Chapter 2056 — The Cauldron Exploded

What made it even harder to bear was that Wei Zhao not only lacked a master's guidance—he had no rare herbs or treasures to consume, either. The only pill he had ever swallowed was probably that Qi Gathering Pill. Compared with the sons of great families and the disciples of ancient sects, who had been fed heavenly herbs and earthly treasures since childhood, the difference was like heaven and earth.

Yet what Wei Zhao did have was a stubborn, hardworking heart. He had never once conceded defeat, and step by step he had made his way to where he stood now, straining every nerve to close and conceal the gap between himself and the sons of great families and the disciples of ancient sects.

Feng Xiaoxiao had reached the Yellow Rank in a month or so, and Zhang Naipao had reached the peak of the late Mystic Rank in a few months. Wei Zhao could only envy them.

Fortunately, he had discovered the heaven-defying artifact that was the jade pendant's space, and with it Wei Zhao left his rivals far behind! Of course, in truth the jade pendant's space only made up for a shortage of heaven-and-earth spiritual energy. Had spiritual energy been plentiful, the "Driving the Dragon" formula of the Xuanyuan lineage, that single mental cultivation method, would have been enough on its own for Wei Zhao to look down upon the whole world of cultivation.

Of course, Wei Zhao had never complained about any of this. A lone cultivator could hardly compare with sect disciples and sons of great families; to have achieved what he had was already quite good.

"I wouldn't call it impressive—it's just that my medical skills are good," Wei Zhao said mildly. "By the way, what on earth were you doing before? How did you set off such a huge bang? I heard it all the way from the villa next door."

"That... well, actually, the pill cauldron we bought together exploded..." Han Jingyi's face fell at the mention of it. "Jingjing was trying to refine an ordinary Yellow Rank, first-grade pill—a Qi Recovery Pill. But who'd have thought that when she refined it according to the formula, not only did the pill fail to form, the cauldron blew up..."

"Blew up?" Wei Zhao was startled. "That cauldron was copper—it should have been good quality. How could it suddenly explode?"

"Jingjing doesn't know, either. She had already converted the condensation techniques in the formula into temperature and time curves—all she had to do was control the pill fire's temperature and intensity according to those curves and times. Jingjing's calculations were very precise; in theory it should have succeeded. And yet the cauldron exploded..."

"Could it be that this cauldron can't be used for pill refinement?" Wei Zhao frowned. But in theory, a copper cauldron should be very sturdy...

"Can't be used for pill refinement? Does it have to be a specially made cauldron?" Han Jingyi looked at Wei Zhao, puzzled as well.

"Let me ask someone..." Wei Zhao took out his phone. He had meant to call Boss Bai directly, but the thought that he had not a single achievement to his name in pill refinement rather discouraged him. If Boss Bai started asking questions, Wei Zhao could hardly conceal the truth—yet if he told the truth, how was he supposed to explain the cauldron exploding?

For the time being, Wei Zhao did not want anyone to know about Han Jingyi's affairs. She was a trump card in his hand, and he had no intention of letting some faction or other set its sights on her. After all, Han Jingyi's pill-refining skills were highly sought after even among the ancient sects today.

So after hesitating a moment, Wei Zhao called Bai Weituo instead. In theory, Bai Weituo, as Boss Bai's grandson, might not know how to refine pills, but he ought to know a fair amount about pill-refining lore—after all, Bai Weituo had said himself that he had learned a great deal from Boss Bai.

"Brother Lin? What made you call me all of a sudden?" Bai Weituo was rather surprised to receive Wei Zhao's call. It was Sunday, and this early in the morning Bai Weituo was still lazing in bed in his dormitory, not yet up, when Wei Zhao's call came through.

"Weituo, there's something I'd like to ask you about," Wei Zhao said.

"Brother Lin, just say the word—why stand on ceremony with 'ask' and all that? Little brother will tell you everything he knows and hold nothing back!" Bai Weituo was deeply grateful to Wei Zhao for yesterday's trip to the tiger park; He Meiyue's impression of him had improved quite a bit as well. At the very least, he had successfully gotten her QQ number and could chat with her online.

"It's about pill refinement," Wei Zhao said.

"Pill refinement? That I really don't know much about. If it's knowledge in that area, you'd best consult my grandfather..." Bai Weituo said hastily the moment he heard Wei Zhao's question. "Brother Lin, it's not that I don't want to answer—it's just that I really don't know that much."

"No matter. It's only a simple question," Wei Zhao said. "For the pill cauldrons used in refinement—can an ordinary fake antique bought on the antique street do?"

"What?" Bai Weituo was stunned by the question, then said, half laughing, half exasperated, "How could that possibly work? Never mind a fake antique—even a genuine antique, if it wasn't designed to a pill refiner's requirements and specifications, can't be used for pill refinement! Those things are just handicrafts. Try to refine a pill in one and the furnace will blow straight up!"

"The furnace can blow up?" Wei Zhao broke out in a cold sweat. It seemed Han Jingyi's explosion was no injustice—even genuine antiques not made specifically for pill refinement could blow up, let alone a fake cauldron like that! Without a master's guidance, you were bound to stumble into every pit!

Wei Zhao was rather speechless. He and Han Jingyi really had been letting their imaginations run wild. In Zhang Liju's notes on a pill refiner's experience, Wei Zhao had read that the cauldrons for refining first- and second-grade Yellow Rank pills did not need to be anything special—ordinary copper or cast-iron cauldrons would do.

But Wei Zhao had overlooked one point: pill refiners used cauldrons made specifically for the purpose, and while such cauldrons could indeed be of copper or cast iron, the cheap stall goods sold on the street outside were garbage of the lowest order—utterly unfit for refining pills!

And yet Zhang Liju had never made that clear!

In truth, had Zhang Liju's notes fallen into the hands of a hidden scion of some great family—or a disciple of an ancient sect—with even a little knowledge of pill refinement, they would surely have understood that the cauldrons referred to were purpose-made ones, and would never have assumed, as Wei Zhao did, that any old thing sold on the street would do...

This was also why You Panhu had found it so strange when he heard that Wei Zhao and Han Jingyi had gone to Antique Street and bought two battered old cauldrons! Even the lowliest pill refiner would not touch such things, and yet Wei Zhao and Han Jingyi had gone and bought them? Did he think that thing could refine pills? He wouldn't even know whether it was usable for practice!

"That's right—an ordinary cauldron will certainly blow up. To refine pills you must use a cauldron made specifically for pill refiners, and the grade has to match as well! A first-grade pill, for instance, requires a first-grade cauldron... Of course, a second-grade cauldron can refine not only second-grade pills but first-grade pills as well!" Bai Weituo at least knew this much. "What's this, Boss? You can't have already learned to refine pills this quickly, have you? That would really be fast!"

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