Translator: AnubisTL
Yan Yexue, seated on the utensil, had a dazed look in her eyes, her eyelids drooping, and a deep weariness etched between her brows.
Her body swayed from side to side, on the verge of collapsing at any moment!
What made it even more critical was that the pill Gu Feng was refining was at a crucial stage of extracting the medicinal essence, and the process couldn't be interrupted.
To be honest, Gu Feng didn't care much about the foul smell. To put it bluntly, if it weren't Yan Yexue but A Fei or Wu Qi or any other male disciple who was currently suffering from diarrhea, he wouldn't have bothered at all. He would have let them collapse, allowing the excrement to spill all over the ground. After all, there were no outsiders around, and no one would speak of it. Nothing would happen.
However, Yan Yexue was different. This woman was proud and had an extremely strong sense of self-respect.
If she were to collapse, even if only Gu Feng knew about it, she would only do two things afterward: either Gu Feng would die, or she would die.
Obviously, given her strength, killing Gu Feng was impossible. Even if she could, she likely wouldn't act on it. After all, Gu Feng was no longer the obscure nobody he once was. He now held the dual positions of the Sunset Glow Sect Master and the Swamp Fortress commander.
Moreover, he had the enigmatic Founder Qingyan backing him. Even if she didn't consider herself, she would think about the Myriad Harmony Guild.
The only possibility was that she would be so ashamed and enraged that she would commit suicide!
"What should I do?"
Gu Feng was frantic. At one point, noticing that Yan Yexue was about to collapse, his heart skipped a beat. He immediately freed one hand and sent out a surge of spiritual power to stabilize her body.
However, the toll of refining the pill was immense, and soon he began to feel exhausted.
"Yan Yexue, please wake up!"
Perhaps because of the warm spiritual power surrounding her, Yan Yexue fell into an even deeper sleep at Gu Feng's call.
"Damn it, how did this happen!" Gu Feng cursed inwardly, feeling utterly helpless.
This couldn't go on forever. Gritting his teeth, he channeled his spiritual power and pulled Yan Yexue, along with the utensil she was sitting on, toward him. At the same time, he took out a piece of spiritual cloth to cover her.
And so, Gu Feng supported Yan Yexue's body with one hand while continuing to refine the pill with the other.
Time flew by, and more than ten hours passed. Yan Yexue slowly awoke from her slumber, perhaps having had a pleasant dream, as a faint smile lingered on her flawless face.
Suddenly, as if she sensed something, she jolted in shock!!!
"Ah————"
"Don't scream, don't scream! I swear, the moment I pulled you over, I immediately spread out the spiritual cloth. I didn't see anything!" Gu Feng's voice was low, and he looked utterly exhausted.
Yan Yexue was momentarily stunned. She looked up and, sure enough, saw the spiritual cloth. Her heart settled a bit.
"How... how long was I unconscious?"
"Over a day!" Gu Feng replied. "Are you awake now? Can you hold the spiritual cloth yourself? My arm is about to break!"
"Yes, yes." Yan Yexue slowly took the spiritual cloth and covered herself.
The two of them fell into a tacit silence, and this state continued until the fifth day.
Hum—
A hundred pill furnaces simultaneously emitted a faint tremble, and a surge of rosy clouds shot into the sky.
With a loud roar, Gu Feng unleashed his soul power, dispersing a hundred strands of his soul into the pill furnaces to begin condensing the pills!
"Give up on a few furnaces. Your Soul Power consumption is too great; you can't simultaneously refine a hundred furnaces of pills!" As an expert in the Way of Elixir, Yan Yexue easily discerned Gu Feng's current state.
The reason for this situation was likely due to interruptions during the extraction of medicinal essence, resulting in incomplete purification.
"Give up? How can I give up? There's no such word as 'give up' in my dictionary!"
Gu Feng took a deep breath, and his Soul Power surged once more. Due to the excessive consumption of Soul Power, his eyes turned bloodshot, and the veins on his forehead bulged!
Gritting his teeth, under Yan Yexue's astonished gaze, he forcefully completed the refinement of a hundred pill furnaces!
Huff, huff, huff—
"I'm exhausted!" Gu Feng gasped heavily. "How about you? Feeling better?"
"I'm almost there. The effects of the medicine are already weakening."
"Is there something wrong with the pills? Otherwise, why would I have fainted?"
"It's not because of the pills. It's because I've been refining pills day and night for the past half month without rest. I was already exhausted, and then... your pills..." Yan Yexue replied softly.
"Oh, that's good then!" Gu Feng smiled knowingly. "You have great talent, whether in cultivation or alchemy. There's no need to push yourself so hard. Your health should come first!"
"And what about you?"
"Me?" Gu Feng chuckled lightly. "I stand on the edge of death, searching for a chance to survive!"
These words struck deep into Yan Yexue's soul. She suddenly realized that Gu Feng worked hard and endured much. Without the support of a family, he had to fight for every resource.
All the fame and status he had today were earned through his own efforts.
Even after becoming the Sunset Glow Sect Master and the leader of the Swamp Fortress, he never abused his power to misappropriate a single Spirit Stone from others.
This was something even her father, Yan Hanyun, greatly admired, praising him as someone capable of achieving great things.
Originally, Yan Yexue had scoffed at this. But today's events gave her a new perspective and a deeper understanding of Gu Feng.
"Don't worry about it. What happened today will never be known by a third person, and I'll keep it to myself," Gu Feng said softly, afraid that Yan Yexue might not believe him. He added, "As for what happened in the Swamp Fortress cultivation chamber last time, I truly didn't know there was a Projection Array inside. If I had known, I definitely wouldn't have used the Ten Thousand Beasts Manual martial skill!"
"Hmm—" Yan Yexue responded softly.
Before today, she had valued her image and dignity more than her life, even considering suicide during a bout of diarrhea.
But now, she suddenly felt that such embarrassing incidents could also be interesting, not as humiliating as she had imagined.
Perhaps, when such things happened around Gu Feng, they weren't so shameful.
In that moment, she felt that her life had become more interesting. It was no longer just the monotonous cycle of cultivation and alchemy; other things could happen too.
"I don't believe you."
"Huh? Don't believe what?" Gu Feng was puzzled by her sudden remark.
"If you had known about the Projection Array in the cultivation chamber that day, you would have found another opportunity to use that vulgar Ten Thousand Beasts Manual on Chu Youhuan!"
Pfft—
Gu Feng really felt like spitting blood. Was this something a person should say? Why did she have to add the adjective "vulgar" before the Ten Thousand Beasts Manual?
"Before this, my Ten Thousand Beasts Manual had flaws... You saw it during my decisive battle with Shu Yuheng, the improved version of the Ten Thousand Beasts Manual is anything but vulgar!" Gu Feng explained.
"That's because your opponent was Shu Yuheng. If it were a female cultivator... hmph—"
While sealing the elixirs, Gu Feng noticed a hint of a smile and was slightly taken aback. He reached out and lifted a corner of the Spiritual Cloth beside him.
Sure enough, a smiling face appeared before him!
"Has anyone ever told you that your smile is breathtaking?"
"Pervert, get lost!" Yan Yexue threw a punch at Gu Feng, who chuckled and dodged it.
"You should smile more often. Don't keep such a stern face, or you'll have a hard time getting married. Unless you want to become the Abbess Miejue?"
"Your mouth spews nothing but nonsense," Yan Yexue said coldly, though a rare blush appeared on her cheeks.
After finishing with the elixirs, Gu Feng stood up. "How are you? Feeling better now?"
"Much better!"
"Then let's go see the disciples Vice Sect Master Liu has chosen for me."
As soon as they opened the door to the Alchemy Hall, they were both startled by the crowd gathered outside.
"Sect Master, you're in there? Why does it smell so awful!" an Inner Sect Alchemy Hall disciple asked, covering his nose.
"It's unbearable! The stench has even reached our Alchemy Hall. Because of the foul odor, we've been having frequent explosions these past few days," another disciple complained, while the others also looked reproachful, peeking through the door crack into the Alchemy Hall.
"Have you never seen someone refining the Diarrhea Pill before?" Gu Feng glared at them.
"Are you even proper alchemists? I, the Sect Master, developed a new pill and personally tested it, enduring days of diarrhea...
So what if it's a bit smelly? Does it really affect you that much?
Your alchemy skills are trash, and you blame external factors. Why can't you learn from Senior Sister Yan?
She's been in the same Alchemy Hall as me, enduring ten, even a hundred times the stench. Has she complained? No, she's been focused on her alchemy without distraction!"
Gu Feng scolded the group loudly. Yan Yexue, who had been about to admit her own discomfort, stared at the man beside her, a strange light flickering in her eyes.
"What is a role model? Senior Sister Yan is the role model. If you can't handle a little adversity, how will you manage during a major battle? Will everyone just stop refining elixirs then?"
"Why are you all standing here? Get back to your alchemy! I increased your benefits not for you to laze around, but to produce results!"
"Yes, yes, the Sect Master is right!"
"The Sect Master speaks wisely. We will correct our mistakes. Starting today, I'll place a chamber pot in the Alchemy Hall..."
"Smelling your own waste isn't disgusting? Let's switch and smell each other's."
"Make sure it's extra smelly, or it won't be effective training!"
"..."
Gu Feng's eyelids twitched as he looked at these idiotic alchemists.
"Let's go. Don't bother with these fools. They're annoying. If it weren't for the lack of alchemists in the sect, I'd kick them all out."
Gu Feng gave Yan Yexue a meaningful look, and the two quickly left.
"I really don't know how they passed the Sunset Glow Sect's entrance exam. Did they bribe their way in? Their intelligence is concerning!"
"From now on, the first step in recruiting disciples for the Sunset Glow Sect will be an intelligence test. Anyone who fails will be rejected. What a bunch of nonsense."
As they walked, Yan Yexue glanced sideways at Gu Feng with her beautiful eyes. Though she didn't say anything, her gaze was filled with gratitude and an indescribable, complex emotion.
(End of the Chapter)
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