Some of the alchemists were of mature age, being around seventy or eighty years old. The youngest one among them was at least forty. Having learned that Lin Jin was a Rank 2 beast appraiser, they came over and paid him respects as well.
When they heard how Lin Jin would be borrowing their alchemy room, the men were stunned.
“Does Appraiser Lin know how to pelletize as well?” one of them asked. His name was Shi Wenbing, Shi Wenjun’s eldest brother.
“Just a little.” Lin Jin gave the same answer as he did previously.
Another elderly man saw the beast skull furnace in Lin Jin’s hand and exclaimed, “Isn’t that the accursed furnace?”
After Shi Wenjun explained the situation, the few alchemists responded with looks of disapproval.
They obviously thought Shi Wenjun was fooling around and that Lin Jin didn’t know his place. This was absolute nonsense. Pelletization wasn’t child’s play and using the furnace that guaranteed failure would just be a waste of time and materials.
Still, Lin Jin was their guest and Shi Wenjun already gave him her word. These men revered Shi Wenjun as she was the only one who was capable enough to support the Shi family. While they were better in terms of alchemy, they knew they couldn’t excel as the head of the Shi household so they were both protective and supportive of Shi Wenjun.
Hence, no one said anything.
But they were intrigued.
Had it been something else, the group would be dispassionate. But when it came to pelletization, they were fascinated.
“May we have the honor of observing Appraiser Lin’s pelletization process?” Shi Wenbing asked. To observe an alchemist’s pelletization process, it was only natural to first obtain permission.
“Sure!” Lin Jin answered nonchalantly.
He didn’t give it too much thought. Since they wanted to watch, there was no reason why he’d turn them down.
Shi Wenjun’s eyes lit up at his answer. She led Lin Jin into the alchemy room and stayed there, sitting in a corner with the other Shi family’s alchemists to watch Lin Jin work the furnace.
She was just as curious as the others.
Because the pellet furnace Lin Jin had chosen was labeled by their ancestors as the ‘accursed furnace’. This furnace couldn’t possibly produce any pills, or at least this was the conclusion their family arrived at.
This point had been proven several times to be true.
Still, even after Lin Jin found out about it, he still insisted on picking the furnace. How could Shi Wenjun not be intrigued?
Hence, she provided him the furnace fire amulet and an alchemy room in hopes of being able to witness Lin Jin’s pelletization process.
Though, she subconsciously assumed that Lin Jin would fail. She was rather proud and confident of her ancestor’s pelletization skills, otherwise, the Shi family wouldn’t have been prestigious for so long. Even her ancestor and father couldn’t use this furnace so Lin Jin obviously couldn’t either.
Shi Wenjun’s assumption was that Lin Jin was skeptical and just wanted to defend his dignity. His attempt would certainly end in failure, and when that happened, she would let him pick out another furnace. She would provide him a new set of pellet ingredients as well.
There was a reason why Shi Wenjun was able to maintain control over the clan.
The Shi family had been on the decline for several years now with the Chen family catching up to them as rivals in business. In fact, the latter had already surpassed them.
This was a fact.
On the topic of pelletization, while Shi Wenjun a natural talent, she was still slightly inferior to her father. Her capabilities were considered incredible in the entire Shi family and most of the clan’s descendants couldn’t even compare to her.
It wasn’t because the family’s pelletization techniques were unsatisfactory. Rather, it was an issue with the practitioner.
To reach a certain level in alchemy, one must possess an innate understanding of the subject and at the same time, much effort had to be invested into the learning process. Both were essential, but the former held greater weight when looking at the bigger picture.
After all, pelletization required an accumulation of years of experience, similar to the process of becoming a doctor. Only with time could they attain greater heights.
If a prodigy appeared within the family, they could easily lead the family to greater success. Yet, to their dismay, only a handful of their descendants possessed significant innate awareness. And among these individuals, a large portion was met with accidents that forced them to give up halfway through their journey. Consequently, this led to a deficit in manpower which was the ultimate factor that led their family downhill.
The solution to this problem was actually quite simple. They just had to abolish the family rule and recruit potential candidates, who would inherit their precious teachings.
However, this was a very hard decision to make.
As a woman, even if Shi Wenjun was aware of how their family’s development was hindered by the golden rule, she didn’t dare to repeal it.
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She could only hold out as long as possible.
Fortunately, the Shi family’s pelletization capability was still top of its class, and this was the area in which the Chen family couldn’t serve as a substitute.
If Shi Wenjun wanted to reclaim their lost territory and seize the medicine market that was being devoured by the Chen family, what was the right thing to do?
Accumulation of wealth.
There was a great demand for medicinal ingredients from the Beast Appraisal Association. Back then, the Chen family successfully latched onto the then-chief Wang Ji, monopolizing the supply to their association. Even after Wang Ji was removed from power, this supply-chain remained uninterrupted. Hence, Shi Wenjun wanted to get on good terms with Lin Jin, hoping that their relationship could help the Shi family regain its former glory.
Rumor had it that Lin Jin and the Beast Appraisal Association’s new chief had a good relationship.
Shi Wenjun had been occupied by her thoughts. When she looked up and subconsciously caught sight of Lin Jin, she froze up. The messy notions in her mind disappeared instantaneously.
Because she noticed how Lin Jin’s incantation when invoking the furnace fire amulet was a little different.
There were tons of ways to invoke a furnace fire amulet. Some were simple, some were unbelievably profound.
Shi Wenjun had been studying the art of pelletization since the age of six. She knew a great variety of incantations by heart but now, to her surprise, she couldn’t recognize the spell Lin Jin was using.
This caught her attention at once.
Shi Wenjun leaned forward to observe closely what Lin Jin was doing.
Lin Jin activated the furnace fire amulet, tossed it into the furnace and flames erupted immediately. The resulting flames heated the furnace up right away.
“According to common practice, one should first heat up the furnace and then toss the medicinal ingredients in… Wait, where are the ingredients?” Shi Wenjun discovered the oddity.
Sounding irked, Shi Wenbing answered, “He already put it in.”
Shi Wenjun was dumbstruck, confused.
“This Appraiser Lin tossed all the ingredients into the furnace before activating the furnace fire amulet. This is just nonsense.” One of the Shi family’s seniors shook his head in disapproval.
This completely went against the conventional rules of pelletization.
Shi Wenjun wanted to speak but stopped herself short. How was he supposed to combine the medicine’s effects that way?
After all, the ingredients with lower melting points should have turned into a paste by now while those with higher melting points still required more heat. If all materials were refined together, the medicinal paste would either end up burnt or its medicinal effects would be lost. All in all, it was a given that the pill would end in failure.
At that moment, Lin Jin’s incantation changed.
In an instant, the flames overflowing from the furnace turned green.
“Red flames to dissolve medicine and green flames to solidify the pill. Is Appraiser Lin planning to solidify it now? That’s way too soon!” One of the Shi family’s seniors was bewildered.
It wasn’t just him but everyone else present simply couldn’t wrap their heads around Lin Jin’s pelletization process.
These people have devoted their entire lives to the way of pelletization. Some of them had even practiced pelletization for more than fifty years, possessing instincts derived from experience that no average Joe could ever hope to achieve. However, these people seemed equally lost right now.
“This is a waste of time and a waste of ingredients!” One of them got up to leave, unable to take it anymore.
“Wait!” one of the elderly men suddenly exclaimed with a grave expression.
“Fourth Uncle?” The person who was about to leave stopped in his tracks. He looked at the elderly man who called out to him with a puzzled expression. That elderly man was currently the Shi family’s oldest relative, someone who even Shi Wenjun’s father had to address formally as ‘Fourth Uncle’.
Fourth Uncle said, “This pelletization process of Appraiser Lin’s looks vaguely like our Shi family’s Hexlight Whisking Technique!”
This statement came out of nowhere, taking them by surprise.
The others were stunned by this.
“Now that Fourth Uncle has mentioned it, I do see the semblance.”
“But our Shi family’s Hexlight Whisking Technique is a family secret! How does Appraiser Lin know about it?”
Everyone turned to Shi Wenjun immediately.