“Elder Yu said that this is even stronger than the fire used by those in the Qi Refinement Realm,” Mo Hua explained.
How could Old Mr. Feng not know this, as he stood there for a long time, staring at the fire.
Apart from researching the Alchemy Dao to cure illnesses and save people, and having no desires of his own, Old Mr. Feng finally could not resist. Pointing at the furnace, he said to Mo Hua,
“Could you… make one for me too?”
Mo Hua also wanted to make a large first-grade Alchemy Furnace for Old Mr. Feng.
But such an Alchemy Furnace was not easy to create.
A regular first-grade Artifact Furnace could not serve as the Formation media for a first-grade Melting Fire Compound Formation, just as a regular first-grade Alchemy Furnace could not sustain the long-term operation of a first-grade Melting Fire Compound Formation.
Moreover, the formations used in an Alchemy Furnace needed to be more complex than those in an Artifact Furnace.
Artifact Furnaces only needed to consider fire supply, while other formation effects were supplementary. However, Alchemy Furnaces had to consider not only the fire supply but also the wooden properties of the herbs and the harmony of the Spiritual Energy.
Therefore, the Compound Formation used in an Alchemy Furnace would be more challenging.
This also meant that an Alchemy Furnace serving as the media for a Compound Formation needed to be of higher quality, with superior forging techniques, and it could not be small in size.
Mo Hua asked Elder Yu if there was a suitable Alchemy Furnace available.
Elder Yu found it a bit difficult since the large Artifact Furnace was, to begin with, a lucky bargain he had chanced upon.
But a large first-grade Alchemy Furnace was not that easy to find.
Mo Hua had no choice but to tell Old Mr. Feng the truth.
He could solve the problem with the Formation, but as for the Alchemy Furnace, he was unable to help.
Old Mr. Feng thought for a moment and then asked, “Can you refine it yourselves?”
“It’s possible, of course, but do you have an Artifice Manual?” Mo Hua inquired.
After considering for a while, Old Mr. Feng replied, “Yes, I do!”
“You actually have one?” Mo Hua was taken aback.
Old Mr. Feng went into the house, opened the storage chest in the corner, and from the bottom pulled out a beeswax-colored piece of cowhide recording the method for creating a large Alchemy Furnace.
After a glance at the manual, Mo Hua exclaimed in surprise,
“Grandpa Feng, where did you get this from?”
The design of the large Alchemy Furnace was extremely standard, and it was compatible with very complex formations. It matched well with Compound Formations, and one could tell at a glance that it was not an ordinary legacy.
Old Mr. Feng sighed and said, “This was passed down from my Sect. Before my master passed away, he entrusted all this to me. I’ve had no use for it and it’s been sitting at the bottom of this chest for seventy or eighty years. I would have forgotten about it if you hadn’t mentioned it. I suppose it would have gone into my coffin.”
“Do you think it can be used?” Old Mr. Feng asked again.
Mo Hua looked it over carefully again and said, “The Formation part is not a problem, but I don’t understand the crafting part; I’ll have to ask Master Chen and the others about that.”
Old Mr. Feng gave a nod, “Then take it and go ask.”
Mo Hua took the manufacturing diagram of the Alchemy Furnace to Master Chen.
Master Chen’s eyes sparkled after one look, “Great diagram, fantastic indeed!”
“Can it be made?” asked Mo Hua.
Master Chen stroked his beard and slowly said, “It’s difficult but not impossible to refine; I need to discuss it with the other Craftsmen.”
“And there’s also the matter with Elder Yu,” Master Chen added. “To forge this Alchemy Furnace, we’ll need a lot of fine iron and some special ores, like Melting Fire Stone, Golden Pattern Ore, and such. We’ll need Elder Yu’s help to prepare those.”
Elder Yu naturally agreed without hesitation and, once everything was ready, Master Chen and the other Craftsmen discussed it for several days before they started to craft the Alchemy Furnace.
This Alchemy Furnace was the most difficult Spiritual Artifact that Master Chen and the others had ever attempted to craft.
Mo Hua did not closely follow the crafting process, but he knew they had failed many times.
In the end, despite some flaws, they still managed to craft the Alchemy Furnace.