This was the alchemy room Mo Qi had dreamed of for months.
Yet, at this moment, he felt no excitement, only a heart full of doubts.
First was the matter of Xiao Cong'er's identity. Was she merely a disciple of the Lingxiao Sect? He doubted even the peak masters possessed the authority to grant such a large, independent alchemy room. If she was more than just a disciple, what was her other identity? What power lay behind her?
Second, where was this place? Based on his understanding of teleportation arrays, it could be anywhere from a thousand miles away from the Lingxiao Sect to right next door. The most likely scenario was somewhere a thousand miles away. Moreover, setting up such a luxurious teleportation array required not only array artifacts but also immense spiritual energy to support it. Her cultivation level alone wouldn't be enough. This implied she had accomplices within the Lingxiao Sect, or at least, her accomplices had visited the Lingxiao Sect before, meaning they could come and go as they pleased?
Finally, what did she want? Why did she bring him here?
Xiao Cong'er immediately answered his last question: "Didn't you say you wanted to refine pills? Everything you need is here. Refine whatever pill you wish."
A sense of dread suddenly welled up in Mo Qi. He felt like he was being held captive.
All his previous good feelings towards Xiao Cong'er vanished in an instant. He then released her hand, which was as delicate as a tender shoot.
Ignoring her words, he stared intently at her and retorted, "Who are you?"
Xiao Cong'er seemed startled, blinking her innocent eyes. "I am me, Xiao Cong'er."
"Don't play dumb with me. I'm asking about your true identity!" Mo Qi roared.
"I'm like you, a disciple of the Lingxiao Sect." Tears welled up in Xiao Cong'er's eyes. She then crouched down and began to sob, "What did I do wrong for you to be so harsh with me? My father is gravely ill, on the verge of death. Someone said only the Longevity Pill can bring him back to life. But the Longevity Pill has very high quality requirements, and I heard you were very skilled in medicine purification and pill tempering. So I wanted to ask you to save my father's life. If you won't, why are you yelling at me? Wuwuwu..."
Mo Qi was stunned. He had expected her to reveal her true colors and original form when he got angry. But she had started crying... This was something he could never have imagined. And her crying completely disarmed him.
"But, but..." Mo Qi stammered, "How do you have such a large alchemy room?"
"Because my family is rich," Xiao Cong'er replied, her voice muffled by her sobs as she kept her head buried in her arms.
"Then what about this teleportation array?" Mo Qi's heart softened, but he was still unwilling to let go of his doubts.
"It's still because my family is rich. I spent money to have someone build this teleportation array so I could go home anytime. As long as I find the right person, I can refine pills whenever I want," Xiao Cong'er continued to sob.
"So, if I open that door, I can go to your home, right?" Mo Qi pointed to a door behind the largest alchemy furnace.
Xiao Cong'er looked up and stood up. Her eyes were still red, and tears glistened on her cheeks, making her look like a pear blossom in the rain. She cast a pitiful glance at Mo Qi. "Yes, my home is through there."
Upon opening the door, a wide corridor led to a garden in full bloom. Various flowers vied for attention, their vibrant colors dazzling. As they walked along the corridor, a noblewoman, accompanied by several maids, approached them slowly.
"Mother!" Xiao Cong'er exclaimed, her voice like a skylark's, and rushed towards the noblewoman. Hearing her call from a distance, the noblewoman's face lit up with a smile. "This child, you're already a grown woman, yet you still don't know how to be demure. Why are you running?"
Xiao Cong'er hugged her mother's arm and said playfully, "No matter the time, you are always my mother."
The noblewoman beamed, unable to close her smiling mouth. The maids bowed to Xiao Cong'er. "Miss!"
Xiao Cong'er waved her hand.
Mo Qi stepped forward and bowed to the noblewoman. "Greetings, Auntie." The noblewoman looked at Xiao Cong'er with a hint of confusion. Xiao Cong'er smiled and said, "Mother, this is a fellow disciple from Lingyun Sect, Mo Qi!"
The noblewoman's expression immediately brightened. She stepped forward and gently placed her hands on Mo Qi's arms. "You may rise, you may rise. You are both good children!"
Then, the noblewoman said to Xiao Cong'er, "Cong'er, come, I'll take you to see your father." The group proceeded to another bedroom.
A gaunt man in his fifties lay on the bed, his eyes tightly closed. Xiao Cong'er called out to him several times without a response. His chest still rose and fell slightly, indicating a faint breath of life.
Tears streamed from Xiao Cong'er's eyes. "Father!"
The noblewoman also gently wiped away a tear, turning her face away before turning back to lightly pat Xiao Cong'er's shoulder. "Child, don't be too sad. Do your best and leave the rest to fate."
At this moment, Mo Qi's doubts vanished. He glanced at Xiao Cong'er and said, "I can try to refine that Longevity Pill. I hope it can help your father's condition."
Xiao Cong'er immediately stopped crying and smiled. "It will help, it definitely will."
Afterward, Mo Qi bid farewell to the noblewoman, and the two of them re-entered the alchemy room.
Xiao Cong'er, as if prepared, handed Mo Qi a piece of paper detailing the recipe and refining method for the Longevity Pill.
Mo Qi began preparing the medicinal ingredients according to the recipe. One of them was called "Golden Armor Silver Helmet Scale." Removing the parasitic impurities from the scales was akin to drawing silk from a North Sea ice silkworm cocoon, perhaps even more difficult. This ingredient was crucial to the success of the entire pill. It was likely due to the presence of this ingredient that Xiao Cong'er had asked him to refine the pill.
Once he started, Mo Qi found it much harder than drawing a thousand threads. After several hours, as he was nearing completion, he hesitated out of nervousness and accidentally damaged the scale. All his efforts were in vain. Mo Qi sighed. This was very expensive.
Xiao Cong'er, however, was unfazed. She asked him to get another one, offered him various encouragements, and went to pour him a cup of tea, urging him to calm down before continuing.
Mo Qi drank the tea, calmed himself, and resumed the process of removing the parasitic impurities.
After several more hours, he successfully removed all the impurities and let out a satisfied sigh.
Xiao Cong'er then poured him another cup of tea, suggesting he rest before continuing. Mo Qi drank the tea but did not rest. Instead, he gathered the other medicinal ingredients according to the recipe in one go.
Then, he lit the furnace and began refining the pill. Initially, the pill was refined with fire for a day and a night, then left to rest for a period, after which spiritual energy was infused for further refinement. This process was extremely draining of both mental and physical energy and took a very long time. In the meantime, Xiao Cong'er poured Mo Qi another cup of tea. Later, seeing that he hadn't drunk it for a long time, she poured it away as it had gone cold.
Mo Qi followed the refining instructions meticulously, without any relaxation or shortcuts. To ensure quality, he had to continuously infuse spiritual energy without any slackening. Furthermore, controlling the heat was crucial. He had to fully utilize the refining capabilities of the firefly pupae. He was drenched in sweat during the process. Xiao Cong'er, however, apologetically shook her head, stating there was no more tea.
They could have poured more tea! Mo Qi rolled his eyes. Fortunately, it wasn't long before it was over. The refinement was complete.
When the furnace door opened, revealing several crystal-clear pills, Xiao Cong'er's eyes shone. Mo Qi, not being an expert in pills, was unsure of the quality of his own work. However, Xiao Cong'er seemed to know her stuff. She held the pills in her hands, unable to put them down, and repeatedly exclaimed, "Good pills, good pills!"
Mo Qi's heart was still uneasy. He smiled faintly at Xiao Cong'er. "We'll only know if they're good after testing them. Take them to your father first. If they're effective, then come and tell me."
"If they're effective, we'll refine them in large quantities, and we'll be rich!" Xiao Cong'er continued to fiddle with the pills in her hands. Her fair skin, illuminated by the pills' radiance, complemented them perfectly.
Suddenly, she looked up again. "Aren't you coming with me to see the results?"
"No, I'll get nervous. And I think even if they are effective, the results won't be immediate. I've been away from the sect for a long time, and I'm afraid someone might be looking for me. I'll go back first. If they're effective, you can inform me later."
Xiao Cong'er thought for a moment and nodded. "Alright, but you still need to wait for me here. I'll take these pills to my father first, and then I'll escort you out."
Mo Qi agreed.
A moment later, the two returned to Xiao Cong'er's bedroom and then walked out. When several female cultivators saw them emerge from Xiao Cong'er's room, they were astonished. It was morning, and they were walking out side-by-side. Xiao Cong'er looked refreshed, while Mo Qi appeared somewhat listless, as if drained. The female cultivators immediately understood, covering their mouths and giggling, whispering and chattering amongst themselves.
Xiao Cong'er wanted to escort Mo Qi, but he stopped her. He returned to his own room alone. Fortunately, no one noticed his disappearance, as Baili Bing and the others were busy practicing sword flying, fearing they wouldn't master it within three months and wouldn't dare waste a single moment. Thus, they had no time to pay attention to anything else.
It was good that no one noticed. Mo Qi collapsed onto the bed and fell fast asleep.
When he woke up, he felt a sense of detachment, as if his soul were about to leave his body. However, a force within him was pulling that force, preventing his soul from departing.
At the same time, a surge of spiritual energy seemed to be coursing uncontrollably through his body, darting around like a startled rabbit, bumping and crashing within him.
Mo Qi calmed himself and sat down cross-legged, quickly entering a meditative state. When he probed his consciousness inward, he discovered that it was the sharp, slender object that was wildly circulating within him.
He was almost certain that the object was an arrow, and that he could control it at will. Even under his intentional refinement, it could become even more powerful.
In fact, when he discovered the arrow within his body, he immediately recalled the incident on his boat when the man in black and the man in white fought, and something had been accidentally shot into his body.
He never expected it to have been inside him all along.
At this moment, as he observed with his divine sense, he suddenly noticed a mass of black energy constantly shuttling in front of the arrow's tip. It turned out the arrow was chasing these black masses, always falling just short.
Mo Qi immediately channeled his divine power into the arrow. The arrow's speed instantly increased, piercing through the black mass in an instant. Mo Qi inexplicably felt a tremor within the black energy, and his mind cleared considerably. The arrow did not stop. Suddenly, it discovered another mass of black energy in a corner ahead. The black energy, as if sentient, immediately fled at high speed. But under Mo Qi's spiritual energy, the arrow accelerated, quickly piercing the mist and immobilizing it.
This repeated, the arrow continuously piercing the black energy. The black energy on the arrow gradually condensed, forming a black sphere. With a sound, as Mo Qi opened his mouth, a wisp of transparent arrow energy, piercing a black sphere, shot out from his mouth and struck the wall. The arrow energy dissipated, and the black sphere rolled onto the ground. Simultaneously, Mo Qi heard a faint sound of something like threads snapping in the air. He also seemed to hear a low groan from a distant space. It was strange, as if his hearing were mistaken, yet it was clear. Although clear, he strongly felt that the sound originated from a very distant place.
Mo Qi stepped forward, picked up the sphere, and squeezed it. It was somewhat soft, deforming with a squeeze, emitting a faint, foul odor.
Mo Qi wrinkled his nose. How did this thing get into his body? What was it?
Sima Shan was knowledgeable. He decided to ask him.
A moment later, in Sima Shan's room, the two sat facing each other.
Sima Shan held the object and sniffed it, wrinkling his nose. "Looking at this black thing alone, I can't tell what it is. But based on your description, I recall a type of sorcery. It's not from our Nine Gods Cultivation Realm. I've only heard of it, and I'm not sure if it's correct. Legend has it that the Taihe Sect in the Northern Cultivation Realm has a sorcery that controls human souls. They first poison people silently. The poison gradually spreads throughout the body, eroding and eventually controlling the soul. Then, the caster uses sorcery from afar to control the poison, thereby controlling the poisoned person."
Mo Qi recalled the sound of threads snapping in the air the moment he spat out the black sphere and felt a chill of fear, his hair standing on end.
"However, it might not be this type of sorcery," Sima Shan continued to play with the object in his hand, seemingly oblivious that it had come from Mo Qi's mouth. "If it were this type of sorcery, once you were poisoned, ordinary cultivators would be powerless to resist. With your cultivation..." Sima Shan glanced at Mo Qi, but didn't finish. Mo Qi, however, naturally understood what he meant.
Mo Qi became increasingly convinced it was this type of sorcery. He knew very well that without the spiritually imbued arrow, he would likely have been controlled by the caster while he slept. But the fortunate encounter he experienced was not something he could easily tell Sima Shan.
But who would poison him? One name almost escaped his lips: Xiao Cong'er.