“Why did it fail again?”
Ye Qiu frowned deeply, utterly perplexed.
He had followed the recipe’s steps precisely, yet both furnaces exploded.
Losing two furnaces was a small matter. The real issue was wasting a thousand-year-old He Shou Wu root.
Now, only one thousand-year-old He Shou Wu remained in his Qiankun bag.
This was also the only thousand-year-old spiritual herb he had left.
“No matter what, I must refine the Beauty-Fixing Pill. Only then can I help Sister Lin and the others maintain their youth.”
Ye Qiu was in a dilemma.
With the furnaces destroyed, what could he use for alchemy?
Suddenly, his eyes lit up. “The furnaces may have exploded, but I have the Qiankun Cauldron!”
With a thought, a Qiankun Cauldron appeared before him. He took out the remaining He Shou Wu root.
This time, Ye Qiu crushed the entire root and placed it into the Qiankun Cauldron.
“Whether it succeeds or not depends on this attempt.”
Ye Qiu began refining, following the same steps as before.
Hours later, the essence of the liquid started to take shape. Ye Qiu’s heart raced, his eyes fixed on the cauldron.
Slowly, pills formed inside, emitting a rich fragrance.
“It worked!”
Ye Qiu’s face lit up with joy. He quickly retrieved the pills from the Qiankun Cauldron, over thirty in total.
Though each pill was only the size of a little finger, dark and somewhat rough, they were a success.
“Who would have thought one He Shou Wu root could produce so many Beauty-Fixing Pills?”
“With these, I no longer need to worry about Sister Lin and the others ageing.”
“Fantastic.”
Ye Qiu quickly stored the pills, but then a doubt arose in his mind.
“Strange, all three refining attempts followed the exact same steps. Why did the first two fail?”
“What went wrong?”
After much thought, Ye Qiu concluded the furnaces were the issue.
“I overlooked something. The flames from the talismans burn hotter than ordinary fire. Combined with the immense power of dragon qi during refinement, ordinary furnaces simply couldn’t withstand it.”
“Luckily, I had the Qiankun Cauldron, or it would have failed again.”
“Who knew the Qiankun Cauldron had such a wondrous use? It’s practically a natural alchemy furnace, excellent.”
Ye Qiu was delighted.
Then, he took the piece of top-quality imperial green jade from the wooden box.
He placed the jade before him, then released a stream of sword qi from his fingertip, splitting the jade in half.
Next, Ye Qiu continuously released sword qi, cutting the five-jin jade into small pieces, each the size of an egg.
There were dozens of pieces.
Using sword qi, he carved patterns onto the jade pieces. Since the jade was fragile and the sword qi sharp, he worked with great care.
After an unknown amount of time, the carving was complete.
“Phew.”
Ye Qiu let out a long breath, admiring the jade pieces with a satisfied smile.
He had carved Buddha and Guanyin figures onto the jade, lifelike and surpassing the work of even the finest artisans.
Then, he used sword qi to engrave a protective talisman on the back of each piece.
With his departure from the cultivation world approaching, he needed to ensure the safety of Lin Jingzhi and the others.
Besides the covert protection from Dragon Gate and the Underworld Palace, Ye Qiu wanted to leave them with means of self-preservation.
These jade pieces, each engraved with a protective talisman, could ward off evil spirits when worn and protect their wearer in life-or-death situations.
“Finally done!”
Ye Qiu stood, walked out of the room, and saw it was already the next evening.
As he descended the stairs, he saw Master Longbrow in the living room, engrossed in his phone, eyes fixed on the screen.
“What’s the old man watching so intently?”
Curious, Ye Qiu quietly approached and peeked over Master Longbrow’s shoulder. His face darkened instantly.
The old man was watching a live stream of a female broadcaster dancing, making provocative poses while wearing less and less clothing.
“Is this website legitimate?” Ye Qiu asked.
“Who watches legitimate ones?” Master Longbrow replied.
“Is it good?” Ye Qiu asked again.
“It’s alright,” Master Longbrow said, pointing at the broadcaster. “This woman just poses seductively, not getting to the point. I’ve sent two rockets, and she still hasn’t taken off all her clothes.”
“If I’d known, I would’ve sent a rocket to Hu Yan Luan Yu instead. His books are great, but the updates are so slow, like squeezing toothpaste.”
“I…” Master Longbrow suddenly sensed something was off, turned around, and saw Ye Qiu glaring at him.
“Little rascal, when did you come out?” Master Longbrow quickly put away his phone, chuckling. “I was just…”
“You think I didn’t see?” Ye Qiu scolded with a stern face. “As the head of a sect and a master of the Dao, watching such videos? Shameless.”
“Little rascal, what are you talking about? I don’t understand. I was really just…” Master Longbrow said, pulling out his phone again and showing it to Ye Qiu. “Look.”
Ye Qiu glanced at it. A few bold words appeared on the screen: *Unrivalled Divine Doctor*, by Hu Yan Luan Yu.
“Hmph!” Ye Qiu snorted and asked, “Where’s Xiao Zhan?”
“That kid…” Before Master Longbrow could finish, Xiao Zhan walked in from outside, smiling. “He’s here.”
Xiao Zhan approached and asked, “Brother-in-law, finished refining?”
“Yes,” Ye Qiu nodded slightly.
Xiao Zhan said, “Brother-in-law, I asked my sister to cook a few dishes. Shall I take you there now?”
“No rush. I’ll visit Yiren tomorrow. For now, take me to Yunwu Mountain,” Ye Qiu said.
“Brother-in-law, are you going to see the Dragon King?” Xiao Zhan knew the Dragon King lived on Yunwu Mountain.
“Yes,” Ye Qiu nodded slightly. “As the saying goes, one mustn’t forget their roots.”
“When I was just a small-time doctor, the Dragon King looked out for me. Before I leave, I must visit him.”
Xiao Zhan drove Ye Qiu to Yunwu Mountain.
“Ye Qiu, you’re so busy, yet you made time to visit an old man like me?”
The Dragon King was delighted to see Ye Qiu, warmly inviting him to sit in the living room.
Ye Qiu said, “I’ll be leaving for a long trip soon, so I came to see you today.”
He took out a jade piece carved with a Guanyin figure and handed it to the Dragon King, saying, “This is for you.”
“Imperial green!” The Dragon King recognised it immediately. “This jade is worth millions on the market. It’s too valuable. We don’t need such gestures.”
“Keep it,” Ye Qiu said, pointing to the protective talisman on the back. “I engraved a talisman on it. If you face danger, in a life-or-death moment, this jade can save your life.”
