Failures One After Another! Hong Ling Is Furious!

Li Ping'an only felt his dantian, which had been on the verge of running dry, instantly fill up again. His entire body seemed to brim with strength.

However, this strength still needed to be converted into spiritual energy through the Heaven-Severing Hammer before it could be permanently stored within his body.

He searched through the pill furnace again and, sure enough, found two more defective pills—failed remnants of Qi-Nourishing Pills.

As long as he processed them with the Heaven-Tempering Hammer, they could become superior-grade Qi-Nourishing Pills.

Li Ping'an silently tucked the pills into his robes, climbed out of the pill furnace, and kept a straight face.

He had no intention of forging a Qi-Nourishing Pill for Hong Ling on the very first batch. He would wait—

At the very least until the sixth or seventh batch.

In fact, he did not even want to forge pills for this woman at all, because his impression of her was truly terrible.

But given the woman's mercurial temperament, Li Ping'an silently calculated that he should find an opportunity to forge her a Qi-Nourishing Pill later, just enough to brush her off.

Then came the second batch.

Once the pill furnace had been cleaned, the second batch began in full swing.

This time, Hong Ling was even more careful and attentive.

But Qi-Nourishing Pills were, after all, second-tier pills. How could they be so easy to refine? Even though her techniques were practiced and she remained calm and composed, she still could not escape the fate of failure.

As another wave of burnt stench drifted through the entire alchemy room, Hong Ling's expression darkened several shades further.

Li Ping'an, on the other hand, cheerfully went on clearing out the residue inside the pill furnace. This time, he found three more defective Qi-Nourishing Pills within.

Not bad, not bad!

Today's haul was bountiful! Li Ping'an's eyes gleamed as he trembled with excitement.

Then the third batch began. Failure.

The fourth batch began. Still failure.

The fifth batch failed as well.

The sixth batch was yet another failure.

Before long, Hong Ling had only the last bundle of herbs left in her hands.

By now, Hong Ling's face had turned livid, and none of the calm composure she had worn upon arriving remained.

She had refined Qi-Nourishing Pills nearly a hundred times already, only to fail again and again.

Today, she had heard Qingyue mention that there was an unusual old man in the hall, one who could ensure success whenever he helped control the fire. That was why she had come specifically to give it a try, yet it had still failed.

"Looks like you're not as impressive as my junior sister claimed."

Hong Ling looked at Li Ping'an and sneered.

"Refining pills was only a secondary reason for my visit today. The most important thing was to test you."

Li Ping'an frowned at her words, not knowing what this woman was trying to say.

Hong Ling continued,

"You're nothing more than a dying old servant, barely clinging to life. I advise you not to set your sights on my junior sister. I know perfectly well what's going through your mind."

Li Ping'an gave Hong Ling a somewhat astonished look. Is this woman sick?

When had he ever set his sights on Qingyue?

Clearly, she was the one who came looking for him every time. Yet in Hong Ling's mouth, it sounded as though he had deliberately been trying to curry favor with Qingyue.

"Li Ping'an, I advise you to stop while you can. I don't know what method you used to get several Body-Tempering Pills for my junior sister, but remember this: Qingyue is not someone you can ever hope to reach. You don't even have the right to look up at her from below, understand?"

Li Ping'an said nothing, merely lowering his head to sort through the firewood.

Seeing Li Ping'an remain silent, a surge of anger instantly rose in Hong Ling's heart. She said coldly,

"I'm going to refine the final batch now. If this batch fails too, you know the consequences."

As she spoke, her voice carried a vicious edge. Li Ping'an frowned. This woman isn't planning to do something to me, is she?

"The firewood is ready."

Li Ping'an spoke quietly, without a trace of emotion in his voice.

"Good."

Seeing that Li Ping'an showed no fear whatsoever, Hong Ling's anger intensified. Today, she absolutely had to teach this brat a proper lesson.

The seventh batch began.

This time, Hong Ling no longer cared. She had already failed six batches in a row, so whether this final batch succeeded or failed no longer mattered.

Her mind was filled with only one thought: once the refinement failed, how she would beat Li Ping'an black and blue to vent her anger.

Time passed second by second.

When the pill furnace shook violently once more, no joy or sorrow could be seen on Hong Ling's face.

She glanced at Li Ping'an, the meaning in her eyes plain as day.

Prepare to suffer this old lady's beating.

Yet Li Ping'an remained unhurried. He directly ignored Hong Ling's murderous glare and hunched over as he crawled into the pill furnace.

"You brat..."

Hong Ling was about to make her move when she saw Li Ping'an crawl into the pill furnace. On second thought, she decided to let it go. It would not be too late to punish him after he finished cleaning the furnace.

She simply stood outside in silence, waiting for Li Ping'an to come out.

About ten minutes later, Li Ping'an finally crawled out of the pill furnace.

"Oh? I thought you were going to hide in there and never come out. Come on, I already said it—if the refinement failed, you'd be in for a world of hurt!"

Hong Ling clenched her fists until they cracked, a savage grin curling across her lips.

But then Li Ping'an suddenly opened his palm. Within it lay two crimson-red pills, with faint spiritual light flowing over their surfaces.

"Qi-Nourishing Pills? I succeeded? The refinement succeeded, and they're even superior-grade Qi-Nourishing Pills?"

But how was that possible?

After her brief delight, a trace of confusion appeared on Hong Ling's face.

She had clearly seen the pill furnace explode, with black smoke already billowing out. How could the refinement possibly have succeeded?

Yet the pills in Li Ping'an's hand were real, undeniable pills. There was no mistaking them, no faking them!

Hong Ling could sense the dense spiritual energy contained within them.

"Senior Sister, perhaps two pills had already been successfully refined before the failure. Qingyue had the same situation before when she refined pills. Although the furnace exploded, some pills were still preserved amid the explosion."

Li Ping'an stuck to the same explanation as before.

"Preserved amid the explosion?"

Hong Ling did not believe a word of it. She eyed Li Ping'an suspiciously, feeling that this old man concealed many secrets and was far from simple.

But she truly could not understand why Li Ping'an could casually fiddle around inside the pill furnace for a few moments, then pull out two superior-grade pills.

Could it be that he was afraid I'd punish him, so he deliberately took out two Qi-Nourishing Pills to deal with me?

At that thought, Hong Ling immediately shook her head. That was impossible too.

Qi-Nourishing Pills were second-tier pills. On the market, they sold for four or five hundred spirit stones each. How could this old man possibly pull out two of them so casually?

As for Li Ping'an's claim that pills had been preserved amid the explosion, Hong Ling believed that nonsense even less.

She was not some inexperienced little girl like Qingyue. Her attainments in alchemy far surpassed Qingyue's.

Naturally, she knew that once a furnace exploded, the pills inside would shatter along with it. It was impossible for pills to remain after a furnace explosion.

There was definitely something wrong with this old man.