Not long after Mu Hongchen left.
Zhou Yi withdrew his gaze and took out the Pill Scripture that Mu Jinyu had given him earlier, pondering over the first page of the Pill Formula.
Soon, he had mostly figured it out and recognized the effects of a few spiritual medicines he hadn't known before. Then he walked to the medicine field and began to carefully gather the herbs.
"The Dragon Master is indeed considerate, even preparing a pill furnace for me."
After collecting the spiritual medicines needed for refining a batch of elixirs, Zhou Yi remembered that his pill furnace was still at the Su Family. He frowned slightly and was about to contact Mu Hongchen to see if the Dragon King Hall had a spare pill furnace when he saw several alchemy furnaces placed in front of a row of bamboo houses, making him exclaim to himself.
He recalled that Mu Hongchen had just said not to enter those bamboo houses at will, but the items placed in front of them could be used if needed without any problem.
Zhou Yi stepped onto the open area in front of the bamboo houses, circled around the pill furnaces a few times, then lifted the lids to inspect them.
The surfaces of the pill furnaces were covered with a lot of dust, and inside there were some medicinal residues that hadn't been cleaned out. After careful examination, it seemed these pill furnaces hadn't been used for over half a year.
Zhou Yi guessed correctly.
These pill furnaces were new not long ago and hadn't been used at all. But half a year ago, when Yu Shenfeng was seriously injured and near death, they needed a life-saving elixir.
But at that time, the Dragon King Hall's stock of elixirs was nearly depleted, with no life-saving elixirs left.
So, Gu Xiyan and the others took out these spare pill furnaces, attempting to refine elixirs themselves to save Yu Shenfeng.
The end result, of course, was still a failure.
They simply couldn't refine such a life-saving elixir.
Fortunately, Su Zijin remembered that Mu Jinyu seemed to have left her some pills. Although they weren't sure if they were life-saving elixirs, they decided to give them to Yu Shenfeng to try. Eventually, they discovered these were even more effective than the life-saving elixirs they had taken earlier.
This barely saved Yu Shenfeng's life.
Afterward, Gu Xiyan and the others tried refining elixirs again but found they didn't have the talent. In the end, they left these pill furnaces idle and never used them again.
Later, they tried to cultivate alchemists because Mu Jinyu had left many Pill Formulas, and there were medicine fields for planting spiritual medicines, enough to produce several alchemists.
However, unfortunately, the warriors of the Dragon King Hall who had a certain level of strength lacked alchemy talent, and those with some talent didn't have enough strength, only having Mingjin and Dark Energy cultivation, which was insufficient to control the heat of the pill furnace.
Thus, the matter of cultivating alchemists in the Dragon King Hall was eventually put aside.
Zhou Yi casually chose one of the pill furnaces, cleared away some of the remaining medicinal residues, and began preparing to refine elixirs.
After all, he had pondered over the Alchemy Dao for most of his life. Although his alchemy talent might not be very outstanding, it was barely sufficient for first and second rank elixirs.
The pill fire roared to life, and Zhou Yi began to sequentially place spiritual medicines into the furnace, then started refining the medicinal liquid and condensing it into pills.
"Puff!"
"Bang!!"
Two hours passed.
Zhou Yi had already ruined three furnaces of elixirs.
But he did not lose confidence. After all, this kind of failure rate was quite normal for him and acceptable for most alchemists.
Generally, successfully refining one furnace of elixirs from the materials for ten furnaces is considered quite an achievement.
As he began to prepare the fourth batch of elixirs, Zhou Yi inexplicably felt he was on the verge of success.
He became excited, knowing that, barring any accidents, he would definitely succeed in refining this batch of elixirs.
Zhou Yi couldn't help but feel that Yinlong Mountain was indeed a place rich in favorable elements, for not even half a day here, and he was about to successfully refine a batch of elixirs.
Zhou Yi's feeling was indeed correct. In the subsequent process of refining, purifying the medicinal liquid, removing the medicinal residues, and condensing the liquid, everything went smoothly.
Watching the mass of medicinal liquid in the pill furnace about to solidify into a pill, Zhou Yi was both thrilled and pondering whether he might be able to produce Danwen this time.
At that moment.
"Awoo!!"
A long howl, like a ghost wailing and a wolf howling, suddenly echoed through the Secluded Valley.
It startled Zhou Yi, causing his hand to tremble fiercely.
"Bang!"
The mass of medicinal liquid in the pill furnace instantly froze but was unformed, and at the same time, a plume of black smoke erupted forth!
"Damn it, the furnace exploded again!"
Zhou Yi watched as black smoke billowed out of the pill furnace and completely collapsed in spirit, leaping up from the ground, looking angrily in the direction from where the howl came, ready to curse aloud.
He was in excellent condition just now. If he could have succeeded in refining an elixir, he might have managed to refine a few more furnaces successfully afterward!
Now that his state was ruined, had he been in the Su Family, he might have had the urge to kill someone at this moment.
"Whew!"
Just as Zhou Yi was ready to shout curses, suddenly, fine snowflakes began to drift leisurely from the heaven and earth.
Soon the snow fell increasingly heavy, turning into large goose feather snowflakes that draped the Secluded Valley in a silvery cloak.
"What the hell!"
Zhou Yi didn't understand what was happening and quickly turned to look at the ten acres of the medicine field. Seeing that the medicine field was fine, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
This ten-acre medicine field naturally had powerful restrictions placed upon it, such that no matter how heavily the snow fell, any that reached the skies above the field would be dissipated!
"Whew!!"
Just as Zhou Yi was preparing to leave the Secluded Valley to contact Mu Hongchen to figure out what was going on.
The howling stopped, and the drifting snow ceased as well.
"Old friend, it's been a while, I hope you've been well."
In the midst of Zhou Yi's anxiety and uncertainty, a familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar cool voice rang out from afar.
"Whoosh!"
Then, Zhou Yi saw Yu Shenfeng flying through the air, landing swiftly in front of him.
"Old Yu?"
Upon seeing Yu Shenfeng appear, Zhou Yi immediately realized that the howl that ruined his alchemy and the sudden blizzard had all been caused by this old friend of his.
"Ah! I'm going to kill you!"
Thinking of the batch of elixirs he had nearly completed, only to be ruined by Yu Shenfeng, Zhou Yi's eyes turned red, and he couldn't help but pounce forward, intending to take a bite out of Yu Shenfeng.
Yu Shenfeng glanced at the pill furnace which was still emitting wisps of black smoke and felt a bit guilty. Quickly directing the Heaven and Earth Vital Energy to hold Zhou Yi back, he chuckled, "Old friend, it's only been a year since we last met, you needn't be so affectionate?"
Zhou Yi, having only temporarily lost his composure, calmed down after cursing Yu Shenfeng a few times, scrutinizing Yu Shenfeng with suspicion, "Weren't you said to be dying? How come you're not dead? And you even seem to have made a breakthrough in cultivation?"
"With the Dragon Master back, how could I be lingering at death's door? Aren't you underestimating the Dragon Master's abilities?"
Yu Shenfeng replied with a hearty laugh before continuing, "Well, you do have a discerning eye to notice my cultivation breakthrough. Yes, I've now reached the Peak of the Third Layer of the Fanxu Realm."
"So fast? About to reach the Mid-Stage of the Fanxu Realm?" Zhou Yi was somewhat shocked and dismayed upon hearing Yu Shenfeng's words.