A Slight Side Effect of the Pills

There was no systematic profession of alchemy on the Douluo Continent.

At the very least, not in this era.

The profession of alchemy would truly shine ten thousand years later in the original setting, during the era of The Unrivaled Tang Sect.

Therefore, in the current timeline, Jiang Xuan, who had inherited part of Lao Jun's alchemical legacy, could be called the greatest alchemist of this era as long as he successfully refined even a single pill.

But that was absolutely not a good thing.

After all, it meant there was no one who could guide Jiang Xuan along the path of alchemy and help him avoid detours. He could only keep experimenting through his own efforts.

Jiang Xuan had already expected his first attempt at alchemy to fail, so it did not affect his mindset. After making a slight adjustment, he began his second attempt.

This time, he remained completely focused while controlling the heat, allowing the medicinal ingredients to be smoothly refined into liquid by the Six-Ding Divine Flame. However, he failed to grasp the proper timing during pill condensation, causing his second attempt to fail as well.

At least it was an improvement over the first attempt!

After adjusting himself again, Jiang Xuan began his third, fourth, and fifth attempts...

After failing ten times in a row over the course of less than half a day for various reasons, Jiang Xuan had planned to summarize his failures before continuing his attempts.

Unexpectedly, the system panel gave him a prompt at that moment:

[Detected that the host has failed too many times at alchemy. An auxiliary function has now been unlocked.]

[After activating this function, the host can receive perfect guidance while refining pills.]

[Usage condition: After every ten failed alchemy attempts, one free usage opportunity will be granted. Merit Points may also be consumed to activate it voluntarily.]

Well, there was even a reward for a losing streak!

Once he understood the function, Jiang Xuan did not hesitate and decisively activated it.

Soon afterward, a voice that only he could hear appeared, accurately guiding him through every step of pill refinement.

Following the auxiliary function's guidance, Jiang Xuan seemed to transform into an emotionless pill-refining machine. Every step was flawless, and he soon reached the pill-condensing stage.

The essence liquids of dozens of medicinal ingredients gathered together, releasing an intense medicinal fragrance. Ning Rongrong, who had already begun nodding off nearby, instantly perked up upon smelling it.

Big Brother Jiang Xuan seemed about to succeed!

And that rich fragrance...

She did not even need to think about it to know that the pill's effects had to be outrageously good!

After all, the alchemists supported by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect could only refine healing medicine. Forget medicinal fragrance—sometimes, their pills looked so pitch-black that people did not even have the desire to swallow them.

Compared to her Big Brother Jiang Xuan, it would not be an exaggeration to say those people did not deserve to be called alchemists!

Thus, under Ning Rongrong's expectant and admiring gaze, Jiang Xuan successfully completed the final pill-condensing step.

The moment he withdrew his soul power back into his body, the system's prompt appeared.

[This auxiliary guidance has been completed.]

[Congratulations to the host for successfully refining: Soul-Gathering Pill ×10.]

[Soul-Gathering Pill: A special pill refined by the host based on this world's power system. After consumption, it can greatly increase the consumer's soul power. The first pill has the best effect; repeated consumption will greatly reduce the effect.]

[Note: Due to the influence of the Yin-Yang Five Elements Law within the Eight Trigrams Furnace, male creatures in this world who consume this pill will undergo a mutation into females. Recovery will require three years.]

Jiang Xuan was very satisfied when he read the first part of the system's description of the Soul-Gathering Pill's effects.

For a moment, he had even wanted to take all ten pills himself and rapidly increase his strength.

But after reading the final side-effect notice, he silently abandoned that idea.

Rapidly growing stronger was certainly a good thing, but if the price was temporarily sacrificing his little brother, he would rather cultivate slowly, step by step...

Damn it, why was there such a screwed-up side effect?

Were the pills he refined even legitimate pills?

Although he had a system that returned Merit Points for gifting pills.

If someone ate these pills, turned into a woman because of the side effect, and discovered that he had refined them, they would probably fight him to the death at any cost...

Too dangerous!

After thinking it over carefully, Jiang Xuan decided it would be better to keep these pills for himself and not spread them around for now!

However, at that moment, Ning Rongrong saw him fall into thought rather than continue refining pills. After hesitating briefly, she moved closer.

Seeing the admiration in the girl's eyes, Jiang Xuan suddenly realized something:

The system's side-effect description seemed to say only that it would turn males into females. It did not say it would turn females into males.

In that case, he could let this girl help him test the medicine first!

He could treat it as repayment for all the cultivation resources from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect that he had used over the years.

With that thought, Jiang Xuan activated the Eight Trigrams Furnace. In an instant, an incomparably rich medicinal fragrance filled every corner of the room.

After taking out the ten Soul-Gathering Pills inside, Jiang Xuan picked up two and gestured for Ning Rongrong to take them.

"This pill is called the Soul-Gathering Pill. Its effect should be to directly increase the soul power in a soul master's body after consumption. Take one first and help me test exactly how potent it is."

Ning Rongrong had always trusted Jiang Xuan completely.

Furthermore, the Soul-Gathering Pills in her hand constantly emitted a medicinal fragrance that stirred one's appetite.

Therefore, she agreed readily to Jiang Xuan's request. She immediately sat cross-legged on the spot and swallowed one of the pills.

The pill melted the moment it entered her mouth, and its immense medicinal power erupted instantly. In the blink of an eye, Ning Rongrong's soul power rose by a tremendous amount!

Although Ning Rongrong had already mentally prepared herself for the pill to be extremely effective before swallowing it, her preparations were clearly still insufficient.

In less than ten seconds, the soul power within her body had directly increased by one level, and the rate of improvement continued without showing the slightest sign of weakening.

"Wow! Big Brother Jiang Xuan, this is so intense! I feel like I'm about to be unable to endure it..."

The young girl's soft moan, combined with those terrible words, instantly gave Jiang Xuan a reaction.

"Don't panic! Steady your heart and focus your mind! Control the soul power inside your body properly, and don't let it run out of control!"

Under Jiang Xuan's guidance, Ning Rongrong quickly adjusted her condition and silently sensed the explosive growth of her soul power.

Soon, her soul power rose from the newly reached Rank 18 to Rank 19, then rose again to Rank 20 two minutes later!

Although the restriction of the soul ring shackles prevented Ning Rongrong from continuing to raise her soul power rank before obtaining her second soul ring, it did not hinder the strengthening of her foundation.

Only after a quarter of an hour had passed was the medicinal power of the Soul-Gathering Pill finally exhausted.

Feeling the soul power within her body, far stronger than before, Ning Rongrong felt as though she were dreaming.

After coming back to her senses, a delighted smile bloomed across her face. She immediately tried to stand, intending to give Jiang Xuan an enthusiastic hug to express her gratitude.

Yet for some reason, she felt that Jiang Xuan's gaze toward her at that moment was somewhat strange...

"Big Brother Jiang Xuan? What's wrong with you..."

The moment the words left her mouth, Ning Rongrong suddenly noticed something was wrong.

Why had her voice suddenly become so childish?

And why did her clothes suddenly seem so much bigger...

No!

It did not seem like her clothes had become bigger!

It was her own body...

For some unknown reason, it had suddenly become smaller!