The back courtyard of the medical pavilion.
After washing his hands, Lu Jin'an sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion, his hands covered with a layer of scorching Dan fire, refining the Ice Soul Frost Flower in his palms.
Lu Jin'an always believed in relying on himself rather than others, so before stepping onto the Immortal Path, he had already learned about alchemy. By age seven, he could concoct some elixirs effective for ordinary people at home.
Now, having been on the Immortal Path for thirteen years, his journey in the Way of Dan followed closely behind his cultivation. He was a fourth-grade alchemist capable of refining most elixirs useful for Tongsheng Realm cultivators.
At his level, he could refine the Ice Soul Frost Flower without relying on a pill furnace—indeed, he didn't need one.
Although it was called alchemy, it was actually about refining this flower to extract the two types of medicine liquid hidden within the petals and stems.
The Ice Soul Frost Flower could be both medicine and poison.
As medicine, the negative cold property of its petals could temper a cultivator's entire network of meridians. In the cold contraction caused by the medicinal properties, combined with the thermal expansion of spiritual power, the meridians would be filled with resilience, thereby enhancing the speed and capacity of the cultivator's spiritual power circulation.
However, once the extracted medicine liquid from the stems and leaves was added, the Ice Soul Frost Flower became a poison that could freeze a cultivator's meridians, making it impossible to mobilize their spiritual power.
Watching the Ice Soul Frost Flower slowly turn into liquid in his hands, Lu Jin'an's lips curled into a mischievous smile.
This was the method he devised to counter Zhu Nanzhi—treating a possessive illness with another possessive illness!
He was going to coat his weapon with poison, giving Zhu Nanzhi a surprise.
As for whether he could succeed—it was a certainty!
Because the Nameless Poison Zhu Nanzhi had inflicted on him was targeted specifically at the Tongsheng Realm, neither exceeding nor falling short of it.
If it fell short, it would be ineffective; if it exceeded, the medicinal properties would be too strong, causing inevitable rejection in any cultivator.
So Zhu Nanzhi had used a certain kind of imperceptible magic during the poisoning, and he knew this type of magic as well, confident that Zhu Nanzhi wouldn't discover it.
A successful Zhu Nanzhi wouldn't be as vigilant as he was!
After calming himself, Lu Jin'an cleared his mind and continued focusing intently on extracting the medicine liquid, not daring to be careless in the slightest.
The Ice Soul Frost Flower by his side was the only one, and his future, whether to remain human or become a Sword Spirit, was at stake. Even though he had extracted this grade of medicine liquid countless times before, he approached it with the mindset he had when first crafting fourth-grade elixirs, his eyes only on the droplets of transparent medicine liquid extracted and stored within the barrier.
As time passed, the blood donors, who had passed their lunch break, gathered at the medical pavilion's entrance, puzzled by its unusual delay in opening.
But no matter the noise, no one dared to demand the door be opened.
On the roof, Xia Ming coldly observed the group of demon cultivators, thinking to himself that Lu Jin'an ought to treat him to a good meal today, right?
What would be good to eat?
He pondered until he didn't know how much time had elapsed, as many demon cultivators wishing to donate blood had dispersed below. Xia Ming also felt that the scorching Dan fire in the back courtyard had subsided.
Glancing up at the sun, he realized it was just past the late afternoon, and then fluttered his wings down to the back courtyard.
Transforming back into his human form, Xia Ming stared as Lu Jin'an held a porcelain bottle receiving the medicine liquid, blinking and asked, "Weren't you going to refine pills?"
"Don't mind the details."
Having carefully filled a bottle with medicine liquid, Lu Jin'an exhaled a long breath, his face revealing a relaxed smile.
Xia Ming looked curiously at Lu Jin'an. Although Ice Soul Frost Flower was rather rare, extracting this grade of medicine liquid was a simple task for Senior Brother. So why did he seem so cautious?
After securely storing the porcelain bottle, Lu Jin'an got up and headed toward the outer hall: "Open the medical pavilion's door."
"Okay~" Xia Ming said as he ran to open the door, asking as he ran: "Senior Brother, I would like to eat meat tonight."
"Hmm..."
As Lu Jin'an reached the outer hall, watching the living blood banks file in, he sat down on the chair behind the consultation desk, basking in the afternoon sunlight streaming through the window lattices.
"Will you cook yourself?" Xia Ming looked at Lu Jin'an with a hopeful gaze: "I can go hunting."
"You've reached a level where you no longer need to eat, yet you're still so gluttonous?" Lu Jin'an teased.
"Senior Brother, you've said that the process of cultivation is a 'Human Moves Mountains' process, without needing to abandon emotions, desires, or appetites," Xia Ming stated confidently, "Senior Brother, you're such a great cook, so before you return to the sect, I need to check if your cooking has deteriorated."
"Nanxiang will bring me food later." Lu Jin'an said, glancing at Xia Ming, wondering if he should have her leave first.
It wasn't because he was worried about his identity being discovered, but mainly out of concern for Zhu Nanzhi's jealousy.
The risk of possessiveness-driven jealousy was high.
"Huh? You're not going to cook? I'm really craving it. Can you at least make a meat dish..."
The girl Xia Ming mumbled in a conflicted expression, while Lu Jin'an didn't hear a word as he pondered another issue.
That was the purpose of Zhu Nanzhi's visit here.
Before using the "Great Freedom Visualization Technique" to reverse the long river of time, Zhu Nanzhi had mentioned "returning tomorrow," so why was it tomorrow?
Was her purpose here merely to experience the mundane world?
If that was all, couldn't she, having sealed her cultivation, still indulge for a while longer?
Precisely at 'tomorrow,' when Lin Mu and Li Huangquan were most likely to determine the victor...
Could Zhu Nanzhi intend to gain something from this Qi Fortune Competition in the Nanzhuo Domain?
As he pondered, Lu Jin'an stood and walked outside, Xia Ming hurriedly following, expectantly asking, "Have I persuaded you? Are you going hunting?"
"Do me a favor." Lu Jin'an turned his head to Xia Ming: "Investigate if there's anyone or anything important around Lin Mu, mainly people, especially his love interests."
After thinking it over, Lu Jin'an still believed Zhu Nanzhi was more likely to be looking for someone. After all, finding a seven-leaf Ice Soul Frost Flower in a small place like Nanzhuo Domain was already a considerable blessing, and Qingmiao Palace didn't lack such things, so the likelihood of it being a person was high.
Especially since this person also bore some special constitution.
Xia Ming blinked, seeing Lu Jin'an's earnest expression, and nodded seriously in return: "I understand."
Lu Jin'an hastily placed a hand on Xia Ming's shoulder just as she began to take two steps away: "Observe from a distance, and return if there's nothing to discover. Be safe...
Decide what to cook. I'll cook."
Now driven with motivation, Xia Ming wasted no words, transforming back into her original form and quickly disappearing into the air.
With his hand lowered, Lu Jin'an didn't continue pondering the matter. After all, it didn't impact him much; he just wanted more information about Zhu Nanzhi.
Stretching lazily, he was about to turn around when a voice, sounding oh-so-gentle, came from behind—
"Husband and that girl, they seem to be quite close?"
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