Song Yao wrinkled her nose and muttered, a little troubled, “How am I supposed to write that? Aren't fire control and intuition all based on feeling?”
She really wasn't playing tricks on them. She herself couldn't measure out the herbs with absolute precision, which was why there was always a slight variation in the pills she refined each time.
But with her spiritual energy controlling the process, the differences were never too absurd. It wouldn't kill anyone, so it wasn't a big deal.
Seeing the faces of the people in front of her grow even darker, Song Yao stood up. “Fine, I'll just refine a batch right in front of you. You can take note of the fire control and everything else yourselves.”
“...”
They had already heard that this little pill cultivator had a damaged soul and couldn't read pill manuals, but now it turned out she couldn't even write.
The group exchanged looks, falling silent in contemplation for a moment.
With the recipe in hand, if they observed her fire control and the timing of her herb additions, they should be able to refine the pills.
It was better than letting her drag things out and waste time here.
The leader nodded with a cold face, handing the recipe to a pill cultivator beside her. “Go and fetch these herbs.”
“Yes.”
They were all basic herbs. Before long, the pill cultivator hurried back with the required ingredients. With a slight frown and a hesitant look, he lowered his voice and whispered in the leader's ear, “With just these herbs... can we really refine pills that would catch the eye of the Mingdan Pavilion?”
They were too simple; their quality was lacking even for refining Spirit-grade pills.
The leader lowered her eyelids slightly and replied, “That is exactly what they caught onto.”
A pill with such powerful and versatile effects, yet refined using only the most common, basic herbs. If it fell into the hands of their Beiyao Sect, it would be equivalent to grasping the lifeblood of the alchemical trade. The entire pill market of the Tianshu Realm would have to answer to them.
And the pill market was precisely the most lucrative.
So even though the rank of her pills wasn't exceptionally high, Mingdan Pavilion had still extended an olive branch to her.
Who wouldn't want such an alchemical genius and such a pill recipe?
The leader didn't elaborate further. She raised her eyes, gesturing toward Song Yao with her chin, and said coldly, “Begin. And don't play any tricks.”
Song Yao didn't say much either, walking toward the depths of the Pill Pavilion.
Inside stood a bronze cauldron, its body carved with intricate cloud patterns, its surface shimmering with a warm spiritual light. At a glance, it was clearly a high-grade tool brought in by the Beiyao Sect, much more advanced than the cauldrons usually kept in the Nine Saints Hall's Pill Pavilion.
She walked halfway around the cauldron to familiarize herself with it, then turned and waved to the group, saying lazily, “I refine pills quickly. If you don't stand closer and miss something, don't blame me.”
The group immediately stepped forward, pens and paper in hand, ready to record everything at a moment's notice.
Song Yao grabbed two handfuls of herbs. Before throwing them into the cauldron, she paused and asked politely, “Is it only you from the Beiyao Sect learning this? Do we need to call the people from the Taiqing Pavilion over to learn as well? It'll save me from having to teach it twice.”
The expressions of the several pill cultivators instantly turned somewhat delicate. The leader's brow furrowed as she spoke coldly, “No need. Just focus on refining your pills and stop causing unnecessary complications.”
Song Yao let out an “oh?” of surprise. “Aren't you two sects allies? If I only teach you, what if Taiqing Pavilion comes to settle the score with me later?”
The leader couldn't understand why she had so much to say. Taking a deep breath, she was clearly growing impatient with the questions, and her tone grew a few degrees colder. “We will handle the negotiations with Taiqing Pavilion; it is not your concern. Furthermore, your pill recipe is incomplete to begin with, and the side effects are still unknown. It won't be too late to inform them once we have thoroughly researched and refined a stable, safe finished pill.”
Song Yao let out a long, drawn-out “Oh,” and muttered, “And here I thought you were taking advantage of Pavilion Master Ye's absence to deliberately keep it from Taiqing Pavilion.”
The group of pill cultivators: “...”
The leader's eyelids twitched as she warned, “Less nonsense.”
“Fine, fine, I'll stop talking. Here I go, then.”
After dawdling for a long time, the herbs were finally thrown into the cauldron.
The surrounding pill cultivators immediately went on high alert, keeping their eyes glued to Song Yao's movements.
They watched as several Fire-Driving Talismans suddenly ignited in her hand. She tossed them beneath the cauldron, her palms channeling spiritual energy to envelop the entire vessel.
Before they could make sense of her technique, a loud bang exploded inside the cauldron.
The faces of the group changed instantly, and they instinctively took several quick steps back.
Thick, rolling smoke billowed from the cauldron's mouth, filling the entire room with a bitter herbal fragrance.
Did the cauldron explode?!
No one dared to approach, staring warily at the center. Once the smoke cleared, they saw Song Yao leaning halfway into the cauldron. She fished out several translucent, jade-white pills and held them out, smiling. “All done! Well? Did you learn it?”
“...”
The Pill Pavilion fell into silence once more. The several pill cultivators and the leader looked at one another in utter bewilderment.
Wait.
Where did these pills come from?
Did she even start refining just now?
She just threw the herbs in, lit a fire, and the pills were finished?
Did this make any sense?
She couldn't have hidden those pills beforehand, right?
The leader was silent for a long moment. She stepped forward, took the pills from her hand, and examined them. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, she said, “Refine another batch.”
Song Yao agreed readily. “Sure.”
This time, the pill cultivators were prepared. Every time she grabbed a handful of herbs to throw in, they quickly stopped her to record the exact quantity.
Not only that, they even inspected the Fire-Driving Talismans she used before allowing her to proceed.
Within a few breaths of her channeling her spiritual energy, the sound of an explosion rang out again.
The leader didn't retreat a single step. Standing in the middle of the billowing smoke, she watched with her own eyes as Song Yao opened the cauldron and peered inside.
The herbs had vanished, replaced by several pills resting quietly in the center of the cauldron.
She was utterly baffled.
The other pill cultivators were completely lost.
Seriously.
What kind of normal person refines pills this fast?
What on earth just happened that allowed her to refine pills with this kind of efficacy?!
After a moment, the leader pursed her lips and tucked her sleeves back. “Let me try.”
She refused to believe that using the exact same ingredients and steps would yield a different result.
Following the exact proportions they had just recorded, she threw the herbs into the cauldron in sequence without the slightest error. She activated the Fire-Driving Talisman and closed the lid with meticulous precision, even timing the fire control perfectly.
Yet, the expected explosion never came. The cauldron stood there in absolute silence.
Before long, she opened the lid, only to find a dozen or so dull, greyish pills lying quietly inside.
The pill veins were faint, and the spiritual energy was completely scattered. They couldn't even match the quality of a common Qi-Replenishing Pill, let alone possess any special effects.
The room fell into silence once again.
The leader slowly turned her head to look at Song Yao. “Are you using some kind of secret technique?”
At some point, Song Yao had curled up on the desk in the back. With her head resting on two pill manuals, she crossed her legs, swinging her foot lazily as the hem of her robe swept lightly across the floor.
Feeling a bit sleepy, she yawned before speaking languidly, “What secret technique? You can't just burn the herbs. You have to use spiritual energy to stimulate their medicinal properties, make them fuse together, and force the spiritual energy into the pills.”
The leader: “...”
Of course she knew they had to use spiritual energy to stimulate the medicinal properties. But how could it possibly be that simple? To be able to stimulate such simple herbs into something like this...
Just what realm was this little pill cultivator at right now?
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