"Yes!" He Pingsheng respectfully pulled out his Pill Furnace from his sleeve.
It was a small, round, three-legged tripod, an excellent Magical Artifact.
The excellent Magical Artifact had four layers of Restrictions.
"It's actually an excellent Magical Artifact?" Yu Ning was somewhat surprised to see He Pingsheng's Pill Furnace.
Although this item was much lower in grade than her Spiritual Artifact, an excellent grade was not easy to obtain.
She had lived for over a hundred years but had never seen an excellent Magical Artifact.
Because excellent grade items were too rare.
Don't look down on the Low Grade of this item, with only four layers of Restrictions on it; for an Artifact Refiner, the difficulty of refining this thing was much harder than her Medium Grade Spiritual Artifact, which had six layers of Restrictions.
"You, boy, certainly have an Opportunity to be able to get an excellent Magical Artifact!" Yu Ning looked at He Pingsheng and praised him.
The surrounding Senior Brothers, Junior Brothers, Senior Sisters, and Junior Sisters also looked on with envy and curiosity.
To dispel everyone's curiosity and some unrealistic thoughts, He Pingsheng smiled and directly said, "I dare not hide it from Master, but Wang Dun, a Disciple from Lingyao Valley, owed me a few Spirit Stones, so he pawned this Pill Furnace with me.
Later, he died inexplicably, and this Pill Cauldron became mine!"
This...
Yu Ning was speechless for a moment: "Your luck..."
The surrounding Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters became envious again, envying He Pingsheng for having such good luck.
Their initial curiosity vanished.
He Pingsheng's goal was achieved.
I'm not afraid of your envy, only of your curious scrutiny of me.
Hehe...
"Open!" He Pingsheng lightly shouted, and the fire-attributed Qi in his body surged into the Pill Furnace.
The Pill Furnace instantly expanded to a foot in size, and with a wave of He Pingsheng's hand, it landed on the ground.
"Light the fire!" He Pingsheng said, "First, use a large pear wood fire for half an hour!"
As he spoke, He Pingsheng took water and poured it into the Pill Furnace.
Then, following the usual Alchemy sequence, he successively placed the immortal bamboo shoot, seven-leaf spirit grass, Spirit Apricot, and vermillion fruit into the Pill Furnace.
He began to decoct them.
This was a long process, but the surrounding Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters watched with great enjoyment.
He Pingsheng's method of refining 【Qi Gathering Pill】 was not the same as that described in the original 【Thirty-Six Methods of Elixir Refining】, so his technique was also different from most Alchemists.
However, the difference was subtle and not very obvious.
Therefore, even Yu Ning did not notice the subtle difference between He Pingsheng's Alchemy and others'.
About an hour and a half later.
A fragrant aroma emanated from the Pill Furnace.
"It's done..." He Pingsheng was overjoyed, reaching out to lift the lid of the Pill Furnace.
Twelve 【Qi Gathering Pill】s jumped out, were caught by He Pingsheng, and placed into a porcelain bottle.
Normally, his Alchemy success rate was only thirty percent, roughly three out of ten furnaces, but he didn't expect his luck to be so good today, succeeding with the first furnace.
"Heh..." Yu Ning was immediately overjoyed and said, "It really worked..."
"Come, let your Master see!"
She walked over, took the porcelain bottle, looked at it, and said, "Although all twelve Medicinal Pills are Low Grade, it's already commendable.
Excellent, excellent... He Pingsheng, from today onwards, you are this Palace's Personal Disciple!"
"Come with me!"
Everyone returned to Yu Ning Palace.
Yu Ning sat on the main seat, and the Disciples sat below.
Only He Pingsheng had no seat and stood there somewhat awkwardly.
"Master... when I was cultivating recently, I lacked Gathering Qi Pills.
I want Junior Brother to help me refine a furnace!"
"Me too..."
"Junior Brother, and me! I'll provide the Materials, just according to the rules of the Cultivation World, ten portions of Materials for one furnace of Medicinal Pills!"
"And me, and me!"
The Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters all shouted at He Pingsheng.
Yu Ning nodded and said, "He Pingsheng, what do you think?"
He Pingsheng gave a bitter smile and said, "Replying to Master, it's not that Disciple is unwilling, but Disciple has reached the threshold of Breakthrough to the sixth layer of the Qi Refinement Stage, and I'm afraid I won't have time recently.
How about this, after I Breakthrough to the sixth layer, I will refine Medicinal Pills for all the Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters!"
Yu Ning nodded and said, "How about this: you provide five furnaces of 【Qi Gathering Pill】 to the School each month, and the School will give you fifty portions of Materials for refining 【Qi Gathering Pill】.
What do you think?"
"From now on, you won't need to personally undertake any School tasks, and your annual contribution points will also be counted in your name!"
Five furnaces?
He Pingsheng frowned.
Five furnaces was quite a lot.
One must know that his success rate was approximately one-third, so successfully refining five furnaces meant refining fifteen furnaces or more.
And he could only refine two furnaces a day.
One furnace in the morning, one in the afternoon.
These fifteen furnaces would take seven or eight days.
If his luck was bad, he might have to spend ten days a month engrossed in Alchemy.
To shorten the time, he could only work overtime.
Refining three furnaces a day would still take five days.
"Good!" Having just entered the School, He Pingsheng had no capital to bargain with his Master, so he could only nod and agree.
"Good, good, good!" Yu Ning smiled and said, "This furnace today also counts as yours..."
"You may all disperse!"
Yu Ning waved her hand at the Disciples and added, "He Pingsheng, come with me!"
"Yes!" He Pingsheng quickly followed.
Yu Ning walked from the front of the main hall to the back!
Leaving the main hall and passing through a garden, the two arrived in front of a small house.
Though small, the house was equally resplendent.
Yu Ning opened the door with a wave of her hand, revealing that the room was also inlaid with several luminous pearls.
Under the brilliant pearl light, there was a high platform, upon which sat more than a dozen jade tablets.
Each jade tablet had a name on it.
Yu Ning!
Hou Muxian!
Xiao Xuejian!
Cheng Siyu!
...
Yu Ning took out a snow-white jade tablet from her Storage Pouch at her waist and placed it in front of He Pingsheng, saying, "Cut your finger and drip two drops of blood onto this; your Master will help you make a Life Tablet!"
"Life Tablet?" He Pingsheng looked puzzled.
Yu Ning raised her hand and pointed to the pile of jade tablets in front, saying, "You've seen it, your Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters, each of them has a jade tablet!"
"This jade tablet is a Life Tablet, equivalent to what Mortals call a 'life lamp'!"
"As long as the person lives, the tablet remains; if the person dies, the tablet shatters.
In the future, if any of you fall outside, your Master will know immediately!"
He Pingsheng immediately understood what this Life Tablet was.
It was a kind of life indicator.
If the tablet was intact, it meant the person was still alive; once the person died, the Life Tablet would shatter directly.
In the Cultivation World, every School had such an item.
To allow the School to constantly know the status of its Disciples.
The more important the person, the more important it was to keep their Life Tablet.
"Good!" He Pingsheng took out a dagger, cut his finger, and dripped a few drops of blood onto the snow-white jade tablet.
Then, Yu Ning performed several Dao incantations, and a snow-white Life Tablet was completed.
She then picked up a brush and wrote a name on the jade tablet: He Pingsheng.