Level three mage.
Inside the green and flourishing dimension, You XiaoMo takes twenty or so level three magic herbs from the wooden rack. Then he enters the small wooden hut and takes out the Enlightened golden cauldron from the cupboard.
He is going to refine level three magic pills so he doesn't want to use the inferior cauldron because he is afraid that if he were to crack open another so soon after the tragedy with the first cauldron, he wouldn't know what excuse to use to convince his brothers and master.
But the most important thing is that the original cauldron is only capable of refining level one and level two magic pills.
Elder brother already said before, that level three magic pills is the first hurdle for mages. It requires a lot of soul force during the refining process. If he is to use the previous cauldron, it won't be able to accept too much soul force most probably causing it to split open or even explode. So, in order to avoid that kind of situation, he can only use the Enlightened golden cauldron.
Taking the cauldron and magic herbs, You XiaoMo walks to a stone platform in the courtyard.
This stone platform is long and squarish. The length, width and height is about one meter each. It's a platform for refining magic pills that he bought for this purpose in HunJi city the last time. After buying it, he put it inside the dimension and hasn't used it until now.
Now he plans to refine magic pills in the dimension so it's just the right time to try it out.
First, You XiaoMo puts the twenty or so stalks of magic herbs neatly on the stone platform. Then he moves the Enlightened golden cauldron onto the platform. There is a customized depression for the cauldron on the stone platform. When he bought it, he had it made according to the measurements of the Enlightened golden cauldron.
Level three magic pills, other than requiring a higher amount of soul force, it also requires more than three stalks of magic herbs. Six stalks of magic herbs are needed, twice the amount for level one and level two magic herbs.
The first level three magic pill that You XiaoMo wants to refine is called the South star magic pill.
South star magic pill is a rather unique level three magic pill. It's uniqueness lies in its ability to increase the power of the Sky level fighter that takes it. But the amount increased is not huge so if you want to increase the power by one star, you would have to take multiple South star magic pills.
But it also has its limits. That is, it is only meant for Sky level fighters. Also, it can't be used constantly because once the body acquires resistance, the South star magic pill would lose its effect on the martial artist.
As for Man level martial artists, they can also take the South star magic pill. But they must have a powerful person to channel the medicinal effect of the South star magic pill. Otherwise, taking it at random will only result in the body exploding and death.
You XiaoMo picks out the materials needed to refine the South star magic pill and then puts a stalk of mountain mouse herb into the cauldron.
The biggest difference between the Enlightened golden cauldron and the inferior cauldron is that the Enlightened golden cauldron does not have small chambers on the rim. So distilling magic herbs can only take place inside the cauldron. Also, in order to increase the rate of success, most mages will chose to distill the magic herbs one by one when refining magic pills of level three and above. This way, the time it takes will definitely be greatly increased.
You XiaoMo doesn't want to fail on his first attempt at refining a level three magic pill so he simply follows the pointers from the books to distill the magic herbs.
Without feeling any pressure, he finishes distilling the first stalk of magic herb. He considers for a bit before simply throwing in two stalks of magic herbs. He distills the two stalks of magic herbs separately inside the cauldron into two pools of green liquid. Because there are no small chambers, he can only rely on his own spirit to control the two pools of liquid to stop them from mixing with each other, greatly increasing the difficulty of distillation.
At first, he is still not used to it so the first time he spends close to half an hour to finish the distillation. Fortunately, after the first time, the following times are relatively smoother.
More than half an hour later, You XiaoMo finally finishes refining six stalks of magic herbs. Each stalk of magic herb is only distilled twice because they are top grade magic herbs, so there are few impurities. If more distillation is required, the process would be more difficult.
Looking at the six pools of green liquid suspended inside the cauldron, You XiaoMo heaves a sigh of relief.
Unexpectedly just distilling six stalks of magic herbs would take this much time. Luckily he has sufficient soul force, otherwise there would only be a little soul force left after finishing the distillation, meaning that this magic pill can only be wasted. No wonder a lot of disciples stumble at this hurdle as level two mages. Seems like it is not so easy.
But if he didn't distill them two stalks at a time, the time spent would be even more. And he took less than one hour to complete the distillation. Compared to others, taking close to two hours, this speed is already very good.
After collecting himself, You XiaoMo gets ready to start the blending step.
Because level three magic pills require six types of magic herbs, the number of steps are also greatly increased. Not just twice the number needed for level one and level two magic pills. The whole ten or so steps, if there are any mistakes at any step, this magic pill would be rendered useless.
Some magic herbs have rather potent medicinal properties. In order to not overpower the medicinal properties of the other magic herbs, the pool of green liquid must be divided into several portions. Only this way will a smooth blending process be guaranteed.
Firstly, You XiaoMo takes a small pool of green liquid and merges it with another pool. The whole process is done cautiously. After smoothly blending them, he starts on the second blending step, followed by the third blending step .......
When he finished with the fifth blending step and is preparing to start the sixth step, his left hand jerks suddenly. Half a second later, a *chi* sound is suddenly heard coming from inside the cauldron. A wisp of while smoke curls upwards. You XiaoMo watches this scene wide-eyed and with his mouth hanging open. He actually failed?
This is the first time he failed since he became a mage. You XiaoMo suffers a very heavy blow.
Although he already prepared himself before starting the refining process, but now that he actually failed, he still feels a little disheartened. He thought that he would be able to maintain his zero failure record. Unexpectedly he immediately stumbled at this huge level three hurdle.
It's alright ba. Six types of magic herbs is actually a little much. A momentary slip up is normal. There is nothing to be depressed about. It can't be smooth sailing all the time although he feels that ever since he entered TianXin sect, he has yet to experience smooth sailing.
You XiaoMo pats his face that has been stretched tight for more than an hour. Then he takes a sip of the magic water to replenish his soul force that he had used two-thirds of. He is now certain that he can definitely refine level three magic pills.
Then he again takes out six stalks of magic herbs and throws two of them into the cauldron and starts his distillation journey. Because he already did it twice, this time it goes very smoothly.
Half an hour later, he completes the distillation of the six stalks of magic herbs. It takes a little less time than before. Now it's time for blending. He raises his spirit to a hundred and twenty percent. If he fails again this time, he would have to write his name in reverse and be known from now on as Mo XiaoYou.
It's not the same now that he has the determination. His confidence and motivation is surging like the waters of the YangTze river.
Another half an hour later, the Enlightened golden cauldron suddenly buzzes. Right after that, an emerald green magic pill suddenly flies out. You XiaoMo has no time to deal with the sweat on his forehead, hastily stretching out his hand to catch it. Unexpectedly ....... he doesn't catch it!
The magic pill falls on the stone platform, rolling a few times and is about to fall off when You XiaoMo hastily rushes over, finally catching it this time.
The emerald green magic pill rolls around in his hand a few times. Its quality is quite high, on the high side of top grade magic pills. Managing to refine a magic pill of this quality on the first try leaves You XiaoMo very satisfied. It was worth it that he deliberately distilled it twice.
You XiaoMo puts the magic pill into bottle. Then he takes stock of his remaining soul force. Only one third remains. This rate of consumption is too high. Like this, he would have to take a sip of magic water after each pill.
Thinking of this, he can't help but thank his lucky stars that he has magic water. If not, after every magic pill, he would have to rest for over half an hour before continuing. That's because his recovery rate only allows him to recover half after over half an hour.
You XiaoMo takes half a sip of magic water and waits until his soul force recovers. Then he starts on the second magic pill.
Time flows by in the blink of an eye. After that he didn't make any more mistakes. The number of pills in the bottle increases from one to ten. The time taken also slowly shortens as he gets more and more familiar with the process. At first, he could only distill two stalks of magic herbs at a time. Now he can already do three stalks at a time.
You XiaoMo puts the last magic pill into the bottle and finally stops to rest.
Counting the hours, it has already been eight to nine hours. No wonder his tummy is already making *gu gu* sounds in hunger. It's right about the time for dinner so You XiaoMo doesn't hesitate, leaving the dimension right away.
The room is very quiet. There are also no sounds coming from outside. Maybe everyone has gone to the canteen.
You XiaoMo straightens out his clothes before opening the door and stepping out. The warm and cozy evening glow shines on his body immediately causing him to feel sluggish. He can't help but let out a yawn.
The scenery at Earth peak is actually pretty good. Every time the sun is about to set, the mist would start to wind around, making everything turn hazy. It gives of a feeling of what humans would call fairyland.
By the time he reaches the canteen, because he is a little late, the canteen is already filled with a sea of people.
Looking as far as the eye can see, everywhere is a mass of bobbing heads. Each table seems to be occupied by a group of people, gathering in groups of two or three, talking very enthusiastically, the noisiness can be compared to a wet market.
You XiaoMo swallows. Usually he also comes relatively late but this is the first time he sees the canteen so packed. Inside, there is very long line of people queueing up to get food.
Just when he is hesitating over whether he should just head right back and eat his own snacks, a voice calling 'Seventh brother' suddenly comes from his right. This voice is very familiar.
You XiaoMo turns around and looks over. The one that called out to him is sitting on the first row, at the second table. That person sees him look over and his expression actually turns a little awkward. If it's not Fifth brother Zhao DaZhou, who else can it be?
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