Chapter 184: Five Elemental Fire Pill
“I will be staying here for a few days to help Xiao Huo evolve,” Lin Jin said. He had told Shang’er about this before but the other monsters didn’t know about it yet.
Little Five was visibly stunned at this before an uncomfortable expression surfaced on her face.
Once inside the cave, Shang’er secretly told Lin Jin how every time after he left, Little Five would discreetly descend the mountain to meet her date.
In other words, if Lin Jin didn’t leave, Little Five wouldn’t dare to go over. His current plan was disrupting her romantic adventures.
Lin Jin smiled and said nothing.
Shang’er helped Lin Jin unpack and prepare the bedding. Every time Lin Jin came over, she would care meticulously for him.
Outside, Goldy had left to survey his new ‘territory’.
Based on Lin Jin’s understanding, Goldy had claimed the nearby mountains as his and tamed all the wild beasts in the vicinity.
Those who disobeyed would be pummeled until they surrendered.
The little foxes were playing with Xiao Huo. Now that there was an additional shadow wolf, their merriment outside the cave increased.
Lin Jin wasn’t in a hurry as he had to prepare the medicine required for Xiao Huo’s evolution process.
This might take an entire day.
The pill he needed to pelletize this time was called a ‘five elemental fire pill’.
While it sounded like one single pill, it was actually a set of five pills, and the trickiest part was, these pills had to be made simultaneously.
It was Lin Jin’s first time coming across such a thing in the Museum of Deadly Beasts so he obviously didn’t know its’ worth. The materials he had his visitors in the Visitation Hall gathered were precisely for this five elemental fire pill.
Lin Jin brought them all with him.
Before he began pelletization, Lin Jin saw how Shang’er desired to speak but stopped herself in the final moment. Realizing she was worried about Little Five, Lin Jin gave it some thought before calling Little Five over.
Soon, Little Five came in and saluted. “Master Lin, were you looking for me?”
Lin Jin had her sit down.
Frankly speaking, Lin Jin was troubled. He wasn’t too old himself and his actual age was probably much younger than Shang’er, Little Five, and the others. And yet, he had to act like a parent by not only teaching them lessons but also placing restrictions.
“I heard from Shang’er that you’ve been going out a lot recently,” Lin Jin said.
He still had some authority around here. While Little Five may disobey Shang’er out of stubbornness, she wouldn’t dare disobey Lin Jin.
Upon hearing his question, Little Five knew what was going on. She could only nod meekly, admitting it.
“Master Lin, I know that my sister is just looking out for me, but she’s just prejudiced against Brother Xu. Brother Xu and I care for each other. No matter what happens, I’m willing to stand by his side without regrets.” Being a smart creature, Little Five immediately stated her position before all else.
By sharing her thoughts, she gained a head start.
Lin Jin couldn’t bring himself to tell her to give up now. And boy did this trouble him.
Had she been his daughter, he would be suffering a migraine now. Although Shang’er and the other foxes were merely his disciples, they felt no different from being his daughters.
Now, his “daughter” was in a rebellious phase, and she’s adamantly trying to use love to justify her actions. She was acting just like a child who was going through puberty.
What could Lin Jin say?
Forbid her from doing so?
Lin Jin was racking his brains. Fortunately for him, having had a taste of both worlds, he had experience watching cliche dramas so he had some reference on how to deal with such situations.
After some thought, Lin Jin changed his battle strategy. After all, one couldn’t force a growing child who was in their rebellious stage. “Little Five, humans and monsters are different and you know this so I won’t explain further. I’ve met your Brother Xu but he was unconscious back then so I can’t say much about this character.”
Little Five immediately supplied, “Brother Xu is a good man. He’s well-manned, highly knowledgeable, and very honorable.”
Her tone was affectionate.
Lin Jin shook his head on the inside. Little Five was too naive and innocent. Humans do not possess exclusively good traits. The most dangerous scenario a naive girl could find herself in was when she could only see the positive side of a person.
However, he couldn’t say this directly. If he did, the currently agitated Little Five would ignore his advice.
“Then does he know you’re a fox demon?” Lin Jin asked.
Little Five nodded.
Lin Jin didn’t find this odd. They had been meeting in their dreams thus far so only an idiot wouldn’t be able to tell something was up.
It was no wonder Little Five was so confident. She assumed she knew everything and had made the necessary considerations.
But was it comprehensive enough?
Obviously not.
Not too far away, Shang’er was eavesdropping on the conversation through a handy spell she picked up. She was gritting her teeth in anger and crackling her knuckles, wanting to go over and teach her insolent sister a lesson.
But with Lin Jin here, she dared not act rashly.
She could only endure and shatter the rocks beside her in an attempt to vent her frustrations.
Meanwhile, Lin Jin was in a hurry to pelletize his pill so he could only use one strategy on Little Five who wouldn’t obey the carrot nor the stick.
“Little Five!”
“Yes, Master Lin.”
“Do you know that in books, there’s a saying that ‘teacher for a day, …” Lin Jin stopped halfway through the recital and waited for Little Five to pick up where he left off.
Being a smart girl, the latter said, “‘Father for ever’. Master Lin, Little Five has always been respectful towards you and this will never change.”
Lin Jin nodded.
This was enough for him.
“Since you address me as your teacher, shouldn’t you honor my arrangements? You should at least let me meet your Brother Xu. He should pay me a visit too,” Lin Jin said.
This was basic etiquette and Little Five knew this too so she couldn’t retort.
Litte Five didn’t get angry but was instead delighted.
Assuming that Master Lin had acknowledged her choice, Little Five was chuckling on the inside. If Master Lin assented to their relationship, even her sister wouldn’t be able to say anything else.
Feeling excited, she announced, “Master Lin, I’ll bring Brother Xu to pay you a visit at once.”
“Alright, go on.” Lin Jin didn’t stop her.
Since nothing could stop her, he would let her be. He would decide after meeting this Brother Xu.
Little Five left joyfully. As a Rank 3 monster equipped with the spells Lin Jin had taught her, Little Five could venture outside alone without much worry.
Immediately after Little Five left, Shang’er came in.
She was visibly angry.
Angry at Lin Jin.
She hoped that Lin Jin would help restrict Little Five, to wake her up from her naive fantasies. Not only did Lin Jin fail to advise Little Five, but he seems to have accepted her relationship with the human boy. Shang’er was obviously furious about it.
“Master Lin, how could you just let Little Five act on her whims?” Shang’er asked.
Lin Jin instead replied, “Restricting her would only bring about adverse effects. Why don’t we first observe if Little Five’s Brother Xu is brave enough to visit Mount Zoroku.”
Without any other options, Shang’er could only let it be.
After instructing her to guard the cave, Lin Jin began the pelletization process.
He was still using the beast bone furnace. It was a good furnace. While the bestial soul within was a nuisance to everyone else, Lin Jin could afford to ignore it.
His deterrence ability was enough to subdue that bestial soul.
Lin Jin brought enough furnace fire amulets with him so he didn’t need an external fire. By injecting the furnace fire amulet, a fire raged within the furnace. This was a profound way to perform pelletization.
Producing the five elemental fire pill would be challenging, but fortunately, Lin Jin had been honing his pelletization skills. With the museum’s detailed instructions, he should be able to succeed.
However, just in case, Lin Jin prepared enough materials for two rounds of pelletization. If he failed the first time, he had one more try.
Once everything was ready, the pelletization began.
Lin Jin waited until the furnace was bright red before tossing in the ingredients.
Among the ingredients were rare herbs and uncommon spirit stones, each one of them incredibly expensive. Lin Jin tried tabulating the estimates to find that one five elemental fire pill might cost more than fifty thousand taels.
And this was the lowest estimate. If one intended to purchase this from the market, it might cost up to a hundred thousand taels.
The price may be increased up to two or three hundred thousand if sold by scalper merchants.
The various ingredients melted away inside the furnace, disintegrating to leave only their essences where these medicinal effects then consolidate at the top of the furnace.
And this was only the beginning.
The five elemental fire pill is a set of five pills created in one furnace.
Now, it was time to consolidate an earth fire pill.
Seven different herbs and two types of spirit stones were tossed in and they dissolved away to serve as the pill’s source of energy. The earth fire pill contained the most pill energy but it was easier to consolidate this way.
After some work, Lin Jin saw a brown-colored pill sink gradually to the bottom of the furnace.
Next, he only needed to cast a solidifying spell to set the pill.
But before he could do that, Lin Jin needed to create the other four variants of fire pills.
Throughout the process, Lin Jin remained focused and engrossed.
Shang’er was watching with great curiosity. It was her first time watching a pelletization process and was startled by the incredible performance.
Lin Jin tossed in eight more herbs, one spirit stone, and one furnace fire amulet to kickstart the creation of the firelight pill. This was the second type of fire pill.
Lin Jin came across some risks during this process. The furnace fire was too strong that fire energy almost overflowed when the ingredients were added in. It should be noted how terrifying furnace fires were. If it did overflow, the ground within a hundred-meter radius would be scorched black and covered in flames.
Lin Jin was startled as well but he managed to keep things under control. Still, it caused him to break out in cold sweat and he quickly ordered Shang’er to retreat from the cave.
If an accident did happen, at least Shang’er wouldn’t get caught up in it.
Perhaps Shang’er realized Lin Jin’s worry. She instead chose to stay and guard him by his side.
Lin Jin didn’t force her to leave.
After all, it was his first time pelletizing a pill of this grade, it was only natural for accidents to occur. After being fortunate enough to make it past the mishap, Lin Jin was extra careful. He would rather spend more time and use more fire amulets to guarantee safety.
Half an hour later, the firelight pill was successfully solidified, currently positioned somewhere near the bottom of the furnace.
The earth fire pill was the base while the firelight pill was the source of fire energy inside the furnace.
After producing this firelight pill, Lin Jin could now use its pill energy to pelletize the other three fire pills.
This was the unique method of supplementing a pill by using another pill’s energy.
Shi Wenjun and the others would be flabbergasted if they ever saw this. This technique was so advanced that even expert alchemists would be shocked, what more to say of the Shi family members.
Lin Jin wiped away the glistening sweat on his forehead. The first two pills were the five elemental fire pill’s core. In other words, the toughest part of the process was finally over. Pelletizing the remaining three would be relatively easier.