Chapter 1358: Chapter 612: Two Types of Alchemy Dao, Saying One Thing and Meaning Another

The biggest difference between the modern pharmacology introduced by Zheng Fa and the traditional Xuanwei Alchemy is the emphasis on experimental standards.

Take the Supreme Pill Dao, for example—this is a subject so vast and profound that it’s beyond measure. After several eras of development, the Supreme Dao has accumulated terrifying experience.

This is also why the Jiushan Sect’s Alchemy, after years of development, still lags significantly behind the Supreme Pill Dao—

Alchemy is a highly experimental field, essentially a discipline guided by experimental theory.

Some pills, or even a large number of pills, are often born of coincidences. Before their creation, there was no corresponding pharmacology.

After a pill is completed, a Great Power will naturally engage in its thorough analysis.

Such coincidences are essentially one or two unexpected successes after numerous ineffective attempts.

The Jiushan Sect doesn’t have the time, but the Supreme Dao has experimented for millions of years.

With this in mind, Zhao Jingfan gained more respect for the Jiushan Nine Elders, and his voice softened a bit: "The double-blind method, at its core, is about controlling variables, something we didn’t find in the Supreme Pill Dao texts."

Xuan Chengzi furrowed his brows, still somewhat incredulous: "Are the placebo pills you mentioned truly effective?"

Zhao Jingfan said nothing, merely pointing to the glass wall of the reaction chamber.

On the glass wall, texts began to appear, accompanied by charts.

"This is an experiment we conducted recently, regarding the effects of the Meridian Passage Pill."

The Meridian Passage Pill is a cultivation aid that helps cultivators before the Golden Core stage to break through obstacles in their practice, and is an exclusive recipe of the Supreme Dao.

"We selected six hundred cultivators and mortals as samples, with three hundred in Group A taking the Meridian Passage Pill, and three hundred in Group B taking placebo pills."

"After a month, the average cultivation progress of Group A was five percent slower than that of Group B."

Upon saying this, Zhao Jingfan thoughtfully explained: "The so-called placebo pills are actually made from spirit rice or spirit grain."

Xuan Chengzi obviously couldn’t hold back. How could our Supreme Dao’s pills be inferior to a spirit rice pill?

"Of course, this is the most extreme situation," Zhao Jingfan quickly added, "According to our experiment, in the ’Supreme Green Pouch Scripture,’ there are 827 types of pills that not only have no effect but might also be toxic, and 17,229 types of pills whose effects are less than expected, most achieving only fifty to seventy percent of their stated efficacy."

The faces of the Jiushan Nine Elders turned dark.

When this statistic was revealed, it indeed shocked the Alchemy Dao College, even Zheng Fa found it somewhat unacceptable—because the placebo effect of the Supreme Dao’s recipes was stronger than the Jiushan Sect’s previous pills.

Later, Elder Yuan provided an explanation:

The Supreme Dao is a big brand, deeply trusted by Xuanwei cultivators, which enhances its therapeutic effect.

Modern experimental design is very complex, with much to say about how to select samples, how to observe, and how to design experimental procedures.

But essentially, there are only a few principles, with the most fundamental being controlling variables.

The double-blind method is the most conventional and useful method for controlling variables.

However, for cultivators, the effect of humans or rather their self-awareness is far greater than for ordinary people.

This leads to such absurd results.

The Jiushan Nine Elders silently read the paper on the glass wall, each lost in thought.

As the top alchemists of Xuanwei, though they were previously unaware of this issue, with Zhao Jingfan’s explanation, they understood immediately and even realized the significant problem:

Simply put, the complexity of alchemy lies in this point—most pills act upon the person.

Xuan Chengzi opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything.

Was this so-called double-blind method difficult to understand?

It was too easy to understand, with the vivid experimental data before them, it was even too direct for him.

He had even vaguely realized some of the issues earlier, and now he truly had a moment of revelation.

As one of the Jiushan Nine Elders, as a Golden Immortal, he had his pride, and thus had to admit that the Jiushan Sect was indeed improving the Supreme Dao’s classic recipes.

The long-browed elder sighed lightly, surprisingly bowing to Zhao Jingfan and saying, "Elder Zhao, I have learned."

Zhao Jingfan was startled, quickly waving his hand and stifling the smile that threatened to appear, saying, "I dare not claim credit; without the Supreme Dao’s classic recipes, we would have no clue where to start."

Simply put, the hardest part of alchemy is finding potentially feasible elixir recipes.

Unexpectedly, the long-browed elder’s expression turned serious: "I am grateful to Elder Zhao on behalf of alchemy. Our Supreme Pill Dao has been passed down for millions of years, and it’s only today that we realize how to sift the true from the false, to seek the real from the apparent."

Zhao Jingfan couldn’t help but admire.

This Golden Immortal of the Supreme Dao truly understood immediately.

"The Immortal Master is right. Through experiments, we’ve found that much of the pharmacology from our predecessors was inaccurate, and some seemingly contradictory theories are actually not contradictory."

This is actually the greatest impact of those ineffective pills on Xuanwei Alchemy.

When correct theories and erroneous theories are mixed together, the pharmacology derived ultimately is bound to be contradictory and full of weaknesses.

Indeed, from Zhao Jingfan’s perspective, this is why the Supreme Pill Dao hasn’t developed a particularly clear system over the years.

"For example, the pharmacology of Thousand-leaf Worm powder in your sect’s classic texts has two clearly contradictory descriptions, one stating that it can be used to expand the Mud Pill Palace and strengthen the Divine Soul, and another saying it will erode the Mud Pill Palace... Our experiments found the former claim to be incorrect."

The long-browed elder’s expression turned somewhat awkward.

The expressions of the other eight Jiushan elders also became uncomfortable.

Seeing their reaction, Mu Qingyan and Zhao Jingfan exchanged a curious glance.