Before long, Bu Wuchen learned from their exchange of pleasantries that this was Blood Dragon City's foremost marketplace for profound pills.
The lean, vigorous middle-aged man named Song Hechuan was not only the proprietor of the Song Clan Pill Workshop, but also a renowned pill master in Blood Dragon City!
In terms of mastery of the Dao of Pills, aside from the academy dean, who had practiced this art for years, and the chief pill master Attendants of the three great Lineages, Song Hechuan was the most famous and most capable...
"All right, Boss Song, enough pleasantries."
"I've come to borrow your pill-refining cauldron."
Hearing her utterly unceremonious tone, Bu Wuchen's mouth twitched. He thought, Holy spicy skewers, this girl actually has the nerve to call herself 'your great-aunt' to a middle-aged man's face?
Is that any way to ask someone for a favor?
Bu Wuchen curled his lip, assuming this was almost certainly going to fall through.
Who would have thought that the proprietor would not be angry at all? He chuckled and said, "Young great-aunt, you certainly speak your mind. Since you've asked, how could I possibly refuse?"
Turning his head, he instructed the servants waiting outside, "Bring in my Orchid Flame Nettle Flower Cauldron!"
The corners of Bu Wuchen's mouth twitched twice. Uh, that actually worked?
"I truly never imagined that you were also proficient in the Dao of Pills, young great-aunt!"
"Having the good fortune to witness you personally refine pills will certainly broaden my horizons!"
Unexpectedly, the girl in green silk slowly shook her head. "I'm borrowing your cauldron for him."
"Him?"
Song Hechuan froze.
Following Xia Nuoyi's pointing finger, his gaze fell on Bu Wuchen.
In fact, ever since entering the room, Song Hechuan had paid little attention to the young man accompanying her.
Judging by the armband Bu Wuchen wore, he was merely a junior-class student at Blood Dragon City Academy.
The only thing that had somewhat surprised this lean, shrewd middle-aged man was that the boy was actually sitting at the same table as Xia Nuoyi.
Song Hechuan had originally assumed he was just a little lackey!
Now it seemed that the boy might be someone extraordinary too?
But on second thought, could a boy of fifteen or sixteen already fire up a furnace and refine pills?
What a joke!
If this were the royal capital or imperial capital, where powerful houses gathered and talented people abounded, there would naturally be nothing to say.
But here in frontier Blood Dragon City...
Song Hechuan had never even heard of such a thing!
Soon, a blue-green cauldron so wide it would take two people to encircle it with their arms was carried inside.
"May I ask what pills you intend to refine, young friend?"
Song Hechuan asked Bu Wuchen.
He had addressed him as "young friend" entirely out of consideration for Xia Nuoyi.
"Let's start with the most basic Healing Pills and Qi Recovery Pills."
After speaking without the slightest ceremony, Bu Wuchen even walked a circle around the cauldron that had made his eyes light up.
The moment he reached out and touched it, a system notification rang in his ears-
"Ding! The host's 'Appraiser' ability, part of the 'All-Round Special Profession Master,' has automatically activated. The object before you has been identified as a mid-grade mortal-tier profound weapon of the utility-type unconventional weapon category: Orchid Flame Nettle Flower Cauldron." "This cauldron's traits are: increases the success rate of refining mortal-tier pills by eight percent and reduces the difficulty of controlling the flame during pill refinement by fifteen percent."
Bu Wuchen raised an eyebrow. "Heh, this cauldron looks pretty good."
Then he asked, "How many sets of medicinal ingredients can a cauldron this big hold at once?"
"Huh?"
Song Hechuan froze at the question, his expression a sight to behold, as though Bu Wuchen had asked something bizarre.
After drawing a deep breath, he answered, "If you're refining mortal-tier Healing Pills or Qi Recovery Pills, it can hold fifteen sets of ingredients at most."
Although the lean middle-aged man's expression remained calm, whatever faint expectations he had harbored for the boy had already vanished like smoke because of that question!
Never mind an actual pill master;
even a reasonably competent pill master apprentice could not possibly look at a cauldron and fail to estimate how many ingredients it could hold!
What was more...
If I remember correctly, the junior-class students at Blood Dragon City Academy are all only at the Savage Martial Realm, aren't they?
At the Savage Martial Realm, where profound Qi is drawn inward into the muscles, they can't even coat their bodies in profound Qi. They can't control pill flames at all, so what the hell kind of pills could they refine?
Doubts sprouted thickly in Song Hechuan's heart.
Had this plainly dressed boy not been brought in by Xia Nuoyi...
Boss Song would very likely have already called his workers over to throw him out!
What a joke! Isn't this just wasting my damn time?
Yet the boy said blithely, "Oh, then sorry for the trouble, but please prepare fifteen sets of ingredients for Healing Pills."
"Pfft!"
Xia Nuoyi's incomparably lovely face alternated between dark and bright.
Even the corners of her red lips, alluring enough to enchant all living beings, could not help twitching.
She cursed inwardly, This little bastard has really screwed me over this time!
Fifteen sets is the maximum capacity. Maximum! It's a theoretical limit that's extremely difficult to reach.
You're a complete beginner who supposedly 'comprehended' the 'mysteries of the Dao of Pills' entirely on your own. How could you possibly produce a full batch on your very first try?!
At the thought of how earnestly she had approached Boss Song to borrow his cauldron, the girl in green silk felt her face burn.
How humiliating!
So fucking humiliating...
Seeing him standing there without moving, Bu Wuchen had no idea why. He blinked innocently and asked, "Is there a problem?"
Only then did Song Hechuan recover. After coughing twice to conceal his embarrassment, he gave a hollow smile. "Heh heh, no, no problem."
"I'll have someone prepare them right away."
Looking at Bu Wuchen's blithe manner, Xia Nuoyi furrowed her slender brows in anger. This little bastard is infuriating!
But if I stop him now, won't I implicate myself too?
Her eyes shifted as a plan came to her. Mm, I'll have to pretend I don't know anything and let him muddle through on his own!
Once he botches it, I'll step forward, furious at his failure to live up to expectations;
That way, at least Song Hechuan will probably think I've been deceived, and I'll save a little face...
Enduring the awkward atmosphere, Xia Nuoyi spent a long while feeling as though every second were a year before the ingredients finally arrived.
Then Bu Wuchen pulled another breathtakingly outrageous move-
Without another word, he raised his arm and dumped an entire bucket of medicinal ingredients, enough to refine fifteen sets of Healing Pills, into the cauldron all at once!
At the sight, Xia Nuoyi nearly fainted with rage.
The corner of Song Hechuan's eye twitched too. Motherfucker... this guy is absolutely a complete amateur!
He didn't even sort the different medicinal ingredients into separate piles beforehand?
With everything mixed together in such a chaotic mess, he won't even get past the step of 'controlling the flame to heat the cauldron' and 'refining ingredients in separate zones'!