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Qin Shu refused to believe it at first. She dumped everything out of her storage ring and carefully searched through it, but her top-grade spirit stone was nowhere to be found.

She racked her brain, trying to recall if she had somehow misplaced it while taking out other items. But that didn't seem possible—storage rings always responded to intent, only retrieving what one consciously summoned.

Frowning, she mulled over the mystery until her gaze fell on the frog statue she had casually tossed aside.

Wait a second...

She picked it up, turning it over in her hands, scrutinizing it closely. After a moment, she muttered, "Why does it look... greener than before?"

When she first picked it up, it definitely wasn't this color.

Her mind quickly made a connection. She infused it with spiritual energy again, scanning for any reaction, but nothing happened.

Frustrated, she shook the frog upside down, as if trying to force it to cough up her missing spirit stone.

"Spit it out!" she demanded.

But the frog statue remained lifeless, giving no response.

Throwing it aside in a huff, Qin Shu crossed her arms and sulked.

Then, as if struck by inspiration, she picked up a low-grade spirit stone and shoved it into the frog's mouth. Gritting her teeth, she threatened, "If you're going to eat my spirit stones, you'd better be worth it! Otherwise, I'll throw you into a furnace and refine you into dust!"

To her surprise, the frog emitted a faint white glow. When she looked again, it had spat out a tiny, green seed.

A... seed?

Qin Shu crouched down, picking up the small green seed to examine it. But no matter how closely she looked, she couldn't recognize what type of plant it might grow into.

After thinking for a moment, she shrugged. *Might as well plant it and see what happens.*

With that, she decisively fed the frog four more low-grade spirit stones. True to form, it spat out four different seeds, each distinct in shape and size.

"Random seeds, huh?" she mused.

She cleared out a corner of her courtyard, setting up a small test field, determined that whatever grew had better be worth the spirit stone investment. Otherwise, she was seriously going to refine that frog!

Before planting, she carefully nourished each seed with her wood spirit energy to improve their chances of survival.

Once her experiment was set, Qin Shu returned to her room, closed the stone door, and prepared to study the memory column she had retrieved from the secret realm.

Watching a 'movie' alone might be a bit lonely, but if it was for the sake of learning, it was exhilarating. She tirelessly mimicked the lip movements of the golden-haired beauty from the recorded images.

Since the memory column had no pause or rewind function, she had no choice but to start from the beginning every time.

After countless repetitions, she could now replay the entire sequence in her mind with perfect clarity.

And then—one day—it finally happened.

A string of ancient, arcane syllables spilled from her lips.

Behind her, a vague but fiery shape began to take form.

Success!

Qin Shu's eyes snapped open, flashing with excitement. She threw her head back and let out a triumphant laugh.

"I *knew* I was a genius!"

With a smug grin, she tidied up, cast a cleansing spell over herself, and prepared to head to the task hall to exchange her spirit plants for contribution points—while also picking up a bottle of fasting pills.

Just as she stepped out of her room, a small, fluffy figure dropped onto her head.

"Shu Shu! You're finally out!"

Qin Shu pulled Little One's tail out of her face. "You didn't cause any trouble while I was in seclusion, did you?"

"Nope! I even watered your plants! They grew tall, tall, tall!" Little One puffed out her chest proudly.

Qin Shu's eyebrow twitched. "Oh? My plants? Let's take a look."

In the courtyard, five small seedlings had sprouted, standing barely two inches tall.

"They actually grew?" she murmured in surprise.

Then, turning to Little One, she asked, "How long have I been in seclusion?"

Little One tilted her head, counting with her paws. "The sky went dark... sixty-seven times!"

Qin Shu's eyes widened. "Two and a half months?! That long?!"

Pulling out her communication jade slip, she scanned through unread messages—only to be bombarded by an avalanche of texts.

Aside from her close friend Hexin, there was also her senior brother, Wen Chi.

**Wen Chi:**

- "Hey, little Taoist, did you forget something?"

- "Gone without a word again?"

- "Little Taoist, the task hall is chasing me for your alchemy quota. Where are the pills you promised?"

Qin Shu silently stared at the messages. *So, my debt collector has come knocking...*

With a resigned sigh, she figured she should at least try alchemy before facing him.

After all, she was supposedly a *dan* cultivator, yet she hadn't refined a single pill.

At the task hall, she exchanged her spirit plants for contribution points before heading straight to the alchemy chambers.

Before stepping in, she carefully reread the alchemy guidelines posted at the entrance. Satisfied that she understood the basics, she confidently claimed ten sets of ingredients and strode inside.

Surely, with her current cultivation at the fourth level of Qi Refinement, she could succeed in at least one batch, right?

But reality was cruel.

Despite following the instructions to the letter, her cauldron exploded the moment the pills were supposed to form.

On her third failed attempt, with her last hairpin shattered from the force of the blast, Qin Shu finally admitted defeat.

Sighing, she sent a message to Wen Chi.

"Senior Brother, is there a chance... I have no talent for alchemy?"

Wen Chi's response was instant. "What the hell are you saying? Trying to worm your way out of your debt?!"

Qin Shu rubbed her soot-covered face. "I went to the alchemy chamber today. Three attempts, three explosions. Even my hairpin didn't survive."

Wen Chi: "WHAT?! You BLEW UP the cauldron?! Do you have any idea how much that costs?!"

Qin Shu winced. "Which is why I'm calling for backup! Help me, Senior Brother, or I'll be forced to sell myself to pay the debt!"

Wen Chi fell silent for a long moment before finally sending two words.

"Stay put."

Sitting cross-legged in the wreckage of her alchemy room, Qin Shu reflected on her technique.

She had followed the books perfectly. So why did her pills *explode* instead of just failing to form?

A short while later, the door burst open.

Wen Chi stood at the entrance, scanning the disaster before him. His eyes landed on Qin Shu—covered in soot, her robes singed at the edges.

For a long moment, he simply stared.

Then, with a sigh of utter exasperation, he muttered, "I can't believe this..."