CHAPTER 11: TEST

Yu Tian picked some herbs and handed them over to Xueling.

"You want me to help too?" she asked.

He shook his head. "You should take this. Although it’s not as good as a pill, it should help you recover somewhat. I’ve never made a pill before, so in case I don’t succeed, you can at least recover some of your strength," he said.

He then smiled. "At least to the point I don’t have to carry you around anymore," he said.

She blushed slightly. She then grabbed the herbs and began chewing on them.

Yu Tian, on the other hand, began arranging the herbs he had.

He then opened the pill refining manual, quickly reading through it.

He then put down the pill refining manual, thinking to himself that he didn’t really need the manual. Technically, he did need it to understand the basics of pill refining and how to refine, but when it came to the actual process, he was going to use his Path to Heaven, choosing the path with the highest chance of success like always.

He placed his hand on the furnace, beginning to circulate his internal energy through the Path to Heaven method. He infused his internal energy into the alchemy furnace, making sure to infuse just the right amount of energy according to his calculation.

Then slowly, he began adding herbs and circulating the energy, still following the path with the most chances of success.

As he did this, he thought to himself that he was beginning to feel a little tired. The alchemy furnace was actually a high-tier magical treasure, and the level of energy it needed was quite high.

A few minutes later, Xueling, who had been circulating her energy before him, slowly opened her eyes. She looked at him, her eyes wide.

She had been observing him with her spiritual sense, ready to intervene in case he exploded the furnace, but it seemed there was no need to. She wondered if he really was an alchemy genius. She didn’t understand what he was doing, but he seemed quite confident, so she decided not to interfere.

Instead, she rose to her feet for the first time in a while.

She stretched her limbs before walking past him. She thought to herself that she had recovered around peak Qi Gathering strength. With this, she should be able to walk around by herself. She then glanced at him, then at herself. She wondered why he wanted her to walk around by herself - was she really that heavy? She then shook her head. What was she even thinking about?

She picked up the wild chickens and decided to cook dinner. He had been taking care of her; she needed to show him that she was also reliable.

Half an hour later, Yu Tian was entering the final phase of his pill refining.

He thought to himself that he had made sure to be extra careful, doing multiple calculations and accounting for all sorts of things, so it had taken longer than he had expected. Even so, it had been a big success, he thought as he stopped injecting energy into the furnace.

The furnace let out mist and something jumped from it, which Yu Tian caught. He then looked at it in his hands. He’d actually succeeded - it was a pill. An eighth-grade healing pill.

"You actually succeeded?" Xueling exclaimed in shock.

"Of course. What did I tell you?" he said, handing the pill to her.

She took the pill, putting it in her space bag.

"Let’s have dinner first," she said.

...

Xueling glanced at Yu Tian, who had a surprised expression as he took a bite of the food. "Surprised?" she asked.

"Yeah, I didn’t know you were such a good cook," he said. He thought to himself that it was even better than his cooking. He had expected her to not know how to cook, given she was the sect master’s daughter, but it seemed his assumption had been wrong.

"Well, my mom..." she began but then paused, seemingly lost in thought.

"Lady Su?" Yu Tian spoke.

"Ah, it’s nothing... let’s eat," she said, digging into her food.

Yu Tian glanced at her, thinking to himself that it seemed she also had her own problems. Well, she didn’t seem to want to talk about it, so he wouldn’t ask. He also dug into his food and the two ate in silence.

After they were done eating, she wanted to clear the scene when Yu Tian stopped her. "I’ll take care of it. Just focus on taking the pill and recovering your strength," he said.

"Thank you," she said.

"No need to thank me. I’m a servant, so it’s my job," he said.

As he was turning around, she held his hand. "Lady Su?" he spoke in surprise.

"I don’t think of you as a servant," she said. "Since we are not currently in the sect, our status doesn’t matter anymore," she said.

Seeing the passion in her expression, he smiled. He guessed she was probably trying to get close to him since he seemed talented. The number shifted and showed fifty percent. Well, he had called himself a servant to gauge her reaction in the first place. Depending on her reaction, he would decide whether or not to associate with her after they left the forest.

"Okay... Xueling," he said.

She seemed frozen for a moment. She looked into his eyes, thinking to herself that that was fast - he seemed to understand what she meant. Seeing his smile, she wondered if he had planned it from the start.

She chuckled to herself. She had never expected to be the one being tested. She would’ve been offended if a servant was testing her, but for some reason, she didn’t feel that way with Yu Tian. In fact, she felt somewhat happy to pass his test.

She thought to herself that he was quite capable. He wasn’t afraid of going out to look for food by himself in the Black Forest, he also had entered the mind realm, he could also refine pills after seeing the manual just once. If he joined her, she felt he would be worth more than her entire existing faction.

"You can let go now," he said.

"Ah, sorry," she said, releasing him and running into the cave.