Wind-Fire Medicine Refining

Tieu Lan set down her brush. She had just risen to put away the remaining medicinal ingredients when Hao Nhien spoke.

“Leave them for now.”

Tieu Lan turned to look at him.

“Young Master?”

Hao Nhien placed the Qi-Recovery Pill in his hand back onto the jade tray, his gaze still resting on the three pills they had just refined.

“I want to try one more batch.”

Tieu Lan glanced at the light outside the tent. The sun had already begun to tilt westward. It was not low yet, but there was not much of the day left.

“Still Qi-Recovery Pills?”

“Mm, but this time we won’t do everything exactly the same way.”

Tieu Lan paused slightly.

Hao Nhien pointed toward the medicinal ingredients already sorted on the shelves.

“Use the best materials we have. For Sand Spirit Root, choose the one with the fullest medicinal force. Don’t use any Fire Sand Grass that has already lost too much moisture. Pick the Spirit Cloud Leaves that still retain the strongest vitality, and use the best portion of Ice Spirit Fruit as well.”

Tieu Lan immediately shook her head.

“Young Master, we don’t have much of those.”

She looked at him and continued,

“You were the one who agreed before that while we still don’t fully understand the method, we shouldn’t waste our best medicinal ingredients.”

“Before, we didn’t even know whether we could form pills at all.”

Hao Nhien replied calmly.

“Now it’s different. We’ve already refined mid-grade Qi-Recovery Pills, but we still don’t know whether that result came from the method, the quality of the ingredients, or simply because all the factors happened to align during that attempt.”

He pointed toward the medicinal bags.

“If the materials vary too much from one attempt to another, then whether the result improves or gets worse, it will still be difficult to know the real cause. This time, I want to reduce one variable. We’ll use the best and most stable materials we have and see how far the current method can go.”

Tieu Lan did not answer immediately.

She studied his expression for a long time.

There was no impatience after success, nor did he look like someone eager to gamble precious ingredients on a better batch. Hao Nhien was clearly thinking about how to isolate the cause.

After a while, Tieu Lan finally nodded.

“Alright, but only one batch.”

“One batch.”

Hao Nhien agreed.

Tieu Lan turned toward the medicinal shelves. Instead of taking from the bags prepared for ordinary testing, she opened a wooden box stored on the highest level.

Inside were three yellow-brown Sand Spirit Roots, each much fuller than the ones they had used before. These were among the highest-quality medicinal samples the Tam Thành military stores had allowed them to bring for comparison.

Tieu Lan selected one root, then took five Fire Sand Grass stalks with even red coloration, six Spirit Cloud Leaves that still retained strong vitality, and one quarter of an Ice Spirit Fruit.

She placed each one on the table.

“These are the best portions.”

There was still a trace of reluctance in her voice.

Hao Nhien looked at the ingredients.

“I won’t let them be wasted for nothing.”

Tieu Lan shook her head again.

“Even failure isn’t completely wasteful, as long as we truly learn something from it.”

Hao Nhien looked at her, the corner of his lips lifting slightly.

“Right. Then we need to record this one even more carefully.”

They did not immediately place the ingredients into the cauldron.

Hao Nhien pulled the small table closer and took out the tools available in the medicine room. A small medicine scale, several jade bottles, three stone bowls, a short bamboo tube, a few transparent glass bottles, and a small hourglass Tieu Lan normally used to time decoctions were placed one by one on the table.

Tieu Lan looked over everything.

“What does Young Master want to do?”

“First, weigh everything again.”

Hao Nhien placed the Sand Spirit Root on the scale.

“This time, we don’t just write three parts, two parts, or a small amount. I want to know how much each ingredient actually weighs, then compare that with the medicinal force we can sense.”

Tieu Lan paused.

Most of the pill formulas she had read recorded proportions in parts. For experienced alchemists, that was usually enough, since they could make adjustments according to color, condition, and medicinal aura.

Hao Nhien weighed each ingredient one by one, while Tieu Lan recorded the values using the weights they had available.

After checking the Sand Spirit Root, Hao Nhien used Divine Sense to examine the medicinal force within it.

“This root weighs nearly twenty percent more than the portion we used before, but the medicinal aura is only about ten percent stronger.”

Tieu Lan looked at the root.

“Maybe it contains more water.”

“I think so too.”

Hao Nhien cut off a very thin slice, placed it on a stone tray, and gently dried it with extremely low Fire spiritual power. Only after the slice had clearly lost moisture did he weigh it again.

The difference immediately became obvious.

Tieu Lan looked at the number, then up at him.

“Young Master wants to calculate the ratio after removing some of the water?”

“Not exactly.”

Hao Nhien replied.

“Water also affects refinement, so we can’t treat it as useless. But if we don’t know how much the moisture content varies from one ingredient to another, we may easily mistake equal weight for equal medicinal content.”

He pointed toward the Ice Spirit Fruit.

“This one obviously contains much more water. If we only measure total weight, we might think we’re using a much larger amount of Cold-aligned medicinal force when most of the difference actually comes from water.”

Tieu Lan thought for a while, then nodded.

She took a fresh sheet of paper, divided it into four columns, and wrote:

Initial Weight

Weight After Drying

Perceived Medicinal Force

Actual Amount Used

Hao Nhien looked at the page as memories from his old world gradually became clearer.

There, no one had Divine Sense to directly perceive medicinal force, nor did they have spiritual fire that could be controlled by thought, yet people still knew how to weigh, measure, record, and, more importantly, change one factor at a time to determine cause and effect.

This world possessed things Earth never had.

What if the two approaches could complement each other?

Hao Nhien did not know the answer, but the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to try.

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“There’s one more thing.”

He picked up the small hourglass.

“Time needs to be more precise too.”

Tieu Lan looked at it.

“Using this?”

“Mm, but we can’t just rely on one full run of sand.”

Hao Nhien poured the sand onto a small tray, used the scale to divide it into ten roughly equal portions, then returned them in measured amounts. He did not think this was precise enough to count as a proper measuring instrument, but at least it created more repeatable intervals than counting breaths alone.

“My breathing rhythm when I’m focused, tired, or relaxed isn’t the same. If we always measure time by breaths, those differences will accumulate.”

Tieu Lan looked at the hourglass.

“With this, each interval should be more consistent.”

“Exactly.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

“It isn’t perfect, but at least we can compare.”

Tieu Lan immediately added another column to the page.

Time

Hao Nhien placed the hourglass beside the cauldron, then turned his attention toward the stone bowls.

“And temperature…”

Tieu Lan asked,

“Have you thought of a way to measure it?”

“Not as an exact number yet.”

Hao Nhien replied.

“But we can create reference points, so next time we’ll know whether we’re using roughly the same heat or something completely different.”

He took out a small amount of spirit-bee wax, a bowl of clean water, a medicinal oil commonly used for treating wounds, and a small piece of Golden Sand Stone.

The four materials were placed separately in four stone bowls.

“The wax softens at a relatively low temperature. Water can serve as a reference once it reaches a steady boil. The medicinal oil changes color at a higher level, and Golden Sand Stone only begins to glow once the heat rises further.”

Tieu Lan looked at each one.

“Young Master wants to use them as markers?”

“Exactly.”

“We don’t know the actual temperature, but if the same material reacts the same way, then at least we can tell whether one attempt is close to another.”

He looked at the four bowls.

“For now, we’ll call them four heat markers. If we find more suitable materials later, we can divide the range more finely.”

Tieu Lan watched him for quite some time.

She had seen alchemists judge heat through flame color, the temperature of the cauldron body, medicinal scent, and the reaction of the vapor, but she had never seen anyone place unrelated materials nearby purely as comparative references.

This method could not replace an alchemist’s perception.

But it could make that perception easier to compare.

“Where did the previous attempt fall?”

Tieu Lan asked.

Hao Nhien thought for a moment, then pointed between the two middle markers.

“Most of the time, between the second and third. When refining Sand Spirit Root, it was closer to the third. During pill collection, it sometimes went higher, but never reached the fourth.”

Tieu Lan immediately wrote that down.

Hao Nhien still was not finished. His gaze returned to the cauldron.

“There’s a bigger problem.”

He picked up a Spirit Cloud Leaf.

“Until now, we’ve been placing the medicinal materials into the cauldron and using heat to force the essence out. The stronger the heat, the faster the medicinal force is released, but the more delicate parts are also easier to damage.”

Tieu Lan nodded slightly.

“So Young Master wants to reduce the heat?”

“Not only reduce it.”

Hao Nhien replied.

“I want to separate the extraction process from the rest of the refinement.”

In his memories, there had been methods that did not require heating everything to very high temperatures in order to extract what was needed. Vapor carrying useful components could be moved elsewhere and cooled until it condensed again.

He did not have Earth’s equipment.

But he had Wind affinity.

He had Fire spiritual power.

He could create cooling through Ice Spirit Fruit.

And he had Divine Sense to observe what happened inside.

“I want to divide the cauldron into two functional zones.”

Hao Nhien said.

“One side heats the medicinal material. The other stays cooler so the medicinal vapor can condense.”

Tieu Lan looked at the cauldron.

“But there’s only one chamber inside.”

“Then we guide it with airflow.”

Hao Nhien placed a stalk of Fire Sand Grass into the cauldron.

He did not raise the heat immediately. Instead, he first used his Wind affinity to create a very gentle current moving along the inner wall. The airflow was not strong, only enough to maintain a stable direction.

Then Hao Nhien used Fire spiritual power to heat the eastern side of the cauldron while keeping the western side cooler. Tieu Lan cut a very thin slice of Ice Spirit Fruit and placed it near the western wall, allowing enough Cold energy to spread without invading the hotter region directly.

“The east side extracts the medicine, the west side condenses it.”

Hao Nhien explained.

“The Wind affinity only carries the medicinal vapor from one side to the other.”

Tieu Lan watched intently.

The Fire Sand Grass began to heat, but the temperature was clearly lower than during direct refinement the day before.

Thin threads of red mist slowly rose from the plant.

Hao Nhien immediately adjusted the airflow so that the vapor carrying medicinal essence was continuously drawn away from the herb’s surface and guided along the cauldron wall toward the cooler region.

When the red mist reached the cooler section, part of it began condensing into tiny droplets of medicinal liquid.

Tieu Lan straightened slightly without realizing it.

“It really condensed…”

Hao Nhien did not answer.

He was maintaining three things at once: the heat in the eastern zone, the Cold energy in the west, and the airflow connecting them.

If the current was too fast, the medicinal vapor would disperse before it had time to condense. If it was too slow, vapor would accumulate around the herb and reduce the extraction rate. The cooling could not be too strong either, or the vapor might condense too early or disturb the hot side.

Hao Nhien changed only one element at a time and watched the reaction.

Tieu Lan followed the hourglass and recorded each interval.

After some time, the color of the Fire Sand Grass gradually faded. Once most of the medicinal force had been drawn out, Hao Nhien withdrew the Fire spiritual power but kept the airflow moving for a little longer to carry the remaining vapor toward the cool side.

In the end, a small amount of pale red medicinal liquid had collected in one corner of the cauldron.

There was not much of it, but it was clearer than the essence they had previously obtained through direct high-heat refinement.

Tieu Lan used jade tongs to remove the spent Fire Sand Grass, then examined the remaining vitality and medicinal force with Wood spiritual power.

After a while, she said,

“Very little medicinal force remains.”

Hao Nhien asked,

“What about impurities?”

Tieu Lan tested a small amount of the liquid.

“Less than before, but some heavier residue was still carried over.”

Hao Nhien looked at the liquid in the bowl.

“Pour it into a tall bottle and let it sit for a while.”

Tieu Lan did so.

After some time, a very thin layer of darker sediment really did appear at the bottom, while the liquid above became clearer.

Hao Nhien did not rush to treat this as a universal rule, but at least with this batch of Fire Sand Grass, clear separation had occurred.

Tieu Lan used the bamboo tube to transfer the upper layer into another bottle, then tested it again.

Her eyes brightened.

“This part is purer.”

“And the medicinal force wasn’t damaged by Fire energy as much as before.”

Hao Nhien looked at the bottle in her hand.

“In my old homeland, there was a method somewhat like this called distillation.”

Tieu Lan repeated the word.

“Distillation?”

“Use heat to separate the part you want from the raw material, guide it somewhere else, then cool it until it condenses again.”

He looked at the cauldron.

“What we’re doing is still very crude, but the idea is similar.”

Tieu Lan lowered her head and wrote in her notebook:

Fire separates the essence.

Wind guides the medicinal vapor.

Cold condenses the medicinal liquid.

After thinking for a moment, she added:

Allow sedimentation to remove some residue if layering occurs.

Hao Nhien looked at the lines.

“It isn’t relying on Fire alone anymore.”

“The Wind affinity is part of it too.”

Tieu Lan looked up.

“Wind-Fire Medicine Refining?”

Hao Nhien considered the name, then nodded.

“We’ll call it that for now.”

They did not immediately begin refining another batch of Qi-Recovery Pills.

Instead, they spent nearly an hour testing each medicinal ingredient separately. After the Fire Sand Grass experiment worked, Hao Nhien wanted to know whether the method could be applied to ingredients with completely different properties.

Spirit Cloud Leaf required much lower heat. If the temperature rose too high, its Wood-aligned medicinal force dispersed before it could be guided toward the condensation zone. Hao Nhien therefore reduced the Fire spiritual power and slightly increased the airflow so that the vapor could be drawn out of the hot region as soon as it emerged.

Clearheart Flower was even more delicate.

Hao Nhien did not pretend that simple internal airflow could create a true low-pressure environment. Instead, he used his Wind affinity to continuously remove the air already saturated with medicinal vapor from the surface of the petals, allowing more essence to escape at a lower temperature.

Tieu Lan watched the clear-white droplets form along the inner wall of the cauldron.

“The Clearheart Flower didn’t burn.”

She examined the liquid more carefully before adding,

“And more of the medicinal force was preserved than last time.”

Sand Spirit Root behaved completely differently.

Its root structure was dense, and the essence was buried deeper within. If they only heated the outside, the surface would dry out before the medicinal force inside had fully emerged.

Tieu Lan suggested soaking the root with a small amount of spirit-spring water first.

Hao Nhien then used moderate Fire spiritual power together with a slow circulating airflow, allowing the heat to penetrate gradually through the moisture rather than concentrating only on the surface.

The process was not fast, but the earthy-yellow essence emerged far more evenly.

Tieu Lan recorded each interval and relative heat level, while Hao Nhien continued adjusting the airflow until only a small amount of medicinal force remained inside the spent root.

After several trials, four bottles of medicinal liquid sat on the table, pale red, green, clear white, and earthy yellow, each containing essence extracted separately from one ingredient.

Tieu Lan looked at the bottles for a long time.

“Young Master, this time most of the refinement is already complete before we even begin fusion.”

“Exactly.”

Hao Nhien replied.

“Before, too many things were happening inside the cauldron at once. We were refining, removing impurities, fusing the medicinal properties, and then trying to condense the pill. If one step went wrong, it was difficult to know where the problem began.”

He pointed toward the four bottles.

“Now we separate the stages. We do each one independently, check it, and only then move on. It may be slower, but if the fusion fails, at least we know the earlier refinement probably wasn’t the cause.”

Tieu Lan nodded slightly.

“It will also be easier to correct.”

“Exactly.”

Hao Nhien looked at her.

“If one step becomes stable, there is no need to keep changing it every time.”

Tieu Lan began testing new ratios.

The ingredients this time were of higher quality, and the separately extracted essences were more concentrated, so the old proportions could no longer be used without adjustment.

She placed tiny measured amounts into separate stone bowls, changing only one factor each time. Some mixtures were too Fire-heavy. Some contained too much Wood-aligned medicinal force and became sluggish. Others had too much Ice Spirit Fruit, making the overall balance too cold.

Only on the sixth mixture did the four medicinal forces remain relatively balanced.

Tieu Lan carefully wrote down the proportions and pushed the page toward Hao Nhien.

“I choose this ratio.”

“It doesn’t match Master’s notes?”

“Not exactly.”

Tieu Lan replied.

“The essences have been separated and purified more thoroughly this time. If we still use the old ratios exactly, the medicinal force will be too strong.”

Hao Nhien looked at the prepared extracts.

“How many pills can this form?”

“If we don’t lose too much during the process, five.”

Tieu Lan looked at him and added,

“But five pills will be harder to control than three.”

Hao Nhien did not answer immediately.

He looked at the cauldron, then at the clearly labeled bottles of medicinal essence.

“I want to see how far this method can go.”

Tieu Lan frowned slightly.

“Young Master has been maintaining Fire spiritual power, Wind affinity, and cooling for almost an hour. You already look worse than you did this morning.”

“I can still handle it.”

“But what if your Divine Sense is depleted halfway through condensation?”

Hao Nhien looked at her.

“I won’t push myself that far. If I feel the control starting to fail, I’ll stop.”

Tieu Lan still did not look fully convinced.

Hao Nhien continued,

“You’ll be beside me. If you notice my control becoming unstable, tell me to stop.”

Tieu Lan remained silent for a moment before finally nodding.

“Only one batch.”

“Mm.”

Hao Nhien pulled the chair over and sat down before the cauldron.

“Only one batch.”