"The timing starts now," said the Peach Blossom Valley Venerable as he began to keep time silently in his heart.

"Marrow Cleansing Pills? Just what I was hoping to refine."

The task given by the Peach Blossom Valley Venerable suited Lin Yifan's interests perfectly, so he went about it with great enthusiasm.

Having never refined Marrow Cleansing Pills before, he didn't know which herbs were used in their creation; he could only rely on his abilities and intuition to mix and refine the herbs on his own.

After the Peach Blossom Valley Venerable's two hours of explanation, Lin Yifan had become familiar with the properties, effects, refining temperatures, and refining durations of every herb in the alchemy room; he could reverse-engineer the process based on the effects of the Marrow Cleansing Pills.

The main function of the Marrow Cleansing Pills is to help cultivators purge their mortal marrow and replace it with 'Immortal Bone'. Of course, it doesn't literally replace bones but purifies the impurities in the cultivator's mortal bones, infusing them with pure cultivation power.

Therefore, the ingredients for refining Marrow Cleansing Pills must include herbs that can cleanse the body's impurities.

Lin Yifan quickly thought of several herbs, yet their medicinal properties could not directly enter the bones to cleanse impurities.

That's when auxiliary herbs were needed.

He thought of several herbs capable of carrying other substances into the human bone marrow; however, their properties could not dissolve in human blood, thus, they couldn't follow the flow of blood to reach bones everywhere in the body.

At this point, auxiliary herbs were needed again.

Herbs that could dissolve in blood and transport substances—Lin Yifan quickly thought of a few. But their properties would easily dissipate in the air, so what was needed was a protective layer.

He immediately thought of several herbs that could blend with and protect the medicinal properties in blood and would rapidly dissolve upon contact with acid.

After formulating the entire medicinal pathway, Lin Yifan began to select the herbs.

First, he chose herbs that could cleanse the impurities from human bone marrow; none was better suited than the Cleansing Water Lotus. It was emblematic and had the most pronounced effect.

The Cleansing Water Lotus was extremely precious, even more in demand than the Channeling Herb; in the outside world, a single Cleansing Water Lotus could fetch a staggering auction price of ten billion.

However, in this valley where rare herbs were abundant, Cleansing Water Lotus was incredibly plentiful; Lin Yifan could always obtain it if he desired.

Since the Cleansing Water Lotus was so valuable, it was placed in a high drawer. Lin Yifan, who did not possess Qinggong skills, had to move a tall stool over, climb up step by step, then sit on top to collect the herbs.

Watching this scene, the Peach Blossom Valley Venerable frowned slightly.

A mid to high-grade alchemist who couldn't perform Qinggong—could he have really devoted all his time to alchemy? But he didn't seem to have achieved much.

"It seems I'll have to teach him 'Peerless Under Heaven'," the Peach Blossom Valley Venerable muttered to himself.

"Peerless Under Heaven" was to date the fastest Qinggong. If Lin Yifan lucked into it, he would be laughing his way to the bank.

After collecting the Cleansing Water Lotus, Lin Yifan went to gather herbs that could transport substances into human bone marrow.

Among these herbs, Lin Yifan found one that required a lower refining temperature than the Cleansing Water Lotus, so he chose that one.

This herb was called Bone Piercing Twig, of medium grade rank, and was located in a middle drawer of the medicine cabinet.

Lin Yifan searched through the drawers and quickly found the Bone Piercing Twig. He swiftly grabbed a handful, placed it on the medicine plate, and hurried off.

The refinement of the Marrow Cleansing Pills was time-sensitive, so he had to hurry to gather the medicinal ingredients.

Next, he needed to gather medicinal ingredients whose properties dissolved in blood.

Lin Yifan's first choice was definitely ingredients that required a lower refinement temperature than the Bone Piercing Twig; however, after ruling out each one, he found that none of the ingredients required a lower temperature than that for the Bone Piercing Twig; at this point, he needed to use catalyzing materials to assist.

Catalyzing materials could catalyze the properties of ingredients at a temperature lower than their refining temperature; therefore, the use of catalyzing materials was quite common in daily alchemy; also, it was precisely because of these materials that there were so many types of elixirs, as they could accomplish what would otherwise be contradictory tasks during normal times.

So, Lin Yifan selected two kinds of ingredients, one was the Blood Carrying Flower, whose properties dissolved in blood and could carry substances for transport; the other was a low-temperature catalyzing material—black fungus.

After grabbing these two ingredients, Lin Yifan went to collect materials that could protect the medicinal properties of the Blood Carrying Flower.

He found that several ingredients could protect the medicinal properties of the Blood Carrying Flower, and what's more, they were compatible with each other; so he grabbed a bit of each.

The ingredients were: sharp beans, hydrating grass, and sand green leaves.

Having gathered the ingredients, Lin Yifan began the alchemy process without a moment's rest.

By now, twenty minutes had passed, leaving him with little time.

Since he had already decided on the sequence of the refinement and the order of the ingredients while collecting them, he immediately added water to the Pill Furnace upon arriving there and put in the water-cleansing lotus; then he began firing up for refinement.

While controlling the fire, and considering the next steps in the refinement, Lin Yifan made full use of his time.

After refining the water-cleansing lotus, he knew in detail about each step that was to follow.

For the water-cleansing lotus, it took him twenty-six minutes and thirty-two seconds for the refinement; he couldn't guarantee that all the medicinal properties of the water-cleansing lotus were brought out, he could only try as much as possible; after all, without any experience with this unfamiliar ingredient, he could only rely on his own intuition for refinement.

As soon as he finished the first step, he moved on to the second.

The second step was the refinement of the Bone Piercing Twig.

The medicinal properties of the Bone Piercing Twig could enclose the properties of the water-cleansing lotus within, which was extremely important in protecting the lotus's medicinal properties from being invaded by other properties.

Thus, Lin Yifan spent about thirty minutes and forty seconds to refine it.

The third step was the refinement of the Blood Carrying Flower and black fungus.

The function of the Blood Carrying Flower was actually similar to that of the Bone Piercing Twig, both serving as carriers; the medicinal properties of the Blood Carrying Flower could surround those of the Bone Piercing Twig; hence, after this step, it was like an egg with no shell but only a membrane.

The yolk represented the medicinal properties of the water-cleansing lotus, the egg white was the properties of the Bone Piercing Twig, and the membrane was the properties of the Blood Carrying Flower. Each layer enveloped and protected the next.

Since the third step involved catalyzing materials, Lin Yifan allocated only about ten minutes for the refinement.

After refining the third part, it was time for the final step; this step was like creating a shell for the shell-less "egg".

After pouring in the sharp beans, hydrating grass, and sand green leaves, Lin Yifan began the patient refinement process.

Although it may have seemed that he had only completed three short steps, he had actually spent over sixty minutes; now, with just over thirty minutes left, Lin Yifan had to complete the final step within this time, otherwise, he would miss out on the alchemy techniques of the Peach Blossom Valley Venerable.

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