With a "clang", the door suddenly closed behind him, and the room suddenly went dark. Dachun immediately stood in front of Li Hui, and Da Zhuang stood behind Li Hui. The two of them immediately remained on alert.
Li Hui squinted to adjust to the light in the room.
"Follow me, you three." A hoarse voice came from beside you.
The three of them turned around and saw Lao Dao's terrifying face next to him. Li Hui was so frightened that his scalp was numb. At this moment, two rays of light shone from the clear tiles on the roof, hitting Lao Dao's head. The old Taoist's scarred and filthy face was half-lit and half-dark, which was indeed a bit eerie.
"You old man, why are you closing the door?" Dachun shouted.
The old man sneered and said: "You know what the hell, some things here cannot see the light. If the light does, it will kill people. Do you understand?"
"Are you a ghost? Can't you see the light?" Da Zhuang shouted.
Li Hui shouted in a deep voice: "Dachun Dazhuang, please go out and wait for me."
Dachun Dazhuang said in astonishment: "Xiao Lang, this..."
"Go out..." Li Hui said in a deep voice.
Dachun Dazhuang had no choice but Xiao Lang seemed really unhappy, so he had to accept the offer, turned around and opened the door and went out. Li Hui closed the door with his backhand.
Li Hui had already seen clearly what was going on in the house. There were rows of wooden shelves around the house, filled with jars, pots, dishes, and various wooden boxes. It was as if he had arrived at a Chinese medicine shop selling medicine.
When the old Taoist saw Li Hui driving the two men out of the house, he looked slightly surprised. He said in a deep voice: "It's okay for these two talkative guys to go out. Li Jushi, the old Taoist is not talking nonsense. There are some things in the jar here." It can't withstand the light, it can't withstand the wind, and it can't touch the water. Otherwise, big trouble will happen."
Li Hui smiled and said: "I understand. Some of the items refined here are very fragile and should not be exposed to light, hot water or wind, otherwise they will become hot, poisonous, catch fire, or disappear completely, right?"
The old Taoist let out a sigh and looked at Li Hui in surprise.
"So you understand this."
Li Hui smiled and didn't answer. In fact, when the old Taoist said it couldn't be seen in the light, Li Hui realized that there must be some unstable compounds and the like. The old Taoist was an alchemist, and there might be something coming out of the alchemist's room. As someone with a background in science and engineering, don’t you understand that many substances in this world are unstable?
From this, Li Hui could also conclude that the Taoist priest was not being mysterious.
After his eyes adjusted to the light, Li Hui looked all the way along the wooden shelves. The wooden shelves were all marked with yellow paper. Although the contents of the jars could not be seen, they could know their names from those marks. But Li Hui These substances cannot be completely identified by their names.
For example, I can still recognize the words 'red saltpetre', 'orpiment', 'arsenic' and 'cinnabar'. But I can't understand the words 'gall alum', 'fu arsenic', 'stone gall', '禜石', 'lead frost', etc. What is it?
While looking at these things, Li Hui secretly admired in his heart. Among other things, there are hundreds of substances on these shelves. Whether they are minerals or refined compounds, what can be put on this shelf must not be a ball of charred waste. .
The Taoist priest not only listed the names, but also wrote down the color, shape, smell, and some special characteristics on the note. For example, it said: "Poisonous, dizzy when smelling, and can be dissolved by clear water." "Red powder, spicy and pungent, toxic to the touch." Words like "burning." It completely shows that these things were selected and tested by him before being collected and displayed here.
Although this Taoist looks ugly and is blind in one eye, he is a real alchemist and a proper ancient chemist.
"Immortal, these are all things you refined? It's really amazing." Li Hui admired.
"Not all of them are refined by the old Taoist. Some are just discovered. There are about dozens of them that are refined by the old Taoist. That is true." The old Taoist replied.
"That's amazing. It's really amazing to refine so many new substances." Li Hui said.
"Huh, what's this? There are more than billions of things in this world. They are combined and divided, and there is no end, just like the number of sands in the Ganges River. Even if the old Taoist spends his entire life, he may not be able to refine more than a hundred. The mysteries of heaven and earth are endless. This is all.
What's the exclamation? It's just a drop in the bucket." The old Taoist said in a deep voice.
Li Hui was in awe and said with a smile: "Sometimes the human power is exhausted, and there is nothing we can do. But from generation to generation, there will be people like Taoist priests. From generation to generation, descendants will one day exhaust the principles of all things and find out.
The combination of all things.”
The old Taoist laughed, shook his head and said: "That's what you say, but this is an endless thing. The old Taoist thinks it is impossible to exhaust it. Besides, how many are as obsessed with this as me? Look at all the alchemists in the world.
, practicing murderous medicine, defrauding money and sex, completely contrary to the teachings of the Celestial Master. Relying on these people, there is no way to ruin the reputation of our Taoist alchemist. Such people are in power, let alone the world, it is the beginning of the universe.
, nor can we understand the principles of all things.”
Li Hui had heard this veteran express his dissatisfaction with other alchemists several times, and he felt strange in his heart. But now Li Hui wanted to find what he needed, so he didn't say much. He searched along the wooden frame, but he didn't find him.
The caustic alkali he wanted. Because he didn’t know if it was called caustic soda these days, Li Hui had been carefully comparing the properties described on the yellow paper. But none of them matched.
Finally, after reading everything on and off the wooden frame, Li Hui sighed in disappointment, finding nothing in the end.
The old Taoist had already become interested and asked: "Is there nothing you are looking for here?"
Li Hui shook his head and said: "No, it doesn't matter. This is expected."
The old Taoist thought for a while and said: "There are still some smelting rooms in the back, so you might as well go look for them. If the old Taoist can't find it here, you don't have to look for it elsewhere. It will definitely not be found."
Li Hui nodded, holding on to the last glimmer of hope, and followed the old Tao to another huge hut at the back. A huge stone stove was in the middle of the room, and something unknown was being refined on the huge pottery pot. The stove fire was burning.
, smoke came out of the chimney, which was exactly the smoke that the three people saw on the hillside before.
There is also a row of wooden racks in the small room next to the smelting house. But this time, all the wooden racks are stacked with ores. They are colorful and have all kinds of ores.
Li Hui looked all the way, and suddenly, the words on the yellow paper label attracted him. The words "Shijia" were written on the yellow paper.
Li Hui hurriedly looked at the ore, which was light yellow in color and unattractive in appearance. A small pile was piled there haphazardly.
"What is this stone alkali...?" Li Hui asked in a deep voice.
The Taoist leader came over and said, "This is just a cold stone. Why, is this what you want?"
Li Hui's mind raced. This was obviously not the caustic soda he wanted, but Han Shi knew it. It was a common name for a variety of hybrid compounds. Most of the ingredients were carbonates. Li Hui had been talking about it these days.
Changing his thinking, since caustic soda cannot be found, it is possible if there is a preparation method. Based on Li Hui's chemical knowledge, he knows that there are several ways. The most effective one is of course the electrolysis of salt water, but this is obviously impossible.
The second step is to use soda and lime water to react to obtain caustic soda. Although the conversion rate is not high, it is a feasible method.
The alkali in front of us is a natural mineral rich in carbonates, which contains a large amount of soda. Wouldn't this be able to realize the reaction of preparing caustic soda?
Li Hui was so excited that he reached out to grab a piece and looked at it carefully. He couldn't help but said with joy, "I found it. It's this thing. I don't know where it came from? What's the price? Immortal, can you sell some to me?"
The Taoist priest asked: "What do you want this for?"
Li Huidao: "I can't tell you about this. The immortal will give you a price. Also, can you tell me where you got it? I will definitely be paid."
The Taoist tilted his head, looked at Li Hui with one eye, and said with a strange expression: "If you don't want to tell me, the Taoist will not sell it to you. How do you know you are not using it to harm others?"
Li Hui smiled bitterly and said: "This thing is non-toxic and tasteless, how can it harm people?"
The Taoist priest was even more confused and said in a deep voice: "How do you know it's non-toxic? Just now you didn't know what this thing was, and now you say it's non-poisonous and tasteless. What on earth are you going to do with this thing?"
Li Hui thought for a while and finally said: "I'll tell you the truth, Immortal, I want to use this to prepare another thing called caustic alkali. I have great use for that caustic alkali. But I will never use it to harm anyone." , On the contrary, it is also beneficial to people. Please ask the immortal to be accommodating and sell me some, or tell me the whereabouts. I have been looking for it for two days."
The Taoist priest suddenly became excited, grabbed Li Hui's hand, and said loudly: "Caustic soda? What is that? You must tell me. Is it a brand new thing? How to prepare it?"
Li Hui was startled, and was so frightened by the old man's rude behavior that he wanted to shake off his hand. But suddenly, Li Hui understood in his heart.
For this alchemist, his fun and all his interests are smelting and finding new substances, understanding their shapes and functions, etc. Hearing about the creation of a new substance that he has never seen before is like a gluttonous experience. When it comes to delicious food, a pervert can't help himself when meeting a beautiful woman. It's not that he's rude, but he can't restrain his excitement.
Li Hui pondered for a moment and said slowly: "Immortal, how about this? I will prepare caustic soda on the spot for you to know, and you will tell me the source of stone alkali. How about we make an exchange?"
"Okay, okay, great. It's settled." The Taoist priest couldn't help but be happy and nodded repeatedly, as if he was afraid that Li Hui would regret it.
Li Hui immediately started to prepare. He built a simple fire platform in the backyard of the hut and asked the Taoist priest to bring a pottery basin to set it up. The materials needed were nothing more than lime water and soda ash. These old Taoists all use pouring here. Pour a jar of lime water into a pottery basin, crush the alkali into fine pieces and pour it into the lime water. The rest is to cook the solution on fire.
The old Taoist kept saying "Hey" beside him. He was surprised by Li Hui's preparation method and attracted by Li Hui's leisurely behavior. At the same time, he felt that the two things together might not produce new things, so he behaved Very weird...