Ning Xiaochuan spent another four days refining a batch of Blood Toad Pills without a single failure.
This time, he produced twelve finished pills.
Each Intermediate Pill was ten times as potent as the Half-Finished Pills he had refined before.
Carrying his newly refined Blood Toad Pills, Ning Xiaochuan arrived at the Golden Roc Heart Nourishing Hall.
At the entrance, he ran into Yu Qianqian.
She, too, held an Ice Jade Box in her hands!
Ning Xiaochuan caught up to her and called, "Greetings, Princess Qianqian!"
Yu Qianqian and Ning Xiaochuan had grown quite familiar. They attended Guo Shidao's lessons together and often discussed methods for refining Intermediate Pills. They were much closer than when they had first met.
Yu Qianqian chided him playfully. "Ning Xiaochuan, if you keep being so formal with me, your senior sister might make sure you don't receive next month's stipend!"
Yu Qianqian believed Guo Shidao had accepted Ning Xiaochuan as his eighth disciple, so she had always called herself his senior sister.
What she did not know was that Guo Shidao had never offered to take Ning Xiaochuan as a disciple, nor had Ning Xiaochuan ever considered becoming one.
Of course, though Ning Xiaochuan and Guo Shidao were not master and disciple in name, they were so in practice. Ning Xiaochuan therefore held him in great respect.
Ning Xiaochuan relaxed and smiled. "You're three days younger than me, yet you insist on being my senior sister. Unless you pull rank as a princess, I'm definitely not calling you that."
Yu Qianqian was dressed in finery, every inch of her radiating elegance. She straightened proudly and said, "Fine. As a princess, I order you to call me senior sister."
"Greetings, Your Highness, Princess Qianqian." Ning Xiaochuan gave her a lazy bow.
Yu Qianqian gritted her