The Journey of Immortal Cultivation-Chapter 538 - 310 The Great Plague Begins

"You, a grown man, are still using Tianling Sea Pavilion’s token to falsely claim medicinal herbs?" she muttered to herself, yet observing his guiltless demeanor, she somewhat believed him and then said, "No need to find my fellow sect members, there’s not enough time. Are there any ordinary stoves in this village?"

The crowd was in an uproar, and even Fu Yunzhang was taken aback: "An ordinary stove, can it be used to refine Junyang Grass?"

One of the bandits spoke up: "Miss, even us Pill Masters need to use a suitable furnace for alchemy..."

"Just because he can’t, doesn’t mean I can’t," Ning Xiaoxian interrupted, "Less nonsense, do you want me to refine the juice or not?"

Fu Yunzhang looked her up and down a few times, feeling that her full confidence must be based on something solid, so he waved and said, "Go to the village and fetch her a stove."

When the boss gives an order, his brothers naturally follow.

So, not long after, all the stoves from the houses in the village were brought over and neatly lined up in front of Ning Xiaoxian for her to choose from.

Even a layperson in alchemy would frown at these stoves. What good-looking could there be in stoves used for cooking by farmers? Each was covered in black soot, some had white cracks from the fire, and the onlookers with noses sharper than dogs could smell the scorched odor, with some even having a faint stench, possibly from some family’s cat stealthily peeing in one.

She casually picked one without cracks or the smell of cat urine, with a door that could shut tightly, and tapped it saying, "This one will do." With a flick of her hand, she cast a Cleaning Technique to remove all the ashes from the furnace completely clean, then asked Fu Yunzhang for the fifteen Junyang Grasses.

Fu Yunzhang approached her side, watching her grab all the Junyang Grasses irreverently, twist them into three or four segments, and shove them into the furnace as if what was in her hand was just some common straw found in the countryside rather than Immortal Herbs worth thousands of Spirit Stones. Then she locked the door of the stove, cast a True Fire spell at its base, and began to kindle it.

Her movements were casual. Fu Yunzhang doubted, "Can this stove really refine elixirs?" He regretted saying it as soon as he finished speaking. The last thing an alchemist needs during alchemy is noise. Ning Xiaoxian was already without the proper tools, any further distraction might ruin the operation.

However, she continuously cast several fire control spells and said lightly, "I’ll make do."

This can also be made do with?

The onlookers all thought she was boasting too much. Someone transmitted to Fu Yunzhang, "Could this young lady be intending to spoil our medicine on purpose for revenge?"

Fu Yunzhang laughed and said, "That’s impossible. Do you still remember how she harvested herbs for us in the Extremely Yin Land’s medicine field? I remember Qing’er saying Junyang Grass is extremely yang and potent, harvesters must wear gloves; otherwise, the Yang Poison will invade the body, leading to Blood Boil and death within minutes. Yet, she harvested with bare hands, and not even a common cultivator with Divine Skills would dare to be so careless."

He paused, then continued, "Just now she grabbed the Junyang Grass and directly twisted it into sections, with quite a bit of the juice spilling on her hands, yet she’s unscathed till now. If this happened to an ordinary person, wouldn’t their hands have corroded holes by now? If you say she’s not skilled, I won’t believe it. Let’s wait and see."

As he spoke, Ning Xiaoxian glanced their way, as if aware of their private discussion. As the leader, Fu Yunzhang had to sound confident in his speech, yet his heart was filled with trepidation. Seeing her spare the capacity to pay attention to the crowd, he grew more convinced of her ability to refine successfully. The band of "Immortal Bandits" he led might not be extremely powerful, but their notoriety in the Northwest Region of the Nan Zhanbu Continent was indeed significant, and the girl would certainly not joke with her own life.

"Fu..." She found it difficult to address him, as he did not belong to any Sect. It wouldn’t be right to call him senior brother, would it?

"You can just call me by my given name," he was quite easygoing about it.

She wasn’t friendly enough with him for that: "Leader Fu, I have been in the Sect for a long time and haven’t paid attention to worldly affairs, could you tell me in detail about the origins and developments of this epidemic?"

Her voice was crisp, with a bit of the soft southern accent. Fu Yunzhang looked at the Pill Furnace with doubt.

Ning Xiaoxian knew of his concerns and laughed, "I’ve refined Junyang Grass Juice countless times, I could do it even with my eyes closed. Go ahead, it’s fine." Her words were undoubtedly true; she grew Junyang Grass on soil, and indeed this Spirit Grass was an essential ingredient for refining various elixirs; she’d extracted Junyang Grass Juice no fewer than seven or eight hundred times. In the high places of the Alchemy Dao, like Ru Changtian refining the essence of plants and trees without the need for a Pill Furnace, she wasn’t that impressive, but using any stove at hand wouldn’t spoil anything.