Demoness, Stop! - Chapter 49 - Chapter 49 – A Lucky Incident

In the days that followed, Junior Sister Zheng really did come every day, and each time she brought Li Yu some materials to practice with. Sometimes, she would also share her alchemy insights with him. Her master was one of the sect’s eight fourth-rank alchemists, and some of her unique perspectives on pill refinement benefited Li Yu greatly.

In just a few days, Li Yu’s success rate in refining first-tier pills increased dramatically. Not only could he consistently produce ten pills per batch, but their quality also reached the high grade, and occasionally, he could even refine a few supreme-grade pills.

This rate of progress left Zheng Keqi shocked.

She had never seen an alchemist improve so quickly. It seemed her master was right—entering the state of Unity between Heaven and Man truly brought tremendous benefits to an alchemist. It made her long for that state even more.

Although Zheng Keqi wasn’t as famous in the Kunlun Sect as Qin Keren, Xu Qingxin, or Jiang Li, she was still a recognized alchemy genius in recent years. Her frequent appearances at Danding Peak, where she would spend an entire day each time with Li Yu, drew the envy of many disciples there.

Regardless of his actual alchemy skills, they had to admit—Li Yu had a knack for attracting beautiful women.

Inside the small courtyard, Li Yu had just finished refining another batch of first-tier pills. This time, he was quite lucky: four of the Qi Recovery Pills had reached the supreme grade.

Zheng Keqi couldn’t help but marvel, “Senior Brother Li, your progress is incredible. I started refining first-tier pills a year ago, and I still can’t match your supreme-grade rate.”

Li Yu smiled and replied, “I’m just lucky, that’s all.”

Zheng Keqi blinked and asked, “So you entered the Heaven-Man Unity realm multiple times just by luck too, Senior Brother?”

After spending a few days together, Li Yu had already figured out that this genius girl kept visiting him mainly to learn the secret of entering the Heaven-Man Unity state. Unfortunately, he had no real answer. Every time, it was just him… cheating.

Looking at the longing in her eyes, Li Yu felt a bit conflicted.

All the practice materials he’d used recently had been provided by her for free. Even the successfully refined pills had been left to him—she had genuinely helped him a lot. If he didn’t give her something in return, he’d feel bad about it.

After thinking it over, Li Yu said, “Actually, it’s not entirely luck. The two times I entered the state of Unity, now that I think about it, felt a bit different from usual.”

Junior Sister Zheng’s eyes lit up instantly. “Different how?”

Li Yu began choosing his words carefully as he spoke: “I noticed that whenever I took a batch of pills really seriously, I could indeed ensure higher pill success rates and more top-grade pills—but I rarely entered the Heaven-Man Unity state. On the other hand, when I took a relaxed approach and refined casually, I was more likely to enter that state…”

Zheng Keqi showed a thoughtful expression and muttered, “So… when you were flirting and bantering with that pretty senior sister before alchemy… it was actually to relax your mood…”

“…”

Li Yu only found out afterward that the competition that day had actually been broadcast live. He gave an embarrassed laugh and said, “Something like that. You know too, Junior Sister, that your mindset greatly affects alchemy…”

Zheng Keqi seemed to have some kind of epiphany. She stood up and said, “I understand now. Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother Li!”

With that, she left in a hurry, not even saying goodbye.

Watching her retreating figure, Li Yu let out a long breath. If he hadn’t said something just now, she probably would’ve kept pestering him.

And honestly, what he said wasn’t just made up. Whatever you’re doing—alchemy, forging, or talisman crafting—having a good mindset is always important.

Now that she was gone, Li Yu planned to head over to the flea market at Feilai Peak to sell the pills he’d accumulated over the past few days.

He was running low on spirit coins and needed to earn some first so he could exchange them for more Meridian Clearing Pills next month.

Since the ingredients for pill refining were all spiritual herbs and medicines, the price of first-tier pills was much higher than that of low-tier ones. Even in Kunlun, a single Qi Recovery Pill could sell for fifty spirit coins, and offensive-type first-tier pills could go for over a hundred each.

By standard calculation, one bottle of pills—ten pills per bottle—meant a single bottle of Qi Recovery or Vitality Protection Pills would sell for five hundred spirit coins. Since the materials had been provided by Junior Sister Zheng, all Li Yu invested was his time, effort, and spiritual energy, making it practically a zero-cost business. Every bottle he sold brought him a pure profit of five hundred spirit coins.

Over the past few days, Li Yu had accumulated over twenty bottles of first-tier pills and was eager to sell them.

However, this time, his pill-selling venture didn’t go so smoothly.

He set up his stall at Feilai Peak and waited for a long time, but no one showed any interest.

What surprised him even more was that it wasn’t just his stall—those selling talismans and artifacts were doing just fine. It was only the pill sellers who were completely ignored, with not even a single inquiry.

That’s when Li Yu finally remembered—last time, a few low-level disciples had bought Meridian-Clearing Pills from a street stall here, only to be scammed with Qi-Gathering Pills, becoming a laughingstock across the entire sect. Since then, Kunlun disciples would rather pay more than risk buying shady, unverified pills from street vendors.

This made Li Yu silently curse that old bastard several more times. One rotten apple had spoiled the whole barrel—and ruined the reputation of the entire trade.

Helpless, Li Yu had no choice but to remove his cloak and face covering, revealing his true appearance.

Most of these pills were high-grade anyway, with a few even reaching supreme-grade quality. It wasn’t like he had any secret identity to protect.

Once he revealed his face, Li Yu began calling out loudly: “High-grade Qi Recovery Pills, Vitality Protection Pills—only 400 spirit coins per bottle! Don’t miss out! Supreme-grade Qi Recovery and Vitality Pills—take them home for just 500 spirit coins!”

If he didn’t speak up, no one would pay him any attention. But the moment he shouted, he immediately attracted a lot of gazes.

The low-level disciples who had just been wandering around, not intending to buy pills, instinctively turned to look. When they saw the handsome young man sitting there, he looked a bit familiar—then it clicked! Wasn’t that Li Yu, the champion of the alchemy competition, who had flirted with a beautiful senior sister in front of everyone?

That day, nearly half the disciples in Kunlun had watched his handsome face on the water screen.

“Hey, isn’t that Li Yu?”
“That’s right, it’s him. He’s even more handsome than on the screen…”
“He’s setting up a stall at Feilai Peak too?”

…

As soon as they realized it was Li Yu doing the selling, a crowd gathered around immediately. Other street-sold pills couldn’t be trusted, but this was the champion—someone even third-rank alchemists in the Golden Core stage sought advice from! There was no way his pills would have quality issues.

Besides, now that everyone knew who he was, if there were any problems, it would be easy to find him—he couldn’t just disappear.

Truthfully, all the disciples preferred affordable and effective pills. They had only stayed away because they were afraid of being scammed. But now, Li Yu’s face was as good as a golden seal of quality.

A disciple carrying a giant sword walked over and said with a grin, “Junior Brother Li, please give me a bottle of Qi Recovery Pills.”

Another slim disciple with a slightly pale complexion but decent looks jogged over and said, “I’ll take a bottle of Vitality Pills—give me the best ones…”

“I’ll take a bottle of Qi Recovery Pills too.”

“Save a bottle of Vitality Pills for me!”

…

Very quickly, the crowd of disciples coming to buy pills surrounded Li Yu’s small stall three layers deep. Li Yu was overjoyed—had he known his face alone could drive sales, he wouldn’t have bothered with the cloak and mask. What a waste of time!

While Li Yu happily pocketed one payment of spirit coins after another, over at Cuiwei Peak, Zheng Keqi had just returned after enjoying a hearty meal at the Piaoxiang Pavilion. After returning, she treated herself to a luxurious flower petal bath. Only after she felt thoroughly relaxed did she slowly change into her favorite robe to begin her alchemy.

In the past, whenever she was about to refine an important pill, she’d never have been so casual. Instead, she would meditate for at least half an hour to adjust her state to its peak.

But after receiving Li Yu’s “guidance,” she decided to do things differently this time.

And to be fair, after a full meal and a fragrant soak, her whole body felt fresh and sweet-scented. Her mood was much better than usual, and her spirit more relaxed than it had ever been before pill refining.

Standing before her cauldron, she carefully added spiritual liquids in order and activated a flame using her spiritual power. Her mind was free of distractions; as she watched the gently flickering flame, her thoughts weren’t even focused on the pill refining itself. Instead, she kept thinking about what Li Yu had said…

As she sank into contemplation, her expression gradually became dazed.

Meanwhile, the flame beneath the cauldron began to stabilize. Before long, even the slightest flickering had completely vanished.

Half an hour later.

Zheng Keqi’s delicate body suddenly trembled as she snapped out of her trance. She stared blankly for a second—then immediately rushed to open the cauldron.

Inside, ten flawless, top-grade pills bearing five pill marks each were quietly resting in the furnace like tiny works of art.

After a moment of stunned silence, her expression turned to overwhelming excitement. Her voice trembled as she cried out, “Master! Master, come quickly!”

In the blink of an eye, a beautiful middle-aged woman appeared by her side.

She stared in disbelief at the ten flawless, art-like top-grade pills in the cauldron and asked, “You… you refined these?”

Zheng Keqi clutched her master’s hand excitedly and exclaimed, “I—I just entered the Heaven-Man Unity state! So this is what it feels like… Senior Brother Li was right! He didn’t lie to me!”