Nangong Yu’s face lit up with a smile. Tian Huo had the disposition of a child, liking praise and acknowledgment. Moreover, this little thing was very fond of following Xiao Man.
Xiao Man glanced at Tian Huo, who had been appeased by Nangong Yu’s few words, and couldn’t help but shake her head. This little thing was truly too naive. If it encountered enemies and was tricked by them with just a few words, she would surely spit blood.
Seeing Xiao Man shake her head, Nangong Yu immediately guessed her thoughts. He glanced at Jiu You, who was perched on his shoulder, and chuckled, “Jiu You is close to me because of you, right, Jiu You?”
Jiu You quickly looked at Xiao Man, then nodded incessantly, flying back to Xiao Man’s side and twisting its body to communicate with her. Xiao Man laughed, “Yes, yes, yes, you only have me in your heart. Then, in a while, we’ll try out the new alchemy furnace. It’s a good time to prepare a batch of pills for them before we leave.”
“A Man, what grade of pills can you refine now?”
“Fourth grade,” Xiao Man said softly. “However, whenever I refine pills, the furnace always explodes. Only a few times have it not exploded. I’ve tried every method but can’t avoid the furnace exploding. Many of the discarded alchemy furnaces in the forbidden area’s cauldron cave were ruined by me.”
Nangong Yu imagined the scene of Xiao Man’s pills exploding and his lips twitched. “Then aren’t you very dishevelled every time you refine pills?”
Xiao Man chose the Foundation Establishment Pill and the Nascent Soul Pill. The Foundation Establishment Pill was an auxiliary pill for foundation establishment, while the Nascent Soul Pill was needed for core formation. Xiao Man’s Foundation Establishment Pills would explode every time she refined them. Now that she had Tian Huo and the Shen Nong Cauldron, she wanted to see what grade of pills she could refine with the support of these two treasures.
Nangong Yu assisted Xiao Man from the side, watching her methodically place the medicinal ingredients into the alchemy furnace. “Jiu You, it’s cold on the inside and hot on the outside. This ingredient cannot be subjected to high temperatures.”
Jiu You immediately adjusted the flame, while Nangong Yu handed the next spiritual herb to Xiao Man, gazing at her refining pills with gentle eyes. Indeed, she was always blessed, her talent in military strategy and cultivation, as well as alchemy, was astonishing.
“Five-eyed fruit, peel it.”
Nangong Yu quickly found the five-eyed fruit, peeled it, and handed it to Xiao Man. Xiao Man placed the peeled five-eyed fruit into the alchemy furnace. Her refining speed was as unhurried as brewing tea, her movements smooth and flowing like clouds and water, with not a single superfluous motion, making it a very pleasing sight.
Watching Xiao Man like this, Nangong Yu couldn’t imagine what she looked like when the furnace exploded. He fantasized about her dishevelled appearance when the furnace exploded, and compared to her serious expression, his smile grew even brighter.
“Are you thinking about how dishevelled I look when the furnace explodes?” Xiao Man asked softly, her peripheral vision catching the smile on Nangong Yu’s face.
Nangong Yu’s smile froze. “No, I just think you look beautiful when you refine pills, just like when you brew tea, pleasing to the eye like flowing clouds and water.”
“So pleasing to the eye, you must have looked very dishevelled when the furnace exploded?”
“Yes!” Nangong Yu answered instinctively, then immediately corrected himself, “If it were you, even if the furnace exploded, you would still be an elegant Empress.”
“I’m not an Empress anymore, just a cultivator,” Xiao Man corrected him.
“Yes, we are just ordinary cultivators now. We don’t have so many responsibilities. Now, we are just ourselves,” Nangong Yu said softly. “I am very happy.”
“Happy?”
“Yes, happy,” Nangong Yu’s voice was exceptionally gentle. “This way, I will have no more worries.”
Xiao Man looked at Nangong Yu in surprise. In the past, they both carried too many burdens and had too many unavoidable circumstances. They couldn’t act according to their own preferences, nor could they disregard the consequences. But now that they had no worries, their style of action was naturally different from before.
“A Yu, do you want to go back?” Xiao Man asked abruptly.
Nangong Yu didn’t answer immediately. He knew Xiao Man wanted to go back because of Xiao Jun Yan. After all, he was her child. Although the Prime Minister and his wife, and Xiao Luo and his wife, were supporting him, and with his arrangements, Xiao Jun Yan would undoubtedly become a qualified ruler. However, a mother could not abandon her child.
“If you want to go back, I will accompany you back.”
Nangong Yu did not reveal his own thoughts, but his next goal was singular: he would use the rest of his life to make amends for the mistakes he had made.
“I’m asking you, do you want to go back?”
“Your goal is my goal,” Nangong Yu said slowly. “Whatever you want to do, I will accompany you.”
Xiao Man fell silent, her gaze turning to the alchemy furnace. A medicinal fragrance was already emanating from it. Xiao Man asked Jiu You to adjust the flame, entering the stage of condensing the pill. Normally, the furnace would explode when the condensation was completed.
Xiao Man cast aside the extraneous thoughts in her mind, focusing entirely on condensing the pill, and simultaneously prepared to deal with the furnace explosion.
Seeing Xiao Man retreat two steps, Nangong Yu couldn’t help but smile. It seemed that too many furnace explosions had left her with a psychological shadow; she was ready to flee at any moment. This aspect seemed unchanged.
“A Man, are you planning to run away?”
“No, I’m just preparing to snatch the pills when the furnace explodes.”
“Snatch the pills when the furnace explodes?” Nangong Yu was a little confused. If the furnace exploded, what was there to snatch?
Just as Nangong Yu was bewildered, a sudden explosion occurred. Nangong Yu didn’t even have time to react before he was blown away by the blast wave. Xiao Man, who was prepared, snatched several pills and retreated unharmed.
Nangong Yu got up from the ground and looked at Xiao Man, who was clean and refreshed. His expression changed several times. As expected, she was always composed and unhurried, no matter the situation.
“Did you manage to snatch any pills?”
Xiao Man held out her hand, and several pills lay in her palm. Nangong Yu picked one up. “This is a Foundation Establishment Pill. Why is there a finished pill even after the furnace exploded?”
Xiao Man looked at the overturned alchemy furnace, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “This time, I think I found the reason for the refinement. But I need to experiment further.”
“Then try again.”
When Xiao Man was condensing the pill for the second time, Nangong Yu prepared to retreat, but this time, the furnace exploded again, and Nangong Yu was once again flung away, falling awkwardly in the distance.
Nangong Yu struggled to get up from the ground. “Did you find the reason?”
“Almost, one more time.”
Nangong Yu’s mouth twitched. He suddenly felt that accompanying Xiao Man to refine pills was a very dangerous matter, as he had no idea when she would cause a furnace explosion, and there were no signs beforehand. But how did Xiao Man sense that the furnace was about to explode?
“Alright, one more time.”