“Did something just fly past?”
“Probably not. You must have seen it wrong.”
The mysterious player, Rong Nianfeng, landed safely and hopped elegantly off his little black cloud. Seeing him, a disciple from the Alchemy Peak assumed he had come to ask for black water again. “Junior brother, have the ghosts over at Corpse Puppet Mountain been a bit too thirsty lately?”
Rong Nianfeng wore a black robe and did not intentionally disguise his voice. The Alchemy Peak disciple simply mistook him for a disciple of the Corpse Puppet Pavilion.
Rong Nianfeng waved his hand casually and grabbed a handful of spirit stones from his spatial pouch. “Not at all. I need to learn how to refine pills, so I am here to buy some spiritual herbs.”
Fortunately, his memory was quite good. He remembered most of the spiritual herb text he had read last time. After tossing the spiritual herbs the disciple had just brought out into his spatial pouch, he found an alchemy room to cram in some emergency studying.
It must be said that the Alchemy Peak was the wealthiest and most influential faction within the Xuantian Sword Sect. Jie Yueqiu, that old fox, truly knew how to do business. Aside from the disciples of their own peak who needed to use the alchemy rooms, if disciples from other peaks lacked enough spirit stones to buy finished pills, they could refine them themselves. This way, they only had to pay for the spiritual herbs and the rental fee for the alchemy room.
Rong Nianfeng belonged precisely to the category of people who lacked spirit stones. Furthermore, except for himself, no one else knew how to refine his cough pills. It was far better to just refine them himself.
The Xuantian Sword Sect did not require the disciples of each peak to study only their own internal sect techniques. On the contrary, they were required to study the basic courses of the other peaks. Except for the formations of Chenxing Peak, in which he had no interest, he was quite intrigued by the rest. Having been a medical student in his past life, looking at the alchemy furnace in front of him made his feelings rather complicated.
Who would believe that he was currently practicing immortality!
The most important aspect of alchemy was mastering the control of the fire. If one was not proficient in controlling the spiritual fire, ruined pills were inevitable. If things turned out even worse and the furnace exploded, one would have to compensate with spirit stones.
Clutching the spatial pouch at his waist tightly, Rong Nianfeng stared at the alchemy furnace before him and fell into silence.
It was best to succeed on the very first try.
Then, he exploded.
With a loud bang, the disciples in the other alchemy rooms were startled. However, they soon found it normal; after all, such occurrences were a daily routine at the Alchemy Peak.
It was not until the furnace exploded over a dozen consecutive times, causing a disciple nearby to lose control of his fire and ruin his pills several times, that the disciple finally could not take it anymore. Gripping his sword, he marched toward the alchemy room in the corner.
Inside the alchemy room, a person completely blackened from head to toe crawled out, baring a set of large, white teeth. “Is the quality of the furnaces in your alchemy room a bit subpar?”
The Alchemy Peak disciple was speechless.
This failed alchemy experience almost drained Rong Nianfeng’s wallet, dealing a devastating blow to an already impoverished household.
If he could have found an alchemist to refine a few pills for him before the furnace exploded, now he had no choice but to refine them himself.
Practice makes perfect. Rong Nianfeng quietly curled up in a corner to listen to Jie Yueqiu lecture the Alchemy Peak disciples on how to master fire control. Having managed to understand a little bit, he bought another pile of spiritual herbs, entered the alchemy room, and then exploded again.
Rong Nianfeng was at a loss for words.
His zodiac sign was absolutely incompatible with this alchemy room!
Fortunately, Qiu Nian was not at the Corpse Puppet Pavilion. A small town in the mortal world was being haunted by ghosts, so he had gone down the mountain. This allowed Rong Nianfeng to slack off a bit and nestle in the Alchemy Peak to learn alchemy.
In the end, even Jie Yueqiu found out that a fool from another peak had recently come to the Alchemy Peak, spending a mountain of spirit stones without managing to refine more than a few pills.
Having nothing better to do, Jie Yueqiu thought about offering him a pointer or two, while simultaneously checking which peak the disciple belonged to so he could mock them whenever they crossed paths. To his surprise, when he entered the alchemy room, a soot-faced youth looked up at him, holding a charred pill in his hand. He was completely unrecognizable.
Rong Nianfeng was also startled.
“Elder, are you here to kick me out?”
It made sense; he had already blown up over a dozen furnaces. Several disciples from the Alchemy Peak had complained about the noise and reported him multiple times.
Jie Yueqiu paused, his fox-like eyes curving into a smile. “This master happens to be free, cough, is kind-hearted, and came specifically to give you some guidance.”
The youth before him looked just like a lucrative target. After all, compensating for one exploded furnace cost quite a lot of spirit stones, so why would he drive such a person away?
“Refine the essence into qi, let the spirit enter the qi acupuncture point.”
Realizing that the elder was guiding him, Rong Nianfeng hurriedly threw the remaining spiritual herbs into the furnace, sat cross-legged on the spot, and followed Jie Yueqiu’s instructions step-by-step.
“Guard it with intent, and blow backward with the breath.”
Gradually, the surrounding sounds seemed to be completely shut out. Rong Nianfeng felt a warm sensation at the location of his spiritual root, with spiritual energy circulating through his meridians. He thought that he finally understood why he had been failing.
A faint, refreshing fragrance drifted out, and Rong Nianfeng snapped his eyes open.
The pill was formed!
Jie Yueqiu had not expected him to comprehend it so quickly and raised an eyebrow slightly. He thought to himself that he had accidentally taught him successfully, when he had hoped he could swindle him out of a bit more.
Rong Nianfeng was so happy his tail was practically wagging. With great enthusiasm, he retrieved the pill from the furnace.
“A middle-grade, low-tier pill,” Jie Yueqiu remarked.
For a beginner, this was already excellent. Most cultivators took half a year just to refine a low-grade pill, which was already considered good talent.
He took a rare, closer look at Rong Nianfeng, thinking it was a pity he had failed to notice this person during the disciple recruitment.
Rong Nianfeng had finally succeeded in his refinement, so he did not care what grade it was. He hurriedly opened the wooden box he had prepared long ago and carefully placed the pill inside.
Suddenly, he picked up one of the pills, observed it against the light for a long time, and murmured softly, “Why is there a crack?”
Jie Yueqiu said, “When you first start refining pills, having a crack is considered normal.”
Before the word “normal” could leave his mouth, it stuck in his throat. He could neither swallow it down nor say it aloud.
That was clearly a Spirit Refinement!
His expression turned serious, and the look he directed at Rong Nianfeng became rather complex. After a long pause, he sent out an invitation to scout him: “Do you want to come to the Alchemy Peak?”
Rong Nianfeng replied, “No.”
Jie Yueqiu did not leave either; he sat to the side to watch how the youth refined pills.
Several times, the veins on his forehead almost popped out.
One must not be distracted when concentrating during alchemy. Yet, this boy actually stood up halfway through the process, pulled a strange bottle from his robes, and poured it into the furnace. If he was not mistaken, that was supposed to be blood.
Jie Yueqiu was completely speechless.
His fists tightened slightly, but he endured it.
The fire control also required constant attention. Yet, not only did the boy fail to focus his attention, he even dozed off.
This was utterly intolerable.
However, the pills the youth refined never failed again, and every single one of them achieved Spirit Refinement. Jie Yueqiu could not find a single flaw to criticize. Even though it was only a single Spirit Refinement, this was simply too defiant of heaven’s natural order.
In the end, it was only when Rong Nianfeng’s wooden box was completely full that he stretched his back and stood up.
Jie Yueqiu asked, “Have you gained some kind of enlightenment?”
How did it feel like his extraordinary meridians had suddenly been unlocked?
Rong Nianfeng replied, “When you said ‘guard it with intent,’ I just separated my primordial spirit.”
After speaking, he searched his spatial pouch for a sword that was not too eye-catching and left the Alchemy Peak, leaving behind a completely dumbfounded Jie Yueqiu.
The primordial spirit was inherently fragile; if it were damaged, the cultivator would be ruined. Yet he put his primordial spirit close to the fire? Was he insane?
Right now, from head to toe, except for his white teeth, Rong Nianfeng was pitch-black all over.
When the little black cloud saw him, it did not even recognize him and flew around him a few times.
Rong Nianfeng wanted to cry but had no tears. Only when he looked at the box of pills cradled in his arms did he feel a modicum of comfort. Stepping onto the little black cloud, he flew toward Lingyun Peak at extreme speed.
The First Senior Brother was holding a discipline ruler, teaching the newly initiated young disciples how to grip a sword.
“First Senior Brother, something seemed to fly past just now.”
The First Senior Brother, who had long since grown accustomed to such sights, replied, “It is fine. It should be your Senior Sister Nianxue returning.”
After cleaning himself up thoroughly, Rong Nianfeng took the pills he had refined and headed straight for the Blood Moon Pavilion.
“Brother Xingchen, open the door.”
As a disciple passed by, he very skillfully pinched his throat, doing his absolute best to play his persona of a whiny, delicate person.
After waiting for a good while, there was no movement inside the room. Could he have coughed until he fainted inside the room?
He looked around, and seeing no one, he openly pushed the door open and walked inside.
The interior of the room was incomparably dark, with only a faint stream of light filtering through the crack of the door.
Ye Xingchen appeared behind him like a ghost, holding a flickering candle that illuminated his face in shifting shadows. He patted Rong Nianfeng’s shoulder, and the two suddenly caught each other completely off guard as their eyes met.
With a loud thud, Rong Nianfeng instinctively executed a shoulder throw.
Before Ye Xingchen could even react, he was slammed onto the ground. With a heavy cough, he spat out another mouthful of blood.
Rong Nianfeng was scared half to death. He scrambled to help the boy up and looked at the person now sitting on the bed with absolute sincerity: “I really didn’t do it on purpose.”
Under the dim light, the youth’s face appeared increasingly pale.
“Although I am very much in pain,” Ye Xingchen said quite calmly, tasting the metallic blood in his mouth, “I probably won’t die.”
It was merely a matter of coughing up a few more mouthfuls of blood.
He then asked, “Why are you looking for me?”
Had he not stayed at the Corpse Puppet Pavilion without returning?
Hearing this, Rong Nianfeng hurriedly opened the wooden box in his hands. “My self-made, super invincible cough-suppressing pills!”
Staring at the pitch-black pile of pills before him, Ye Xingchen looked up at him, then lowered his gaze back to the pills.
“You don’t want to poison me to death just to become a widow, do you?”
“How did you know?!”
Oops, he had spoken too quickly.
Ye Xingchen said, “You vicious woman!”
As he spoke, he coughed softly, his chest rising and falling slightly, revealing his fair neck. He possessed an exceptionally fine bone structure; his brows and eyes were like ink-painted stars, and his jawline was sharp and smooth. He looked like someone who was very easy to bully.
Seeing his reaction, Rong Nianfeng clicked his tongue.
“Rest assured, these pills are genuine and fair to all, an excellent remedy. I guarantee they will cure your illness the moment the medicine hits!”
Having said that, he swiftly snatched a pill from the wooden box and stuffed it rapidly into Ye Xingchen’s mouth.
“Pui!”
The spat-out pill drew a perfect parabola in the air.
Rong Nianfeng gritted his teeth, grabbed a dozen pills at once, and lunged directly onto Ye Xingchen.
The two tumbled onto the bed, and the bed curtains fell along with them, obstructing their vision. Rong Nianfeng narrowed his eyes, thinking that although this Ye Xingchen looked sickly, his strength was actually quite formidable.
“Are you going to eat it or not?” he threatened fiercely, straddling Ye Xingchen’s body to gain the upper hand.
Not to be outdone, Ye Xingchen propped his head up, bumping his forehead directly against Rong Nianfeng’s.
“Between coughing to death and being poisoned to death by you, I choose to cough to death.”
At least he could live a few years longer that way.
“You have to eat it today whether you want to or not!”
Rong Nianfeng rubbed his forehead, which throbbed with pain from the collision. He pinned Ye Xingchen’s hands beneath his knees, freed up one hand to pinch the boy’s cheeks, and forced the pills into his mouth.
Fearing that the youth would spit them out, he quickly covered the boy’s mouth with his hand.
“The enhanced, extra-strength version of Banlangen Granules, you deserve to have it!”
That was right; what he had refined was an enhanced version of Banlangen!
With the pills held in his mouth, the awful taste spread across Ye Xingchen’s tongue. His intuition told him it was best not to swallow them, so he took a sharp bite directly onto Rong Nianfeng’s hand.
Caught off guard, the sharp pain caused Rong Nianfeng to instinctively release his grip. Losing his center of gravity, he collapsed forward, falling right into Ye Xingchen’s embrace.
Against the warm chest, Ye Xingchen’s heart gradually accelerated, thumping rapidly.
He swallowed hard, and his body stiffened slightly as he nervously swallowed the pills still held in his mouth.