Chapter 8: A Child Worth Teaching

“Refine another furnace of Blood-Qi Pills.”

Zeng Defang instructed a servant to fetch a set of ingredients for Blood-Qi Pills and handed them to Chen Fei.

Chen Fei did not refuse. He cleaned the pill furnace, performed a simple preparation of the herbs, and then tossed them into the furnace. Compared to his clumsiness moments ago, Chen Fei’s movements were now slightly more proficient.

At the same time, Chen Fei corrected one or two of the alchemy mistakes he had deliberately displayed earlier. It was precisely these one or two corrected errors that made the eyes of Zeng Defang, who was observing from the side, brighten slightly.

As time passed, a faint medicinal fragrance drifted from the furnace. A quarter of an hour quickly elapsed; Chen Fei opened the lid and took out the Blood-Qi Pill inside.

Compared to the first Blood-Qi Pill, this one appeared rounder, and there were fewer unrefined medicinal remnants within it.

To a layman, this pill might not look any different from the previous one, but in the eyes of Zeng Defang, the difference between the two was vast.

Zeng Defang looked at the pill in his hand, then looked up at Chen Fei, his eyes no longer able to hide his admiration.

People are always willing to believe what they see, and Chen Fei had refined two furnaces of Blood-Qi Pills right before Zeng Defang’s eyes, showing clear progress.

This proved beyond doubt that Chen Fei’s talent for alchemy was truly rare. At the very least, in all the years Zeng Defang had been at the Qingzheng Medical Hall, very few could compare to Chen Fei’s talent.

Of course, it was too early to call Chen Fei an alchemy prodigy; after all, it was only a simple Blood-Qi Pill. But Chen Fei was already worth the Qingzheng Medical Hall’s investment and trial.

If Chen Fei could continue to successfully refine other pills just as he had with the Blood-Qi Pill, then the Qingzheng Medical Hall had truly struck gold.

“You are very good. I didn’t expect that you could successfully refine a Blood-Qi Pill just two days after seeing the formula.”

Zeng Defang wore a warm smile as he said, “But don’t get arrogant. These two pills still have many flaws. You must practice diligently to refine them even better.”

“Thank you for your affirmation, Elder Zeng.” Chen Fei stood up and bowed.

“Continuing as a guard is a waste of your talent. I will speak to Manager Cui; from now on, you will refine pills here with me. First, master the Blood-Qi Pill, and later, we can move on to other pills.”

“Thank you for your promotion, Elder Zeng!”

A smile could not help but appear on Chen Fei’s face. His goal was finally achieved, and his silver earnings were finally secured.

An hour later, Chen Fei refined another furnace of Blood-Qi Pills in front of Manager Cui Sanjie, which left Cui Sanjie pleasantly surprised.

Although it was Zeng Defang who had made the request, the fact that a guard—who had previously been nothing more than a servant—could actually refine pills was something Cui Sanjie found hard to believe.

But now that he had seen it with his own eyes, no matter how incredible it seemed, he had to admit that Chen Fei possessed a talent for alchemy, and a quite excellent one at that. Since that was the case, Cui Sanjie naturally had no reason to refuse Zeng Defang’s proposal.

The news that Chen Fei had become an alchemist spread throughout the entire medical hall in less than half a day, leaving everyone’s jaws on the floor.

An alchemist—this was a craft that relied heavily on talent.

If one were to say that out of ten people, one might succeed in martial arts, then in alchemy, it was unlikely that even one in a hundred would emerge.

Therefore, the status and position of an alchemist in the Qingzheng Medical Hall were far beyond what a guard could compare to.

Thus, Chen Fei’s status in the medical hall rose again. From a servant to an alchemist, he had achieved a double-jump in just a few days, making countless people envious and jealous.

Moreover, they had heard that Chen Fei’s talent for alchemy was quite outstanding, enough to shock both Zeng Defang and Cui Sanjie. Just think about it: in only two days, he had looked at a formula and managed to figure it out on his own, successfully refining a pill.

If this talent wasn’t considered outstanding, then what was?

Previously, many people had been waiting to see Chen Fei make a fool of himself, even using his affairs as fodder for gossip. Now, however, they dared not speak of him in such a way, fearing that Chen Fei might overhear them.

Chen Fei might not have much power right now, but who knew how far he could grow in the future? To offend such a person just for a moment of verbal satisfaction was simply not worth it.

Furthermore, not only could they not offend him, but they also had to think about how to curry favor with him. What if Chen Fei really struck it rich in the future?

“Damn it, that mud-legged bastard is so lucky!”

At a wine table, Pu Liao slammed his cup onto the table with a dull thud.

“I heard Elder Zeng thinks very highly of him.”

A guard whispered, not daring to join Pu Liao in gossiping about Chen Fei as they had before.

“Hmph!”

Pu Liao let out a cold snort. Seeing the people around him not echoing his sentiments, he stood up and left directly. The wine wasn’t worth drinking; the more he drank, the more stifled he felt.

The other guards looked at each other, not knowing what to say. An alchemist in the medical hall was indeed a rank higher than them.

Pu Liao could rely on his seniority and his cultivation in the Meat-Refining Realm to ignore Chen Fei to a certain extent, but they could not afford to do the same.

The next day, Chen Fei did not stand guard in the front hall but instead practiced alchemy diligently in the pill room. Zeng Defang stood by his side, personally correcting the mistakes Chen Fei made during the process.

Chen Fei was somewhat surprised; he hadn’t expected Zeng Defang to value him so much. He guessed that the talent he had displayed had truly amazed the elder.

Although he had been trying a bit too hard, the results were satisfying. Chen Fei didn’t want to brush off Zeng Defang’s kindness, so he listened carefully to the explanations and corrected one or two of those mistakes in his next attempt.

Seeing that his teaching was highly effective, Zeng Defang became more and more excited, his face glowing with health.

That is the nature of a teacher; encountering a genius-like disciple who understands everything at a single hint, without needing to be told twice—that feeling is incredibly fulfilling.

It had been too many years since Zeng Defang had experienced this feeling. Watching Chen Fei improve with every attempt at refining pills, he felt even happier and prouder than when he refined high-difficulty pills himself.

“Very good. In this Blood-Qi Pill, all the medicinal ingredients have been fused. Although the fusion isn’t perfect yet, it is a vast improvement compared to before.”

Zeng Defang looked at the pill in his hand with a face full of smiles, his eyes growing increasingly satisfied as he looked at Chen Fei. In his heart, Zeng Defang already regarded Chen Fei as half a disciple.

“It is thanks to Elder Zeng’s excellent teaching.”

Chen Fei offered a timely compliment, which made Zeng Defang’s smile grow even brighter.

A child worth teaching, truly a child worth teaching!

Chen Fei smiled. Although that last sentence was flattery, Zeng Defang’s level was indeed high. The progress bar on his panel showed that his proficiency in the Blood-Qi Pill had increased by more than ten points, which was proof enough.