"Hmm?!"
Chen Xiuying, upon hearing the old man's words, knitted her brows slightly and said, "Elder Zhou, what do you mean by this?"
Her tone carried a hint of slight dissatisfaction.
After all, Mu Jinyu was invited by Qiu Bai, and no matter what, it wasn't right to speak ill of him like this—it was truly a bit too much!
Zhou Yi, the old man known by that name, saw Chen Xiuying's reaction and slightly restrained his disdainful expression on his wrinkled, orange-peel-like face. He shook his head and said, "What I mean is that this Dragon King is simply too boastful!"
"I have specialized in alchemy for over eighty years and have only recently achieved some success, but I still don't dare to claim mastery over alchemy. You invited me to refine the Mysterious Yang Pill, but I'm not sure I can succeed. I can only try to extract its medicinal power to make a Xuanyang Pill. As for this Dragon King, he looks to be around twenty years old, right? And he dares say that he knows how to perform alchemy?"
He paused for a moment, and his tone suddenly became grave, "Even if he started learning alchemy from his mother's womb, I'm afraid it's impossible to master it in such a short time, so I simply don't believe he knows alchemy!"
While speaking, Zhou Yi looked at Chen Xiuying and kindly advised, "Master Chen's Nephew, the ingredients for refining the Mysterious Yang Pill are extremely rare, many have long vanished. You must not heed someone's words lightly and squander these ingredients; if you do, then Taoist Yu will truly be hopeless!"
Upon hearing Zhou Yi's advice, Chen Xiuying trembled faintly, her mind, previously in disarray due to desperation, suddenly regained clarity.
She also felt that Zhou Yi was right.
Mu Jinyu was simply too young to appear knowledgeable in alchemy.
Moreover, the ingredients for refining the Mysterious Yang Pill were precious, and even with the revival of spiritual energy and the continuous emergence of various immortal herbs, none of the main ingredients were known to have appeared as of now.
It could be said that if they had one set, there wasn't a second to be found; if Mu Jinyu failed the refining process, they most likely couldn't gather a second set of ingredients for the Mysterious Yang Pill.
They couldn't afford to take that risk!
Although Zhou Yi had already admitted he couldn't refine the Mysterious Yang Pill, and their hopes were slim, to begin with, with the only option left being a desperate gamble, it still needed to be reliable!
Seeking medical treatment in desperation should not be done blindly!
Thinking this way, Chen Xiuying looked towards Mu Jinyu, her gaze shifting from full of hope to carrying a few more shades of doubt, yet she asked with considerable respect, "May I ask, Dragon King, are you truly confident in refining the Mysterious Yang Pill?"
As she spoke, she felt her tone was somewhat harsh, fearing that Mu Jinyu might just turn away, so she quickly added:
"I do not doubt your abilities, but the ingredients for refining the Mysterious Yang Pill are simply too rare. We've barely managed to gather one set over several decades. Elder Zhou just mentioned that some ingredients have lost too much potency and are insufficient for alchemy. I'm afraid if anything goes wrong, we don't have decades to wait for another chance."
Seeing that Chen Xiuying spoke sincerely, Mu Jinyu nodded lightly and said, "I can't decide whether it's possible to refine it or not without first inspecting the pill formula and the ingredients."
After finishing, he looked toward Zhou Yi with a cool expression on his face and said indifferently, "Who told you that alchemy is so hard to fathom even after decades? Do not measure the talents of this world with your limited perspective, nor use your foolish mind to judge me as if I were you!"
"You?!"
Zhou Yi, hearing Mu Jinyu's words, was immediately enraged, but recognizing that Mu Jinyu's abilities far surpassed his own, he dared not take action and could only say angrily:
"My mind is foolish? I look at you, a genius, with a narrow perspective?"
"Heh heh... I began practicing martial arts at the age of thirteen, reached Great Achievement in Mingjin at fifteen, stepped into Dark Energy at sixteen, achieved Great Mastery in Dark Energy at eighteen, perfected Dark Energy at twenty, entered Energy Transformation at twenty-five, reached the peak of Energy Transformation at thirty-five, ascended to Half-Step Divine Realm at thirty-eight, realized enlightenment on Celestial Mountain at forty and entered the Divine Realm, progressed to the second realm of the Divine Realm at forty-five, and in the same year, obtained half of the 'Pill Scripture'. From then on, I focused solely on the Alchemy Dao, neglecting martial arts, until today at ninety years old, I can barely say I've stepped onto the threshold of the Alchemy Dao!"
"The Alchemy Dao is vast and boundless, absolutely on par with martial arts!"
As he spoke, Zhou Yi fixed his gaze on Mu Jinyu and said, "Yes! You, Dragon King, are indeed a mid-stage Divine Realm powerhouse at a young age, but had I been in this magnificent era as you are now, do you think I would be any less than you? Would I need forty years to enter the Divine Realm?!"
After listening to Zhou Yi's words, Mu Jinyu was slightly moved, but then shook his head and sighed:
"If what you say is true, you might have had some talent in martial arts, but in Alchemy Dao, you really are a mess. You've taken the wrong path. If you hadn't neglected martial arts, you might have had a place in the top ten of the Divine Rankings, but instead, you have no trace of talent for Alchemy Dao, yet you insist on being an alchemist. To say that you are foolish, well, that's not wrong at all!"
"You!!"
On hearing Mu Jinyu continue to insult him, Zhou Yi was indeed so angry he wanted to take action, but well aware of the gap in strength between them, he could only forcibly restrain himself, eventually responding with suppressed fury, "Fine, fine, fine. Then I must see how you're going to perform alchemy!"
Qiu Bai, who dared not offend Zhou Yi lightly, only now dared to smooth things over and said, "Let's go, let's go. We'll go in and see first..."
Mu Jinyu nodded slightly, indicating for Chen Xiuying to lead him in to observe the pill formula.
Chen Xiuying hesitated for a moment, feeling there was some truth in Mu Jinyu's words. A person without talent for Alchemy Dao, who still stubbornly follows the path of an alchemist, is truly asking for trouble. Maybe Mu Jinyu could actually practice alchemy.
Making up her mind, Chen Xiuying then stepped forward, leading Mu Jinyu into the medicine storage room.
As Mu Jinyu entered, he immediately sniffed a very strong medicinal fragrance, but most of it was musty, clearly indicating these medicinal herbs were not freshly picked, but had been stored for many years.
With a cursory sweep of his divine sense, Mu Jinyu saw that the storage room contained many second-level spirit medicines, third-level spirit medicines, a small portion of rank four spirit medicines, and even saw one fifth-level spirit medicine.
This spirit medicine, recorded in the 'Pill Scripture', is named Red Dragon Whiskers, extremely yang in nature. Ordinary people cannot consume it, for consumption certainly leads to fiery death. But it is greatly beneficial to those with a fire-system spirit root, far surpassing spirit medicine of the same level.
Mu Jinyu didn't need to guess much to know that this Red Dragon Whiskers should be the main medicine for refining the Mysterious Yang Pill!
And the only flaw with this Red Dragon Whiskers was improper storage, causing much of its medicinal power to dissipate, likely why Zhou Yi had intended but found himself unable to extract its potency for the 'Xuanyang Pills'.
"Dragon King, this is the pill formula. Take a look,"
While Mu Jinyu was contemplating, Chen Xiuying brought over a beast skin scroll and handed it to Mu Jinyu.
But she did not bring the required medicinal ingredients for the pill formula over.
She was testing Mu Jinyu.
If after reading the pill formula Mu Jinyu still didn't know which ingredients were which, then she needn't hold any hope for Mu Jinyu.
Mu Jinyu could see through Chen Xiuying's cautiousness and didn't mind, taking the pill formula and starting to read it.
As he read, his brows alternately furrowed and relaxed. After a full three minutes, he finally nodded with understanding and sighed, "To employ such a technique, it's indeed an eye-opener."
"Dragon Master, are you confident?" Qiu Bai cautiously inquired from the side.