44: Alchemy class? I think you're trying to blow up the kitchen!

At two in the afternoon, inside Pill Refining Room No. 1 of the Alchemy Department, heatwaves were rolling.

The temperature here stayed above forty degrees Celsius year-round. Dozens of bronze Pill Furnaces were neatly arranged, with ground fire burning fiercely beneath them. The air was filled with the smell of burning, medicinal fragrance, and... a faint, lingering scent of cumin?

This was an elective course that the whole school was watching—"Foundations and Practice of Medicinal Pill Refining."

The one teaching was the most respected yet most hot-tempered instructor in the Alchemy Department, Instructor Huoyun, who was nicknamed the "Evil God of Fire Cloud."

At this moment, Instructor Huoyun was standing on the podium, his red hair pointing toward the sky. He was controlling a cluster of orange-red flames in his hand, demonstrating how to refine a basic Medicinal Pill—the qingxin pill.

"Alchemy is about having a mind as calm as water and precise control over the heat!"

Instructor Huoyun roared loudly, his voice echoing through the Pill Refining Room like a great bell. "The timing for adding each Spiritual Plant must be accurate to the millisecond! A slight mistake will result in a furnace explosion! All you idiots, watch closely!"

The students below sat up straight, not even daring to breathe too loudly for fear of annoying this short-tempered instructor.

Except for two people in the corner.

Gu Fan and Xiao Fan, whom he had dragged along to serve as "hard labor."

Xiao Fan was currently squatting on the ground with a look of utter despair, holding a palm-leaf fan. In front of him wasn't a bronze Pill Furnace, but a... stainless steel pressure cooker plugged into an outlet.

Yes, a pressure cooker.

Moreover, it was the kind of household pressure cooker with a timer function, a dual inner pot design, and the claim that it could "stew pig trotters in just twenty minutes."

"Gu Fan... we're going to be beaten to death," Xiao Fan said in a low, desperate voice. "Using a pressure cooker in an Alchemy instructor's class? You're basically trampling the instructor's face into the ground!"

"What's the panic?"

Gu Fan hummed a little tune while pulling things out of his System space. "Don't you think those broken furnaces are too inefficient? What era is this? We have to believe in science. Pressure cookers have great sealing and high pressure, which can more effectively lock in the medicinal power. This is called 'Tech Alchemy.'"

While speaking, Gu Fan had already thrown the prepared Materials into the pot all at once.

Qingxin Grass? Throw it in.

Hemostatic Flower? Throw it in.

"Wait! Are those chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns?!" Xiao Fan's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Why are you putting chili peppers in a qingxin pill?!"

"To remove dampness," Gu Fan said matter-of-factly. "Qingxin means clearing the heart, and you only need to clear it when the heart's fire is too strong. Ever heard of fighting poison with poison? Besides, this is an authentic Sichuan-style recipe, and these rolls of Premium Mutton Rolls are the medicine primer."

As he spoke, Gu Fan poured half a bottle of soy sauce and a bag of hotpot base into the pot.

Xiao Fan: "..."

He felt that Gu Fan hadn't come here for Alchemy; he had come here to leech off the ground fire to cook hotpot.

"Close the lid! Set the timer for fifteen minutes! Start!"

Gu Fan pressed the button, and the pressure cooker made a hissing sound as it vented steam.

This abrupt sound was exceptionally piercing in the quiet Pill Refining Room.

Instructor Huoyun, who was focused on demonstrating the "Purification" step on the podium, suddenly frowned.

His nostrils flared as he smelled an extremely domineering and tempting aroma that absolutely did not belong to the category of a Medicinal Pill—a spicy fragrance.

"Who is it?!"

Instructor Huoyun spun around, his eyes spitting fire as he scanned the room. "Who is cooking poop... no, cooking food in my class?!"

Everyone's gaze instantly focused on the corner.

They saw Gu Fan sitting with his legs crossed, watching the steaming pressure cooker and rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

"Gu! Fan!"

After seeing the culprit, Instructor Huoyun was so angry that his beard stood on end. "What are you doing? This is a Pill Refining Room! A sacred place! Are you trying to humiliate this old man by using a pressure cooker?!"

"Instructor, you are mistaken."

Gu Fan stood up and explained calmly, "I am performing Alchemy. Look, the herbs are in, and the fire is lit (though it's electric heating). The process might be a bit different, but we're reaching the same destination by different paths."

"Bullshit!"

Instructor Huoyun roared, "Alchemy requires spiritual power guidance! It requires refinement by pill fire! Can that thing of yours refine a Medicinal Pill? If you can actually refine one, this old man will eat this Pill Furnace!"

"You said it yourself," Gu Fan's eyes lit up. "Everyone heard it; the instructor is going to perform the feat of swallowing a furnace."

"Stubborn and incorrigible! This old man will destroy your pot of stew right now!"

Instructor Huoyun was completely enraged. He decided to give this arrogant kid a lesson.

He flicked his finger, and a bolt of pure pill fire, like a fire snake, shot straight toward Gu Fan's pressure cooker. The temperature of this flame was extremely high, enough to instantly melt ordinary metal into liquid iron.

[Ding! Detected Instructor Huoyun's strong professional contempt and desire for destruction.]

[Malice Rank: Rank B (Traditional authority cannot be challenged).]

[Backlash triggered! Multiplier: 60x!]

[Special Effect: The Art of Backfire.]

Just as that pill fire was about to touch the pressure cooker.

The imagined explosion did not happen.

Instead, the pill fire seemed to be absorbed by the pressure cooker, vanishing without a trace in an instant.

Immediately following that.

"BOOM—!!!"

An earth-shattering explosion resounded from the direction of the podium.

Everyone turned back in horror.

They saw that the Pill Furnace in front of Instructor Huoyun—the one he treasured like a precious gem and which was said to be forged from Deep Sea Profound Iron—had exploded.

And it exploded with a very artistic flair.

The furnace lid shot into the sky, smashing a hole directly through the ceiling.

The furnace body shattered into pieces, and the medicinal liquid inside, mixed with black ash, erupted like a volcano, spraying all over Instructor Huoyun's body and face.

The instructor, who originally had a celestial demeanor and bones of the Dao, had now turned into a black person who had just crawled out of a coal mine. His hair stood on end as if struck by lightning, and black smoke was still wafting from his mouth.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Instructor Huoyun spat out a mouthful of black smoke, completely stunned.

"My... my Pill Furnace... my qingxin pill..."

Amidst the mess, a dark, squishy object that emitted an indescribable stench rolled out from the center of his destroyed furnace.

It looked... extremely like a fresh pile of cow dung.

The entire room fell silent.

Just then.

"Ding!"

In the corner, Gu Fan's pressure cooker emitted a crisp and pleasant notification sound.

"Time's up! Time to eat... oh no, open the furnace!"

Gu Fan cheerfully pulled the steam valve, released the pressure, and opened the lid.

"Whoosh—"

A fragrance so thick it was almost tangible instantly swept through the entire Pill Refining Room.

It wasn't just the scent of meat, nor was it just the fragrance of medicine; it was a perfect Fusion of both, a smell that could directly trigger a human's most primal appetite and craving for energy.

Inside the pressure cooker, the broth had already boiled down.

Several crystal clear, ruddy-colored spheres, with even a faint spiritual light flowing over their surfaces, lay quietly at the bottom of the pot.

"This... this is..."

A student who knew his stuff cried out in shock, "Pill Veins?! Are those Pill Veins?! And a top-grade Medicinal Pill with three Pill Veins?!"

Instructor Huoyun ignored his current pathetic appearance and rushed to the pressure cooker as if teleporting.

With trembling hands, he picked up a "meatball" and sniffed it under his nose.

"Full of Qi and blood, medicinal power perfectly fused, without a single trace of Impurities... How... how is this possible?!"

Instructor Huoyun's worldview collapsed. "Cooking mutton rolls in a pressure cooker... refined a top-grade Qi-Blood Pill?! And the quality is better than what I've refined for fifty years?!"

This wasn't just Alchemy; this was practically an insult to the entire Alchemy world!

[Ding! Detected Instructor Huoyun's extreme emotions of faith collapsing and self-doubt.]

[malice points +800!]

Gu Fan looked at the soot-black instructor with a smile. "Instructor, it seems that science and technology are the primary productive forces. Although this Medicinal Pill looks like a meatball, its effect is definitely top-notch. Why don't you have a taste?"

Instructor Huoyun looked at that meatball, then at the poop-like thing he had refined himself, and felt a tightness in his chest as his vision went dark.

"Pfft—"

He spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Prodigy... you are a Prodigy..."

Instructor Huoyun's eyes rolled back, and he fainted dead away from anger.

Gu Fan shook his head helplessly, picked up a steaming "meatball pill," and stuffed it into the mouth of Xiao Fan, who had long since been staring blankly.

"Don't let it go to waste, Vice President. This is a great supplement."

Xiao Fan subconsciously chewed a few times.

It was spicy, fresh, and fragrant, melting in the mouth.

The next second.

"BOOM!"

Xiao Fan felt a violent heat rush straight to the crown of his head. The skin all over his body instantly turned bright red, and two streams of nosebleed shot out like fountains.

"Gu Fan... it's... it's too much supplement..."

Xiao Fan clutched his nose, feeling like a balloon filled with air that could explode at any moment.

Gu Fan looked at this scene and nodded with satisfaction.

"Not bad, not bad. It seems this 'Spicy Hotpot Qi-Blood Pill' has great market potential. Our club's funds are secured from now on."

He turned to look at the surrounding students, who were salivating and looking eager but didn't dare to step forward, and he showed a shrewd, businessman-like smile.

"Want to eat? No, want to become stronger?"

"Lying Flat Society exclusive secret recipe, only 998, and you can take a top-grade Medicinal Pill home! It even comes with a pressure cooker tutorial!"

On this day, a new legend began to circulate in the Alchemy Department: if you want to refine a Divine Pill, you first have to learn how to cook hotpot.