External alchemy operations refer to the methods and steps involved in refining external elixirs. After long-term experimentation and summarization, Taoist external alchemy developed a complete set of systematic and feasible methods, the most important of which include dozens of techniques such as "flying", "ascending", "drawing", "subduing", "pointing", "sealing", "nurturing", "boiling", "smelting", "forging", "grinding", and more.
- "Flying" (fei) refers to heating solid medicines in the alchemical cauldron to directly convert them into vapor without passing through a liquid state.
- "Ascending" (sheng), which carries the meaning of sublimation, involves a process similar to "flying": heating solid medicines to make them sublimate.
- "Drawing" (chou) means heating raw materials to a boiling state, vaporizing certain components, then cooling and condensing them into a liquid for collection.
- "Subduing" (fu) refers to processing substances that are chemically active or unstable through specific methods to make them stable.
- "Pointing" (dian) involves adding a small amount of reagent to a large quantity of material to change its properties.
- "Sealing" (guan) means sealing raw materials for alchemy or gold refining in a container and burying it underground, allowing it to slowly undergo chemical changes under natural conditions.
- "Nurturing" (yang) refers to gently heating raw materials for alchemy or gold refining over a long period to induce changes in the reactants.
- "Boiling" (zhu) involves heating substances in a cauldron in the presence of an aqueous solution.
- "Smelting" (lian), in the narrow sense, means heating dry substances to cause changes.
- "Forging" (duan) refers to heating the product at an appropriate temperature for a certain period to remove its moisture and volatile substances.
- "Grinding" (yan) is the process of crushing materials into powder in a mortar.
Beyond these, there are many other methods in external alchemy operations. Generally, the "number of transformations" (zhuan shu) serves as a key criterion for measuring the quality of the alchemical fire in Taoist external alchemy. A "transformation" (zhuan) refers to the number of times the medicine or experimental operation changes during the refining process. For example, "Nine-Transformation Golden Elixir" indicates that there are nine changes in its refining process. The steps of alchemy are complex, and patience is essential to achieve the required number of transformations.
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