The experience points for the Qi and Blood Pill had indeed increased by 1, and Chen Fei felt a slight wave of relief. The insights related to refining Qi and Blood Pills in his mind had indeed grown a little.
He ate up the stir-fried pork liver on the plate in a few bites—Chen Fei hadn't put much liver in the wok anyway. Since nothing was said about how much pork liver had to be used, Chen Fei naturally used as little as possible.
Based on the amount he had bought earlier, Chen Fei could still stir-fry pork liver a few dozen more times. But even a few dozen times wouldn't be enough to raise the Qi and Blood Pill to Mastery level.
Chen Fei carefully cut off a tiny sliver of pork liver and tossed it into the wok. He wanted to test how small an amount of stir-fried liver the panel would still acknowledge.
A moment later, a portion of stir-fried pork liver barely the size of a fingernail came out of the wok, and a smile appeared on Chen Fei's face—another fragment of insight about the Qi and Blood Pill had surfaced in his mind.
Chen Fei looked at the remaining pork liver. Over a hundred more practice runs—it was enough!
Full of motivation, Chen Fei threw himself into the process of stir-frying pork liver with fervor, completely losing himself in it.
An hour later, all the pork liver had been cooked, and Chen Fei was eating it with some disgust—after all, it was all the same dish, and his cooking skills were truly rather mediocre.
But those were secondary matters. The most important thing was that the Qi and Blood Pill displayed on the panel had reached Mastery level.
With Mastery-level refinement of the Qi and Blood Pill, every batch could now be guaranteed to succeed, with no risk of furnace explosions or wasted pills.
The only thing was that the quality of the pills couldn't be perfectly guaranteed, but selling them should be no problem at all.
"Sell them to the medical hall, or to another shop in the market?"
Chen Fei pondered briefly. Compared to servants, guards faced far fewer demands. They were no longer required to turn over all additional earnings to the medical hall—if such a rule really existed, the guards would have all fled long ago.
Still, if a guard possessed something truly valuable, it was best to sell it to the medical hall, which wouldn't shortchange them. But something like Qi and Blood Pills certainly didn't count as valuable.
What Chen Fei hesitated over was whether displaying his pill-refining skills might be too conspicuous.
"Sell them to the medical hall!"
After only a moment's thought, Chen Fei made his decision. It was merely the lowly Qi and Blood Pill, after all—and showing a certain degree of value would make the medical hall take him somewhat more seriously.
Right now, Chen Fei was a complete outsider among the guards of the medical hall.
This world was dangerous—Chen Fei had already gotten a taste of that on Pingyin Mountain. If any dangerous tasks came up in the future, the cannon fodder would surely be sent first.
An outsider easily becomes cannon fodder.
"First reveal Entry-level Qi and Blood Pills, then reveal Mastery-level after some time—that way it won't be too outrageous."
Chen Fei settled on his strategy, tidied up the place briefly, and hurried back to the medical hall, where he found Zeng Defang in the pill-refining room.
"Just leave the pill formula on the table."
Zeng Defang glanced up at Chen Fei, then lowered his head again to the medical text in his hands. He assumed Chen Fei had come back to return the formula.
"Elder Zeng, I spent the past two days trying to refine the Qi and Blood Pill, and I succeeded."
Chen Fei set down the formula and said with a smile.
"Hm?"
Zeng Defang's brow furrowed as he looked at Chen Fei, a trace of displeasure in his expression. "I believe I told you a few days ago—the medical hall does not provide medicinal ingredients for free."
"Yes, I'll pay for one set of Qi and Blood Pill ingredients and refine it on the spot. I hope Elder Zeng can offer some guidance." Chen Fei cupped his hands respectfully.
"I don't have time. Find someone else to instruct you."
Zeng Defang curled his lips. This kid was utterly absurd—after reading a pill formula for just two days, he actually claimed he could refine a Qi and Blood Pill. Who did he think he was?
And he wanted me to watch him refine it? Does he think I have nothing better to do!
Besides, this same trick had been used years ago by people trying to curry favor with them, and when they actually started refining, the results were a disaster to behold.
So Zeng Defang had no intention of paying Chen Fei any attention. The sympathy he had once felt—thinking it hadn't been easy for Chen Fei to rise from servant to guard—now vanished completely.
"Elder Zeng, I have no reason to joke about such a matter, nor any intention of making a fool of you."
Seeing Zeng Defang's expression, Chen Fei immediately guessed his thoughts and spoke earnestly: "When I refine it later, if you see anything wrong with my technique at all, you may stop me at any time. Would that be acceptable?"
Zeng Defang was a veteran of the Qingzheng Medical Hall. With his approval, no one else would raise objections. If Chen Fei wanted to establish himself in the medical hall and gain access to more resources, befriending Zeng Defang was a rather good path.
Moreover, Zeng Defang was famously cold-faced but warm-hearted, willing to support promising juniors—otherwise Chen Fei wouldn't have gone to such lengths.
Zeng Defang studied Chen Fei. Seeing how serious his expression was, his heart softened somewhat.
"Fine. You may refine it once. I'd like to see exactly what you're capable of."
"Thank you, Elder Zeng!"
A smile broke across Chen Fei's face. He took out a set of Qi and Blood Pill ingredients from the pack on his back and sat down before one of the pill furnaces.
Chen Fei cleaned the furnace, lit the fire, and added the ingredients with somewhat clumsy movements.
Zeng Defang's brow creased. Chen Fei's technique was far too raw—nothing like someone who knew how to refine pills. But considering the boy had only obtained the formula two days ago, it was perhaps understandable. At least the basic steps were correct.
Though the early steps were clumsy, Chen Fei remained composed.
Mastery-level Qi and Blood Pill refinement was equivalent to a pill master with several years of experience. From the moment the ingredients entered the furnace, everything fell into Chen Fei's rhythm.
Every subtle change within the furnace was within Chen Fei's anticipation and response.
The ingredients for Qi and Blood Pills numbered only a few, so the transformations of their medicinal properties were actually quite limited. Master those changes, and you mastered the certainty that every batch would produce pills.
However, Chen Fei couldn't display Mastery-level skill right now—that would be too much. So when certain changes arose in the furnace, Chen Fei deliberately failed to adjust in time.
These were small errors that would affect the pill's quality without causing the furnace to explode—tolerable mistakes.
Zeng Defang watched Chen Fei, moving from initial skepticism to mild surprise, and now to a kind of stunned bewilderment.
Of course, Chen Fei's refinement process still had plenty of flaws. If such flaws appeared in a seasoned pill refiner, they would be pointed out for criticism and correction.
But for a newcomer like Chen Fei, who had only come into contact with the formula a few days ago, they were perfectly normal. At this moment, Chen Fei's performance was, in Zeng Defang's eyes, already quite astonishing.
A quarter of an hour later, as the furnace lid was lifted, a wisp of medicinal fragrance drifted through the pill-refining room.
Zeng Defang involuntarily stepped forward, gazing at the Qi and Blood Pill Chen Fei handed over.
The pill wasn't perfectly round, and there were still traces of unfused medicinal notes within its fragrance—but none of that changed the fact that this was a Qi and Blood Pill.
Zeng Defang looked up at Chen Fei earnestly. The first thought that surfaced in his mind was that Chen Fei must have refined Qi and Blood Pills before. But this thought was immediately dismissed.
A servant—how could he possibly have refined pills in the past?
So then... did this Chen Fei truly possess extraordinary talent in pill refinement?