152: Chapter 152 Xiao Yu Breaks Down in Defense: What are you doing in there?!

Outside the Medicine Spirit Abyss, in front of the Broken Dragon Stone Gate that had been silent for seven full days, the scene looked like a ruin that had just undergone the baptism of war.

A dozen exploded alchemy furnaces lay scattered across the ground; some had broken legs, some had cracked bellies, and others had shattered into a floor of copper dross.

The air was thick with a pungent burnt smell, mixed with the strange odor of various rare medicinal herbs being incinerated, making it suffocating.

In the center of this pile of ruins crouched a disheveled "little beggar."

Xiao Yu's once bright and expensive crimson Saintess robe was now covered in gray dust, and there were even several large holes burned into the hem, revealing her smoke-blackened calves.

Her proud, fiery-red long hair was as messy as a bird's nest, with a few withered leaves of unknown origin hanging from it.

"Clang!"

She angrily kicked away an alchemy furnace lid that had recently exploded; her delicate little face was covered in black soot, leaving only a pair of bloodshot eyes staring fixedly at the tightly closed stone gate.

"Liars! You're all liars!"

Xiao Yu cursed through gritted teeth, her voice slightly raspy from inhaling too much smoke and dust.

"What bullshit remnant scroll! It's impossible to refine at all!"

She hadn't been idle over these past seven days.

To prove she was stronger than Liu Hanyan and that strange fires were the true path of alchemy, she had brought over every spare furnace she could carry from the Saintess Hall, even using her personal collection of medicinal herbs she'd saved for years, attempting to refine the Nine Revolutions Replenishing Heaven Pill day and night at the entrance.

But the result?

Exploding furnaces.

Nothing but exploding furnaces.

Either the medicinal liquids wouldn't merge, or the temperature of the strange fire was too high, burning the herbs directly to ash. Later on, she even discovered in despair that the medicinal principles recorded on that remnant scroll seemed to have a gap, missing several key neutralizing agents.

"Huff... huff..."

Xiao Yu sat dejectedly on the ground, wiping her face with her hand, only to make it even more smeared.

Looking at the motionless stone gate, the competitiveness in her heart gradually transformed into a nearly twisted obsession.

"If even I can't refine it, that mild-tempered Liu Hanyan definitely can't!"

"That Xu Chen is only good with his mouth; when it comes to actual practice, he probably can't even control the fire steadily."

"Right! They must have failed long ago!"

Xiao Yu frantically comforted herself in her mind. She even imagined the two of them inside, covered in soot and worrying over a pile of waste.

"I'll wait right here! I don't believe you won't come out!"

"When the door opens and you see that while this young lady failed, I at least tried, while you two achieved nothing, I'll see how that guy named Xu can still be so arrogant!"

Clinging to this "Ah Q" spirit of 'everyone is terrible, so no one can laugh at anyone else,' she forced her eyes open and kept watch at the door.

However.

At dusk on the seventh day, just as the last rays of the setting sun were about to fade.

Buzz—!

A strange ripple suddenly passed through the thick Broken Dragon Stone Gate, like an invisible wave instantly spreading out.

Xiao Yu's head, which had been nodding off, jerked up, and she instantly snapped awake.

As a peak seventh-tier alchemist, her sensitivity to scents was unparalleled.

"This scent..."

Her small nose twitched violently twice, and then her pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpricks.

At first, it was a faint yet incredibly piercing medicinal fragrance.

The scent was no ordinary thing; as soon as she inhaled it into her lungs, the spiritual energy in her body, which had been depleted by the continuous furnace explosions, instantly began to boil.

Then, the fragrance grew stronger, even condensing into visible phantoms of dragons and phoenixes in the air, circling above the stone gate for a long time.

"Nine pill veins... Dragon and Phoenix bringing prosperity..."

Xiao Yu stared blankly at the phenomenon, her lips trembling, unable to even speak clearly.

"This... this is the phenomenon of a divine pill reaching completion?! And it's a flawless, top-grade divine pill?!"

How is this possible?

This is absolutely impossible!

She possessed the Three Thousand Blazing Flames, ranked ninth on the strange fire ranking, and couldn't refine it even while risking her life with the remnant scroll. What right did Liu Hanyan have? What right did that Xu Chen have?

Did that guy really understand the Dao of Alchemy? And was his understanding countless times deeper than hers?

A massive sense of defeat washed over her like a tide, turning Xiao Yu's face as pale as paper. If it were just that the pill had been refined, she would at most admit her skill was inferior and go back to cultivate in seclusion.

But then.

Floating out along with the pill fragrance was a special aura that made her body stiffen and her face flush red.

That was...

The unique scent that follows the harmony of Yin and Yang.

In this scent was mixed Liu Hanyan's unique Wood Spirit Origin aura and the domineering, searing Pure Yang Qi from Xu Chen. The two auras were intertwined, one within the other, intimate to the extreme.

She could even sense a heartfelt joy and satisfaction from the lingering aura.

It was the scent of... hormones, something only emitted after the complete fusion of body and soul.

"Boom!"

Xiao Yu felt as if something in her mind had completely exploded.

Although she was inexperienced in such matters, she was an adult after all and had grown up in a place like the Dan Tower; she knew all too well about the affairs between dual-cultivation partners.

What did this aura mean?

It meant that during these seven days and nights, those two weren't just refining pills!

"A lone man and woman... a secret room... a bed..."

The scenes she had imagined earlier now seemed to turn into high-definition, uncensored reality, frantically assaulting her nerves.

No wonder they stayed in there for seven days!

No wonder they kept the door tightly shut!

It turned out refining pills was just a cover; they were hiding inside doing scandalous things!

"Aaaaahhh!!!"

A piercing roar instantly shattered the silence outside the Medicine Spirit Abyss, startling several spiritual birds in the distance.

Xiao Yu leaped up from the ground; her already tattered red dress fluttered without wind, and her messy hair stood on end like burning flames.

Jealousy.

An unprecedented jealousy, like a venomous snake, bit her heart fiercely.

By what right?!

She was clearly the one who met Xu Chen first!

Clearly, when they were on the street, that man was still teasing her and "flirting" with her!

Yet in the blink of an eye, she had been intercepted by Senior Sister Liu Hanyan, who usually pretended to be pure and noble? And she had taken both the man and his heart?!

"Liu Hanyan! You shameless vixen!"

"Xu Chen! You blind bastard!"

Xiao Yu trembled with rage, tears welling in her eyes only to be instantly evaporated by the terrifying heat.

"I'm out here suffering, dealing with exploding furnaces and eating dust, while you two are inside living like happy immortals?!"

"Toying with me like a monkey, are you? Think I'm a joke, do you?"

Her rationality completely snapped at this moment.

To hell with Dan Tower rules, to hell with Saintess etiquette!

She only wanted to do one thing now—smash this damned door to pieces and drag that adulterous couple out!

"Open for me!!!"

Xiao Yu let out a hysterical roar and violently pulled her hands outward.

Boom—!

A cluster of eerie deep-purple flames, carrying a destructive aura from the depths of the starry sky, roared out of her body.

Three Thousand Blazing Flames!

As soon as this strange fire appeared, the surrounding temperature instantly soared to a terrifying level. The discarded furnaces on the ground melted into molten iron in an instant, and even the air was warped by the heat.

"Go! Burn through this broken door for me!"

Xiao Yu's eyes were blood-red, having completely lost her usual composure. She frantically channeled her spiritual energy, pushing the power of the Three Thousand Blazing Flames to its limit.

The purple fire dragon also seemed to sense its master's immense fury, letting out a deafening roar as it slammed into the Broken Dragon Stone Gate.

"Thoom—!!!"

A world-shaking boom echoed, and the entire back mountain trembled violently.

On that indestructible Broken Dragon Stone Gate, the light of the defensive formation flickered intensely, making an overburdened "sizzling" sound.

In her rage, Xiao Yu didn't notice.

Because she had forcibly activated her origin and her emotions were extremely unstable, a strange black light suddenly flashed deep within the core of the Three Thousand Blazing Flames, which she had barely been suppressing.

Strange fires were naturally spiritual treasures of heaven and earth, possessing both intelligence and ferocity.

It sensed its master's current inner weakness and madness.

This... was the perfect opportunity for a backlash.

"Burn! Burn it down! Let's see how much longer you can hide!"

Xiao Yu continued to pour out spiritual energy recklessly, completely unaware that this "double-edged sword" in her hands had already quietly aimed its sharp blade at her own fragile meridians.