The Legendary Master’s Wife - Chap 16

Chapter 16: Precision Control

You XiaoMo felt a little uneasy. Just when he was hesitating over whether he should continue eavesdropping, the two people walked further away, their voices getting softer. He practically couldn’t hear “Da Shixiong’s” reply, or maybe he didn’t answer. Whatever the case, he didn’t hear it. Even though he didn’t hear the “Da Shixiong’s” voice, You XiaoMo subconsciously thought back to the pair he encountered in the library. Could it be that the Xiao Shimei they referred to was that girl? You XiaoMo didn’t dare to dwell on it further, quickly forgetting all about the matter.

Hurrying to the library, You XiaoMo returned the four books before borrowing another two. One of the books recorded the magic herbs found on the Long Xiang Continent up to level six. It also had colored drawings. Most of the common magic herbs were included. The other book was on basic pill refining. The next day he would start refining magic pills. It would be good to read up beforehand on the important points so that he would know what to do if something went wrong.

You XiaoMo left in high spirits after borrowing the books, completely unaware that the old man guarding the library suddenly opened his eyes and scrutinized him. He had guarded the library for almost one hundred years and this was the first time he had seen a probationary disciple run here almost every other day. Although he had inferior inborn talent, he was a hard working teenager. But that was all it was, the old man soon shut his eyes again.

After that, You XiaoMo simply brought along the books to the canteen for breakfast. Since he spent some time looking for books at the library, when he arrived, there was a sea of people . The food was also mostly gone. Luckily he was not a big eater . After breakfast, You XiaoMo followed several disciples who were going the same way towards the Hall of Magic Herbs.

For that day’s lesson, Da Shixiong Fang no longer focused on book knowledge. Since they had already stimulated the force of their souls, today they could start trying to refine magic pills. Da Shixiong Fang brought them to a stone room. On stone platforms, five cauldrons were placed in a row; next to each was a rectangular wooden table.

“From today onwards, this is where you will be refining magic pills. Now choose one cauldron and stand by it.”

You XiaoMo was standi ng at the back, so by the time he went over, the other four had already chosen their cauldrons, leaving him the one right at the back.

After seeing that they had chosen their cauldrons, Da Shixiong Fang said, “Now look at the cauldron in front of you. It is the tool by which you will refine magic pills. Level one and level two magic pills can be refined in this cauldron.”

Hearing him say level one and level two magic pills, You XiaoMo blurted out, “Da Shixiong, don’t tell me that level three magic pills cannot be refined in this cauldron?”

The other four disciples immediately gave him looks of contempt. Da Shixiong clearly stated level one and level two. Of course level three cannot be refined in this cauldron – and yet he actually asked such a stupid question. You XiaoMo dreadfully regretted it after the words popped out of his mouth.

Fang ChenYue smiled, but did not rebuke him, “Level three magic pills are the first threshold for mages. It requires the use of a stronger force that an ordinary cauldron would not be able to support. So, changing cauldrons is required at every stage, unless one started out with a relatively good cauldron.”

You XiaoMo hung down his head, it seemed to him that was again a question of money.

Following that, Fang ChenYue explained how to use the cauldron. Simply speaking, it was to transport the force of the soul into the cauldron. Because ordinary cauldrons had three small openings on the top, the soul force had to be divided into three before entering the cauldron. Therefore, this depended on how skilled a mage was at manipulating the soul force. If the skill was bad, even with top grade magic herbs, with good luck, a low grade magic pill would be produced. With bad luck, the magic herbs would be rendered useless. Therefore, the ability to control the soul force with precision was very important when refining magic pills.

Fang ChenYue had his own things to take care of, so he couldn’t stay by their sides while they practiced. So, he called over a relatively younger disciple named Wu to help out. After he left, You XiaoMo and the others threw themselves into practice.

Everything was hard in the beginning. This saying was quite true. Just when You XiaoMo was deep in thought, trying to figure out how to divide his soul force, one of the other disciples went ahead impatiently. Boom. The cauldron flew from the explosion. When You XiaoMo looked over, that disciple was already red-faced, full of disbelief.

Since he had witnessed more unexpected things, Wu- Shixiong, who the Da Shixiong had entrusted them to, didn’t seemed fazed. He walked over and gave the disciple a few pointers. The others quickly picked up their ears, including You XiaoMo. You XiaoMo took a deep breath. When his concentration was at a high point, he saw a white diaphanous ball in front of him. That was the essence of soul force.

Under his control, he divided his soul force into three equal parts before bringing them close to the three openings and dropping them in. He could feel his soul force flooding the ice-cold narrow space. He could even ‘see’ what was happening inside. His sight traveled through a dark surface. It was a metal that was both black and hard with the occasional glimmer of other metals. Going down the openings, he finally ‘saw’ the whole space. It was a cavity with nothing else.

You XiaoMo moved the soul force around the space before retrieving it. When he snapped out of it, he felt that the stone room was strangely quiet. He raised his head to see the others staring blankly at him, including Wu-Shixiong who was looking at him in amazement.