Alchemy

Xiao Yu sat cross-legged in the pill room, faint firelight flickering beneath the furnace.

Hua Lian stood beside him, stacking spiritwood into a fire pile with a smile as she lit it.

Bai Yue, inside the Judgment Room, heard the crackling flames and said softly, "Ordinary alchemists mostly use flames catalyzed by spiritual power to temper fire and refine pills."

"None of the three of us currently possess the ability to draw qi and turn it into fire. We can only use spiritwood infused with spiritual power to kindle the flames, manually grind those spirit herbs into the proper form, then add powdered spirit stones to the pill furnace and refine them together with the medicinal ingredients!"

"This is somewhat putting the cart before the horse. Such a refining method greatly damages the value of spirit herbs, but to deal with tomorrow's inspection, we can only do this."

Following her instructions, Xiao Yu took out some spirit herbs and spiritual materials that were several decades old.

He then brought over all the medicinal ingredients he had ground during the day and pondered, "Hmm... it seems Elder Wu knows a new supervisor is coming tomorrow, which is why he had me grind medicinal ingredients."

Hua Lian controlled the heat beside him the entire time.

Still smiling, she helped Xiao Yu place the medicinal ingredients into the pill furnace one by one.

The firelight swirled, and the furnace flames burned ever more fiercely.

The ingredients inside the pill furnace gradually melted, turning into a cauldron of pill liquid.

Bai Yue closed her eyes and focused. "Next comes the manual part. It is somewhat like the process mortals use to refine pills. Let my disciple demonstrate for you!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yu called out, "Miss Hua Lian, your master wants you to demonstrate the next steps!"

Hua Lian immediately got to work, taking out several pieces of spiritwood and adjusting the size of the flames.

Then, using a metal pill spoon to guide the pill liquid, she actually condensed the pills into shape.

A faint glow even radiated from the pills.

Xiao Yu stroked his chin in amazement.

One had to know that none of the three of them could use spiritual power now, yet these two truly deserved to be called experts of the Jade Maiden Sect.

They could refine pills even without spiritual power.

But the more skillful their methods were, the more wary Xiao Yu became.

From now on, he would keep the two of them from talking as much as possible. Bai Yue could forget about being alone with Hua Lian again.

If the two took advantage of his inattention to refine pills that could raise their cultivation, or some kind of poison—

—and then used them against him, he would have no room to fight back.

If they wanted to play petty tricks, then they could not blame him for abandoning martial virtue!

Just then, Xiao Yu suddenly saw Hua Lian pick up a spirit herb he did not recognize. She was about to toss it into the pill furnace.

Xiao Yu hurriedly stood up and snatched the two spirit herbs from her in one motion.

Hua Lian raised her brows and asked softly, "What is it, benefactor... Is there a problem?"

Xiao Yu looked at the two herbs and asked doubtfully, "Aren't we refining Blood-Staunching Pills? What are these two?"

Hua Lian blurted out, "They are Blood-Coagulating Herbs. When paired with the Bleeding-Stopping Herbs used to refine Blood-Staunching Pills, the effect will be even better!"

[Detected that the wicked woman Bai Yue intends to refine poison pills to harm the host. Sin value increased to 98%!]

[Detected that the wicked woman Hua Lian intends to refine poison pills to harm the host. Sin value increased to 50%!]

Xiao Yu nodded as though he understood, then looked toward the remaining medicinal ingredients and said, "Well, I want to try refining pills myself now. I'll have to trouble you, miss, to grind some ingredients for me! Let's try to finish refining all the pills before nightfall!"

"Tonight, I have an important matter to discuss with you two!"

Hua Lian's expression tightened, her right fist clutching the hem of her dress tightly.

After glancing at the pill furnace, she gave an unwilling smile. "All right. If you need any help, you can come find me anytime!"

With that, she went to the back to grind medicinal ingredients.

Xiao Yu watched that woman coldly, then went to a corner and took out Elder Wu's Alchemy Art.

After flipping through a few pages, he found the herb Hua Lian had just taken.

Poisonblood Herb...

It could be refined together with Bleeding-Stopping Herb into Poisonblood Pills.

The poison would flare up once every day at noon after consumption. If the antidote was not taken within two hours, the victim's body would burst apart from poisoned blood and they would die...

When Xiao Yu saw this, the killing intent in his eyes grew even stronger.

If he had truly eaten a Poisonblood Pill, he would have been completely at their mercy.

He could not refine an antidote.

Then he could only say sorry...

Xiao Yu hated wasting food the most!

Especially food that looked pretty good!

Bai Yue, in the Judgment Room, had listened for a long time without hearing Xiao Yu tending the fire. She became somewhat worried. "Um... what is wrong with you?"

Xiao Yu pretended to be deep in thought as he held the pill Hua Lian had just refined. "Hmm, I'm looking at this pill's flaws. You two are amazing—you managed to refine a first-grade, slightly flawed pill using a mortal method of pill refinement!"

"As expected of the Jade Maiden Sect, famed throughout the world for its Alchemy Art! I'll give it a try too!"

As Xiao Yu spoke, he imitated Hua Lian and began lighting the fire in the same fashion.

Bai Yue exhaled, her face clouded with gloom.

Recalling what her disciple had said to her earlier, her heart was filled with mixed emotions.

At first, she had not wanted to do anything to Xiao Yu. After all, he truly had saved her.

But her disciple had said...

"Master, do not let him fool you. You are the most beautiful female cultivator of the righteous path. Countless men have racked their brains trying to obtain you! Wasn't he fleeing for his life at the time too? He knew he could not escape, so he risked his life to save you!"

"Men are all liars! The men of the righteous path are already like this, so there is no need to ask about those of the demonic path!"

"He sure has beautiful dreams. It is one thing for him to take the primordial yin of both master and disciple, but he even wants us to teach him cultivation and pill refinement!?"

Bai Yue looked conflicted. "But we are not his match right now... What if we anger him..."

"Master! Him obtaining our primordial yin was already a blessing earned through eight lifetimes of accumulated virtue. Even if we kill him, he has gotten his money's worth!!!"

"Master, you are the righteous path's holy maiden! If that bastard tells others about how we were involved with him, we will surely become the laughingstock of the whole world. If Master does not want to act, then this disciple will! Master, cover for me later!"

"As long as he falls to our poison, he can only be at our mercy!"

Bai Yue could not make up her mind for a moment. "But where could we even go..."

"We must find a way to leave. Master simply has not met a good man yet. Why don't we go to the Jade Maiden Sect's branch? Didn't Junior Sister Ye Zhirou go there? If we find the elders of our branch, won't everything be fine?"

"I know Master has conflicts with the branch elders, but aren't these extraordinary times?"

"The most important thing now is to first control this demonic thief and make him take us away! Once we reach somewhere safe, we can kill him. Who would know that we had been involved with the demonic path?"

"Righteousness and evil cannot coexist. So what if he saved us? The demonic path is the demonic path—it must die!!!"

Bai Yue remained in the Judgment Room, recalling what her disciple had said earlier.

The other party was right.

The other righteous sects could not be trusted, but the Jade Maiden Sect still had its branch.

As long as she went to Donghua Province and found her estranged second junior sister, she could return to the Golden Core Stage within fifty years.

Then, when she rose again from the ashes, she would have the ability to avenge her dead disciples!

She had merely lost her primordial yin. Among cultivators of the same generation, how many could truly preserve their chastity?

If one wished to seek immortality and pursue the Dao, matters between men and women had to be cast behind one's mind.

If she did not destroy the Hehuan Sect, she would surely develop a heart demon.

If she did not avenge her disciples, her thoughts would never flow freely.

Her cultivation in this life would end here as well.

Just as Bai Yue was thinking this, a wisp of black smoke suddenly rose from the pill furnace.

With a BOOM—!!!

Bai Yue was instantly startled, and Hua Lian, who was grinding ingredients, was dumbfounded as well.

Seeing Xiao Yu covered in soot and dust from head to toe, Hua Lian could no longer hold it in and sneered coldly.

Xiao Yu's entire face was blackened. Looking at the three pills in his hand, his heart ached fiercely.

Hua Lian had refined ten slightly flawed pills in one go, yet after spending so much effort, he had only managed to refine three?

And their quality was... flawed-grade.

This was purely the result of insufficient skill.

Bai Yue asked worriedly, "What happened? Did you fail?"

Xiao Yu shook his head. "Mm... more or less. There is only one flawed-grade Blood-Staunching Pill. I'll try again!"

Bai Yue spoke gently, "The key to mortal pill refinement lies mainly in controlling the heat. Being able to refine one pill on your first attempt already counts as a success. It means you have talent for alchemy! Do not be impatient!"

"Bleeding-Stopping Herbs of different ages require different levels of heat. Since you have no divine sense now, you can only judge with your eyes, and control the temperature through touch!"

"For fifty-year Bleeding-Stopping Herbs, you need to use less spiritwood for the fire, and the powdered spirit stones need to be diluted as well!"

"Do not be impatient..."

Xiao Yu nodded and continued refining.

This time, he did not imitate Hua Lian. Instead, he secretly picked up the Alchemy Art and began reading it.

Hua Lian's technique was far too advanced. It was not something a novice like him could control.

After reading it twice, Xiao Yu got to work again.

This time, his success rate greatly increased!

Of five Blood-Staunching Pills, four were flawed-grade and one was slightly flawed-grade.

Again!

He kept refining like that.

Hua Lian also brought over freshly ground ingredients from time to time.

Before he knew it, night had fallen.

Xiao Yu looked at the pill bottles before him and put them into his storage pouch with a satisfied expression.

Bai Yue was also somewhat stunned. She had not expected Xiao Yu's talent for alchemy to be so high.

One had to know that she was a third-grade alchemist. Refining first-grade pills without spiritual power was no difficult matter for her.

But Xiao Yu had never studied alchemy before, and he had not even reached the Qi Refining Stage.

How could his grasp of medicinal principles and heat control be so sharp?

Could this man be an alchemy prodigy?

When Hua Lian saw that Xiao Yu had finished, she walked over with delight written all over her face. "Benefactor, you've worked hard~ Why not release Master? We can cure her eyes together, then discuss how to leave this place!"

The corner of Xiao Yu's mouth lifted slightly as he locked the door behind his back. "I don't think we'll be able to leave..."