquid for the first time," Yao Shi said gloomily. "I'll go and refine it according to your method first. I'll share my opinion after I get the results."

With that, Yao Shi logged off.

"Haha, in terms of pill-refining, Senior Brother Yao is always impulsive. Let's wait for him to finish refining. If your method can become a new simplified method for refining body-tempering liquid, then anyone in the group who uses your method in the future will owe you a favor. This favor will be incredibly beneficial to you," Beihex Sanren sent a smiley face.

Song Shuhang's participation in the group chat indicated that he wanted to get involved in 'cultivation.' In fact, from the moment he refined the body-tempering liquid and consumed it, he had already put one foot into the world of cultivation.

"Then, welcome to the Nine Provinces Number One Group, little friend Shuhang," Beihex Sanren said. "Originally, these things should have been explained by the group owner, True Monarch Huangshan, since you were added by him and he felt a connection with you. But today, his big demon dog is in a bad mood, so I'll take over."

True Monarch Huangshan's big demon dog seems to have a lot of personality, Song Shuhang thought to himself.

"Since you've chosen to step onto the path of cultivation, there are some things I must let you know. Cultivation is not as easy as you might imagine. There are countless tribulations, and at any moment, you might face a catastrophic disaster."

"I have some idea. I saw the lightning tribulation in H City from a distance," Song Shuhang replied.

Yurouzi added, "Senior Song's residence is very close to H City and J City."

"Even the lightning tribulation of Ah Shiliu, you know about it. It seems you've been paying attention to us since you joined the group," Beihex Sanren teased.

"Haha," Song Shuhang laughed awkwardly. He couldn't say that he initially treated everyone as patients with middle school syndrome and found joy in watching them every day.

"Since you're mentally prepared, I'll get straight to the point," Beihex Sanren continued. "Little friend Shuhang, since you're staying in this group, it's clear you want to learn about cultivation from us. According to the tradition of our Nine Provinces Group, you now have two choices: become a wandering cultivator, or join the sect of one of the seniors in the group."

The Nine Provinces Number One Group, with so many members, naturally has its own set of rules and ways of doing things. However, someone like Shuhang, who is a complete novice and knows nothing about cultivation, is the first of its kind.