Chapter 307: Today's Dan Tower Is an Ominous Place

In another alchemy room, Mu Zixi was completely focused on the alchemy furnace in front of her. Her primary objective was to refine the Scarlet Gold Pill.

Her technique was textbook, with no apparent errors.

Leveraging her strong intuition with wood-element spiritual herbs, she precisely controlled the optimal medicinal properties of the ingredients. From refining the liquid extracts to solidifying the pills, everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.

It was a very smooth alchemy process. As expected, this batch would yield pills of excellent quality.

However, President Shiti watched with a frown.

While the alchemy process itself was flawless, there was something troubling about the young girl's method of refining.

Wasn't she Old Man Sang's successor? How could her alchemy technique be so conventional? This didn't seem right!

If that old man Sang truly sought a successor, how could he not pass on his Cinderlight alchemy? If he didn't intend to pass on Cinderlight alchemy, why would he have waited so long and sacrificed so many talented individuals?

Shiti was utterly perplexed. He had been looking forward to witnessing the domineering power of Cinderlight alchemy again, but unexpectedly, the young girl gave him no surprises.

"Could it be that the Scarlet Gold Pill was too simple, not worth employing it, and she didn't want to reveal the existence of Cinderlight alchemy?" Shiti considered this possibility.

He was somewhat speechless about Old Man Sang. That troublesome old man was truly cunning.

"If you didn't want to expose your precious disciple, why bother bringing a message directly to me? Both your identity and hers are already revealed, yet you're still playing hide-and-seek in front of me?"

"How annoying!" Shiti was disgusted. It was indeed typical of that old geezer to be so exasperating.

Without further thought, he continued to observe Mu Zixi's alchemy. It was a pleasure to watch!

Even without using Cinderlight alchemy, the young girl was a genius. In the Tenth-Grade Pill assessment, few could achieve this level. Perhaps this girl could even attempt a Ninth-Grade assessment later.

"What a treasure!" Shiti's eyes glowed with desire. He had a strong urge to snatch anything Old Man Sang valued, whether it was a person or an object.

"I'll discuss it after this is over..." he thought, as the alchemy process was already drawing to a close.

Mu Zixi shook her head, gathering her full concentration, ready to solidify the pills.

Suddenly, Boom—

A violent explosion from the adjacent room made her heart tremble. Her hand shook, and she lost control of the flame. The alchemy cauldron jolted, the liquid ingredients instantly turned to ash, and a burnt smell wafted out.

"Oh no!" "The furnace is about to explode!" The young girl's face instantly paled.

She had calculated everything, even specifically separating herself from Xu Xiaoshou, not wanting him to watch her alchemy, precisely to avoid being disturbed. The Pill Tower had also been very accommodating, assigning each person a separate room. There was no horrific scenario of one person refining pills while others crowded around.

Yet, despite all her careful planning, she couldn't escape the fate of being forcibly disturbed. That explosion sound was simply too familiar!

Relying on her formidable ability to manipulate medicinal properties, the young girl managed to turn the tide, averting the imminent furnace explosion and stabilizing the situation just as the air cooled down.

Boom—

Another violent explosion. Mu Zixi turned her head to look in the other direction. Clearly, she had controlled her own cauldron, but the occupant of the room adjacent to her neighbor's seemed to have failed to perfectly control theirs?

"Watch out!" President Shiti's startled cry made her turn back. Then, the young girl's eyes widened. The alchemy cauldron, due to her momentary lapse in concentration, began to tremble violently again, and this time, no one could stop it.

Boom—

"Ugh..." Mu Zixi, charred all over, looked at the President in front of her, whose once luxurious clothes were now ruined and whose hair was no longer white.

Silence fell.

The air grew quiet. Many old men in the main hall turned their heads.

"What's going on today?"

"Is it never going to end?"

"Explosions keep happening every now and then. Can this Pill Tower really withstand it?"

"By the way, aren't those three rooms occupied by people President Shiti brought?"

"It seems so. The President's discernment is increasingly... declining!"

"Shh, don't say what shouldn't be said! I'm curious, though, why are the explosions so loud that they affect alchemy in other rooms?"

"Right, were the doors not closed?"

Amidst the discussions, Xu Xiaoshou rushed out of his alchemy room, whose door had been blown off, with an anxious expression.

"Where's Old Man Yunhe?" he shouted.

Everyone jumped up in surprise. "What's wrong, what happened to Old Yun?"

"Didn't that old man go to assist you with alchemy? Why are you asking us?"

"Elder Yunhe..." A soft female voice suddenly appeared, instantly drawing everyone's attention. Blushing, she silently pointed towards the staircase. "Is that him?"

Xu Xiaoshou's 'perception' instantly extended towards it. It was an old man, charred all over, with dried blood on his face. He was groaning for help. The reason no one had heard him was that the three explosions had occurred in such rapid succession, captivating everyone's attention.

Xu Xiaoshou was utterly shocked by the sight. The staircase... How did that old fellow get there? There was an entire grand hall between the alchemy room and the staircase! If he had flown across like that, how could no one have noticed?

Soon, Xu Xiaoshou found a clue. From the door of his alchemy room upwards, and then across the ceiling, there was a red-black streak. The answer was obvious: Old Man Yunhe had been blasted away. However, his frail body wasn't strong enough to break through the ceiling; he had only left a bloody streak under the suppression of the barrier.

"This..." "This is a bit absurd!" Xu Xiaoshou quickly ran over and helped the old man up.

The old man was groaning, and Xu Xiaoshou quickly leaned closer, but could only make out a few disjointed words.

"Snake..."

"Snake?" Xu Xiaoshou was puzzled. "What snake?"

"Snake...snake puppet..."

"Technique..." Yunhe's eyes were still fervent as he finally uttered the two words he most wanted to say.

Xu Xiaoshou's face darkened. "On the verge of death, and you're still thinking about technique?" He quickly pulled out some honey and fed it to the old man, whose breathing then stabilized a little.

"I told you to keep your distance, but you wouldn't listen. Now look what happened, you're on your knees, aren't you?"

"Ugh!" The old man couldn't catch his breath and simply choked, passing out.

Xu Xiaoshou: "..."

Spatial Transcendence realm? So weak! This old man's Spatial Transcendence realm was probably attained by piling up pills, wasn't it!

The crowd was buzzing with discussion, pointing and gesturing, completely bewildered by what had happened. In this day and age, assisting someone with alchemy came with a risk to life?

Some of Yunhe's old friends came over, and Xu Xiaoshou quickly handed the old man over to them. The old fellows took him, looking displeased, and were about to say something, but then they saw this guy's cultivation level: mid-stage Origin Court realm... Forget it!

What kind of trouble could a mid-stage Origin Court realm cultivator cause? Alchemy wasn't like sword practice; it didn't have that much destructive power. The furnace explosion probably wasn't this kid's intention, and Yunhe must have been trying to save him!

But... if he was saving someone, how could he be so severely injured?

"Under suspicion, Passive Points: 32."

Indeed, after much speculation, it all came down to one conclusion: Today, the Pill Tower was truly an inauspicious place!