Chapter 33: Success
After an incense stick of time, Xiao Bai found that the Ice Flame Thunder in his body had become exactly the same as the one on his fingertips.
On the surface, it looked like a swaying flame, and in the center of the flame, a red thunderball was surrounded by lightning, floating within. Occasionally, a trace of lightning would arc across the flame, making it look incomparably beautiful.
"Haha. Good little Bing! Dad loves you!"
Although he knew it had no intelligence, Xiao Bai couldn't help but laugh joyfully.
Even though the Wood Thunder and Ice Flame Thunder in his body were both quite spiritual in nature...
Xiao Bai understood that it was extremely difficult for such rare existences to develop true intelligence. First, it required an immense origin, and second, it needed an absurd amount of time.
And not just hundreds or thousands of years—but tens of thousands. Just like the ancient Tuoshe Emperor. No one knew what kind of Heavenly Flame he possessed, but it was recorded that after tens of thousands of years, it developed a vague awareness, purely driven by instinct to devour other flames, until it finally gained human-like intelligence.
Xiao Bai dispersed the wisp of Ice Flame Thunder from his fingertips and allowed it to return to his body, then directly summoned the entire thunder seed of Ice Flame Thunder.
Seeing that the thunder seed in his palm didn't revert to its chaotic state, he controlled it with his soul. The thunder seed seemed to understand his intent and gradually changed into a thunderous form. With another thought, it returned to a flame form.
Now Xiao Bai was at ease. Watching the thunder seed repeatedly transform in his palm, the smile on his face grew even broader.
He never thought that the thunder seed could be used this way. If not for needing it in Alchemy this time, who knows how long it would've taken to discover this ability.
With the successful transformation of the Ice Flame Thunder, Xiao Bai turned his attention to the Wood Thunder in his body. Could it also be controlled in the same way?
After absorbing the Ice Flame Thunder back into his body, Xiao Bai summoned the Wood Thunder—this time not just a wisp, but the full thunder seed—and directly controlled it with his soul.
Sure enough, the change wasn't a coincidence. It was simply that Xiao Bai hadn't known how before.
The Wood Thunder, like the Ice Flame Thunder, could also be manipulated like this. However, while Ice Flame Thunder appeared as a flame, the Wood Thunder took the form of rolling green mist.
The green mist flowed over his palm, and at its center floated a pale green thunderball. Occasionally, a spark of lightning would shoot through the mist, exuding a different kind of beauty from Ice Flame Thunder.
Xiao Bai silently admired the Wood Thunder swirling in his palm and couldn't help but marvel at the wonders of the world. Nature's creation was truly magnificent.
"Xun'er would love this," Xiao Bai suddenly thought of that little girl.
Girls loved beautiful things. Even he found himself entranced by the thunder seed's transformations—let alone someone like her.
After admiring it for a while, Xiao Bai withdrew the Wood Thunder into his body. Everything was now ready—only the east wind was missing.
He calmed his emotions, his expression becoming solemn, and then sent a wisp of flame-thunder into the cauldron, trying to control the intensity solely with his soul.
Now, Xiao Bai finally relaxed. He no longer needed to worry about the balance between flame and thunder—he just had to control the flame's strength.
After some time adjusting, he waved his hand and tossed a Purple Sun Fruit into the Ebony Tripod.
He retracted the flame slightly and carefully guided the Purple Sun Fruit toward the flame-thunder.
Xiao Bai didn't know the exact temperature needed to extract the fruit's medicinal essence, so he could only trial and error his way through it.
This time, the Purple Sun Fruit didn't instantly turn into black charcoal like before.
Xiao Bai was delighted. There was hope!
He gradually increased the flame's strength. The Purple Sun Fruit tumbled inside the flame and soon began shedding its outer skin.
But then, a spark of thunder suddenly burst from the flame and struck the exposed fruit flesh, instantly scorching it black.
Xiao Bai was speechless as he stared into the cauldron.
Still, he wasn't discouraged. Compared to before, this was already a great improvement.
Success is the accumulation of many failures.
After clearing the burnt residue from the cauldron, he tossed in another Purple Sun Fruit and tried again.
Again, he failed.
Again and again, he failed.
Each time, the hidden thunder in the flame struck and destroyed the medicinal ingredients sooner or later.
Xiao Bai stopped. This wouldn't work. Even if he occasionally succeeded, that would be luck—not a stable method for Alchemy.
Rubbing his forehead, Xiao Bai suddenly felt how tough the road of an Alchemist was.
Solve one problem, and another appears. And this was just the very first step of refining—extracting medicinal essence.
After resting briefly, Xiao Bai focused and perked up again.
The harder the road, the calmer one must remain. Only then could the fruit of success become sweet. He silently encouraged himself.
Looking at the little pile of charred medicinal herbs to the side, Xiao Bai rubbed his chin.
Since the herbs couldn't withstand the thunder hidden in the flame, and the thunder couldn't be suppressed...
Couldn't he strengthen the medicinal ingredients themselves?
Xiao Bai thought of the Wood Thunder he hadn't used yet. It wasn't that he didn't want to use it—it was that he couldn't.
Most Alchemists used wood attributes to calm the violence of fire. But his Ice Flame would go berserk if it touched Wood Qi.
So instead of fusing wood into flame, why not infuse it into the medicinal herbs?
That might work, Xiao Bai silently thought.
He first removed the flame-thunder from the cauldron. Then he summoned a wisp of Wood Thunder in its mist form and tossed it into the cauldron. With a wave of his hand, he dropped in a Purple Sun Fruit to let it be nourished by the Wood Qi.
Gradually, Xiao Bai sensed that this method might actually work. The Wood Thunder was gentle, and now in mist form, it was even gentler. The shriveled Purple Sun Fruit began to plump up slightly as it absorbed the Wood attribute's vitality.
Moreover, the Wood attribute contained a trace of thunder. As the fruit absorbed it, it began to resonate faintly with the thunder power in the flame.
"Maybe this way, it won't be blasted into charcoal again by Xiao Bing," Xiao Bai's eyes brightened.
He immediately threw the Ice Flame into the cauldron again and guided the now-plump Purple Sun Fruit toward it.
As the temperature slowly rose, the fruit rolled through the flame, steadily shedding its skin. Occasionally, a spark of thunder would strike, but instead of destroying it, the lightning accelerated the release of medicinal essence.
Finally, a faint trace of pale purple powder appeared inside the cauldron.
Xiao Bai knew—he had succeeded. This was the first time he had successfully extracted the medicinal essence.
"This is a small step for Xiao Bai, but a big leap for Alchemy on the Dou Qi Continent!" Xiao Bai laughed joyfully and thought shamelessly to himself.
Taking the light purple powder out of the cauldron, Xiao Bai noticed that the powder was slightly different from the one described in the formula Yao Lao had given him.
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(End of this chapter)