I'm Back to Make Pills Again!

"What?"

Everyone cried out in unison.

"What's going on with Zhang Meng? Things have been quietly looking up for you lately!"

"The rent at West Hill isn't cheap. You actually managed to move there—and your whole family moved together. What's been going on lately? Where did you strike oil?"

"Don't talk nonsense. It's only money I've saved up over the years, bit by bit. Don't be jealous of me."

Listening to the usual banter outside, Li Ping'an did not take it to heart.

The only thing on his mind now was breaking through as soon as possible and officially entering the Qi Refining stage. Only then could he cultivate the Taiyi Qi-Guiding Art.

The night passed without incident. In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived, and the same daily labor began anew.

Li Ping'an still chose the harshest and most grueling post, absorbing the most poisonous and potent toxic fumes.

Just as he was working with great enthusiasm, a tender, melodious young girl's voice suddenly rang out from the doorway.

"Junior Brother, your senior sister has come to see you."

Li Ping'an's hands paused. Qingyue had come again. She could not be here to ask him to make pills again, could she?

His guess was right.

Today, Qingyue wore a long green robe. She strode into the hall, ignored the other hall disciples outright, and walked straight up to Li Ping'an, patting him on the shoulder.

"I meant to come find you yesterday, but my senior sister summoned me, so something held me up. Come on, let's continue making pills today!"

That worked too.

Li Ping'an was almost done with his work anyway, and he had absorbed about as much toxic qi as he needed for the day.

Perfect. If nothing unexpected happened, Senior Sister Qingyue's technique would provide him with plenty more toxic waste fumes.

The two entered the pill-refining room and once again began a tense, vigorous round of pill refinement.

Li Ping'an quietly inspected the alchemy materials Qingyue had brought this time. It was a large, bulging bundle, enough for roughly four or five attempts. He immediately made up his mind.

"Junior Brother, how many pills do you think I can refine today?"

Having succeeded last time, Qingyue was brimming with confidence. Before she even began refining, she asked this question first.

Li Ping'an could not help but laugh. Smiling, he said, "Pill refinement depends on fate and temperament. I don't know how many pills you'll successfully refine today, but I still hope you'll win at the first strike. Come, let's start with the first furnace!"

"Alright!"

Qingyue's face was full of confidence as she began refining pills.

Yet the moment she started tossing the materials into the pill furnace, Li Ping'an could tell that this batch was doomed to fail.

Sure enough, before long, a burnt smell wafted out of the pill furnace. Li Ping'an knew this batch was finished.

Just as he was about to warn Qingyue, she had already opened the furnace with disappointment written all over her face. A wave of burnt stench immediately rushed at them.

"What happened? How did the pill refinement fail?"

Qingyue scratched her head, utterly confused.

"I refined them the same way last time, and I clearly succeeded!"

She was both annoyed and puzzled.

Li Ping'an comforted her gently. "Pill refinement cannot succeed one hundred percent of the time. There's a chance involved. Your success last time was merely an accidental occurrence after many failures. As long as you practice a few more times, you'll definitely succeed. Come, Senior Sister, step aside first and let me clean up this batch."

Li Ping'an immediately lunged toward the failed batch of pills, madly absorbing the waste and toxic miasma within the furnace.

This feels amazing!

Li Ping'an wore an expression of pure enjoyment as he cleared out the batch.

At that moment, the Heaven-Tempering Hammer absorbed a great deal more poison, transforming it into nourishment for Li Ping'an's spiritual power.

Among the failed pills, he also found several pill fragments burned black.

All of them could be restored into high-grade pills through the Heaven-Tempering Hammer.

Li Ping'an quietly counted them. There were three in total.

That was a pretty good haul.

It seemed this girl's pill-refining skill had indeed improved. At the very least, she could condense the shape of a pill now. Still, she had a long road ahead before she could truly refine one successfully.

Once Li Ping'an had finished clearing out the furnace, Qingyue immediately began refining the next batch without pause.

However, her method was not much different from the previous batch. She still dumped all the herbs into the furnace in one go, then stared wide-eyed at the pills as they formed.

Li Ping'an did his utmost to control the fire, but he still could not avert the fate of failure.

When the burnt stench once again filled the entire pill room, a trace of dejection appeared on Qingyue's face.

"Ah! I failed again! I thought I'd found the method. Was I just lucky last time? Damn it, why is this happening? I thought I was a pill-refining genius!"

Li Ping'an comforted her gently. "It's alright. Keep going, let's try again! Don't you still have herbs? Let me see how many more furnaces you can refine."

Qingyue opened her storage bag and counted. "This batch failed. The remaining herbs are only enough for three more furnaces."

"Good!"

Li Ping'an spoke the word with great force.

"For these three furnaces, I dare guarantee with the Heaven-Tempering Hammer that you'll definitely refine pills successfully. Trust me!"

"Really?"

Qingyue looked into Li Ping'an's eyes, scarcely daring to believe it.

"Believe in yourself. You can definitely do it! Come, let's clear out this batch first!"

With that, Li Ping'an once again pounced on the pill furnace. This time, he found three pill fragments inside.

Then the third furnace began, followed by the same failure and the same cleaning of the pill furnace.

The fourth furnace followed, and it failed again.

After refining four furnaces in a row, Qingyue had been tossed about until her little face was covered in gray-black soot.

As for Li Ping'an, he was black from head to toe.

Yet his heart was bursting with joy.

He had absorbed the toxic fumes from four whole furnaces of failed pills today. He had struck it rich!

Moreover, by now he had collected a full nine Body-Tempering Pill fragments from the pill furnace!

Nine whole Body-Tempering Pill fragments—if he took them down the mountain to sell, he could make another one hundred and eighty spirit stones.

At this point, the way Li Ping'an looked at Qingyue had changed.

Before, he had thought Qingyue was always causing him trouble, that she was a burden.

But now, how was this trouble? She was practically the God of Wealth!

"Wuwuwu..."

Qingyue wiped away her tears and said in utter frustration, "Damn it, I've failed four furnaces in a row. There's only one furnace of pills left! Damn it, I'm definitely going to end this in failure!"

Li Ping'an's gaze was incomparably firm. "Don't worry. This batch will definitely succeed! Trust me!"

"Alright."

Qingyue nodded and cautiously tossed the herbs into the pill furnace.

Compared to her earlier rash and careless manner, Qingyue now appeared much more restrained.