Volume One, Chapter Six: Alchemy

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Dan Pavilion

After Gu Mingxi entered, she was led by a medicine boy to meet the Fifth Elder.

The Fifth Elder was an eighth-rank alchemist, in charge of the Gu family’s Dan Pavilion.

The Fourth Elder was an eighth-rank artifact crafter, overseeing the Gu family’s Artifact Pavilion.

The Third Elder was an eighth-rank talisman master, managing the Gu family’s Talisman Pavilion.

The Sixth Elder was an eighth-rank formation master, responsible for the Gu family’s Formation Pavilion.

The Gu family’s ninth-rank formation master was an ancestor from the main lineage—Gu Mingxi’s great-grandfather—who had been secluded for over twenty years, striving to break through to the Great Ascension.

This great-grandfather was named Gu Yangyan, with the Daoist title Jingming, widely known as the Venerable Jingming.

The medicine boy bowed respectfully to Gu Mingxi before leaving.

The Fifth Elder was in the middle of refining pills, and Gu Mingxi remained silent initially.

The Fifth Elder glanced at her but said nothing, continuing his work.

A quarter of an hour later,

As the Fifth Elder finished the hand seals, he stored seven plump pills.

Only then did he turn to Gu Mingxi standing nearby.

Gu Mingxi bowed and said, "Disciple Gu Mingxi pays respects to Fifth Elder."

"Not bad. In just three months, you’ve reached the third layer of Qi Refinement."

The Fifth Elder nodded with satisfaction and handed her a jade slip.

"Familiarize yourself with all the spiritual herbs and fruits listed in this jade slip and learn to distinguish them. Then come see me again."

Gu Mingxi nodded and left for the herb garden.

She studied the spiritual herbs in the garden, cross-referencing descriptions in the jade slip.

After two days, she had recognized all the herbs both in the garden and in her spatial storage.

Gu Mingxi then sought out the Fifth Elder.

The Fifth Elder nodded and brought her to the pill refining chamber, explaining and demonstrating the pill-refining process and the final formation of the pill.

Afterward, he left Gu Mingxi to practice alone.

The Fifth Elder was leisurely organizing spiritual herbs when suddenly a massive explosion shook the building.

Before he could investigate, a series of explosions followed.

Then came a chorus of wails.

Clearly, some disciple’s pill furnace had exploded—but such a large-scale blast? Could it be that Gu Siming was refining a fifth-grade pill?

When the Fifth Elder arrived at the pill chambers, he saw a group of disciples, all dusty and disheveled.

Most notably, one of the chambers had collapsed.

The Fifth Elder looked puzzled. "Siming, what happened here?"

Gu Siming wore a distressed expression, seemingly drained of hope.

"I don’t know either. I was attempting to refine a fifth-grade pill, and just as the pill was about to form, there was a huge explosion."

"We were all caught off guard. Every disciple refining pills had their furnaces explode."

"Perhaps because there were too many explosions, the chamber collapsed right after."

As Gu Siming spoke, the other disciples nodded in agreement.

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The Fifth Elder’s face darkened.

Furnace explosions were common, but never on such a wide scale.

From the corner, Gu Mingxi, after hearing the complaints from her clan brothers and sisters, awkwardly stepped forward.

"Fifth Elder, brothers, sisters, this was my fault that caused everyone’s furnaces to explode. I apologize to everyone."

Seeing that the speaker was a very young and adorable girl sincerely apologizing, the others let it slide.

They switched to another chamber to continue refining.

Gu Mingxi was called to the Fifth Elder’s refining chamber.

The Fifth Elder said, "You refine here. Let me see what’s going wrong."

Gu Mingxi nodded sheepishly and began refining.

The initial steps went smoothly, but problems arose again at the pill formation stage.

If not for the Fifth Elder’s timely intervention, the furnace would have exploded again.

Opening the furnace revealed only failed pills.

The Fifth Elder sighed. "You’re not suited for pill refining. You should be able to sense where the problem lies."

Having nearly caused two consecutive explosions, Gu Mingxi nodded weakly.

"Because my thunder spiritual energy is too volatile; the energy for pill formation must be more gentle."

The Fifth Elder nodded. "The Gu family has many ancestors with thunder spiritual roots, yet none became alchemists. This is likely why."

Seeing Gu Mingxi’s disappointment, he sighed again.

This child had enjoyed smooth sailing since starting cultivation three months ago.

Gifted, favored by the family, and the daughter of the clan leader—she probably hadn’t faced real setbacks yet.

After bidding farewell to the Fifth Elder, Gu Mingxi returned.

Back in the courtyard, she saw Gu Mingyue.

Gu Mingxi hurried forward.

Gu Mingyue’s face lit up upon seeing her.

"Mingyue!"

"Mingxi!"

As Gu Mingxi approached, Gu Mingyue noticed something was wrong with her mood.

Had she been bullied? Impossible.

Mingxi was so gifted, the Gu family practically cherished her.

Since they were close and grew up together, Gu Mingyue didn’t beat around the bush and asked directly.

Gu Mingxi bitterly confessed, "I blew up the pill chamber today."

Gu Mingyue burst out laughing.

Seeing Gu Mingxi’s sullen face, she stopped and said seriously, "Mingxi, since you don’t have a talent for pill refining, I’ll prepare the pills I make for you."

"Even if you can’t refine pills, you have me."

Gu Mingxi was struck by Gu Mingyue’s earnest expression and paused.

Then she nodded firmly.

Thus, a youthful promise was made.

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Until one became a top formation master, the other a top alchemist.

Outside the courtyard,

Gu Moyuan nodded with satisfaction.

The new generation leaders of the Gu family would undoubtedly be Gu Mingxi and Gu Mingyue.

Their close relationship would greatly benefit the family’s development.

Gu Moyuan had come today because of the pill chamber incident, worried she might brood.

But he found his precious daughter already comforted by a companion.

This reminded him of his youth, traveling the continent with Lin Sheng.

He had Lin Sheng and other companions then.

Together they explored secret realms and fought beasts.

Those days...

Sigh...

Now, everyone was a head of a family or a sect’s battle power.

They wouldn’t meet so casually anymore.

(The father’s generation—youthful friends now hold esteemed positions. Later, you can guess who they are!)

A brief interlude:

Gu Moyuan’s first time refining pills in his youth—

The Gu family disciples watched his smooth pill-refining technique and said, "Not bad, so far, everything is... good..."

Before finishing, the furnace exploded.

The disciple assisting nearby had his hair singed and smoke coming out of his mouth.

Gu Moyuan scratched his head awkwardly and apologized repeatedly before starting again.

Then,

"Boom!"

"Sorry, clan brother, I’ll try again!"

Then,

"Boom!"

...

After five attempts, Gu Moyuan finally stopped.

Not because he didn’t want to continue, but because the pill chamber collapsed.

At that time, the Fifth Elder, now the master Fifth Elder, inspected Gu Moyuan’s spiritual fire and concluded:

"Although your spiritual fire complements your exceptional fire spiritual root, it is very unsuitable for pill refining."

"Your spiritual fire is too restless, and so is your spiritual energy. Therefore, you are not fit for alchemy."

Thus, Gu Moyuan was asked to leave the Dan Pavilion.

Years later, his daughter surpassed him—her first time refining pills also destroyed a pill chamber and got her asked to leave the Dan Pavilion.