Chapter 42: Senior Sister, Are There Really No Limits?

To produce ten pills in one batch—this was absolutely the mark of a master. At this moment, everyone present had the same thought. Cao Xuan scratched his head, wondering if he had managed to hide his true abilities, though it didn’t feel like he’d concealed them thoroughly at all.

Only now did Ye Caixuan say, “I understand now. Before, I couldn’t figure out why Junior Brother Cao never came to take the alchemist assessment earlier. It must have been because he couldn’t guarantee a one hundred percent success rate back then!”

Ye Caixuan felt a twinge of self-reproach, as this was precisely her own situation. She could refine high-grade pills, yes, but usually only managed five to seven at a time.

She had assumed Cao Xuan was the same, but now, seeing him use a blazing fire—much more difficult to control—and still achieve ten pills, she realized his mastery in alchemy had reached the point of perfection.

The veteran alchemy disciples around them felt the same way, ashamed as they muttered, “We’ve been refining pills for years and yet are still outdone by a junior brother!”

They looked at Cao Xuan’s outer sect disciple robes and guessed his cultivation was, at most, at the sixth stage of Qi Refinement.

Yet they themselves had been in the inner sect for years, some even already advanced to the eighth stage of Qi Refinement.

“It’s true—we never put our hearts fully into alchemy. We just hoped to get lucky, produce a single pill, and be content with being the lowest tier of alchemists.”

“But he wouldn’t even attempt the assessment unless he could guarantee a one hundred percent success rate and produce high-grade pills. That kind of mindset is something we should learn from.”

“From now on, I won’t try my luck anymore. I won’t come for the assessment unless I can successfully refine a complete batch of pills!”

None of them dared to make a vow like Cao Xuan—to only come for the assessment once they could guarantee a one hundred percent success rate and produce high-grade pills.

After all, becoming an alchemist was expensive; they needed to become alchemists first to recoup their investments.

Yet, because of Cao Xuan, they all quieted their restless hearts.

In an instant, the already sparsely populated assessment hall atop the Alchemy Peak emptied out, leaving only Cao Xuan and Ye Caixuan.

The two stared at each other, wide-eyed. Cao Xuan finally understood where the issue lay—it was the success rate. He had only been focusing on maintaining high quality, completely forgetting that a one hundred percent success rate was even more astonishing than producing high-grade pills.

This meant he could completely activate the medicinal properties of the ingredients, without the slightest waste.

While Cao Xuan was pondering, his gaze, vacant and unfocused, landed straight on Ye Caixuan.

Ye Caixuan blushed furiously under his stare. “Ah! Don’t look at me! Don’t look at me!”

She wished she could disappear into a crack in the ground.

She had always thought Yang Fan was all talk and no substance, acting like a genius alchemist. But now she realized she was no different. Compared to Cao Xuan, what sort of genius was she?

She recalled how others had flattered her as an alchemy prodigy, and how she’d accepted it with pride. Now, looking at Cao Xuan, she suddenly felt as if she had been nothing but a clown, parading around in the Emperor’s New Clothes without even realizing it.

Cao Xuan, lost in thought, was snapped back to reality by Ye Caixuan’s plea. For a moment, he didn’t grasp what was happening and asked, almost absentmindedly, “So, Senior Sister, have I passed the assessment?”

Ye Caixuan nodded vigorously, like a pecking chick, and quickly handed him a waist token shaped like a pill furnace. “Junior Brother Cao, this is your alchemist’s token. Drip your blood on it to bind it. It will automatically synchronize your information via your identity token.”

Cao Xuan took the token, dripped his blood on it, and a wealth of information flooded into his mind.

He could now freely enter the Alchemy Peak’s Pill Formula Pavilion to study their accumulated recipes, and make use of the hall’s earth-fire pill rooms, though all required the appropriate contributions or spirit stones.

Besides the regular inner sect stipend of eighty spirit stones per month, alchemists also received an additional eighty, provided they submitted twenty low-grade pills or ten of middle grade and above.

At this point, Ye Caixuan spoke softly, “Um, Junior Brother… about those pills in your hand… could you give them to your Senior Sister?”

“Ah! Not for free, of course—I’ll pay whatever you ask in spirit stones!”

“I just want to study your refining techniques… Ah, no, I don’t mean I want to steal your secrets… No, that’s not right either…”

Ye Caixuan, who was usually treated like a princess on Alchemy Peak, never wanting for anything, suddenly found herself flustered and at a loss. This was the first time she had ever asked someone for something. She was completely undone.

Cao Xuan looked at the panicked and helpless Ye Caixuan, unable to suppress a smile. If he didn’t know that Ye Caixuan was already at the Foundation Establishment stage and could easily crush him, he would have thought of her as a clumsy, big-sisterly neighbor.

Compared to the stern, imposing Foundation Establishment elders of the sect, Senior Sister Ye Caixuan’s presence made Cao Xuan realize that cultivators didn’t suddenly become utterly inhuman after their breakthrough.

Thinking further, it made sense—Foundation Establishment cultivators were equals among themselves, only becoming imposing when dealing with “ants” like those in the Qi Refinement stage.

Cao Xuan shook his head and handed over the jade bottle.

“Senior Sister, it’s yours.”

Ye Caixuan was immediately overwhelmed with joy, as if she had just received the most precious gift of her life.

“Thank you, thank you, Junior Brother! If you ever need anything, just ask—your Senior Sister will agree to anything!”

Cao Xuan’s heart skipped a beat, and he blurted out, “Anything at all?”

Ye Caixuan, without hesitation, replied, “Anything at all!”

The little voice in Cao Xuan’s mind slapped him: “Tsk, this is what the internet does to people. Senior Sister is so pure, and just look at what you’re thinking.”

Ye Caixuan clutched the jade bottle tightly and asked, a little anxiously, “So, Junior Brother, what do you want me to do? If it’s too hard, I might not be able to manage!”

Seeing the innocence in Ye Caixuan’s eyes, Cao Xuan waved it off. “I’ll tell you next time, once I’ve thought about it!”

And so, naturally, the two exchanged messaging talismans.

Once Cao Xuan left the hall, Ye Caixuan leaped up, kissing the jade bottle over and over. “Oh yes, I got it, I got it!”

She no longer wanted to stay in the hall—she was bored and would only fall asleep. She wanted to hurry back to her cave on Alchemy Peak and examine the pills.

“Right, now that Junior Brother has an alchemist’s token, he’s been assigned a cave on Alchemy Peak as well.”

“I wonder if he’ll come live there. Maybe, someday, I can go visit and study alchemy with him!”

With that thought, Ye Caixuan quickly checked which cave had been assigned to Cao Xuan. Others might not have this privilege, but who was she? The Senior Sister of Alchemy Peak, the future head of the mountain.

As Cao Xuan left the grand hall, he headed toward the Sky Ladder competition area on Azure Cloud Square, ready to “deal with” Fang Baiyu. It was only then that he noticed a flood of prompts in his mind.

“Wait, did I just give away a fiftyfold gift?”

Cao Xuan’s consciousness swept through the pile of supreme-grade pills in his storage pouch.

“Damn, I only gave away high-grade Qi Gathering Pills? What a loss!”