Chapter 96

"Have you refined the True Qi Pill before?" Elder Dan asked in surprise.

"Of course, I didn’t come here to play around!" Shen Xiang casually said. In the blink of an eye, he had prepared several ingredients and started putting medicinal herbs into the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace.

Elder Dan's beautiful face, hidden behind a mask, was full of shock. To be able to refine a low-grade Spirit Pill at the age of seventeen, this was a true genius she had never encountered in her life, and it was the first time she had heard of such a thing!

Elder Dan remained silent, watching Shen Xiang refine the pill seriously. However, the next scene almost made her spit blood. Shen Xiang was actually sorting the herbs while refining the pill.

"Are you already refining the pill?" Elder Dan could sense the changes in the flames inside the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace. The heat fluctuated, sometimes high and sometimes low, in a very subtle manner, so subtle that she almost couldn't sense it, which showed how superb Shen Xiang's fire control was.

Shen Xiang said calmly, "Refining pills is too boring and time-consuming. Only by doing this can it be a bit better."

"Aren't you afraid of the furnace exploding? Doing two things at once is very likely to fail!" Elder Dan snorted.

"Hehe, I'm actually doing three things at once—refining pills, sorting herbs, and chatting with you!" Shen Xiang laughed. This made Elder Dan want to strike him. To be so relaxed while refining pills, she knew very well how tedious and difficult it was.

Shen Xiang slowed down, and using the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace, as long as he refined familiar pills, he could do several things at once. This was not just because of the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace, but mainly due to his subtle sense of refining, which was a talent. Otherwise, he wouldn't have learned refining so easily!

The ingredients were with Elder Dan, who first gave Shen Xiang ten sets, and would give more after he finished. But Shen Xiang quickly sorted them out, and on the floor of the small secret room, there were ten square boxes, each containing the herbs for refining the True Qi Pill.

"Elder Dan, if I enter the Great Pill Academy at my age, what benefits will I get? For example, welfare?" Shen Xiang asked, thinking about spending ten days with this mysterious Elder Dan, he felt a strange excitement.

"If you can really enter, there will definitely be benefits, but it all depends on me. The Great Pill Academy is under my control," Elder Dan said with a low laugh.

"Elder Dan, how about this, I'll give you some Hell Spirit Mushrooms, and we'll have no grudges, okay?" Shen Xiang had not had a good day since this Elder Dan inexplicably hated him in the Great Martial Gate.

"There was no grudge between us! What I did was just according to my preferences," Elder Dan said.

Shen Xiang sighed, "I'll trade a Hell Spirit Mushroom for an answer. Tell me, why do you hate me! You said before that if I beat you, you would tell me, but I can't wait that long."

"Although Hell Spirit Mushrooms are precious, I don't value them!" Elder Dan coldly snorted.

"Then what do you want from me?" Shen Xiang was speechless. He suddenly felt that this Elder Dan was like a child throwing a tantrum, with a mindset just like a little girl. He had once suspected that he might look too much like one of her enemies, which was why she hated him so much.

"Admit your mistake to me, submit to me! If you do it to my satisfaction, I might even take you as a disciple!" Elder Dan's voice was somewhat smug. She felt that she would soon see this stubborn young man bowing at her feet.

"Daydreaming! I'd rather die!" Shen Xiang ignored Elder Dan. He just found it strange because Elder Dan clearly seemed to be throwing a tantrum, with a mindset just like a little girl.

After more than an hour, Shen Xiang opened the pill furnace, took out six purple pills, and placed them in a jade box. Then he put more herbs into the Flame Dragon Treasure Furnace and continued refining the True Qi Pill.

This action was very casual, looking like someone steaming buns on the roadside. But Elder Dan was very surprised because Shen Xiang had really refined the True Qi Pill, and he did it in more than an hour, with six pills in each batch. Only by being extremely careful and fully utilizing all the herbs could he condense six pills, which required time and a lot of mental energy!

But Shen Xiang did it so easily! Elder Dan was silent, watching Shen Xiang's casual expression, feeling very uncomfortable. Seeing Shen Xiang refine this batch of True Qi Pills, she knew that the final winner was likely to be Shen Xiang.

Shen Xiang ignored Elder Dan, even when she asked him, he only responded casually, looking like he was angry, which made Elder Dan clench her teeth.

More than an hour for each batch, Shen Xiang didn't rest all day, continuously refining the True Qi Pill. In one day, he could refine eleven batches, and this speed left Elder Dan speechless in surprise, and Shen Xiang had never failed!

In Shen Xiang's eyes, refining the True Qi Pill was like making tangyuan. However, among the low-grade Spirit Pills, he only knew how to refine the True Qi Pill. Other pills required a lot of herbs, and he didn't have many crystals, so he couldn't afford the consumption.

Ten days passed quickly. Shen Xiang refined a total of one hundred batches, and he also rested for some time, totaling six hundred True Qi Pills! This refining speed was absolutely the best in the entire Great Martial State. If Shen Xiang was willing to help some families refine True Qi Pills, he would earn crystals very quickly!

The competition was over, and Yun Xiaodao and Zhu Rong hurried over. Seeing Shen Xiang's relaxed expression, they felt strange, thinking that Shen Xiang should not be able to win.

"Brother Medicine, you truly surpass me. In just ten days, you refined four hundred True Qi Pills! That's fifty more than last year. You are definitely the first this year," an old man looked at Medicine Hai Sheng with reverence.

Medicine Hai Sheng looked smug but humbly smiled, "Hehe, it's just luck. Besides, I have a bet with a young man who doesn't know his place, so I had to give it my all!"

"Medicine Hai Sheng, you said before that if you lost to me, you would be my disciple. Is that still true?" Shen Xiang walked over with a smile.

"Of course, but don't tell me you can beat me!" Medicine Hai Sheng laughed loudly. "If that's true, it would be the funniest joke I've ever heard! But you refining for ten days straight did surprise me a bit."

At this moment, everyone else started to announce the number of True Qi Pills they had refined. Apart from Medicine Hai Sheng, the most anyone had was over two hundred, and the least was thirty. There weren't many participants, only about thirty, and they were all relatively excellent alchemists in the Great Pill Academy.

Medicine Hai Sheng and the other alchemists were mocking Shen Xiang, but Elder Dan's next words froze their smiles.

"Medicine Hai Sheng, you lost! This young man refined six hundred True Qi Pills!" Elder Dan said, her voice tinged with a hint of hatred, as this was a result she did not want to see.