Deep into the quiet night, only the Alchemy Chamber and the young lady's boudoir in the western residence glimmered with light in the vast estate.
A brass pill furnace taller than a person stood in the center of the Alchemy Chamber, its firebox glowing crimson below. Hundred-Drawer Cabinets filled with medicinal ingredients surrounded it, along with all manner of tools for processing them.
Dressed in a fitted white dress, Lin Zisu stood before the furnace, twirling a pen between her fingertips as she examined her notes and murmured:
"Yang energy rises, yin energy sinks... make a decoction with cooling herbs, place it somewhere cold and yin-heavy, then immerse the head downward in it. That should counteract the Immortal-Burning Yang Poison and keep the patient alive indefinitely..."
"What should I call it? Reverse the Heavens and Earth... Reverse the Heavenly Gang... Headstand Hair-Washing Powder!"
The rainy night was a little chilly. With no one disturbing the Alchemy Chamber, it was easy to lose herself in her work.
But just as Lin Zisu devoted herself to cracking the problem of the "Immortal-Burning Gu Solution," several soft sounds came from outside the window:
Flap, flap, flap~
She looked over to see a great black eagle like a ball of coal break through the rain and fly through the window. It plunged down in front of the furnace, shook its head furiously to fling off the raindrops, then spread its wings to warm itself by the fire. It looked thoroughly chilled.
"Huh?! Coal Ball!"
Lin Zisu immediately tossed her pen and paper aside and glanced out the window. Seeing that Young Master Xie had not come, she crouched to examine Coal Ball instead. The eagle was filthy all over, as though it had rolled through a mud pit, with chicken feathers and animal