NOVEL NEXT Ch. 13
Chapter 13: The Product Exploded, and the Users Went Crazy!
“C–Cold… Cold CPO, is this the new process set by President Chu?”
By the pill furnace, Zhang San, Li Si, and Wang Wu surrounded Leng Yanran, staring wide-eyed at the piece of paper she handed over.
Although the Pill Pavilion had branded them as “idiots,” they had still studied alchemy for several years.
They at least had some basic common sense.
Grinding until “the original form can’t be seen”?
Ingredient deviation “not exceeding one qian”?
Controlling the flame by “turning it to maximum until the hourglass runs out”?
This… this wasn’t alchemy—it was pig feed cooking!
“Are we really supposed to… follow this?”
Li Si asked with a trembling voice.
He was in charge of ingredients, and just seeing the standard of “deviation not exceeding one qian” made his legs go weak.
This looked lenient on paper, but for a low-grade pill like the Qi Nourishing Pill, even a deviation of one qian could result in vastly different medicinal effects.
Leng Yanran’s face was icy cold. I
nside, she felt even more aggrieved than they did, but she could only force out two frigid words:
“Execute it.”
It was Chu Feng’s order, and as the CPO, she had to complete it.
“But… Cold CPO, can something refined like this really be eaten?”
Wang Wu asked anxiously.
He had just begun to rebuild his confidence in alchemy and didn’t want to return to the days of being a “furnace-exploding specialist.”
Leng Yanran took a deep breath, suppressing her irritation, and explained in a detached, emotionless tone:
“This is the experimental process for the ‘Mass Edition Qi Nourishing Pill V1.1’. The goal is to test the minimum quality baseline of the product under extreme efficiency. Your task is to follow the process precisely and record the number and condition of the pills for each batch. Don’t ask why. Just execute the order.”
She had borrowed Chu Feng’s set of strange terms like “test,” “version,” and “baseline.”
Although she felt awkward saying them, the result turned out unexpectedly good.
Upon hearing it, Zhang San, Li Si, and Wang Wu immediately stood straighter.
So it was an “experimental process”! A “test”!
That sounded so high-end!
Were they actually participating in core “product development”?
The three of them were suddenly filled with a sense of mission, all doubts vanishing instantly.
“Yes! We guarantee to complete the task!” they shouted in unison, voices resounding.
And so, under the supervision of Leng Yanran—the alchemy prodigy—a never-before-seen, borderline insane “potion production experiment” began in the Cultivation World.
“Zhang San! Grind faster! Didn’t you eat? Who cares about leaves or roots—grind it all down!”
“Li Si! Stop shaking! A deviation within one qian is acceptable! What are you scared of!”
“Wang Wu! Time’s up! Throw it in! Yes! Max flame! Burn it like your life depends on it!”
Leng Yanran was practically issuing commands with her eyes closed.
Each word she shouted felt like a betrayal of her Dao of Alchemy.
The entire production process was filled with noise and chaos.
Zhang San’s stone mill spun furiously, Li Si’s scale weights clanked nonstop, and Wang Wu’s furnace glowed bright red—looking like it could explode any second.
Half an hour later, the first batch of ten furnaces’ worth of “products” was complete.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of muffled explosions sounded as the lids were lifted.
A thick, burnt stench mixed with strange medicinal odors spread through the entire corner.
Wang Wu nervously rummaged through the furnace.
This time, instead of the previous black lumps, there was a pile of odd, yellowish, uneven chunks—some still caked with half-burned residue.
“T-This…”
Wang Wu stared dumbfounded.
Leng Yanran’s heart sank to rock bottom.
It was over.
This was nothing but waste—worse than the previous “coal balls.”
She picked up one piece, and just one glance made her want to toss it.
The pill body was loose, the spiritual energy mixed and unstable, and the poison content was at least five times higher than that of a normal pill.
Could this thing even be called a “pill”?
But at that very moment, Chu Feng appeared from who-knows-where.
He strolled over cheerfully, picked up one yellowish lump, split it open, sniffed it, and even scraped off some powder to taste.
Then he nodded firmly.
“Excellent! Very good!”
Chu Feng praised loudly. “The medicinal efficacy retained five and a half parts out of ten—exactly as I expected! This is our ‘Mass Edition Qi Nourishing Pill V1.1’! Success!”
Success?
Leng Yanran and the three apprentices froze.
This thing counted as success?
“Count the yield!” Chu Feng called out to Wang Wu.
Wang Wu hurriedly fumbled to count.
“Reporting to the President! Ten furnaces, total finished pills—uh, I mean, finished products—nine hundred and seventy-two pieces!”
The moment that number came out, even Wang Wu was startled.
Half an hour—nearly a thousand pills!
The efficiency had nearly doubled since the last time he bet against Leng Yanran!
“Good! Excellent!”
Chu Feng slapped his thigh in excitement. “Cold CPO, this is all thanks to you! Your team has incredible execution power! Keep going! Maintain this pace—I want five thousand by the time we descend the mountain today!”
With that, he grabbed a handful of the yellowish “pill lumps” and headed toward the courtyard’s “Business Zone.”
“Family members! Family members! Quiet down for a moment!”
Chu Feng stood atop the platform, voice ringing out:
“I have great news to announce! Our Ascension Group’s CPO, the alchemy genius Senior Sister Leng Yanran, after sleepless nights of painstaking effort, has successfully developed our flagship product—the ‘Mass Edition Qi Nourishing Pill V1.1’!”
He held up the handful of pill lumps high.
Over two hundred members below stared blankly at the hideous-looking things.
“I know what everyone’s thinking,” Chu Feng said with a grin. “Yes, it looks ugly. But—it has one advantage!”
“It’s free!”
“From today onward, all founding members can use their membership to claim three pills for free every day! All subsequent official members can claim one per day for free!”
“What is our mission? Common prosperity! I want everyone to treat pills like daily meals!”
Boom!
Chu Feng’s words exploded among the crowd like a bomb.
Free?
Every day?
Eat pills like food?
Everyone went wild!
Who cared if the pill looked ugly or carried toxins?
For these people—who normally couldn’t even smell real medicine—this was divine grace from the heavens!
“Long live the President!”
“Long live the Ascension Group!”
“Long live Cold CPO!”
Zhang Daniu was the first to charge forward, snatching three lumps from Chu Feng’s hand. Without even looking, he popped them straight into his mouth, crunching loudly as if enjoying the finest delicacy.
Seeing that, everyone else surged forward—the scene instantly descending into chaos.
From a distance, Leng Yanran stood dumbfounded beneath the shed.
She watched as those things she had labeled “poison” were fought over like treasures—members clutching them with blissful, grateful faces as they swallowed without hesitation.
Her heart was deeply shaken.
Perhaps… Chu Feng was right.
To these people, the “perfection” she pursued was utterly meaningless.
What they needed was merely a hope to continue cultivating.
And what she was now producing—was precisely that hope.