"It is probably his battle instincts. He could tell that someone was observing him." Xukong replied.

"But how is it possible? Even the peak master Shaoyan Qianyu who is at the Nascent Soul realm was unable to discover me." Lin Mu said.

"Some people are just built differently. Their intuition can be much stronger than others even if their cultivation base is not." Xukong explained.

"I see… Wu Teng was a commander who has fought a lot. It is understandable that he still has these instincts." Lin Mu acknowledged.

Wu Teng though was still looking around and was unable to see anyone. It was now that another voice was heard.

"Wu Teng? Who are you speaking to?" A woman's voice asked.

Lin Mu looked towards the direction of the sound and found it to be a bit familiar. The door of the courtyard was open and in it, a woman was standing. 

"No one, Zi Jin… I was mistaken it seems." Wu Teng replied.

The woman who had spoken before was none other than Ye Zi Jin, the daughter of peak master Yi Deng and Wu Teng's wife. Back then all the marriage proceedings had halted due to the red tide, but Lin Mu heard from Wu Hei that his father Wu Xun had asked them to proceed with a small ceremony later.

Their goals were already solved because Lin Mu forced Gu Yao to appear and use the Human controlling blood curse. Since everyone, he wanted to be dead was dead and others controlled Wu Xun did not deem it worthy for there to be another marriage ceremony that was elaborate.

Thus a very hush-hush ceremony was done after everything calmed down a bit and Wu Teng was sent to the Tri Cauldron peony sect along with Yi Zi Jin. The peak master was also under Gu Yao's control and thus there wasn't much they needed to do there.

Lin Mu observed as Yi Zi Jin and Wu Teng briefly talked before Yi Zi Jin went on to do something else and Wu Teng returned to his practice.

~Sigh~

"Don't worry, I'll free you two eventually." Lin Mu said silently before heading ahead.

He briefly checked the residence of the elders and saw them busy at work. All of them were actually in a single large hall and were busy with refinement. Two of the elders were using their Qi flames to heat a large pill cauldron, three of them were processing the ingredients, and one elder was adding them to the cauldron.

Overall, they were working in perfect synchronization and Lin Mu could tell that they had great practice in doing this. Coordination like this was not something one could create in just a few days and would likely require a few years at least.

These elders were at the late stage of the core condensation realm at the very least and thus did not pose Lin Mu any danger. He freely checked what alchemical pill they were refining with his spirit sense and learned a few things.

While he did not gain as much as he did from observing peak master Shaoyan Qianyu, it was still plenty for him. 

"What pills are they making, though? The amount of ingredients and the size of the cauldron is simply massive." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

The actual variety of ingredients used by them was actually quite less being only five herbs. But the sheer quantity of them was something to see. Lin Mu estimated that they had easily used over a hundred kilograms of herbs till now.

Lin Mu identified the herbs and resized what they were making.

"They're making… Basic Qi pills?" Lin Mu estimated.

"Not just basic Qi pills, they are making high grade versions of them," Xukong replied.

"High grade version? But the recipe I saw needed different ingredients than these to make them." Lin Mu spoke.

"That's true. But that is not the only method to make a high grade basic Qi pill. You see with a lot of alchemical pill recipes that are of the same type but multiple grades, higher grade variants can be made just but further refinement of ingredients that are used for a lower grade variant.

Of course, this is not without its flaws as the success rate would be less than if they would use higher quality ingredients and there also being a higher concentration of pill toxins in the final product.

Still, the advantage that forces a lot of alchemists to use this method is the lack of high quality ingredients. This way they can compensate quality with quantity and then refine it further to make the alchemical pill." Xukong explained.

Lin Mu listened to it with his full attention and nodded his head in understanding. This was something new that he had learned and thus he was quite interested in it. He decided to see the rest of the process, as he deemed it to be worth his time now.

About an hour passed by before the elders finally finished processing all the ingredients and adding them to the cauldron. The intensity of the Qi flames had been quite low till now and it was as if the cauldron was only being warmed.

"Alright, seal it up! We shall finish it in one go!" The elder who had been in charge of adding the ingredients spoke.

The other elders nodded their heads and one of them picked up the heavy lid of the cauldron before placing it on the top. 

~DENG~

The sound of metal clanging on metal was heard as the elders locked the lid with the help of metal clamps. These clams were attached to the cauldron itself and were broad, hooking into the outer lip of the lid.

Once the clamps were secured, five of the elders gathered around the cauldron before raising their hands. 

~Shua~

Intense Qi flames came out of their palms and licked the surface of the cauldron. The final elder who was in charge only observed the entire process with his spirit sense, not daring to miss even a small moment.

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