Chapter 123: Adding a Little Obstruction for Him

After cleaning the last corner of the front hall, Chen Chuan straightened up and let out a soft sigh of relief.

The front hall of the Pill Hall was now as clean as new. The faint fire-patterned stones reflected the light coming through the high windows, appearing quiet and solemn.

He picked up his cleaning tools, preparing to head to the backyard to continue cleaning as instructed.

Just as he turned to leave, a voice with a hint of laziness and command came from the side.

"Hey, you cleaner, come over here."

Chen Chuan paused and looked toward the source of the voice. It was exactly that Li Feiyun who had been sitting to the side earlier.

His heart chilled slightly, but his expression remained calm. He walked over as told and bowed to Li Feiyun.

Chen Chuan asked in a calm tone, "Senior Brother, is there something I can help you with?"

Li Feiyun sat with his legs crossed and pointed his chin at the ground not far from his feet.

There lay several fresh, water-stained peels of spiritual fruit.

He had just nonchalantly eaten them while watching Su Mengxi’s back and tossed them aside.

"Are you blind? Can’t you see it’s dirty here? Clean it up."

Li Feiyun’s tone carried an unquestionable command, and his eyes were filled with condescension.

Chen Chuan’s gaze fell on those glaring fruit peels, and a surge of nameless anger flared up in his heart.

He remembered clearly that he had just carefully cleaned this area until it was spotless.

Li Feiyun was clearly looking for trouble, creating trash after he had finished cleaning just to show off his status and enjoy the pleasure of ordering people around.

He clenched his fists, his knuckles turning slightly white.

A quick scan with his Eye of Wisdom revealed the thick and majestic spiritual power fluctuations within Li Feiyun—Fifth Level of the Great Power Realm.

This far exceeded his current cultivation of the Second Level of the Transcendence Realm; there were two major Realms between them.

Going head-to-head would offer no chance of victory and would only result in self-humiliation.

A little impatience spoils great plans.

Chen Chuan took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his churning anger.

He forced a slightly stiff smile onto his face. "Yes, Senior Brother, I will clean it up right away."

He silently picked up his tools, bent over, and carefully swept up the fruit peels that still emitted a faint fragrance, dumping them into a specialized waste basket.

His movements were meticulous, as if it were truly a spot he had missed earlier.

Once finished, Chen Chuan bowed slightly to Li Feiyun again.

"Senior Brother, it is clean now. If there are no other instructions, I will head to the backyard."

He had just taken two steps when that annoying voice rang out again from behind.

"Stop!"

Chen Chuan stopped, slowly turned around, and looked at Li Feiyun.

He saw Li Feiyun pointing at another clean patch of floor. There was clearly nothing there, yet he said with feigned seriousness:

"There’s still a small piece of fruit peel there that wasn’t cleaned properly. How do you do your job?"

"Being so unfocused and careless, how can you handle the chores of the Pill Hall?"

He put on the air of an experienced Senior lecturing a junior, but his eyes held mockery and triumph.

Chen Chuan’s chest rose and fell slightly, and a cold gleam flickered deep in his eyes.

He once again suppressed the urge to smash this bastard’s face into the ground and replied submissively:

"Senior Brother is right to lecture me. It was my oversight."

Chen Chuan walked over to that empty patch of floor and earnestly waved his broom, symbolically sweeping it a few times.

Then he looked at Li Feiyun. "Senior Brother, is it alright now?"

Li Feiyun seemed very satisfied with Chen Chuan’s posture of being angry but not daring to speak. He waved his hand as if shooing a fly.

"Fine, fine, go on. Be more careful with your work in the future."

Chen Chuan gave an acknowledgment and didn’t linger, carrying his tools quickly toward the side door leading to the backyard.

The moment he turned around, the respect on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a layer of icy coldness.

Watching Chen Chuan’s somewhat dejected back as he left, a pleasant and triumphant smile appeared on Li Feiyun’s face.

He loved this feeling of others being unhappy with him yet being unable to do anything about it.

This sense of power from being able to manipulate low-level Disciples at will was quite enjoyable to him.

Afterward, his gaze uncontrollably drifted toward the pill room where Su Mengxi was located.

The possessiveness in his eyes was almost overflowing as he swore secretly in his heart:

"Su Mengxi! Sooner or later, I will make you lie obediently in my bed..."

...The backyard of the Pill Hall was more spacious than the front hall, planted with some low-grade fire-loving Spirit Herbs. It also required cleaning up fallen leaves and dust.

Chen Chuan suppressed the displeasure in his heart and focused on completing the cleaning work in the backyard.

After everything was finished, he found the gray-haired Elder in charge of chores.

"Elder, the front hall and the backyard have both been cleaned," Chen Chuan reported respectfully.

The Elder looked up at him and nodded, acknowledging his efficiency.

"Mhm. Follow me; I will teach you how to wash an Alchemy furnace."

The Elder took Chen Chuan to an area on one side of the Pill Hall specifically for cleaning equipment.

Several Alchemy furnaces of different sizes that looked frequently used were placed here.

The Elder demonstrated the cleaning process once.

It mainly involved using a special soft brush and spiritual spring water to carefully scrub the inner walls of the Alchemy furnace to remove pill residue and medicinal remnants without damaging the walls in the slightest.

"You must be careful when cleaning. Do not be hasty, do not use brute force, and absolutely do not leave a single trace of medicinal residue, otherwise it will affect the success of the next batch of Medicinal Pills."

"After you finish cleaning these Alchemy furnaces, go to the pill rooms over there and bring back all the Alchemy furnaces that need cleaning."

The Elder instructed seriously.

After finishing the instructions, the Elder turned and left, leaving Chen Chuan alone.

Chen Chuan rolled up his sleeves and began to work hard.

Cleaning an Alchemy furnace was meticulous work that required patience.

With his control at the Transcendence Realm, he did it quite skillfully.

Soon, he had cleaned the several Alchemy furnaces outside until they were as bright as new.

Following the instructions, he walked toward the independent pill room area, preparing to collect the Alchemy furnaces that needed cleaning.

Just as he approached the door of one of the pill rooms, he saw Su Mengxi standing in front of an open Alchemy furnace.

Her brows were tightly knit, and her beautiful face was covered in confusion.

In her hand, she held a dull, lusterless Medicinal Pill residue—a failed pill.

"How could it be a failed pill? I followed the Huiyuan Pill Formula and steps exactly; the heat, the order of adding ingredients, and the Qi output were all perfect..."

Su Mengxi murmured to herself, her cold voice carrying a trace of imperceptible frustration.

Chen Chuan’s heart stirred. His gaze swept over the failed pill and glanced at the medicinal traces remaining in the Alchemy furnace.

Combining this with the vast encyclopedia of knowledge in his mind, he instantly understood where the problem lay.

Seeing Li Feiyun sticking to Su Mengxi like gum nearby, and seeing Su Mengxi’s undisguised annoyance toward him, a thought instantly flashed through Chen Chuan’s mind.

He wanted to take this opportunity to add a little obstruction for that arrogant Li Feiyun.

He intentionally made his footsteps heavier as he entered the pill room, pretending to be there to collect the Alchemy furnaces that needed cleaning.

He approached Su Mengxi, his gaze falling on the failed pill in her hand, and said in a low, uncertain tone:

"Senior Sister, excuse my intrusion. In my humble opinion, the failure of this batch of Huiyuan Pills might not be due to the formula or the steps."

Su Mengxi was deep in thought and was somewhat displeased to be interrupted by this sudden voice. She looked up.

Seeing it was the new Disciple who had been cleaning earlier, her brow furrowed a bit deeper.

A utility Disciple understands Alchemy?

She instinctively felt that the other party was talking nonsense.

"Oh? Then where do you think the problem lies?" Her tone carried a hint of distance and doubt.

Neither humble nor arrogant, Chen Chuan pointed to an inconspicuous, slightly darker residue on the inner wall of the Alchemy furnace and said:

"Senior Sister, please look here. The main ingredient of the Huiyuan Pill, the Return Spirit Grass, is mild in nature, but its roots and stems produce a very faint astringent fire energy when refined at high temperatures."

"If this astringent fire isn’t quietly neutralized with slightly cold Qi before the pill condenses, the quality of the pill will be greatly reduced."

"In certain specific spiritual environments, it can even directly lead to a conflict of medicinal properties, resulting in a failed pill."

He paused, not explaining everything completely but leaving a lead. "Of course, this is just a wild guess of mine; it might be wrong."

Initially, Su Mengxi didn’t take it seriously.

But listening to Chen Chuan’s clear analysis, especially his precise mention of the astringent fire energy in the Return Spirit Grass roots, the doubt in her beautiful eyes was quickly replaced by surprise.

She carefully sensed the failed pill and the furnace residue again. Combining it with Chen Chuan’s words, it was as if a bolt of lightning flashed through her mind.

A sudden realization!

So that was it!

She had been strictly following the formula steps but had ignored the subtle changes the medicinal ingredients themselves might undergo under extreme refinement.

This trace of astringent fire was extremely weak; ordinary Alchemists wouldn’t notice it at all.

But it was precisely this insignificant detail that led to her failure.

"I understand! Thank you!"

Su Mengxi’s face instantly bloomed with an excited radiance, like melting snow or spring flowers, breathtakingly beautiful.

She didn’t even have time to say more before she impatiently took out a new set of ingredients to begin a new round of refining to verify Chen Chuan’s theory.

Seeing his goal achieved, Chen Chuan chuckled inwardly and said no more.

He silently picked up a used Alchemy furnace nearby, quietly exited the pill room, and continued his cleaning work.