**Chapter 78: Potion-Making**
The heavy wooden door of the potion-making public operation room closed softly behind Jie Ming, sealing off the clamor of the outside world.
The spacious room was filled with the scent of dried herbs, mineral dust, and a faint trace of aged parchment.
Sunlight streamed through tall arched windows, casting beams of light onto the polished quartz workbench, illuminating specks of dust floating in the air.
Jie Ming took a deep breath, letting the lab’s unique tranquility settle his mind.
Before him, crucibles, retorts, condensers, and an array of beakers and grinding tools were neatly arranged, like a silent army awaiting commands.
Today’s goal was to concoct a “Focus Potion,” a relatively advanced potion for the apprentice stage, though its materials were not overly complex.
He approached the material rack, his gaze settling on the required items: a bundle of luminescent grass exuding a crisp aura, several fragments of moon-silver ore speckled with starry glints, a small vial of viscous nightglow moss extract, and a few dried flame-flower petals, their veins resembling fiery patterns.
Jie Ming donned a pair of cicada-wing-thin gloves, specialized for potion-making. They shielded his body from the materials’ corrosive effects while allowing his fingertips to keenly sense their “pulse.”
He picked up the luminescent grass, not cutting it carelessly but gently placing his fingertips on its stem.A faint, cool sensation flowed through his fingers.
Closing his eyes, he activated Analysis Technique, his mind sinking into the grass, as if perceiving the moonlit energy flowing within its leaves and the tiny, murky impurity nodes.
“The vitality is decent, but the roots have slightly more impurities.”
Jie Ming took a silver knife embedded with pure crystal.
His movements were gentle yet precise, the blade tracing specific energy veins.
After removing the impure sections, he placed the processed leaves into a warm white jade mortar.
Grinding wasn’t about brute force but required mental energy infused with a unique rhythm, each press releasing the leaf’s essence without damaging its core energy structure.
Soon, the leaves transformed into a pool of faintly glowing emerald liquid.
Processing the moon-silver ore fragments tested his patience.
Jie Ming placed them into a grinder etched with intricate runes.
Activating the internal grinding beads, a low hum resonated as the hard ore was broken down into uniform, star-flecked silver powder under magical vibration.
Throughout, he used Alchemy Technique to “scan” the powder’s uniformity, ensuring each particle was nearly identical.
With all preliminary preparations complete, it was time for the core step of potion-making.
Jie Ming ignited the constant-temperature magical crucible at the workbench’s center, its ghostly blue flames burning silently beneath.
He slowly poured the processed luminescent grass liquid into the preheated crucible. The liquid hissed softly upon contact, releasing a cool mist.
His focus sharpened, eyes keen as a hawk’s.
On the open book beside him, complex formulas and ratios were clearly marked.
He picked up a crystal dropper calibrated to micro-scale precision and carefully drew the specified amount of nightglow moss extract.
One drop, two drops…
The viscous liquid fell into the emerald liquid, not blending immediately but spreading like ink in water, its edges radiating a slowly pulsing glow.
“Energy conflict is starting…” Jie Ming recalled the book’s knowledge, swiftly adding the moon-silver powder into the crucible.
The moment the powder touched the liquid, it was as if a spark had been thrown!
The liquid in the crucible grew unstable, the emerald and glow repelling each other fiercely. Tiny silver sparks crackled at the center, emitting a low popping sound.
A mixed scent of metallic tang and decayed herbs filled the air.
This was the critical moment!
Jie Ming decisively released his mental energy, Analysis Technique forming an invisible, precise web that enveloped the crucible.
His consciousness dove in, no longer just observing the surface boiling and color changes but delving into the microscopic level, “sensing” how the volatile energy particles collided, combined, and annihilated.
In his mental vision, the crucible was like a miniature cosmic storm. The luminescent grass’s energy tried to soothe the nightglow moss’s agitation, while the moon-silver’s metallic energy acted as a catalyst, forcibly bridging the two and triggering an even fiercer reaction.
His task was to precisely time and control the moon-silver’s energy intervention—any misstep would break the balance.
Jie Ming held his breath, a thread of mental energy gathered at his fingertips, ready to adjust the flame’s temperature or add neutralizing materials, his entire focus anchored in the boiling microcosm.
The storm gradually subsided, the emerald, glow, and silver merging into a deep indigo liquid, as if it held a starry sky within.
But just as Jie Ming prepared to add the final ingredient—flame-flower petal powder—his mental energy caught a faint, unexpected energy fluctuation: a tiny, unpulverized crystal in the moon-silver powder had undergone an unforeseen mutation under the sustained heat!
“Trouble!” His heart sounded an alarm, but his fingers couldn’t retract in time.
The flame-flower powder, carrying its fiery energy, fell into the indigo liquid.
*Pfft—Boom!*
As if igniting dynamite, the liquid instantly shifted from indigo to a blinding violet, swelling violently with a piercing screech!
A foul stench of sulfur and burnt feathers erupted. Jie Ming reacted swiftly, ducking behind a specially crafted protective crystal barrier.
*Bang!*
A muffled explosion rang out as the crucible’s lid was blown off by the raging airflow. Scalding, viscous purple waste liquid splattered across the barrier and quartz surface, sizzling and releasing acrid white smoke.
A few drops hit Jie Ming’s arm, corroding small holes in his alchemical gloves.
His face was smudged with gray-black soot, looking rather disheveled.
The lab was a mess, the pungent smell lingering.
Once the smoke cleared, Jie Ming ignored his appearance and rushed to the workbench, using corrosion-resistant tweezers to carefully collect some un-evaporated waste liquid and the strange crystals formed post-explosion.
He pulled out a thick notebook, analyzing the crystal with Alchemy Technique and Analysis Technique while a quill pen automatically hovered, scribbling rapidly:
“17th Focus Potion Refinement Record:
Failure Stage: Final fusion (after adding flame-flower petals).
Phenomenon: Liquid turned from indigo to bright violet, boiling and swelling violently, accompanied by sulfurous odor and mild explosion (energy overload type).
Mental Energy Observation Key Point: 0.3 seconds before adding flame-flower petals, detected abnormal energy spike in moon-silver powder, region G7 (suspected unpulverized micro-crystal core activated by flame energy).
This spike triggered a fierce chain reaction with the flame-flower’s solar attribute, far exceeding the formula’s designed threshold…”