Martial Arts Overlord

Chapter 52: Frost Silkworm vs Blood-toad

It took another four days for Ning Xiaochuan to refine a second batch of Blood-toad Pills. This time, he did not fail a single time.

This time, he had refined a total of twelve pills.

When checking the medicinal properties of the mid-grade Pills, they were ten times stronger than the batch that was only a partial success.

Ning Xiaochuan, along with this new batch of Blood-toad Pills, headed to Jinpeng Heart-nourishing Hall once more.

At the entrance of the Hall, he bumped into Yu Qianqian.

She was also carrying a frost jade box in her hands!

Ning Xiaochuan took the initiative and caught up to her, calling out, “Greetings, Princess Yu Qianqian!”

At this point, Yu Qianqian and Ning Xiaochuan were already quite familiar with each other. The two had been going to Skilled Master Guo’s lessons together and even paired up to discuss the refining techniques of mid-grade Pills. It could be said that they had quite a close relationship.

Yu Qianqian jokingly commented, “Ning Xiaochuan, if you continue to act so carelessly in front of me, as your senior sister, I might just make it so that you don’t get your monthly allowance next month!”

Yu Qianqian assumed that Skilled Master Guo had already taken Ning Xiaochuan in as his eighth disciple. Hence, in Ning Xiaochuan’s position, she was undoubtedly a senior sister.

However, what she did not know was that Skilled Master Guo had never mentioned anything about taking Ning Xiaochuan as a disciple. Furthermore, Ning Xiaochuan had also never indicated any intention of wanting to become Skilled Master Guo’s disciple.

Of course, although Ning Xiaochuan and Skilled Master Guo were not master and disciple in name, their relationship could technically be classified as one. Hence, Ning Xiaochuan still looked at Skilled Master Guo with the utmost respect.

Ning Xiaochuan had also become less serious. He teased back, “You’re still three days younger than me, how can you be my senior sister? Unless you use your identity as Your Highness the Princess to order me, the words “senior sister” will definitely not come out of my mouth.”

Yu Qianqian was clad in fancy clothes that looked luxurious beyond belief, her body constantly exuding an aura of elegance and poise. Puffing out her chest, she ordered, “Alright then. As the princess, I hereby order you to call me ‘senior sister’!”

“Greetings, Your Highness, Princess Yu Qianqian.” Ning Xiaochuan lazily bowed to Yu Qianqian.

This caused Yu Qianqian to grit her teeth in frustration as she repeatedly stomped the ground.

‘Is it really that difficult of a task to have this guy call me senior sister?

‘Dammit… Damn it all!’

As the two walked side by side, they headed over to the Heart-nourishing Tower.

On the way, as the servants saw them, they instantly kneeled down on the ground.

Yu Qianqian and Ning Xiaochuan walking together in Jinpeng Heart-nourishing Hall was not really a secret. Seeing them together had become a common occurrence to everyone, it could even be considered a scene that was unique to Jinpeng Heart-nourishing Hall.

Due to this, quite a few rumors and scandals had started spreading from Jinpeng Heart-nourishing Hall.

“I don’t know where this Ning Xiaochuan kid came from, but he’s somehow managed to become a Mid-level Heart-nourishing Master To-be and even earned the right to attend the Hallmaster’s class alongside Princess Qianqian.”

“Ning Xiaochuan and Princess Qianqian are both top-level geniuses, becoming a Mid-level Heart-nourishing Master was just a matter of time. They might even be able to become Senior Heart-nourishing Masters in the future.”

“Do you guys think that Her Highness fell in love with the kid? Back then, Her Highness would always have a prideful and cold look on her face. No one could get close to her. Ning Xiaochuan was the only one who has managed to walk by her side. They even get into heated debates with each other about various topics regarding pill refining!”

Wang Shisong walked over as he glared at the group of gossiping maidservants. “You guys better watch what you’re saying. Master Ning and Her Highness are both equally charming individuals. They are also both great prodigies. Even if the two are actually in that sort of relationship, it would only be normal. Aren’t they the golden pair of Jinpeng Heart-nourishing Hall?”

Wang Shisong had originally intended to tell these maidservants off, but never could he have expected that his words would spur even more gossip from these chatty maidservants. It had come to the point where there were rumors that Yu Qianqian and Ning Xiaochuan had exchanged eternal vows1!

“It can’t be! Did Princess Qianqian and Ning Xiaochuan actually exchange eternal vows? This can be a huge deal, you guys better not simply talk about such things.” Jinpeng Heart-nourishing Hall’s sixth Attendant felt chills when he heard that statement. This was obviously very serious.

The maidservant kneeling in front of him timidly squeaked, “There’s no way it’s wrong. I heard it from Lord Wang Shisong himself.”

“Wang Shisong is a Mid-level Heart-nourishing Master, he can freely enter the Heart-nourishing Tower. Did he really discover some great secret?” The sixth Attendant revealed a complicated expression as he thought to himself, that old bastard, Wang Shisong, really doesn’t understand the severity of what he’s done. How could he carelessly spout these sorts of things? If these rumors spread out, it may actually harm Her Highness’ good name.

‘Looks like I’ve got to go to the king and consort.’

As Ning Xiaochuan and Yu Qianqian walked into the Heart-nourishing Tower, the sixth Attendant immediately left for Great King Jinpeng’s Residence.

As Yu Qianqian noticed the Mystical Frost Jade Box in Ning Xiaochuan’s hands, she blinked a couple of times as her glossy red lips opened once more. “Did you also finish refining your mid-grade Pills?”

Now that he succeeded in refining his mid-grade Pills, naturally, Ning Xiaochuan was still a little smug. As his gaze fell upon the Mystical Frost Jade Box in Yu Qianqian’s hands, he chuckled. “Didn’t you also finish refining your mid-grade Pils?” How did you solve the problem of your Frost Silkworms absorbing the Pill Qi?”

The mid-grade Pills Yu Qianqian refined was called the Frost Silkworm Pill. She had failed a multitude of times.

She had also discussed the reasons behind her failure with Ning Xiaochuan before. The main reason was that the Frost Silkworms would absorb the Pill Qi, so every time she managed to refine the Pill, the Pill Qi would be swallowed up by all the Frost Silkworms, causing her efforts to be wasted.

Yu Qianqian gave a mysterious grin before saying, “If you call me ‘senior sister’, I’ll tell you my secret!”

“Then, screw it!” Ning Xiaochuan did not pursue any further.

Seeing that Ning Xaochuan actually stopped asking, Yu Qianqian actually felt an itch in her heart. After throwing a few more glances at Ning Xiaochuan she finally relented and smiled.

“Since you don’t want to hear it, I’ll tell you. The Frost Silkworms want to absorb the Pill Qi, but once they are full they stop. So, I added a Firecloud Mystical Mulberry leaf to my Mystical Medicine. With that, I succeeded.”

“That’s simpler than expected!” Ning Xiaochuan commented.

Yu Qianqian’s face turned sour at that comment. She asked, “Do you dare to have another bet?”

“What bet?”

“We’ll bet on who’s mid-grade Pill is better.”

“We don’t need to bet on that, the mid-grade Pills I refined will definitely be better.”

“If you don’t take this bet, I’ll deduct all your monthly allowance for next month.”

In the end, Ning Xiaochuan gave in. “What’s the bet?”

Yu Qianqian smirked. “If my Pill is better than yours, you will call me ‘senior sister’ from now on.”

“Then what if my Pill is better?” Ning Xiaochuan asked.

“Impossible.”

“But what if?”

Yu Qianqian replied, “If you somehow win through sheer luck, then I’ll give this Frost Silkworm Pill to you.”

“Alright! You have a deal. We’ll let the Hallmaster be the judge of this bet!”

As Ning Xiaochuan pushed open the door to the top floor of the tower, he carried his Mystical Frost Jade Box and entered.

“Hallmaster, I’ve finished refining a batch of real mid-grade Pills.”

Yu Qianqian also walked in,glaring at Ning Xiaochuan.

“Master, Qianqian has also succeeded in refining her mid-grade Pills.”

Skilled Master Guo was rearranging the ancient texts at his bookshelf when the two walked in. With a big smile on his face, he said, “What day is it? How did the two of you manage to finish refining your mid-grade Pills at the same time? Are both of you coordinating to become Mid-level Heart-nourishing Masters at the same time? Oh happy days! Happy days!”

Yu Qianqian urged a bit impatiently, “Master, stop working on your books for now, quickly come and help us judge to see which of our mid-grade Pills are better!”

This was the first time Skilled Master Guo had seen Yu Qianqian so serious. Hence, he immediately opened up the Mystical Frost Jade Box she brought.

The box was emitting suffocating cold air. It glowed with white light as drops of light started shining out from within the box. A calming herbal fragrance was being released.

This was definitely a mid-grade Pill with extremely high purity. It had a Pill Pattern in the form of a silkworm.

Ning Xiaochuan was mildly shocked by that. He never would have expected that for Yu Qianqian’s first mid-grade Pill refinement, she would manage to create such a high-grade Pill. No wonder she was so confident in herself.

Skilled Master Guo nodded satisfiedly. “A Frost Silkworm Pill with extremely high purity. This Pill will have a huge effect on any martial artist below the seventh stage of the Divine Body Realm, enough for them to improve by a minor realm. Of course, there is the prerequisite that the martial artist has a body suited for the Yin Attribute. Not bad! If you were to sell this, you will definitely get quite a good price for it.”

Yu Qianqian’s face was beaming with smugness, an appropriate look for her world-class looks. It almost gave off the feeling of flowers blooming on a warm spring day.

As she held her head high, revealing her snow-white well-defined neck, she threw a glance at Ning Xiaochuan, as if declaring her victory. She was as proud as a peacock.

As Skilled Master Guo moved over to open the other frost jade box, twelve rays of blood-red light shot out of the box as twelve Blood-toads were presented in the air. The light was so glaring that they had to squint.

“Whoosh——”

Twelve Blood-toad Pills flew out of the jade box and floated in the air, almost like twelve red will-o’-the-wisps.

Yu Qianqian was so stunned that she could not find the words to speak. “Y-y-you… Did you refine twelve mid-grade Pills all at once?”

Ning Xiaochuan slightly nodded as he said, “That’s probably not my limit. If my Cultivation was even higher, I should be able to refine even more Pills.”

Yu Qianqian lightly pat her own chest, feeling utterly defeated.

‘This isn’t a Heart-nourishing Master! This is literally a Pill mass-production machine!

‘No! Yu Qianqian, you’ve got to buck up! Buck up! You cannot surrender! You can’t surrender!’

Yu Qianqian took a deep breath before saying, “What’s so amazing about that? Quantity doesn’t mean that your Pills are better in quality. The Frost Silkworm Pill that I refined should be valued at ten times the average mid-grade Pill.”

Skilled Master Guo was also stunned as he thought to himself. The Seven-office Devil Heart was truly amazing. To think that it could refine twelve mid-grade Pills in one batch. In addition, that was not even this kid’s limit.

‘Endless potential!’

“Top grade.” Skilled Master Guo stated.

Unhappy with that verdict, Yu Qianqian asked, “Master, are you saying that all twelve of his Blood-toad Pills are all top-grade?”

Skilled Master Guo nodded as he elaborated, “The Blood-toad Pills have the best effects on martial artists below the seventh stage of the Divine Body Realm. If used on a martial artist practicing Diamond Divine Body, it could allow the martial artist’s Cultivation to go up a minor realm without any side effects. Furthermore, if a martial artist takes a second Blood-toad Pill, the effects would be quite major. It would exponentially increase the martial artist’s Blood Qi. Of course, there is also the possibility of going up another minor realm on the second dosage as well.

“Hence, when it comes to the quality of the Pills, the Frost Silkworm Pill and the Blood-toad Pill should be tied neck and neck. However, when it comes to medicinal properties, the Blood-toad Pills are on a whole different level.”

Skilled Master Guo was one of the Yulan Empire’s few Great Heart-nourishing Masters, standing at the very epitome of the field. Naturally, his words come with extreme credibility. Since he already gave this kind of judgment, it was proof enough that the Frost Silkworm Pill was definitely much weaker than the Blood-toad Pill.