If a spirit pill develops pill patterns, its value doubles. Even a heaven-grade alchemist of the Han Dynasty would only occasionally manage to produce one or two pills with patterns, and that required exceptional luck and being in perfect condition.
As for the legendary pill clouds, he had never even seen one.
Holding this single spirit pill, the bearded giant remained silent for a long time.
An hour later, Yang Kai finished refining.
From five sets of materials, he produced a total of four spirit pills. The last set failed during refinement—Yang Kai had done it on purpose.
At this moment, both the giant and the woman were staring at Yang Kai in stunned silence, looking at him as if he were a god.
"Master, has this guy discovered some youth-preserving technique? Otherwise, why does he look only twenty?"
"Doesn't seem like it. This is probably his real age. Impressive, how can he be this good?" As he spoke, the giant shot a glance at the woman, his face full of disappointment.
"Master, can you please stop looking at me like that? I've been working very hard." Mina felt wronged.
Her alchemy talent was also quite exceptional, and she was a well-known figure within a radius of several thousand li. The major forces nearby had all tried hard to recruit her as their guest elder. Because of this talent, Mina usually held herself in high regard, but her pride shattered completely in the face of these four spirit pills.
After the master and disciple whispered for a while, Yang Kai didn't deliberately eavesdrop. After waiting a moment, he asked, "Have I passed the test?"
Hearing this, the giant started, then laughed heartily—a hearty, amiable laugh—and nodded: "Passed, you've definitely passed."
"Then my jade token..."
"Don't worry, you'll definitely get your jade token. But before that, you need to meet someone. Wait here, I'll go call him over!" With that, the giant darted out.
Suddenly, only Yang Kai and the woman were left in the room.
Yang Kai was speechless.
"You, you really make people look at you differently." The woman let out a sincere exclamation, then extended her hand openly. Gone was her previous casualness; she said solemnly, "Let me introduce myself properly. I'm Mina, a mysterious-grade high-level alchemist. Also a member of this Alchemist Branch."
"Yang Kai." Yang Kai chuckled softly and lightly shook her hand.
"Where did you come from?" Mina asked curiously.
"From the west, I suppose."
Mina looked at him, pursed her lips, and smiled: "Forget it, I won't ask. You look so wary."
The west was a vast snowy mountain range. Yang Kai saying he came from there was clearly a bit evasive.
"Oh, by the way, why did you change the configuration of the five sets of materials?"
"Wasn't that your test?" Yang Kai was stunned.
Mina slowly shook her head: "That was the configuration I thought was best. But after seeing you change it, it seems refining became much easier. Who taught you to do that?"
"Intuition..." Yang Kai felt a bit guilty. He hadn't thought much about it earlier, assuming they had deliberately placed the wrong ingredients to test his foundation, but apparently that wasn't the case.
"Why did you do it that way? The formula my master taught me isn't like this. Could my master's formula be wrong?" Mina frowned deeply.
Yang Kai thought for a moment, didn't hide anything, and explained in detail. Mina listened with shining eyes, nodding continuously, immediately feeling she had gained a great deal.
The two were discussing the correctness and rigor of the formula inside the room. Outside, the giant and another man stood listening, their expressions growing more astonished the more they heard.
Because the formula was something even they hadn't thought to change. But after changing it, they found it was much better than the original.
At the very least, using Yang Kai's method to refine would avoid many unnecessary failures, increasing the probability and quality of successful pill formation. It could also fully utilize the medicinal properties of the ingredients.
"Where did you find this kid?" the man asked, looking at the bearded giant.
"He came to me on his own." The giant shrugged. "Stumbled upon a treasure, didn't I?"
The other man gave a noncommittal response, casually pushed open the door, and stepped inside.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Yang Kai quickly turned his head to look. He saw the bearded giant from before and another elderly man with an otherworldly air walking in together.
Mina hurriedly introduced Yang Kai: "This is Elder Du. Elder Du is the head here, a saint-grade low-level alchemist."
Yang Kai couldn't help but feel a surge of respect and bowed promptly.
Du Wan smiled and nodded: "No need for formalities, young friend. From now on, we are all one family."
"This is my master, whom you've already met, a heaven-grade high-level alchemist."