21: The New Elixir Appears_1

"Stop spouting nonsense; I'm a married man now."

Fang Ren certainly couldn't allow rumors and gossip to thrive. He immediately stood up with a smile and said, "Stop, stop, stop, let's not joke around anymore. I've been rejected twice already. It's not nice to keep joking about my past, haha."

"Look at Fang Ren, he even has a girlfriend now. You guys really are something, stirring up trouble." Li Xinyue immediately spoke up from below.

"Exactly, we shouldn't joke about this anymore. It's all in the past." Another girl also chimed in.

"Oh, three years of feelings~" Li Xingwang said teasingly from below.

Liu Qianqian glanced at Fang Ren, then tapped her desk with the pen in her hand, her brows slightly furrowed, yet her face still wore a smile as she said, "Stop causing a stir. Signing up is voluntary. If really necessary, we can choose to drop the event. As for Fang Ren, he can look at whoever he wants to see in a short skirt; it has nothing to do with me."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, do I detect a hint of jealousy in those words?" Li Xingwang continued to tease, fanning the air in front of him as if he was being overwhelmed by the sting of jealousy.

Jing Haichuan, seeing how much fun he was having, didn't say a word and just slapped his own face, his expression turning into one of pain as he croaked out, "Class president, you don't know the whole story. Ranzi has only ever had you in his heart. His marriage was forced on him!"

Upon hearing this, Fang Ren immediately lunged at the two clowns: "I'm going to butcher you guys!"

The classroom was filled with a lively atmosphere.

Liu Qianqian continued, "Since you three are so energetic, the 400 meters, 800 meters, and 1500 meters are decided for you three."

Having said that, Liu Qianqian didn't give them a chance to speak. She just picked up her pen and wrote it down on the paper.

"Didn't we say it's voluntary?"

"I think you are quite willing." Liu Qianqian didn't bother to reason with them.

"Class president, stay calm! Stay calm! How could Ranzi be worthy of you? He's nothing but a fart!" Jing Haichuan shouted out immediately upon seeing this.

"Class president, just assign me the 400! Leave the rest to them!" Li Xingwang called out.

"I'll take the 800! I'll do the 800!"

...

With all the commotion, Fang Ren felt awkward, embarrassed to speak to Liu Qianqian, and therefore he did not voice any objections, ultimately being assigned the 1500-meter event.

Following a lengthy 20-minute discussion, and after all the events in the class had candidates decided, Liu Qianqian left the classroom, and Li Xinyue also ran out.

Fang Ren only had one class that morning, so he could peacefully conduct his little experiment. He quickly entered a small laboratory with all the necessary ingredients in hand.

Looking at the Small Furnace that he had exploded last time, Fang Ren's face showed pain; this was going to cost him another two hundred bucks.

Taking out another furnace from a cabinet nearby, Fang Ren sat down at a desk and started the fire, quietly waiting for the water in the furnace to warm up.

Pop——

Suddenly, the door to the small laboratory was pushed open, and Jian Qi'er, wearing old-fashioned glasses, rushed in.

"Fang, Fang, Student Fang!" She looked at Fang Ren with a nervous expression.

Fang Ren was startled by her sudden entrance: "What's going on...?"

"I want to learn Alchemy with you!" Jian Qi'er proclaimed confidently.

"If I remember correctly, you should have a class next period," Fang Ren said, frowning.

"No, no, no, it doesn't matter. I believe that what I lack is not theoretical knowledge; I'm a person lacking in practical experience!"

Jian Qi'er declared loudly and pulled up a stool next to Fang Ren and sat down.

Fang Ren was taken aback by her confident assessment of herself; this girl was really one of a kind.

Girl... your self-awareness couldn't be more opposite.

"Alright then..."

Fang Ren saw her eagerness to learn and didn't have the heart to discourage such a spirited girl.

After speaking, Fang Ren concentrated on his Alchemy, while Jian Qi'er next to him looked on seriously at the Small Furnace, her dumbfounded expression very fitting to her nickname: Little Stupefied Sister.

"Fang, Student Fang, what types of ingredients are these?" Jian Qi'er continued to inquire earnestly.

"Just some old-fashioned Qi Gathering Pill ingredients," Fang Ren said casually, figuring she probably didn't understand much of it anyway.

"You're pretending, keep on pretending!"

Jian Qi'er inwardly gritted her teeth in frustration. None of these were old-fashioned Qi Gathering Pill ingredients; each was worth close to a hundred thousand! Was he taking her for a fool because she didn't know about this stuff?

However, she couldn't show her frustration. She had another motive for being here; she had to uncover Fang Ren's secrets, the man who created the world's first Space Ring. What exactly was his identity?

Seeing the water temperature was almost right, Fang Ren first tossed a few herbs with higher cold properties into it, and then picked up a red plant from the table next to him, fiddling with it in his hands.

Chi Lianjing?

Jian Qi'er's gaze froze for a moment. Wasn't that a highly paralytic poison? He was using that for Alchemy? Was he out of his mind?

Also, the other ingredients near the table, though very valuable, obviously shouldn't be mixed together. The Ghost Grass and Aloe vera could not be combined, as consuming them together would produce immense coldness, causing severe damage to the body's meridians.

Gurgle gurgle——

Watching the water in the Small Furnace start to boil, Fang Ren casually threw in half of the Chi Lianjing he had been rolling in his hand, then plucked a few leaves from the Ghost Grass and tossed them in as well.

Was he really practicing Alchemy? Suddenly, Jian Qi'er began to doubt her previous thoughts. The guy in front of her might be a Master of refining tools, but there's no way he could be a Master of Elixir! Wouldn't the stuff extracted from these ingredients kill someone?

Fang Ren was highly concentrated and didn't notice the slight change in Jian Qi'er's expression.

After covering the Small Furnace with a lid for another dozen minutes, Fang Ren leaned over to smell the scent of the elixir, then frowned a little.

It seemed he had used too much Chi Lianjing.

He immediately opened the lid of the furnace, added some water, and tossed in another stalk of Ghost Grass, continuing to closely watch the changes in the furnace.

Although these herbs were exorbitantly expensive, to someone immersed in the process of Alchemy, cost was of course cast aside. No matter how pricey the herbs might be, they couldn't be stingy with them, as it could affect the final efficacy of the elixir.

Two minutes passed, toss; four minutes, toss; ten minutes, toss again…

Jian Qi'er was stunned by the sight. So many precious herbs just thrown in carelessly? Who ever heard of adding ingredients so recklessly during Alchemy? Was he not afraid the pill wouldn't take shape?

Once the lid was on again, Fang Ren increased the flames beneath the furnace until the Small Furnace was completely engulfed in fire, then he just quietly watched.

"Fang, Fang classmate, won't such a strong fire burn the elixir to a crisp?" Jian Qi'er asked.

"You don't understand. This is called intensifying the flame to reduce the liquid," Fang Ren seriously replied.

"Intensifying... intensifying the flame to reduce the liquid..."

Jian Qi'er was inwardly panicking. After all this time, this guy wasn't practicing Alchemy, he was cooking! But what kind of dish costs 600,000? This guy must be crazy!

The Small Furnace was left in the large fire for about half an hour, with Jian Qi'er nearly unable to hold back any longer, while Fang Ren continued to watch the furnace with grave attention.

"Um, Fang classmate, how much longer do we have to wait?" Jian Qi'er asked naively.

"Not much longer," he said.

Fang Ren then lifted the lid to check and said, "Oh, by the way, help me bring the Cold Water Stone from the cabinet."

"Huh?"

Jian Qi'er was baffled. The cold properties of these medicinal ingredients already exceeded the limits of human tolerance, and adding Cold Water Stone on top of that? Was he trying to kill someone?

But after a brief moment of astonishment, Jian Qi'er immediately ran to the cabinet to search for the readily available Cold Water Stone in the laboratory.

Taking the stone, Fang Ren extinguished the flames under the Small Furnace, took a small bucket of water, and removed the residual materials that had fallen from the herbs.

He then added some water to the furnace, placed the Cold Water Stone inside, and finally a cluster of white flames arose beneath the Small Furnace.

Using Cold Fire?

On seeing this white flame, Jian Qi'er became even more convinced that Fang Ren was completely ignorant in the field of Alchemy; the coldness in the elixir was nearly pushed to the peak...

As her patience nearly wore thin, Jian Qi'er was thinking of making an excuse to leave, but then she glanced at the Space Ring on her left hand, frowned, and ultimately decided to sit down again.

Another hour passed, with Jian Qi'er not interrupting Fang Ren with any more questions, while Fang Ren had not taken his eyes off the furnace for the entire hour.

Snap—

Fang Ren extinguished the flame under the furnace and opened the small lid.

"Is it done?" Jian Qi'er asked.

"Pretty much," he replied.

Fang Ren then picked up some tongs and took out the Cold Water Stone from within the furnace, which was still wet.

Upon seeing that there was still water inside the furnace, Jian Qi'er felt disappointed. How could there be water inside the furnace when the elixir had formed? That would mean the elixir hadn't shaped.

As Fang Ren poured the water out of the furnace, his face began to show a thick smile, "Not bad, there are actually three of them."

"Three? Let me see."

Jian Qi'er immediately leaned in. She didn't believe the elixir could form with water in the furnace.

But as she held the Small Furnace up to her face and peered inside, her expression froze.

Three, three actual pills!

Pills formed in water, truly defying the seven cardinal prohibitions of traditional Alchemy!

Her heart was pounding with shock as she set the furnace down, then her face instantly reverted to her previous silly expression, trying to feign the look of a clueless girl taken aback.

But as she was about to set the furnace down, she suddenly realized something was amiss.

What was it? It was the color of the three pills.

Indeed, the elixir commonly studied for production in universities was green, which is the most basic level of elixir. But these three were white!

"How... how is this possible?"

Jian Qi'er immediately suppressed the shock in her heart and continued to feign ignorance as she set the furnace down, but now she couldn't bring herself to speak.

White Elixer... doesn't that mean these pills are Three-level pills?!