He Pingsheng opened all the windows around the Pill Refining Room, allowing the outside air to circulate.
After about half an incense stick's worth of time, all the smoke in the room was blown away.
Next, it was time to scrub the pot.
That's right, manually scrub the Pill Furnace to clean out all the waste materials inside.
He Pingsheng took a look; inside this Pill Furnace, let alone finished Medicinal Pills, there wasn't even a single failed Medicinal Pill—they all exploded, turning into flying ash.
A pot full of flying ash!
This was going to be tough to clean up.
It took a full hour for He Pingsheng to clean the room spotless, then he piled all the Alchemy waste materials into the trash can at the door.
At this moment, Hao Yun had already washed his face, and he looked at He Pingsheng, saying, "Go out the back door of the Pill Refining Room, head up the mountain, and when you reach the end of the steps, turn left—that's the garbage dump!"
"Take all these black Pill ash and furnace ash over there!"
He Pingsheng nodded without a word of complaint, saying, "Alright!"
He mixed the Pill ash and furnace ash together, put them in the trash can, and then carried the trash can on his back, walking step by step through the entire Pill Refining Room, exiting through the small back door, and then heading in the direction Hao Yun Senior Brother had given him.
It wasn't far.
He soon reached the end of the road, below which was a cliff about three zhang high.
Below the cliff was a gray expanse, entirely composed of garbage accumulated from years of dumping furnace ash.
He Pingsheng didn't hesitate; with a wave of his hand, he directly poured the furnace ash and Pill ash down the cliff.
He briefly rinsed the trash can when passing by the mountain spring, then returned to the Pill Room.
"You can rest now!" Hao Yun waved his hand.
He Pingsheng, however, wiped his sweat and sat on the steps, looking at Hao Yun and asking, "Senior Brother... you are an Outer Sect Disciple, so you must also know Spells and Divine Abilities, right?"
"Tch..." Hao Yun sat two steps away from He Pingsheng, saying disdainfully, "Divine Abilities? Spells?"
He Pingsheng thought he would say something astonishing, but the disdain on his face instantly turned into dejection: "No!"
Oh, this...
"Xiao He..." Hao Yun said, "You are humiliating me!"
"No, no, no..." He Pingsheng stood up abruptly and quickly explained, "This... it's really that this Junior Apprentice Brother doesn't understand the intricacies of it. If I have offended you, please punish me, Senior Brother!"
"Forget about punishment!" Hao Yun didn't know where he pulled out a teacup from, took two sips, and then said, "A few years ago, I was lucky enough to get a Cultivation Technique for the Dao. I've been Cultivating according to this method for over twenty years, and I've only reached the Qi Refining Stage Second Level. How could I possibly understand Spells or Divine Abilities?"
He Pingsheng looked envious: "Second Level, that's already very powerful!"
"Powerful my ass!" Hao Yun said, "Besides being a bit healthier than ordinary people, not getting sick normally, having more strength, and jumping higher, there's really nothing else!"
"Exactly the same as a Mortal!"
"Do you understand?"
He Pingsheng nodded, then whispered, "Senior Brother, where can one obtain a Cultivation Technique?"
This question was very foolish.
After asking, He Pingsheng's own face turned red.
But he didn't regret it.
Cultivate, Cultivate... the first step is to have a Cultivation method.
If you don't even have a method, what good is Cultivating?
"Heh heh heh..." Hao Yun chuckled and said, "You... with a Five Elements Spiritual Root... without parents, without background, and you still want to Cultivate?"
"Alright!" He stood up, shook his Dao robe, and said, "Don't keep dreaming here; it's useless even if you dream of the heavens!"
"Even if I gave you a Cultivation Technique, you wouldn't be able to Cultivate anything!"
"Go, go, go..."
"Isn't it better to go back and sleep? You'll have everything in your dreams!"
Hao Yun flicked his sleeves, then turned and walked into the Pill Room.
He Pingsheng wasn't someone without discernment; he knew that if he went over and asked now, the other party definitely wouldn't give him a good look, and might even curse him out.
It doesn't matter!
He would lay a groundwork today; there would always be an opportunity later, right?
He Pingsheng returned to his room to sleep and rest.
The next few days, there was nothing to do.
He caught a fat squirrel in the mountains, secretly brought it into his room, and then locked his door.
"Squirrel, oh squirrel... I don't know if this is a blessing or a misfortune!"
"Sorry!"
He Pingsheng pried open the squirrel's mouth with both hands, then pressed the small squirrel into the dark gathering treasure basin.
In the gathering treasure basin, there was a full basin of green water.
This water had condensed last night.
He Pingsheng did this to see whether the water was poisonous or beneficial.
Gulp...
The squirrel took a sip.
Then He Pingsheng took a rope and tied the squirrel directly to the bed leg.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak..."
The squirrel was tied to the bed leg for two days, and there were no special changes.
"It seems..." He Pingsheng murmured to himself, "the quality of this water has been improved only slightly; it's probably just clear and sweet, with no other effects!"
After thinking for a moment, he released the squirrel.
No sooner had he released the squirrel than he saw Hao Yun rushing over, saying, "This is bad... He Pingsheng, hurry and come with me!"
"Quick, quick, quick..."
He Pingsheng saw his anxious and frightened look and asked, "Senior Brother, what happened?"
Hao Yun said, "Jade Virtue Martial Uncle's Junior Disciple, Fairy Linglong, has come, saying she wants to refine the Qi Gathering Pill!"
"This Senior Sister Linglong is notoriously ill-tempered and ruthless!"
"This is her first time coming to our Pill Room to do Alchemy. If she fails to refine the Medicinal Pill and throws a tantrum, we two will be miserable!"
He Pingsheng shivered, trembling, "We won't be beaten to death, will we?"
Hao Yun said, "Hard to say!"
As they spoke, the two arrived in front of the Pill Refining Room and waited.
Not long after, they saw a woman in a purple dress walk over.
Behind this woman followed two Junior Apprentice Brothers in green Daoist robes, each holding a sword, guarding the purple-clad woman on her left and right, like two bodyguards.
"It's you?" The purple-clad woman opposite saw He Pingsheng and frowned slightly.
He Pingsheng quickly lowered his head, saying, "Greetings, Young Lady..."
His heart was bitter.
This woman was none other than the Junior Sister who had been complaining about the mountain spring water changing taste a while ago and wanted to dismember He Pingsheng.
What bad luck!
He Pingsheng almost spat blood.
"Weren't you fetching water in the miscellaneous duties class?"
"How did you end up in this Pill Refining Room?"
Linglong looked at He Pingsheng with disdain.
He Pingsheng took a deep breath and said, "It was arranged by Class Leader Zhang Laoda, fearing I would spoil the mountain spring water!"
"Hmph..." Linglong was quite clever; she snorted coldly and said, "I'm afraid those two Medicinal Pills my Senior Sister gave you were offered to Zhang Laoda, and then he arranged an easy job for you, right?"
"Is that so?"
Linglong scolded.
He Pingsheng quickly nodded: "Young Lady truly has boundless foresight! This junior would not dare to conceal anything; it is indeed so!"
"If I hadn't handed them over, this junior would have been in Mortal danger!"