Chapter Eighty-One: Refining the Elixir

  In the Wolf Fang Team's base, Yu Yan sat alone on top of a mountain peak, her hands propping up her chin as she gazed out at the scenery below. She couldn't help but let out a sigh and murmured softly, "Hua Ming, where are you now?"

  Whoosh! A figure suddenly appeared behind Yu Yan's body.

  "Who?" As the peak of Wushen's cultivation, Yu Yan naturally felt the spatial fluctuations in the first moment. With a loud shout, her entire body was surrounded by circles of pale red light that enveloped her from all sides.

  "Hua Ming." When Yu Yan felt the arrival of someone, she was stunned for a moment, then directly put away Wu Yuan and rushed to the person, with a smiling face: "Hua Ming, have you finished handling the matter this time?"

  "Ah, it's almost done." Zhang Huaming saw Yu Yan's happy expression and smiled in response, but he seemed to have thought of something and said with a guilty look on his face: "Yan'er, I'm afraid I'll be closing up for some days again."

  "Again with the closed doors!" Yu Yan, who was originally delighted, heard this sentence and her smile froze for a fraction of a second. Then she smiled again: "It's okay, Hua Ming, you go attend to your duties first."

  Although Yu Yan's smile froze for a moment, she was still caught by Zhang Huaming who had been observing her. Zhang Huaming's heart moved slightly, and with a smile on his face, he said: "Yan'er, you're really something else this time. I want you to close up with me together, I need your help."

  "Help?" Yu Yan heard Zhang Huaming's words and was slightly stunned, the next moment she seemed to have thought of something, her face showed a blush and she responded in a low voice: "En."

  Zhang Huaming saw Yu Yan's expression and immediately understood that his wife had misunderstood him. However, as soon as he thought of the enchanting moment in the Flame Mountain cave, a surge of desire welled up in his heart. He directly pulled his wife's hand, and the two disappeared into thin air together.

  At the top of the waterfall, there is a small cave. At this moment, two urgent breathing sounds are echoing in this small cave. These urgent breathing sounds lasted for more than two hours before subsiding.

  Two bodies entwined together, Yu Yan lay on Zhang Huaming's chest, with a happy expression on her face: "Huaming, you said earlier that you need my help to close the door? What can I do to help?"

  In Yuxuan's view, as long as she can help her husband with his work, it is a top priority and a very happy thing.

  "Hehe! Yanyan, guess what I'm going to do after I go into seclusion? If you guess correctly, there's a prize!"

  "Guess what?" Yu Yan turned over, facing Zhang Huaming, she wanted to see something from her husband's expression, but unfortunately, she was disappointed, because all she saw on her husband's face was a smile. Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind.

  "Hua Ming, if Yan'er isn't mistaken, this time you've gone into seclusion is definitely about the poisoned members of the Wolf Fang Squad, right?"

  "Hehe! Yanyan, you guessed it right. Now guess again, what am I going to do this time by closing the door?"

  "Ah!" Yu Yan fell into thought once again, with various possibilities flashing through her mind one by one, but they were all dismissed. She was about to ask a question, but when she saw the expectant look on her husband's face, another idea suddenly flashed in her mind, which even startled herself.

  "Hua Ming, you're not going to tell me that you're going to refine a pill, and one that can detoxify at that?!" Yu Yan asked with a probing expression, because she herself was also somewhat skeptical that her husband could refine pills. If it weren't for the fact that her family was also a lineage of tens of thousands of years, she really wouldn't have known that there was such a thing as alchemy in this world. And earlier, when she thought about her husband's closed-door training and what she could do to help him, the only thing she could think of was Huo Wu Yuan. The greatest use of Huo Wu Yuan was to provide flames, so what needed flames? Besides refining pills, what else would require fire?"

  "Ah!" Zhang Huaming, who was originally pleased with himself, heard his wife's words and his expression suddenly froze, with a look of surprise on his face: "How did you think of that?"

  "Hua... Ming... you... won't tell me, will you... refine the elixir?" Yu Yan's voice trembled, her expression as if she had seen a ghost, staring at Zhang Huaming, as if expecting something.

  Zhang Huaming was instead confused by Yu Yan's expression, and with a matter-of-fact expression, he nodded and said, "What's strange about me refining pills?"

  Petrification, Yu Yan got a definite answer and the whole person fell into petrification. Alchemy? What does this word represent? It represents countless high-level cultivators who are afraid of what? They are most afraid of not having enough time to cultivate and break through. Pill medicine can make up for the lack of time. To put it simply, ordinary cultivators who have not broken through the Martial Ancestor realm by the age of 70 will no longer have hope of breaking through in this life, and at most can only live to be 100 years old before getting old. As for those who have reached the Martial King realm, if they have not broken through the warning boundary by the age of 100, they can at most live to be 120 to 150 years old before getting old. Don't think that cultivators are unlimited, but pill medicine can greatly reduce the problem of insufficient time for many cultivators. You should know that even the lowest-grade recovery pill from ancient times is priceless now, and a living alchemist? What concept is that? To put it bluntly, it's simply an enormous treasure! You should know that after the great war in ancient times, alchemists were almost extinct. If one or two survived, they would be super high-level cultivators who wouldn't bother to make pills for people they consider ants. The answer is no.

  It's not that there isn't enough spiritual grass, but rather that there aren't enough alchemists. This saying has been passed down since the ancient great war. You should know that in the current Wulin continent, spiritual grass is actually not scarce. The main reason why spiritual grass can be found everywhere in the Wulin continent is because of the lack of birth of alchemists. Some spiritual grass that can be directly consumed to increase cultivation has been collected and secretly cultivated by a few large families, while those mediocre spiritual grasses that are useful but cannot be directly consumed have been ignored. Over time, it's only natural that spiritual grass is no longer scarce.

  In ancient times, alchemists were a formidable presence. Why? Because even if you're an extremely skilled martial artist, you'll eventually get injured, right? And even if you don't get injured, you'll still need to break through to the next level at some point. When that happens, can you guarantee with 100% certainty that your martial foundation will be able to withstand the heavenly tribulation? If not, then shouldn't you just go find an alchemist to help you refine some medicine as a precaution?

  As soon as you do that, don't you owe them a favor? There's an old saying: it's okay to owe anything, but owing someone a favor is the hardest debt to repay. That's why in ancient times, when powerful martial artists were everywhere, they weren't afraid of offending those with higher cultivation levels than themselves; what they feared most was offending alchemists.

  A single gesture from an alchemist master could summon incredible power. Legend has it that in ancient times, a saintly being with extremely high cultivation seized a rare and precious spiritual herb discovered by a Taoist cultivator in a mountain range. He thought he'd gotten away scot-free, but unexpectedly, the Taoist cultivator turned out to be an advanced alchemist.

  The alchemist was furious and contacted several friends, resulting in tragedy. The saintly being was surrounded by over ten powerful martial artists and was instantly annihilated, his soul scattered without even a chance for reincarnation. This shows just how tragic it is to offend an alchemist.

  Zhang Huaming saw Yu Yan's silly and stunned expression, his heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stretched out his hand in front of her, waving it while calling out: "Yan'er, what's wrong with you?"

  "Ah!" Yu Yan was startled by Zhang Huaming's palm and came back from her daze, with an excited expression on her face: "Huaming, now we're rich, haha!"

  "What's wrong?" Zhang Huaming looked at Yu Yan with a puzzled expression amidst her joy.

  Yu Yan saw Zhang Huaming's expression and curiously asked, "Huaming, didn't you know that there are no alchemists in the Martial Continent now?"

  "What? No alchemist? Impossible?" Zhang Huaming's tone was filled with surprise, but in reality, his heart was racing with excitement. The implications of having no alchemist were far more profound than Yu Yan had imagined.

  "Mmm!" Yu Yan's little head nodded faster than a chick pecking at rice.

  "Come on, Huaming, let's go and refine the elixir now!" Yu Yan thought of the future prospects and couldn't wait any longer. She quickly got up, put on her clothes, and wanted to pull Zhang Huaming's hand to refine the elixir.

  Zhang Huaming saw Yu Yan in front of him, and before he knew it, she had changed into her clothes in less than three breaths. A smile appeared on his face as he shook his head, and he also stood up to put on his clothes. He grabbed Yu Yan, who was about to leave immediately, and laughed: "I say, Yan'er, where are you going?"

  "Eh? Didn't you say you were going to refine your elixir?" Yu Yan asked with a puzzled expression.

  Zhang Huaming felt a bit defeated, and with a gloomy expression said: "Yan'er, haven't you noticed anything? Isn't it quiet enough here to refine the elixir?"

  "Ah!" Yu Yan heard this sentence, first stunned, the next moment a stunning face immediately turned red, because she understood the meaning behind her husband's words.

  But, Yu Yan and Zhang Huaming were in the same room here without anyone coming to disturb them. Is there a more quiet and secure place than this in the base?

  After the explanation, Yu Yan also gradually understood some things to pay attention to when refining Dan from Zhang Huaming's narration. Then, with a wave of his hand, piles of spiritual grass emitting thick spiritual energy appeared in front of the two.

  "Huh?" Yu Yan saw this scene, her face was surprised for a moment, then she glanced at her husband's finger, when she saw the ancient ring on his finger, her face showed a thoughtful expression.

  Zhang Huaming followed the traditional method of refining elixir, first mobilizing the original fire in his body's dantian. The next moment, a flame burst forth from the palm of his left hand. This small flame seemed insignificant, but its temperature had already reached over a thousand degrees.

  "First remove the impurities, then refine, then remove the impurities again, and refine again. The order cannot be wrong. If you make a mistake in the order even once, all these spiritual herbs will be ruined." Zhang Huaming explained to his tense wife while refining the elixir.