Chapter 24 Jealousy
"Senior Brother, good morning."
Just arriving at the dining hall, Lu Li saw that limping figure busy beyond measure, occasionally raising an arm to wipe sweat off his forehead, looking quite hard at work.
Fat Chen turned his head upon hearing the voice, smiled upon discovering it was Lu Li, said "Morning," then busied himself again, speaking while working, "Buns are in the steamer, porridge is in the pot, pickles are over there... Help yourself."
"Okay."
Lu Li nodded, took three steamers of small buns, a bowl of porridge, and a plate of pickles, then started eating by himself. It had to be said, these small buns were extremely delicious, minced meat with chives, the meat clearly having been fried, not greasy at all.
After taking a few bites, Lu Li casually asked, "Senior Brother, there don't seem to be other people on this mountain, can you finish making so much?"
"You don't know, besides Elder, there's another Senior Brother on this mountain. Elder rarely comes to eat, but that Senior Brother has a very picky mouth. I prepare several dishes so he can choose freely, then I won't be punished."
"Senior Brother?"
"That's Deng Qingsheng, Senior Brother Deng, who I mentioned yesterday. He's Elder's nominal disciple." At this point, Fat Chen sighed, shook his head, and didn't continue.
Lu Li didn't ask further, hurriedly finished eating, then came to the alchemy room door and waited quietly.
He waited a full half hour before Xiao Jue slowly walked over with a tall, thin youth in blue robes. Xiao Jue in front, the blue-robed youth behind, looking quite extraordinary.
Seeing Lu Li actually waiting here in advance, Xiao Jue couldn't help but nod, "Not bad awareness."
As his words fell, Lu Li clearly saw the youth behind frown, but pretended not to see, respectfully saying, "This disciple should do so."
"Disciple, what disciple." The blue-robed youth immediately reprimanded, "You're just a menial servant, how dare you presumptuously call yourself a disciple. Remember, before Master, you can only refer to yourself as subordinate!"
Master?
So this person was Deng Qingsheng.
Lu Li frowned slightly, didn't argue back, bowed his head and said yes.
Xiao Jue turned to look at Deng Qingsheng, shook his head without speaking, took out a token and pressed it against the door. After a stream of light flashed, the alchemy room door rumbled upward.
Only then did Lu Li discover this door was actually a large stone slab a full foot thick.
The alchemy room was even more spacious than Lu Li's cave dwelling. In the center was a foot-high alchemy platform, above which stood a bronze-colored three-legged alchemy furnace. In front of the alchemy platform was a rotary mechanism.
Around the alchemy room were many shelves with some jade bottles placed on them. On the eastern shelves were many books.
Only after the two entered did Lu Li bow his head and walk in.
"Boy, presumably you've never been exposed to alchemy. Today I brought Qingsheng here, first to let him also familiarize himself with alchemy, second to give you a demonstration, so you understand what you need to do when I refine pills in the future." Xiao Jue turned around and said to Lu Li.
"Disci... subordinate understands."
Xiao Jue nodded, then gave Deng Qingsheng a meaningful look. Deng Qingsheng immediately walked back to the door, pressed a mechanism, and the heavy stone door rumbled shut.
Just as Lu Li thought the room would become pitch dark, several beams of white light suddenly shot from the ceiling. So... there were actually ventilation windows and light-gathering tiles above.
Only when the stone door opened were they covered.
Then Xiao Jue beckoned with his hand, producing a large pile of medicinal materials and placing them in the jade basin on the alchemy platform. He directly sat on the cushion in front of the alchemy platform and gently rotated the knob.
As the knob turned, a flicker of firelight suddenly appeared under the alchemy furnace, and the room temperature instantly rose.
Truly miraculous.
Lu Li was seeing alchemy for the first time, thinking how could there be such a big fire underground.
"Get away some!"
Just as Lu Li was pondering, Deng Qingsheng suddenly pushed Lu Li, nearly making him fall on his rear. Lu Li's temper instantly flared, stabilizing his posture before glaring angrily at Deng Qingsheng.
"What, want a beating?" Deng Qingsheng raised an eyebrow, looking disdainfully at Lu Li.
Lu Li's earlier performance before Xiao Jue made him extremely unhappy. In his view, as a menial servant, one should know their place. To dare think about climbing Master's great tree was simply unforgivable.
"Enough! You're at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, why bother with him? Sort the medicinal materials." Xiao Jue suddenly said lightly.
"Yes, Master." Deng Qingsheng glared fiercely at Lu Li, then squatted beside the jade basin in front of Lu Li and began sorting medicinal materials.
So he's at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.
Lu Li calmed his emotions, lightly watching Deng Qingsheng's back, not knowing what he was thinking.
"This step is called heating the furnace. When heating the furnace, the temperature cannot be too high, otherwise it will have an indelible effect on the first medicinal material..." Xiao Jue suddenly spoke, not knowing whether he was speaking for Deng Qingsheng or Lu Li.
"Remembered, Master." Deng Qingsheng said while sorting medicinal materials.
Lu Li was about to speak, but hearing this closed his mouth, revealing a self-mocking smile. He was just a menial servant, why would the other instruct him? But he still carefully memorized Xiao Jue's words.
If you won't instruct me, I'll secretly memorize it myself, that's not illegal, right?
"Xuanzhu Grass, one stalk." Xiao Jue spoke again.
"Yes." Hearing this, Deng Qingsheng hurriedly took a jet-black spiritual herb from the jade basin, opened the furnace lid, and threw it in.
So this is called Xuanzhu Grass.
Lu Li watched carefully, secretly memorizing it.
After the medicinal material entered the furnace, Xiao Jue again controlled the earth fire switch. The fire instantly grew larger. Lu Li looked over and discovered Xiao Jue was actually operating with his eyes closed, feeling greatly curious. Without looking, how did he know the fire size?
Moreover, upon closer inspection, Xiao Jue's hand controlling the earth fire switch always maintained slight trembling. The fire under the alchemy furnace also had small fluctuations. Without careful observation, one couldn't tell at all.
Lu Li wanted to ask but didn't dare speak.
Suddenly, Lu Li noticed Xiao Jue's face twitch slightly.
So, a few sweat droplets had flowed to the corner of his eye. Lu Li's thoughts turned, looked around, and saw a hand towel on the shelf behind him. So he carefully took it down, then controlled his footsteps as he slowly walked over and wiped it for Xiao Jue.
This kid has good observational skills.
Although Xiao Jue didn't open his eyes, he knew it was Lu Li's doing.
Damn! This bootlicker!
Deng Qingsheng was so angry his body trembled. Wanting to angrily rebuke, the words reached his lips but he held them back.
Lu Li saw this but still pretended not to see. As long as he could learn what he wanted, not to mention wiping sweat, even if he had to carry shoes, it wouldn't be a problem. As for this Deng Qingsheng, probably because he's jealous of Xiao Jue's attitude toward him.
"Fire control cannot be rushed. One must be familiar with the medicinal properties of the materials. Different materials require different fire intensity. One strand heavier or one millimeter lighter will affect the finished pill's quality. What we can do is through continuous refining, countless trials to improve familiarity with various medicinal materials..."
"And fire control cannot be done by looking at flame size with the eyes. One must sink his Divine Sense into the furnace, constantly observe the medicinal material melting degree, and control fire intensity based on the medicinal material melting degree-that's best..."
"Legend says, powerful alchemists only need to get one medicinal material to know what fire intensity to use and how long to melt... That's our ultimate goal."
"..."
Lu Li held his breath, listening to Xiao Jue's intermittent narration, afraid of missing a single word.