“Huh?” Zu An was startled and pleasantly surprised.

Mi Li had suddenly woken up and popped out, but she didn’t reply when he checked up on her from time to time. He had no idea whether she was really sleeping, or she just didn’t want to pay him any attention. Now that he heard her voice again, Zu An couldn't help but feel a strange sense of happiness.

“That thing, what is it exactly?” Zu An quickly asked.

After a bit of hesitation, Mi Li said, “I don’t know how to explain it either; it’s just a familiar feeling. You should look around first.”

Zu An nodded. As such, he asked Shen Xuzi, “Do you have any other pill furnaces?”

Shen Xuzi was surprised to see that Zu An still wasn’t content. He could only take out another furnace and say, “This furnace is called the Frugal Furnace!”

Jiang Luofu voiced her surprise. “There are even frugal and non-frugal pill furnaces?”

Zu An couldn't help but chuckle. “Since pill furnaces can be kind and evil, of course there can be a concept of frugality.”

Shen Xuzi stroked his beard and nodded. “Sir Zu is on the same level as me after all. Your skills aren’t something that many can compare with.”

Jiang Luofu rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to lower herself to his level.

Shen Xuzi caressed the pill furnace in his hands and said, “After refining a pill, this furnace has a twenty-five percent chance to return the ingredients used. What we pill refiners lack the most are ingredients. With this furnace, you can save a lot on expenses. There are some ingredients that are extremely rare and precious, so if you used this furnace and got your ingredients back, it would be really worth it.”

Zu An sighed in praise. “This really is quite the frugal furnace…”

Shen Xuzi was starting to get worked up too. Now that he had a chance to show off his collection, he quickly brought out another pill furnace. “This furnace is called the Extravagance Furnace. It uses up fifty percent more raw ingredients each time, but it has a ten percent chance to produce double the pills.”

Zu An remarked mockingly, “Only a ten percent chance for doubled returns? This furnace doesn’t seem to be that great of a deal.”

Shen Xuzi nodded. “Indeed. If we were only refining ordinary pills, then this furnace’s performance would be quite poor compared to the others. However, this furnace can often produce amazing results while making some special medicines. For example, there are some pills that have extremely rare and precious ingredients, where it’s exceedingly difficult to get enough for two batches. In that case, you ould give this furnace a try.”

Jiang Luofu couldn't help but frown. “Isn’t that just gambling? You’d lose nine out of ten times. I don’t like this furnace.” As a person who devoted herself to the law, she carried a natural opposition toward such things.

Shen Xuzi laughed and said, “This furnace indeed relies a bit on luck; that’s why I secretly call it the Dog Luck Furnace. For some people, this furnace would never give them anything, but for some people with incredible luck, this furnace would instead only provide returns. I believe Sir Zu is one of those lucky people.”

“Fourth senior is too kind with your praise.” Zu An chuckled. At the same time, he remembered that he had pulled a pill that increased his luck. Even though he couldn't use it on the keyboard system, it was perfect for this pill furnace. He was quite tempted. However, when he remembered what Mi Li had told him, he still calmed himself down and decided to make a decision later.

Shen Xuzi was quite shocked when he saw that Zu An was still unfazed. He brought him further inside.

Instead, it was Jiang Luofu who became a bit worried. She said through voice transmission, “Ah Zu, I think you should just pick one soon. It’ll be really bad if you end up provoking fourth senior by being so picky.”

Zu An had a bitter smile on his face. It looked like Jiang Luofu thought that he was being greedy. Unfortunately, he couldn't explain the real reason to her and could only continue.

Shen Xuzi picked up a uniquely shaped pill furnace. The patterns on its surface formed a smiling face. “This furnace is called the Mischievous Furnace.”

Jiang Luofu was speechless. She was already desensitized from hearing these names. Just what sorts of weird things was this guy collecting?

Shen Xuzi continued to explain, “This furnace’s specialty is that whenever it successfully refines a pill, it will grant the pill a special property.”

Zu An was stunned. “Then isn’t this pill furnace the best? You even get an extra property after making a pill.”

Shen Xuzi sighed. “If only it were that simple. The additional property is completely random; they’re not always positive. Sometimes, it can add some negative properties that will instead destroy the pill.”

Zu An was stunned. He said, “This pill furnace might be the most dog luck furnace of them all.”

Mi Li’s voice suddenly said in his head, “That green furnace in the lower cupboard up ahead, that’s the one.”

Zu An was quite surprised. He looked in the direction she had pointed at. He saw a furnace without anything outstanding about it, to the point where it barely looked like a pill furnace. The pill furnaces Shen Xuzi had introduced before all had brilliant colors flowing along their surface.

However, this furnace had nothing on its surface. Well… That wasn’t entirely correct either. There was a bit of something; it was a layer of green…

This color really was inauspicious. Zu An felt a natural rejection toward it. “Big sis empress, are you sure? Should you check it again?”

Mi Li said with dissatisfaction, “Do you think I’m the type of person who speaks randomly?”

Zu An felt she was making sense. As such, he could only pick up that small green furnace by the corner. “I share some affinity with this color. How about I just pick this one?”

Seeing as Shen Xuzi had tossed it randomly into a corner, as if he didn’t really care about it, Zu An figured that he probably wouldn’t be too reluctant to part with it. As such, he didn’t beg for it and just said he wanted it.

“That’s the one you’re choosing?” Shen Xuzi was quite shocked.

Jiang Luofu had a strange expression on her face as well. “You have an affinity with the color green?”

Zu An quickly said, “I like to bring this color that’s filled with life to others; it’s not that I like this color myself.” He had to make that clear, or else she might think he was a freak like King Wu. Then, he looked at Shen Xuzi and asked, “What’s wrong? Is this furnace extremely precious?”

“It’s not that precious.” Shen Xuzi shook his head. “I just happened to bump into this furnace when I went into a secret dungeon once. But no matter how I tried to study it, it didn’t seem to have anything special about it. But with the difficulty of that secret dungeon, there’s no way this furnace is useless. Perhaps Sir Zu knows what its uses are?”

Zu An shook his head. “I have no idea either. I just found it to my liking.” Even though he didn’t know, Mi Li probably did; it was just that now wasn’t the time to ask about it.

Jiang Luofu asked with a smile, “What’s wrong? Is fourth senior reluctant to give it away?” She could sense Shen Xuzi’s hesitation. She was scared that he might refuse, so she deliberately gave him a push.

Shen Xuzi’s expression became stern. “Nonsense. I, Shen Xuzi, have always been a man of my word. Forget it; since I couldn't figure anything about it all these years, that means it shares no karma with me. I’ll just give it to Sir Zu.”

Zu An accepted the small green furnace. He could sense Mi Li’s excitement. “Thank you, fourth senior.”

Shen Xuzi was surprisingly open-minded. He didn’t worry about it anymore after giving it away, and instead pulled Zu An inside. “Come, come, come, tell me more about that steam engine you mentioned earlier…”

The two of them chatted inside for a long time. Zu An had just taken something from this guy, so he was a bit embarrassed and replied to all of his questions.

In the end, Shen Xuzi was extremely satisfied. He looked at Jiang Luofu from time to time, saying, “Eighth sister, you’ve found a good man this time.”

Jiang Luofu’s eyebrows rose straight up. “I already told you, he’s like my little brother.”

“Fine, little brother, no problem.” Shen Xuzi chuckled and didn’t continue to argue.

…

When Jiang Luofu and Zu An left, Shen Xuzi was still waving goodbye. Jiang Luofu couldn’t help but say, “Ah Zu, you’d better not take fourth senior’s words to heart. Apart from alchemy, that guy is an idiot in everything else.”

Zu An was stunned. “What did he say? Why don’t I remember anything?”

Jiang Luofu smiled. This little fellow was surprisingly clever. But when she remembered what Shen Xuzi had just said, she worried that staying too close to Zu An would cause misunderstandings. Now that she had already helped him get a pill furnace, she had found a reason to separate from him.

As he watched her fair and long legs recede into the distance, before Zu An even had time to sigh in amazement, Mi Li’s voice said in his ears, “Those really are stunning legs.”

Zu An was stunned. “When did you become so indecent too? Can you tell me what’s going on with this thing now?” He took out the green furnace. Its color really was a bit glaring.

“Have you heard of the legend of the nine cauldrons?” Mi Li asked in a slow and profound tone.