Chapter 74
Chapter 74 Refining Pills
Hua Qiyue nodded and looked gratefully at Ji Feng. “Thank you, Brother Ji! I’m sorry to have taken up so much of your time.”
“Haha, Sister Qiyue, you don’t need to be so polite. We would like to stay a few days more!”
Ji Jing laughed heartily. Huangfu Changyu turned his head slightly, looking at Hua Qiyue with some admiration. “Princess Jinghua treats your adopted son like your real son. I am truly impressed!”
Hua Qiyue stared at him nonchalantly, showing no love in her eyes at all.
The First Prince was quite puzzled. After all, many girls had wanted to be the Princess Consort.
Hua Qiyue was so indifferent. It was as if she had no interest in him at all.
“Thank you for your praise, Your Highness. I shall take my leave.” Saying this, Hua Qiyue left the hall for the inner room with Tianci and Yun Shimo.
Yun Shimo’s pace was swift as a meteor’s. He seemed to be trying to shake them off.
Hua Qiyue pouted. This man must have a screw loose today. Sometimes, he treated her with such close intimacy. Now, he was so cold and distant.
Hua Qiyue carried Tianci in her arms and started to dash after him. Her Mourning Steps could not only deal with an enemy, it could also increase her speed.
Bingyi saw what happened from behind and was flabbergasted.
This woman looked so delicate, yet once she executed the Mourning Steps, she was so powerful. Within the blink of an eye, she had overtaken Yun Shimo and outdistanced him.
Sigh. If Young Master had married this woman, could he save himself?
Yun Shimo led Hua Qiyue into the Alchemy Room.
It was a huge medicinal hall. Flying dragons and dancing phoenixes were engraved at the top corner of the hall. The hall looked majestic and imposing.
Inside its silver iron doorway, one could see eight standing columns. Each column held a medical furnace. The medical furnaces were massive, each two heads taller than a man.
Six or seven young men were walking around the room or tending to the fire. Hua Qiyue led Tianci in by her hand. The tall ceiling was engulfed in smoke, looking extremely dreamlike as if it was an immortal’s realm.
Numerous medicinal scents permeated the hall, some sweet, others sour, spicy or bitter. Tianci gave an uncomfortable sniff.
“Tianci, you will recover after a while here. You’ll get used to this, okay?” Hua Qiyue smiled. Tianci blinked. A look of cunning was in his eyes.
Yun Shimo strode to the central medicinal furnace. Eight young men walked over and bowed to him respectfully. Then, they left for the pharmacy to prepare other medicines.
Yun Shimo put the Purple Lotus Phoenix Ice into the furnace. Plumes of purple smoke instantly rose. An intoxicating scent permeated the entire hall, overwhelming the scents from the other medicines.
“What a divine medicine! Once you put it in, it overwhelms all the other medicine scents.”
“Yes. What an impossibly rare divine medicine!”
“I have no more regrets in my life after seeing it.” The eight young men laughed lightly. Yun Shimo swept them a gaze and they immediately turned silent.
As they picked the medicines, they eyed Hua Qiyue furtively. They all felt that this woman in white had such wondrous power. She had even mastered the Soul-Binding Steps, lost for a thousand years. She must be an extraordinary talent.
A young disciple carried a small spoonful of the black herb to Yun Shimo. Yun Shimo took it. He covered the black herb with his anima energy and it started to squeak. Within a few seconds, it had melted into a thick blackish broth.
What awesome spiritual energy!
Hua Qiyue was quietly amazed. She did not know the level Yun Shimo had reached. His Qi Art must be very powerful too!
Tianci released Hua Qiyue’s hand. She was so intent on watching Yun Shimo refine the medicines that she did not notice Tianci at all. The little guy had run to one side, asked a young herbalist for a bluish herb and eaten it.
Hua Qiyue finally saw Tianci and she was frightened out of her wits. Certain herbs could not be eaten!
“Tianci, what are you eating? Spit it out, quick!” This was the first time Hua Qiyue had yelled at her son. Tianci spat out his tongue with a grin, pointing at the bluish herb.
“It is blue ginseng. It can relieve a person’s anxiety and promote the flow of Qi and blood. It’s okay to take it. Although Tianci is just a boy, he knows this fact better than you. He must be a real genius.” The looming voice of Yun Shimo came from behind her.
Hua Qiyue heard him and immediately became quite discouraged.
She had to ignore Yun Shimo’s words. Yun Shimo made his other disciples leave, leaving Hua Qiyue, Tianci and him behind in the hall.
Tianci was only a child. So there were only two of them in the room. A man and a woman in a room. It didn’t look good.
“Tianci, eat this and take a nap. When you wake up, you will be able to speak.” Yun Shimo took out a blue pill from the furnace. Hua Qiyue opened up her eyes like round pearls.
“So fast?”
Hua Qiyue asked in surprise.
Yun Shimo cast her an insulting glance, as if mocking her ignorance. His expression was cold and indifferent. “Is it you or me who is the alchemist?”
Hua Qiyue pursed her lips. She scolded him quietly in her heart. This man is so petty!
Tianci took the pill obediently. After 15 minutes, he felt his eyelids turn heavy. He fell on Hua Qiyue and started to nap.
Hua Qiyue lifted him up and put him on a long couch. Although this was a medicine hall, it was not even hot here. Wind glided in from the roof window, dispelling all the heat inside.
Hua Qiyue was afraid that he might catch a chill. She quickly picked up a thin blanket and covered his little body.
Yun Shimo stood beside the furnace, adding the medicines the young alchemists had put aside bit by bit.
A unique medicinal scent rose from the furnace again.
Hua Qiyue walked over and saw the furnace glowing. The heat billowed over. She stepped backward two steps as she watched the silent Yun Shimo refine his medicines.
From time to time, Yun Shimo would be helped by his anima energy. The rising vapors were iridescent. Even the medicinal scent changed every now and then.
Hua Qiyue turned to look at the little figure on the couch. “Your Highness, I hope… that he can lose all his former memories. We will only keep the memory when he and I first met. Is it possible?”
Yun Shimo looked at her quietly. “Yes, it’s possible. But why?”
Why?
Hua Qiyue did not lift her exquisite brows. “Princess Huizhen is so cruel. She tried to kill him. What good will those memories do?”
She still remembered the day Tianci saw Princess Huizhen. He was so scared that tears kept streaming down his cheeks.
No matter what happened, Hua Qiyue did not want to keep those dark memories in her son’s heart. After all, she had owed Tianci too much in her previous life.
“Very well. But you must agree to a condition.”
A blazing fire appeared suddenly above Yun Shimo’s palm. It was a magic fire created from his anima energy.
He hit the magic fire into the furnace and it started to crackle. It became louder and louder. The herbal brew above the furnace seemed to be boiling.
“What condition?”
“Be my disciple.”
Hua Qiyue heard him and almost spurted out blood!
Be Yun Shimo’s disciple?
No, she used to be “worthless material”. How did she end up becoming such a hot item?
Why was everyone trying to butter up to her, like she was some rare, divine medicine?
“But you will train your heart when you become my disciple. I am teaching you how to conduct yourself. I’m not teaching you alchemy or Qi Art,” Yun Shimo added.
Hua Qiyue felt the blood she had wanted to spurt out coagulate in her throat. She could not say anything.
What the f—?
Did Yun Shimo mean that she did not know to conduct herself?
Hua Qiyue glared hatefully at his devilishly handsome face. His eyelashes were long and curved. Sunlight shone in from the roof window, enveloping him in a golden sheen. He looked even more suave now, as elegant as an immortal.
On Yun Shimo’s distinct profile, every curve was perfect. Hua Qiyue took in a deep breath and pressed her hand to her agitated heart.
Tianci’s memories… she really did not want him to have those dark memories. She would do anything for him!
“Very well, I agree!” Hua Qiyue gave a heavy nod, as if dying a martyr’s death.
Yun Shimo looked at her without any emotion. “You cannot regret this decision at any time. Otherwise… if I can make him forget, I can also make him remember.”
How provocative a threat!
Hua Qiyue nearly spat out blood in rage. So Yun Shimo was “humorous”, was he? Could he tell her this like a joke?
Despite everything, Hua Qiyue still had to put Tianci first. Even if she had bared her fangs, she must keep silent.
Yun Shimo kept sending anima energy into the furnace. After one hour, tiny beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Hua Qiyue stood on one side. She watched him finish the complicated procedure and marveled quietly to herself. No wonder people used to call alchemists the greatest. Hua Qiyue felt that she could never remember such a complex procedure despite having witnessed the steps.
Yun Shimo glanced at Hua Qiyue standing at the side, as idle as a bird. He said coldly, “Wipe my perspiration for me!”
Hua Qiyue started. She widened her eyes, staring at Yun Shimo. “Your Highness, I am not your maidservant, nor am I your slave girl. How can I do something so intimate for you?”
Yun Shimo lifted his brows. He said meaningfully, “But you are my disciple.”
He kept claiming that she was his disciple. Hua Qiyue felt the creeps. How could she have acknowledged such a thick-skinned man as her master?
Nevertheless, she still took out her embroidered handkerchief quietly, gently wiping the perspiration off her shameless master’s forehead.
What bothered Hua Qiyue was that his perspiration had a unique medicinal odor.
The medicinal scent from the furnace became stronger and stronger, making the mouth water. Yun Shimo turned more and more ashen, as white as snow. His face was without an ounce of blood.
His sweat seemed almost squeezed out, oozing incessantly from his pores. Hua Qiyue by his side kept wiping his scented perspiration with her patterned handkerchief.
The light in the medicine hall became weaker and weaker. Finally, Yun Shimo slapped his palms on the cauldron, sending anima energy in incessantly. Hua Qiyue stood on one side, sensing its fluctuating temperature now and then.
It looks like you need to control the temperature when you refine pills. This was a tough problem.