On the top floor of the loft, Mark Ye watched Dylan Chen sitting calmly beside the pill furnace, his brows furrowing slightly.
For so reason, he felt that Dylan Chen was different today compared to usual.
He didn't like this version of Dylan, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.
"Begin," Mark Ye waved his hand lightly, dismissing his concerns and focusing intently on the pill furnace.
Dylan Chen picked up a sprig of purple vine and placed it into the pill furnace, releasing spiritual energy at a steady pace to ignite the fire.
After studying the detailed analysis of the dicinal properties last night, he had co up with so new ideas on how to refine the Rejuvenation Pill.
Whether they were correct or not still needed to be verified.
As soon as the pill refining began, Dylan's mind was fully imrsed, completely ignoring Mark Ye beside him.
Putting aside the pressure Mark Ye brought, Dylan genuinely enjoyed pill refining. Watching a pile of herbs transform into a pill in his hands always gave him a sense of fulfillnt.
No one dislikes doing what they excel at.
After his first attempt, Dylan opened the lid of the furnace and looked at the waste inside, his emotions unperturbed. He released spiritual energy to clear the ashes and then added more ingredients.
The second ti, the third ti...
With each failure, Mark Ye's face grew darker, while Dylan remained calm, his eyes fixed on the pill furnace, never once glancing at Mark Ye.
By the ninth failure, Mark Ye could no longer hold back. He raised his hand and slapped Dylan hard, sending him flying several ters away.
"Useless!"
Dylan slowly got up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and pointed to the last set of ingredients on the ground, his expression still calm.
"There's still a chance."
Mark Ye's brows furrowed deeply, not because of the pills. If the pills couldn't be made, he could always find more ingredients.
He still had so Spirit Stones left, which he could exchange for more Spirit Gathering Pill ingredients for Dylan to refine. Given Dylan's success rate with Spirit Gathering Pills, it wouldn't take long for him to recoup his losses, maybe even make a profit.
What he disliked was Dylan's attitude. It was only now that he realized what was wrong.
The first ti Dylan refined pills, he was so nervous that he asked Mark Ye to leave. But now, with only one set of ingredients left, Dylan was completely calm.
If he had to use one word to describe it, it would be "unflinching."
Mark Ye couldn't accept this attitude. He wanted a subservient Spirit Slave, not the current Dylan.
Thinking of this, Mark Ye squinted his eyes and pointed at the pill furnace. "Continue."
He no longer cared whether Dylan could refine the Rejuvenation Pill. He now hoped Dylan would fail so he could punish him.
A Spirit Slave with such an attitude was unacceptable. He needed to make Dylan understand what kind of attitude a Spirit Slave should have towards his master.
Dylan walked unhurriedly to the pill furnace, sat down, and placed the ingredients into the furnace, his face as calm as still water.
After a long ti, the fire went out. Dylan sat in front of the furnace, lost in thought.
Seeing Dylan like this, Mark Ye imdiately spread out his spiritual sense and eagerly opened the lid of the furnace. As long as he saw waste inside, he would activate the blood-red pill in Dylan's body, making him wish for death.
However, when he opened the lid, he was disappointed.
A purple-red pill lay quietly in the furnace, emitting a refreshing fragrance. It was the Rejuvenation Pill.
Mark Ye couldn't believe it as he picked up the Rejuvenation Pill, his expression becoming extrely complex.
Dylan successfully refining the Rejuvenation Pill was naturally a good thing, but right now, he didn't care about the pill. He just wanted to punish Dylan.
But Dylan had refined it, leaving him no reason to punish him.
Mark Ye paced with the Rejuvenation Pill in hand for a long ti before suddenly turning to Dylan, who was still sitting in front of the furnace, deep in thought. "What are you thinking about?"
Dylan quickly stood up and respectfully replied, "I succeeded in refining the Rejuvenation Pill entirely thanks to the detailed analysis you provided, Master. Once I fully comprehend it, my success rate will only increase."
This wasn't the answer Mark Ye wanted. But since Dylan had refined the pill, he couldn't be too harsh. He put the pill into a porcelain bottle and waved his hand.
"Dismissed. Tomorrow, I'll buy another batch of ingredients for the Rejuvenation Pill. Prepare well."
"Yes."
Just as Dylan reached the staircase, Mark Ye suddenly called out to him.
"Is there anything else you need, Master?" Dylan turned to look at Mark Ye, his deanor subservient.
Mark Ye walked up to Dylan, his gaze intense as if trying to see through him. "You don't seem nervous at all today."
Dylan replied softly, "The first ti I refined pills, I wasted a lot of your ingredients due to nervousness. As I spent more ti refining, I realized that emotions also affect the process. After wasting ten sets of ingredients yesterday, I dared not be nervous today."
Mark Ye nodded in satisfaction and patted Dylan's shoulder. "Your performance has always been the best and most important to . I won't hide it from you; because of your alchemy skills, I've earned a lot of Spirit Stones. As long as you remain obedient, I'll give you more privileges in the future. I know you're usually very honest, but the other four may not be. When I'm not around, keep an eye on them for ."
Dylan's brows furrowed imdiately. Was he being asked to be a spy?
"What's wrong? Unwilling?" Mark Ye's voice turned cold at Dylan's reaction.
Dylan quickly cupped his fists and said, "I was just thinking, it's easy to monitor them when they're in the house, just by listening. But when they go out, I won't know what they're saying."
Mark Ye pondered for a mont and then said slowly, "When you're not refining pills, you can go out anyti, but not for more than the ti it takes to burn a stick of incense."
"Understood." Dylan respectfully retreated. After leaving the loft, he glanced at the inner courtyard gate before returning to his room.
He could go out now, but he couldn't do it imdiately. Acting too eager would arouse Mark Ye's suspicion.
Back in his room, Dylan sat on his bed, pondering why Mark Ye's attitude had been so good when he last spoke to him.
Was it just because he refined the Rejuvenation Pill?
No, even if the Rejuvenation Pill was more valuable than the Spirit Gathering Pill, it wasn't enough to warrant such a change.
Suddenly, he understood and silently blad himself for being careless.
After his conversation with Ryan Ji last night, his mindset had shifted, and he hadn't hidden it well enough, allowing Mark Ye to notice.
This wasn't a reward; it was a test!
There was a spy among them. On the surface, Dylan was to monitor the others, but secretly, the spy would be watching him.
His next task was to identify the spy.
There might even be more than one.
And to escape, he had another problem to solve: the blood-red pill in his body.
With that pill, Mark Ye could control them with just a thought, leaving them powerless to resist. Without dealing with the pill, escape was impossible.
But the problem was, Dylan didn't even know what the pill was called, let alone its recipe. And a pill used by the Demonic Extre Sect to control Spirit Slaves wouldn't be easy to break.
There was still so much to do!
A faint noise ca from the wall. Dylan gently moved the cabinet and took the silver ingot and the piece of beef that Ryan Ji had passed over.
The silver ingot had a map drawn on it, though incomplete, showing only so of the terrain to the east of the mountain. Given Ryan's limited ti outside, having to feed Blackie and watch out for Ralph Zhao, drawing this much was already impressive.
Dylan pushed the silver ingot back, sat cross-legged on his bed, and restored his spiritual energy before carefully studying the detailed analysis of the dicinal properties. At this point, he could only hope to find a solution there.
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