I Had Misjudged Him

Early the next morning, Ying Huaixu completed his daily quest again and happily earned 1,000 experience points.

It was the same senior brother.

The senior brother seemed to have grown somewhat accustomed to Ying Huaixu's attitude.

Ying Huaixu, however, found something strange.

He suddenly remembered that yesterday's daily quest had only seemed to give him 300 experience points.

He had been busy rushing off to do his daily activity at the time and had paid it no mind. Today's 1,000-point daily quest, however, reminded Ying Huaixu that something had been off about yesterday's reward.

"Did the game system bug out?"

Ying Huaixu muttered to himself.

The problem was that even if it had bugged out, there was nothing he could do.

There was no customer support anymore...

Ying Huaixu shook his head helplessly and could only enter the Pill Room to register again.

One thing worth mentioning was that he had been assigned to someone different again today.

Instead of working for yesterday's old man, he was sent to another room.

But once he entered the room, Ying Huaixu was dumbfounded.

This was the very senior brother he had done daily quests for over the past three days.

The disciple stared blankly at Ying Huaixu as well.

Both fell silent for a while. In the end, Ying Huaixu broke the silence first.

"Senior brother, I'm here to help clean the Pill Room!"

The disciple suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, I see!"

What followed was the familiar routine and the familiar tedium.

After cleaning the room, Ying Huaixu watched his senior brother refine pills.

But the longer he watched, the more colorful Ying Huaixu's expression became.

Good grief. I thought yesterday's old man was already unbeatable.

Turns out there's another one.

And the two were terrible in entirely different ways.

The old man had exploding furnaces and failed attempts, but at least he could succeed.

This fellow had no exploding furnaces, only failures.

And his failures honestly infuriated Ying Huaixu even more than fucking explosions.

Every time he failed to refine a pill, his furnace spewed huge clouds of black smoke, with countless bits of herbal ash drifting through them.

Veins bulged on Ying Huaixu's forehead. He had already cleaned the place.

In the end, though, Ying Huaixu could only accept his fate.

It's just cleaning a room, right?

That's hardly difficult.

Ying Huaixu worked hard to clean it all over again.

This went on until noon. When he saw his senior brother persistently preparing to start another attempt, Ying Huaixu nearly lost it.

"Senior brother, why don't you hold off for a moment?"

The disciple looked at Ying Huaixu, his face covered in ash. "What's wrong?"

Ying Huaixu steadied his voice before asking, "Senior brother, you've gotten the order of the herbs wrong eight whole times, and at the exact same step every time. If this isn't working, why don't we memorize the Pill Formula properly before trying again?"

The disciple fell into thought.

Ying Huaixu really wanted to curse him out.

Seriously, what the hell are you thinking about?

You can't even remember the Pill Formula. Why the fuck are you refining pills?

The disciple pondered for a long time, then sighed.

"Junior brother, you don't understand!"

Ying Huaixu: "???"

The disciple clasped his hands behind his back and said with an air of profound wisdom, "Master said my talent for alchemy is unmatched in this world. I might even walk the Great Dao of Alchemy someday!"

"So I've been thinking. If I keep making a mistake at the same step, that isn't a problem with me. It's my talent for alchemy telling me that this is how that step should be done!"

"The fact that I haven't succeeded means the order of the other herbs needs to change too!"

The more he spoke, the brighter his eyes became.

"Yes, that must be it! This time, I'll follow my instincts!"

With that, he fired up the furnace again!

Ying Huaixu couldn't help shuddering.

"Motherfucker..."

Ying Huaixu ran straight out of the pill-refining room.

Just after he ran out, he heard a muffled boom.

An enormous shock wave slammed into Ying Huaixu's back.

Had Ying Huaixu not already reached the Body Tempering Fifth Layer, the impact might have caused internal injuries.

The doors of the pill-refining room he had just left were completely shattered, and thick black smoke billowed out in waves.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Despite causing such a huge commotion, the culprit had somehow survived.

Not only that, the fellow wasn't even injured.

He just looked utterly bedraggled!

But it didn't end there.

After one person's furnace exploded, the others began exploding one after another, as though a chain reaction had been triggered.

The scene was no less devastating than an artillery bombardment.

Then a crowd emerged from the pill-refining rooms.

Ying Huaixu stared blankly.

He suddenly felt that compared to this lot, yesterday's old man really was a genius.

These people were the true freaks of talent.

What left Ying Huaixu even more speechless was that these were the Pill Room's pill-refining disciples. Could the Divine Firmament Sword Sect really keep itself supplied with pills?

The disciple looked at Ying Huaixu awkwardly.

Naturally, he knew what Ying Huaixu was thinking.

He had been through the same thing himself.

But unless you refined pills yourself, you had no idea how difficult it was.

"Junior brother, I know what you're thinking. But rather than struggling to explain it, I think it would be better to let you try it yourself!"

Ying Huaixu froze.

"Ding! Adventure Quest activated. Sect disciple Huang Tianqi wants you to understand the hardships of alchemy and has given you a Pill Formula!"

Ying Huaixu looked at the Pill Formula Huang Tianqi handed him and asked, "Senior brother, you mean you want me to give it a try?"

Huang Tianqi smiled and nodded. "You can give it a little try and experience the allure of alchemy for yourself. Then you'll naturally understand its hardships!"

"Come, come! There happens to be an empty room here. I'll give you a bit of guidance!"

Ying Huaixu followed Huang Tianqi into a new pill-refining room.

Then Ying Huaixu saw the pill furnace flickering with a faint white glow.

Is this a quest marker?

Beside him, Huang Tianqi explained calmly, "In alchemy, you must first understand the furnace. Then you must understand the temperatures it can withstand when drawing on earth fire. Next comes the proportion of medicinal herbs!"

"A mistake at any step will render all your previous efforts worthless... And when refining pills..."

Ying Huaixu wasn't listening at all.

What's he babbling about?

Ying Huaixu simply tossed aside the Pill Formula, then took out the herbs it required.

Use pill furnace!

Ying Huaixu focused his thoughts on those words.

As "Use pill furnace" flashed, the furnace's lid automatically opened in an instant.

Then, in Ying Huaixu's vision, one of the herbs suddenly enlarged like an icon.

Ying Huaixu grabbed it and tossed it straight in.

There was also a temperature gauge beside the furnace.

Three lines marked the gauge.

Green line (recommended), blue line (use caution), red line (not recommended)

Ying Huaixu used the formation to adjust the temperature of the earth fire.

He added herbs as he adjusted it.

Once all the herbs were inside, the furnace lid closed.

Ying Huaixu then saw a horizontal bar appear across the middle of the furnace.

Blocks were scrolling along that bar.

High heat... Medium heat... High heat... Low heat... Low temperature...

Whenever a block scrolled past, Ying Huaixu followed its instructions, controlling the temperature through the formation.

Finally, when all the blocks had disappeared, the furnace lid popped open with a bang.

This time, the furnace hadn't exploded. Instead, a medicinal fragrance wafted out from within!