Chapter 3131 — The Trial Cauldron

As long as one could manipulate pill fire with skill, a first-grade pill could be refined with one hundred percent success. This cauldron could practically take over the entire first-grade pill market! After all, who would still buy from others when they could refine pills themselves?

Even if the Mystic Pill Sect's first-grade pills were cheap, they still passed through the Cultivator's Guild's hands for resale, and the markup was hardly small. How could that compare to the economy of refining your own? Beyond that, refining your own meant you could make pills whenever you wished, with no worry about being unable to buy them or finding your stock exhausted when an urgent need arose.

"Mr. Ling, what you're describing... is it true?" Vice President Ouyang could hardly be blamed for doubting. Anyone would hesitate to believe such a thing, for it was a little too wondrous—so wondrous that it exceeded the bounds of what an ordinary cultivator could comprehend. Even though Wei Zhao was the one presenting it, and Ouyang did not think Wei Zhao would deceive him, he still had to ask.

"Absolutely true!" Wei Zhao nodded and said, "If Vice President Ouyang does not believe me, find an alchemist and let him test it in person!"

"Very well!" Vice President Ouyang did not refuse; he wanted to witness the marvel of this first-grade automatic cauldron for himself. He took out his phone and dialed the number of the disciple who had been at the door earlier. "Xiao Duo, call Xiao Kong and tell him to come to my private room at once!"

The Xiao Kong Vice President Ouyang spoke of was a pill inspector at the Cultivator's Guild's market. Pill inspectors were disciples who had studied alchemy and studied it well, but because they lacked a wood attribute within their bodies, they could not become alchemists. Serving as a pill inspector was no problem for them, however.

An inspector needed only to judge the quality of a pill, and Xiao Kong was the inspector under Vice President Ouyang's command.

Soon a knock came at the door of the private room. Vice President Ouyang said, "Come in," and a somewhat thin young man walked in and said respectfully, "Vice President Ouyang, your disciple has arrived. May I ask what business you have with me?"

"Business there naturally is. I want you to test something!" Vice President Ouyang said. "Mr. Ling, please explain to Xiao Kong how this thing is used."

"Certainly." Wei Zhao nodded and, pointing at the first-grade automatic cauldron before him, said to Xiao Kong, "This is a first-grade cauldron, but its function is automatic pill refinement!"

"Automatic pill refinement?" Xiao Kong's eyes went wide. He stared in disbelief at the spot Wei Zhao indicated, scarcely trusting his ears. "Mr. Ling, did I hear you right? A cauldron that can refine pills automatically?"

"You heard right!" Wei Zhao smiled slightly and said, "Though this cauldron is called automatic, it does not mean pills can be refined with no human intervention at all. Rather, certain steps of the process are rendered automatic, which increases the success rate..."

With that, Wei Zhao explained the operation of the first-grade automatic cauldron to Xiao Kong. Since Xiao Kong's original trade was alchemy, he understood Wei Zhao's meaning at once, and a gleam of eager anticipation flashed through his eyes.

It was precisely because his body lacked the wood attribute that he had become an inspector. After all, lacking the wood attribute meant that no matter how skilled one was at manipulating pill fire, refining pills was a matter of sheer luck, for one could not sense the changes in the pill within the cauldron.

But now, the first-grade automatic cauldron Wei Zhao described demanded none of that. The intensity of the pill fire was adjusted entirely by the cauldron itself, and the cauldron displayed time and temperature curves to tell the alchemist what temperature of pill fire to use at each moment. In this way, even an alchemist of modest experience—or an inspector like Xiao Kong—could successfully refine first-grade pills!

"May I... try it now?" Xiao Kong asked, rubbing his hands in anticipation. Wei Zhao and Vice President Ouyang wanted him to test it, and he himself was eager to try this marvelous thing as soon as possible, to fulfill his dream of becoming an alchemist.

"Of course. We called you here precisely to test it," Vice President Ouyang said.

"Then... this thing can't be broken, can it?" Xiao Kong was a little daunted. He did not know its value, but having spent years in the Cultivator's Guild's market, he knew at a word that this was a heaven-defying artifact—surely priceless. If he broke it, he could never repay it even if beaten to death.

"It won't break. If it could be broken so easily, what value would it have?" Wei Zhao laughed. "Go ahead and experiment. I have here a set of materials for Spirit-Gathering Pills—you can try refining one!"

"Oh? Spirit-Gathering Pills?" Xiao Kong was somewhat surprised and intimidated. "Among first-grade pills, Spirit-Gathering Pills rank as moderately difficult—the fire intensity must be changed several times during the process. Are there no simpler first-grade pills, such as Life-Returning Pills?"

The so-called Life-Returning Pill was a healing pill one grade below the Minor Restoration Pill. Because its effects were unremarkable, few alchemists refined it; it served only as practice for disciples beginning their study of alchemy.

"Even if you wanted to test with such a pill, I have no materials to give you. I have only the Spirit-Gathering Pill materials on hand," Wei Zhao said with a wry smile.

"Then... shall I try?" Xiao Kong glanced at the cauldron and asked nervously.

"It's fine, give it a try. As long as you can control the temperature of the pill fire, you will certainly succeed," Wei Zhao said, smiling in encouragement.

"All right!" Xiao Kong drew a deep breath, then eagerly picked up the first-grade automatic cauldron before him. Following the prompts on its surface, he placed the Spirit-Gathering Pill materials into the cauldron and pressed the "Spirit-Gathering Pill" button. The circuits of the automatic first-grade cauldron started up, and the screen displayed in large characters "Automatic Refinement of Spirit-Gathering Pills," beneath which a line of instructions told the alchemist to place his palm over the area for condensing pill fire and begin condensing fire-attribute pill fire.

Xiao Kong hastily followed the instructions, placing his hand on the designated area and beginning to condense fire-attribute pill fire.

Beep—a buzzer sounded from within the automatic first-grade cauldron, and the screen showed the words "Fire-attribute pill fire identified as normal. Automatic refinement system activating..."

Then further prompts appeared: "Countdown begun. Please adjust the pill fire temperature to the designated level according to the screen's instructions!" (To be continued.)