Supreme Emperor of Mist

"Alright! Let's see how's your result now." Qin Lan teased the twin after he's finished with refining his first batch of Martial Foundation Pellets. It was then separated into a bottle of ten pills each, which can be sold for the price of twenty Flesh Foundation Pills.

"Teacher... I..." droplets of tear start to appear at the corner of Zhuge Yanyu's eyes as she failed to refine the same number of Jewel Lotus Fruit as her older sister.

Although half an hour was neither long nor short, it was enough for the girls to refine at least six plants with the given time.

But on the pill tray, there's only a total of five after adding both of their results together.

"Why are you crying? I didn't say that you'll be punished if you failed to do what I asked. Just try your best as we have more time before dinner." Qin Lan patted both of their head to calm them down.

'It seems that they were in a highly demanding position for a while before their parents' death. This made the two of them jittery, making them failed in their pill refining more often.' Qin Lan thought.

"But... I am not as good as my older sister... Wa..." as the younger of the twins, Zhuge Yanyu is indeed much more pampered between the two.

"Teacher... I..." in exchange, Zhuge Xinyu is much quieter. The Jewel Lotus Fruit she refined is also a better quality compared to Yanyu's deformed pellet.

"You did a good job. What about you girls take them to recover some of your own Spiritual Energy?" Qin Lan said,

The girls immediately drooled once Qin Lan allowed them to eat the Jewel Lotus Fruit they've refined. The five fruits vanished into their stomach instantly before Qin Lan managed to tell the girls to chew them properly.

"Let's keep the practice going." Qin Lan knocked on the table using his Eight Transformation Treasured Brush after he's done looking at the twins finished their Jewel Lotus Fruit.

"Get more serious this time. If both of you can't refine twenty Jewel Lotus Fruit today, then we won't be learning how to refine the Blood Clotting Pill later." Qin Lan purposely speaks in a mean tone as he tried to ignites their spirit.

"We'll refine the pill for sure!" Zhuge Yanyu said. Unexpectedly, it was the one that's least dependable to speak the loudest. As for Zhuge Xinyu, she gripped both of her fists hard as she gets ready to pick a plant up.

"Let's do it!" Qin Lan smiled as he announced that their refinement challenge is starting.

This time, using his Spiritual Energy in pill refining is a must. From firing the cauldron to cooking the Spiritual Herb inside, every step must be accompanied by a sufficient amount of qi for them to fully developed into a Spiritual Accumulating Pill.

The Energy Accumulating Fruit that he was going to refine was about the size of an unripe cherry.

By applying enough intensity of flames on cooking the fruit, a thick essence can be extracted by opening a hole using an acupuncture needle.

But because the thick essence is too delicate, a few additional steps would have to be added to be preserved within a hardened skin like an enclosed capsule. Without following this step, the refined Spiritual Accumulating Pill will lose about a quarter of its pill effectiveness.

Of course, there's an advantage during the preparation process.

Through this collection method, the amount of wasted essence of Energy Accumulating Fruit can also be reduced.

It takes him close to the entire afternoon to finish refining the mountain of Energy Accumulating Fruit inside of this room. But the result was satisfying as there was no failure at all.

"Teacher... We're done." Zhuge Xinyu gently whispered beside Qin Lan as they're rested and ready to learn about the Blood Clotting Pill recipe from him.

"Ahem... Do you want to skip dinner tonight?" Qin Lan tapped his finger on the cauldron used to complete the Spiritual Accumulating Pill refining while speaking. His gaze is focused on Zhuge Yanyu, who seems to be purposely hiding her face from looking at Qin Lan.

Finding out that she was caught, she quickly swallowed the extra Jewel Lotus Fruit in her mouth before she innocently stands beside her elder sister.

"Yanyu is a good girl. Yanyu can't miss dinner tonight... Big sister Hu says that she'll prepare meat today for Yanyu..." Zhuge Yanyu lowered her head as she tried to complete her sentence.

"Then you'll have to learn properly. Bring the 10-years old Ash Willow Tree Bark over here so I can start teaching you two how to refine the Blood Clotting Pill." Qin Lan couldn't help but smile as he looks at the innocent face shown by Zhuge Yanyu.

The girl quickly brought the ingredient over to Qin Lan's side as he brings out another medicinal cauldron for teaching.

"Remember, although the Ash Willow's Bark has a function of pain-relieving and blood-stopping, it cannot be compared to the Blood Clotting Pill's effectiveness." Qin Lan started his lesson. Before teaching them how to refine the pill, understanding the pill's uses is the most essential step for a refiner.

"Why was that, teacher?" Zhuge Xinyu asked. Her eyes opened wide as she patiently looks at the Willow's Bark she cleaned this morning.

"It because one is an outer medicine, but the one we're going to make is an inner medication."

"Now, tell me what's the differences between Inner and Outer Medication." Qin Lan explained carefully to the twins as he guided them through the lesson. This is where it was different from learning from other pharmacists or alchemists.

Most of the teachers would adopt the "learning through mistakes" technique when teaching the juniors how to refine medicine.

"Inner Medication is processed product, and Outer Medication is counted as a raw, unprocessed product." the twins immediately answered Qin Lan's question.

"Correct." Qin Lan praised both of them as his hand reached out to take a piece of wooden tree bark from the basket in the girl's hand. By gathering some Spiritual Energy on the tip of his index finger, Qin Lan patiently scrapes a layer of wooden dust from the bark.

"Look at this. Do you think it is enough for the..." Qin Lan's lesson continues as he diligently explains the refining method to the girls, until...

"All three of you! Do you know what time it is?" Hu Jia came into the room angrily as the time for dinner had passed. Even the servants had finished their dinner by now.

"And what the hell is wrong with all of your face?"