Wait a minute, where is my master?

At first, Jin Xu thought that the dish Yu Yaoer had stir-fried was meatballs.

However, Little Fish Demon stood by the stone table, pointing confidently at the dish that was colored red, yellow, and black, informing him, "This is when you stir-fry tomatoes with eggs and Earth Dragon."

The Taoist found himself at a loss for words.

Following that, Yu Yaoer showcased to Jin Xu the remaining cooking techniques: sautéing, frying, stewing, and simmering.

As expected, everything she brought out looked just like pills.

What kind of strange talent is this? She used to only cook soup before, and even then, she hadn't noticed this.

The Taoist looked at the seven dishes of meatballs before him and couldn't help but be reminded of an "electronic pet" he had raised in his previous life. No matter what it did, in the end, it would always become something completely different… Before Jin Xu's transmigration, that thing was on the verge of becoming an Immortal of not sticking to anything.

"Ahem, Little Yu, didn't we agree when we were in Shangjing City that you would teach me alchemy? Now that we're free and it's still a long way to September, why don't we discuss the Alchemy Dao?"

Jin Xu, having a "seeing dishes and thinking of pills" moment, remembered his desire to learn the Hundred Skills of Immortal Cultivation back in Shangjing City.

"Sure, young master. But to practice alchemy, we'll need an Alchemy Furnace, which means we need to make a trip to the Hundred Treasure Pavilion in Gusu City."

Yu Yaoer's attention was successfully diverted by the Taoist. Teaching the young master the Alchemy Skill, wouldn't she be considered half a master to him?

She had once read a tale where a female master and her male apprentice would spend all their days together, and in the end... Ahem, the thought made Little Fish Demon's cheeks burn slightly.

Jin Xu noticed that Little Fish Demon's cheeks suddenly flushed while she was talking, but he didn't think much of it. He grabbed Yu Yaoer and soared into the sky, heading towards Gusu City to buy an Alchemy Furnace.

The Taoist was always a man of action, swift and decisive.

In the back courtyard of the temple.

Little White saw its temple master and Little Fish sister leave abruptly and sniffed its little nose.

...Its gaze then fell onto those several plates of round and glossy pilly-looking "dishes."

...

Three days later, in the evening.

Inside Xuanxu Temple.

"Bang!"

A burst of flames exploded from the center of the backyard, but it was tightly enveloped by a Golden Spiritual Power Shield and did not spread out.

"Little Yu, fetch me another Alchemy Furnace."

Jin Xu frowned, maintaining the Golden Spiritual Power Shield with one hand, and spoke to Yu Yaoer behind him.

"Young master... You've already blown up all the Alchemy Furnaces clean."

The Little Fish Demon reminded softly.

"Oh, is that so? Looks like we'll have to make another trip to Gusu City then."

The Taoist, while speaking, flung the Golden Spiritual Power Ball forcefully into the sky.

Above the clouds, a muffled boom echoed, spreading across the whole Little Platform Mountain like thunder.

At the entrance to the temple.

A group of wolves and dogs, who were sitting cross-legged and cultivating with Little White, heard the noise and, accustomed as they were, just wagged their tails in utter calmness.

After all, anyone who heard such a muffled boom dozens of times over three days would certainly be used to it by now.

In the back courtyard of the temple.

Yu Yaoer spoke with an odd expression on her face.

"Young master, we already bought all the Alchemy Furnaces from Gusu City yesterday. The owner of the Hundred Treasure Pavilion said he's cleared out the stock from several nearby cities, and if we still want to buy, we'd have to wait a month for him to bring in more stock from other states."

She had imagined countless wonderful and heartwarming scenes before teaching the young Taoist alchemy, but she never anticipated that these three days would all be spent amidst a chorus of "bangs." How did these perfectly good Alchemy Furnaces turn into Explosive Talismans in the hands of the young master?

The Little Fish Demon was utterly baffled.

"...I see. Well, let's take a break for now. You've worked hard these past three days, Little Yu."

Jin Xu frowned and walked back to his room for reflection.

Yu Yaoer stood in the courtyard, blinking her clear yet somewhat foolish large eyes, wanting to say she wasn't tired at all.

After all, over these three days, she merely taught the Taoist about an hour's worth of theoretical knowledge and alchemy techniques, and then she just watched Jin Xu play with blowing up furnaces.

During their visit to the Hundred Treasure Pavilion in Gusu City, the owner had mysteriously inquired whether the two of them were about to establish a Cultivation sect nearby that focused on alchemy and expressed desire to establish a long-term partnership...

This just showed how many Alchemy Furnaces Jin Xu had blown up over the past three days.

...

Inside the room.

The Taoist sat cross-legged on the bed, looking at the cluster of golden flames in his palm, questioning his life choices.

When he went to the Hundred Treasure Pavilion to purchase an Alchemy Furnace, he was given a basic Alchemy Skill book, "Fire Condensing Skill." Yu Yaoer said this entry-level alchemy skill was worth learning, so he learned it.

Once they got back to Xuanxu Temple, Little Fish Demon explained to him about half an hour's worth of Alchemy Method and theoretical knowledge, and also provided him with some basic Spiritual Medicine so that Jin Xu could try his hand at refining a Strengthening Pill.

He felt confident that he had memorized everything, so he began to actually practice.

Initially, everything went normally.

A Strengthening Pill, a common pill in the Cultivation World, follows a very standard preparation sequence.

It's nothing more than preheating the Alchemy Furnace, adding in the ingredients, refining the medicine liquid, adding more ingredients, and repeating the process, followed by removing impurities, merging the medicine liquid, solidifying the pill, and finally, opening the furnace to collect the pill.

But when it came to Jin Xu, the sequence changed...

His process was preheating the Alchemy Furnace, adding in the ingredients, refining the medicine liquid, removing impurities, and then the Alchemy Furnace would crack open and explode into the sky.

Not a single furnace could withstand Jin Xu's process of impurity removal!

The little Taoist had barely blown up two pill furnaces when Yu Yaoer was consoling her young master.

"Alchemists, who doesn't blow up furnaces now and then, Just buy a few more pill furnaces and it'll be fine."

Jin Xu also felt that what she said made sense, knowing the special nature of his constitution, he made another trip to Gusu City, sparing no expense to buy the best pill furnace he could find and brought it back.

However... that Black Gold Dragon Furnace still couldn't withstand the "purging impurities" phase.

It blew up again.

After that, the little Taoist got fired up.

He'd never encountered anything he couldn't learn in his life!

After the third furnace explosion, he reflected a bit, thinking maybe the temperature of his flames was too high. Therefore, Jin Xu spent a couple of hours laboriously practicing the "Fire Condensing Skill." Eventually he reached his limit of control, able to exert only one-thousandth of the skill's power whenever he used it.

Then, he went back to Gusu City and bought a large batch of alchemy furnaces, beginning the production of Strengthening Pills.

Indeed, heaven rewards the diligent.

Under his hard work and practice, from the very start of "purging impurities," the furnaces would crack instead of instantly shattering, enduring for ten seconds before breaking.

Ten seconds was significant progress, lasting longer than some people could.

But it was useless, the pills still couldn't be made!

So the little Taoist began to follow the practice-makes-perfect approach, buying all the pill furnaces in Gusu City and starting to practice furiously. This caused the price of alchemy furnaces in the city to surge, making them more valuable than some pills.

Some low-level alchemists even thought about selling their pill furnaces to get their first pot of gold from changing their career.

...

In Qing State, at the Blazing Sun Sword Sect.

At dusk.

From a distance, the fiery red sunset in the sky merged with the red mountains on the ground, making it hard to distinguish the boundary between the two.

On the third peak of the Blazing Sun Sword Sect where disciples shouted as they forged swords, the sound of hammers striking the anvils echoed to the heavens. By comparison, the other six peaks were much quieter.

Walking up the mountain path, Zhao Dabao felt very panicked, listening to the noisy sounds.

He had just been eating watermelon and watching an imaging stone in his cave when he was shocked to learn that Taoist Jin Xu had become the Royal Uncle of Great Xia and suddenly broke through to the Qi Cultivation Fourth Level.

Fatty Zhao hadn't dared to cultivate these past days but had made such a muddled breakthrough nonetheless.

Frightened, he immediately checked his own body. To his discovery, the ominously named "Ice and Fire Nine Heavens" cultivation method was slowly running on its own!

For a regular cultivator, this would be extremely good fortune, an outcome usually only top-level methods could achieve. But for an Ice and Fire Spirit Root cultivator, it was akin to aiding a slow suicide.

Discovering this, Zhao Dabao hurriedly made his way to the grand hall where his master was.

Inside the grand hall.

Zhu Yangzi and Fatty Zhao's grandfather were both present, while Zhao's father was already on his way back to Gusu City.

"Master, Grandfather."

Entering the door, Zhao Dabao greeted them respectfully.

"Come here."

It was Zhu Yangzi who spoke.

Fatty Zhao approached as told, and Zhu Yangzi grabbed his shoulder, probing his body with spiritual power.

After a moment, he turned to Zhao Dabao's grandfather with a grave expression, "Indeed, it runs on its own."

Ice and Fire Spirit Root holders had always been exceedingly rare, and there was no mention above that the "Ice and Fire Nine Heavens" would operate autonomously. Therefore, no one was aware of this hidden effect of the method.

If everyone knew, under no circumstances would they have allowed Zhao Dabao to cultivate it so recklessly.

"Master, Grandfather, if I keep progressing according to this method's pace, even if I don't cultivate every day, in less than three months, I'm afraid I'll be forced into Foundation Establishment. So about that Taiyin and Sun Essence...?"

"Dabao, don't panic. We at the Blazing Sun Sword Sect produce Sun Essence ourselves; your father and I have exchanged many years of service to get you two drops. As for the Taiyin Essence..." Fatty Zhao's grandfather began to reassure his grandson, then turned to Zhu Yangzi, "Is the White Emperor Pavilion in Yu State still tight-lipped?"

Taiyin Essence was a unique treasure of the White Emperor Pavilion in Yu State, rarely circulated externally. It was said to be gathered from the depths of the cold river by the White Emperor, with only one drop forming every five hundred years, making it extremely rare.

So now, if they wanted to change Zhao Dabao's fate of exploding upon attempting Foundation Establishment, they needed to be at the mercy of the other party.

As for the Sun Essence, that was easier to discuss; it was a product of the Blazing Sun Sword Sect, and they had a supply in their own sect.

"They've relented."

Zhu Yangzi responded succinctly, immediately dousing the flicker of joy in Zhao Dabao's grandfather's heart.

"They want petals from the Eternal Lotus, two petals for one drop of Taiyin Essence."

"Why don't they just rob us!"

"They are robbing us."

"..."

Zhu Yangzi's reasoning was solid, leaving the old man speechless.

In the grand hall, Zhao Dabao listened to his master and grandfather discussing the issue of acquiring Taiyin Essence for him and softly asked, "Master, are petals from the Eternal Lotus hard to obtain?"

"Mhm."

Zhu Yangzi nodded.

Not sure if it was because he spoke too much earlier, his replies were now unusually terse.

Fatty Zhao, seeing that his master had not given the answer he sought, turned his gaze toward his grandfather.

"Boy, it's not about whether the Eternal Lotus petals are valuable or not. You know about the Qingmu Secret Realm, don't you?"