Time slowly passed.
Immured in the act of alchemy, Mu Jinyu had lost track of the time elapsed.
The group of women, also tense about the alchemy process, had not paid any attention to the passage of time either.
Suddenly!
"Boom!!"
The previously silent Shennong Cauldron suddenly burst into a bright red glow, and the entire cauldron started to shake violently.
"Clang, clang, clang!!"
Witnessing this, Gu Xiyan and the other women grew anxious, fearing that the alchemy had failed and the cauldron was about to explode. They couldn't help but want to pull Mu Jinyu away.
"Don't panic, it won't explode."
Jian Ruyan noticed their actions, her brows slightly furrowed and her lips parted lightly as she spoke out to stop them.
"Huh?"
Gu Xiyan and Su Zijin, upon hearing Jian Ruyan's words, immediately halted their actions to pull Mu Jinyu away and turned their heads to look at Jian Ruyan with a startled, questioning gaze.
Jian Ruyan did not bother to explain but instead stared intently at the Shennong Cauldron with her eyes emitting a cold, strange light, waiting for the opening of the cauldron.
Although they did not receive an explanation from Jian Ruyan, Su Zijin, and the others understood that in such a situation, Jian Ruyan would not be joking around. They stopped what they were doing, not daring to make any hasty moves.
Mu Jinyu, who sat cross-legged behind the cauldron, controlling the situation inside the pill furnace, was now pale-faced. Sweat covered his forehead and dripped down his cheeks, falling onto his trouser leg. He was oblivious to the conversation between Jian Ruyan and the others, and couldn't spare a moment to wipe away his sweat, because the situation inside the cauldron had reached a critical moment.
The myriad medicinal liquids, refined by the True fire, were condensing into a mass. Under his divine sense's control, they kept compressing, shifting towards a solid state.
The pills were about to form.
This process was pivotal; a failure now would mean all their efforts had been in vain!
"Clang!!"
The Shennong Cauldron emitted another sonorous sound, followed by the radiant glow of its body, looking as if placed within a furnace, which then receded like a tide, turning the cauldron back into its cold bronze color.
"What happened?"
Gu Xiyan and others stood on the side watching. Seeing this change in the Shennong Cauldron, they couldn't figure out whether the alchemy was a success or a failure.
They turned to look at Jian Ruyan, hoping she could shed some light for them.
After all, Jian Ruyan was the only one among them who knew a lot about cultivation.
Jian Ruyan, sensing everyone's gazes on her, furrowed her brows, slightly shook her head with an aggrieved expression, and said softly, "I don't know if it was successful."
Indeed, if it had been an ordinary alchemy furnace, she would have been able to use her divine sense to penetrate it and observe the situation inside.
But the Shennong Cauldron was a medium-grade magic treasure with an array that blocked divine sense from prying. She simply could not peer inside to know whether the elixir had formed or failed.
Therefore, Jian Ruyan was even more anxious than Gu Xiyan and the others about whether Mu Jinyu's alchemy had been successful!
"Sigh..."
At this moment, Mu Jinyu, who had been closing his eyes and immersing his divine sense in the pill furnace, suddenly opened his eyes. A flicker of brilliance passed through his eyes, which then turned to fatigue, and he exhaled a long breath.
He withdrew his hands from the Shennong Cauldron and gently shook them a few times to rid them of the numb sensation.
"How did it go? Jinyu, was it a success?"
Su Zijin, anxious about the outcome, saw Mu Jinyu's helplessly distressed expression and hurriedly asked.
Mu Jinyu turned to look at the women.
Faced with their hopeful eyes, he shook his head slowly.
"Ah?"
Su Zijin and the others, upon hearing Mu Jinyu's words, saw their original glimmer of hope and joy vanish in an instant, replaced by thick disappointment and helplessness.
Su Zijin consoled, "It's okay, failure is the mother of success. If it didn't work this time, trying a few more times will surely do the trick."
Gu Xiyan also said, "Yeah, don't get discouraged; no one succeeds on the first try."
Wen Rou said, "Little Mu, don't lose heart, there's still time..."
Jian Ruyan, listening to Gu Xiyan and the others' comforting words and looking at Mu Jinyu's distressed expression, felt her own tension and concern fade away. A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, as she prepared to say something to deflate Mu Jinyu's spirit.
Mu Jinyu glanced at Jian Ruyan and noticed her smirking, looking pleased with his failure, he couldn't help but sigh, "I'm just too awesome. I succeeded on my first try. Why am I so invincible? Searching for an opponent to discuss the Path with, but it's lonely at the top, alas..."
"Ah?!"
Jian Ruyan, who was ready to take a dig at Mu Jinyu, was completely shocked by his words.
While Gu Xiyan and the rest, who were still comforting Mu Jinyu, also paused for a moment, then quickly caught on and exclaimed in surprise, "What? Jinyu, do you mean? You... succeeded? It wasn't a failure?"
Mu Jinyu touched his nose and boasted with a smirk, "Of course, who am I? I'm the spokesperson for being invincible. Failure? That word doesn't exist in my dictionary. What were you all thinking? That I would actually fail?"
"Phew..."
Mei Yinxue let out a long sigh of relief, now understanding the frustration and distress on Mu Jinyu's face before. It was due to the loneliness of being invincible. She couldn't help but scold with feigned anger, "You were just teasing us, asking for a beating!"
She walked over and lightly punched Mu Jinyu with her small fist.
Mu Jinyu laughed merrily, completely unaffected by Mei Yinxue's hitting and scolding.
He turned his head to look at Jian Ruyan, whose expression was still dazed, and now somewhat cute, and asked, "So, how about it? Ready to admit your loss?"
Jian Ruyan snapped back to reality and, seeing Mu Jinyu's triumphant demeanor, felt an urge to hit someone!
She glanced at the Shennong Cauldron, which remained still, and said coldly, "You haven't even opened the furnace yet, and you want me to admit defeat just because you want me to believe you've succeeded? Who knows if you're lying?"
"Heh, so you won't shed a tear until you see the coffin, huh? Then I'll just have to oblige you."
Mu Jinyu, hearing Jian Ruyan's retort, smiled indifferently and lightly slapped the Shennong Cauldron.
"Clang!"
The lid of the furnace immediately opened, and a burst of dazzling green light shot out, causing discomfort to the eyes of Yu Linglong and the other women who had yet to step into the God Realm.
Following that, an extremely rich fragrance of elixirs wafted from the Pill Furnace.
Gu Xiyan and the others, upon smelling this fragrance, felt refreshed and comforted as if their spirits were revitalized and even the Elemental Qi inside their bodies seemed to become more active.
Jian Ruyan's calm expression instantly changed as she stared incredulously at the three round, snow-white pills inside the Pill Furnace. Her long lashes trembled, betraying the turmoil in her heart!
Her emotions were as tumultuous as the sea, extremely intense!
How could this be possible!
Mu Jinyu really succeeded at alchemy on his first try!
This guy, he must be a demon!
"How did you do it? Or are you saying that you have actually made elixirs before?"
Jian Ruyan was deeply unsettled, shifting her gaze away from the pills and staring intently at Mu Jinyu, with a tone of reluctant enquiry.
She still couldn't accept the fact that Mu Jinyu succeeded in forming elixirs on his first attempt at alchemy and suspected that he might have made them before.
"No, I truly did alchemy for the first time," Mu Jinyu shook his head, then, eying Jian Ruyan with a smile, said, "Are you trying to wiggle out of the bet?"
Jian Ruyan's expression changed slightly again. After a deep breath, she gritted her teeth and said, "A bet's a bet. For one month from today, I'll wash your clothes."
"All right," Mu Jinyu said with a teasing smile on his face, reaching to untie his clothes, "But I'm afraid you might suddenly disappear when the time comes, so you might as well wash a few for me now!"