BLOODLINE TEMPERING: Transforming From Worm To Dragon

Chapter 42: Putridness

(Wait! Why do I feel there's something unusual during the refining process? It feels like something went wrong once the teacher changed his approach...)

Chen Tu was a little agitated by the feeling he had. And due to the sudden uneasiness, he stood up from his seat.

His concern comes from the Sun and Moon Condensation Art Chen Tu cultivated. Because of the Spiritual Gathering Art, it heightened Chen Tu's sensitivity to how Spiritual Energy flows. And unlike the others, Chen Tu's perception was finer than the rest of the disciples here.

The rest could only notice the medicinal fragrance escaping from the gap between the cauldron and the lid but not the faint Spiritual Energy that followed along.

This was a taboo for all alchemists, as escaping Spiritual Energy equals losing its medicinal efficacy. Needless to say, even if the pill was successfully formed, the quality would only be inferior.

Chen Tu felt that he should inform the teacher about this but hesitated. As the youngest one of all disciples, wouldn't he appear disrespectful if he openly said there's something wrong in the elder's pill-refining process?

He couldn't bear the responsibility over the words he was going to say. Furthermore, the rest of the disciples anticipate the completion of this cauldron of Spirit Desertification Pills.

"The process is complete! remove the lid!" the elder ordered. And following his words was a chain pulled by Qin Lei and another senior brother. The pulley helps them to take the lid off the pill cauldron.

A medicinal bomb explodes and spreads the herb fragrance everywhere inside the workshop. The first to be struck was their nose, as a hint of sweetness attacked their sense of smell. But nobody except Chen Tu noticed a faint putridness that followed.

The putridity was so light that it allowed itself to be hidden without anyone here noticing.

"Teacher! This disciple had something to say!" seeing that nobody could detect the few negative points he discovered, Chen Tu raised his hand up for the elder's attention.

"Is there something you don't understand during the pill-refining process?" Elder Wei Xuan asked. He appeared to have more patience with Chen Tu, thanks to the potential he had shown earlier with the Alchemic Refinement Flame.

Simultaneously, the elder was curious about Chen Tu's extent in his potential. Could it be possible for this disciple to put the Alchemic Refinement Flame to execution and bring out all its potential?

He already had the thought even before refining the Spirit Desertification Pill. Plus, all he needed was to give Chen Tu a chance to study the record of the technique properly. There's nothing much for him to lose anyway.

"This disciple smelled a faint resemblance of rotting smell when opening the cauldron. Would it be possible that we used some subpar ingredient without noticing?" Chen Tu said. His words made the others dissatisfied because they were the ones who prepared this cauldron's ingredients.

If the mistake does come from them, won't the five of them be punished for their negligence and have their likeliness in the elder's eyes reduced?

"Xuan-Xuan, grab a bottle and take the pills out of the cauldron. Ting Wei and the rest, go and get another set of ingredients for the Spirit Desertification Pill for me to inspect."  the elder ordered. He neither refuted Chen Tu nor agreed with his words.

As the teacher of the six disciples here, Elder Wei Xuan naturally had his own way of judging the whole matter.

In less than five minutes, another set of ingredients was brought to the table, along with a bottle with three Spirit Desertification Pills. Everyone else stood along the table, waiting for the elder's answer.

The elder began by confirming if the smell of putridness was true. This inspection was fairly straightforward, which can be quickly obtained by storing the warm medicinal pills in a bottle for a short while.

It would be easy to discover once the medicinal fragrance settled inside the bottle. Since the putridness has a stronger potency than the medicinal aroma, it would be easy to uncover.

To Elder Wei Xuan's surprise, there's indeed a hint of rotten stench lingering inside after he removed the cork. Although this wouldn't affect the pill's medicinal efficacy, the bad smell would definitely shorten the pill's shelf life.

After confirming that Chen Tu's opinion on the smell was true, the elder passes the bottle to the disciple to let them sniff and answer the question in their mind. Except for Qin Lei, who is fairly inexperienced, the rest noticed the putridness lingering in the bottle.

"You're doing very well in discovering the smell that nobody here noticed." Elder Wei Xuan praised Chen Tu. But praises aside, it seemed the others weren't fully convinced yet. Of course, that's because the putridness of the pill had no relation to the quality of the ingredient.

If the ingredient was rotten or low in quality, would the Spiritual Herb even pass their inspection? One has to know that in pill-refining, having skills doesn't mean the alchemist can create a miracle by turning lousy goods into treasure.

Even a Silver-Titled Alchemist would still fail the refining if he used rejected ingredients to forcefully refine a pill.

This was just a small disagreement between them with Chen Tu. Still, in Elder Wei Xuan's eyes, everything that happened here was the composure an alchemist should have. How could they pass the examination to become an alchemist without this attitude?

That was what made the elder happy right now.

Of course, he still needs to give them an answer. And without further ado, the elder's attention moved to the ingredients.

His attention quickly landed on the Spiritual Disvolving Grass, the crucial ingredient for Spirit Desertification Pill. And in front of his disciples, Elder Wei Xuan twisted the stem and broke them into two parts.

"How could this be?" Ting Wei, the oldest of them, couldn't believe his eyes. At the same time, he also felt ashamed because the ingredient was his responsibility.

The outcome of the elder's inspection turned out to be in Chen Tu's favor, as there is indeed a problem with the Spiritual Disvolving Grass. Because Ting Wei was too inexperienced, he failed to notice that the spiritual herb was infested by parasitic worms.

"Teacher..." Ting Wei lowered his head after calling the elder. A surge of guilt overcame him because this was his negligence all along!