Marry me? You're not worthy!

As soon as Jiang Yuan finished speaking, Xuan Kongzi spoke up beside him, looking at Cao Ying with a hint of reproach. "Enough. Don't push it just because you're in the right. You know perfectly well how difficult it is to refine an Eighth-Tier Pill. Asking an ordinary disciple to make one is deliberately making things difficult for him, isn't it?"

But Cao Ying refused to back down. She sneered and retorted, "Teacher, I'm not making things difficult for him. He agreed to it himself. Since he agreed, he should deliver. If he can't, he shouldn't brag. Who is he trying to impress with this act?"

Then Cao Ying turned to Jiang Yuan, her eyes full of mockery. "It's not too late to back down. I won't laugh at you. You're a useless piece of trash anyway, so it's only natural that you can't make it."

Faced with her scorn, however, Jiang Yuan wasn't angry in the slightest. Instead, he calmly took out the Pill Recipe for the Eighth-Tier Pill.

He unrolled the scroll and quickly scanned its contents, committing everything to memory: the types of medicinal ingredients, the refining steps, the required heat, and the allocation of soul power.

With his Heaven-Defying Mindlessness cheat also playing a tremendous role, he soon mastered the method for refining this Eighth-Tier Pill.

After reading the recipe, Jiang Yuan put the scroll away and looked up at Cao Ying. "Fine. I'll make it for you right now."

Cao Ying couldn't help letting out a derisive laugh. "Now? Right here? You don't even have any medicinal ingredients. What are you going to use?"

Jiang Yuan wasted no more words and turned to Xuan Kongzi beside him. "Elder, you should have the medicinal ingredients needed for this pill, shouldn't you?"

Xuan Kongzi paused, then nodded instinctively. "I do have the ingredients, but..."

"Then I'm sorry for the trouble, Elder, but please lend me a set. I'll refine it right away."

Seeing Jiang Yuan brimming with confidence, Xuan Kongzi wanted to try to dissuade him, but ultimately held his tongue.

With a sigh, Xuan Kongzi took a set of medicinal ingredients out of his Storage Ring and placed them on the table. "Everything is here. You... don't push yourself beyond your limits."

After arranging all the medicinal ingredients neatly, Jiang Yuan took a deep breath and immediately got to work.

His soul had already reached the Emperor Realm, and his talent as a Heavenly Sovereign alchemist gave him the utmost control over his soul power.

Although the body's original owner couldn't even refine a Third-Tier Pill, the current Jiang Yuan was different. After all, he had acquired numerous cheats.

Watching Jiang Yuan fiddle with the medicinal ingredients as though he knew what he was doing, Cao Ying said nothing, but her face was full of mockery.

He certainly puts on a convincing act.

Let's see how this piece of trash gets himself out of this mess.

Jiang Yuan paid no attention to Cao Ying's gaze and began refining.

First, he enveloped the medicinal ingredients in soul power, then placed one medicinal herb into the flames and began extracting its essence.

His movements were a little clumsy at first. After all, this was the first time the original owner's body had actually attempted to refine a high-tier pill, and it wasn't yet accustomed to channeling soul power.

Before long, Jiang Yuan felt his Heaven-Defying Comprehension cheat begin to work its tremendous magic.

His movements grew increasingly fluid. Not only his soul power, but especially the temperature of the flames came under almost perfect control. It truly lived up to the name Heaven-Defying Comprehension.

At first, Cao Ying continued sneering from the sidelines, certain that Jiang Yuan would fail before he even finished the first round of extracting the ingredients' essences. When that happened, she would give him a thorough mocking.

As time passed, however, the smile gradually vanished from her face.

She realized that Jiang Yuan was extracting the ingredients' essences at an absurd speed, and every single one was refined to absolute purity, without a trace of impurity remaining.

How is this possible?

How could a piece of trash who can't even refine a Third-Tier Pill extract medicinal essences to this standard?

Cao Ying's brows gradually knitted together, and an uneasy feeling suddenly welled up inside her.

Xuan Kongzi, who was watching from the side, had also been full of worry, but before long, his expression slowly turned to shock.

As one of the Pill Tower's Three Giants, he had extensive experience in alchemy and could judge someone's skill at a glance.

The control Jiang Yuan had just displayed over his soul power and flames was nothing like what an ordinary disciple should possess. It even surpassed that of many elders Xuan Kongzi had seen.

He couldn't help muttering inwardly, This boy... when did he become so capable?

Time ticked by, and Jiang Yuan's movements grew more and more practiced. In his hands, the refinement of an Eighth-Tier Pill became as smooth as flowing water.

Cao Ying's expression gradually shifted from outright mockery to shock.

Inside, she frantically denied everything unfolding before her eyes. Impossible. This is absolutely impossible. How could he refine an Eighth-Tier Pill?

But reality wouldn't change simply because she refused to believe it.

Before long, she noticed the flames in Jiang Yuan's hands suddenly draw inward. Then a pill slowly rose out of them.

Aside from its color and luster, the pill's extraordinary markings alone made it a masterpiece. Even among Eighth-Tier Pills, it was exceptional.

A rich medicinal fragrance instantly filled the entire inner hall.

Jiang Yuan reached out and caught the Eighth-Tier Pill in his hand, gently exhaled, then looked up at Cao Ying.

Cao Ying's eyes widened as she stared fixedly at the pill in his hand. Her lips trembled slightly, and for a long while, she couldn't utter a word.

She recognized it. It truly was an Eighth-Tier Pill, and one of extremely high quality, without a single flaw.

Xuan Kongzi was dumbstruck as well. For a long time, he couldn't recover from what he had seen.

He actually made it?

An ordinary disciple who previously couldn't even refine a Third-Tier Pill actually produced an Eighth-Tier Pill?

And he succeeded on his first attempt, in so little time!

Xuan Kongzi felt that, despite having lived more than half his life, this was the first time he had ever encountered anything so outrageous.

Just then, a deafening rumble suddenly came from outside the inner hall. Clouds began gathering rapidly overhead, with flashes of lightning faintly flickering within them.

Cao Ying looked up through the window at the sky outside and suddenly spoke as though she had found a lifeline. "Pill tribulation! Successfully refining an Eighth-Tier Pill always brings a pill tribulation. So what if you made the pill? You can't possibly withstand the tribulation!"

Although Cao Ying's words were clearly intended to make things difficult for him, they weren't untrue. Refining high-quality pills did indeed trigger celestial phenomena.

If the alchemist lacked the strength to withstand them, not only would all their efforts go to waste, but their life would likely be in danger as well.

At that thought, Cao Ying felt hope return. Once the pill tribulation lightning arrived, if he couldn't withstand it, he couldn't blame her for breaking her word.

But when Jiang Yuan saw her gloating expression, he remained perfectly composed. In fact, a smile even appeared on his lips.

Just then, a notification suddenly appeared on the system panel:

[Detected: the host is facing an imminent pill tribulation. Thanks to the host's "Heaven-Defying Comprehension" talent, the host independently comprehended a special method during pill refinement and successfully mastered the "Lightning-Avoidance Method," allowing the host to evade pill tribulations completely without having to withstand them directly.]

After reading the notification, Jiang Yuan felt reassured. He stood at the entrance to the inner hall and looked up at the thunderclouds overhead.

After the thunderclouds churned for a moment, a thick bolt of lightning struck straight down. Yet as it approached the inner hall, it suddenly seemed to lose its target. It circled once in midair, then dissipated.

The second and third bolts met the same fate. All of them veered off course and dissipated in the air, never even touching the inner hall's roof.

Watching this unfold before her very eyes, Cao Ying was utterly dumbfounded.

The pill tribulation... was gone, just like that?

Jiang Yuan evaded it?

Silence filled the inner hall. Only the pill's rich fragrance continued to drift through the air.

Turning back to Cao Ying, he raised the Eighth-Tier Pill in his palm. "I refined the Eighth-Tier Pill, and I evaded the pill tribulation. What do you have to say now?"

Cao Ying opened her mouth, but it felt as though something had lodged in her throat. She couldn't get a single word out.

Shock gradually spread across her face as well. Her lips quivered, and her eyes were full of disbelief.

She had never expected him to succeed.

He had truly done it.

The very person she had called a useless piece of trash who couldn't even refine a Third-Tier Pill had produced an Eighth-Tier Pill right in front of her. He had even evaded the pill tribulation without a scratch.

At that moment, Cao Ying felt as though her entire worldview had collapsed. She stood frozen for a long time, unable to recover.

Seeing her remain silent, Jiang Yuan asked again, "Well? What's this silence supposed to mean?"

"Didn't you say you'd marry me if I refined an Eighth-Tier Pill? The pill is right here. Does what you said still stand?"

Hearing that, Cao Ying clenched her fists tightly and gritted her teeth.

She had indeed said those words, right in front of her teacher. Even if she wanted to go back on them now, she couldn't find an excuse.

Although she was unwilling in every way, Cao Ying was, after all, a proud person. She would own up to what she had said.

She took a deep breath and was about to speak, ready to honor her promise.

But before she could get the words out, Jiang Yuan suddenly laughed, a mocking look on his face.

"You want to marry me?"

Jiang Yuan's voice carried undisguised scorn as he looked Cao Ying straight in the eye. "You're not worthy."

Cao Ying froze at those words. She stared at Jiang Yuan with wide eyes, thinking she had misheard.

What did this guy just say?

He actually said she wasn't worthy?

Cao Ying was utterly bewildered. If she hadn't witnessed it herself, she would never have believed what she had just heard.

She had willingly relented and was ready to honor the marriage promise, yet he actually rejected her?

And he even said she wasn't worthy?