"Senior Brother, good morning."

As soon as Lu Li arrived at the cafeteria, he saw the fat figure with a limp busily bustling around. From time to time, he raised his arm to wipe the beads of sweat on his forehead, looking rather exhausted.

Hearing the voice, the fat man turned his head and took a glance. When he realized it was Lu Li, he smiled and said, "Morning." Then he got back to his work, saying as he did so, "The steamed buns are in the steamer, the porridge is in the pot, and the pickled vegetables are over there... Help yourself."

"Okay."

Lu Li nodded, took three steamers of small steamed buns, a bowl of porridge, and a plate of pickled vegetables, and started eating on his own. It had to be admitted that the small steamed buns were really delicious. They were filled with minced meat and leeks, and the meat was obviously fried beforehand, so they weren't greasy at all.

After taking a few bites, Lu Li casually asked, "Senior Brother, there don't seem to be any other people on this mountain. Can you finish making so much food?"

"You don't know. Besides the Grand Elder, there's another senior brother on this mountain. The Grand Elder seldom comes to eat, but that senior brother is extremely picky about food. If I prepare a few more dishes, he can choose whatever he likes, and then I won't get punished."

"Senior Brother?"

"That's Senior Brother Deng Qingsheng I mentioned yesterday. He's a registered disciple of the Grand Elder." Saying this, the fat man sighed and shook his head, not continuing.

Lu Li didn't ask any more questions. After quickly finishing his meal, he went to the door of the alchemy room and waited quietly.

After waiting for nearly half an hour, Xiao Jue walked slowly over with a tall and thin young man in green clothes. Xiao Jue was in front, and the young man in green clothes was behind. They both looked rather extraordinary.

Seeing that Lu Li was actually waiting there in advance, Xiao Jue couldn't help nodding and said, "Good awareness."

As soon as these words were spoken, Lu Li clearly saw the young man behind him frown slightly. But Lu Li pretended not to notice and said respectfully, "This is what I should do, Master."

"Disciple? What disciple?" The young man in green clothes immediately scolded, "You're just a servant. How dare you presumptuously call yourself a disciple? Remember, in front of Master, you can only call yourself a subordinate!"

"Master?"

So this was Deng Qingsheng.

Lu Li frowned slightly but didn't argue back. He lowered his head and said, "Yes."

Xiao Jue turned around and took a look at Deng Qingsheng, shook his head without saying a word, then took out a token and pressed it against the door. After a stream of light flashed, the door of the alchemy room rumbled and opened.

Only then did Lu Li realize that the door was actually a huge stone that was a foot thick.

The alchemy room was even wider than the cave dwelling where Lu Li lived. In the middle, there was a one-foot-high alchemy platform. On top of the alchemy platform was a bronze tripod-shaped alchemy furnace, and in front of the alchemy platform was a knob mechanism.

There were many shelves around the alchemy room, on which some jade bottles were placed. On the shelves in the east, there were quite a number of books.

After the two of them went in, Lu Li walked in with his head down.

"Kid, I suppose you've never been involved in alchemy before. Today, I brought Qingsheng here. First, to let him get familiar with alchemy too, and second, to demonstrate to you so that you understand what you should do when I refine pills in the future." Xiao Jue turned around and said to Lu Li.

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"Yes, Master."

Xiao Jue nodded and then gave Deng Qingsheng a look. Deng Qingsheng immediately walked back to the door and pressed a mechanism. The heavy stone door immediately rumbled and closed.

Just when Lu Li thought the room would become pitch-dark, several white lights suddenly shot out from the ceiling. It turned out that there were air vents and skylights on it.

It was just that they were blocked when the stone door was open.

Then Xiao Jue stretched out his hand as if by magic and took out a large pile of medicinal herbs and put them in the jade basin on the alchemy platform. Then he sat directly on the futon in front of the alchemy platform and gently turned the knob.

As the knob turned, a flash of fire suddenly appeared under the alchemy furnace, and the temperature in the room immediately rose.

It was really amazing.

It was the first time Lu Li had seen alchemy, and he wondered how there could be such a big fire underground.

"Get out of the way!"

Just as Lu Li was thinking, Deng Qingsheng suddenly pushed Lu Li, almost making him fall to the ground. Lu Li immediately felt angry in his heart. After steadying himself, he glared at Deng Qingsheng angrily.

"What? Do you want to be beaten?" Deng Qingsheng raised his eyebrows and looked at Lu Li with contempt.

Lu Li's performance in front of Xiao Jue just now made him very unhappy. In his opinion, as a servant, one should have the awareness of a servant. To actually dream of climbing up the big tree that was Master was simply unforgivable.

"Enough! You're at the fourth level of Qi Refining. Why bother with him? Sort out the medicinal herbs." Xiao Jue suddenly said indifferently.

"Yes, Master." Deng Qingsheng glared at Lu Li fiercely and then squatted beside the jade basin in front of Lu Li and started sorting out the medicinal herbs.

So he was at the fourth level of Qi Refining.

Lu Li calmed down his mood and looked at Deng Qingsheng's back indifferently, not knowing what he was thinking.

"This step is called heating the furnace. When heating the furnace, the temperature shouldn't be too high, otherwise it will have an indelible impact on the first medicinal herb..." Xiao Jue suddenly spoke. It wasn't clear whether he was speaking to Deng Qingsheng or Lu Li.

"Yes, Master." Deng Qingsheng said as he sorted out the medicinal herbs.

Lu Li was about to speak but closed his mouth when he heard this. He showed a self-mocking smile. He was just a servant. How could the other party give him guidance? However, he still carefully remembered what Xiao Jue said.

Even if you don't give me guidance, it's not illegal for me to secretly remember it by myself, right?

"One Black Pearl Grass." Xiao Jue spoke again.

"Yes." Hearing this, Deng Qingsheng hurriedly took out a pitch-black spiritual herb from the jade basin, opened the lid of the furnace, and threw it in.

So this was called Black Pearl Grass.

Lu Li saw it clearly and secretly remembered it.

After the medicinal herbs were put into the furnace, Xiao Jue controlled the switch of the underground fire again, and the fire suddenly grew larger. When Lu Li looked over, he found that Xiao Jue was actually operating with his eyes closed. He couldn't help but feel very curious. How did he know the size of the fire without looking?

Moreover, upon closer inspection, Xiao Jue's hand that controlled the switch of the underground fire was always shaking slightly, and the flame under the alchemy furnace also changed slightly. If one didn't look carefully, it was impossible to notice.

Lu Li wanted to ask but didn't dare to open his mouth.

Suddenly, Lu Li noticed that Xiao Jue's face twitched slightly.

It turned out that a few drops of sweat had flowed to the corners of the other's eyes. With a thought in his mind, Lu Li looked around and saw a towel on the shelf behind him. So he carefully took it down and then controlled his steps and slowly walked over to wipe Xiao Jue's sweat.

This kid has good judgment.

Although Xiao Jue didn't open his eyes, he also knew it was Lu Li who did it.

Damn it! This bootlicker!

Deng Qingsheng was so angry that his body trembled. He wanted to scold but swallowed the words when they reached his mouth.

Lu Li saw it but still pretended not to notice. As long as he could learn what he wanted, it wouldn't matter if he had to wipe the other's shoes, let alone just wipe sweat. As for this Deng Qingsheng, he was probably jealous because of Xiao Jue's attitude towards him.

"Controlling the fire can't be rushed. One has to be familiar with the properties of medicinal herbs. Different medicinal herbs require different levels of fire. A little too much or a little too little will affect the quality of the pills formed. What we can do is to improve our familiarity with various medicinal herbs through continuous refining and countless experiments..."

"Also, when controlling the fire, we can't use our eyes to look at the size of the flame. We need to sink our spiritual sense into the furnace, constantly observe the melting degree of the medicinal herbs, and control the fire according to the melting degree of the medicinal herbs. That's the best way..."

"It's rumored that an outstanding alchemist can tell what level of fire to use and how long it takes to melt the medicinal herbs just by getting a kind of medicinal herb... That's our ultimate goal."

"..."

Lu Li held his breath and listened to Xiao Jue's intermittent narration, afraid of missing a single word.