Chapter 21: The Mysterious Woman

  "Want to leave? Stay quietly for me!" The mysterious woman said coldly.

  A powerful force came out of nowhere and directly grabbed Xia Chen in mid-air, slamming him heavily into the stone wall of the mountain cave.

  Bang!

  Xia Chen hadn't even reacted yet, but felt as if he had been struck by a massive hammer head-on, slamming him heavily into the stone wall in the shape of a large character, and then crashing to the ground. For a moment, his whole body felt like it was in pieces, throbbing with pain.

  Fortunately, he had just broken through the Triple Heaven and his physical body was extremely strong, otherwise this blow would have caused serious injury!

  "Are you going to run away again?" the mysterious woman asked coldly.

  Xia Chen endured the pain and slowly got up from the ground, bitterly smiling: "I won't run anymore, Senior's divine powers are astonishing, Junior is far inferior. Junior was just coincidentally refining pills here, unaware that Senior was also present. If there was any offense, I hope Senior will forgive me."

  Although fearful, Xia Chen regained his composure after a moment of panic.

  This mysterious woman can capture him out of thin air and directly transmit her mind with divine thoughts, she must be a cultivator of divine powers, and her realm is definitely far beyond Han Dongyu's, after all, Han Dongyu wouldn't be able to transmit divine thoughts.

  Meeting such a powerful figure, there is no possibility of resistance or escape at all!

  "You're quite sensible, but you've disturbed my retreat. Although it was an accident, it's still an affront to me. You decide what should be done." The mysterious woman said calmly.

  Upon hearing the woman's tone, Xia Chen's heart stirred and he hastily said: "I am Xia Chen, a new disciple of the Zhengxuan Sect. I apologize for offending you earlier, Senior. If you have any instructions, I will not hesitate to risk my life!"

  "You're quite a talker," the mysterious woman said coldly. "What if I told you to go die? Would you go and die?"

  "Seniors won't let juniors go to their deaths." Xia Chen said in a low voice.

  The mysterious woman said: "How do you know I won't let you die?"

  Xia Chen calmed down and said, "Senior's cultivation is unparalleled, killing me would be as easy as turning his hand over. If he wanted me dead, he wouldn't bother talking nonsense, nor would he point out the problems with my elixir refinement."

  Although his tone was calm, he was actually anxious in his heart, not knowing whether the mysterious woman had seen the secret of the聚宝盆. If she wanted to kill him and take the treasure, he would surely die.

  "Unexpectedly, you're quite clever." The mysterious woman let out a soft hum, "However, I won't kill you. It's not that I don't want to, but it's unnecessary. Moreover, taking action against a small Zhēng Yuán Pài disciple like you would also be beneath my status."

  Xia Chen let out a slight sigh of relief, as long as this mysterious woman didn't have malicious intentions, his own life would be spared.

  "But...," the mysterious woman's tone changed, "I see that you're quite skilled at alchemy. I need your help with something, will you agree to it?"

  Xia Chen smiled wryly and thought to himself, "Do I still have the right to refuse?" He hastily replied, "Please go ahead and instruct me, senior!"

  "Very good, you're very cooperative." The mysterious woman said, "Don't worry, I won't make you do anything difficult, nor will I covet your things. Moreover, as long as you help me with this favor, you'll gain a lot of benefits."

  Her tone was calm, but naturally carried a sense of pride, this pride was not the arrogance of looking down on others, but a kind of innate noble temperament.

  Xia Chen's stone in his heart finally fell to the ground: "I don't know what senior wants junior to do?"

  The mysterious woman said: "It's simple, it's what you're doing now, refining the elixir!"

  Xia Chen was taken aback: "But I'm just a junior, my cultivation is too low, and I can only refine the yuanqi pill. Even this slightly more complex huajin pill, I couldn't even refine it!" As he said this, he couldn't help but feel a headache coming on again.

  "You failed not because you didn't master the fire timing, but because the four medicinal materials that make up the Refining Muscle Pill have two different natures in the fourth material, Luolingcao. You were able to identify the first three materials accurately, but you didn't fully distinguish the two natures of Luolingcao, so naturally, you wouldn't be able to refine it successfully."

  "Really? Senior, how can we distinguish the completely fallen Ling grass?" Xia Chen suddenly realized and couldn't help but ask.

  What this mysterious woman said was not in the alchemy book at all, and even Han Dongyu had never mentioned it.

  "She put the Wolf's Bane in her palm and I told her how to distinguish it," the mysterious woman said.

  Xia Chen hastily retrieved a pale green grass-like plant from the medicinal herbs and placed it in the palm of his hand.

  Suddenly, a divine thought was directly transmitted to Xia Chen's mind, which contained a large amount of information, not only telling Xia Chen how to distinguish the medicinal properties of Luoling grass, but also many profound alchemy knowledge that were not found in books.

  Xia Chen's shoulders trembled violently as he struggled to digest the information in his mind, and after a moment, a look of enlightenment gradually appeared on his face.

  Suddenly, Xia Chen walked to the side of the tripod furnace, lit the fire, and actually started refining the elixir.

  The mysterious woman didn't stop him, but silently stared at him: "This person's ability to understand is truly rare. The divine thought I transmitted to him also contained other information. Even if it were a later-day cultivator of the tenth level, they might not be able to absorb it all in an instant. I didn't expect him to understand everything so quickly."

  Xia Chen closed his eyes and sat down, with the true energy in his hand perfectly controlling the fire, half a sound later, along with the thick fragrance of medicine overflowing from the cave, a faint yellow light suddenly splashed out from around the cauldron cover.

  Xia Chen was overjoyed and took out several pale yellow pills from the crucible. These yellow pills were flawless, and they were indeed the finished product of the Calcined Tendon Pill!

  Xia Chen couldn't help but exclaim repeatedly: "Thank you so much for your guidance, senior!"

  "You don't suspect me now, do you?" The mysterious woman smiled faintly.

  "I don't dare," Xia Chen said awkwardly, but after receiving the mysterious woman's guidance, his guard had indeed decreased a lot.

  "Senior, shall I help you refine the elixir now?" Xia Chen said.

  "Not enough!" the mysterious woman said, "Your control over the fire timing is not bad, but your understanding of the elixir is too superficial, and your cultivation is also too weak. Even with my help, you can't refine the elixir I want."

  "Uh..." Xia Chen's face showed a hint of embarrassment, he had thought that after following Han Dongyu for several months to practice, his skills in alchemy were quite good, but unexpectedly, in the eyes of this mysterious woman, they were not even worth a penny.

  "You come to the cave at this time every day, I will teach you the way of alchemy, I can see that you are also using alchemy to cultivate your true energy. I can guide your cultivation, with your talent, it shouldn't take long before you can refine pills under my guidance." The mysterious woman said.

  "Yes, junior obeys!" Xia Chen said.

  He could befriend a powerful divine cultivator and receive guidance from them, so Xia Chen naturally sought it out eagerly.

  "Remember, you and I are just making a deal. The reason I'm guiding you is because I want your help in refining the elixir, so you don't need to be grateful to me for anything. This is what you should get. If the refinement is successful, I'll give you some benefits too. But there's no relationship between us. If you dare to leak my whereabouts, I can make you disappear at any time." The mysterious woman said calmly, her tone suddenly becoming more severe.

  "Elder, rest assured, I will never reveal your whereabouts."

  "Very well, Xia Chen, you're clever. There's no need for me to say more. It's also fate that we've met. If you listen, I naturally won't treat you unfairly!" the mysterious woman said.

  Xia Chen couldn't help but smile wryly. This was a case of being hit with a stick and then given a sweet date. This female senior, really knew how to use both kindness and severity.

  For the next dozen or so days, Xia Chen arrived at the cave in the back mountain on time, where he practiced alchemy and cultivated bitterly under the guidance of the mysterious woman.

  The mysterious woman was extremely skilled in the art of alchemy, and under her meticulous guidance, Xia Chen made rapid progress, almost changing one day at a time. In just over ten days, Xia Chen's understanding of alchemy had undergone a complete transformation.

  Xia Chen's rapid comprehension also made the mysterious woman quite surprised. From the Huajin Dan onwards, Xia Chen was able to successfully refine other medicinal pellets every day. Although they were still basic medicinal pellets, their quality was getting higher and higher. Some high-quality basic medicinal pellets were even extremely important for cultivators above the sixth level of later heavenly cultivation.

  Xia Chen was overjoyed that on a certain afternoon, he coincidentally managed to refine an Explosive Yuan Qi Pill.

  Bursting Yuanqi Pill is a variant of the Yuanqi Pill, with no difference in medicinal effect from the ordinary Yuanqi Pill. However, if it is compressed with true energy and then triggered, the Bursting Yuanqi Pill will violently explode and can be used directly as an attack weapon!

  Even if it's just a single Exploding Yuan Qi Pill, the explosive force is enough to flatten everything within a three-zhang radius, equivalent to a small bomb!

  It's just that the success rate of refining the Exploding Yuan Qi Pill is extremely low, and even though its power is astonishing, very few people would use precious medicinal materials to attempt this experiment.

  Through alchemy practice, Xia Chen's cultivation was also making rapid progress.

  As the true energy rapidly grew stronger, his entire body's meridians produced a burning sensation, gradually becoming taut and elastic. Under the effect of the true energy, they were about to merge into one piece, organically connecting Xia Chen's physical body, making it even more resilient and indestructible.

  The day after tomorrow is the fourfold refinement of the meridian boundary, which means to refine the entire body's meridians into a dense and unbreakable net. Xia Chen has already come very close to this net, only one step away from breaking through.

  What's more, through the refinement of elixirs, Xia Chen's control over true energy reached a rather terrifying level, and his understanding of martial arts deepened even further. Although he was only at the third peak of acquired stage, ordinary fourth-stage acquired cultivators might not necessarily be his match.

  Gradually, Xia Chen spent more and more time in the cave behind the mountain, and rarely stayed in the medicine garden. Fortunately, Han Dongyu was also very busy, staying in the inner garden all day, and the two hardly saw each other, which suited Xia Chen just fine.

  As they continued to interact, Xia Chen and the mysterious woman's guard gradually dissipated, and the mysterious woman's attitude towards him became increasingly gentle, but she never revealed her identity or background.

  Xia Chen didn't ask either, he knew that in the other person's eyes, he was far from being worthy of attention, so naturally he wouldn't go seeking humiliation.

  Two days later, the Zhengxuan Sect suddenly became lively. It turned out that the Donghua Sect, Yunling Sect and Zhengyi Sect's divine transcendence cultivators had brought outstanding disciples from their respective sects to Zhengxuan Mountain, marking the official start of the four-sect gathering.

  Suddenly there were many fellow travelers, and the post-heavenly disciples of Zhengxuan Sect couldn't help but get excited, looking forward to sparring with each other.

  That evening, Xia Chen returned from the cave behind the mountain, first went back to the medicine garden, and then came to his original courtyard. For half a month, he had been crazily cultivating, and it was a long time since he had gathered with Sun Li and the others, nor did he know how their cultivation was going.

  However, after meeting, what surprised Xia Chen was that during this period of time, Sun Li, Chen Lie and Fang Qiu had all approached the peak of the second heaven, and their progress was not slow at all.

  "Xia Chen, I heard that the four factions will meet, and the new disciples of each faction will compete with each other. We three really hope to show off our skills." Sun Li said confidently.

  Suddenly, a faint voice rang out: "With your cultivation, you think you can participate in the Four Schools' Cutting Edge? And show off your skills? I think it's better for you to go and lose face for Zhengxuan School!"

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