Chapter 789: What Kind of Owner, What Kind of Bird

"Two more birds suddenly?" Zu An was both surprised and delighted. Happiness had arrived so suddenly that he could barely believe it.

Mi Li, however, was much more composed: "You've gained two levels recently, so it's only natural for you to awaken two new divine birds. I was originally surprised that you hadn't awakened any new ones after breaking through to the eighth rank, thinking you'd only awaken new ones upon reaching the peak of each subsequent rank. This situation is much better than I expected. Oh, by the way, what abilities do these two new birds grant you?"

"Alright!" Zu An nodded, closed his eyes to concentrate, then suddenly opened them. With a strange expression, he said, "The Fire Phoenix's ability is Phoenix Flame, the most sacred fire in the world, combining destruction and benevolence. As for the Golden Phoenix... the Golden Phoenix..."

Seeing him hesitate, Mi Li grew impatient. "What about the Golden Phoenix?"

Historically, the Golden Phoenix has been considered an auspicious beast, often featured in empresses' hair ornaments and coronets due to its noble and elegant characteristics. Mi Li had a considerable fondness for the Golden Phoenix, which made her even more curious about its ability.

Zu An replied, "The Golden Phoenix has a gold attribute. Its ability is 'Love Stronger Than Gold,' which can... it can ignite a woman's desire, making her fall hopelessly in love with you."

Mi Li was speechless.

She instinctively took a step back, then spat, "Indeed, a bird reflects its owner. A majestic phoenix, and you've made it into something a philanderer would use."

Zu An looked dejected. "I can't control what abilities they have."

Mi Li scoffed, "Does this thing have any conditions for use? Or any cultivation level restrictions on the target?"

Zu An shook his head. "It's not clear yet. I haven't seen any relevant information; I'll have to explore and figure it out over time."

Mi Li took another step back, her expression slightly unnatural. "You are not to use that on me!"

Zu An couldn't help but retort, "I'm a dignified man, handsome and charming, always popular with women. My female companions are all stunning. Do I really need to resort to such a method to get a woman?"

Mi Li had to concede, "Your luck with women is indeed extraordinarily abundant."

"That's because I'm handsome," Zu An puffed out his chest. "Besides, what are you, a soul entity, afraid of?"

"Never mind me, just don't use it on me," Mi Li said, her eyes wide and fixed on him.

"Don't worry, I won't," Zu An replied, shedding his usual flippancy for a remarkably serious and steady tone.

Mi Li finally relaxed. Based on their interactions, she knew he wasn't deceiving her, and a faint smile touched her lips.

"Then let's start refining the medicine. Make sure to control the flame intensity and don't burn the ingredients," Mi Li reminded him. She wasn't worried about any issues with the Nine Tripods itself.

Zu An nodded, then slowly opened his palm. A ball of flickering golden flame appeared in his hand, and the entire room immediately grew much hotter.

Mi Li furrowed her delicate brows. With a flick of her sleeve, faint runes shimmered around the room. "I've already set up a formation around us to prevent your Phoenix Flame from incinerating the place and to keep its aura from leaking out and being detected by the powerful figures in the capital."

Zu An was secretly astonished. Mi Li was truly unfathomable. Recalling how he had once fought evenly with such a being, he could only marvel at how incredibly potent the 'Rich Woman's Pleasure Ball' was.

He didn't dare to be distracted. He quickly controlled the golden flame, separating a wisp to encircle the Nine Tripods, creating a stark contrast with Daji's bluish fox fire.

Since he was spiritually linked with Daji at that moment, he could perfectly control the intensity of both flames, allowing them to reach the most harmonious and perfect state.

With his previous experience using fox fire, Zu An now skillfully manipulated the Phoenix Flame. Soon, through the transparent body of the tripod, he saw the medicinal ingredients gradually liquefying. He continuously adjusted the flame size according to the steps described in the *Ancient Gathering Origin Scroll*, while progressively adding various auxiliary ingredients.

The medicinal ingredients completely liquefied. He then enveloped the several liquid masses with qi to prevent them from vaporizing. Gradually, these liquid masses began to merge, impurities were forced out, and the essences combined, reacting with each other.

Mi Li warned from the side, "Be careful. Even experienced alchemists rarely achieve a success rate over fifty percent, let alone a novice like you."

As if to confirm her words, almost the moment she finished speaking, the liquid masses, which were enveloped by qi and about to fuse into a pill, suddenly trembled violently, seemingly on the verge of falling apart.

Sweat instantly beaded on Zu An's forehead. "Oh no, I can't control them!"

Mi Li's face also showed anxiety, but unfortunately, there was nothing she could do at that moment.

Just then, a green light flashed on the Nine Tripods, and a wisp of profound and ancient aura enveloped the liquid masses.

Miraculously, the previously turbulent liquid masses stabilized and then completely merged, finally forming a perfectly round pill. Immediately afterward, a pleasant aroma of medicine wafted from the Nine Tripods, invigorating the spirit.

Mi Li's tightly furrowed brows relaxed. "It's done! It seems the effect of increasing alchemy success rate by fifty percent worked. Take out the Yuan Gathering Pill."

"Wait, there seems to be something else happening," Zu An quickly stopped her.

Mi Li looked at the Nine Tripods in confusion. A green light flashed around the tripod, and several faint wisps of aura circled the pill. The light around the pill then blurred, and when it cleared again, an identical pill had appeared beside the first one.

"Double pill production! That's the characteristic of the Extravagant Furnace!" Mi Li was both surprised and delighted.

"Grandmaster Shenxu's Extravagant Furnace required an additional fifty percent of raw materials to have a chance at doubling the output, but I only prepared enough ingredients for one pill," Zu An said, puzzled.

Mi Li smiled. "The Extravagant Furnace's ability was, after all, only awakened by the influence of the Nine Tripods, so it's definitely a weakened version. Isn't it even better that using the Nine Tripods now saves you fifty percent of the extra raw materials?"

"Of course it is," Zu An said, pleased. He opened the lid of the Nine Tripods and took out two vermilion pills, each with faint patterns on its surface.

Mi Li couldn't help but exclaim, "Natural pill patterns! As a novice, you've actually refined pills of the highest quality."

"Pill patterns?" Zu An was a little confused.

Mi Li explained, "Many pills, when refined, cannot achieve their theoretically perfect medicinal properties; there's always some loss during the process. The better the quality of the pill, the more naturally the pill patterns, which contain the essence of the Heavenly Dao, will appear on its surface. Only legendary Pill Kings can occasionally refine pills of such quality, yet you, young man, succeeded on your first try. It seems this is mostly due to the Nine Tripods' efficacy."

Zu An, however, couldn't help but pick up the Nine Tripods and began searching it up and down. Mi Li was stunned. "What are you looking for?"

Zu An said, "Previously, Grandmaster Shenxu also had a Frugal Furnace, which could return raw materials. I'm checking if there's anything like that here. And Grandmaster Shenxu also had a Mischievous Furnace, which could randomly imbue the refined pill with a special characteristic, but I don't feel any unexpected characteristics from these two Yuan Gathering Pills."

Mi Li couldn't help but scold him playfully, "You truly are insatiably greedy! Isn't triggering the double output function good enough? In my opinion, material return, double output, and random characteristic addition shouldn't appear simultaneously; usually, only one ability will be triggered. Just be happy about it. Double output is clearly better than returning materials. And randomly adding characteristics is too unreliable; if it adds negative attributes that affect the Yuan Gathering Pill's medicinal properties, it would be detrimental."

Zu An agreed after a thought. This time, the main purpose was to help Daji improve her skills, and the Yuan Gathering Pill was one of the essential materials. It would be troublesome if anything went wrong and affected her skill improvement.

"Daji, come here!" He beckoned to the quiet, beautiful woman beside him.

Daji obediently walked over. Zu An held out the Yuan Gathering Pill and gestured. "Lower, open your mouth."

Daji paused, then slowly knelt before him, looking up. Her red lips were slightly parted, and her beautiful, watery eyes gazed at him with an expression that could melt even the hardest steel.

Zu An was speechless.

I just told you to lower your head; you didn't need to assume *that* posture, did you?

He suddenly felt his entire body heat up, and an uncontrollable urge coursed through him.

This woman really is a vixen. It was just a simple feeding, did she have to make it so suggestive?

---The second update will be a bit late, probably around 11 PM.