It Was Really Soft

The white vapor dispersed.

Deep within the furnace, a point of dazzling Golden Light nearly blinded Nangong Wan!

A Golden Core!

A pill the size of a dragon's eye, perfectly round and flawless, its entire body flowing with a pure golden halo, floated quietly at the furnace's heart as it slowly spun.

With every rotation, it stirred the dense spiritual energy within the quiet room, forming tiny visible vortices.

The Golden Light was pure and restrained, yet contained a vast energy that made one's heart pound, like a tiny sun compressed to its limit.

Nangong Wan's breathing instantly stopped.

Her cool eyes were now wide open, reflecting that tiny Golden Core, filled with incredulous shock.

She instinctively took a deep breath of the rich pill fragrance permeating the air, so dense it had nearly solidified. An incomparably pure spiritual energy rushed straight into her sea of consciousness, making her very soul tremble.

"Th-this spiritual energy..." she murmured distractedly, her voice changing pitch. "It-it's incredible! Heavens! Fang Tie Zhu! You... you're truly an alchemy genius! You really... refined it?!"

She suddenly turned her head. Rather than greedily fixing her gaze on the Golden Core that could stir even a Nascent Soul Ancestor's heart, she stared fixedly at Fang Yu beside her—the dusty, bedraggled man with an empty sleeve and a lazy smile that said, "Finally got it done."

Fang Yu was stunned by Nangong Wan's fiery gaze, filled with sheer amazement and admiration. The little alarm in his heart went off with a thump.

Huh?

He muttered to himself.

*This woman is interesting. Seeing a Golden Core of this caliber, her first reaction isn't jealousy or plotting how to claim it for herself. She's sincerely praising my craftsmanship? These days, an "honest person" who doesn't get Red Eye at the sight