In the end, based on the combined hints from Mr. Dragon and the fluffy chirper, Mu Wanwan first worked out several possible pill-refining sequences and methods, planning to test them one by one.
She had not possessed many Snow Condensation seedlings to begin with. One had been wasted in yesterday’s failed attempt, and Mengmeng had eaten another today, leaving only fifteen.
Therefore, Mu Wanwan decided to begin by testing the Spirit-Recovery Pill.
This time, she carefully divided the Spirit-Recovery Fruit into three portions. After thinking about it, she still decided to use only its most essential part.
Even if it might be somewhat wasteful during her first attempt, she wanted to successfully produce a pill before worrying about anything else.
There should not be any problem with the formula itself.
Mu Wanwan took the flesh of the Spirit-Recovery Fruit, added Bell-Lantern Grass after removing the lower stems and roots, and used only the centre of the Purifying Flower.
Then she returned to the side hall to refine pills, with Mengmeng following along.
The pill furnace slowly floated into the air.
Thanks to yesterday’s experience, Mu Wanwan found it much easier to control the pill flame. When the flame rose, the fluffy chirper excitedly hopped beside her.
Mu Wanwan smiled, calmed her breathing, and placed the purified Bell-Lantern Grass inside the furnace first.
She controlled the flame carefully. A short while later, she used her spiritual energy to suspend the Bell-Lantern Grass liquid in mid-air.
This time, the liquid was not the same deep green as yesterday. Its colour was considerably paler.
Mu Wanwan felt slightly more confident.
She placed the Spirit-Recovery Fruit flesh into the furnace, using part of her spiritual energy to control the flame while observing the degree of refinement.
Something miraculous happened.
This time, her spiritual energy seeped into the fruit flesh, and she seemed able to sense the pure energy within it.
An idea occurred to Mu Wanwan.
She slowly guided her spiritual energy through the semi-solid essence of the Spirit-Recovery Fruit.
After a moment, it suddenly encountered several tiny grey spots that felt imperfect.
Were these impurities?
Mu Wanwan’s eyes brightened.
Concentrating intensely, she wrapped her spiritual energy around the tiny grey specks and extracted them.
Fortunately, there were not many impurities in the mass of semi-solid essence. It took her less than half an hour to remove them all.
Once extracted and gathered to one side, the impurities formed a grey lump roughly half the size of her thumb.
Even the portions Mengmeng had not rejected contained this many impurities.
The unusable sections must contain far more.
After thinking briefly, Mu Wanwan suspended the purified Spirit-Recovery Fruit essence nearby and extended her spiritual energy into the Bell-Lantern Grass liquid.
As expected, it contained impurities resembling small grey dots as well.
However, these were brownish, granular, and relatively large.
After finishing the purification of both ingredients, Mu Wanwan exhaled heavily.
She picked up the centre of the Purifying Flower and followed the same steps, refining it into a mass of pale-blue liquid.
Mengmeng watched her refine the pill without blinking, behaving extremely obediently.
Mu Wanwan’s hand trembled as she controlled her spiritual energy and carefully guided all three purified masses into the pill furnace.
Her concentration reached its peak.
It was time to condense the pill.
She absolutely could not fail!
The pale-green, pale-blue, and amber-coloured essences slowly moved towards one another under the guidance of her spiritual energy…
This time, Mu Wanwan did not attempt to force the three materials together through brute strength.
Instead, she gently withdrew the spiritual energy separating the three masses.
She had already prepared herself for another failure.
However, this time, the three essences slowly merged.
They formed a single large mass containing all three colours and began rotating within the pill furnace.
Mu Wanwan used her spiritual energy to knead and stir the liquid mass while increasing the intensity of the pill flame.
The mass gradually became smaller and more solid.
She became completely absorbed in the process.
She did not know how much time had passed when a faint cracking sound suddenly emerged from the pill furnace.
A distinctive medicinal fragrance spread through the room.
Three pills shot out from the furnace and hovered in mid-air.
Mu Wanwan looked delightedly towards the freshly refined pills.
Then the smile froze upon her lips—
Why did these Spirit-Recovery Pills look somewhat different from the ones she had seen in the pill shop?
They genuinely smelled more fragrant than the pills sold there, and their spiritual energy was denser as well.
However, their colour and shape both seemed rather wrong.
The Spirit-Recovery Pills sold by others were light brown, smooth, round, and glossy.
The Spirit-Recovery Pills she had refined were orange, rough, pitted, and not remotely round. *(:з」∠)*
“Chirp!”
Mengmeng became extremely excited.
Flapping its tiny wings, it actually lifted its increasingly plump body into the air.
Mu Wanwan instantly sensed trouble and stood up.
However, she was still unable to stop Mengmeng.
She could only watch helplessly as it opened its little beak and swallowed one of the Spirit-Recovery Pills.
Mu Wanwan: “…”
She was furious.
But what could she possibly do to her own chirper?
“Mengmeng!”
She had originally intended to catch the chirper and give it a proper scolding.
However, before she could move, Mengmeng dropped from the air as though it were drunk.
It looked as though it were about to fall directly into the pill furnace.
Mu Wanwan panicked and quickly caught it in one hand.
“Chirp~”
Delicious.
The Spirit-Recovery Pill was filled with abundant spiritual energy. The energy surged through Mengmeng’s body, making it feel warm and comfortable all over.
It immediately lost all desire to fly.
After all, the two-legged beast would take care of it.
Had Mu Wanwan known what the fluffy chirper was thinking, she would probably have spat in annoyance and thrown the fat chirper away immediately.
However, she was currently too worried.
She quickly placed the remaining two pills inside a jade bottle and returned to the bedroom with Mengmeng.
After putting the chirper inside its nest, she subconsciously rubbed its tiny belly, hoping that nothing would happen to it.
Then Mengmeng—Mengmeng was far too comfortable.
It released two satisfied burps, stretched out its little legs, and fell asleep.
Mu Wanwan was completely terrified.
She thought the pill she had refined was poisonous and had killed the fluffy chirper.
Panicking, she took out one of the remaining pills and placed it in her palm.
She struggled to calm herself and sense the pill’s composition.
It contained only warm spiritual energy and the essence of spiritual plants. There were no poisonous substances.
Furthermore, she had followed the pill formula.
It should be fine.
It had to be fine.
Mu Wanwan took two deep breaths and forced herself to calm down.
She stopped touching the chirper and observed it for a while.
Only then did she notice the faint rise and fall of its fluffy little belly.
Mu Wanwan: “…”
She helplessly rubbed her forehead, placed the jade bottle containing the pills on the table, and prepared to refine more Spirit-Recovery Pills.
This time, she wanted to experiment by adding some leaves containing impurities.
Perhaps the difference between her pills and the ones sold outside was caused by the lack of impurities.
Mu Wanwan left the room.
The fluffy chirper slept contentedly, while the dragon secretly awakened.
Thanks to his wife’s unusually effective spiritual plants, the curse within his body had weakened somewhat.
Although it still caused him intense pain, suppressing it with most of his spiritual sense and energy had made it much more bearable.
This only made him want to become closer to his wife while she had not yet begun to despise him and before she developed spiritual sense of her own.
It could be considered…
His final indulgence.
Mr. Dragon, who had no idea that Mengmeng had already betrayed him—and who had been too nervous and embarrassed to notice his wife pretending to sleep—opened his eyes with a cold expression.
He first carefully used his spiritual sense to confirm that his wife had travelled far enough away.
Only then did he sit upright with elegant composure.
His raven-black eyelashes trembled, and his obsidian-like pupils turned directly towards the table.
The spiritual plants he had torn apart last night had already been cleared away.
Only a jade bottle of pills and one fat chirper remained.
The paper and brush containing Mu Wanwan’s notes were gone. She had probably taken them with her to record her observations immediately.
Mr. Dragon glanced coldly at the fluffy chirper.
An idea occurred to him.
He sat properly upon the bed, lowered his long eyelashes, and concealed the mischievous thought flashing through his eyes.
The jade bottle on the table slowly rose into the air.
The two Spirit-Recovery Pills inside poured out and flew directly towards the dragon, landing in his hand.
Meanwhile, the jade bottle gently dropped onto the fluffy chirper’s round belly.
Strands of black hair fell beside Mr. Dragon’s temples.
Holding the pills, he curved his lips into a faint smile—
As expected, she had immediately understood what he had wanted to express.
Heat spread through his heart.
Mr. Dragon looked at the pills in his palm as though he were looking at a wife who shared a perfect understanding with him.
Even if she believed the chirper had been responsible, their hearts were still connected.
Furthermore…
Although these two Spirit-Recovery Pills were not of a particularly high rank, they contained almost no impurities.
They were composed entirely of pure energy.
Their shapes were unattractive, but the moment Mr. Dragon remembered that she had refined them, he found the two pills exceptionally adorable.
His long fingers picked up one of the irregular orange pills.
Mr. Dragon remained expressionless, even somewhat solemn.
His thin lips parted, revealing slightly sharp teeth.
The faintly pink tip of his tongue gently curled around the pill while the pair of furry ears atop his head twitched repeatedly.
The pill’s fragrance spread between his lips and teeth.
It transformed into warm spiritual energy that travelled through his body, nourishing his repeatedly torn meridians and bringing an indescribable sense of comfort.
The scales across his entire body felt so comfortable that they nearly wanted to spread open.
However, it was not enough.
Far too little.
The endlessly greedy Mr. Dragon ate the other pill his wife had painstakingly refined and intended to sell.
Only then did he feel satisfied.
He even lost control for a moment, behaving like a child tasting sweets for the first time.
He wiped the corner of his lips with his fingertip, then licked away the pill crumbs clinging to it.
The moment he finished, his entire body stiffened.
He had not done anything this embarrassing since he was a very small dragon.
Mr. Dragon’s eyelashes trembled.
Pretending that nothing had happened, he lowered his hand with a cold expression and closed his eyes—
It was fine.
The chirper had eaten all the pills.
This had nothing to do with the dragon.
The chirper had done everything.
It had a history of stealing food, so his wife would never suspect him.
An unfathomably deep smile appeared within Mr. Dragon’s eyes.
He slowly extended a strand of spiritual sense.
He wanted to watch his wife as she worked so hard.
That strand of spiritual sense travelled like a wind crossing halls and seas, drifting towards Mu Wanwan.
…
After returning from the courtyard with additional ingredients, Mu Wanwan followed the experience gained from her previous attempt and laboriously refined another batch of pills.
This time, she added the Spirit-Recovery Fruit’s stems, roots, and leaves.
She also included some portions of the Bell-Lantern Grass and Purifying Flower that contained large quantities of impurities but were not completely unusable.
She carefully used her spiritual energy to remove the impurities.
Some impurities refused to come out no matter what she did.
Rather than stubbornly wasting energy upon them, Mu Wanwan decided to continue as an experiment.
Unexpectedly, the pills condensed successfully.
They still looked somewhat different from the ones sold in shops.
However, they were at least round this time.
Their colour remained slightly orange, but the number of pills produced had increased.
Her previous batch had only yielded three pills.
This batch produced six, directly doubling the result.
Mu Wanwan stored the pills safely.
Sensing that she still possessed a considerable amount of spiritual energy, she did not rest.
This time, she used far more ingredients and expended even greater mental effort.
She successfully refined a batch of twelve pills.
By the time she finished, she felt completely drained and exhausted.
She packed away the pills and tidied the room.
When she stepped outside, the sky was already filled with stars.
Standing alone in the courtyard, Mu Wanwan weighed the jade bottles containing the eighteen pills she had refined and could not stop herself from smiling.
This was nearly equivalent to two full bottles of Spirit-Recovery Pills.
According to the market price, they should be worth approximately two medium-grade spirit stones.
Two medium-grade spirit stones!
Even after sharing the profits with Uncle Zong, she would still retain a considerable amount.
Furthermore, several days remained. She could refine many more pills.
Snow Condensation Pills were also considerably more valuable than Spirit-Recovery Pills.
Tomorrow, she would attempt to refine those.
Besides, weren’t Snow Condensation Pills especially effective for members of the demon race?
Perhaps Mengmeng and Mr. Dragon would need them as well.
Mu Wanwan felt as though a road towards wealth and prosperity were slowly unfolding before her!
If the pills also possessed an effect capable of removing curses, and she managed to contact Jiu Qing, then Bai Shuiyao and the rest would no longer be worth fearing. (*^▽^*)
“How wonderful.”
The cool night breeze moved the loose strands of hair beside Mu Wanwan’s temples.
She raised her head to gaze at the sparkling stars filling the sky.
Their light reflected hope inside her eyes and swept away the exhaustion accumulated throughout the day.
Her long hair hung loose, and her sleeves fluttered in the wind.
She appeared rather thin and fragile.
Mr. Dragon, whose spiritual sense had accompanied her throughout the entire refining process, felt his heart ache at the sight.
Unable to restrain himself, he pressed his lips together and wrapped his spiritual sense around her.
It resembled an invisible garment, blocking some of the cold wind blowing against her.
“Mr. Dragon…”
Mu Wanwan suddenly spoke.
A certain dragon’s white ears twitched in fright, and even his breathing nearly became unstable.
However, he quickly composed himself.
His wife had not yet reached the fourth rank.
She should not be able to detect his spiritual sense.
Nevertheless, he restrained it slightly.
His spiritual sense slowly withdrew before quietly settling upon her hand.
His chest became faintly hot.
She had called his name.
She was thinking about him.
What did his wife wish to say?
Mr. Dragon knew he should not expect anything, yet he could not stop himself.
His heart pounded fiercely.
Even the beautiful stars spread across the heavens faded into nothing more than a backdrop.
Within his world, only she remained.
Mu Wanwan smiled brightly.
Holding the cool jade bottle, she unknowingly clasped the invisible hand formed from Mr. Dragon’s spiritual sense.
Remembering his cautious behaviour, she unexpectedly felt filled with anticipation.
She looked forward to his awakening.
She looked forward to his recovery.
She looked forward to him openly calling her “wife.”
And she looked forward to learning his real name.
“I’ll work hard to earn money.”
Mu Wanwan spoke with great determination.
She would work hard.
She would earn a great many spirit stones and refine a great many medicinal pills so that he could recover as quickly as possible.
Her voice was soft, like a blade coated in honey.
It pierced directly into his chest, stabbed deeply into his heart, and carved an indelible mark there.
She was so wonderful.
She was far too wonderful.
He knew that.
Mr. Dragon’s knuckles turned white.
Unable to restrain himself, the corners of his lips lifted before falling once more.
His spiritual sense travelled from her forehead to her lips, then tightly wrapped around her hand, trembling as it refused to release her.
**Author’s Note:**
Mr. Dragon: “My wife is so wonderful. QAQ”
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