PDLP Chapter 94 Seven-Star Offering
Chapter 94 Seven-Star Offering
Du Fan lowered his head and brows, not daring to look directly at the woman again. He swallowed hard, carefully composed himself, and then respectfully spoke:
"Senior Xiao, the essence of refining essential oils and refining pills is the same. Both involve extracting the medicinal properties of spiritual herbs and, through a series of complex processes of condensation and transformation, ultimately transforming them into what cultivators need."
I am not familiar with alchemy, so I will only mention this bottle of Qi-refining essential oil.
First, following the ingredients recorded in the prescription, I used a special method to extract the most essential parts of these medicinal herbs. Because these essences are all in liquid form, I call them liquid essences.
Next, I followed the proportions specified in the formula, mixing and blending the juices and essences in different amounts to finally create this bottle of Qi-refining essential oil.
The woman in yellow listened quietly the whole time. Although her expression remained unchanged, strange light flashed in her beautiful eyes from time to time. She was extremely shocked.
"I think I understand what you mean. I didn't expect that you, at such a young age, would have such a thorough understanding of the principles of alchemy. You even came up with a unique and ingenious approach, creating a path that no one in the cultivation world has tried for thousands of years. It is truly remarkable."
The woman in yellow looked at Du Fan with much gentler eyes, and her nod revealed a hint of appreciation.
But the next moment, a smile suddenly bloomed on the woman's slightly cold face, as stunning as snow melting in spring. Yet, within this captivating smile lay a hint of warning as she softly spoke:
"However, I don't care whether you did it intentionally or unintentionally just now, I'm giving you another chance now."
First, how do you extract the so-called essence of juice? Second, how do you manage to combine essences with different properties, even those that are mutually exclusive?
Upon hearing this, Du Fan was naturally taken aback. He had indeed intentionally avoided discussing the crucial points, but he hadn't expected that the woman opposite him would also be so familiar with the ways of plants and trees, revealing the secret in a single sentence.
This made him feel horrified. He immediately put away his sense of superiority as a scientist from his previous life and became extremely serious. It seemed that if he couldn't say something that would satisfy this woman, he probably wouldn't be able to pass the test.
Du Fan sighed inwardly as he thought about this.
The next moment, he suddenly moved his fingers and took the chemical instrument out of his Qiankun Ring. Then, to the woman's astonishment, he quickly connected the scattered parts of the instrument together.
He then breathed a sigh of relief and stood up, saying:
"This set of equipment, which I call a chemical instrument, is used for everything from extracting juices and essences to formulating elixirs and essential oils. If you are interested, I would like to describe it to you in detail. It's like this..."
Next, Du Fan described the function of the equipment, the simple chemical principles, and the concepts of chemical reactions, with eight parts truth and two parts falsehood. The woman in yellow listened in astonishment, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Half an hour later, Du Fan paused, having already given a general overview of the entire process and principles of refining pills and essential oils.
Of course, Du Fan cleverly omitted the hairs on the Thousand-Eyed Gluttonous Beast, and also spoke vaguely about things like ripening powder and catalysts.
Fortunately, the woman in yellow seemed to be lost in shock and thought, and did not notice the ambiguity in the conversation, which made Du Fan breathe a sigh of relief.
The woman in yellow did not speak immediately, but instead pondered, resting her chin on her hand.
After a long pause, her eyes swept over the so-called chemical equipment, then finally fixed her gaze on Du Fan, and she slowly said:
"I really don't know how you managed to come up with these things. To be honest, I don't quite understand the chemical principles and preparation process you just mentioned, but my intuition tells me that these things are achievable."
However, from what you're saying, with your current skills, you're not yet able to refine high-grade medicinal oils. How is that possible?
"Reporting to the senior, the current chemical equipment can only extract the essence of ten-year-old spiritual herbs at most, while the spiritual herbs required for high-grade pills are much older than ten years. Therefore, it is not possible to formulate high-grade pill essential oils at present."
Upon hearing this, Du Fan replied without the slightest hesitation, his expression very respectful.
"Why?" The woman in yellow raised an eyebrow.
"The extraction of the essence from medicinal herbs requires a certain high temperature, and the older the medicinal herbs are, the higher the temperature is required."
The problem is that once the temperature reaches a certain level, the chemical apparatus cannot withstand it and will instantly melt and collapse. This could be considered a hardware failure.
Du Fan was telling the truth on this point, and it was also a bottleneck he couldn't overcome in his experiments.
"Hardware? Alright, I understand what you mean. If I can solve this problem for you, can you refine high-grade pills and essential oils?" The woman in yellow frowned slightly as she spoke.
"Theoretically, it is possible, but the specific situation needs to be tested. After all, what temperature is suitable for refining medicinal herbs of a certain age requires countless trials to determine."
Moreover, temperature is only one issue; there are other problems as well. Du Fan pondered for a moment before speaking cautiously.
"Alright, let's leave that matter here for now. Now, I'll ask you directly: can you train a group of apprentices for my Seven Star Merchant Alliance, so that they can refine pills and essential oils like you?"
The woman in yellow suddenly turned deep, as if she could see through everything in the world. At this moment, she was staring at Du Fan with this gaze, which made Du Fan feel a chill in his heart.
"If it's just Qi-refining essential oils, I believe I can teach a group of people in a year or two. However, I'm still researching more advanced elixir essential oils, so I'm afraid I haven't reached the standards you expect."
Du Fan felt a little uneasy under the woman's gaze. He knew this was her main purpose, but he had anticipated it, so he answered calmly.
"What you said makes some sense. Let's put the apprentice training on hold for now. In the future, you will research and refine pills and essential oils for my Seven Star Merchant Alliance until you can refine essential oils at the Nascent Soul level."
At that time, you will train a hundred apprentices for my Seven Star Business Alliance, and then you can choose whether or not to regain your freedom.
Of course, you won't refine them for free. For every bottle of essential oil you refine for the alliance, the alliance will give you corresponding spirit stones as a purchase.
"Now, please draw a diagram showing the shape and style of the chemical instruments needed to refine the elixirs and essential oils, along with the material selection requirements. Our alliance's alchemists will be responsible for making them for you. Do you have anything else to add?"
The woman in yellow nodded, thought for a moment, and then said this calmly, yet with an undeniable authority.
Upon hearing this, Du Fan's breath caught in his throat. He thought to himself, "Regain my freedom? Does that mean I'm no longer free?"
He really wanted to yell at the top of his lungs, "When did I ever agree to that?!"
However, no matter how wronged he felt, he could only keep it to himself and would never dare to say it aloud.
"I also need an instrument to adjust the temperature." Helpless, Du Fan could only focus his attention back on refining the pills and essential oils. After pondering for a while, he finally spoke.
"No problem, anything else?" the woman in yellow said without hesitation.
"That's all for now. If I encounter any problems during future trials, I will raise them again."
"But I have another question, I'm not sure if I should ask it?" Du Fan said hesitantly.
"Speak freely!" The woman in yellow glanced at Du Fan and said calmly.
"Ahem... I wonder what role I will play in the Seven Star Merchant Alliance in the future, a worker or something?" Du Fan coughed lightly and asked cautiously.
"Workers? You mean servants or slaves, right? Hehe, you little guy, so you've been worried about this all along. Of course not. I already explained in the letter that the Seven Star Merchant Alliance and you have a cooperative relationship, not a relationship of enslavement."
"I heard that Master Mo once gave you a membership badge from our alliance. Now, hand it over to me." The woman in yellow smiled and said this.
Du Fan smiled awkwardly and handed the blue plaque to Vice Alliance Leader Xiao without any objection.
The woman in yellow put it away, and with a flick of her jade hand, she took out another token and tossed it to Du Fan.
Du Fan picked it up with a look of surprise and doubt, and examined it carefully.
Only then did they realize that this plaque was similar to the previous one, with almost identical style and texture, the same light blue color, and one side was engraved with seven stars arranged according to the Big Dipper. However, the word "Member" on the other side was replaced with "Offering".
"There are some special rules in this alliance that prevent us from arbitrarily accepting outsiders as elders. Therefore, we can only give you the status of a retainer. However, apart from some special privileges, retainers enjoy the same treatment as other elders in the alliance."
As a retainer of the Seven Star Merchant Alliance, one will have a high-level cave dwelling with extremely dense spiritual energy within the main alliance, and will be able to use the alliance's small and medium-sized teleportation arrays for free. Purchases from all shops under the Seven Star Merchant Alliance will be at the lowest prices.
Furthermore, you can use the offering token to collect a certain amount of pills and spirit stones from the alliance's offering hall every month, and you can also receive a mid-grade magic weapon at once.
Of course, you can't use the magic weapon yet, but when you can get it is up to you.
"There are other benefits too; you'll find out if you just inquire at the Offering Hall." The woman in yellow uttered words that left Du Fan speechless. She then fell silent, looking at him with a half-smile. After a long pause, she finally asked:
"Are you satisfied with this arrangement?"