Chapter 178

Lu Xingzhou stood humbly before Ye Tinglan, having been kept behind alone by the old woman.

Though Ye Tinglan sat while he stood, his viewpoint should have been looking down—but under her gaze, Lu Xingzhou still felt as if he were being crushed beneath her feet.

Hmm… but from this angle, it's quite impressive…

"I've already told them your leg was healed by me," Ye Tinglan said coolly. "You hid it so long, yet failed to even sabotage Chen Yu. Wasn't it a waste?"

Lu Xingzhou replied: "It merely proves our current adversaries have grown too skilled to be fooled by ambushes. Hiding further holds no value—no loss at all."

"You're surprisingly detached," Ye Tinglan said, expressionless. "Do you know why you're being made to stand?"

Lu Xingzhou ventured: "Because I didn't produce a pill, and disappointed Mr. Ye?"

Earlier, the two had agreed that this trial's results would influence Lady Ye's choice of disciples. Lu Xingzhou had performed abysmally, as if he didn't care at all about Lady Ye's guidance—so the old woman's displeasure was understandable.

Ye Tinglan said: "The one-day deadline hadn't expired. You could've refined pills on the spot and submitted them. With what you gained on the second level, securing first place in the trial would've been effortless. You gave it up just to sabotage Chen Yu—was it worth it?"

"Who said I did it to sabotage him? I pulled out mushrooms and took second place to make him fall to first—that was meant to humiliate him, yes—but my refusal to refine pills had nothing to do with him," Lu Xingzhou sighed. "Mr. Ye, I've drawn too much attention already: targeted by the team leader, watched until a classmate died, and then spent so long on the second level. Anybody would assume I've gained a fortune just from speculation… If you were my classmate, how would you see me?"

Ye Tinglan sneered: "Those who escape envy are mediocrities. Are you really avoiding this?"

"But…" Lu Xingzhou paused, then said carefully: "What's the point of showing off before classmates, turning enemies into many and friends into none? I came to the Pill Academy to learn real skills and to seek revenge against the Huo family—not to waste time on pointless competition."

Ye Tinglan paused, then suddenly understood: "So even standing here in disgrace—you did it on purpose, to make your classmates think you're down-to-earth?"

"Yes. Uh, no," Lu Xingzhou smiled apologetically. "Since it's your order, even if you told me to climb a mountain of knives or walk through fire—I'd have to go, wouldn't I?"

"Stop being cheeky," Ye Tinglan drawled. "Then from now on, you'll stand during all my classes."

Lu Xingzhou: "…"

Ye Tinglan grew tired of joking. She casually pointed at the desk: "Show me everything you took from the second level of the Demon Subjugation Domain."

Anuo eagerly dumped out a pile of mushrooms, each shaped differently.

"Hmph… such a harvest. No wonder you looked down on the Pill Academy's trial rewards," Ye Tinglan leaned back lazily in her chair. "Now refine the pills. Show me how you'll combine these, what pill you'll make—whether you're just skilled in seduction arts."

Lu Xingzhou said: "If we weren't so rigid, and used normal external herbs to blend with these, the results would be better."

"Do as you like," Ye Tinglan said indifferently. "It's not a trial anymore—no rules. I only care about the outcome."

"Then good," Lu Xingzhou slammed down his pill furnace with a "thud," then swiftly pulled various herbs from his ring.

His ring held mostly spirit stones and herbs—very little else. The herbs were selected from the ruins of the Incense Pavilion, plus part of the "compensation" from the Huo family recently. Many were third or fourth grade, making Ye Tinglan's eyelids twitch.

This was a young man's personal collection… as if he'd looted an entire sect. Oh… he had looted a sect.

Lu Xingzhou whispered a few instructions to Anuo, who nodded. Master and disciple moved with perfect coordination, sorting the herbs into several distinct piles.

Ye Tinglan said: "Among these combinations, at least two are third-grade pills. Are you certain you can even refine them?"

Lu Xingzhou smiled apologetically: "If I did it alone, I'd have some confidence—but I'm still nervous. Isn't that why you're here, Lady Ye?"

Ye Tinglan ignored him, leaning back, arms crossed, right leg draped over the left, like a boss observing—unclear whether she'd intervene.

Lu Xingzhou didn't press. He placed one batch of herbs into the furnace and snapped his fingers.

There was no ground fire here—he had to summon his own flame technique.

Flames erupted. Ye Tinglan silently "hmm'd," sitting up slightly.

This fire was strange… not the Shattered Golden Fire from the second level. This was a flame seed Lu Xingzhou carried himself… from his leg?

Essence of Flame and Fire—born from the convergence of heaven's spiritual brilliance, dense qi, and terrain where water and fire balanced, coexisting with a Spirit Water Crystal in a Yin-Yang Eye. A celestial treasure.

Naturally, the Essence of Flame and Fire carried flame properties far superior to ordinary seeds. But due to Lu Xingzhou's cultivation limits, he couldn't unleash its full power—it looked like ordinary flame. Yet Ye Tinglan, of all people, recognized it instantly: this was no ordinary fire. Its potential was immense.

But potential meant nothing if cultivation restricted its use. For pill refinement, the most fatal flaw was insufficient flame temperature—unable to fully extract the potency of high-grade herbs!

Watching Lu Xingzhou, serious and focused, adjusting herb properties as the ingredients inside the furnace began to swirl, Ye Tinglan watched with keen interest—waiting to see how he'd melt them.

Lu Xingzhou knew his greatest obstacle to refining a third-grade pill was flame power. Even if he raised the temperature, his strength might not sustain prolonged refining. But his leg's flame wasn't hot enough—so he had the Shattered Golden Fire.

Suddenly, the furnace flame changed color—from ordinary yellow to red.

The previously stable flame began to surge violently.

"You're using Shattered Golden Fire to refine pills?" Ye Tinglan said, expressionless. "Is this your answer?" Lu Xingzhou continued to fuel the seed.

Shattered Golden Fire—violent, destructive—was unsuitable for pill refinement. It would blow the furnace apart…

But as Ye Tinglan watched, her eyes slowly filled with astonishment.

Under Lu Xingzhou's control, the Shattered Golden Fire burned only a tiny spot on the furnace's base. Only the Magma Mushroom rotated into that zone to endure the heat—all other herbs were perfectly avoided.

The control over this flame—and over the herbs within the furnace—was truly genius-level precision for someone his age.

Seeing the Magma Mushroom gradually melt, Lu Xingzhou abruptly cut off the Shattered Golden Fire. The original flame flared fiercely.

The pill inside began to fuse into a single mass, slowly rotating.

Beads of sweat rolled down Lu Xingzhou's forehead. Anuo hurriedly wiped them with a silk cloth.

The strain of fueling this flame, the mental tension—it was more exhausting than a full battle.

The biggest problem: such intense flame control couldn't be sustained long.

Fifth-grade cultivation attempting to refine a third-grade pill without ground fire was far beyond the norm.

"You haven't fused the flame from your leg into your own body," Ye Tinglan's voice came. "You still treat your cultivation and the immortal bone's flame as separate—using the immortal bone's energy merely as a reserve in your prosthetic. That's wrong. Don't you know how others integrate immortal bones after grafting?"

Lu Xingzhou struggled to speak: "Please, Lady Ye, guide me."

"Since the immortal bone has been refined and fused into your body, it is now your own bone. Its energy should circulate through all your bones. Even if your body can't yet handle the full release, you must first release a portion to establish a full circulation. In other words, you shouldn't just have water-and-fire legs—you should have water-and-fire balance throughout every bone. The difference between your leg bones and others is merely their material."

Lu Xingzhou knew this already. He'd occasionally used the energy from his water-and-fire legs in his cultivation cycle—because the Yin-Yang Extreme Art demanded it. But fundamentally, he still treated them as batteries: the water-and-fire energy flowed through meridians, yet never connected to other bones to form a unified skeletal system.

He didn't know how to do it. No one had taught him. Whose cultivation art involved circulating energy through bones? That required a special method.

Ye Tinglan said: "Such methods are common among ancient, high-ranking sects—not special at all. I'll teach you."

She flicked her finger casually.

No need to touch his forehead. Just that careless flick—Lu Xingzhou felt as if a high heel had stamped on him again. A soft light shot into his third eye.

A bone-strengthening technique flooded his consciousness. He closed his eyes, reviewed it once, and immediately the water-and-fire power from his legs entered his thigh bones, then gradually spread through all his bones. Finally, the water essence flowed into his fire leg, and the flame essence flowed into his water leg—every bone in his body now balanced water and fire.

Strangely, this bone-strengthening technique should have been excruciating—but it wasn't painful at all.

Instead, it felt extremely comfortable, as if it had always been this way, as if this were truly a healthy body.

Indeed, this is healthy; before, it was merely a prosthetic, but now it is a complete rebirth.

"Boom!" A'nuo watched in terror as her master's cultivation surged, directly breaking through the fourth-grade barrier.

That was the accumulated energy of the legs, not yet fully released; henceforth, Lu Xingzhou's cultivation growth would remain rapid.

It's over; now master and A'nuo are of the same level. The wheelchair no longer needs pushing, and cultivation is no longer needed either...

How could Lu Xingzhou know what the little girl was thinking at that moment? Having just been distracted during the breakthrough, the flames scattered, and the pill began to go chaotic; he quickly gathered his mind to stabilize the flames.

After breaking through to fourth grade, refining a third-grade pill carried much less pressure; Lu Xingzhou stabilized and adjusted for the duration of an incense stick, and the pill was completed.

Ye Tinglan stared fixedly at the pill flying out of the furnace mouth: "This is a third-grade breakthrough pill, and it seems to possess extreme specificity, highlighting the metal attribute within the pill, as if specifically for a swordsman's breakthrough... yet it contains gentle fire yuan; what is the intent?"

Lu Xingzhou rose and bowed: "This is a token of gratitude for Miss Dugu of the Heavenly Yao Holy Land, thanking her for intercepting Wang Wang Yueshen's sneak attack in the Demon Subduing Domain. I saw her on the verge of breaking through the third-grade threshold, and I reasoned this would benefit her. The fire yuan contained in this pill is to worry that her ice attribute is excessive, too extreme, and might hinder her breakthrough; if this gentle fire yuan is used to set it off and neutralize it, it should offer some help. Please, Mr., pass judgment."

Ye Tinglan truly hadn't expected this pill was refined for her own obedient disciple; the words "Her pill, can't I refine it for her? What business is it of yours?" almost slipped out.

Immediately, she recalled that in Lu Xingzhou's eyes, she was merely "Lady Ye, from the Yunyin Xian Sect," not National Preceptor Ye Tinglan, and had no relation to Dugu Qingli. So she said, "Miss Dugu is the National Preceptor's beloved disciple; she has her own resources. Why would you need to refine a pill for her?"

Lu Xingzhou said, "The Heavenly Yao Holy Land has all resources; I cannot think of what she might lack. Still, one cannot fail to express one's gratitude just because of this."

Ye Tinglan weighed the pill, examining it for a long time; she had to admit that this pill truly held great benefit for Qingli's breakthrough, being tailor-made; even if she were to refine it herself, she would likely choose to refine a pill with much the same effect.

She hadn't expected this person to understand gratitude so well, nor to be so loyal. Ye Tinglan was quite satisfied in her heart and nodded, saying, "A student of the Pill Academy refining a third-grade pill so shortly after enrollment is, in this hundred years, utterly unique. Based on this alone, I shall take this disciple of yours."

Lu Xingzhou bowed deeply: "Thank you, Mr. Based solely on the transmission of the Dharma just now by the Mr., you are already my mentor."

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PS: Wishing everyone a happy 520, and may you also stay behind to step in high heels~

(End of this chapter)