Chapter 2168 — Making It His Own

Yet Han Jingyi had actually hit upon a novel method all her own—and by the look of it, she had even succeeded?

"Then you took the remaining ingredients and refined eight Qi-Gathering Pills?" Wei Zhao asked, forcing down his astonishment.

"No, no. Jingjing first simulated the refining process, measuring the pressure and temperature inside the cauldron. Based on how each pill responded to the heat, and taking the cauldron's size into account, Jingjing worked out a whole new formula for the temperature, flame, and timing curves!" Han Jingyi said. "Only the first time, Jingjing overlooked one variable and used two portions of ingredients for the experiment—and it was ruined outright. It broke Jingjing's heart! But it also showed her where the gaps were, so she perfected the pattern. Then, just to test it, Jingjing threw the remaining four-odd portions into the cauldron all at once and refined according to the new, perfected curves. When it was done, Jingjing found eight Qi-Gathering Pills sitting in the cauldron..."

"Four-odd portions of ingredients, and you refined eight Qi-Gathering Pills?" Wei Zhao was staggered once again. "Jingjing, you really are a little genius!"

"Don't praise Jingjing so, Brother Wei Zhao—you'll make her float right up into the sky..." Han Jingyi said, a little bashful.

Looking at her expression and hearing her words, Wei Zhao broke into a mental sweat again. Was his own mind simply too dirty, always reading too much into things? Or was this girl deliberately teasing him? It didn't seem so, though—Han Jingyi was perfectly proper, and what she discussed with him most was alchemy; she had never brought up anything else. Clearly he was overthinking it.

"So refining those eight Qi-Gathering Pills—how many times the usual physical strength, true qi, and time did it cost?" Wei Zhao asked.

"About two or three times each, roughly—it varies," Han Jingyi said. "I have the formulas here. Want to take a look, Brother Wei Zhao?"

"I'll skip it..." Ingenious as Han Jingyi's formulas were, they were useless to Wei Zhao—he couldn't refine pills! He sighed. "Four-odd portions of ingredients to refine eight Qi-Gathering Pills—what's the principle behind that?"

"I'm not quite sure. But when you refine a single Qi-Gathering Pill, some waste is left at the bottom of the cauldron. My guess is that when you refine four portions together, some of that waste gets put to use—or maybe it's something else. Jingjing can't figure it out either..." Han Jingyi said.

"All right. This is something you should know and keep to yourself for now—don't tell anyone else!" Wei Zhao knew full well what would happen if word of Han Jingyi's refining method got out. Until he had the absolute strength to protect this walking cauldron of his, he could not let her be discovered. Otherwise, she would very likely be seized and studied.

"Mm-hm, Jingjing only told Brother Wei Zhao!" Han Jingyi said. "I didn't tell Sister Yaoyao, or Xiaoshu, or even my little brother."

"Good. One can never be too guarded against others," Wei Zhao said.

Talking as they went, the two stepped into the classroom. To Wei Zhao's surprise, You Panhu had actually arrived earlier than he had, and was holding forth to his two underlings about something. Catching sight of Wei Zhao entering, a flash of hatred crossed You Panhu's eyes, though he did not dare provoke Wei Zhao openly.

Since the man wasn't looking for trouble, Wei Zhao couldn't be bothered with him either, and walked to his own seat.

"Young Master You, that Wei Zhao's here—d'you think Instructor Bai will blow up later?" the yellow-haired one said with a gloating snicker.

"Hard to say. What Instructor Bai hates most is skipping class without cause! I was attending the Hidden World Clan Summit—I had proper grounds. Wei Zhao, though, was off helping the hidden Han family. I'm afraid he's certain to get an earful this time," You Panhu said.

"Let him have some bad luck—best if he loses Instructor Bai's favor. Then instead of teaching him alchemy, he'll teach Young Master You!" said the yellow-haired one.

"That would be just perfect!" You Panhu nodded...

Wang Xinyan had arrived too. Almost every day she came to the classroom early and sat quietly at her desk reading. Wei Zhao walked up beside her before she noticed anyone was there; she lifted her head, saw Wei Zhao, and started slightly. A flicker of delight crossed her eyes, but she masked it well.

"Wei Zhao, you're back. Jingjing said you'd gone away on a trip." Wang Xinyan's tone was calm, but her heart was pounding away like a startled fawn, utterly beyond her control.

"Mm, I was helping a friend with something," Wei Zhao said. "I didn't expect to be gone so long, so I didn't say goodbye—sorry for making you worry."

"It's nothing..." Wang Xinyan's face flushed. "I... I was just... caring as an ordinary friend..."

"Heh heh..." Wei Zhao laughed but said nothing, because he had no idea how to answer. His relationship with Wang Xinyan was strange; there might be a bit of fondness between them, yet it hovered at arm's length. Only, after discovering that the scent of Wang Xinyan aided his cultivation, Wei Zhao had begun toying with the idea of making her his own.

It was just that the thought was a little too selfish and impure in motive, so Wei Zhao sometimes worked hard to suppress it.

"These are the lecture notes from the past few days—you missed class..." Wang Xinyan pushed her notebook over to Wei Zhao and said mildly.

"Oh? Thanks." Somewhat surprised, Wei Zhao took the notebook she offered and began flipping through it.

Much of the medical knowledge Instructor Bai taught was refreshingly new to Wei Zhao, so he placed particular importance on the man's lessons. Since Wang Xinyan had taken notes, Wei Zhao read them carefully—and as he did, he noticed that the notes she had kept during his days away were plainly far more detailed than usual. Perhaps she had done it for his sake, and that moved Wei Zhao somewhat.

Soon class time came, and Instructor Bai walked into the classroom. He glanced at Wei Zhao, said nothing, and turned his gaze straight to You Panhu. "You Panhu, absent without cause for many days—don't you have something to say for yourself?"

"Instructor Bai, I..." You Panhu visibly froze. He had assumed Instructor Bai surely knew about the Hidden World Clan Summit—there was no need to explain. Just moments ago he had been gloating with his two underlings: he was of the hidden You family, and attending the Hidden World Clan Summit was only natural; Wei Zhao was different—he had gone to help the hidden Han family. So You Panhu had been certain Wei Zhao would be the one scolded. How could he ever have imagined that the one getting an earful would be You Panhu himself? (To be continued) RQ

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