Xue Mingzhao's back stiffened.
She turned her head, inch by inch.
Nan Mingzi was standing at the entrance of the alchemy room, looking at her in confusion.
The next moment, without a shred of hesitation, Xue Mingzhao slid smoothly off the futon and knelt before Nan Mingzi with a thud.
“Master, your disciple might have caused a bit of trouble for you.”
Nan Mingzi was startled and quickly reached out to help her up.
“Get up, quickly.”
“Did you just try to refine pills?”
“Yes.”
“Did the cauldron explode?”
“...”
Seeing that Xue Mingzhao remained silent, Nan Mingzi gave her another tug. “It's perfectly normal for the cauldron to explode on your first try. It's fine, get up.”
Xue Mingzhao remained firmly on her knees. “It might be slightly more serious than a cauldron explosion.”
Nan Mingzi really couldn't imagine what kind of trouble a little girl who had only just drawn Qi into her body could cause that was worse than a cauldron explosion.
She couldn't have burned down Chiyang Peak in the short time he was out delivering medicine, right?
He comforted her, “It doesn't matter. If the medicinal ingredients are ruined, we can find more. If the cauldron is broken, we can buy another one. It's normal to make mistakes when you've just started learning alchemy.”
With that, Nan Mingzi walked over to his own alchemy cauldron.
The body of the cauldron was still hot.
The lid was still tightly shut.
Then he looked at the ten jade boxes on the long table nearby, which were now completely empty.
Nan Mingzi's hand trembled slightly as he reached for the cauldron lid.
“You put all ten sets of ingredients for the Meridian-Reconnecting Pill inside?”
Xue Mingzhao's voice grew smaller and smaller.
“Yes.”
“All at once?”
“Yes.”
“Into your master's cauldron?”
“...Yes.”
Nan Mingzi closed his eyes.
It was just ten sets of ingredients.
It was fine.
He could bear it.
He raised his hand and lifted the lid.
In the next instant, an incredibly rich medicinal fragrance soared into the air, instantly filling the entire alchemy room.
Nan Mingzi froze mid-motion.
Xue Mingzhao had already braced herself for a scolding, but upon smelling the medicinal fragrance, she also quietly raised her head.
This smell...
It didn't seem burnt.
Nan Mingzi stared into the alchemy cauldron for a long time without turning back.
Xue Mingzhao felt a bit guilty. “If you're angry, please scold me. Don't bottle it up, it's bad for your health.”
Nan Mingzi's shoulders suddenly began to tremble violently.
Xue Mingzhao grew even more nervous.
Oh no.
He was shaking with anger.
Just as she was about to take the initiative to apologize, Nan Mingzi suddenly threw his head back and laughed out loud.
“Hahahahaha!”
His laughter was so loud that dust fell from the rafters.
“Good!”
“Wonderful!”
“Heaven has not failed me, Nan Mingzi!”
“The alchemy legacy of my Chiyang Peak finally has a successor!”
Xue Mingzhao quickly scrambled up from the floor and peered into the cauldron.
Thirteen round, plump Meridian-Reconnecting Pills lay quietly at the bottom of the cauldron.
A faint spiritual glow swirled around the surface of each one.
Every single one was high-grade.
Xue Mingzhao: “!”
She actually succeeded?
Cang Jue: “...”
Having lived for tens of thousands of years, this was the first time Cang Jue doubted his own alchemy experience.
The hand seals were wrong.
The heat control was a mess.
Ten sets of ingredients were dumped in all at once.
Xue Mingzhao had basically committed every single mistake possible in alchemy.
How on earth did this batch of pills succeed?
Nan Mingzi picked up a Meridian-Reconnecting Pill, his face flushed with excitement.
“Yue'er, you learned how to do this just by watching me refine it once?”
Xue Mingzhao gave a couple of dry laughs. “Your disciple simply has a relatively good memory.”
Nan Mingzi excitedly held up a pill. “To refine thirteen high-grade Meridian-Reconnecting Pills after watching only once—do you know what this means?”
Xue Mingzhao: “It means... I have pretty good luck.”
“Such talent is unmatched by anyone else on the entire Tianyan Continent.”
“As long as you are willing to study hard, you will be an eighth-rank alchemist at the very least in the future!”
As Nan Mingzi spoke, his footsteps suddenly came to a halt.
Wait, that wasn't right.
Wasn't his young disciple only at the first level of Qi Condensation?
With the spiritual energy of a mere first-level Qi Condensation cultivator, even maintaining the cauldron fire would be difficult. How could she refine high-grade Meridian-Reconnecting Pills?
Nan Mingzi looked at Xue Mingzhao suspiciously.
Xue Mingzhao's heart leaped, and she immediately made up a story on the spot. “Master, actually, there is something I have been keeping from you.”
“What is it?”
“My mother came from a family of alchemists.”
“A special alchemy method was passed down through the ancestors of the Li family, which allows one to refine high-grade pills with extremely little spiritual energy.”
“It's just that before my mother passed away, she warned us never to show this method to others easily. That's why when my brother and I were wandering destitute, we never dared to make a living through alchemy.”
Nan Mingzi suddenly understood.
No wonder this brother and sister pair could produce high-grade pills despite being completely destitute.
It turned out their ancestors belonged to a family of alchemists.
Now that their family had declined, leaving only the two siblings to support each other, they still carried their ancestral secret technique, which they couldn't allow outsiders to discover.
The more Nan Mingzi thought about it, the more his heart ached for them.
“Rest assured.”
“Your master will never breathe a single word of this to anyone.”
Xue Mingzhao breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness.
Although Nan Mingzi usually loved to show off his disciples, he still knew what was important and what wasn't when it truly mattered.
Nan Mingzi asked again, “Does Yi'er also know this alchemy technique?”
“No.”
“Why is that?”
Xue Mingzhao replied without batting an eye, “The Li family's secret technique is only passed down to daughters, not sons.”
“Only to daughters and not sons?”
Nan Mingzi was stunned for a moment.
Several unorthodox cultivation techniques that were extremely unfriendly to male cultivators immediately flashed through his mind.
Before practicing certain techniques, one indeed had to give up something rather important...
Nan Mingzi's expression turned solemn, and he immediately stopped questioning her.
For the next half hour, Nan Mingzi excitedly explained several alchemy methods to Xue Mingzhao.
Xue Mingzhao listened very attentively.
She understood half of it.
She remembered twenty percent.
And she didn't remember a single hand seal.
Yet, Nan Mingzi was full of confidence in her.
“Yue'er, the Meridian-Reconnecting Pill is so complex, yet you succeeded on your very first try. A Core-Condensing Pill will be a walk in the park for you.”
“Refine a batch right now, and let your master witness your Li family's alchemy technique.”
Xue Mingzhao's smile stiffened slightly, but she quickly composed herself.
She pointed to the Hunyuan Cauldron next to her.
“Master, I will use my own cauldron.”
As long as she used the Hunyuan Cauldron, Cang Jue could directly control the cauldron fire, and she would only need to put on a show from the side.
However, Nan Mingzi grabbed her.
“One can't even tell the rank of this small cauldron of yours. How can you use it?”
“The quality of an alchemy cauldron directly affects the success rate. This one of mine is a Magic Treasure, and it can increase your success rate by nearly thirty percent.”
As he spoke, he had already pushed Xue Mingzhao down in front of his own cauldron.
“Use this one.”
Xue Mingzhao: “...”
She felt as if her master had personally blocked her only path of survival.
Cang Jue comforted her, “Don't panic. I will guide you.”
Xue Mingzhao could only brace herself and bring over a set of ingredients for the Core-Condensing Pill.
Then, she grabbed all the ingredients and dumped them into the cauldron all at once.
Nan Mingzi's expression shifted slightly.
The ingredients were not measured, pre-processed, or sorted.
They were just thrown directly into the cauldron like that?
Thinking that this might be the Li family's unique alchemy secret technique, he suppressed the urge to speak up and warn her, continuing to observe.
Xue Mingzhao raised her hand, and a small flame condensed on her fingertip.
The flame was only the size of a finger.
In front of the half-man-tall alchemy cauldron, it looked weak, pitiful, and helpless.
Nan Mingzi: “...”
Xue Mingzhao also knew it didn't look quite right.
But she was currently playing the persona of someone who had only just drawn Qi into her body. She couldn't very well release a spiritual fire that only a Foundation Establishment cultivator could condense.
That wouldn't be demonstrating her talent for alchemy.
That would be exposing her identity on the spot.
Nan Mingzi focused his attention on her every move as she refined the pills.
What he was most curious about was how his young disciple, who was clearly only at the first level of Qi Condensation, managed to stabilize her control over the fire.
Feeling Nan Mingzi's gaze on her, Xue Mingzhao felt immense pressure.
She gritted her teeth and pulled out a few sheets of scrap paper from her space.
Ignited them.
And tossed them under the cauldron.
Nan Mingzi's foot slipped, and he nearly fell over.
Rate on N.U.
