Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Refining Pills on the Spot!
Song Wan Ning propped her chin on one hand, lashes lowered, cool eyes glittering as if a hint of warmth had crept into that dazzling galaxy of a gaze.

“This lord has a question.”

Her tone was mild.

“How can we be sure the poison… didn’t come from Ye Chu Xue’s pill refinement process?”

The faint curve of her lips held something too quick to catch.

Ye Chu Xue’s heart jolted. Her brows snapped down.

“Impossible!” she said at once. “Every step of my refining followed the Medicine King Sect inheritance. How could it produce poison?”

“This disciple knows Martial Uncle Song once went to the Medicine King Sect Ruins and returned with deep regret. It’s only natural that he holds resentment.”

Her words sharpened, mask already torn away.

“But the Medicine King Sect was a top sect of the ancient era. The pill formula cannot possibly be wrong!”

Since when did Song Wan Ning get to smear the Medicine King Sect?

“Lan Le already said the formula is fine,” the Sect Master said, siding with Ye Chu Xue without hesitation.

Now that he and Song Wan Ning could never peacefully coexist again, he might as well elevate Ye Chu Xue.

No matter how biased the Ancestor was, she couldn’t possibly forcefully slander Ye Chu Xue with nothing.

“Oh?” Song Wan Ning didn’t move, still lounging, eyes gleaming with amusement.

“This lord already said the Sect Master is blind and dull, unfit to lead a sect.”

As she spoke, she sighed and shook her head, as though sincerely disappointed.

The Sect Master’s jaw clenched until it ached. He held back, and held back, but still couldn’t stop himself from roaring, “Song Wan Ning! Which sentence did this Sect Master say wrong?!”

Song Wan Ning finally lifted her gaze, lazy and merciless.

“Lan Le only said the formula is fine,” she said. “Did he ever say her refining process was fine?”

“Does a Medicine King Sect inheritance guarantee there can’t be mistakes?”

She leaned back, relaxed, utterly at ease.

“I think… not.”

She wasn’t just questioning Ye Chu Xue.

She was questioning the Medicine King Sect itself.

What was the Medicine King Sect, anyway?

She was fated to clash with it.

She was going to make the Medicine King Sect’s reputation in the Lower Realm stink to high heaven.

“Martial Uncle Song!” Ye Chu Xue’s voice went sharp. She couldn’t stand it anymore.

“If this disciple’s refining process is wrong, then this disciple is willing to be punished in the Eroding Wind Cave!”

A bold vow, meant to silence doubt.

“But if this disciple can prove my refining process is not wrong—then what will Martial Uncle do?”

Her gaze locked onto Song Wan Ning, bright with provocation.

“Chu Xue.” Gu Qing Yuan frowned, shifting as if to speak, but Ye Chu Xue shook her head at him.

“Master trusts this disciple,” she said, chin lifted. “This disciple is absolutely fine.”

She had full confidence in herself.

And in the inheritance.

There couldn’t be a problem.

Gu Qing Yuan fell silent and chose to trust her.

Their interaction did not escape Song Wan Ning. The smile at her lips deepened, but her eyes darkened into something dangerous.

She asked lightly, “What do you want?”

“Martial Uncle Song must apologize to me and Master,” Ye Chu Xue said immediately, seizing the chance, “and also Senior Brother Bai and An Ze!”

She dragged them in without hesitation.

No matter how strong Song Wan Ning was, the people around her still sided with Ye Chu Xue.

All of Song Wan Ning’s schemes would end in nothing.

“Fine.” Song Wan Ning agreed without hesitation.

“This lord was never the unreasonable type.” A soft laugh slipped out. “Hehe…”

Ye Chu Xue’s scalp prickled.

After that earlier scare, now every time Song Wan Ning smiled, Ye Chu Xue couldn’t help feeling afraid.

She forced herself to stay calm and pulled out her alchemy equipment from her storage ring.

A top-grade pill furnace. High-tier spirit herbs. Spirit liquid.

She swallowed a pill to restore her spiritual energy, then began refining in front of everyone.

“Lan Le,” Song Wan Ning called out with a smile, “you’d better open your eyes and watch carefully. It’s a perfect chance to see how powerful the Medicine King Sect inheritance really is.”

Lan Le’s face stiffened.

He cursed nonstop in his head.

He just wanted to refine pills in peace. Who had he offended to deserve this kind of trouble?

But he truly was curious about the Medicine King Sect inheritance. Broadening his horizons wasn’t the worst thing.

“Gasp—Senior Sister Ye is refining in public!”

“We’ll get to learn from it!”

“They say the Medicine King Sect in ancient times was absolute. No one dared offend it.”

“If Senior Sister Ye fully masters the inheritance, she’ll definitely be above everyone!”

“And then our Heaven-Questioning Sect will have even more face!”

Whispers fluttered everywhere, admiration thick in every word.

Compared to the untouchable Song Wan Ning, Ye Chu Xue was easier to love, easier to root for.

Many secretly hoped Ye Chu Xue would slap Song Wan Ning in the face—make her see who the Heaven-Questioning Sect’s real alchemy genius was now.

Time passed.

Ye Chu Xue’s refining settled into a smooth rhythm. It was easy to forget the eyes on her; she looked absorbed, controlled. Her flame control, her mixing motions—everything flowed like a graceful dance.

Even Song Wan Ning had to admit it.

Ye Chu Xue was talented in the dao of alchemy.

She didn’t even need to grind the way Song Wan Ning once had. In only half a year, she had reached heights others needed decades—centuries—to touch.

But so what?

In front of Song Wan Ning, a genius’s wings could only be snapped.

The higher Ye Chu Xue flew, the harder she would fall.

At the crucial congealing step, Ye Chu Xue poured in the Forget-River Grass extract she had simmered out. Then she added the Qi Jian Flower, the Bull-Penis Powder, the Tian Shan Snow Lotus, the Bodhi Leaf…

The order looked fine.

Lan Le nodded, approval stirring despite himself. Envy followed quickly after.

First Song Wan Ning. Now Ye Chu Xue.

How was anyone supposed to live?

Then his heart jolted.

He froze.

“Wrong…” Lan Le’s eyes widened. “Messed up… it’s all messed up…”

He surged forward, voice sharp enough to cut through the murmurs.

“The fusion step is wrong—wrong!”

Ye Chu Xue startled, her focus breaking. Spiritual energy wavered, turbulence flickering across her face.

Lan Le didn’t care. He pointed at the liquids churning in the furnace. “Your fusion order is completely wrong!”

“The Tian Shan Snow Lotus and the Qi Jian Flower are warm in nature, but they can’t be fused together first. They should each fuse with the other liquids first, and only then merge with each other. That reduces pill toxin!”

“If you do it this way, you’ll only double the pill toxin!”

Alchemy was strict. One misstep could ruin everything—or cost lives. There was no room for pride.

Ye Chu Xue’s step was obviously wrong.

“Impossible!” Ye Chu Xue snapped back without thinking. “The inheritance says to do it this way!”

“The Medicine King Sect inheritance is different from ordinary alchemy methods. That’s normal!”

“But you can’t say my method is wrong!”

In other words, an “ordinary” alchemist like Lan Le had no right to judge her.

Lan Le’s face turned ugly in an instant.

Song Wan Ning couldn’t hold back a snort.