"Sigh..." Sitting behind the counter, Xiao Yan watched Ye Lingyu concoct several poisons in succession and sank into thought. By now, he no longer knew whether to call the girl talented or untalented.
Call her talented, and she could not even refine Blood-Clotting Powder. Call her untalented, and she could turn a handful of the lowest-grade healing herbs into deadly poison. For a while, Xiao Yan had even suspected that she possessed a Woeful Poison Body and had sneaked a peek while the little girl bathed. Yet her body bore none of its telltale marks, so this talent could only be something she was born with.
"Little Yao, how am I supposed to whip this girl into shape?" Xiao Yan asked helplessly. As a Dou Sheng Expert, failing to teach even an Alchemical Apprentice left him deeply frustrated. He had already begun considering taking the little girl to the Starfall Pavilion and having Yao Lao teach her.
"Master, don't you think... you're a little too concerned about this girl?" Little Yao hesitated before speaking.
"Am I?" Xiao Yan could not help but pause.
"Leaving everything else aside, with your personality, Master, when have you ever honestly paid for something without trying to squeeze some extra benefit out of it?" Little Yao waved her hands, looking utterly powerless to help. "And the master I know would never waste his energy on something that clearly offers him no benefit."
"..."
"Besides, this girl's problem isn't a lack of talent. If that really were the issue, it would be easy enough to handle. With your abilities, Master, you'd have plenty of ways to solve it. The truth is that she's quite talented, but she doesn't want to learn."
"Haven't you noticed, Master? Every time she mixes medicinal liquid, her eyes are looking somewhere