An Ning tied the recently refined Foundation Establishment Pill onto the spiritual pigeon that carried her letter, then reminded Chen Ping to be careful and avoid exposing their trail. After that, she no longer worried about this matter and focused wholeheartedly on cultivating alchemy pills.

Occasionally, she would take A-Wan to stroll around the city to relax her mind.

West Flame City bordered the Western Region, so the local customs were somewhat influenced by it. Foreigners often came and went, and the folk customs tended to be rough and straightforward. In short, whether commoners or cultivators, most had hot tempers.

An Ning guessed this was closely related to the abundant elemental fire in the area.

“Fairy!”

“Miss Chen!”

“By the way, Miss Chen, the magical device you ordered earlier was delivered this morning. If there’s anything you’re unsatisfied with, just send someone to tell us!”

“Thank you, Uncle Zhou!”

An Ning smiled warmly and thanked him.

If there was anything unpleasant about West Flame City, it was the heat that truly troubled those who disliked warmth. The heat was tolerable, at least with the aid of spiritual energy, but the climate being dry all year round was unbearable.

A few days ago, the spiritual herbs she cultivated in her courtyard almost withered. Fortunately, in the cultivation world, there are always more solutions than difficulties, especially since powerful alchemists in West Flame City were plentiful.

She activated the array disk in her hand with spiritual energy. Moments later, complex patterns flickered in the air. In less than a quarter of an hour, the originally dry air in the courtyard instantly became moist.

On the open ground in front of the courtyard, several spiritual herbs instinctively stretched out their leaves.

No matter how many times An Ning saw this, she couldn’t help but sigh in amazement—it was truly miraculous!

Unfortunately, she was not yet qualified to use this technology anytime soon.

However, the system beside her, A-Tong, looked quite pleased.

“By the way, Host, haven’t you noticed the people in the mansion have been treating you better lately?”

Previously, due to the city lord’s influence, these people were polite but far from as attentive as now.

“That’s obvious. A clearly gifted alchemist and a no-background, no-aptitude Triple Spirit Root cultivator naturally receive very different treatment.”

If there was one thing different about the cultivation world compared to the ancient world she previously stayed in, it was the true embodiment of “might makes right.”

Here, don’t mention a low-background cultivator like her; even legitimate heirs of prominent families are looked down upon without aptitude and prospects.

Of course, she couldn’t deny that the two prescription formulas from earlier had played a significant role!

The formula to stabilize cultivation was expected, as she had tested it herself with predictable effects. It was the body tempering formula that truly surprised her.

In less than half a month, An Ning could clearly feel the meridians of this body had strengthened considerably.

Even absorbing a large amount of spiritual energy in a short time no longer caused the painful vein swelling of before.

It was a pity that the current spiritual energy was insufficient to control fire for a long time. Otherwise, if she could refine pills, she guessed the effects would be even better.

She glanced at the jade slips still piled up in her space. Even An Ning couldn’t help but sigh:

This golden finger is really worth having!

Days passed by, accompanied by the continual flickering of spiritual light on the training grounds. In the blink of an eye, it was already An Ning’s seventh year here.

The next morning upon waking:

“Miss Chen, are you alright?”

Dodging a sword qi rushing straight at her, An Ning had barely reacted but couldn’t help trembling slightly at the sight of Commander Huo Cheng wielding the sword.

The Lingxiao Sword in her hand nearly slipped away.

No matter how many times An Ning said she was fine, the cautious demeanor opposite her remained unchanged.

She retracted her long rainbow sword and couldn’t help but elegantly roll her eyes.

They say it’s a friendly sparring match, but with so much hesitation and overcaution, what kind of practice is this?

An Ning reasonably suspected that the reason her sword skills hadn’t improved much recently was because of this person.

Annoyed, her gaze turned slightly cold:

“Commander Huo, if you really don’t have the skill, you can just report to the city lord and have someone else come!”

Huo Cheng felt extremely wronged:

“No, it’s not that… I’m just afraid… afraid…”

Afraid of hurting someone?

Internal cultivation methods in West Flame City have always been fierce, especially the Flame Fire Art, which is highly aggressive. Saying it draws blood with the first strike is not an exaggeration. Even though he was trying to restrain himself, the damage was still formidable. He was not the city lord himself and could not control it freely.

He retracted the spirit sword into his dantian and instinctively glanced at An Ning.

Unlike the youthful naivety when they first met, An Ning was now a qualified female cultivator from head to toe.

Even in her simple training clothes, she radiated a unique aura. Barely in her early twenties, she had cultivation at the mid Foundation Establishment stage.

In these seven years, with the abundant resources and spiritual herbs from the city lord’s mansion, plus the vast collections of books in the library, An Ning already had several lifetimes of medical experience.

Apart from constant cultivation progress, her alchemy skills had visibly improved.

Almost from the first month of successfully advancing to mid Foundation Establishment, she could produce authentic fourth-grade spirit pills—Golden Core Pills.

According to current records of the Xuanzhen Continent, pills are classified into nine ranks based on their pill patterns. The previously mentioned mid-level Nascent Soul Pills belonged to the sixth rank.

The fierce bidding on that day showed how rare sixth-rank pills were.

Those who could refine sixth-rank pills could be respectfully called grandmasters in the current cultivation world.

There were probably only a handful of grandmasters on the entire continent.

Seventh-rank pills were even rarer, with no buyers and sellers, and their appearance could trigger upheaval.

Though An Ning was stuck at the fourth rank due to cultivation limitations, no one in the city lord’s mansion dared to look down on her anymore.

Refining fourth-grade pills wasn’t uncommon, but reaching such a level by mid Foundation Establishment, often having high-grade pills in stock and with such high success rates, was rare even in major sects with profound backgrounds.

Especially Huo Cheng knew well that An Ning’s true strength far exceeded this.

Thinking of the novel pills and prescriptions he had occasionally seen over the years…

Ignoring the vague cautious thoughts in his heart, a formidable person like her was undoubtedly a future grandmaster. If he accidentally got cut down by her…

Not to mention him, even within the city lord’s mansion, who else would not be in danger?

Without thinking, An Ning retracted her spirit sword with a hint of boredom, thinking it was time to talk to Xiao Tan.

At least get someone smarter to spar with.

Before An Ning could quietly ponder the sparring partner’s choice, Huo Cheng suddenly spoke: “By the way, the city lord just instructed that after morning training, you are to come over.”

An Ning was momentarily stunned.

After a moment, she followed the attendant to the main hall. The slightly empty grand hall still gleamed with the deep mysterious color of dark gold.

On the soft couch made of supreme cold jade marrow, the person before her wore a dark robe, and his jet-black long hair was crowned with a jade hairpiece. Though his expression was no different from usual, An Ning instinctively felt something was off.

Then suddenly, from the wide sleeve, a large, clearly jointed hand stretched out…

When the fingertips touched the other’s pulse, An Ning’s pupils shrank slightly.

“City lord, you…”

No wonder she had never seen any women in the city lord’s mansion.

Feeling the pulse beating under her hand carefully.

She had already suspected the city lord’s health before, but never had any moment shocked her more than now.

The fiery spiritual energy raging wildly in his meridians constantly swept through his spiritual veins. Anyone else would have instantly gone mad and lost consciousness with this pulse condition.

Looking steadily at the person before her, An Ning couldn’t help but say: “Is the price to break through to Nascent Soul really this great?”

If this were earlier, she might not have found the cause so easily, but over the years, with her understanding of cultivators’ pulse conditions, she had made great progress.

As the saying goes, medicine and cultivation share the same origin; no matter the changes, the core remains.

So it was easy to see that this was an old illness at least twenty or thirty years old.

Hiss~

To break through to Nascent Soul, he deliberately allowed the already violent spiritual energy to run wild, using pure extreme Yang energy to succeed…

This method was almost a death sentence.

It had to be said, this was exactly something a person like him could do.

Soon, An Ning felt her question was unnecessary.

Obviously, if the Nascent Soul breakthrough wasn’t so difficult, there wouldn’t have been only one person breaking through on the entire continent in nearly a hundred years…

And it would not be by such an extreme method.

Xiao Tan was clearly unsurprised by her quick insight. He withdrew his hand with a normal expression. His voice, slightly hoarse now, revealed something unusual:

“How is it?”

Only their breathing was heard in the large chamber.

After a moment of contemplation, An Ning nodded: “If the fruit of the Cold Star Herb can be found, I can try.”

Cold Star Herb was a spiritual herb growing in the extreme north, flowering once every three hundred years, bearing seed once every thousand years, and only thriving in the harshest cold.

Judging by these harsh growth conditions, its rarity was obvious.

Even so…

“City lord, you must be prepared. With my current ability, I can only alleviate one or two symptoms.”

After An Ning finished speaking, the hall fell into boundless silence again.

Actually, there was another method both of them knew, but to An Ning’s surprise, the city lord only glanced at her indifferently.

“Lingxi Valley, next month. You will come with me.”

“Oh… alright!”

An Ning nodded hurriedly, feeling a rare bit embarrassed. But who was she? She might have pride, but she could adjust it to fit the occasion.

Even now, An Ning hadn’t forgotten the earlier sparring incident. Yet half an hour later…

Once again, sharp sword qi aimed directly at her forehead. At that moment, An Ning didn’t even have the awareness to raise her sword.

In just a quarter of an hour, the shark silk woven robe on her body had already become tattered. The sleeves, waist, and skirt hem were stained dark red. Her previously neat bun was disheveled, and she looked like she had been dragged from a pool of blood.

Especially with the moon-white long skirt, the sight was even more shocking.

For a moment, An Ning truly felt she might die here.

Fortunately, the opponent did not actually want her life. Just before the sword qi struck her forehead, another flash of sword qi quickly intercepted it.

Before she could admire the opponent’s precise control, a clear evaluation came:

“Slow reaction, uncoordinated limbs, lacking life-or-death crisis awareness…”

An Ning: “…”

In short, just bad and needs more practice!

Though only superficial injuries, the sword qi attached was enough to keep An Ning bedridden for more than half a month.

And all this while, she used various excellent medicines without worrying about cost.

In several lifetimes, A-Tong had never seen the host suffer so badly, almost moved to tears:

“Wuwuwu, if we work hard to improve our realm, won’t that be better? Host, why insist on practicing this?”

“Host, you’re clearly not cut out for this!”

An Ning: “…”

“Shut up!”

She quickly pushed the little dog aside.

She didn’t take what it said to heart at all.

This world was dangerous; she couldn’t rely on others for safety forever. After reincarnating several times, this was the first time she could access profound martial arts.

Spiritual energy might fail one day, but sword techniques never would.

Survival was something An Ning always took seriously.

By the day of departure, An Ning’s wounds had mostly healed.

Lingxi Valley, one of the sects famous for alchemy and medicine on the Xuanzhen Continent, boasted two sixth-rank alchemy grandmasters and was practically covered in spiritual herbs.

When An Ning and her group arrived, the valley was holding its triennial alchemy competition.

The plaza was filled with legitimate heirs from major sects, as well as well-known solo cultivators who had come to join the excitement.

An Ning had already understood the rules before arriving: the competition was divided into two groups based on cultivation level—Foundation Establishment and Golden Core.

Winners from each group could select any spiritual herb from the displayed herbs as a reward. They even had the chance to obtain legendary sixth-rank pills.

Seeing the clearly written words “Cold Star Herb” among the rewards, An Ning originally thought she had come specifically to acquire this item through the competition.

But she saw Xiao Tan turn his head and instruct a subordinate quietly.

Soon, an elderly man with a youthful face but entirely white hair and beard approached, holding an exquisite jade box.

An Ning instinctively looked up and, indeed, the Cold Star Herb was no longer among the rewards.

Fine, Nascent Soul cultivators really were formidable.

“City Lord Xiao, your arrival honors us. This old man failed to welcome you properly…”

After a brief greeting, Elder Xu’s gaze quickly fixed on An Ning:

“Young friend, forgive my boldness. Recently, the Biling Pavilion released a new pill called Body Tempering Pill, and earlier, the Restoration Spirit Pill. Are these your creations?”

An Ning never hid this and nodded in affirmation.

The elder’s eyes showed increased admiration:

“May I ask your master…”

“Sorry, this junior cannot answer.”

Apparently not expecting her refusal, Elder Xu’s kind expression changed.

An Ning understood his meaning.

If he could recognize her so accurately, he surely knew about her master. Asking was just a pretext to recruit such a talented disciple.

But An Ning had no intention of taking a master now.

She could explore alchemy bit by bit on her own.

In the cultivation world, masters were like fathers, but the situation was unclear, and she had no interest in finding a ‘live father’ for herself.

Besides, she wasn’t sure of his intentions.

Due to Xiao Tan’s presence, Elder Xu said no more and left hastily.

Only after the man’s figure disappeared did An Ning look up through the window, watching the competition stage slowly opening nearby.

Xiao Tan glanced at her:

“So, want to give it a try?”

An Ning’s lips unconsciously curled up in response:

“Yes, since I’m here, it would be a waste not to try!”

Besides, there were quite a few “acquaintances” this time!

Hearing familiar laughter not far off, An Ning’s lips curved slightly.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep