Ruan Se was organizing the medicine cabinet in the Alchemy Room, recording the medicinal herbs consumed during her recent alchemy session one by one into the ledger.

Hearing footsteps, she didn’t even turn her head: “If Senior is here to ask about the Alchemy Conference, just ask directly.”

Lai Li’an leaned against the doorframe, not beating around the bush either: “Who do I need to watch out for at the Alchemy Conference?”

Ruan Se put a dried Spirit Herb back into the drawer, turned around, and slowly said, “Two people.”

“The first is Meng Qiuran of the Alchemy Sect Branch. Meng Qiuran is the most talented disciple of the Alchemy Sect Branch in this generation. Three years ago, he was already able to independently refine a Fifth-Grade Pill, and he ranked second in the previous Alchemy Conference. His style is steady, he never takes risks, and he strives for perfection with every furnace of pills. With his strength, if he chooses to play it safe and refine a Fourth-Grade Pill, his success rate will be close to one hundred percent, and the pill quality will absolutely not be poor.”

Lai Li’an nodded. Although he hadn’t seen Meng Qiuran’s abilities with his own eyes, judging from how the man casually took out 5000 Spirit Stones to pay off his debt, this person’s status in the Alchemy Sect Branch was absolutely not low.

“And the second?”

“Shao Jiao of the Misty Moon Sect.” When Ruan Se said this name, her tone was subtly different. “The Misty Moon Sect is a small Sect that barely ranks in the Cangwu Realm, but this Shao Jiao is different.”

Her gaze darkened slightly, as if recalling a rather unpleasant scene. “I saw him make a move at an alchemy exchange conference three years ago. At that time, he was refining a peak fourth-grade pill. His techniques were extremely tricky, and his heat control was terrifyingly precise. What impressed me the most were his alchemy techniques. He used the most ordinary alchemy cauldron, and even the auxiliary materials were casually picked from the conference’s public materials. It was as if the quality of the tools and materials didn’t matter to him at all.”

“He didn’t win first place in that event because he voluntarily gave up at the very last moment,” Ruan Se paused and added. “He said he had no interest in the prize and was just there to test his skills.”

Lai Li’an raised an eyebrow, growing a bit more interested in this Shao Jiao.

“You seem a little wary of him,” Lai Li’an asked with great interest.

Ruan Se fell silent for a moment. “I asked him back then, ‘How did you practice your heat control?’ He gave me a look and said, ‘You don’t understand fire.’ Then he just walked away.”

Ruan Se repeated the words exactly, her fingers tightening slightly.

“Does what he meant by ‘don’t understand fire’ have something to do with your spiritual root?” Lai Li’an keenly caught onto this detail.

Ruan Se raised her eyes and said slowly, “I have a Wood Spiritual Root.”

Having a Wood Spiritual Root meant she could not control Spiritual Fire with Fire-Attribute Spiritual Power like an ordinary Alchemist. It could even be said that she feared fire. When performing alchemy, she could only rely on external forces to ignite a fire, and then use Wood-Attribute Spiritual Power to assist from the side.

This was akin to a painter without a right hand having to use their left hand to paint at the same level as everyone else. She had managed to do it, but the hardships involved were not something outsiders could fully comprehend.

Lai Li’an did not press the matter. He merely nodded and asked a more practical question: “What about you? What level are you currently capable of?”

Ruan Se took a small jade box from her sleeve. She opened the lid, revealing a dark red Pill lying inside.

The surface of the Pill was covered in fine pill veins, five in total. However, a few of the lines were noticeably unsmooth, and its color was slightly dull.

“A Fifth-Grade Blood-Refining Pill. It stimulates the body’s potential for a short period, doubling the user’s strength for half an incense stick’s time. The side effect is that the user will be weakened for six hours after the medicinal efficacy wears off. This is the highest grade I can refine, but the success rate is less than ten percent, and I struggle to control its quality. This is the only successful pill I managed to produce out of twenty cauldrons.”

She closed the jade box, raised her eyes, and looked at Lai Li’an: “The finals are free refinement with no grade restrictions. If I compete with a Fourth-Grade Pill, my confidence is over ninety percent. If I can stably produce a Fifth-Grade, there is hope for the championship. But with my current success rate, forcibly refining a Fifth-Grade is tantamount to gambling.”

“A Fifth-Grade can win the championship?” Lai Li’an caught a key piece of information.

Ruan Se nodded. “Meng Qiuran prefers to play it safe; it’s highly probable he will choose a Fourth-Grade Pill to ensure nothing goes wrong. Entering the top three will be effortless for him, but winning first place requires taking risks. I don’t know Shao Jiao that well, but to my knowledge, he hasn’t publicly refined any pills of the Fifth-Grade or higher in the past two years. If both of them choose a Fourth-Grade, then whoever can refine a Fifth-Grade will be the undisputed champion.”

“In other words, as long as you can stably produce a Fifth-Grade, the probability of winning is extremely high.” Lai Li’an’s gaze flickered as his consciousness sank into the Scripture of the Eternal Alchemy God in his mind, rapidly searching through its vast, ocean-like collection of pill recipes.

Ruan Se was just about to say something but saw the corners of Lai Li’an’s mouth suddenly turn up. Her words caught in her throat as she instinctively felt a trace of unease.

“Senior?”

Lai Li’an did not answer her. His consciousness rested on a page of the Scripture of the Eternal Alchemy God, which recorded an inconspicuous but exceptionally unique pill formula.

Ranked as Sixth-Grade, the materials it required were far fewer than those of an ordinary Sixth-Grade Pill, because its core principle was not “fire refinement” but “wood transformation.”

In other words, out of the entire pill formula system, this was the most suitable Sixth-Grade Pill for a cultivator with a Wood Spiritual Root to refine.

“Fellow Daoist Ruan,” Lai Li’an opened his eyes. The smile on his face had not completely faded, giving him a somewhat unfathomable air. “This Venerable has a pill formula here. It is Sixth-Grade and perfectly suited for a Wood Spiritual Root cultivator to refine. Perhaps it can be of use to you.”

Lai Li’an turned his smiling eyes to look straight at her. “However, to refine this pill, I must first ask you to help me prepare a few things.”

Ruan Se paused slightly. Fifth-Grade was enough, so why did they need to refine a Sixth-Grade? What was this Senior planning now?

She originally thought the Senior would instruct her in some profound Alchemy Techniques, but when Lai Li’an unhurriedly named the first medicinal ingredient, her brows furrowed slightly.

“One stalk of Joyful Union Grass, over a century old. One with purplish-red leaves is preferred.”

Joyful Union Grass? Ruan Se’s eyelashes fluttered slightly. She recognized this herb; it was mostly used to make medicinal baths that assisted cultivators in regulating their breath during dual cultivation, and wasn’t considered a main ingredient in proper alchemy.

However, since the Senior had specifically asked for it, she simply nodded slightly without making a sound.

“Three inches of Dragon Yang Vine, peeled to extract the core.”

“Hmm…?”

“Half a mace of Mystic Musk.”

“Hmm… hmm?”

“One Jade Pot Spring Flower, preferably soaked in morning dew.”

“Hmm?…”

With every item Lai Li’an called out, Ruan Se’s brows furrowed a fraction deeper. She was an Alchemist and couldn’t be more familiar with the medicinal properties of these herbs.

Joyful Union Grass stimulated qi and invigorated the blood, Dragon Yang Vine nourished the kidneys and strengthened yang, Mystic Musk acted as an aphrodisiac and cleared the orifices, and the Jade Pot Spring Flower was an even more common primer used by the Joyful Union Sect when refining secret dual cultivation medicines.

She had never seen a pill recipe that brought these four herbs together in any proper alchemy book in her entire life.

But she still took these few herbs out of the medicine cabinet one by one, moving briskly and without a word, until Lai Li’an called out the final herb.

“One Azure Wood Spirit Fruit, age unspecified; the better the appearance, the better the medicinal effect.”

Ruan Se’s hand, holding that Azure Wood Spirit Fruit, paused in mid-air. She looked at the Spirit Herbs already neatly stacked on the table and fell silent for a moment.

Then she looked up, a faint blush already spreading to the roots of her ears.

“Senior.” She gently placed the Azure Wood Spirit Fruit back on the table. “This junior has never seen the pill recipe you mentioned in any alchemy book. These medicinal ingredients… Joyful Union Grass paired with Dragon Yang Vine, supplemented with Mystic Musk and Jade Pot Spring Flower…”

Her fingers clenched inside her sleeves as she finally squeezed the words out: “The… the thing this will produce, this junior… this junior does not know how to refine it.”