Chapter 76: Thoroughly Spicy

“Right~” Xun Xue smiled like a fox that had just stolen some honey. “This thing, on some of the Wolf Tribe’s Royal Cubs… the effect is roughly equivalent to—”

She leaned close to her daughter and whispered mysteriously, “Little Qiancha has encountered Tianliao~”

“But~!” Xun Xue suddenly shifted her tone, a hint of pride in her voice, “Most of the little wolves are immune to this stuff. They don’t even feel anything when they touch it. Lu Qiancha, you’re really lucky.”

“Lucky? Really?”

Lu Qiancha’s eyelid twitched uncontrollably.

What kind of luck was this?

Wasn’t this just hanging a huge weakness on herself? If the enemy found out, and sprinkled some powdered Shihu Zhulan on her, wouldn’t she be completely doomed?

What if, in the middle of a fight…

The enemy suddenly pulled out a handful of ground Shihu Zhulan powder and threw it right at her head!

Then she’d suddenly run into their arms in front of everyone, whining and rolling around, snuggling and twisting about…

Tsk, that’d probably be the end of her life right there.

“Yeah, very lucky. Most of the kids have never experienced this,” Xun Xue said with a sly smile.

…I’d rather not have this kind of luck.

Lu Qiancha curled her lips. She pushed herself up with her paws and bounced off to sit on a nearby chair.

Expressionless, she asked, “So, how do those little wolves who aren’t immune gain immunity to Shihu Zhulan?”

“Simple!” Xun Xue chuckled as if it was a trivial matter. “Desensitization therapy. Eat more, eat repeatedly, until your body goes numb! Until it stops affecting you! Quantity leads to quality~”

“Oh.”

Lu Qiancha nodded slightly, her mind already calculating how to stash some Shihu Zhulan in her Storage Bag to secretly eat by herself. As long as no one noticed when she ate it… that should work, right?

She shook her head, pushing those thoughts aside for now.

Her eyes swiftly scanned Xun Xue, who was daydreaming nearby.

Good opportunity!

A glint of cold light flashed on her claws.

“Swish!”

The materials for the Transformation Pill and the Bamboo Slip containing the Pill Formula were instantly swept into her Storage Bag.

“Whoosh!”

Her small figure already launched forward.

So fast it left only a blurry blue streak behind.

She burst through the door, activating the Myriad Forms Mirage Technique simultaneously. Swish!

Outside the room, she transformed into a clean-cut youth in white robes.

Without looking back, she dashed toward the adjacent Alchemy Room, leaving a trail of dust.

“Hey? I even brought snacks! Lu Qiancha, aren’t you eating?”

Xun Xue called out loudly toward the door.

“No!”

A clear, cold youth’s voice shot back like an arrow tearing through the air. Then footsteps disappeared down the corridor.

“This kid…”

Xun Xue shook her head helplessly, staring at the exquisite Storage Bag filled with various snacks in her hand. She placed a smaller bag of food on the table and then stepped out of the room.

She entered the familiar Alchemy Room and activated the Defensive Formation.

Lu Qiancha Senior Brother finally exhaled deeply. She had really been afraid that Xun Xue would stuff her with some strange food again.

Calming herself, Lu Qiancha took out her Storage Ring and poured all the materials from the Storage Bag neatly across the small table.

Then—

“Click!”

She carefully unfolded the Bamboo Slip that held the Transformation Pill.

Holding her breath, she used her claw tip to lightly tap the slips, beginning to record the formula word by word.

“Wulin Flower, pick the pure pistil; Yuxuan Stone, remove fire spots…”

“Hm?”

Lu Qiancha paused at a certain part of the formula, startled. Wulin Flower was an extremely Yin and cold water-elemental treasure herb; yet Yuxuan Stone contained pure earth-fire energy.

Water and fire conflicted, against the laws of nature.

Normally, these two ingredients would require a powerful wood-element spirit herb to harmonize and temper the conflict right from the start.

But the first half of this formula was clean—no sign of any wood-element spirit herb at all…

Lu Qiancha’s doubts grew as her gaze moved further down.

Ha!

In the three lines following the addition of Yuxuan Stone, three wood-element spirit herbs were clearly listed.

Was this damage control?

Lu Qiancha’s eyelid twitched.

The more she examined the formula, the stronger the sense of dissonance became.

This Pill Formula contained many operations that went against common sense.

Several classical combinations verified by countless predecessors, the fixed roles of monarch, minister, assistant, and courier herbs—here they were forcibly reversed, the primary and secondary switched.

Even the core ingredient, the core ingredient, was placed last after all the auxiliary materials.

This was… unheard of.

Lu Qiancha stared at the Bamboo Slip, her claws tapping the table unconsciously as she sank into deep thought.

Why go against the usual path?

Reversed order in the medicine… what secret did it conceal?

She simulated dozens of possibilities in her mind—alchemy theory? pharmacology? spiritual energy flow?

After long contemplation, she gained nothing.

…Forget it, not thinking anymore!

She decided to give up on pondering. Whatever, she’d just refine it first. Since the formula was written this way, it must have its reason.

“Light the furnace, stoke the fire!”

Hum—

The sturdy, ancient golden Alchemy Furnace glowed with spiritual fire at its base.

Fiery runes began climbing the walls nimbly and spreading.

Lu Qiancha focused, precisely controlling the flame and spiritual power.

Strictly following the instructions, she added each ingredient into the Alchemy Furnace with unerring accuracy.

Time ticked by…

“Wuu—humm!!”

When the final step came, and the iridescent core ingredient was pushed into the furnace by her claws—

Suddenly, the Alchemy Furnace, which had been stable and revolving like a Tai Chi wheel, became chaotic, as if boiling oil had been poured into water.

The pill was about to form.

Lu Qiancha’s heart lifted, her expression gradually relaxing.

The next moment—

“Boom!”

A deafening explosion roared from within the furnace, a massive shockwave mixed with acrid smoke violently spewing out from the seams.

Not good!

Lu Qiancha’s pupils shrank sharply, reacting like lightning, almost at the same moment—

“Buzz!”

An incredibly solid spiritual shield instantaneously expanded before her. The raging shockwave slammed hard against the barrier, sounding like clashing metal.

“Refine?”

“Cough, cough, cough.”

She waved her paw, dispersing the thick smoke in front of her and quickly formed hand seals.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The three windows of the Alchemy Room shattered open, mountain wind howling in, sweeping away the thick smoke in a mess.

The sharp burnt smell in the air dissipated instantly.

“Hiss.”

Lu Qiancha stared at the charred Alchemy Furnace, gasping as if biting down on a toothache. “Could it be that this blasted pill is actually harder to refine than the Rebirth Pill?”

If it weren’t for the excellent quality of the Alchemy Furnace brought by Xuan Shigu, Lu Qiancha would probably be looking at nothing but shattered furnace fragments right now.

Squinting, she rapidly reviewed every detail of the earlier process—fire control, timing of adding ingredients, spiritual power output…

Meticulous, without error.

Then the problem could only be in one place: the Pill Formula itself.

Lu Qiancha pressed her lips, staring at the formula. A cold and indescribable wave of disappointment clenched her heart tightly.

“Why…” Her throat tightened, fingertips curling white at the joints.

Why did Xun Xue give her a problematic Pill Formula?

If she didn’t want to see Lu Qiancha’s claws turn back into human hands, she could have simply not given it.

Could it be she just wanted to toy with her… to dangle hope and then push her off the cliff at the peak?!

If that was really the case…

“Heh…” A cold arc curled on Lu Qiancha’s lips. A look of disgust flashed in her eyes. “Such a personality… truly abominable.”