The morning sky glowed with brilliant sunlight as a new day quietly began.
Inside his dorm, Zhu Ziyang, his face full of joy, withdrew his soul power and extinguished the flame in the pill furnace. Without hesitation, he reached out and removed the furnace lid. Despite the intense heat, he didn't mind at all. A layer of frost instantly formed over his hand, freezing the furnace and rapidly lowering its temperature.
Ultimate Ice—Absolute Zero!
As the furnace opened, a refreshing fragrance wafted out, filling the room. Instantly, Zhu Ziyang, who hadn't slept all night, felt completely revitalized, his eyes brimming with excitement.
The scent of pills!
He turned the pill furnace upside down, and a batch of green pills, streaked with black, poured out onto the lid.
Zhu Ziyang's heart was filled with joy. Looking at the dozens of pills, he couldn't contain his excitement.
"One, two, three… eleven!" he counted softly, his voice rising with emotion. "Eleven finished pills! That success rate—I'm definitely a genius at alchemy! Hahaha!"
Out of this batch, he had produced 11 Juyuan Pills and 10 failed ones—a success rate over 50%! For a beginner, achieving that on the first try was enough for him to rightfully call himself a genius.
"Haha, time to test their effects!" Zhu Ziyang placed the 11 pills into a jade bottle, used the failed pills as fuel in the furnace, then swallowed one of the Juyuan Pills and sat on his bed to cultivate.
The moment he ingested the pill, he felt his soul power tremble with joy. His internal energy began circulating rapidly, drawing the ambient energy of the world into his body.
He instantly entered cultivation mode.
When Zhu Ziyang finished his training, it was nearly noon. Luckily, it was a rest day—otherwise, he would have been punished for skipping class. But he didn't care about such trivial matters. He burst into laughter—he had broken through!
That's right. After consuming just one Juyuan Pill, he had advanced to level 36. Although he had already been on the verge of leveling up, the pill had played a critical role. Without it, it might have taken him a whole week to make the breakthrough.
"Excellent! The effect is far better than what the recipe stated. Looks like those premium ingredients weren't wasted!" Zhu Ziyang said with excitement as he looked at the remaining ingredients. "In that case, I'll refine the rest into Juyuan Pills too!"
Creak—
Just as he was about to start the second batch, his dorm door opened, and Jiang Nannan walked in.
"Oh! Brother, you're done cultivating!" she said joyfully as she spotted him by the furnace and hurried over.
"It's you, Nannan. Perfect timing! Come take a look at the pills I refined!" Zhu Ziyang wasn't surprised—he had given her a key to his dorm. He handed her one of the Juyuan Pills.
"This is the Juyuan Pill?" Jiang Nannan's eyes lit up as she gazed at the fragrant green pill. "So many! These should fetch a good price!"
Zhu Ziyang hadn't hidden his plan to earn money through alchemy, so Jiang Nannan had known about it from the start and fully supported it.
"Of course!" he replied with a smile.
"That's wonderful!" she said, setting the lunchbox she brought on the table. "Let's eat first, brother."
"Alright." Zhu Ziyang smiled at the meal and dug in.
Jiang Nannan quietly sat beside him, watching him eat with a look of gentle satisfaction.
Once he finished, while she cleaned up, he took five Juyuan Pills, placed them in a new bottle, and handed them to her.
"Nannan, these five are for you. Remember—each pill lasts a week. Just one per week—don't take more, got it?"
"Mm-hmm! I understand!" she accepted them without hesitation. Their relationship had long since surpassed formalities—there was no need for empty refusals.
"Good. You go back to your dorm. I'm going to keep refining. I want to make more so I can send some to my parents, and then we'll sell the rest."
"Mm!" she nodded with anticipation, carrying the lunchbox. "Then I'll head out for now. I'll come back for dinner."
"Go ahead!" said Zhu Ziyang.
One week later.
"Whew~ Finally refined all the materials into pills." Zhu Ziyang let out a long breath, a smile of contentment on his face.
He glanced at the extra bed in his dorm, now stacked with over twenty jade bottles—all filled with Juyuan Pills. In total, he had refined 137 pills over the week. After the first batch of 11, he produced 14 in the second and 18 in the third. From then on, every batch had a 100% success rate.
He divided them—100 pills for sale, and 37 for personal cultivation. He planned to send 20 pills to Zhu Changhe and Liang Ying, his parents. The remaining 17 pills would be dealt with after he spoke to Xia Yu.
He stored 120 pills in his jade bracelet and placed the 17 others into Xia Yu's soul guide ring. Then he got ready to find Xia Yu.
Coincidentally, Jiang Nannan arrived at his dorm just then.
"Brother, where are you off to?" she asked, surprised to see him preparing to leave.
"To find Brother Yu," Zhu Ziyang replied with a smile, patting her hair.
"Oh! Then I'll go with you." She quickly placed his school uniform on the bed, then sweetly wrapped her arms around his.
"Sure," he said.
The two of them headed toward the teaching building.
Freshman Teaching Building – Teachers' Office.
"These are the pills you made?" Xia Yu held a Juyuan Pill, his expression full of amazement, surprise, and delight. "Kid, you really opened my eyes!"
"Hehe!" Zhu Ziyang replied proudly. "Of course."
"From what I can tell, this Juyuan Pill is meant to enhance soul power cultivation efficiency, right? I'd say it's a low-grade pill. Am I right?" Xia Yu examined it closely and quickly deduced its function and quality.
"Correct. Sharp as always, Brother Yu!" Zhu Ziyang replied openly. "So tell me, in your opinion, how valuable is it?"
"Oh?" Xia Yu raised his brows and thought for a moment. "I'm no expert appraiser, but based on its effectiveness, it clearly outperforms other low-grade pills on the market. And since it's a long-lost pill, I'd say… at least 30,000 gold soul coins per pill!"
"Really?!" Zhu Ziyang's eyes lit up with joy.
"In fact…" Xia Yu grinned and raised his brows. "If you trust me, I can have the Liuyun Guild purchase your batch. Since you're my student, I'll give you 50,000 gold soul coins per pill!"
"!" Zhu Ziyang was stunned, staring wide-eyed at Xia Yu, unsure if he was joking. 50,000 per pill—that was unheard of! He calmed down and asked, "Why? That price has to be a loss. What's your real intention?"
"Hehe," Xia Yu chuckled. "Just think of it as an investment."
"I see." Zhu Ziyang instantly understood and relaxed. "In that case, let's do it. Here's the batch I made."
"This—!" Xia Yu was shocked at the number of jade bottles Zhu Ziyang produced. "Holy… How many pills is this?!"