Ruan Hao was startled for a moment before replying, "I did, but I was always refining that antidote."
On the other side, Lu Yuanjiang listened, stayed silent for two seconds, and then asked, "Did you succeed?"
Ruan Hao immediately nodded, "Yes, I did."
When Lu Yuanjiang heard this, he slapped his thigh and said, "Isn’t that great! That antidote is of the Fourth-order late stage. You managed to refine the antidote without Miss Gu’s help, which means you have already reached the Fourth-order late stage level."
"I’m telling you, Miss Gu is truly amazing. Although she only taught us those four sets of hand seals for refining the antidote for Lethal Powder, I found that ever since I understood those hand seals, I could understand the hand seals for other Fourth-order middle and late stage alchemy. It’s simply magical!"
"Xiao Ruan, I’m telling you, you must try it. Your talent is better than mine, so you will definitely understand it too."
Lu Yuanjiang was so excited that he was spitting as he talked, and his tone was extremely enthusiastic. Ruan Hao was stunned for a few seconds and then became excited himself, "Re... really?!"
Lu Yuanjiang replied affirmatively, "Really, why would I lie to you? I’m telling you, just listen to me, and try refining other elixirs."
"Well... I’ll give it a try."
"Alright, you go try it quickly. I’ll go ask Chun Hua. She was originally at the Fourth-order middle stage, and with Miss Gu’s guidance, she must be at the Fourth-order late stage now." Lu Yuanjiang was too excited. After sharing the good news with Ruan Hao, he planned to share it with Li Chunhua.
As for the others, they wouldn’t understand his joy!
"Oh, okay, okay." Ruan Hao said, nodding seriously three times.
"Alright, I’ll hang up now..."
"Wait, Teacher Lu, can I ask you a question?" Seeing that Lu Yuanjiang was about to hang up, Ruan Hao immediately spoke up.
"Huh? What? Go ahead and ask."
Ruan Hao asked with a slightly troubled expression, "Did your cauldron ever explode while you were refining elixirs?"
"All my elixirs succeeded, why would the cauldron explode?" Lu Yuanjiang was confused by Ruan Hao’s question.
"But, Miss Gu’s cauldron exploded, and her elixirs also succeeded." As he spoke, Ruan Hao’s expression became serious again, "Moreover, she said that cauldron explosions are the essence of alchemy."
Saying the last sentence seriously and solemnly, Lu Yuanjiang fell into silence after hearing it.
After a long while, Lu Yuanjiang asked, "Could it be that we can’t be as skilled as Miss Gu because we can’t make the cauldron explode while succeeding in making the elixir?"
Ruan Hao didn’t speak but tacitly agreed.
He believed it was indeed the case.
The sentence he remembered most clearly was Gu Zhiqi saying, "Cauldron explosions are the essence of alchemy."
Actually, Ruan Hao had been troubled since last night, wondering why out of the 12 batches of elixirs that Gu Zhiqi refined, three times the cauldron exploded, but theirs never did.
After thinking it over and over, Ruan Hao concluded it was because their control of the fire was not up to par.
The pill success rate and the quality of the medicine were the best proof.
The elixirs refined by Miss Gu were of much higher quality than theirs, and her pill success rate was also higher.
Even the elixirs refined by Minister Yue and the Alliance Hierarch were not as good in quality and pill success rate as those refined by Miss Gu.
So, Ruan Hao didn’t doubt Gu Zhiqi’s words at all.
Ruan Hao was silent, and on the other side, Lu Yuanjiang also fell silent again.
After a long time, Lu Yuanjiang suddenly spoke up.
Leaving behind a sentence, "No, I need to try a pressure cooker," and then hung up the phone.
Seeing the phone was hung up, Ruan Hao didn’t react much. He put his old phone back in his pocket, then went to find other medicinal ingredients, planning to try refining some other Fourth-order middle and late stage elixirs.