Boom!
A thunderous crash on Wood Spirit Peak startled Ye Xuan and Ji Fenghe awake.
"The summit!"
Ji Fenghe shouted and rushed toward the summit, with Ye Xuan close behind.
At the summit of Wood Spirit Peak stood a massive cauldron in the square. Reportedly, Zheng Huaiyuan had been refining pills in it for over a decade.
Some time ago, the pill refinement had reached its most critical stage. If not for imparting teachings to Ye Xuan, he should have finished long ago.
"Master! Master!"
The two arrived at the summit to find the entire square in ruins. Fragments of the Pill Cauldron lay everywhere, and furnace flames burned across the ground, sending up billowing smoke.
Much of the great hall behind the square had also collapsed, but Zheng Huaiyuan was nowhere to be seen.
Ye Xuan had never suffered a furnace explosion while refining pills, so he did not know how powerful one could be.
Beside him, Ji Fenghe looked deeply anxious. He had suffered three furnace explosions, each of which had left him bedridden for several months.
Any pill that required Zheng Huaiyuan over a decade to refine was certainly no ordinary pill, and the resulting furnace explosion was sure to be powerful.
Ye Xuan quietly released his spiritual sense and swept it across the square, instantly locating Zheng Huaiyuan.
His breathing fluctuated slightly, but he did not seem badly injured, allowing Ye Xuan to breathe a sigh of relief as well.
"Hahaha!"
Wild laughter rang out across the square. A fierce wind rose from the ground, extinguishing the flames and sweeping the thick smoke into the sky, revealing the square in its entirety.
At that moment, Zheng Huaiyuan stood with his fist clenched, laughing up at the sky. Although his beard and hair were somewhat singed black, he was still visibly delighted.
"Master, did you successfully refine the pills?"
In a flash of inspiration, Ji Fenghe saw that Zheng Huaiyuan was unharmed and approached with a smile to ask.
"Indeed. Although the furnace exploded at the last moment and much of the medicinal potency was lost, I still produced three pills."
Zheng Huaiyuan opened his fist, revealing three pills that filled the air with medicinal fragrance.
Ye Xuan looked closely. Sure enough, they were Nascent Soul Breakthrough Pills.
The three Nascent Soul Breakthrough Pills in Zheng Huaiyuan's hand retained only fifty to sixty percent efficacy, far inferior to the flawless Nascent Soul Breakthrough Pills in Ye Xuan's possession.
Still, being able to refine Nascent Soul Breakthrough Pills with his Golden Core Peak cultivation made Zheng Huaiyuan fully deserving of the title of the outer sect's number one Alchemist.
"Congratulations, Master! Congratulations!"
Ye Xuan stepped forward to congratulate him. Successfully refining Nascent Soul Breakthrough Pills meant that Zheng Huaiyuan's Pill Refining Technique had advanced another step. Moreover, Zheng Huaiyuan had spent decades at the Golden Core Peak. Now that he had Nascent Soul Breakthrough Pills, he could break through to the Nascent Soul Realm.
Ji Fenghe also cupped his hands in congratulations. Having followed Zheng Huaiyuan for so long, he naturally knew how difficult refining these pills had been for him.
"Haha! I will spend the next month in seclusion, bringing myself into peak condition. Fenghe, Ye Xuan, you two will guard Wood Spirit Peak. Whoever comes, I will see no one!"
Zheng Huaiyuan clapped his hands and laughed, his voice brimming with confidence. After decades of devoted pill refinement, he had finally reaped the rewards.
After watching Zheng Huaiyuan activate Wood Spirit Peak's mountain-protecting formation, Ye Xuan and Ji Fenghe left.
"Senior Brother, once Master breaks through to the Nascent Soul Realm, will he be able to become an inner sect elder?"
Ye Xuan asked Ji Fenghe. He had never entered the inner sect and knew only that its elders needed at least Nascent Soul cultivation.
If Zheng Huaiyuan could enter the inner sect, the two of them could naturally follow.
The rewards from checking in within the inner sect should be quite substantial.
"It's not that simple. Someone newly advanced to the Nascent Soul Realm can only serve as a steward in the inner sect and cannot possess a mountain peak. Only upon reaching the middle stage can they obtain a peak of their own."
"With Master's personality, he certainly won't give up the medicinal fields on Wood Spirit Peak. He most likely won't go to the inner sect just to become a steward. If he does enter the inner sect, it probably won't be for another hundred years."
Ji Fenghe shook his head as he spoke.
The strength of the Azure Feather Dao Sect's inner and outer sects was as far apart as heaven and earth. Leaving aside the nine great elders, even an elder with an individual mountain peak could come out and sweep through more than half the outer sect.
With Zheng Huaiyuan in seclusion, all of Wood Spirit Peak grew quiet.
Ye Xuan and Ji Fenghe stayed halfway up the mountain, cultivating and refining pills.
With the materials supplied by the Azure Feather Pavilion, Ye Xuan also began learning to refine the poison pills recorded in the Myriad Dao Poison Scripture.
After cultivating for a few days, Ji Fenghe began slacking off, wandering around Wood Spirit Peak while waving his folding fan.
"Junior Brother, are you refining pills?"
Ji Fenghe pushed open the door and entered, looking curiously at the Pill Furnace Ye Xuan had just opened as he asked.
"Yes!"
Ye Xuan rolled his eyes at Ji Fenghe. Alchemists abhorred being disturbed above all else. Ji Fenghe clearly wanted to see him make a fool of himself, deliberately entering without knocking.
He had discovered that this senior brother of his was good in every respect, except for his somewhat mischievous tastes.
"Haha, what pills are you refining, Junior Brother?"
Sensing Ye Xuan's displeasure, Ji Fenghe gave a sheepish laugh and reached out to take a pill.
"Soul-stimulating grass, yellow vine root..."
Ji Fenghe lightly sniffed the medicinal fragrance, identifying the pill's ingredients, then scraped off some powder and placed it in his mouth to taste carefully.
Fortunately, what Ye Xuan had refined did not yet count as a proper poison pill, so he did not stop Ji Fenghe. Instead, he watched Ji Fenghe's reaction with interest.
"Haha, Junior Brother, why are you looking at me like that?"
A smile appeared on Ji Fenghe's face, though he had yet to notice it himself, making him look very strange.
"Haha, something's wrong. Junior Brother, what pill is this? Why can't I stop wanting to laugh? Hahaha, this pill is so strange. Junior Brother, hurry and give me an antidote pill! Hahahaha, I can't take it, I'm going to die laughing!"
Ji Fenghe struggled to control his expression, but he could not suppress the urge to laugh wildly, leaving his face badly contorted. He reached out to grab Ye Xuan, only to find that Ye Xuan had already dodged aside and was watching him with a beaming smile.
The Laughing Gas Pill.
Anyone who ate it would laugh uncontrollably. It did not count as a poison pill; Ye Xuan was using it for practice.
Fortunately, Ji Fenghe had only eaten a little pill powder. He stopped after laughing for just a quarter of an hour, his entire body looking as though it had been drenched in water. He lay sprawled on the ground, a strange smile still lingering on his face.
"Junior Brother, how did you come to refine such a... such an unusual pill?"
Ji Fenghe rested for a while, then rolled over and looked at Ye Xuan with a face full of grievance.
He had truly suffered terribly. His dignified, lofty image as a senior brother had been ruined.
"On this trip outside the sect for training, I obtained some Pill Formulas from a few rogue cultivators. I had nothing to do, so I refined a few pills."
Ye Xuan directly attributed the source of the Pill Formulas to his training trip outside the sect, leaving no flaw for anyone to find.
Ji Fenghe lay on the ground for a while, then suddenly jumped up, rubbed his hands together, and looked at Ye Xuan expectantly.
"Junior Brother, is this pill easy to refine? Does it require any special medicinal ingredients?"
"No. All the medicinal ingredients can be found on Wood Spirit Peak."
Ye Xuan thought for a moment before answering. The Laughing Gas Pill was merely an ordinary pill and had some effect only on those in the Qi Refining Realm. Those in the Foundation Establishment Realm could easily expel its medicinal effects.
Watching Ji Fenghe suddenly break into a wicked grin, Ye Xuan asked curiously.
"Senior Brother, what are you planning to do?"
Ji Fenghe put away his smile and spoke with a compassionate expression.
"Fill the world with joy, of course!"