Alchemy Success!

Li Ping'an nodded encouragingly at her words.

"Right, you must believe in yourself. Think about it—you're one of the sect's prodigies. How could something as trivial as alchemy possibly stump you? Right?"

"Right, it definitely won't stump me!"

Qingyue cheered herself on and, as if performing a magic trick, pulled out a bag of medicinal ingredients from her storage pouch.

"Then why wait for another day when today will do? Time waits for no one—let's hurry and make pills now! Little brother, you'll control the fire for me!"

"What? You want me to control the fire?"

Li Ping'an was greatly startled. He had not expected her to act the moment she said it, even bringing the materials with her.

But he had not finished absorbing all this scrap yet.

"Senior sister," Li Ping'an said hesitantly, "could you let me finish cleaning up this scrap first? After all, I'm a very responsible person."

"Fine."

Qingyue was covered in black lines, but she could not bring herself to go against Li Ping'an's temperament and could only nod.

"Then hurry up. I'll wait for you here."

"Alright."

Li Ping'an nodded and immediately began diligently absorbing the nutrients from the crates.

Without Zhao San watching from the side, Li Ping'an absorbed them like a tiger that had grown wings, his speed incredibly fast.

An hour or two passed just like that.

Qingyue sat on the grass nearby with her hands braced against the ground, staring blankly at Li Ping'an.

She watched Li Ping'an rummage through the crates like an old man collecting rubbish, utterly engrossed. From time to time, he even breathed in and out in meditation, as though he were enjoying himself immensely.

The sight made her click her tongue in wonder. It had to be said that her little brother truly possessed an exceptional talent for cleaning rubbish. She dared say that in the entire sect, apart from him, no one else could withstand these poisonous fumes so easily.

"Little brother, when it comes to cleaning rubbish, you really are in a league of your own within the sect."

Qingyue sighed with emotion.

Li Ping'an merely replied modestly.

"This old man has simply spent too long in such a harsh environment and grown accustomed to it. That is all."

Before long, Li Ping'an finally absorbed all the poisonous fumes from the two large crates.

Feeling the surging spiritual power within him, all he wanted now was to return to his room at once, sit in meditation, and convert that spiritual power into cultivation to make a breakthrough.

But now was not the time, because Qingyue was still waiting for him to make pills with her.

"Come on, little brother. Follow me to make pills."

Qingyue bounced to her feet, patted the dirt from her hands, led Li Ping'an into a small room, and shut the door.

Naturally, this little room was the alchemy room.

"Little brother, are you ready?"

Li Ping'an nodded.

Qingyue's face was filled with nervousness.

"But I'm still a little nervous."

"It's alright,"

Li Ping'an encouraged her gently.

"After all, this isn't your first time. Take a deep breath, go slowly, and everything will get better."

But the nervousness on Qingyue's face did not lessen in the slightest.

"I'm so afraid I'll fail again."

"It's alright. I'm here, and I'll help you control the fire. Believe in yourself. You're a prodigy, a heaven-blessed talent. You can definitely master alchemy."

With Li Ping'an's encouragement, Qingyue took a deep breath and regained a trace of confidence. She then tossed the medicinal ingredients into the pill furnace.

Li Ping'an immediately began adding firewood and stoking the fire for Qingyue.

Time trickled by. The young girl watched the movements within the pill furnace nervously, her little face flushed red.

"Do you think this batch will really succeed?"

Li Ping'an nodded at her.

"It will. You will definitely succeed."

Just then, the pill furnace suddenly shook violently, startling them both.

Before they could say anything, a burnt stench drifted out from the pill furnace.

Li Ping'an's brows immediately furrowed. Her technique was far too poor, wasn't it? The furnace had exploded before it was even time to open it. That was way too fast!

At this sight, despair immediately appeared on Qingyue's face, and she collapsed onto the ground.

"Ah! I failed again! I'm just useless at alchemy. I simply have no talent for it. Little brother, you lied to me!"

She wore a mournful expression, utterly disappointed, tears welling at the corners of her eyes. She looked heartbroken.

Seeing her like this, Li Ping'an felt a little reluctant to let her suffer.

He hunched over as he rose and slowly lifted the lid of the pill furnace. A wave of burnt stench rushed straight up his nose, startling even Li Ping'an.

Good heavens, her technique really was rotten to the core.

But Li Ping'an slipped several fragments of broken pills into the pill furnace. Then the small Heaven-Severing Hammer appeared in his hand. With a light tap, the fragments instantly fused into two perfectly intact pills, floating in his palm.

He gently picked up the pills and placed them in Qingyue's hand.

"Senior sister, look. You didn't fail. You succeeded. I found these pills in the pill furnace."

Qingyue was still grieving and wiping away her tears.

Then she saw Li Ping'an hand her two round pills. They looked crystal-clear and lustrous, and they were actually high-grade Body-Breaking Pills!

"Th-this... I actually succeeded..."

"That's right, you succeeded."

Li Ping'an encouraged her.

"I picked these two pills up from the bottom of the pill furnace. The others all failed, but two succeeded, so this attempt at alchemy doesn't count as a failure. On the contrary, it was quite a success."

Hearing Li Ping'an's words, Qingyue first stood there in a daze. Then she leapt up in joy and threw herself into Li Ping'an's arms.

"Little brother, you didn't lie to me! I really succeeded! I-I-I-I really succeeded!"

For a moment, Qingyue was so excited that she could barely speak coherently, simply hugging Li Ping'an tightly and laughing with delight.

Li Ping'an was nearly suffocating.

Still, he was suffering and enjoying it at the same time. On one hand, he could barely breathe under Qingyue's powerful embrace; on the other, he enjoyed her soft jade-like body and her refreshing fragrance.

"Alright, alright, senior sister, let go of me first. You're about to squeeze me to death!"

At last, Li Ping'an could not take it any longer and hurriedly spoke up.

Only then did Qingyue realize she had lost her composure. She immediately stepped back, somewhat embarrassedly brushed her hair aside, and said with a flushed little face.

"Sorry, little brother. I was too excited. Do you know? I've made hundreds, even thousands of batches of pills. This is the first time I've succeeded. I'm just so excited!"

As she spoke, Qingyue could not help growing excited again.

"Alright, alright," Li Ping'an said with a smile. "The first time is unfamiliar, the second time skilled. Next time, you'll succeed again and again."

"Really?" Qingyue's eyes lit up brightly. "Then how about we make another batch?"

Uh.

Li Ping'an froze at once.

This girl really was greedy.

After all, he had secretly forged these two pills with the Heaven-Severing Hammer for her.

First, it was to repay her with a bit of gratitude for standing up for him earlier. More importantly, he had also realized that Qingyue held no small status in this sect. If he could cling to this thigh, perhaps Steward Wang would not be able to do anything to him for the time being.

But if he forged another batch, he would not have enough pills for her to forge. He still had uses for these pills himself.