Supreme Emperor of Mist

"Xi-er pays her respect to dearest father." the female receptionist that attended to Qin Lan earlier greets the eighth elder the moment she entered the room. Her attire is no longer as shabby as when Qin Lan saw her a moment ago.

Right now, she's wearing a befitting set of clothing that showcases her hourglass figure. It came with soothing and sweet peach color, just like she's been patted by some blushing powder before coming out.

"En! Come here and take a look at this letter." the eighth elder placed an envelope on the table as he responded to Luo Yunxi's greeting.

*Marriage Proposal*

That was what was written on the envelope. Inside it is two pieces of paper with all sorts of charming words enough to persuade a sparrow to come down from the branch it is perching on.

But in front of Luo Yunxi, it ended up disgusting her instead. Not even bothering to give it a look, she slapped the envelope off from the table and went to her father's side, and started to massage the eighth elder's shoulder.

"Xi-er don't want to get married. Xi-er wants to take care of her dearest father until he retired. Then, we'll visit the capital of the Wu and live there until we're old." Luo Yunxi's childish words somewhat melted the eighth elder's cold expression as he was showered with his daughter's cute tantrum.

"Does that means I'll have to live my life with a troublemaker like you? Your mother is too cruel... Too cruel to this faithful man of hers..." the eighth elder sighed but also smiled at the same time.

"Mother's been dead for a long time now. Do you want to get a wife for yourself? Should Xi-er go to the Qin-Jia Dwelling belonged to the fifth elder and find a suitable candidate for you to consider?" Luo Yunxi jokes with her father.

(Note: The Qin-Jia means Zither-House and not Qin Lan's Qin)

"Pay more attention to your pill refining and less about outside distractions. The journey of a Treasure Master is not an easy one." the eighth elder shakes his head as he was used to Luo Yunxi's antics since she was a child.

"How's the progress on refining the Marrow Cleansing Pill?" he asked.

"Halfway there. I've succeeded twice and failed twice." Luo Yunxi took a beautiful jade bottle out from her spatial jade and placed it on the table. The eighth elder reached for the bottle without hesitation as he uncapped the cork made from spun silk from a specific kind of Yao Beast.

Two ruby-like pills with bone white marbling spot rolled onto the eighth elder's palm. The aroma it releases closely resembles the stench of blood. This pill is likely refined from mixing over ten blood types from the Yao Beast in the Bone Reconstruction Layer.

"Halfway? My dearest daughter, don't jest with your father. Do you think I have no idea you've been practicing in the middle of the night so that you could concentrate on refining them the moment the sun rises?"

"There's nothing wrong to admit that your (Pill Heart) is still unstable. It was not something easy to achieve after all..." the eighth elder pat his daughter's head to show her his tenderness.

"Sometimes, trying something new might give you an insight about the pill you're refining. Don't stay at the same place too long and being afraid of taking a step forward." the eighth elder continued.

"Xi-er understands..."

**Boom!**

The outburst of Qin Lan's Spiritual Energy surprises the pair of father and daughter and over twenty junior disciples. It was a short-lived explosive of Spiritual Energy for the others, but to the father and daughter pair, that wasn't all.

To those that do not cultivate the same art as the father and daughter, it was just a sudden outburst when one encountered a Spiritual Deviation while refining pills. But there's actually more to it.

This is a step known as cauldron blasting. And there is only one requirement for a Treasure Master to achieve this.

That is to possess twice the amount of Spiritual Energy required to concoct the pill.

But with the modernization and crucial teachings that were lost in between inheritance, there's hardly anyone capable of executing what Qin Lan just did. Even the thought of using excess Spiritual Energy to firing the pill until it was complete is considered foolish and reckless in their eyes.

Furthermore, with pill refining now moving on from using a risky but high yield Medicinal Tripod into a safer, quality Medicinal Cauldron, there's no longer a need for a technique like this "Cauldron Blasting."

As long the correct ingredient is used with a proper and efficient "extract" skill, it is possible to yield a Xuan to Huang Quality Pill.

Of course, there was one other reason that stops the youth from trying.

It was due to prosperity. This world is no longer the era of Qin Lan's first reincarnation, where efficiency and quantity are crucial to survival.

"Dearest daughter, this individual might be a help to you. Make sure you look for him." the eighth elder said,

"Xi-er understands!"

...

...

...

"It was indeed easier to refine a higher quality pill this way. Perhaps that's the reason the world shifted to a cauldron instead of an open tripod." Qin Lan kept the four Xuan-Grade Turbulence Pill into a jade bottle and continued with his second refining process.

Coupled with the Cauldron Blasting Technique, he managed to refine three Xuan-Grade pills and two subpar Turbulence Pills before his stomach was growling from hunger.

Qin Lan decided to call it a day. It was not because he was lazy, but because the quota of five pills that have to be handed over has been fulfilled. By right, he has no reason to continue refining the ingredients as there might be other recipes for them to be used efficiently.

Feeling relaxed as he already achieved what the Request Token asked, Qin Lan slowly strolls until he was at the Dan-Xin Dwelling's canteen. There were both guests and people from the Dan-Xin Dwellings are here.

After taking a tray of food provided free of charge to those who belonged to the Dan-Xin Dwelling, Qin Lan selected a quieter spot as he enjoyed his dinner by himself.

"Hey, did you hear about what they said? Something about catching the guy that had a Spiritual Deviation a little earlier ago?" one of the conversations his fellow disciples were discussing caught his interest.

"Not once, but twice." the one that listened earlier replied excitedly. "I've heard that elder senior sister Luo is searching for this person and willing to pay for any clues about him," he added. Two spoonfuls of food are stuffed into his big mouth after he shared what he heard.

(Two Spiritual Deviation? Don't tell me the one they're discussing is about me? It's impossible for me to not feel it if people are facing a Spiritual Deviation nearby)

Qin Lan guessed correctly. Furthermore, with this senior sister Luo added into their topic, this has to be a serious matter no matter from which point of view he's looking at.

(I suppose... I'll lay low in the meantime. If these people misunderstand my alchemy way, who knows what will happen when they take it negatively...)

Qin Lan quickly finished his food and returned to the room he was assigned into.

This time, he no longer added the Cauldron Blasting Technique while refining the last three sets of medicinal ingredients. Their quality soon dropped because it was lacking the firepower to mature into a proper Xuan-Grade pill.

Still, Qin Lan managed to score a Xuan-Grade Turbulence Pill in each of the three attempts. With ten Xuan-Grade Turbulence Pills and close to fourteen basic and subpar pills, he had more than enough to deliver the order right now.

But Qin Lan decided to leave it aside until tomorrow noon.

That night, Qin Lan somewhat lost track of the number of books he went through before falling asleep. The next morning, he sneakily slithered into the canteen like an eel and ate what was distributed to him.

He delivered two bottles of pills, a total of ten Turbulence Pills, five veinless, and five Xuan-Grade to the table and collected his reward. With twenty contribution points richer, Qin Lan went along with the flow and started on another request.

It was a request to refines a large batch of Demonic Blood Oranges into Flesh Refining Pills. The payment for this will be a tenth of the number of what he managed to refine.

A request like this is often ignored and shoved aside because the reward was too unrewarding.

After collecting the Qiankun Pouch with 150 Demonic Blood Oranges inside, Qin Lan paid fifteen Contribution Points as the deposit and returned to his room.

On the same afternoon, a fellow disciple from a nearby dwelling came with a special request. He wished to discuss a deal with the person who refined the Turbulence Pill for him.

And when the news was delivered to Qin Lan's doorstep, even himself is puzzled with the request because Qin Lan is sure that the pill he refined had no issue at all.

If that the case, then what for the requester made a demand to meet him?

Qin Lan scratched his head and followed the fellow disciple.