Chapter 3478 — The Modification of the Medicinal Cauldron

"Half an hour, then... all right!" Right Panhu had no real choice in the matter, but he nodded and agreed all the same. The Right family's information network was fairly sharp; Wei Zhao had been scouring the Primordial Tier for ingredients to refine Qi-Gathering Pills for some time now, and the Primordial Tier had been swallowing their outrage in silence. So what standing did Right Panhu have to dare challenge Wei Zhao?

So after hanging up on Wei Zhao, Right Panhu sought out Right Zhentian to discuss countermeasures. They called it discussing countermeasures, but in truth there were no countermeasures at all—they merely swapped accounts of Wei Zhao's recent formidable deeds across the Primordial Tier. Then Right Panhu said, "Uncle, Wei Zhao is truly formidable now. We cannot afford to offend him—you've seen how even the whole Primordial Tier dares not speak, only fume in silence!"

"Indeed, that is just what I was thinking. For the Right family to keep a low profile and have us join Wei Zhao's Cultivators' Alliance Association would be no disgrace, and we would gain his protection in the future. I say it is a rather good thing!" Right Zhentian mused for a moment before speaking.

"Right, right, right, so shall we agree to his terms?" Right Panhu asked.

"Agree—this is a good thing, so why not?" Right Zhentian said. "Other families would leap at the chance to join and have none!"

Right Zhentian had turned a bad thing into a good one—that was a shift in mindset, and in truth, a decision born of helplessness.

In fact, if Wei Zhao demanded it of Kang Jingming right now, Kang likely would not dare refuse. But if the man simply played for time, Wei Zhao would truly have no recourse. Besides, Wei Zhao did not wish to tear all pretense with Old Ancestor Xuanchen just yet.

He could threaten to keep those inheritors from joining the Inheritance Plan. But if Old Ancestor Xuanchen, in desperation, simply refused to open the plan at all, then Wei Zhao would be well and truly screwed.

If he never got onto Cloud-Tier Island, never found Zhang Lifeng, what would become of Yu Xiaoke and the Pangolin?

So Wei Zhao had no choice but to maintain this somewhat delicate relationship with Old Ancestor Xuanchen, and could not let things turn too sour.

Right Panhu delivered the third-grade medicinal cauldron before long. Valuable as such a thing was, the Right family owned more than one. In the past they had withheld it for fear the Xuan Dan Sect would accuse them—but now? Did the Xuan Dan Sect dare say a word?

If the Xuan Dan Sect had the ability, let them take up the matter with Wei Zhao themselves. They likely lacked the nerve.

Once the cauldron was brought over, Right Panhu laid eyes on Han Jingyi and Wei Zhao again, and could not help sighing, "So, Leader Wei Zhao, you have already taken Han Jingyi for yourself, living that shameless life of sin together, eh? No wonder I haven't seen you around at all lately!"

"..." Wei Zhao was somewhat taken aback. When had he ever lived together with Han Jingyi? Still, he did not deny it. He nodded and said, "Then stop pestering her from now on. Otherwise, you know the consequences."

"Haha, of course, of course. A gentle maiden is a gentleman's delight—before, the flower had no master, and now she has one, so naturally I can no longer pursue her!" Right Panhu rubbed his bald head and laughed heartily. "Leader Wei Zhao, consider me a member of your association, then. You can shelter our Right family from now on—we will run errands for you, but see that you keep others from giving us trouble!"

"Naturally." Wei Zhao nodded. "Upon joining, you will also receive protection. You have heard of the matter with the worldly Song family and the hidden Tang family? So many skilled hands went there—all heaven-tier masters, beings on par with Great Perfection—and every one of them perished."

"Yes, yes, that is precisely what our Right family has set our sights on!" Right Panhu nodded. "Then I'll be off—you two enjoy your pill refining!"

After Right Panhu left, Wei Zhao watched Han Jingyi studying the medicinal cauldron and asked, "How is it? Can we refine third-grade pills with this?"

"With Brother Wei Zhao's current level of strength assisting Jingjing, there should be no problem. But since it means two people channeling true qi together, Jingjing fears something might go wrong! The materials for Qi-Gathering Pills are limited and very expensive—if they were wasted, Jingjing's heart would ache!" Han Jingyi said. "Jingjing was thinking—could we modify this third-grade medicinal cauldron into a third-grade automatic cauldron? Then Brother Wei Zhao could channel true qi on his own and refine third-grade Qi-Gathering Pills, without Jingjing needing to take part at all!"

"Oh?" Wei Zhao's eyes lit up at once. Indeed, it was so—if Han Jingyi modified the cauldron, then given Wei Zhao's level of strength, if he were merely made to condense dan fire continuously while the cauldron automatically adjusted the flame and temperature, Wei Zhao could well refine pills entirely on his own!

The former drawbacks had vanished completely, thanks to Han Jingyi's first- and second-grade automatic medicinal cauldrons!

"That is a fine idea. Is the modification troublesome?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Not at all!" Han Jingyi said. "The principle is actually the same. The only troublesome part is substituting materials for the cauldron and writing the cauldron's firmware. But if we simply modify a third-grade medicinal cauldron without seeking substitute materials, it is quite easy—because Jingjing has already worked out some of the formulas for third-grade pills, and only needs to write them into firmware."

"Good!" Wei Zhao could not help but marvel at Han Jingyi's cleverness. If this worked, he truly could refine Qi-Gathering Pills in batches.

"By the way, Brother Wei Zhao, can your Shennong Cauldron be repaired? If it can, it would be even better to modify that one. In Ancestor Zhang Lifeng's notes on pill refining, there are also a great many fourth-grade, fifth-grade, and even higher pill formulas. So I think that in the future we may need to refine fourth- and fifth-grade pills as well. Rather than do it piecemeal, we might as well use the Shennong Cauldron for the modification—that way it can serve us far into the future!" Han Jingyi said.

"Repairing the Shennong Cauldron..." Wei Zhao suddenly recalled the incomplete volume on artifact restoration he had obtained earlier from the hidden Han family. At the time, Wei Zhao had not yet been a caster, so he had not taken it seriously and had simply put the volume away. But now, thinking back, he ought to be able to repair the Shennong Cauldron!

At that thought, Wei Zhao hurriedly brought out the incomplete volume and began to leaf through it. Sure enough, it contained a section on repairing medicinal cauldrons!

"Brother Wei Zhao, what is that book? It looks rather ancient?" Han Jingyi asked, somewhat surprised.

"A book on artifact restoration. It has a section on repairing medicinal cauldrons—let me see whether I can manage the repair," Wei Zhao said.

"All right!" Han Jingyi nodded. "Then I will first study the firmware writing for modifying the cauldron, and Brother Wei Zhao can go repair the cauldron. If it truly can be repaired, we'll use the Shennong Cauldron to refine, and I'll take this third-grade cauldron away to study and develop products from."

"That works too!" Wei Zhao agreed after hearing her out. "Then let us split into two fronts for our research! I will repair the cauldron, and you study that firmware."