The ship drifted in the vast ocean, a scene Qin Ran had never witnessed before, neither in his previous life nor in this one.
The vessel was already quite large, Qin Ran conservatively estimated it to be about 300 meters from bow to stern. Yet this size seemed insignificant in the boundless sea, like a mere grain in the vast ocean!
Standing at the bow and looking around, he saw nothing but the sea extending to the horizon in all directions, with no discernible differences. The sky and the earth appeared the same, and the ship swayed gently with the sails, as if it hadn't moved at all.
It was then that he truly understood the meaning of "the vastness of heaven and earth, and the brevity of one's existence."
What level of cultivation would one need to challenge the heavens and earth with this mortal body?
Qin Ran leaned on the railing, gazing at the sea's surface. He actually wanted to ask Tie Ruonan: When everything looks the same, how do they navigate and determine directions while sailing?
But since the Celestial Sea Domain was full of islands, the locals probably didn't have this confusion. He refrained from asking.
"You said you can refine pills..." Tie Ruonan stood beside him with her arms crossed, looking imposing as she asked, "What level would you say you're at?"
"The art of pill refining is vast and profound. I'd say I've just stepped through the door of alchemy, a mere servant in the field," Qin Ran replied.
Tie Ruonan looked at him and said, "Well, it seems your pill refining skills are not bad then."
"Hm?" Qin Ran was puzzled, "What do you mean?"
"Generally, those who are humble are the ones with real ability," Tie Ruonan explained. "You speak so modestly. It indicates that your pill refining skills are quite high."
"That's an interesting logic," Qin Ran shook his head. "Unfortunately, you've misjudged. My pill refining skills really aren't that high."
"Whether I've misjudged or not, why don't we put it to the test?" Tie Ruonan smiled.
"A test?" Qin Ran pondered.
Before he could respond, Tie Ruonan called over the ship's physician and instructed, "Give him a set of ingredients for the 'Immortal Fruit' pill."
The Immortal Fruit was the inferior pill that the ship's crew had fed Qin Ran the night before. It was a healing pill, comparable to Qin Ran's Blood Activating Muscle Pill.
The physician was a Qi practitioner who could refine pills and traveled with the ship. Unlike Qin Ran who could refine various types of pills, this physician specialized in making healing medicines.
The physician didn't particularly like this slender young man. Firstly, because the aesthetics of the open sea didn't favor delicate features, and secondly, because he had learned that this young man might know how to refine pills.
If he could refine pills... and if he could do it better than him, the physician's job might be at risk. However, bound by Tie Ruonan's order, he had no choice but to comply. He reached into his waist pouch, similar to a Universe Bag, and took out a set of ingredients for refining the "Immortal Fruit" pill, handing them to Qin Ran.
Qin Ran looked at the physician, aware of his hostility and knowing that the inferior pill he had eaten last night was refined by this very man.
He had a good grasp of the physician's pill refining skills.
He reached out to take the ingredients, examining them one by one. He found that he didn't recognize many of them, as they were all marine herbs. He had no choice but to take a small bite of each, personally tasting to determine their medicinal properties.
Seeing his actions, the physician couldn't help but laugh, "What's this? You don't even recognize the ingredients?"
He felt somewhat relieved.
Qin Ran ignored him and continued tasting the herbs. In his mind, he silently deduced, matching the medicinal effects of these herbs, calculating various formulas, and quickly arrived at the recipe for the "Immortal Fruit" pill he had eaten the night before.
Seeing him taste the herbs and then fall silent, the physician found it amusing and asked, "Don't tell me you don't even know how to refine the 'Immortal Fruit'?"
"Can you refine pills?"
Qin Ran snapped back to reality, smiled, and replied, "I know, I know. I can do a bit, just a bit."
As he spoke, he used his spiritual power to separate the ingredients one by one, dividing each into appropriate portions.
But after preparing the herbs, as he was about to start refining, he suddenly realized: he wasn't in his main body, just an avatar, and he didn't have pill water. Using the water method for pill refining wouldn't be very effective.
So he gave an awkward smile and asked the physician, "I wonder if there's a pill furnace and heavenly fire on the ship?"
"Pill furnace?" The physician squinted at him and asked, "Fire method pill refining?!"
The physician's reaction made Qin Ran realize that the Celestial Sea Domain was all ocean. In this vast sea, with abundant water vapor, fire method pill refining would certainly be less common than in the Lingnan Region.
But since he had already spoken, he could only ask in return, "Is there a problem?"
Since the physician had mentioned fire method pill refining, it meant that it did exist in the Celestial Sea Domain, though probably as a niche technique.
Sure enough, the physician shook his head and said, "No, it's just that fire method pill refining is rarely seen... at least I've never seen it."
"Moreover..." he smiled, "There's no pill furnace on the ship, nor any heavenly fire."
He wanted to see how Qin Ran would refine the pill.
"No pill furnace?" Qin Ran sighed and said, "Then I'll have to use the water method for pill refining."
Without pill water, he could only use ordinary water, but the effect of ordinary water would be too poor...
"Water method pill refining is the best," the physician nodded approvingly. "I didn't expect you to be proficient in both fire and water methods of pill refining. Truly, the younger generation is formidable."
Ignoring the physician's sarcasm, Qin Ran took a deep breath and summoned a stream of water from within his body. He separated it, enveloping all the ingredients, and sent out his spiritual power, using it in place of magical power to extract the medicinal properties.
"What an arrogant refining technique!" Seeing Qin Ran attempting to extract all the ingredients at once, the physician couldn't help but sneer.
Tie Ruonan, observing Qin Ran's ability to control so many ingredients simultaneously, thought to herself, "His level isn't just at the first grade, he must be a second-grade Spirit Refiner."
Because it was ordinary water, the extraction effect was much worse, and Qin Ran took a long time to obtain the pill essence.
He casually tossed the herb residue into the sea and began to combine the various herbal essences according to his deductions, following the appropriate medicinal principles to merge the pill essence.
Seeing this, the physician commented again, "To extract only once and then discard the residue, how terrifying!"
Hearing this, Qin Ran recalled the Immortal Fruit from last night and suddenly understood. This physician, when refining pills, must have been worried about incomplete extraction of the medicinal essence, which is why he mixed the residue back into the ingredients.
He couldn't help but wonder, was it this physician's pill refining skills that were lacking? Or was it the general level of pill refining in the Celestial Sea Domain that was subpar?
After mixing the essence, Qin Ran began to extract the water from the pill essence.
The physician shook his head: "This kid is either a pill refining master or a complete novice. But given his age, he's more likely to be a reckless newcomer."
Because it wasn't pill water, the process of extracting the water became slower. It took another long while before Qin Ran finished removing the water from the pill, finally obtaining a finished product.
The pill was dark yellowish, with a smooth luster and an aura of spiritual energy emanating from it. It was a pill that had achieved a grade.
However, this clearly wasn't the same as the physician's so-called Immortal Fruit.
"Are you sure this isn't a poison pill?!" the physician sneered.
Qin Ran looked at the pill in his hand and replied, "It has just achieved a grade, it's a low-grade pill."
He turned to the physician and asked, "Would you like to try it?"
"I wouldn't dare," the physician shook his head.
Qin Ran then looked at Tie Ruonan and asked, "How about you?"
In fact, Tie Ruonan knew nothing about pill refining, but she had been impressed by Qin Ran's flashy operations. She laughed casually, "Why not? I'm not afraid."
She took the pill and popped it into her mouth.
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