Chapter 21: Studying the Art of Alchemy Together

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If it had been Zhang Tiezhu, that simpleton, faced with Lady Yan’s invitation to stay the night, he would surely have accepted with unbridled delight, willing to risk life and limb for the chance. But upon hearing her words, Li Ji’an merely frowned slightly.

This would, without a doubt, cost him an entire night of cultivation.

Especially since, in order to ensure the success of his first attempt at refining alchemical fire, he had deliberately eaten three large bowls of spiritual rice earlier that day, hoping to make his cultivation twice as effective with half the effort.

“Very well!” Considering she had just rewarded him with two spirit stones, Li Ji’an made no excuses and nodded his assent.

“I’m about to begin refining pills. Watch from the side. If you notice anything that differs from Master Mo’s method, point it out to me,” Yan Qingwan’s gaze became resolute.

Li Ji’an nodded. This, too, was a good opportunity for him.

Accordingly, following Li Ji’an’s instructions, Yan Qingwan began to experiment—from selecting and combining ingredients, choosing their age and quantity, to controlling the alchemical fire and sensing with her spiritual perception.

A loud bang! The first batch failed within half an hour.

“It must be that the temperature of the alchemical fire wasn’t controlled properly,” Yan Qingwan analyzed.

“That’s most likely the case. When I sensed Master Mo’s alchemical fire, the temperature didn’t seem especially high. There’s also a moment during the fusion of the ingredients when the spiritual pressure suddenly rises...” Li Ji’an nodded in agreement.

He then gave Yan Qingwan further instructions, estimating the temperature, spiritual pressure, and humidity needed.

The second attempt did not explode, but at the penultimate step, something went awry, and the entire batch turned into a pot of black sludge.

Both Yan Qingwan and Li Ji’an frowned at the mess inside the furnace.

“It’s nothing. Try to remember—could it be the dosage wasn’t precise enough?” Yan Qingwan comforted Li Ji’an, encouraging him once more.

This made Li Ji’an feel a little embarrassed.

After all, everything he’d directed Yan Qingwan to do had been based entirely on his own fragmented understanding of Master Mo’s pill-refining process.

As for the true intricacies of Master Mo’s craft, he’d never been allowed to observe them in detail—much had been purposefully concealed.

In effect, he was using Yan Qingwan as his experimental assistant, using her attempts to verify his own insights into pill refinement.

Naturally, this was greatly beneficial to him. If it were up to him to experiment, he couldn’t even afford the ingredients for a single batch, let alone the high-quality, mid-tier pill furnace Yan Qingwan possessed.

“Please wait a moment, my lady!” After two consecutive failures, which had wasted precious and expensive ingredients for Qi Condensing Pills, Yan Qingwan hadn’t lost her temper. On the contrary, she’d even tried to encourage him. This made him resolve to take the matter seriously.

Seeing Li Ji’an sit cross-legged in front of his pill furnace, eyes tightly shut in deep thought, Yan Qingwan waited quietly without disturbing him.

Time ticked by as Li Ji’an’s remarkable perception operated at full capacity.

Within his sea of consciousness, he replayed every detail of Master Mo’s pill-refining, comparing them with the problems that had occurred during Yan Qingwan’s attempts.

“Don’t push yourself too hard!” Nearly half an hour later, Yan Qingwan noticed sweat beading on Li Ji’an’s forehead and hurriedly reminded him in a gentle voice.

Normally, once a person stepped onto the path of cultivation and their body was nourished by spiritual energy, they would rarely ever sweat again.

Yet Li Ji’an, even while simply sitting and contemplating, was sweating—evidence enough of just how much effort his mind was exerting at that moment.

Li Ji’an, however, remained unmoved.

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Another half hour passed before Li Ji’an finally opened his eyes, his face drained with exhaustion from the mental strain.

“I’m sorry, my lady. There are still some details I just can’t recall accurately. I think we should stop for tonight. Once I’m more confident, we can try again. Otherwise...”

Seeing Li Ji’an’s state, Yan Qingwan couldn’t help but smile.

She could tell that he’d tried his best, and understood that his concern over the wasted ingredients was for her sake.

“Thank you.”

After all, this wasn’t part of Li Ji’an’s actual duties—if anything, she had once suspected he might be acting as a double agent for Master Mo, holding back information on purpose.

Now, she felt she could fully trust him.

“I’m not one for making promises, but... since you’ve given your all, I won’t let you down.”

From her perspective, Li Ji’an’s dedication was self-explanatory. What cultivator in the Wasteland of Fallen Dragon Ridge didn’t dream of joining one of the Eight Great Clans?

“Thank you, my lady.” Despite the pain in his mind, Li Ji’an truly had done his utmost, but still couldn’t fully grasp the mysteries.

“No need for thanks—you’re working for me.”

With that, she took a porcelain bottle from her storage pouch. “For the sake of secrecy, there are no maids here, so I can’t have them make you a calming broth. This is a Nourishing Soul Pill I use for strengthening my spirit. Take it—it will soothe your mind and refine your spiritual sense, which will benefit you greatly.”

Li Ji’an was secretly startled. Anything related to the soul in this world was exceptionally precious.

The Nourishing Soul Pill was but a low-grade, first-tier pill, but its value was on par with a mid-grade Mana Pill.

Even a poor-quality one would fetch about twenty spirit stones in the market.

As expected of Lady Yan!

“Thank you, my lady!” Taking the bottle, Li Ji’an was even more astonished to find there were six pills inside.

“It’s late. To avoid being mistaken by the patrols in the marketplace, you’d best stay here for the night,” Yan Qingwan said, then rose and made her way to the western chamber.

Naturally, Li Ji’an went to the eastern chamber.

This was Yan Qingwan’s secret place for refining pills. To avoid being discovered by Master Mo, few outsiders knew of it. The layout was simple: the main bedroom converted into a pill room, with only two side chambers to the east and west.

Though a temporary arrangement, it was a world apart from the small building Li Ji’an usually rented.

Sitting on the brocade bed, Li Ji’an consumed a Nourishing Soul Pill.

His exhausted mind was instantly refreshed, fatigue melting away.

Moments later, testing his spiritual sense, he could perceive the entire courtyard clearly.

“Hm?” He hadn’t intended to probe the western chamber, but his strengthened senses picked up a faint disturbance.

The ever-graceful and gentle Lady Yan was, at this moment, lying on her bedding, weeping in silence...

Li Ji’an merely smiled and shook his head.

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All beings suffer, each struggling to cross the sea of hardship.

Every family has its troubles, each their own miseries.

He let the matter go and began cultivating in earnest.

This place was at the core of the marketplace’s spiritual vein; the aura here was at least fifty percent denser than what he was used to in the eastern district. He certainly wouldn’t waste the opportunity.

———

After that night, Yan Qingwan’s trust in Li Ji’an grew deeper, and he never let her down.

Half a year later, under Li Ji’an’s guidance, she finally succeeded in refining the mid-tier first-grade pill she had longed to learn from Master Mo.

Though she produced only one, and it was of inferior quality, it gave her hope—and made her grateful to Li Ji’an.

Naturally, with Yan Qingwan’s success, Li Ji’an had mastered the technique as well.

The only difference was that his alchemical fire remained insufficient; once he reached the fourth level of Qi Refinement, he should be able to refine the pills on his own.

During the half year that saw Yan Qingwan and Li Ji’an’s relationship grow increasingly close, Zhang Tiezhu’s letters became ever more frequent.

Li Ji’an understood well—far from home, with a secret crush on the family’s heiress, youthful Zhang Tiezhu needed someone he could confide in.

And Li Ji’an was the perfect choice—his status and background were worlds apart from Lady Yan’s, so there was no risk of him letting anything slip.

Another reason for Zhang Tiezhu’s frequent correspondence was to urge Li Ji’an to join the Yan family’s pioneering team; he even hinted that the family was about to rise to greater heights.

Li Ji’an suspected he was referring to the spirit herb field Yan Tong had mentioned discovering.

One day, just after finishing his cultivation, the message talisman in his robes trembled.

By now, Li Ji’an had three such talismans.

Two months earlier, Zhang Tiezhu had sent him one, explaining its use and praising it highly.

Li Ji’an had only smiled. Granted, compared to the paper letters of the mundane world, this message talisman could indeed be called miraculous. But for someone schooled in the ways of the modern world, it hardly matched a cell phone.

Moreover, it was expensive—a pair of bidirectional talismans usable a hundred times cost five spirit stones.

Of course, Zhang Tiezhu would never have spent that much himself; it was a gift from an elder who was a talisman master in his clan.

Li Ji’an took out the talisman Zhang Tiezhu had given him and sent his spiritual sense into it.

“Hm?” The message from Zhang Tiezhu made Li Ji’an’s brow furrow—this was the greatest emotional fluctuation he’d had in his two years in the world of cultivation.