Xiao Hong’s face was flushed pink as she made her way back to her private room. She knew that when she returned after 3 years, she and Qiao Guiying would officially be a couple. And… it made her heart beat at an exaggerated rate.

On the one hand, she could not wait for this damned mission to be over so she could go hug her Sister Ying again.

On the other hand… she almost wanted the mission to go on forever. Her mind kept going off in weird directions; like, what if after returning, things aren’t the same anymore? Or what if after returning, Qiao Guiying has found someone else? 

Or… What if she herself doesn’t feel the same anymore…? 

It made no logical sense whatsoever, but that didn’t stop her from imagining such things.

It was in this strange juxtaposition of moods that she reached her private room. 

‘Fuck it! I’ll leave it to my future self!’ Xiao Hong decisively chose to shove the rest of her problems onto future Xiao Hong.

And then she sat down to cultivate. It took her an entire hour for her mind to regain calm - her thoughts were like ADHD squirrels jacked up with unhealthy amounts of caffeine.

Breathing slowly, she activated Ancient God’s Physique Scripture. As her Divine Sense penetrated through her skin into her flesh, she could ‘see’ an uncountable number of tiny pinpricks of starlight within the cells that made up her body. 

Currently, her skin, flesh and parts of her skeleton were filled with these points of starlight. When viewed as a whole, they had a mystical sense of meaning to them - like a galaxy.

As Xiao Hong breathed in and out, dragging in the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth, the pinpricks of starlight grew bigger and brighter when suddenly, a new pinprick of light appeared!

The pinprick of light was so dim it looked like it would disappear any time. But under the slow nourishment of the other points of starlight, it grew brighter and brighter, while the other points of light grew dimmer and smaller before the newer point of starlight looked no different from the others

Then, this process repeated over and over.

***

The next day.

Xiao Hong had continued to cultivate since yesterday without a single break.

She knew that without a strong enough Cultivation Base, they could not be in a proper relationship even if both of them wanted to! She had no illusion that the World of Immortals would support their progressive relationship and was sure it would even oppose their union with all its might.

On top of that, Qiao Guiying was from an Immortal Family. And as a duty to her family, she had to produce children for the continuation of the Family. Even if she would have a lot of leeway in choosing her partner - as long as their talent was satisfactory - the Qiao Family would never allow her to be in a relationship that would not produce a child. It was even more so now that Qiao Guiying had awakened her Bloodline. The Qiaos did not know yet, but it would inevitably be revealed. Her dramatic spike in talent was clear as day. And it was not like she could hide her strength either, since she had to join the Inner Sect, now that she had the ability to. That was the only way she would gain more leeway from her family.

In short, she needed strength. Both of them needed strength. Enough strength to trump any and all voices against their union.

Just as she was lost in her thoughts, there was a signal from the formation that someone wanted to visit her. 

‘Hmm? Chen Yu?’ She could feel his presence beyond the door along with two others.

Walking over to the door and opening it, she indeed saw Chen Yu and his two friends: He Ping and Yan Bao. 

“Do you need my help, Senior Brother Yu?” She asked, her eyebrow raised in surprise.

“Good Morning, Junior Sister Hong!” Chen Yu greeted her with a big, cheerful smile. “Actually, I’m here because I wanted to invite you to the Alchemists’ Discussion that will be held in a while. It is a great opportunity to broaden our horizons!”

“Oh! I wanted to go as well. When is it?” Xiao Hong was instantly interested. She wanted to test out her theory.

“It’s in about two hours.” He Ping replied to her question.

Xiao Hong nodded and said, “One moment, I’ll be back.” She closed the door.

Inside, she intoned, “Use Slot 1 for Alchemy (Grade 3)” 

After hearing the ‘Ding’ she put her things inside her Storage Treasure and went out.

The four of them then proceeded to the Hall that had been provided for Alchemists, discussing stuff about Alchemy. 

Upon reaching the Discussion Hall, the few of them immediately noticed four other figures in the Hall. The eight of them awkwardly stared at each other.

Then Chen Yu chuckled drily, “... Haha, it seems all of us were very eager to discuss Alchemy.”

Another man who looked to be in his mid-twenties and quite stocky, laughed heartily, “Indeed! We Alchemists are really quite eager, aren't we? Hahaha!”

There were a few chuckles of agreement.

“Ahem.” A golden-haired beauty cleared her throat, “Since we don’t all know each other, how about we introduce ourselves?” Her big, orange eyes scanned the small number of people. Seeing no dissension, she continued, “I’ll go first, then.”

She stepped onto a slightly elevated platform that was surrounded by eight seats.

“I’m Qi Lijuan, a Grade 2 Alchemist and have been studying Alchemy for more than a decade now. I hope to work well with you all!” She cupped her fists and slightly inclined her head. This was a gesture of respect for ‘a crowd of equals’ - which basically meant that one has to show respect when addressing more than 3 people of the same status and Cultivation level.

Qi Lujuan then got off the platform and sat on one of the seats that surrounded the stage. Xiao Hong evaluated her as a big-boobied onee-san.

The stocky man went up, “I’m Li Huo. I’m not very talented and I’ve only reached Grade 2 after 15 years.” He said so, but most people did not reach that level in their lifetimes. Then he went down and took a seat.

Chen Yu, who was an outgoing and confident fellow, jumped on the stage in excitement, “I’m Chen Yu! And my Master says I’m very talented, having reached Grade 2 in 5 years!”

There were a few gasps of surprise. Reaching Grade 2 in 5 years was a feat few people achieved. 

Then he confidently took a seat.

“I’m An Taiping.” A scholarly-looking man gave a mellow smile as he introduced himself, “I’ve studied alchemy for 7 years now.”

Then He Ping went up and introduced himself, still giving off Shounen Protagonist vibes. Xiao Hong even had the illusion that if she said ‘friend’ to him, he would breakthrough on the spot and achieve cultivation validation!

Yan Bao fidgeted, stuttering out nervously, “I-I-I’m Yan Bao. I-I achieved Grade 2 in 6 years! Please take care of me!”

Xiao Hong could’ve sworn she saw an uncanny light flash in Qi Lijuan’s eyes. She had the urge to call out, “Run, Shouta! You’re in danger!”

Finally, the other lady gracefully made her way up to the stage, and spoke with a slight air of arrogance, “I’m Nangong Wan, and I’ve achieved Grade 2 in 3 years.” Her cute nose was slightly upturned in obvious pride. She was obviously the best among those here!

The other Alchemists looked at her in admiration. She had the right to be proud. Reaching the Grade 2 in 3 years was a phenomenal achievement!

Nangong Wan gracefully strolled to one of the seats and sat down, then stared at Xiao Hong with slight hostility. She had seen her Senior Brother Hao talking to her yesterday. Although a lot of girls talked to Senior Brother Bai Hao, none of them could arouse a sense of wariness in her heart, but in front of this girl who was so beautiful she couldn’t help but feel inferior, the wariness in her heart surged to the Heavens!

‘At least, I’m better at Alchemy!’ she told herself, ‘Brother Hao values skill and talent more than anything else!’

Xiao Hong walked up to the stage and introduced herself, “I’m Xiao Hong. And I’ve studied Alchemy for 2 years to reach Grade 2.”

“Impossible!” Nangong Wan blurted out in disbelief! “How can you reach Grade 2 in merely two years?! You’re lying!”

“Well, no, Junior Sister Xiao is not really lying. She really did reach Grade 2 in two years!” Chen Yu supported Xiao Hong. 

“Indeed, I’d heard about Alchemist Xiao from a friend of mine…” An Taiping also supported her. 

Nangong Wan was speechless; with two reputable Alchemists supporting Xiao Hong’s claim, she had to believe what she said was true. ‘Dammit, I don’t believe she can produce pills with as good a quality as I do!’

But still, she had to make amends, since she was in the wrong this time - no matter how much it ground on her nerves, “Ahem, forgive my outburst earlier, Alchemist Xiao. I was just very surprised that despite putting in so much effort there is still someone better.”

“It’s quite alright, Alchemist Nangong. My own reaction would not be much better.” Xiao Hong smiled pleasantly, her eyes flashing with a strange light not very dissimilar to Qi Lijuan!

‘Hehehe~! A new villainess to tame - ahem - bring to the right path!’ Xiao Hong sniggered inwardly, ‘But, I already have Sister Ying…

‘Hmm… Let’s tame the villainess first, then we’ll see!’

“Thank you, Alchemist An, for showing me support!” she said gratefully as she made her way to her seat between An Taiping and Chen Yu.

He shook his head and chuckled drily, “Some years ago, I would not have believed it either. But that monster really opened my eyes.”

“... You mean Master An?” Xiao Hong queried. Ever since she’d become an Alchemist, she’d heard about this An guy so many times, she wondered how her ears hadn’t grown welts!

An Taiping just nodded absentmindedly, apparently reminiscing.

“Well, since we’re all here already, why not start right away?” Li Huo spoke.

“Indeed, let’s.”

“Good idea!”

With everyone in agreement, the eight Alchemists began discussing various things like pill recipes, flame control methods, herb interactions etc. until Li Huo brought up a problem that caused them to fall into silence for a while:

“I have run into a problem while refining the Blood Awakening Pill. No matter how I refine it, the Blood Awakening Pill always fails. Can anyone tell me what is going wrong? I’m following the recipe to the letter, yet it somehow always fails!”

There were a few moments of silence before Nangong Wan asked, “How does it fail? Explosion? Waste Pill? Or does it not condense at all?”

“It is kind of strange actually, it forms perfectly, but the resultant Pill is utterly useless. It isn’t exactly a waste pill either since it supplements the Blood Qi perfectly well!”

“Can you show us one?” 

He nodded. “I’ve refined many anyway, so here.” He flicked his fingers, sending the Pills into the other’s hands.

Everyone started examining the Pills handed to them speaking up one after another, bringing up their theories that the others refuted one after another.

After a while none of them arrived at a satisfactory answer and fell into another silence. 

It was then Liu Hao spoke up, “Alchemist Xiao, I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t speak up, do you not have any speculations?”

He was a little desperate since he’d been trying to refine this rather obscure Pill for his little brother, who did not have talent in Immortal Cultivation. So, he hoped to nurture him into a powerful Martial Artist and hopefully join one of the Martial Sects! So he hoped that this genius might show him the way!

“Alchemist Li, Alchemist Xiao has only recently become a Grade 2 Alchemist, so she might not have enough experience just yet.” Nangong Wan spoke up ‘defending’ Xiao Hong. Normally, this would be perfectly fine. But now that they were on a mission; the Sect’s reputation - to a large extent - depended on them. This meant that an inexperienced Alchemist would be a burden on them rather than helpful!

Much like that dandy 30 years ago!