Chapter 115: Taking The Innitiative

Chapter 115: Chapter 115: Taking The Innitiative

After leaving the herb garden, Sui Sui carefully thought over Elder Jingyan’s words. Could they really be true? He did not want to make assumptions too quickly, especially when he had no concrete evidence yet. After thinking about it for a while, Sui Sui came up with a plan.

Once he finished tending to the herbs, there was still plenty of time left in the afternoon. As usual, Elder Shan Li was sitting outside his residence, leisurely sipping tea. Mu Mu was also there, sitting nearby while munching on some strange-looking thing that Sui Sui could not recognize, he really didn’t look like a test subject at this point.

Sui Sui walked over to Elder Shan Li and stopped a few steps away, respectfully cupping his hands. "Greetings, Elder. This disciple has finished tending to the herbs."

Elder Shan Li lifted his eyes from his tea and glanced at him. His expression remained as stoic as ever, giving away nothing of his thoughts. "Oh? Well done."

Hearing this, Sui Sui hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Since there is still quite some time left, may this disciple use the remaining time to refine some spirit pills here?"

Elder Shan Li’s expression did not change, and he merely took another leisurely sip of tea. However, Sui Sui noticed a small change in his hand. The index finger of his left hand, which had been tapping idly against the table, suddenly began tapping a little faster.

"Okay. Go ahead and do your business."

Hearing the agreement, Sui Sui found a fairly clean spot nearby and sat down. He deliberately chose a place that was neither too close nor too far from Elder Shan Li, then took out his cauldron and several spirit herbs, including Vermilion Rootleaf and Jadeheart Grass.

This time, he planned to refine a new pill called the Vital Essence Pill. It was the first time he had refined pills in several days, as he had been too occupied with his other tasks to find the time.

After recalling the refining process in his mind, Sui Sui finally began. He closed his eyes to focus more to gather his soul force. As usual, he first separated the medicinal particles before purifying the materials.

This time, he stuck to his old method instead of using the new one. It was because there was no need to rush, and these herbs were relatively low-level with fewer impurities anyway, so three rounds of purification were enough to produce a high-grade pill.

Once the purification was complete, he moved on to the liquification stage. Everything proceeded smoothly until the final step which was merging the medicinal essences and condensing them into a pill.

Sui Sui carefully guided the two essences toward each other, but the moment they came into contact, they immediately repelled one another.

He tried again.

And again.

Yet no matter how he adjusted his spiritual energy, the two medicinal essences simply refused to merge.

Sui Sui frowned slightly. He was a little puzzled. He had already reached the final stage, so he certainly could not just stop halfway and waste all the materials he had refined.

Just as Sui Sui was about to try another method, a familiar voice suddenly came from his side.

"You are doing it wrong."

Sui Sui opened his eyes to turn his head and saw Elder Shan Li looking toward his cauldron. At some point, the elder had put down his teacup and walked closer to him and now watching the two medicinal essences inside with a faintly focused look in his eyes.

"These two herbs, Vermilion Rootleaf and Jadeheart Grass, have medicinal particles that are somewhat repellent to each other. "

Elder Shan Li paused for a moment, his gaze remaining on the swirling essences.

"The difference between their medicinal particles is too great. If you combine too much at once, they will naturally reject each other. To successfully merge them, you must start with only a small amount of each essence. Calm the medicinal particles with your spiritual energy and let them gradually become accustomed to each other."

He lightly tapped his finger against the cauldron.

"Once they stabilize, add a little more. Then repeat the process. Don’t increase the amount too quickly. As the medicinal particles gradually become familiar with one another, their resistance will weaken and will naturally mix together."

This was the first time Sui Sui had heard of such a thing, so it was understandable that he did not know. Who would have thought that medicinal herbs could actually repel each other?

After hearing Elder Shan Li’s explanation, Sui Sui immediately gave it a try. He separated a small amount of both medicinal essences and carefully guided them together, using his spiritual energy to ease the resistance between them. Once they stabilized, he slowly added more, repeating the process until he could gradually increase the amount without causing them to separate.

Soon, the two medicinal essences finally began to merge.

Sui Sui carefully maintained their balance until they completely fused together, allowing him to successfully condense the Vital Essence Pill.

Once the pill was successfully formed, it flew out of the cauldron. Before Sui Sui could reach out to catch it, another hand intercepted it.

Elder Shan Li took the pill and examined it closely. A strong medicinal fragrance lingered around it, and judging by its deep color, it was undoubtedly a high-grade pill.

"Well done on your first try." After appraising it, he handed the pill back to Sui Sui.

Sui Sui carefully accepted it before cupping his hands in salute. "This disciple thanks Elder for your timely guidance. If it weren’t for you, I might have failed this pill."

Elder Shan Li merely gave a quiet hum in response before turning to leave.

However, before he could take more than a few steps, Sui Sui quickly called out from behind, "Elder, please wait."

Remembering Elder Jingyan’s words, Sui Sui reminded himself that if he truly wanted to learn, he could not simply wait for others to teach him. He had to take the initiative. So Sui Sui strengthened his resolve and asked: "If Elder does not mind, may this disciple ask you questions about alchemy in the future?"

Elder Shan Li stopped in his tracks.

He did not answer immediately. His expression remained as calm and unreadable as before, but his gaze lingered on Sui Sui for a moment, as though quietly considering the request.

After a short pause, he finally gave a small nod.

"Okay."

Sui Sui’s eyes immediately lit up, and the corners of his lips lifted into a bright smile.

"Then this disciple thanks the Elder in advance!"

—

True to his words, in the following days, when Sui Sui encountered something he did not understand, he would immediately ask Elder Shan Li without holding back.

"Elder, why does refining a material too many times sometimes reduce its medicinal effect?"

"If two herbs have conflicting properties, which one should be refined first?"

"Why do some medicinal essences still repel each other even after being purified?"

"Elder, if a pill fails during the condensation stage, can the medicinal essence still be salvaged?"

Sui Sui asked question after question throughout those days. These days, if there was one thing he certainly did not lack, it was shamelessness when it came to learning. As long as there was something he did not understand, he would ask without hesitation. He was simply too eager to absorb every bit of alchemy knowledge Elder Shan Li was willing to teach him.

Elder Shan Li, on the other hand, did not actually dislike Sui Sui at all. In fact, he quite appreciated his eagerness to learn. Shan Li was much the same himself; whenever he became interested in something, he wanted to understand it thoroughly rather than merely learn the basics. As an alchemist, he naturally had a favorable impression of those who genuinely enjoyed alchemy as much as he did.

There was another reason he found Sui Sui easy to get along with—he was talkative.

Elder Shan Li had always been a quiet person. Because he rarely initiated conversations, most people tended to leave him alone, assuming he preferred the silence. In truth, he simply was not very good at starting conversations himself.

With Sui Sui, however, he did not have to worry about that. The boy would naturally bring up a topic and keep the conversation going, and fortunately, most of those topics were about alchemy, something Shan Li could happily talk about for hours.

The days gradually settled into a familiar rhythm.

Each morning, Sui Sui would tend to the herbs and the Spirit Jade Fruit Tree. Once his work was finished, he would spend the afternoon refining pills and asking Elder Shan Li about anything he did not understand. Day after day, his questions became more numerous, and his understanding of alchemy slowly deepened.

Before long, several days had passed.

By then, What had initially been a simple request to ask questions had gradually become part of his daily routine.

However, one morning, as Sui Sui was making his way toward Elder Shan Li’s residence as usual, he encountered someone he would much rather not see.

It was Chu Ran.