Chapter 1459 — Notes on Alchemy: Thus a Profound Tier First Grade Pill Is Commonly Called a Super-Grade Pill, Meaning It Has Already Passed Beyond the Grade of Ordinary Pills
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Wei Zhao was now of the Profound Tier, so his starting point was fairly high; and his knowledge of pharmacology and the properties of medicines was beyond anyone else's reach!
Pill formulas were important to an alchemist, to be sure, but one who confined himself to formulas would never accomplish much, even if he were a Profound Tier first grade alchemist — for he did not understand pharmacology and the nature of the ingredients. When some ingredient was in short supply, he could not freely revise the formula, and so he would naturally fall far below the alchemist who understood pharmacology and could amend a formula himself!
And Zhang Lifeng was plainly an alchemist who could amend formulas himself!
According to the notes, Zhang Lifeng said that the Qi Gathering Pill had originally been a super-grade pill, but he had altered it into a third grade pill. Its medicinal force was no longer so domineering, and a person could take at most one in a lifetime, further doses having no effect; it lacked the original Qi Gathering Pill's virtue of being usable even at the Heaven Tier — yet its cost had fallen enormously!
The materials the true Qi Gathering Pill required could only be called astonishing. Wei Zhao glanced at the formula, and what he felt was not merely astonishment but utter bewilderment! Many of the heaven-and-earth treasures named in it were things he had never so much as heard of!
At the sight, Wei Zhao's spirits suddenly sagged. Deep as his study of pharmacology and medicinal properties might be, with ingredients he had never seen — never even heard of — he could not amend them at will, even if he wished to.
For Wei Zhao had no idea whatever what those ingredients were meant to do, or what part they played in the refining of the pill; naturally, he could not find substitutes.
Be that as it may, the formulas Zhang Lifeng had left behind were enough to serve Wei Zhao for a good while. Most of the ingredients in Zhang Lifeng's revised formulas were exceedingly ordinary, easily purchased in any market; and even those that were rather rare were grown in the old man's own herb garden.
But in those higher-grade formulas that had never been revised, things like the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit — things he had never seen — appeared everywhere, dazzling Wei Zhao's eyes!
Before cultivating, Wei Zhao still habitually made ready to call the old man at home and ask his opinion, just as he had done when he first cultivated the Xuanyuan Dragon Riding Art.
He dialed Old Man Wei's number on the satellite phone. Only after quite some time did the other end pick up, and the old man's lazy voice came through: "Little Yi? What is it? I was just taking my afternoon nap. Have you found the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit?"
Wei Zhao was somewhat at a loss for words. If one said the old man cared for him, then he cared more than anyone alive; if one said he did not care, then Wei Zhao had been gone several days and the old man had not once called to ask after him. He could not tell whether the old man truly had such faith in him, or simply reckoned he would meet with no trouble at all.
"Not yet. I have just arrived at a place near the Far North called Ice-Snow Spirit Town. Judging by the direction of the coordinates, the land of utmost northern cold lies just beyond the town. But I have tried several directions and found no path at all. I was about to try going on foot when the snow began to fall heavily, and the visibility was too poor, so I found an inn and put up there, meaning to wait for the snow to pass before going to look." Wei Zhao laid out his situation to Old Man Wei in one breath.
"Ice-Snow Spirit Town... Ice-Snow Spirit Town..." Old Man Wei, however, paid no mind to anything else Wei Zhao had said; he only kept repeating the name of the town.