Alchemist Qian left the room, leaving Terra Su alone with nothing to do. He sat in the room, sipping tea while waiting for Alchemist Qian to return.
Not long after, the door suddenly burst open with a loud “bang.” A person dressed as an alchemy apprentice rushed in hastily and asked urgently, “Where is Lord Qian? Is Lord Qian here?”
Without looking up, Terra Su replied, “He’s not here.”
“If Lord Qian isn’t here, you must be his apprentice, right?” The alchemy apprentice grabbed Terra Su without waiting for a response and said, “No time to explain, come with me quickly. Master Mo needs help with alchemy, and if we’re late, it will be too late!”
Terra Su, indifferent, was dragged by the apprentice to a secret alchemy chamber on the fourth floor.
Inside the chamber, there were already five or six people. The apprentice who brought Terra Su immediately shouted to an older apprentice, “I found someone!”
The older apprentice glanced at Terra Su, frowned in obvious dissatisfaction, and said, “Why did you bring such a young kid?”
The apprentice who brought Terra Su wanted to say something but was interrupted by the older apprentice, “Forget it, there’s no time. He’ll have to do! You all, come over quickly. You, grind the Seven-Colored Stone. You, crush these Cloud Ying Grass… Move faster, Master Mo is about to start alchemy!”
Terra Su glanced at the deepest part of the chamber. There, indeed, was a purple alchemy furnace emitting wisps of heat. An old man with white hair, dressed in a red alchemist’s robe, was busy beside the furnace with his back to them.
“Is that Master Mo?” Terra Su asked. In his previous life, he had heard of Master Mo’s reputation. The man was the president of the Alchemy Guild in Clear River City, highly respected, and a figure whose mere stomp could shake the city.
“Yes, that’s Lord Mo. Stop staring! You, cut the heads off these Iron Thread Worms!” A small jar of Iron Thread Worms and a small knife were shoved into Terra Su’s hands.
Terra Su smiled and leisurely began cutting the Iron Thread Worms.
Master Mo was intently focused on the alchemy furnace. Today, he was attempting to refine the Snow Lotus Creation Elixir, a highly challenging elixir that he had never successfully refined before.
Today marked his seventh attempt. He had made thorough preparations and adjusted the alchemy formula based on previous failures. He believed that this time, he would definitely succeed in refining the Snow Lotus Creation Elixir.
“Materials!”
Seeing that the furnace was almost preheated, Master Mo called out.
The older apprentice hurriedly brought the prepared materials over. Master Mo took them and sequentially placed the five main ingredients into the furnace, followed by the auxiliary ingredients.
The Snow Lotus Creation Elixir required five main ingredients and twenty-three auxiliary ingredients, totaling twenty-eight materials. The order and timing of their addition were crucial; any mistake would result in failure.
Besides the materials, the attributes of the alchemy furnace and the ignition process were also critical. The furnace had to have a cold attribute, and the ignition required five sources of fire, corresponding to the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
Master Mo meticulously followed each step, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
His tension was understandable; he couldn’t afford another failure. The materials for the Snow Lotus Creation Elixir were extremely valuable, and he had already failed six times. If he failed again, even his vast wealth couldn’t withstand such a drain.
Fortunately, everything was going smoothly today, following Master Mo’s planned steps. If nothing unexpected happened, he should succeed today.
The alchemy apprentices in the chamber watched Master Mo’s busy figure with admiration in their eyes. To them, Master Mo was their idol, the alchemy god of Clear River City, whose alchemy skills had reached a divine level.
However, they didn’t notice that Terra Su, watching Master Mo’s actions from a distance, was slowly shaking his head.
Two quarters of an hour passed, and wisps of blue smoke began to rise from the top of the furnace. Seeing the shape of the smoke, Master Mo’s heart sank.
The shape of the smoke was wrong. Could it be another failure?
Ignoring the rule of not opening the furnace before the elixir was finished, Master Mo quickly stepped forward and lifted the lid slightly. A thick cloud of smoke, mixed with a strong elixir scent, billowed out.
The pungent smell made Master Mo’s heart sink further. Peering into the furnace, he saw several blackened elixir embryos, far from the true Snow Lotus Creation Elixir. Master Mo knew then that the attempt had failed again!
“How could this happen?”
Despite his premonition, seeing the result still struck Master Mo like a bolt of lightning. He muttered in a daze, “I did everything perfectly, so why did it fail?”
Where did it go wrong?
Master Mo stared at the still-burning furnace, feeling utterly dejected. This failure meant he couldn’t attempt to refine the Snow Lotus Creation Elixir again anytime soon. Even his wealth couldn’t withstand such repeated waste.
Yet, Master Mo was unwilling to give up. This attempt had been perfect, so where had it gone wrong?
At that moment, he heard a voice from behind, “This batch of elixir hasn’t failed yet; it can still be salvaged!”
“Who said that?” Master Mo was startled. Turning around, he remembered the group of alchemy apprentices in the room.
The speaker was the youngest-looking apprentice among them!
“Hey, are you crazy?” The apprentice who brought Terra Su was almost scared out of his wits. He hit Terra Su hard and whispered, “How dare you speak recklessly in front of Lord Mo?”
The oldest apprentice quickly stepped forward and bowed to Master Mo, “Lord Mo, please don’t mind him. This boy is a new apprentice and doesn’t know better. We’ll take him away immediately.”
As he spoke, the older apprentice turned and scolded Terra Su in a low voice, “Hurry up and leave!”
“Wait!”
Master Mo raised his hand to stop them and quickly walked to Terra Su. Looking at the young boy, he asked, “You said this batch of elixir can still be salvaged? How?”
Although Master Mo knew he shouldn’t heed a boy’s words, he was desperate. The materials were already wasted, so even a one percent chance of salvaging them was worth a try.
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