Li Xuanxiao had already started the fire.

“Your herbs aren’t even in yet, don’t ignite the fire so quickly!”

The young cultivator immediately shouted a warning.

Li Xuanxiao lightly flicked his sleeve, and various spiritual herbs from the alchemy room’s medicine box were drawn by his divine sense and automatically tossed into the alchemy furnace.

Some of the medicinal ingredients’ yin and yang properties formed a subtle balance under Li Xuanxiao’s divine sense guidance.

The earth vein fire roared up fiercely, the scorching flames licking the furnace walls.

The fire surged so quickly that it startled the young cultivator, who stepped back a few paces and stared wide-eyed.

“Y-you... you...”

He couldn’t even finish his sentence.

Li Xuanxiao’s divine sense probed deep inside the cauldron.

When refining pills, the divine sense must constantly observe the furnace, controlling the scorching inside.

Previously, when Li Xuanxiao refined pills, he would produce five to ten furnaces of pills in one go in Mount Shushan.

Sometimes, he even increased it to as many as fifteen furnaces.

Now, with only one furnace, Li Xuanxiao was still cautious not to scare the young cultivator.

Speaking of which, cultivators in Cangzhou really weren’t as skilled in pill refining as those from Zhongzhou.

Feeling the earth fire was too gentle, Li Xuanxiao guided his divine sense to drive the flames into a more violent state.

Under such conditions, although the refining speed and pill purity could be accelerated,

if the flames were too fierce and uncontrollable, the ingredients could be completely ruined at worst,

or the furnace could explode.

The various herbs began to change, gradually melting into drops of crystalline medicinal liquid over time.

By this point, it was too late for the young cultivator to stop him;

he cursed under his breath.

At this temperature, it would be a miracle if the furnace didn’t explode.

So the young cultivator hurriedly called his master.

“Master! Master!”

“This fool is probably going to blow up the furnace.”

The moment the word “furnace explosion” was mentioned, all the pill refiners in the alchemy room turned their attention, putting down their work and gathering around.

“Close the barrier.”

This was a formation mechanism set up in the alchemy room to prevent damage from a furnace explosion.

Once the formation was sealed, even if the furnace exploded, it wouldn’t affect the surroundings.

“Boy, suppress the firepower!” an elderly alchemist shouted a reminder.

Li Xuanxiao ignored him.

“Is he crazy?!”

“Who the hell is this guy?”

Before their scolding could finish, the medicinal aroma shifted to a rich fragrance.

In an instant, Li Xuanxiao’s divine sense tightly restrained the raging medicinal power trying to break through the seals layer by layer.

This was a critical step—too early and the medicinal properties wouldn’t fuse;

too late and the spiritual energy would dissipate.

At the moment the furnace opened, the pills were already completed, their pill patterns winding like living veins pulsing.

Everyone was shocked.

Without rest, Li Xuanxiao continued to ignite the fire and refine pills.

After this batch of pills, no one dared to stop him anymore.

Soon, everyone realized this man was definitely a prodigy.

On the first day, Li Xuanxiao still didn’t reveal much of his strength.

He only refined one furnace of pills, but both the quantity and quality were already astonishing.

After two days, Li Xuanxiao completely dropped the act.

He started directly with three furnaces.

Then five furnaces.

Furnace after furnace, the pills were so simple to produce it was like steaming buns.

“.........”

Caishen stormed into her family garden, fuming as she found her father.

“Father, why did someone hold back the earth fire I requested?!”

Miao Zhishun didn’t look back as he arranged his flowers. “Why do you need such high-grade earth fire?”

“I have my own use,” Caishen said.

“For the commerce association?” Miao Zhishun asked.

“Since I’m Caishen now, I don’t think I need to report everything to you anymore.”

Miao Zhishun smiled, “The child has grown up. If you’re doing things for the commerce association, I wouldn’t say much. But if you want to use such expensive earth fire to solve your private matters, do you think that’s reasonable?”

“He saved me, so naturally I must repay him,” Caishen said.

Miao Zhishun said, “The matter has passed. He saved you, and I promised to give it to him.”

Finally, Miao Zhishun turned to glance at his daughter.

“Why have you been dressing up so beautifully these past few days? I think you’ve taken a liking to someone.”

“Father!” Caishen’s fair face flushed red.

Knowing his daughter well, the old man immediately noticed her thoughts.

She was clearly looking in the mirror more often.

A few days ago, she even asked the servants how to apply makeup better.

“A person of unknown background, unclear identity—I won’t let you take the risk. Besides, he still has another woman with him.”

The moment Di Nü Feng was mentioned, Caishen’s expression darkened.

“Father... I know...”

“You know, but that doesn’t mean you know what to do,” Miao Zhishun continued, “He’s already gone to the alchemy room. In a few days, I’ll find an excuse to politely ask him to leave our family.”

“But I already promised him!” Caishen said.

“Promises can be broken,” Miao Zhishun said indifferently.

“.............”

“How many furnaces has he refined today?” a young alchemist asked curiously, looking at the freshly made pills.

Someone beside him immediately answered, “The twelfth furnace.”

“This refining speed is... too fast.”

“Yesterday, he refined twenty-two furnaces in total. How many do you think he’ll make today?”

“I think he’ll break yesterday’s record.”

“Impossible?”

“Just watch.”

Soon, this news reached Miao Zhishun and Caishen’s ears.

“All these pills are refined by him alone?” Miao Zhishun asked incredulously.

“...Yes...”

Miao Zhishun twitched slightly at the corner of his eye. After a moment of silence, he said:

“Give him a larger alchemy room. Fulfill any of his requests.”

“Yes!”

Caishen looked on, her lips unconsciously curling into a slight smile at the man’s focused alchemy.

Then she glanced at her father.

Her expression seemed to say, “See? The person I brought back isn’t wrong, right?”

This time, Miao Zhishun said nothing more, just stared at Li Xuanxiao.

At this moment, a thought suddenly arose in his heart.

Regardless of this person’s character, at such a young age, with such cultivation and pill refining skill,

even if he had no background, it wouldn’t be a waste for his daughter.

Miao Zhishun nodded thoughtfully. Latest content published on NoveI~Fire.net

He changed his previous attitude and had already begun to consider matchmaking.

However, before that,

he still needed to test Li Xuanxiao a little more.