Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Anomalous Fire Speculation

The next day, Li Jizhou once again stepped into the alchemy room at the backyard.

He paused slightly as he saw the woman in front of him,

with skin as smooth as condensed cream, a complexion like etched cinnabar, fragrant shoulders resting against a jade building, and Xiangyun wrapping around emerald hair,

enhanced by a coat of emerald bamboo green, she indeed was an elegant beauty.

Especially now, with her hands clasped in front of her, her expression calm yet imbued with respect, further adding a touch of noble elegance.

Previously, Li Jizhou was aware of her disguise but hadn’t used Divine Sense to inspect her true appearance; he was momentarily amazed.

“Forgive me, Pill Master Li. Yesterday while learning to constantly observe the state inside the Pill Furnace with my Divine Soul, I found my Divine Soul was overly consumed and couldn’t maintain the Disguise Skill, hence I simply showed my true face,” Yang Yuyan gracefully saluted.

Originally, when the family decided to send her to learn the Alchemy Dao from Li Jizhou, it was to prevent discovery by the Qian and Wen families, as well as to avoid unnecessary gender barriers, hence Yang Yuyan intentionally disguised herself with ordinary looks.

She even specifically agreed with Yang Yuanzhen to conceal her identity as the Yang family’s eldest granddaughter, falsely claiming to be Yang Yan.

After all, there was once a small rumor caused within the family due to Wu Daniu’s unrestrained mouth.

Though Yang Yuyan soon realized it was merely a false rumor and didn’t take it too seriously.

But still feared awkwardness between both parties.

“No matter, as long as you’re not worried about being discovered by others,” Li Jizhou waved his hand, not paying it much mind.

“Alright, time is limited, let’s begin!” He then sat cross-legged on the ground, signaling Yang Yuyan to start alchemy.

“Yes!” Yang Yuyan’s eyes slightly sank, slightly disappointed by Li Jizhou’s attitude, her mind unwittingly recalling that rumor.

She soon collected herself and began alchemy according to Li Jizhou’s instructions from the previous night.

It must be said, Yang Yuyan indeed showed some talent in alchemy.

Li Jizhou had performed once last night, and she truly came to grasp some essences, her control over the Pill Fire greatly improved, except for a bit of disorder in controlling the Divine Soul.

However, with previous lessons learned, Li Jizhou worried she might again get complacent, and as her first concoction completed, his face slightly darkened.

A vine condensed with Wood Element Magical Power suddenly gathered in his hand.

“Snap~”

Without mercy, he whipped it onto Yang Yuyan.

Since Yang Yuyan was sitting cross-legged practicing alchemy, the position of this whip hit slightly lower on her body.

“Ah!” Yang Yuyan was the pride and future of the family.

The Yang family’s old patriarch taught her personally, grooming her as the next generation patriarch candidate.

From the elders to the clan members, she had never suffered the slightest grievance, let alone been whipped.

The sudden act made her cry out in surprise.

This wasn’t just pain from the vine’s whipping but also humiliation.

She then blankly stared at Li Jizhou, who looked expressionless.

“In alchemy, the biggest taboo is a restless mind, a wavering Divine Soul. Your Divine Soul strength is not weak, yet it drifts frequently. How can you make pills like this?”

“Why are you looking at me? If you’re dissatisfied, take the Spirit Stone and return, find a better mentor!”

“Huff~ Huff~” Yang Yuyan gritted her teeth, her face flushed, yet ultimately she was unable to resist Li Jizhou.

“I don’t dare!”

“Then continue! Today I will teach you basic skills, extracting the essence of herbs requires utmost precision, learn thoroughly, I will test you after three days!” Finished speaking, Li Jizhou ignored Yang Yuyan’s emotions, took out the Pill Furnace again and mixed three types of herbs one by one.

After having a clear understanding of Yang Yuyan’s alchemy basics and talents, he already had a complete plan in mind.

As for the requirements Yang Yuanzhen mentioned, they could be achieved in at most two years.

These five hundred Spirit Stones were earned easily and justifiably.

Once Li Jizhou finished instructing, he got up and left.

Yang Yuyan watched Li Jizhou’s figure disappear from the inner courtyard, she squinted slightly, reaching out to gently touch the area where Li Jizhou had whipped her.

It was burning and humiliating!

Then, she opened her Pill Furnace once more.

After just completing the concoction, Li Jizhou had whipped her without even looking at the results she made.

She had thought she was really poor at it again.

Opening the Pill Furnace, however,

there lay eight Grain Avoidance Pills silently, aside from four Inferior Pills, there were three Lower Grade ones and even one Middle Grade.

“I clearly improved a lot since yesterday, pill success rate… Hiss, wait, why do I think like this?

Though improved, still far from the family’s expectation.

Could it be that I was too complacent?”

Suddenly, Yang Yuyan’s thoughts whirled, amidst self-reflection, she came to greatly appreciate Li Jizhou’s actions.

Touching briefly the area Li Jizhou whipped again, she felt a tinge of guilt.

“Thank you!” she finally murmured softly towards the outer courtyard where Li Jizhou stayed.

This inner change made her heart more serene and peaceful.

She began fully immersing herself in Li Jizhou’s teachings.

In the days to come,

Li Jizhou continued to maintain a stern mentor persona, whenever Yang Yuyan slightly fell short during teaching, it was followed by the vine’s whipping.

While in each whipping, Yang Yuyan’s alchemy steadily improved, her initial resentment towards Li Jizhou’s whips turned to understanding, then acceptance, and finally gratitude… she even worried whether Li Jizhou was not willing to teach her properly on days without whipping.

Half a year later,

Originally it was a day to test the alchemy skills taught ten days prior, Yang Yuyan had since cast aside any complacency, staying humble and cautious, her thoughts completely immersed.

But after waiting for a long time, Li Jizhou still hadn’t come.

She planned to go check in the outer courtyard, but just as she was about to reach the backyard gate, she heard a familiar voice.

Outer courtyard,

“Pill Master Li, I must trouble you again to help craft Spirit Trapping Talismans.” Wen Junyuan was still courteous.

Li Jizhou was slightly surprised, two years ago Qi Yuan introduced this side business of Wen family to him, in total he delivered Wen family nine high-quality Spirit Trapping Talismans.

And Wen family had already mentioned that after the third Spirit Trapping Talisman was made, the newly transformed Spirit Transformation Fire Spirit Rabbit was already captured.

Moreover, thereafter Wen family specifically invited an Array Master to set up arrays under the ground to prevent similar incidents.

How could they need Spirit Trapping Talismans again?

Furthermore, weren’t there at least six left?

“Pill Master Li, alas, after capturing that Fire Spirit Rabbit the year before last, just half a year later another fire attribute transformed Spirit Transformation Bamboo Rat caused havoc in the Bamboo Garden, three were used to capture it.

Last year, from nowhere came another one, two were used.

Then a few days ago, they found signs of damage again, my father already returned the fee to that Array Master and plans to go to Immortal City at a large expense to find a higher Tier Two Array Master to intervene.

However, in the current urgency, could I trouble you to craft ten more!”

After expressing his doubt, Wen Junyuan explained frankly the reason.

Upon hearing,

Li Jizhou’s heart stirred!

Three Spirit Beasts undergoing Spirit Transformation appeared over two years, all fire attributes?

Based on his past life’s particular research on Anomalous Fire knowledge, he suspected that beneath that Bamboo Garden might well be an Anomalous Fire!

It might be such fire causing nearby creatures to undergo Spirit Transformation!

“Anomalous Fire!”

If he could acquire an Anomalous Fire, he would no longer need to additionally practice the Flame Phosphorus Skill, and even the lowest-quality Anomalous Fire could allow him to transcend the grade of Pill Fire, with his current Divine Sense equivalent to Early Stage Foundation Establishment, he could easily advance to Tier Two Pill Master, and the likelihood of crafting exquisite Foundation Establishment Pills would greatly increase!

This matter involves Foundation Establishment opportunities; success could save years of time and effort.

But currently, it’s mere speculation,

Moreover, even if there truly is an Anomalous Fire under Spiritual Bamboo Garden, to plan for this fire, there are two major difficulties.

Li Jizhou had to contemplate thoroughly.

First, Wen family is a relatively powerful second-class immortal cultivation family nearby, their foundation is not comparable to the Yang family, they have five Foundation Establishment members in a family and have an elder at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment overseeing it, their Spiritual Bamboo Garden is a family heritage, surely heavily guarded, trying to snatch food from a tiger’s mouth won’t be easy.

Second, with Li Jizhou’s current Middle Stage of Qi Cultivation power faced against an Anomalous Fire, capturing it would be difficult, unless there are many special methods.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep