Sixty years of blacksmithing, a single hammer blow forging a celestial being.

"What?"

Everyone gasped in surprise.

"What's going on with Zhang Meng? He's been quietly doing well lately!"

"The rent in Xishantou isn't cheap at all. How did you manage to move there, and with your whole family? What's going on lately? Where did you go to make some extra money?"

"Don't talk nonsense. It's just money I've saved up over the years, accumulated little by little. Don't be jealous of me."

Hearing the everyday banter outside, Li Ping'an didn't take it to heart.

All he could think about at that moment was to break through as soon as possible and officially enter the Qi Refining stage so that he could cultivate the Taiyi Qi Induction Technique.

Nothing happened that night, and the next day arrived in the blink of an eye, and the daily grind began again.

Li Ping'an still chose the most difficult and arduous post, absorbing the most poisonous and potent toxic gas.

Just as he was getting into the swing of things, a delicate and melodious young girl's voice suddenly rang out from the doorway.

"Little brother, senior sister, I've come to see you."

Li Ping'an paused involuntarily. It was Qingyue again. Was she coming to ask him to refine pills again?

His guess was right.

Today, Qingyue, dressed in a long blue robe, strode into the hall, ignoring the other disciples, and went straight to Li Ping'an, patting him on the shoulder:

"I was going to come see you yesterday, but my senior sister called me over, and something came up. Come on, let's continue refining pills today!"

also.

Just then, Li Ping'an finished his work and absorbed most of the toxic gas he had been absorbing that day.

Perfect timing! If all goes as expected, this Senior Sister Qingyue's methods will provide me with a lot of waste gas.

The two entered the alchemy room and began another tense and exciting alchemy session.

Li Ping'an quietly examined the alchemy materials Qingyue had brought this time. It was a large bag full, enough for about four or five alchemy sessions. He immediately made up his mind.

"Young man, how many pills do you think I can refine today?"

Having succeeded last time, Qingyue seemed very confident this time, and asked this question before even starting to refine the pills.

Li Pingan chuckled and said with a smile:

"Alchemy depends on fate and one's temperament. I don't know how many pills you can successfully refine today, but I still hope you'll have a successful start. Come on, let's refine the first batch!"

"good!"

Qingyue, her face radiating confidence, began refining pills.

However, as soon as he put the alchemy materials into the furnace, Li Ping'an could tell that this batch was bound to fail.

Sure enough, not long after, a burnt smell came from the alchemy furnace, and Li Ping'an knew that this batch was ruined.

He was about to speak to Qingyue when he saw her open the alchemy furnace with a look of disappointment on her face, and a burnt smell immediately hit his nose.

"What happened? How could the alchemy have failed?"

Qingyue scratched her head, somewhat puzzled.

"I practiced like this last time, and I succeeded!"

He was somewhat annoyed and confused.

Li Ping'an gently comforted him:

"Alchemy is not a 100% success rate; it's all about chance. Your last success was just a fluke after many failures. With more practice, you'll definitely succeed. Come on, senior sister, step aside so I can clean up this batch of pills."

Then Li Ping'an rushed directly into the furnace of failed pills, frantically absorbing the waste and poisonous miasma inside.

Awesome!

Li Ping'an finished cleaning up the batch of pills with a look of enjoyment on his face.

At this moment, the Heavenly Hammer absorbed a lot of poison again, which turned into spiritual nourishment for Li Ping'an.

Furthermore, he also found several charred fragments of pills among the waste pills.

These can all be restored to high-grade pills using the Heavenly Hammer.

Li quietly counted them; there were three in total.

The harvest was pretty good.

It seems that this girl's alchemy skills have indeed improved; at least she can condense the pill into a form, but there is still a long way to go before she can completely refine the pill.

After Li Ping'an finished cleaning up this batch of pills, Qingyue immediately started refining the next batch.

However, his method was basically the same as the previous batch. He still threw all the medicinal herbs into the furnace at once, and then stared wide-eyed as the pills were formed.

Li Ping'an tried his best to control the fire, but he could not avoid the fate of failure in the end.

When the acrid smell filled the entire alchemy room again, Qingyue couldn't help but show a look of frustration on her face.

"Ah! I failed again! I thought I had found the method. Was I just lucky last time? Damn it, why is this happening? I thought I was a genius alchemist!"

Li Ping'an gently comforted him, "It's alright, keep going, let's try again! Don't you still have herbs? Let me see how many more batches you can make."

Qingyue opened her storage bag, counted the items, and said:

"This batch failed; the remaining herbs can only be used for three more batches."

"good!"

Li Pingan said "good" heavily.

"With these three furnaces, I'm confident you can refine the pills. Trust me!"

"Really?"

Qingyue looked into Li Ping'an's eyes, somewhat incredulous.

"Believe in yourself, you can do it! Come on, let's clean up this batch of pills first!"

After saying that, Li Ping'an rushed towards the alchemy furnace again, and this time he found three fragments of pills inside.

Then the third batch was started, and then the same failure occurred, and the same process of cleaning the furnace was repeated.

The fourth attempt also failed.

After practicing four rounds in a row, Qingyue's little face was covered in charred soot.

Needless to say, Li Ping'an was covered in black dirt from head to toe.

But at this moment, he was actually quite happy.

Today I absorbed the waste gas from four whole batches of failed pills, what a huge profit!

Furthermore, he has already collected a total of nine fragments of Body Tempering Pills from the alchemy furnace!

Nine fragments of Body Tempering Pills, if taken down the mountain and sold, could fetch another 180 spirit stones.

At this moment, Li Ping'an's gaze towards Qingyue changed.

He used to think that Qingyue was always causing him trouble and was a burden.

But now it seems, this isn't a problem at all; it's a godsend!

"Waaaaah..."

Qingyue wiped away her tears and said with utter dejection.

"Damn it, I've failed four times in a row, only one batch of pills left! Damn it, I'm definitely going to fail this time!"

Li Ping'an said with unwavering determination, "Don't worry, this batch will definitely be a success! Trust me!"

"Alright."

Qingyue nodded and carefully threw the herbs into the alchemy furnace.

Compared to her previous impulsive and rash manner, Qingyue now appears much more docile.