Mu Jinyu did not pay attention to Jian Ruyan's shocked expression.
He frowned slightly, looking at the seven pills of varying quality in his palm, his expression somewhat dissatisfied.
After three rounds of alchemy, he had gained some insights, roughly understood the reasons behind the number of pills produced and the conditions for the number of Danwen, and he was thinking about how to improve.
And reflecting on the mistakes made in the previous attempts, to avoid repeating such avoidable errors next time.
If there were no mistakes in the final number of pills formed during alchemy, the various medicinal ingredients put into use, if perfectly harnessed, could actually condense into nine pills.
If, in the end, only one pill is formed, it could be said that most of the medicinal liquid refined from the various ingredients was wasted during the alchemy process.
He had just refined seven pills, which could be said to have only wasted the medicinal liquid equivalent to three pills, and there was still much room for improvement.
As for the number of Danwen, it depended on how perfectly the medicinal properties of the various ingredients were fused, unrelated to the evaporation of the medicinal liquid from a batch of pills.
He had just refined two pills with five Pill Patterns, which could be said to barely pass in terms of medicinal property integration.
Mu Jinyu narrowed his eyes, recalling the various mistakes in his previous alchemy techniques and considering areas for improvement. Then he swallowed one of the pills with five Pill Patterns.
Having consumed the pill and personally experienced its medicinal properties, Mu Jinyu opened his eyes and exhaled lightly, ready to begin.
He took the medicinal ingredients placed aside, put them into the Pill Furnace, closed the lid, pressed his hands on the Shennong Cauldron, and with a roar, flames burst forth, enveloping the Shennong Cauldron.
Mu Jinyu closed his eyes, his Divine Sense probing into the Shennong Cauldron, fully focused on refining the ingredients, carefully ensuring that the medicinal liquid was not evaporated too much by the intense fire.
It took ten minutes.
Mu Jinyu refined all the medicinal ingredients into variously colored medicinal liquids.
Next, he began to cautiously merge the medicinal liquids as described in the Pill Formula.
The medicinal liquids were all fused together as described in the Pill Formula, during which Mu Jinyu made a slight mistake, losing about one pill's worth of medicinal liquid.
However, this was still within his acceptable range.
Following that, Mu Jinyu divided the medicinal liquid, multitasking with profound dedication, using the Profound True Flame to continue refining the eight portions of medicinal liquid, which gradually solidified from liquid towards a solid state, about to form into pills.
Mu Jinyu was extremely vigilant, controlling the temperature changes of the flames during the Solidifying Pill process to avoid damaging the pills as they formed, while carefully managing the integration of the medicinal liquid's potency under the refinement of the flames.
"Clang!"
The Pill Furnace emitted a humming sound, followed by a burst of bright light that then receded.
Gu Xiyan and the others, seeing Mu Jinyu complete the alchemy in just twenty minutes, had thick smiles on their faces.
They were also looking forward to what Mu Jinyu would reveal when he lifted the lid of the furnace, how many pills were there, and how many Pill Patterns were on the best-quality pill?
"Alas..."
Mu Jinyu opened his eyes and sighed softly, saying, "It failed..."
"What?"
Wen Rou heard Mu Jinyu's melancholic sigh and felt a tightness in her heart, quickly asking, "What happened? How many pills were ruined?"
"What a pity..." Mu Jinyu did not answer Wen Rou's question and shook his head with a troubled expression, then reached out to lift the furnace lid.
Instantly, an intoxicating fragrance of pills wafted through the air.
After slightly intoxicating themselves, Wen Rou and the others all looked intently inside the Pill Furnace.
They saw seven lustrous, perfectly round pills floating inside the Shennong Cauldron.
Still seven pills?
No wonder Mu Jinyu felt distressed.
Jian Ruyan slightly furrowed her eyebrows, then relaxed.
After losing to Mu Jinyu, she had let go and no longer wished for Mu Jinyu's alchemy to fail.
At this moment, Mu Jinyu stopped at forming only seven elixirs, which seemed a great blow to him but made Jian Ruyan feel less defeated.
She felt that he was finally somewhat normal, not indescribably extraordinary anymore.
Though to be able to consistently produce seven elixirs after only alchemizing four times was still incredibly extraordinary!
"Clang!"
Mu Jinyu stretched out his hand and slapped the body of the cauldron, and suddenly, seven elixirs flew out from the Shennong Cauldron.
"Hmm? This is..."
Jian Ruyan, who had just relaxed a bit and was reluctantly accepting Mu Jinyu's extraordinary talent, widened her eyes with disbelief and... terror upon seeing the patterns on those elixirs.
Among the seven elixirs, three were Fine Elixirs with four Pill Patterns, two were Fine Elixirs with five Pill Patterns, and the last two were Fine Elixirs with Six Paths Elixir Patterns.
Among these two six-pattern elixirs, there was even one which almost faintly had a seventh pattern...
It almost solidified the seventh pattern!
This elixir was not just of Fine Quality, it almost became a Top-Quality Pill with Seven Pill Patterns!
A Top-Quality Pill that hadn't appeared in the Kunlun Ruins for a thousand years!
Jian Ruyan struggled to pull her gaze away from the six-pattern elixir and looked towards the distressed Mu Jinyu, feeling a tsunami raging within her!
This guy had advanced so fast in his alchemy that he had no more Fine Quality Pills with three patterns, and all were Fine Elixirs with four to six patterns!
And among them, one was almost a Top-Quality Elixir...
This was an alchemical accomplishment that even the Dan King of Kunlun Ruins wouldn't dare dream of!
But this detestable guy was still frowning, regretful that he couldn't produce an elixir with seven patterns.
"Jinyu, it's okay, just keep pushing, and you'll soon be able to produce a top-quality elixir!"
"Yes, exactly, the more patterns an elixir has, the harder it is to solidify them, but you're already doing very well. A few more tries, and you'll surely succeed in producing a top-quality elixir!"
"Don't lose heart..."
Gu Xiyan and the others by then understood the reason for Mu Jinyu's sighs. It was because he almost managed to produce a seven-pattern top-quality elixir but ultimately failed, so they all began comforting him.
"Yes, I know, I'm not really struck down, just a bit regretful," Mu Jinyu nodded.
The most experienced, Jian Ruyan, listening to their conversation, really wanted to beat Mu Jinyu up to make him understand what real disappointment was!
Damnit, you're already the top figure in the alchemical refining world, and you're still feeling regretful here. His ladies don't appreciate his fortune; they come to console him…
Jian Ruyan felt so upset she wanted to spit blood. She was seriously hit by their conversation.
Finally, she sighed deeply a few times and then turned to leave for her bamboo house.
She dared not stay any longer, as Mu Jinyu's monstrous achievements had left her utterly dispirited.
"Eh, what's wrong with Ruyan? Why does she look so hurt?"
Wen Rou and the others watched Jian Ruyan's retreating figure, curiously discussing among themselves.
Jian Ruyan stumbled slightly, almost falling.
Finally, she forced herself to calm down, pushed the messy thoughts out of her mind to avoid disturbing her spiritual Path, and after returning to her room, she closed the door and stopped dwelling on Mu Jinyu's alchemy results.
And whether he would eventually produce the real seven-pattern top-quality elixir.
Time slowly passed.
Finally, it was sunset, at five o'clock in the afternoon.
Jian Ruyan stopped her simple and modest cultivation, and then she felt ready to ponder whether Mu Jinyu had produced the seven-pattern top-quality elixir or not.
"Why think so much? Just go do the laundry for him as promised and ask him then."