Li Nanzhu slowly opened the furnace lid—ten somewhat pitted pills lay quietly at the bottom. Although their shapes were not quite round enough, she had indeed succeeded.
"Ten low-grade qi-recovery pills," Xiao Yan said, inspecting the pills. "Misshapen, uneven heat control, spiritual energy fusion rate..."
Seeing Li Nanzhu's expectant gaze, Xiao Yan's lecture came to an abrupt halt.
He cleared his throat. "Acceptable, barely." Seeing his disciple's eyes suddenly light up, he added, "Tomorrow, you will practice ten more batches."
"Ten batches? No problem!" Li Nanzhu's eyes sparkled as she agreed, her smile through the soot on her face making Xiao Yan's fan pause for a moment.
Suisui was frantically making gestures nearby that Li Nanzhu couldn't understand, but she grabbed its bony claw. "Let's work hard together!"
After saying that, she quickly and carefully packed the pills into a porcelain bottle, looking them over repeatedly as if she couldn't bear to put them down. Although the quality was poor, this was truly her first finished batch.
Xiao Yan turned away, the slightly raised corners of his mouth reflected on the azure jade fan surface. This little disciple of his was truly worthy of being handpicked by a peerless genius like himself.
In the days that followed, the hum of the alchemy furnace echoed through the bamboo courtyard from morning till night. Li Nanzhu accumulated experience through repeated failures, and her alchemy skills slowly improved in the process.
After every furnace explosion, she would calm her mind and re-read the classics to find where the problem lay.
...
During her one hundred and seventy-third attempt, she discovered she was always failing at the pill collection stage. After careful observation, she realized her spiritual energy output was not stable enough. Thus, she spent three days specifically practicing fine spiritual energy control, even having Suisui use ice mist to create interference to train her stability.
During the two hundred and nineteenth time she opened the furnace, she finally mastered the perfect timing for pill collection. As the fragrance of the finished pills spread, Suisui happily transformed into a bone wheel and spun around the courtyard, nearly knocking over the medicine rack.
Li Nanzhu's robes were perpetually covered in scorch marks, and Suisui's bony claws were blackened by smoke. But whenever Xiao Yan passed by, he could always see her focused profile—sometimes frowning while recording changes in medicinal properties, sometimes adjusting the heat with a look of surprise.
Xiao Yan smiled and shook his head, gently closing the jade slip in his hand. What was recorded there was precisely the advanced alchemy curriculum he had tailored for her.
...
One month later, on the night of the full moon, the alchemy furnace suddenly emitted a clear, ringing sound. Li Nanzhu's hand paused over the lid for three breaths, her fingertips trembling slightly, before she finally lifted it—fifteen jade-like, rounded qi-recovery pills shimmered with a soft luster, their medicinal fragrance thick and lingering.
This was the maximum number of pills an alchemist could produce in a single batch.
Li Nanzhu's eyes grew moist. She had finally succeeded. Although they weren't the highest-grade, this was the best she could do for now.
Over the past month, she had already noticed the changes in the inheritance secret realm—the spiritual plants in the medicine field were no longer as vibrant as before, the outlines of the distant mountains were becoming blurred, and even the brightness of Suisui's soul fire was dimmer than when they first arrived.
"Nine months and seventeen days..." She mentally calculated the time, her gaze sweeping over the faded window frames of the bamboo courtyard. According to her master's initial statement, the inheritance secret realm could only last for one year at most.
Taking a deep breath, she knew that now was not the time to think about these things. All she wanted was to show Xiao Yan the results of all her hard work over the last nine months.
"High-grade..." She carefully cradled one in her palm, lifting it before Xiao Yan like a prized treasure. "Master, look!"
Xiao Yan took the pill, his fingertips gently stroking the pill patterns.
The heat control and fusion rate of this pill were practically perfect, and more importantly, it contained her focused intent. He suddenly remembered the year he had refined his first batch of high-grade pills; his master had also stroked his results in this way.
Now, he truly understood his master's feelings at that time.
His heart was filled with pride and joy for this disciple.
'Master... did you look at me the same way back then?'
"Fifteen high-grade qi-recovery pills, ninety-eight percent spiritual energy fusion rate." Xiao Yan's voice was much softer than usual as his finger traced the delicate patterns on the pill. "You have done very well. These are the most beautiful qi-recovery pills I have ever seen."
Li Nanzhu's fingertips still bore marks from the heat, and her sleeves were covered in medicinal stains. Over the past month, she couldn't remember how many times she had failed or how many alchemy furnaces she had destroyed. But all the classics she had pored over and the notes she had recorded had transformed into that look of gratification in her master's eyes.
Her smile widened even further. "Would you like to try one, Master?"
Xiao Yan's movement to take the pill paused. As a spirit body, he could not consume physical pills, but he still solemnly tucked it into his sleeve. "I will keep it as a memento."
Suisui suddenly jumped out from the medicinal herbs, its bony claws holding a lopsided bamboo tube, presenting it like a treasure between the two of them. A few freshly picked spiritual flowers were tucked into the tube, their petals still dotted with dew.
"Oh, the little skeleton knows how to arrange flowers?" Xiao Yan poked the tilted flowers with his fan. "Its aesthetic sense is just a bit lacking."
Li Nanzhu burst out laughing, taking the bamboo tube to examine it closely. "When did Suisui learn this?"
The little skeleton puffed out its chest proudly, its claws gesturing as it mimicked Li Nanzhu's usual movements when organizing medicinal ingredients. It turned out it had been secretly observing her for a long time, only it had swapped the medicinal herbs for wildflowers.
"Master, look," Li Nanzhu suddenly pointed to one of the pale purple flowers. "Isn't this the night-breath incense mentioned in the Introduction to a Hundred Herbs? It only blooms on the night of a full moon!"
Xiao Yan's fan stopped, and he leaned in for a closer look. "It really is." He raised an eyebrow at Suisui. "The little thing has a good eye, but where did these seeds come from..."
Before he could finish, Suisui's bones suddenly collapsed into a heap on the ground. Li Nanzhu hurried to crouch down and help it reassemble. Although she knew Suisui could restore itself at any time, she still took tireless pleasure in playing the puzzle game with it.
This was the game she had most wanted to play in her childhood, but she could never beat the older kids to the pieces. After she grew up, she never touched them again, but now with Suisui, she could play to her heart's content.
While putting Suisui back together, Li Nanzhu discovered it had secretly hidden a piece of candied haw inside its skull.
"Well, well!" She couldn't help but laugh as she pinched the candied haw. "I was wondering why a piece went missing last time!"
Suisui's soul fire instantly turned a guilty pink, and its bony claws tried to hide behind its back. Seeing this, Xiao Yan unfolded his fan. "Contraband confiscated." The candied haw landed steadily on the fan's surface.
"Master!" Li Nanzhu's eyes widened. "Didn't you say you don't eat sweets?"
"I feel like eating it now." Xiao Yan placed the candied haw into his sleeve without changing his expression. Although he indeed couldn't eat physical food, it didn't stop him from absorbing the spiritual energy within. He then turned to Suisui. "Hide a double portion next time."
Li Nanzhu laughed helplessly. Just as she was about to pluck a bamboo leaf that had fallen on Suisui's head, a strange sensation came from her fingertips—the bamboo leaf was turning transparent in her hand. She looked up in confusion, and in the next instant, the entire secret realm began to shake violently.
The distant mountains distorted like reflections in water. Although the spiritual plants in the field did not wither, they were gradually losing their spiritual energy due to the changes in the secret realm.
Li Nanzhu instinctively grabbed the nearby bamboo railing, only to find the railing dissolving into points of light in her hand. She realized what was happening in an instant, her pupils shrinking in shock.
"No... impossible... How can this be? There should be two months and thirteen days left! Why is it happening early..."
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