Chapter 57: Pill Formula

Merely by hearing the voice, Xing Ye knew it was his senior martial brother, Xie Peng, who had arrived. His confidence instantly surged, and he stared at Tong Jin as if looking at a clown. "Senior Brother, if anyone dares to harbor improper thoughts about Yuerou, what would you do?"

A streak of azure light flashed across the air, and in the blink of an eye, an extra figure appeared beside Xing Ye.

"Such incredible speed," Tong Jin thought to himself.

Upon closer inspection, the newcomer was dressed in unadorned azure robes, exuding an air of arrogant detachment from worldly conventions. He had soft facial features and a pair of eyes that were not large, yet concealed a sharp, piercing brilliance as they swept over Tong Jin.

"It seems the Meng family has found a rather capable helper this time." His gaze then shifted, softening as he looked at Meng Yuerou standing behind Tong Jin. "And Yuerou is becoming more and beautiful by the day."

"Big Brother Xie Peng," Meng Yuerou stepped forward and greeted respectfully.

Xie Peng smiled and nodded, then turned his gaze back to the indifferent Tong Jin, saying in a low voice, "Regardless of who you are, Yuerou is someone far beyond your reach. I hope you are a sensible man."

Tong Jin let out a soft sigh. It appeared that this trouble ran far deeper than merely involving the Gu family.

At that exact moment, a hearty laugh echoed from outside the doorway. "Little Friend Tong's courtyard is certainly lively."

Seeing Meng Yu walking in with steady, powerful strides, followed by a young man of extraordinary bearing, everyone present stepped forward to pay their respects. Meng Yuerou hurried over to stand beside the young man behind Meng Yu, though she remained silent.

"What a coincidence that both Nephew Xing Ye and Nephew Xie Peng are here. It seems you have already met beforehand. Haha, Little Friend Tong, this is my unworthy son, Meng Xingfan." With that, the man behind him stepped forward and bowed.

"Little Brother Tong, Xingfan had business outside yesterday and only just returned home this morning. As soon as I got back, I begged my father to bring me here to pay my respects. You have traveled far and endured hardships to aid our Meng family, and Xingfan is deeply grateful!" He began to bow deeply, but Tong Jin hurriedly stepped forward to support him.

"Big Brother Xingfan flatters me too much!"

"Hahaha, excellent! Since you youngsters are already acquainted, I will not delay your conversation further, as I still have matters to attend to," Meng Yu laughed heartily before turning and walking away.

"So it is Little Brother Tong. Please forgive me for any offense earlier," Xie Peng suddenly said with an enthusiastic smile.

Tong Jin frowned slightly. This man was remarkably deep, putting on one face in public and another in private, but choosing not to expose him, he simply smiled and nodded.

Meng Xingfan looked at the two men before him, assuming that as hot-blooded youths, they must have had a minor friction upon meeting. With a warm smile, he mediated, "Ah, so you had not formally been introduced yet. Haha, Little Brother Tong, this is Brother Xie Peng, the eldest disciple of the renowned Snow Elder Xing Cang from the high plateau, and beside him is Senior Xing Cang's sworn son, Xing Ye."

With his hands clasped behind his back, Tong Jin smiled faintly. "Brother Xie and Brother Xing certainly possess straightforward temperaments."

Xing Peng laughed upon hearing this, while Xing Ye, whose cultivation was evidently inferior, let his expression sink.

Meng Xingfan smoothed things over. "We are all going to be family from now on. The future of the Meng family still relies heavily on the assistance of you three brothers."

Only then did Xing Ye's expression ease somewhat.

For the next three days, Tong Jin spent his time in relative peace. On the very first day, he had asked Meng Xingfan to take him for a tour of the study. In most factions, the study was a restricted and forbidden area, but the Meng family clearly had no such rigid rules. The study was essentially a repository of books, and apart from regular cleaning by servants, virtually no one visited it. Meng Xingfan readily agreed.

Tong Jin's request to visit the study had been a shot in the dark, in the hope of finding books related to alchemy. To his pleasant surprise, he actually discovered a heavily damaged, tattered ancient text. Although many of the alchemy formulas within it were incomplete, their sheer quantity was substantial.

Borrowing the book, Tong Jin shut himself away in his room. Aside from daily meals and a trip to the apothecary accompanied by Meng Yuerou, he did not step outside once.

When Meng Yuerou took Tong Jin to the family apothecary and allowed him to freely select various medicinal herbs, she was secretly curious but asked no questions. However, when Meng Yu heard that Tong Jin had borrowed that tattered alchemy manual from the study and visited the apothecary, he guessed the truth with near certainty. Alchemists were a heavily sought-after profession across the entire world, primarily because their rarity could truly be described as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

Years ago, Meng Yu had been fascinated by the art of alchemy and had searched far and wide for books on the subject. That very tattered manual was something he had purchased at a heavy price from Busa City, the largest city on the high plateau. Yet, after bringing it back and spending nearly a full year trying every conceivable method, Meng Yu had failed to refine even a single medicinal pill.

"If Little Friend Tong is a successor of the alchemy arts, then my Meng family has truly struck gold this time!" Meng Yu thought to himself. He refused to believe that Tong Jin was merely collecting alchemy books and herbs out of idle curiosity, nor did he believe that someone of Tong Jin's age could independently research the art of alchemy—unless he possessed a master to instruct him in the ways of pill refining.

At that moment, Tong Jin was deeply and intently immersed in the alchemy manual. Although it was battered and the majority of the formulas had been torn away or lost, through a whole day of painstaking effort, he had managed to reconstruct and organize the surviving complete formulas.

There were a total of twelve formulas. Nearly ten of them were ordinary formulas for healing wounds and restoring spiritual qi, but the remaining two left him in a state of great excitement. One was the Frost-Repelling Pill, a spiritual elixir capable of warding off the most extreme cold in the world. The other was recorded much more vaguely and named the Profound-Unlocking Divine Pill; it possessed only a brief description, with no record of anyone having successfully brewed it, having merely been stumbled upon by chance and included in the book.

As for the ingredients of the Profound-Unlocking Divine Pill, half of the thirty-some rare spiritual herbs and treasures were things Tong Jin had never even heard of, so he prudently set that one aside for the time being. However, the ingredients for the Frost-Repelling Pill and several other qi-restoring elixirs had been gathered almost entirely after his trip to the apothecary. Deciding to waste no time, he immediately set up his cauldron right there in the courtyard and began experimenting with alchemy.

Although he had previously successfully refined intermediate-tier pills, he was still not entirely satisfied with his level of proficiency. Now that he had some spare time and materials, he naturally had no intention of letting them go to waste.

The Meng family's servants had no idea what Tong Jin was up to, but following the head of the family's strict orders, no one was permitted to enter his courtyard and disturb him, so they each attended to their own duties. Over these three days, apart from Meng Yuerou frequently entering and leaving Tong Jin's courtyard, one could only occasionally hear muffled or crisp sounds drifting from within.

Finally, on the day before the duel, Meng Yu could no longer contain his impatience and walked toward Tong Jin's courtyard. It was not that he had failed to inquire about Tong Jin's situation from Meng Yuerou; upon learning that Tong Jin was indeed practicing alchemy, he had been profoundly shocked. But whenever he tried to press further to find out whether the refining had been successful, Meng Yuerou would simply smile and refuse to tell.

As Meng Yu strode into Tong Jin's courtyard without disturbing a soul, a crisp, resonant sound suddenly rang out, followed immediately by an uplifting, pleasant fragrance that filled the air. Right before his eyes, Tong Jin was pouring something out of a palm-sized alchemy cauldron and into the palm of his hand.

"This is—!" Meng Yu closed the distance in two strides, flashing right up to Tong Jin with wide eyes fixed intently upon the object in the youth's hand.