Medical pavilion backyard.
After washing his hands, Lu Jin'an sat cross-legged on the mat, a layer of scorching Dan Fire covering his hands, refining the Ice Soul Frost Flower between his palms.
Lu Jin'an always believed it was better to rely on oneself rather than others, so before stepping onto the Immortal Path, he had studied alchemy; by the age of seven, he could already make some elixirs effective for ordinary people at home.
Now, thirteen years into his Immortal Path, his path of alchemy closely followed his cultivation, allowing him to produce most elixirs useful for Tongsheng Realm cultivators as a fourth-grade Alchemist.
At his level, he could refine the Ice Soul Frost Flower even without the aid of a Pill Furnace—in fact, no furnace was needed.
Though it was called alchemy, it was really just about refining the flower to extract the two types of medicine liquid hidden in its petals and stems.
The Ice Soul Frost Flower can be medicine, but it can also be poison.
As medicine, the petals of the Ice Soul Frost Flower, due to their cold nature, can temper a cultivator's meridians throughout the body. In the 'cold contraction' caused by the medicinal properties, combined with the 'thermal expansion' of spiritual power, the meridians become resilient, thereby enhancing the speed and capacity of spiritual power circulation for the cultivator.
However, once the medicine liquid extracted from the stems and leaves is added, the Ice Soul Frost Flower turns into a poison, one that can freeze a cultivator's meridians and render spiritual power immovable.
Watching the Ice Soul Frost Flower in his hand gradually melt into liquid, Lu Jin'an had a mischievous smile emerge on his lips.
This was the method he came up with to counter Zhu Nanzhi—using the crazy method to treat a crazy body!
He was going to coat his weapon with poison, giving Zhu Nanzhi a surprise.
As for whether it would succeed—it definitely would!
Because the Nameless Poison Zhu Nanzhi planted in him was targeted at the Tongsheng Realm, it couldn't possibly exceed or fall short of that.
If it falls short, it's useless; if it exceeds, the medicinal properties are too strong, making it impossible for a cultivator to have no feeling of rejection.
Therefore, Zhu Nanzhi used some unnoticed magical technique when poisoning, and this type of technique he also knew, and he was confident Zhu Nanzhi couldn't detect it.
Having successfully poisoned Zhu Nanzhi, her vigilance certainly wasn't as strong as his!
After calming himself, Lu Jin'an cast aside distractions and continued to focus intently on extracting the medicine liquid, not daring to show the slightest negligence.
The Ice Soul Frost Flower at his side was just this one, and it concerned his own future of being either a person or a Sword Spirit, so even though he'd extracted medicine liquids of the same grade countless times, at this moment, he held the mindset of his first refining of the fourth-grade elixir, with his eyes only on the drops of transparent medicine liquid being extracted and stored in the barrier.
Time passed, the blood donors gathered at the medical pavilion's door after lunchtime, curiously looking at the pavilion which remained closed at this hour.
Despite the noise, no one dared to demand entry.
On the eaves, Xia Ming gazed indifferently at this group of demon cultivators, pondering whether Lu Jin'an would finally treat him to a good meal today.
What to eat?
As the thoughts wandered, after an unknown span of time, quite a few demon cultivators dispersed, and Xia Ming sensed the heat of Dan Fire in the backyard subsiding.
Looking up at the sun, knowing it was just past late afternoon, he flapped his wings and flew to the backyard.
Returning to human form, Xia Ming stared at the porcelain bottle in Lu Jin'an's hand, which was collecting the medicine liquid, blinking and asking, "Weren't you going to make elixirs?"
"Don't mind the details."
Lu Jin'an, carefully filling up a bottle with medicine liquid, heaved a long sigh and a relaxed smile appeared on his face.
Xia Ming looked curiously at Lu Jin'an, knowing that although the Ice Soul Frost Flower was rare, extracting this grade of medicine liquid was second nature to the senior brother, so why did he seem so cautious?
Having packed away the porcelain bottle, Lu Jin'an stood up and walked towards the outer hall, "Open the medical pavilion door."
"Alright~" Xia Ming jogged to open the door, asking as he ran, "Senior brother, I want to eat meat tonight."
"Hmm..."
Having reached the outer hall, Lu Jin'an watched as the steady stream of living blood supplies entered, sitting back in the chair behind the diagnosis desk to enjoy the afternoon sun streaming in through the lattice windows.
"Will you cook yourself?" Xia Ming eagerly gazed at Lu Jin'an, "I can go hunting."
"At a level where we don't need food anymore, aren't you still greedy?" Lu Jin'an teased.
"Senior brother, you once said that the process of cultivation is like 'Human Moves Mountains', and there's no need to abandon the desires such as emotions and culinary desires." Xia Ming justified, "Your cooking skills are so great, before you return to the sect, I need to check if your culinary skills have declined."
"Nan Zhi will bring food for me later." Lu Jin'an said, glancing at Xia Ming and thinking about whether he should have her leave first?
It's not that he feared his identity being discovered, mainly he was worried about Zhu Nanzhi being jealous.
The risk of a crazy being jealous is high.
"Huh? You're not cooking, I'm really craving though, making another meat dish should be okay..."
The young girl Xia Ming mumbled in a tangled expression, but Lu Jin'an listened to none of it, contemplating something else.
That is, the purpose of Zhu Nanzhi's visit here.
Before activating the "Great Freedom Visualization Technique" to reverse the long river of time, Zhu Nanzhi mentioned "having to return tomorrow"; why tomorrow?
Was her purpose of coming here merely mundane interactions?
If so, with her having sealed her cultivation, she could still indulgently enjoy a period of time, right?
Yet it happened to be 'tomorrow', a time point when Lin Mu and Li Huangquan were likely to determine a victor in their Qi Fortune Competition...
Could Zhu Nanzhi be aiming to obtain something from this Qi Fortune Competition in the Nanzhuo Domain?
As the thoughts unraveled, Lu Jin'an stood up and headed outside, Xia Ming promptly following with expectant eyes and asking, "Were you persuaded by me, planning to go hunting?"
"Do me a favor." Lu Jin'an turned to Xia Ming, "Investigate if there's anyone or anything important around Lin Mu, especially those romantic interests of his."
Thinking it over, Lu Jin'an still felt it was more likely that Zhu Nanzhi was looking for someone. After all, a small place like Nanzhuo Domain having a seven-petaled Ice Soul Frost Flower was already a great fortune, and such things Qingmiao Palace wasn't lacking in, so the likelihood it was a person's affair was substantial.
Especially if that person bore some special physique.
Xia Ming blinked, seeing Lu Jin'an's serious expression, and seriously nodded as well, "Understood."
Lu Jin'an quickly reached out and placed a hand on Xia Ming's shoulder as she started to walk, "Just observe from afar, return if you see nothing, stay safe...
Decide the dish name, I'll cook."
Suddenly motivated, Xia Ming, without wasting words, transformed back into her original form and swiftly disappeared into the sky.
Lowering his hand, Lu Jin'an ceased pondering over the matter, figuring this matter didn't greatly affect him, just wanting to grasp more intelligence about Zhu Nanzhi.
Stretching lazily, he was just about to turn around when a gentle voice sounded from behind—
"Husband and that girl, they seem very close?"
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