Chapter 4862 — Where the Problem Lies

After its last upgrade, the Shennong Cauldron was more than equal to refining seventh-grade pills. The Nurturing Essence Pill in particular was not counted among the harder seventh-grade recipes, so it posed no difficulty at all.

Two hours later, a fresh batch of Nurturing Essence Pills emerged. Wei Zhao had expected five at best—after all, the Nurturing Essence Magic Gold Grass he had estimated was only enough for five portions, and this was his first attempt at the pill besides. Bringing the batch to completion at all would already have been perfect.

But the final result nearly dropped Wei Zhao's jaw to the floor. Ten Nurturing Essence Pills sat gleaming inside the Shennong Cauldron—ten whole pills, every one of them top-grade!

That was not merely a hundred percent success rate; it was damn well two hundred percent!

Fortunately Wei Zhao was alone. Had Qing Xuanzi, his disciple, been there to observe on the spot, the man's eyeballs would surely have littered the ground, and his entire worldview and philosophy of life would have been overthrown beyond repair.

Yet Wei Zhao was long since accustomed to such surprises. After a brief moment of shock he quickly regained his calm, for with a wondrous artifact like the Shennong Cauldron, aided by the finest quality Nurturing Essence Magic Gold Grass and auxiliary ingredients, plus a decent measure of luck, overproduction in refining—though unexpected—was in truth only reasonable.

Putting away the ten Nurturing Essence Pills, Wei Zhao's attention soon returned to the tablet computer. A little surprise like this was not enough to make him forget the matter of Qing Xuanzi.

With the monitoring analysis results from his own Nurturing Essence Pill refinement in hand, he set them against Qing Xuanzi's for comparison, and could not help frowning once more. Though both came from the same software, the two curves and their parameters were poles apart—not a single point of similarity could be found between them.

"Could it be because the pills are different? One is the Great Return Pill, the other the Nurturing Essence Pill—the refining processes are fundamentally different to begin with. Trying to pin down the root of the problem through such a comparison is a bit of a stretch." Wei Zhao mused for a moment, then decided not to agonize over it. If he wanted a more direct and reliable comparison, he need only refine a Great Return Pill himself.

When the analysis results of Wei Zhao's own Great Return Pill refinement came out and were compared with Qing Xuanzi's, the picture was indeed clear at a glance!

Both were seventh-grade Great Return Pill refinements, and the broad shape of the two curves was nearly identical—as expected. Yet the differences were still numerous, the most obvious being the refining curves themselves: one smooth and flawless, well-nigh perfect; the other rising and falling in ceaseless fluctuation.

In itself, however, this proved nothing. Wei Zhao possessed a wondrous artifact like the Shennong Cauldron—apart from the channeling of true qi, everything was computer-controlled, so his refining curve was naturally flawless. Qing Xuanzi, by contrast, relied entirely on his own control. However rich his experience, he could never match the perfection of a computer; such a thing could not be forced.

"Qing Xuanzi's refinements fail at the drop of a hat—is this the reason?" Wei Zhao said, stroking his chin. But he promptly overturned his own idea: "That can't be it. Plenty of seventh-grade alchemists share Qing Xuanzi's problem, but not all of them do. If this were the cause, it would be a limit no alchemist could ever overcome."

And so it was: the human brain was not a computer after all. A computer could control the refining curve with near perfection, but alchemists who relied purely on experience could never manage it—not even the legendary Mystic-rank alchemists.

Wei Zhao stared at the two refining curves and their various parameters and ran another round of comparisons. After a full half-hour, he finally caught a hint of something. Beyond the difference in smoothness, there was in fact another subtle distinction between the two curves—one he would not have noticed at a glance even himself, without an exceedingly careful comparison.

That distinction was this: Wei Zhao's own refining curve was accomplished in one unbroken sweep from beginning to end, with no gaps anywhere in between. Qing Xuanzi's was different. At first glance it too was a continuous line, but magnify it tenfold and one could see that before each change in the heat level, a gap appeared.

The gaps were minute—so small as to be negligible—but they were undeniably there, and without exception they appeared before every single change in heat level.

This was not hard to understand. Qing Xuanzi, unlike Wei Zhao, had no Shennong Cauldron; every step of the refining process had to be handled by his own hands. Each change in heat level entailed a series of subsequent adjustments—one misstep and all the rest went wrong—so at such moments he would unconsciously pause for a beat.

Following this line of reasoning, Wei Zhao compared their respective refining parameters once more, and sure enough, every parameter divergence between himself and Qing Xuanzi occurred after one of these pauses—sometimes drifting upward, sometimes downward, subtle in magnitude but unquestionably present.

Strictly speaking, such differences did not necessarily lead to a failed refinement, for after drifting up and down these parameters might well cancel each other out. There was therefore still a good chance the pill would come out smoothly in the end.

But if luck turned sour and these minute differences failed to cancel out, instead piling up steadily upward or downward, then past a certain point the process would truly derail.

Without question, this was the root of Qing Xuanzi's problem. His mastery of alchemical technique was already ample, but this small habit left the final outcome of his refinements to luck. So long as his luck was not too foul, all was well; but the moment luck failed him, all his efforts would come to nothing.

Wei Zhao went straight to the Qingdan Pavilion and said to Qing Xuanzi without preamble, "I think I know where your problem lies."

"Truly? Master, tell me quickly!" Qing Xuanzi was startled and delighted all at once.

"I noticed earlier that you have a rather unfortunate little tic when you refine pills—one you may not even be aware of yourself. Before every change in heat level, you unconsciously pause to gather yourself. If you can overcome this habit and make the whole refining process more complete and continuous, I believe whether the pill forms or not will no longer depend on luck," Wei Zhao advised.

"A little tic? A pause to gather myself?" Qing Xuanzi frowned at these words and sank into thought. It was true, just as Wei Zhao said—even he himself had never noticed it, for this small habit had taken root gradually from the time he began learning alchemy at age ten, and had become almost second nature, quite beyond his own awareness.

"Just so. Refine another Great Return Pill and pay close attention to yourself," Wei Zhao said.

"Yes, Master." Qing Xuanzi at once set about the attempt with impatient eagerness. This time, because he was deliberately watching for it, he caught it himself—and was at once thoroughly convinced.