Delivering the Medicine

Condensing the pill was the final and most critical step of the entire refinement process.

It determined not only the final quality of the pill but also whether the pill would form at all, potentially rendering all previous efforts moot.

Consequently, the condensation phase carried the most pressure and was often where most alchemists were prone to making mistakes.

Fortunately, Su Qing's ability to handle pressure was second to none...

Faced with such high stakes, she didn't show the slightest hint of panic, proceeding with a steady and smooth hand.

The process of condensing the pill was not long...

It took only a few minutes, spanning just a few dozen breaths.

A moment later, Su Qing's hands came to a halt.

Inside the cauldron, a fragrance unique to finished pills began to waft out.

Su Qing looked at the cauldron and gave her finger a slight hook...

Several pills drifted out from the cauldron, landing neatly into the porcelain bottle in her hand.

Su Qing capped the bottle, gave it a gentle shake to hear the pills rattle, and exhaled a long breath of turbid air. "Successfully refining three pills on my first try? My luck is quite good."

Refining only three pills from a single set of ingredients would usually be considered a failure under normal circumstances. However, considering this was her first time attempting this specific formula and that the pill itself was quite difficult to make, even with some loss of material, it was still a very respectable result.

'Three pills are enough to go around. I don't have that many mortals I want to extend the lives of anyway...' Su Qing thought as she looked at the bottle. She then took out a talisman and slapped it onto the side.

The talisman's purpose was naturally to seal the pills and prevent their medicinal potency from leaking.

Even if the potency did leak, it wouldn't be by much, but every bit saved meant a more effective result.

With everything finished, Su Qing exhaled another breath of turbid air.

She put away both the pills and the cauldron, then stood up to leave the alchemy room.

Outside, it was currently the middle of the night.

Su Qing looked up at the bright moon and sighed. 'Forget it, I'll just go straight back to sleep. I'll tell everyone the good news after I wake up tomorrow.'

It was late, and everyone had long since fallen asleep. Although Su Qing was eager to share her joy, she wasn't so impulsive as to wake everyone up just to announce the news.

Besides, after refining pills for so many days, she was naturally exhausted and had been looking forward to a good rest for a long time.

Since everyone was resting and she couldn't share the joy yet, Su Qing naturally chose to rest as well.

By tomorrow morning, when she had rested enough, everyone else would be awake too.

Su Qing made up her mind and walked into her room, preparing to lie down on her bed for a deep sleep.

However, just as Su Qing lay down, she discovered that there was actually someone else in her bed besides herself...

This gave Su Qing a slight start. A thought occurred to her, and she quickly performed a pupil technique to look at the other person on the bed.

Sure enough, the person lying in her bed was none other than Jin Xin.

Su Qing looked at Jin Xin and, seeing that she was still pretending to be asleep, couldn't help but give a helpless smile. She then playfully pinched the girl's cheek.

"Alright, stop pretending. With your usual nature, you must have woken up the moment I pushed the door open," Su Qing said flatly. "If you're going to keep acting, don't blame me for getting physical!"

Su Qing threatened her with a beaming smile...

Unfortunately, Su Qing's threat didn't seem to have much effect.

Even after Su Qing said those words, the girl continued to pretend to be asleep, showing no intention of 'waking up' to respond.

Perhaps the girl thought Su Qing's 'getting physical' meant something suggestive, which was why she didn't move.

However...

She had clearly misunderstood Su Qing.

Su Qing wouldn't do such a thing... even if she truly wanted to, she wouldn't do it when she was this exhausted.

What Su Qing actually meant was...

If this girl continued to pretend to be asleep and refused to wake up, she was going to bundle her up and throw her out.

Su Qing waited for a moment.

Seeing that the girl still made no move, she gave a helpless smile and formed a hand seal, instantly bundling the girl up.

Then, she picked her up and dumped her right outside the door.

Once she was tossed outside, Jin Xin finally opened her eyes. She turned to look at Su Qing and said with a mock-surprised expression, "Oh my, how did I end up outside?"

Su Qing looked at her shameless display, feeling both annoyed and amused. She couldn't help but say, "Yes, how did you end up outside?"

"I don't know either! That's exactly why I'm asking you, Sister Su," Jin Xin said with a grin, inquiring cheerfully. "But Sister Su, why did you come out? How did the pill refinement go? Was it a success or a failure?"

Jin Xin knew that if she continued to talk about what happened earlier, she would inevitably be scolded by Su Qing, so she decisively changed the subject.

Seeing this, Su Qing glared at her before saying coolly, "It was a success, naturally. If it had failed, I wouldn't have come out of the alchemy room yet."

"Sister Su is truly amazing, to succeed on the very first try! I remember you saying this was your first time refining this pill and that the difficulty wasn't low!" Jin Xin said, looking at Su Qing with an expression of surprise and admiration.

Su Qing nodded and said, "It was a mix of good luck and thorough preparation, which is why it went so smoothly. Also, your acting skills still need work. Keep trying next time and strive for a more natural performance."

Su Qing was well aware that Jin Xin's previous words were just an act...

She knew this girl's character all too well. She wasn't the type to genuinely marvel at such things.

Upon hearing this, Jin Xin just chuckled and nodded, indicating she would keep trying.

Su Qing gave a gentle smile, then looked at her and asked, "Alright, your questions are over. Now it's my turn to ask. Tell me, why did you sneak into my room to sleep?"

Jin Xin gave an awkward laugh, clearly not expecting Su Qing to circle back to this point after all...

Thus, she could only chuckle and say, "Well... didn't I want to give Sister Su a surprise? It's definitely not because I find it more comfortable to fall asleep while smelling Sister Su's scent!"

Su Qing's mouth twitched. "Are you some kind of obsessive girl?"

Su Qing was momentarily speechless...

This girl really was capable of the most ridiculous things.

Hearing Su Qing's words, Jin Xin asked curiously, "Then does Sister Su like it? If you do, I can work even harder next time!"

Seeing her 'dead pig unafraid of boiling water' attitude, Su Qing felt even more exasperated...

She couldn't help but reach out and pinch the girl's cheek again. "Of course I don't like it! You're probably the only one who would enjoy something like this!"

Jin Xin didn't mind the pinch at all. She just smiled slightly and said, "I didn't expect Sister Su to dislike it. That really is a pity..."

Su Qing shook her head helplessly. "Alright, hurry up and get back to your own room to rest. I've been tired for so many days and just want a good sleep. After I wake up tomorrow, I have to share the news with the others! And I'm talking about the pills, not about you being an obsessive girl."

Halfway through, Su Qing saw Jin Xin looking at her with an expectant face, so her mouth twitched as she made her intentions perfectly clear.

Jin Xin pouted helplessly and sighed. "Is that so? What a shame..."

Despite her words, Jin Xin obediently left...

She knew Su Qing was truly tired, so she didn't intend to keep disturbing her rest.

She might be shameless, but that didn't mean she couldn't understand plain speech...

When she 'didn't understand,' it was only because she was deliberately choosing not to.

After Jin Xin left, Su Qing let out a long sigh.

Then, she closed the door and went to sleep.

It was a dreamless night.

Su Qing slept very comfortably.

The next morning...

Sunlight spilled into the room.

Su Qing woke up from her slumber. Although she hadn't slept for very long and still felt a bit like she hadn't had her fill, she had rested enough for her spirit to feel somewhat refreshed.

Su Qing walked out of the room.

Seeing Coal Ball stretching in the courtyard, she couldn't help but stretch along with her.

Just then, Ao Yiyi and Hu Lin'er noticed Su Qing had come out and quickly hurried forward to ask how she was doing.

Even Coal Ball, who hadn't quite grasped the situation, came running over, circling around Su Qing's feet.

Su Qing felt a bit helpless and said, "No need to be so anxious. Everything went smoothly; the pills were successfully refined."

Hearing this, both Ao Yiyi and Hu Lin'er breathed a sigh of relief. "You've worked hard, Sister Su... But Sister Su, when did you finish? I didn't even know you had come out."

Su Qing smiled. "I finished last night, but you were all asleep at the time, so I waited until this morning to tell you."

Ao Yiyi and Hu Lin'er both nodded...

"I didn't expect they were already finished last night. But Big Green Sister is truly amazing to succeed on the first try," Ao Yiyi said.

Su Qing shook her head and said, "Alright, rather than that, let's think about when to deliver the items."

"Wouldn't it be fine to send them over in the next day or two?" Ao Yiyi asked, tilting her head.

Su Qing nodded. "That's true... then we'll send them in the next couple of days. It's just a single trip anyway."

After saying that, Su Qing followed up with another question, "By the way, how has the business in the city been handled during this time?"

The pill refinement had been very successful, but the matters in the city were also important, so Su Qing was curious if they had managed everything well.

Ao Yiyi nodded and said, "Don't worry, Big Green Sister. We've already finished the tasks you arranged; everything went smoothly! However, there were a few demons who weren't being very well-behaved these past few days... Jin Xin and I were just discussing which of us should go make them behave."

Su Qing couldn't help but laugh. "Just let Jin Xin go. That girl is idle most of the time; it's good to give her something to do..."

Ao Yiyi naturally had no objection. Whether it was her or Jin Xin made no difference to her...

It was just dealing with a few demons, after all.

It wasn't any major trouble.

The reason they had been discussing who should go wasn't because they found it bothersome, but simply because the demons were so easy to deal with that anyone could do it.

"Alright, it's already this late, and I'm a bit hungry. Hu Lin'er, come cook with me!" Su Qing ended the conversation and spoke to Hu Lin'er.

Hu Lin'er naturally had no objection. She nodded and followed Su Qing...

Breakfast was simple.

Just some lean meat porridge and a bit of pickled vegetables.

There was nothing special about it.

After breakfast, everyone naturally went about their own business.

Of course, Su Qing didn't stay idle either...

Now that her pill refinement was over, she had to help out as well.

Time passed quickly.

In the blink of an eye, another day or two had gone by.

Su Qing planned to set out to find Su Qingyu and deliver the pills to her.

However, not many people followed Su Qing today...

Only Ao Yiyi went with her.

Everyone else stayed in the city to continue handling the remaining affairs.

After all, building the temple quickly required quite a lot of work.

Both sides needed management, and both sides needed people.

Su Qing rode a cloud toward Xingyang City.

She soon arrived in the skies above the city.

She didn't stop to observe the city's state... instead, she lowered the cloud and landed directly in the courtyard...

After landing in the yard, Su Qing immediately found Su Qingyu.

Seeing Su Qing return after only a few days, Su Qingyu was both pleasantly surprised and a bit confused, wondering why Su Qing had come back so soon.

Had she forgotten something?

Or was there some important matter she needed to instruct her on?

"It's nothing major. I just came to deliver something to you."

Facing Su Qingyu's inquiry, Su Qing gave a light chuckle and handed the pills to her, saying:

"You and Rendong should take one of these each. Remember, you must eat them."

Su Qing didn't tell Su Qingyu what the pills' function was; she simply instructed her to eat them...

Su Qingyu was a bit puzzled, but seeing Su Qing's serious expression, she went silent for a moment before nodding. "I understand. I'll remember to eat them..."

Seeing this, Su Qing nodded with satisfaction and said, "Actually, just eat it now! I'll feel more at ease if I see you swallow it."