Three consecutive failures—the problem absolutely wasn't with the procedure! Whether it was the first attempt or the subsequent two, Nie Kong's control over the intensity of the flames hadn't wavered in the slightest. The sequence of adding the medicinal components was also flawless, and as for the integration of the medicinal powers, that too was absolutely perfect!

The formula was correct, the operation was correct, the addition sequence was correct, and the power integration was correct… yet the alchemy attempt still failed. This was utterly confounding!

"Could the issue be with these herbs themselves?"

After pondering for a long while, Nie Kong arrived at the one aspect he had considered the least likely to cause an issue. All these herbs were processed by the Hong Lou Apothecary. Their quality was guaranteed, not merely Nie Kong’s assertion, but the consensus appraisal given by seasoned Spirit Pharmacists over many years regarding the Apothecary's products.

Regardless, he decided he must test the theory.

The decision made, Nie Kong lined up the seven ingredients across his desk and began testing them one by one. All seven were derived from flowers, and even after processing, their original floral shapes were perfectly preserved, their colors still vibrant, lifelike.

But placing them in his mouth revealed a different story.

The third herb, especially, released a strange, foul odor the moment he chewed it, potent enough to nearly incapacitate him. Even someone like Nie Kong, who had tasted countless medicinal herbs in both his previous and current lives, found it almost unbearable. It took a considerable time before he could recover.

"The seventh ingredient next!"

The properties of the first six herbs matched exactly what Nie Kong knew them to be, confirming the superior quality of the Hong Lou herbs. If the herbs themselves were fine, then Nie Kong truly had no remaining explanation for the failure of the Ling Hua Sheng Long Dan. With a soft sigh, Nie Kong picked up the final herb and placed it in his mouth.

"Hmm?"

Ten seconds later, Nie Kong let out an astonished, soft gasp. He retrieved two small flowers from the seventh ingredient and chewed them again. The flavor, mixed with saliva, flowed into his stomach. Nie Kong closed his eyes, concentrating on discerning the nuances. A minute later, the look of bewilderment on his face deepened.

This seventh herb was named the Ku Chan Hua (Bitter Zen Flower). The medicinal properties Nie Kong sensed from it were strangely aberrant, presenting as a flawed echo of the characteristics he was familiar with.

Had the medicinal power of the Ku Chan Hua mutated? Perhaps this was the reason for the three failed alchemy attempts. But how could such a mutation in the Ku Chan Hua have occurred?

It was rumored that every batch of medicine sold by the Hong Lou Apothecary was sampled daily by skilled Spirit Pharmacists to ensure its quality. How could such a blatant mutation in medicinal power have escaped their notice? In an instant, Nie Kong terminated the Yao Ding Huan Shen (Medicine Cauldron Illusion Body) and bolted from the room like a gust of wind.

Minutes later, Nie Kong rushed back from the Apothecary with a new package of Ku Chan Hua.

At the Apothecary, he had tasted this batch personally; its properties were unchanged, genuinely authentic Ku Chan Hua. Though his doubts remained, Nie Kong could no longer afford to dwell on them. Since the newly acquired herbs were confirmed sound, refining the elixir took precedence.

With the Yao Ding Huan Shen suspended, summoning the small sprout again would have to wait until Xiang Xiang had rested sufficiently. Fortunately, even with an ordinary medicine cauldron now, Nie Kong could still achieve an extremely high degree of integration in his elixirs.

Although the efficacy would lag slightly behind what was produced using the Yao Ding Huan Shen, as long as it wasn't a true cultivation-boosting spirit medicine like the Yu Ye Liu Li Dan or the Xin Yang Dan, Nie Kong wouldn't concern himself with that minor gap.

After all, the Ling Hua Sheng Long Dan was only meant to temporarily raise his cultivation level by two grades. Nie Kong was currently at Fusion Spirit Grade Five, and the elixir's power should be just enough to push him up two ranks.

"Hiss hiss!"

The fiercely burning green flame held the large medicine cauldron suspended in mid-air. Loud popping sounds echoed consecutively in the room as Nie Kong began his fourth attempt at refining the Ling Hua Sheng Long Dan.

The lid was lifted intermittently to introduce the ingredients one by one. Nie Kong carefully controlled the fire, and the entire process proceeded methodically. Not long after, the lid was raised for the final time with a distinct kacha, and Nie Kong simultaneously placed the Ku Chan Hua and another ingredient into the cauldron.

"Whoosh!"

Just as the lid was about to close, a raging blaze erupted from within the cauldron. Nie Kong smelled that familiar acrid burnt odor for the fourth time.

Failure again!

"How is this possible—?"

Nie Kong instinctively reined in his spiritual power, watching the descending cauldron, his face a mask of disbelief. In this attempt at the Ling Hua Sheng Long Dan, he had replaced the "mutated" Ku Chan Hua. The refinement process had been flawless; how could it still fail?

"Don't tell me the newly retrieved herbs have mutated again? I refuse to believe this nonsense!"

Nie Kong found a strange humor in his frustration. Setting down the cauldron, he snatched several stalks of Ku Chan Hua and stuffed them all into his mouth, chewing viciously.

Within seconds, the speed of his chewing began to slow. A moment later, his jaw muscles locked up completely, and his expression morphed into something increasingly bizarre.

Indeed! The medicinal properties of the Ku Chan Hua had shifted again, perfectly matching the properties of the Ku Chan Hua he had sampled previously!

This was truly cursed!

Could this room harbor something spectral?

Nie Kong cursed silently in his mind, his eyes darting around rapidly. Ghosts didn't exist in this world. Two batches of genuine Ku Chan Hua turning mutant the moment they entered this room could only mean there was an object within the bedroom causing the Ku Chan Hua's medicinal properties to change—that object was the "ghost"!

The only thing capable of mutating medicine was medicine itself! Nie Kong’s gaze swept the surroundings, finally settling on the section of Xue Lin Tong (Blood Scale Phoenix Tree) root resting on his desk.

When he woke this morning, remembering the two individuals who had tried to harm him yesterday were likely now digested in some spirit beast’s belly, Nie Kong had taken the Xue Lin Tong out of his pet backpack to examine it for a moment. Since Long Ping and Long Ting were absent today, he hadn't bothered putting it away.

"Could it be this?"

Nie Kong picked up the section of Xue Lin Tong, examined it back and forth several times, and then placed it into his pet backpack, transmitting a thought to the little creature inside.

"Aiya yao!"

Strands of green energy probed various parts of Nie Kong’s body, dancing as swiftly as octopus tentacles.

Moments later, when they all retreated into the small tender sprout, a mass of blood-red substance appeared at the base of the little sprout’s roots—the very medicinal power that the Xue Lin Tong had seeped into Nie Kong over the past period. The little creature didn't pause; the green energy surged out of the Yao Chi Acupoint once more.

However, this time, what it brought back were the mutated medicinal powers of the Ku Chan Hua.

"Smelling the Fragrance to Identify Medicine!"

As the Ku Chan Hua's properties were absorbed by the little sprout, Xiang Xiang vigorously twisted its leaves and roots. Soon, two distinct medicinal energies entered Nie Kong’s Spirit Consciousness Aperture.

One was snow-white, the other a deep crimson.

Upon careful inspection, Nie Kong identified the white mass as the genuine Ku Chan Hua energy, while the crimson mass was identical to the large clump of Xue Lin Tong energy entangled around the little sprout's roots.

At this point, Nie Kong could confirm the source of the Ku Chan Hua's mutation entirely!

Observing the two energy masses in his Spirit Consciousness Aperture, Nie Kong deduced their pharmacological principles and properties several times. Suddenly, an idea struck him. He grabbed a palmful of Ku Chan Hua, quickly ate them all down, and instructed the little sprout to absorb their power, then use "Smelling the Fragrance to Identify Medicine" to separate them again.

A moment later, under Nie Kong's direction, the little sprout partitioned off a small segment of Xue Lin Tong energy and placed it alongside an equal amount of Ku Chan Hua energy.

The two energy masses rapidly merged…

The color faded to light red!

The more he observed, the more astonished Nie Kong became. The energies of the Xue Lin Tong and the Ku Chan Hua were extraordinarily compatible, like a convex and a concave, Yin and Yang. The fusion process was incredibly smooth; Nie Kong didn't need to do anything at all—the two energies perfectly intertwined with each other.

If one were to calculate this using the integration degree seen during alchemy, the fusion between the Xue Lin Tong and the Ku Chan Hua had reached at least ten-tenths perfection!

Such perfectly matching medicines existed in the world, but Nie Kong never expected that the match for the Xue Lin Tong would be the Ku Chan Hua.

One of these herbs was capable of maximally provoking the savage emotions of a spirit beast, driving it into frenzy and madness. The Ku Chan Hua, conversely, possessed an extremely gentle nature. Its inclusion in the Ling Hua Sheng Long Dan formula was solely to harmonize the properties of the other ingredients.

Using the terms of Jun Chen Zuo Shi (Sovereign, Minister, Assistant, Envoy), the Ku Chan Hua was the 'Envoy' medicine in the Ling Hua Sheng Long Dan.

One savage, one mild…

Their properties were diametrically opposed, yet their fusion resulted in something flawless, as if forged by Heaven and Earth! Snapping back to awareness, Nie Kong sensed the pale red mass of energy, unable to help but click his tongue in wonder and admiration. With a thought, that energy passed through his meridians and manifested on the palm of his left hand.

It resembled a drop of liquid pearl, crystal clear, lustrous, and softly colored.

After observing it for a moment, a startling, almost unbelievable notion surfaced in Nie Kong's mind. Since the energies of the Xue Lin Tong and the Ku Chan Hua could merge perfectly, if he thoroughly studied them, he might be able to refine a brand-new elixir based on these two components. Once successful, it could play an immeasurable role in the Six Halls Grand Competition starting tomorrow, potentially launching his name directly onto the Inner City disciple roster!

The thought made Nie Kong unable to contain his joy.

Some Spirit Pharmacists might attempt tens of thousands of trials without finding such a pair of matching medicines, whereas others might succeed through a single flash of inspiration.

Such things sometimes depended on fate.

Just like Nie Kong—he hadn't anticipated this beforehand. It was only because he was desperate to find the cause of the three consecutive failures in refining the Ling Hua Sheng Long Dan that he was forced to taste the seven ingredients in the formula personally, ultimately discovering the mutation in the Ku Chan Hua's properties.

After replacing the herb and proceeding with the fourth attempt, the failure forced Nie Kong to deduce that some substance in his room was interacting with the Ku Chan Hua, leading him to isolate the Xue Lin Tong and ultimately uncover the strange correlation between the two herbs.

Of course, the most crucial point was this: If those two individuals hadn't used the Xue Lin Tong to attack him yesterday evening, Nie Kong wouldn't have placed it in his pet backpack and brought it home, let alone taken it out this morning to examine it. Without the Xue Lin Tong, the Ku Chan Hua's power would never have mutated. At this moment, Nie Kong could have refined ten Ling Hua Sheng Long Dans, not just four.

In every cause and effect, there were endless variables.

Nie Kong felt a fleeting moment of emotion, then shook off his contemplation and began his research, soon becoming so absorbed that he forgot entirely about continuing the refinement of the Ling Hua Sheng Long Dan.

Time flew rapidly; the sun rose and set, and the sky gradually dimmed. Long Ping and Long Ting, having returned from Long Xue Chan's place in the morning, dared not disturb Nie Kong. They heated the meals again and again, repeating the process until evening, yet the food remained untouched. After an unknown amount of time, the two young girls, dozing off while leaning against the chairs in the outer hall, were suddenly jolted awake by a burst of unrestrained, ecstatic laughter: "Hahaha, it's done! It's done…!"