No innate talent for refining pills? Who the hell needs that when she could mix substances together to create poison? Baihe’s 25th century chemistry knowledge imparted from her old world was more than enough as long as she could gather the correct materials and improvise a bit, but the intermediate ingredients from this new world was a bit different compared to her previous.

Would the effect be the same or would it create something completely different? Maybe, it would be even more potent?

There was only one way to find out, so Baihe started to pluck specific medical plants scattered around the garden and gathered bright red berries from the overgrown shrubs. Without blinking an eye, Baihe torn off a part of her sleeves to wrap the cloth around her hands for protection.

Her action startled Fenglong, who was now staring intensely at Baihe’s exposed arm.

This bipolar man, why was he so engrossed with her arm? With how intensely Fenglong was looking at her, even Baihe was starting to get a weird feeling like she was dressed indecently; which was absurd considering how females from her period had worn way less than this.

If she were to don a bikini, would he end up with a nosebleed? The sudden image of this handsome bipolar man with blood spilling from his nose was so comical, Baihe was almost tempted to tease him to find out; but she needed to focus on her task instead, so Baihe threw Fenglong to the back of her mind and let him stare as much as he wanted.

Continuing to tear the sleeves of her robe, Baihe made sure every inch of her hand extending to her elbow was fully protected like a long glove; using another piece of cloth, Baihe tied it around her lower face, covering her mouth and nose before proceeding with her experiment.

Then, Baihe threw the ingredients into the pill furnace one by one — crushing and mixing the components — until they began to change color. Slowly and manually adjusting the fire temperature below, Baihe stirred the furnace with a long twig she found, patiently waiting for the ingredients to turn into liquid.

Fenglong watched the woman work, who was completely absorbed in her task. Her calm and collected disposition paired with her seriousness as she diligently focused on contriving some weird formula was extremely captivating; to the point even he himself was immersed as he followed her every movement.

Despite being completely dirty from head to toe, Fenglong still found her mesmerizing; even with her frizzy puffed up hair, there was a fascinating charm and beauty to her. A complicated light flashed across Fenglong’s sapphire eyes; no one knew exactly what he was thinking at this moment.

By the time Baihe was done, it looked like some sort of liquid medicine sitting inside the pill furnace. Scanning her surroundings, Baihe spotted a small broken piece of curved log perfect for using as a temporary cup.

After carefully scooping up some poison, Baihe walked in a steady pace toward the muddy pond hidden behind the tall trees and perennial vines. She dumped the content into the water and retreated back to her furnace to scoop more poison, repeating this process until all the liquid inside her pill furnace was gone.

At last, she merely stood there — quiet and still — without any movement. After twenty minutes or so, three shimmering guqin strings fiercely dipped into the pond and fished out an Early Dao Stage 3 magical red snapper.

The red snapper flopped a few times before it became lifeless. Baihe transported the dead fish and threw it inside a pill furnace. When she was mediating, she heard the ripples of water nearby accompanied by occasional splashes of water; Baihe suspected that the Old Witch must have kept some magical fish around as pets.

The Old Witch had wanted to increase her chance of escaping from the formation prison by housing some magical red snappers as these fish symbolized good fortune and prosperity; but she would had never imagined that the fish she so painfully nurtured were now all contaminated by Baihe’s poison. If she did, the Old Witch would have vomited blood from being angered to death as magical red snappers were beyond scarce.

What Baihe concocted was an improved version of a marine poison known as ciguatera, but enhanced because Baihe needed to knock out the magical red snapper when she sensed it was at a higher cultivation level than her, so she took the liberty to add in some extra ingredients.

Even without the toxin producing algae known as dinoflagellates which lead to ciguatera after being consumed by the fish, Baihe was still able to replicate a similar poison that was even more potent.

The corner of her lips curved up deviously as Baihe took out the mermaid pearl necklace and dropped it on the ground; with the tip of her shoe, Baihe kicked some dirt and soil over it to make it appear as if she had accidentally lost it.

Only when Baihe was satisfied with her handiwork, did she removed her self-made mask and gloves and hid herself somewhere within the overgrown messy garden. Fenglong observed everything with a cunning smile in his eyes as he followed after the woman.

♦

Fei Fei was on the verge of tears; she had long given up on rebuilding a cottage for the Old Witch and had instead poured all her hope into refining a vision restoration pill, even though Fei Fei knew it was beyond her current ability.

She still harbored the hope that maybe if she could miraculously produce a vision restoration pill, the Old Witch would grant them amnesty and let her and Prince Zhao go. If that were really to happen, Prince Zhao might even feel extremely grateful to her for saving his life.

It was just…how to refine such pills ah? And where was that bitch Huang Baihe at?

Fei Fei looked left and right, but saw no sign of Baihe or Fenglong. Alarmed, she immediately patrolled the garden. They couldn’t have found a hidden exit right?

At last, Fei Fei halted before the pill furnace Baihe had been using. Peeking inside, she saw a dead magical red snapper and her eyes instantly lit up; this was it! Her saving grace!

The old ladies in the palace had always whispered how eating fish eyes could improve vision and eyesight. If she were to use this magical red snapper’s eyes to refine a pill, would it be able to cure the Old Witch’s blindness?

Soon, her expression dropped. There was only one fish here and even though Fei Fei had no idea how that bitch had managed to procure a magical red snapper — an extremely rare fish — she would only get one chance to successfully refine such pill, but Fei Fei lack the confidence to do so. Alternating and deviating the ingredients in pill refinement was immensely risky and required great apothecary skills.

What to do?

As Fei Fei paced back and forth, her shoe hit against a shiny object buried in the soil. Seeing the glossy, lustrous surface, greed enveloped Fei Fei’s eyes. It was the mermaid pearl necklace!

With a delirious laugh, Fei Fei hastily bent down and stored the mermaid pearl necklace away; by possessing this ancient artifact, her confidence was boosted by a hundred folds. “Huang Baihe, even heaven is on my side. Now, your treasure belongs to me!” Fei Fei snickered.