Although Nongli couldn’t speak, she understood and could communicate.
Setting aside the strange image of a teenage girl pinning down a man in his thirties from an outsider’s perspective—
You’re a half-human, half-demon with fox ears and a tail, so you definitely can’t expose yourself openly.
“Get up and come inside with me. Don’t let anyone see you!”
Aoki patted Nongli’s two bare knees, and she immediately got up, her tail and fox ears swaying as she trotted into the alchemy room.
Seeing this, Aoki first looked around the courtyard to make sure no one was nearby before following her inside.
Wait for the disciples of Youjian Sect to arrive before letting Nongli go?
That was a joke!
Aoki was only saying that casually. Right now, he had to find a way to keep Nongli close.
This simulation was nothing like the last one. Last time, although it was basically waiting to die, most of the time there weren’t any real difficulties.
But this time, he was weak and powerless, Nongli could attack people at any moment, and a third-party force was coming to capture her.
Not only that, he still had to find a way for Nongli to grow a second, a third tail—up to nine tails.
This was completely beyond the capability of an old alchemist apprentice like himself.
For now, it was best to just keep Nongli by his side.
He still had one last batch of pills to refine. The doors and windows of the alchemy room couldn’t be closed yet, so he told Nongli, who was standing nearby, to move into the inner room and hide a bit, then began selecting the ingredients.
Compared to those mysterious grand alchemists, Aoki’s apprentice-level refining was much simpler.
Once the necessary materials were prepared, he lit the fire under the alchemy furnace.
When the furnace reached the appropriate temperature, he opened the lid, tossed in the main and auxiliary herbs according to the pill formula, then started the boring task of fanning the fire after lighting it.
Sitting beside the furnace, fanning away, the heat was so intense he took off his upper clothes, sweat soaking his garments, droplets covering his skin.
But it wasn’t just him feeling the heat. Nongli inside the inner room was suffering as well. She poked her head out, staring at Aoki, her small tongue panting like a dog’s, “Ha, ha, ha—” dissipating heat.
Foxes really are canines.
After the long wait, the final batch of pills was completed. Aoki took out the pills and packed them carefully into bottles.
He wasn’t in a hurry to interact with Nongli—after all, she was still essentially a “beast.” When you find a stray cat or dog, it’s best to leave it alone for a while and wait for it to get used to its surroundings before interacting.
But Nongli seemed no ordinary stray. When Aoki thought she should be left alone for now, she instead came over to him.
“Ah.”
Nongli’s small hand tugged on Aoki’s shirt hem. He turned to see her clearly overheated.
One golden fox ear drooped weakly, a few strands of her silver-white hair stuck to her forehead and the furnace, her small face flushed, mouth slightly open, and her crimson eyes wide.
In that instant, Aoki recalled the fox he’d seen in the first simulation of his previous life.
A golden-eared, red-eyed white fox.
But these two worlds couldn’t possibly be connected.
The last simulation of that world had ended, yet why did he keep wanting to…
Aoki shook his head, determined not to associate things from this world with that one, or to connect someone from that world with his memories.
At that moment, Nongli circled her hand, rubbed her belly, and opened her mouth wide, pointing to her throat.
Looks like she was hungry?
“Hungry?”
Nongli nodded, then pointed at the pill bottles Aoki had just filled.
Wow, so watching the pill refining made her crave it?
But pills aren’t snacks. What fox gets hungry and eats pills?
Aoki involuntarily recalled a certain fox who once forced Lin Qiyou to swallow a whole bellyful of pills and nearly burst from the inside.
“I’ll go get you some real food. You can’t eat these—they’ll make you explode.”
He warned Nongli patiently.
Nongli blinked her eyes; it was unclear if she understood.
“Uncle! Uncle!”
Someone shouted from the courtyard gate. Before Aoki could warn her, Nongli slipped back into the inner room.
Aoki thought she wasn’t stupid—she knew how to hide.
Turning around, he saw a disciple from Youjian Sect again, but this time only one, and his expression wasn’t as arrogant as before.
“Uncle! Hurry and come see! My junior brother ate your pills and won’t stop pooping—he’s about to explode his intestines!”
The Youjian Sect disciple was urgent, clasping his hands together to beg Aoki.
Aoki recalled what the disciple’s junior brother had said—
“I’m a Youjian Sect disciple, I eat, eat, eat.”
Then he grabbed a handful of diarrhea-inducing pills meant for chronic constipation patients and stuffed them into his mouth.
Who else but him would spray everything out?
But Nongli was still inside. How could Aoki just leave?
“Uh, can’t it wait a little?”
“No, it can’t! Your sect leader was clearly here, and he can’t refine pills! Just let my junior brother poop. If he wants to teach us a lesson, fine, but Uncle, you can’t be this cruel! What if someone dies?”
The disciple got desperate, stepped forward, grabbed Aoki’s arm, and said fiercely, “Please, Uncle!”
You don’t look like you’re begging me.
“Wait a minute, I haven’t put away a few pill bottles yet.”
“Come on, come on!”
Aoki didn’t want to leave, but he couldn’t argue with the obstinate cultivator. The Youjian Sect disciple dragged and pleaded until Aoki was forced outside.
After the two left, Nongli’s head poked out from the inner room. Her red eyes scanned the surroundings slyly, her tiny brows furrowed, then she stepped out.
Her intention was clear—she went straight to the recently packed pill bottles, opened one, sniffed it, and the fragrance hit her brain like a bolt.
She opened her mouth and dumped all the pills from the bottle into her stomach.
One bottle wasn’t enough, so she devoured three more. She wanted more, but Aoki had already put the rest away.
Still hungry, Nongli sat behind the furnace waiting a bit, then, losing patience, hid her fox ears and tail.
Just as she was about to leave, she realized her tail had accidentally slipped out, so she covered the tailbone and trotted out of the courtyard.
Not long after, Aoki came back to his small courtyard, panting heavily.
After being taken away by the Youjian Sect disciple, he went to ask another alchemist apprentice for some diarrhea pills—since he didn’t refine that kind himself—and gave them to the disciple who was violently sick.
He was about to leave but was held back by the sect’s people.
Only when that disciple stopped having diarrhea was Aoki released.
The Youjian Sect disciples wanted to keep him for dinner afterward, but Aoki felt it was just courtesy.
After rushing all the way back, he didn’t dare call Nongli’s name.
He locked the gate and entered the inner alchemy room—only to find Nongli was gone.
Panicked, he searched the entire courtyard, but no sign of her.
Where did she go!
That damn fox, of course she ran off. Don’t cause me more trouble!
Turning around, Aoki realized the pills he’d just refined were all gone.
What, you ate so many—where are you planning to self-destruct?