As soon as Yun Jin walked in, she noticed a mess of bamboo slips scattered across the stone table, filled with handwritten notes and corrections. It looked like Man Sen was recording things the old-fashioned way.
He scratched his head and pushed the bamboo slips aside, looking a little embarrassed. "I don't know why, but carving things out like this feels more... inspiring."
Yun Jin glanced around. Not only the table, but even the walls of the cave were covered in carved symbols.
She nodded. "I see. Martial Uncle, mind if I take a look at these bamboo slips?"
Man Sen sighed. "Go ahead. My senior brother probably already gave you the ones I finished anyway."
Yun Jin coughed lightly. "Master said they were a gift from you."
Man Sen: "..."
Wait, wasn't that something Qing Yun tricked him out of? Forget it, not worth fussing over.
Yun Jin skimmed through the notes and said, "Martial Uncle, your main problem's the cost, right?"
That was easy enough to tell.
Man Sen let out another sigh. "Yeah. These combat pills are powerful, but they're single-use. Once you take one, you have to refine another. Unless someone's filthy rich, no one can afford to use them long-term. If we can't fix this issue, then the so-called path of a combat alchemist will only ever be a game for a handful of people."
He was genuinely troubled. He wanted to popularize his creation so every alchemist could use it. But the cost made that impossible.
"Actually, there's a simple fix," Yun Jin said.
Man Sen blinked.
Simple?
He'd been racking his brain for ages and never found an answer, yet she called it simple? He wanted to argue, but then he remembered all the insane things she'd pulled off before. His eyes flickered with a hint of expectation. "Oh? Sect Master Yun, what's your idea?"
"Two methods," she said with a faint smile.
Man Sen froze again.
Two methods? He couldn't even figure out half of one!
"First," Yun Jin said slowly, "we can modify the pills so they're reusable. For instance, a strength-boosting pill in the current system only works for a limited time after ingestion. Once that time's up, it's done."
Man Sen nodded repeatedly. That much was true.
Normally, a pill's medicinal power flares up for a short while, then vanishes completely.
"That wastes a lot of energy. Most of the time, you don't even need such a long burst of strength—sometimes just a few moments are enough to finish the fight. But the pill keeps working, and the leftover power's just wasted.
If we could create a pill that stores its medicinal power and lets you start or stop using it whenever you want, it could be used multiple times. I call this kind of pill a Reservoir Pill."
She spoke casually, as if she hadn't just said something groundbreaking.
The Saint-grade Soul Spirit Pill she'd refined for Xuan Kong before worked exactly like that—start, stop, and store at will.
Used wisely, a single Saint Spirit Pill could last for years, even decades. If all burst-type pills were turned into Reservoir Pills, the cost of research and use would drop dramatically.
"Reservoir Pills…" Man Sen murmured, his dazed eyes gradually lighting up with excitement.
He began pacing back and forth. "Yeah, that would cut down the cost by a lot! But... how would you even refine something like that? How do you make the energy draw and pause at will…"
His expression turned fiery. "Sect Master Yun, thank you for the insight! I'll go into seclusion for a hundred years to study this!"
"A hundred years?" Yun Jin was stunned. She quickly waved her hands. "No need, no need, it's not that serious."
Man Sen: "???"
Then, to his complete bewilderment, Yun Jin gave an awkward smile and pulled out a jade slip. "About that... I already finished improving all the pill formulas you gave me. From first-rank to Saint-rank, they're all now Reservoir Pills."
Her face was full of innocent sincerity.
Man Sen just stood there, dumbfounded.
She... already improved them? Was he hallucinating?
This kind of breakthrough was the first of its kind in the history of alchemy. Even if he worked nonstop for a hundred years, making a bit of progress would already be incredible.
And she'd just... done it?
He snatched the jade slip and poured his spiritual sense into it.
Then came the muttering.
"This... this works?"
"It actually works?"
"It really works!!!"
With his level of alchemy, he couldn't immediately grasp the Saint-rank ones, but the low-rank formulas? He understood them instantly.
And according to Yun Jin's methods, it was truly possible to refine Reservoir Pills!
He forced himself to pull his consciousness back, staring at her in disbelief. "You... you really pulled it off? You've been working on this for just six months?"
Unbelievable. Absolutely insane.
Six months! And she'd achieved something like this!
Yun Jin went silent.
Hmm… how was she supposed to answer that without hurting his pride?
Before she could think of something, Qing Yun's voice echoed from the entrance. "Junior Brother, Xiao Jin said she came to Xuandan Gate. You've been fretting about the pill formulas lately, so I thought I'd come with you—"
He walked in mid-sentence and froze when he saw Yun Jin.
A wide grin spread across his face. "Xiao Jin! I heard your adventures were wild these past six months. You even traveled all over the Nanlan Continent of the Boundless Sea! It's been forever since we met, we've got so much to talk about."
Man Sen: "…"
He turned to Yun Jin.
So... she'd been traveling across the entire continent for half a year? He nearly flipped the table.
Then when the hell did she find time to improve all those formulas?!
Yun Jin gave an embarrassed smile. "If I say I worked on them while adventuring, would you believe me?"
Man Sen stared at her with a complicated expression. Could he not believe her?
Qing Yun noticed the strange atmosphere between the two and raised an eyebrow. "Junior Brother, what's with you—"
Man Sen didn't want to talk. He just tossed the jade slip over.
Qing Yun took a casual look, then his eyes lit up in an instant.
A completely new alchemical approach! Xiao Jin's innovation was absolutely revolutionary!
He instantly understood why Man Sen looked like that.
Poor guy...
He just hadn't seen enough of the world yet.
Because as far as Qing Yun was concerned, if it was something Yun Jin did, no matter how outrageous it sounded, he wouldn't be surprised anymore.