Chapter 4075 — Breakthrough! Peak of the Late Foundation-Building Stage!
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
As for the others, Wei Zhao had initially intended to have Ning Xuefei inquire about them all at once, but on second thought, asking after so many people together seemed unwise—and besides, Ning Xuefei would surely send someone else to make the inquiries, and if that drew the attention of interested parties, it would only make matters worse.
"Why are you calling me Miss Ning again? Didn't I tell you that, just like little Lan'er, you're supposed to call me Junior Sister Feifei!" Ning Xuefei fumed.
"Ugh, fine—Junior Sister Feifei." Wei Zhao surrendered at once.
"That's more like it, hee hee!" Ning Xuefei stuck out her tongue in triumph.
Getting down to business, Wei Zhao immediately set about refining the Foundation-Building Golden Pill. To be safe, he did not put all ten portions of ingredients in at once, but split them five and five into two batches—the Divine Farmer's Cauldron, after all, had its maximum capacity.
With several prior pill-refining sessions behind him, Wei Zhao was already thoroughly practiced at this; no mishaps arose during the process this time. Apart from the fact that it took a little longer than usual, the only thing that genuinely surprised Wei Zhao was the final tally when the cauldron was opened.
There had been only ten portions of ingredients, yet across the two batches, the Foundation-Building Golden Pills that finally emerged numbered a full fourteen—and every single one of them was top-grade!
The result left even Wei Zhao himself stunned, let alone Ning Xuefei and Shangguan Lan'er, who were now looking at him as though he were some kind of monster, their dewy eyes sparkling with stars—nothing but adoration.
Under such gazes, Wei Zhao felt a little embarrassed. He shrugged and said, "It's mainly the ingredients—the quality was top-notch, the kind you rarely see. A few extra pills is only to be expected."
Shangguan Lan'er had no real grasp of such matters, but Ning Xuefei, having grown up surrounded by it, understood a fair bit about pill refining. At his words she exclaimed in astonishment, "To be expected? Two batches yielding a full fourteen top-grade Foundation-Building Golden Pills—and that's just to be expected? You're far too modest, Wei Zhao. Even Pill God Zhang Lifeng himself would be hard-pressed to do better!"
"Junior Sister Feifei flatters me far too much. I'm merely a newcomer—how could I be mentioned in the same breath as Master Zhang?" Wei Zhao waved a hand with a faint smile. Whatever skill in pill refining he had now, he owed entirely to that cheap master of his whom he had never once met.
As agreed beforehand, the Foundation-Building Golden Pills were divided among the three of them: Ning Xuefei took six, three of which were for her "good friend." Shangguan Lan'er took three, and the remaining five were all left to Wei Zhao.
"Three is enough for me—you two can have the extra two," Wei Zhao declined.
He knew neither girl cared for cultivation, and that their only real means of raising their strength was through pills. One more Foundation-Building Golden Pill meant one more measure of power—never a bad thing for either of them. Deep backgrounds or not, there would always come a time when they had to rely on themselves in an emergency, just as when Shangguan Lan'er had been abducted last time.
But Shangguan Lan'er shook her head again and again. "I don't need that many. I don't need to be all that strong, either—if I improve too quickly, Grandfather will get suspicious instead. I don't want him finding out about our secret."
Ning Xuefei, meanwhile, said as though it were the most natural thing in the world, "You refined them, and it's thanks to you that so many top-grade Foundation-Building Golden Pills came out at all. The extra two should go to you in the first place!"