"Fine, fine, fine..."
Upon hearing Mu Jinyu's words, both Qiu Bai and Chen Xiuying, anxious in their hearts, immediately nodded as eagerly as chickpeas pecking at grains.
They had long wanted Mu Jinyu to feed the Mysterious Yang Pill to their master, Yu Shenfeng, but because they held Mu Jinyu in such high esteem, they didn't dare to interrupt while he was talking with Zhou Yi, so they painfully waited for over ten minutes, hoping Mu Jinyu would think of them sooner.
Now that Mu Jinyu had brought it up, they readily agreed.
"This way, please, Dragon King!"
Chen Xiuying gestured to Mu Jinyu, her tone much more respectful.
Mu Jinyu gave a slight smile and said unhurriedly, "No hurry, let me gather the medicinal herbs and the pill furnace."
"Oh, yes, yes, go ahead..."
Chen Xiuying, hearing Mu Jinyu's words, looked toward the Shennong Cauldron and the large pile of spiritual medicines and awkwardly nodded.
She almost forgot about the spiritual medicines that Mu Jinyu had just extracted from the Shennong Cauldron and placed aside. She hoped he didn't think that her eagerness to get him outside was an attempt to steal his spiritual medicines.
Chen Xiuying thought anxiously to herself.
Mu Jinyu, however, didn't think as much as Chen Xiuying did. He hadn't forgotten to deliver the pills to Yu Shenfeng after they were made; he was just waiting for the Shennong Cauldron to cool down, thus he spoke with Zhou Yi for a few minutes.
At this moment, the Shennong Cauldron had already cooled down and was no longer as hot as the blazing sun, so he began to collect the pile of spiritual medicines set aside.
Swiftly, he cleared away the pile of spiritual medicines. Just as Mu Jinyu was about to shrink the Shennong Cauldron to put it in his pocket, Chen Xiuying suddenly spoke, "Dragon King, can your alchemy furnace still hold things?"
"Yes, what about it?"
Mu Jinyu paused in his movements and turned to look at her, curiously asking.
Chen Xiuying smiled, her spirited face lifting with a slightly stunning mischievous smile. She gently brushed back her bangs and said, "If that's the case, then you might as well take all the spiritual medicines stored here. Since the Mysterious Yang Pill has been made, if it can't save our master, these medicines are useless to us anyway. Consider it your compensation for making the Mysterious Yang Pill."
"Eh? Useless to you? Can't you use them for cultivation?"
Mu Jinyu, puzzled, asked.
Chen Xiuying shook her head and said, "Most of these medicinals are fire attribute spiritual medicines which contain more Fire Spirit Power. Our fellow disciples, including our master, do not have fire attribute physiques. Using these medicines for cultivation would be counterproductive; it's meaningless. Now, at a time of great prosperity, if we need spiritual medicines, would we be short of them?"
She paused, then looked at Mu Jinyu, her tone sincere, "But it's different for you, Dragon King. You are a true alchemist who surely spends a lot of time refining pills daily. If you don't have enough pills to practice with, you might stagnate in skill, right? So, please accept them."
"No need," Mu Jinyu replied with a smile, shaking his head in refusal, "The payment for making the Mysterious Yang Pill has already been given by your junior fellow brother, and I am not short of spiritual medicines. Didn't you see what I just did?"
Hearing Mu Jinyu's words, Chen Xiuying was stunned for a moment, then recalled Mu Jinyu holding the withered Red Dragon Whiskers, emitting a radiant green light and an endless surge of Life Source Energy, freely flowing like the open sea, instantly reviving the Red Dragon Whiskers to their freshly picked appearance.
With such capabilities, wasn't cultivating spiritual medicines simple for him?
Realizing this, a sense of helplessness washed over Chen Xiuying; it seemed that her plan to form a connection with Mu Jinyu was not going to work.
"Well then, since you've said so, I won't insist on you taking them," Chen Xiuying said helplessly, then remembering Mu Jinyu's previous comment, she turned to Qiu Bai, asking, "Junior fellow brother, what did you give the Dragon King as compensation?"
Qiu Bai, upon hearing this, his face showed difficulty and embarrassment, stuttering, "I pledged to serve the Dragon King for five years..."
"What?"
Chen Xiuying, hearing this, raised her eyebrows, a trace of anger appearing on her face, feeling that Mu Jinyu was being a bit excessive, using his power to pressure others.
Seeing her reaction, Qiu Bai was taken aback, then realized his senior fellow sister had misunderstood and hurriedly explained the conditions of their wager with Mu Jinyu.
After hearing what Qiu Bai had said, Chen Xiuying's angry expression instantly vanished, replaced by a sense of self-blame and guilt. She had misunderstood Mu Jinyu again and had almost sought justice for her junior brother.
But as it turned out, things weren't as she had thought. Mu Jinyu hadn't taken advantage of the situation to blackmail Qiu Bai into serving him for five years under the condition of alchemy.
Instead, Qiu Bai had recklessly provoked Mu Jinyu, who, instead of killing him outright, gave him a chance to duel. In the end, Qiu Bai was outmatched and lost, yet Mu Jinyu was still willing to give Qiu Bai another chance at alchemy.
What a great leader!
Thinking this way, Chen Xiuying couldn't help but want to join the Dragon King Hall and serve Mu Jinyu.
Serving Mu Jinyu, she estimated he would not be stingy with elixirs and would surely provide them with good treatment.
However, these were just thoughts, as she still had to take care of her master and couldn't truly abandon her master just for these benefits.
"I'm sorry, Dragon King. I... misunderstood you again..."
Chen Xiuying suppressed her jumbled thoughts and apologized to Mu Jinyu, her face red as a monkey's butt, looking exceedingly awkward.
"It doesn't matter."
Mu Jinyu smiled lightly, not taking it to heart at all.
At his response, Chen Xiuying's heart filled with embarrassment and guilt, feeling even worse as Mu Jinyu seemed unconcerned.
"Let's go."
Mu Jinyu didn't pay attention to her anymore, packed up the Shennong Cauldron, put it in his pocket, and then spoke to Qiu Bai.
"Oh, okay..."
Qiu Bai, feeling awkward, glanced at Chen Xiuying and Zhou Yi, who was lost in thought due to Mu Jinyu's instruction, and then took the lead to leave the storage room.
Mu Jinyu followed, stepping out of the place.
Chen Xiuying snapped back to reality and followed them out, eager to check if the effects of the Mysterious Yang Pill could save her master.
Because of her urgency, she didn't care to leave Zhou Yi alone in the storage room, whether he might steal any spiritual medicine.
Soon, the three of them left the storage room and returned to the bamboo house where Yu Shenfeng resided.
"Creak!"
The door opened, releasing a blast of cold air.
Despite the presence of a bed made from top-quality Warm Jade, it couldn't suppress the chill, showing that Yu Shenfeng's condition was worsening.
On the way, Mu Jinyu had asked Qiu Bai why he was sure that the Mysterious Yang Pill could save their master?
Qiu Bai replied that they had tried in the early years to use fire attribute spiritual medicines and jade, which indeed could suppress the cold poison within Yu Shenfeng's body.
But over time, as Yu Shenfeng consumed too much fire attribute spiritual medicine, he gradually developed a resistance. Moreover, the innate resistance in his body was like a compressed spring—the more it was suppressed, the stronger it rebounded, and they could no longer hold it back. Then by chance, they obtained the pill formula for Mysterious Yang Pill and learned that it might completely remove the cold poison in Yu Shenfeng's body, prompting them to spend decades collecting medicinal herbs!
And after collecting them, they realized that they didn't know how to perform alchemy, and in Huaxia, only a handful of people could do it.
If it hadn't been for the fortunate tip about Mu Jinyu's possible mastery of alchemy skills, then Yu Shenfeng really would have had no hope.
"Is that so?"
After hearing this, Mu Jinyu nodded slightly and stepped into the bamboo house, saying, "Then you might be disappointed, as the Mysterious Yang Pill might still not be able to suppress the cold poison in your master's body, and can only suppress it temporarily."