"Fortunately, I've succeeded at last."
Mu Jinyu let out a light breath and turned his head to look at Qiu Bai and the other two, who were beside him, unable to contain their excitement and tears streaming down their faces, and he smiled at Qiu Bai.
"Thud."
Qiu Bai's expression changed from despair to astonishment and elation. Upon hearing Mu Jinyu's words, he immediately knelt on the ground and fervently kowtowed several times, his voice trembling as he said, "Thank you, Dragon Master, thank you, Dragon Master..."
In the midst of her excitement, Chen Xiuying saw her junior brother's actions and was shocked for a moment. Clamping her teeth over her red lips, her expression hesitated for a moment before she gritted her teeth, also preparing to kneel and kowtow to Mu Jinyu to express her thanks.
"There's no need for this!"
Mu Jinyu's True Yuan surged out, like a gentle breeze, lifting both Chen Xiuying and Qiu Bai up.
Chen Xiuying, unable to control her body freely, was greatly startled and grew even more doubtful of Mu Jinyu's strength.
After lifting them up, Mu Jinyu said to Chen Xiuying, "I was invited here by Qiu Bai to produce the Mysterious Yang Pill. I can accept his grand gesture with composure. This matter doesn't concern you, so you needn't act this way."
Mu Jinyu hadn't forgotten his original intention. He had come at the invitation of Qiu Bai, which was why he had persisted in alchemy despite Chen Xiuying and Zhou Yi's questioning, or else he would have left much earlier.
Since he had come for Qiu Bai, how could he let Qiu Bai bear the loss due to their mistakes?
Therefore, he would not accept Chen Xiuying kneeling to thank him either.
From the beginning to the end, his actions were not for her, so naturally, he would not accept her gratitude.
Chen Xiuying was no fool. After hearing Mu Jinyu's words, she instantly understood his meaning, and her complexion inevitably paled.
Mu Jinyu, however, was too lazy to say anything more to her. With a flick of his hand, the Mysterious Yang Pills inside the Shennong Cauldron, with their twinkling red light, were drawn out by him.
"Whizz, whizz, whizz!"
The elixirs shot out swiftly, fast as lightning, but Mu Jinyu firmly caught them all in his palm.
Opening his palm, three round and translucent pills, carved like red jade, appeared before Qiu Bai and the others.
Upon closer inspection, one could see six patterns like cloud formations, imbued with the essence of "Path" and "Reason," on the surface of these three Mysterious Yang Pills, imparting an aura of mystery and spiritual nature to the pills.
"This is..."
Zhou Yi, seeing the number of patterns, was struck as if by lightning, his body trembling violently, and his complexion turned from ashen to flushed due to the excitement.
He unbelievingly rubbed his eyes, and upon opening them again and seeing the patterns were still there, he exclaimed excitedly, "There are actually Six Paths Elixir Patterns; these are Fine Elixirs, nearly Top-Quality Pills!"
"My God, the 'Pill Scripture' wasn't wrong after all, pills really can have patterns!"
Zhou Yi, who had fortuitously obtained half a volume of the 'Pill Scripture,' had since devoted his life to the Alchemy Dao, always exploring and contemplating its teachings. He had also encountered some ancient pills passed down through the ages, but none bore any patterns.
He had always thought the so-called patterns were mythical, a legend, never expecting to see them today in Mu Jinyu's hands.
This made him incredibly excited.
"It is indeed Six Paths Elixir Patterns."
Mu Jinyu glanced at Zhou Yi with a look of surprise, then sighed, "It's a pity, though, that the Mysterious Yang Pill is a Level Four Elixir, and among such pills, a particularly difficult one to refine. This was my first encounter with this method of refinement, so there were some mistakes. Otherwise, there should have been six pills!"
"Uh..."
Upon hearing Mu Jinyu's regretful sigh, Zhou Yi gasped in surprise, his expression quite complex.
Three pills from one furnace, each bearing Six Paths Elixir Patterns, were considered the best among the fine elixirs, and he still wasn't satisfied?
Oh heavens, oh great heavens, oh earth, strike him down with heavenly lightning now!
Zhou Yi was screaming inside, overwhelmed with a mix of complexity and helplessness.
At that moment, his heart was bitter, and he understood more clearly what Mu Jinyu meant when he said Zhou Yi had no talent for the Alchemy Dao.
In the realm of Martial Arts, his talent truly wasn't much inferior to anyone, but in Alchemy, he seemed to really lack talent. After spending half his life, he still couldn't compare to a newcomer!
"Uh? This..."
Chen Xiuying stood beside them, looking at Mu Jinyu's pitying expression, then at Zhou Yi's mix of jealousy and despair, her own expression quite unusual.
After all, were these three pills containing six patterns considered good or bad?
Why were their expressions so conflicting?
Driven by curiosity, Chen Xiuying finally could not help but ask.
When Zhou Yi, with a heavy sigh, explained the classification of the pills to her, Chen Xiuying was also utterly astonished.
It turned out that among those who painstakingly researched elixirs, producing one pill at a time was considered a blessing from the heavens, while producing two was nothing short of a miracle!
Some of Zhou Yi's friends who also fancied alchemy, even at their best, never managed to produce two pills in one attempt, at most some additional solidified medicinal liquid.
But Mu Jinyu managed to stubbornly produce three, even in a poor condition. The gap was simply too vast.
Moreover, each contained Six Paths Elixir Patterns, retaining sixty percent of their medicinal power, which was literally unheard of and unseen!
The gap between Zhou Yi and Mu Jinyu in alchemy was like comparing a primary school student to Einstein or Newton in physics!
No wonder Zhou Yi felt such despair.
When the disparity was clear, jealousy inevitably arose in one of the two opposing sides; however, when the gap became too great, no one could feel jealous anymore.
After his despair, Zhou Yi no longer felt envy towards Mu Jinyu, only profound admiration, and he began earnestly asking Mu Jinyu about various Alchemy Dao problems, including the peculiarities when the Mysterious Yang Pill was forming.
"Why did the turmoil suddenly stop, and the Life Essence Qi vanished completely, not even a trace of Dan Fragrance escaping? At the time, I mistakenly thought it had failed, causing a misunderstanding for both of them."
Zhou Yi said, his old face reddening slightly, embarrassed.
Thinking about how he had told Chen Xiuying that the alchemy had failed, and the reaction of Chen Xiuying and her brothers, he felt quite ashamed.
Upon hearing Zhou Yi's question, Mu Jinyu asked him a few brief questions, then nodded in understanding and explained, "Any pill with slightly defiance nature in its effects will self-conceal after formation, its essence receding and its Medicinal Essence drawing inward, to avoid detection by the heavens and being deemed too powerful for this world, which could bring down a Heavenly Tribulation to destroy it. The Mysterious Yang Pill is no exception."
"Though it isn't considered very defiance, it still reacts this way under the current conditions."
"So that's how it is." Zhou Yi nodded slowly after hearing Mu Jinyu's explanation, realizing that there was such a theory in alchemy.
After all, he only had half of the 'Pill Scripture'. Although he had studied it for most of his life, he still only half-understood alchemy.
Typically, during his alchemy, he would just extract the medicinal power of the Spiritual Medicine, then start to merge the powers, and barely manage to condense it into a pill-like small pill, barely considering it "Forming Elixir."
Therefore, during Mu Jinyu's previous alchemy, he could still discern some intricacies in the initial steps, but during the Solidifying Pill phase when the Medicinal Essence drew inward, he could not understand at all.
This even led to a misunderstanding for Chen Xiuying and her brothers, nearly causing embarrassment.
After Mu Jinyu briefly clarified a few of his doubts, he left him to slowly digest the information and turned his attention to the anxious expressions of Qiu Bai and her brothers, smiling lightly and said, "Let's go, take these three Mysterious Yang Pills, and see if they can save your master."