Mu Zixi recalled what Elder Sang had secretly told her that morning after the master-disciple ceremony: "By the way, you have a secret senior brother."
Secret?
Her master actually had a disciple? She had a senior brother?
"Since my master is so powerful, this senior brother must also be very powerful!" she thought.
"Is the secret senior brother the kind of man who hides in the shadows, who's secretive, calm, and cool and says few words but will come up and touch my head after I've done something wrong and tell me with a magnetic voice, 'Don't worry, I'm here for you?'
"Wow, this is great!"
She'd had rather high expectations for this secret senior brother, but after seeing Xu Xiaoshou, her dreams were shattered.
"Xu Xiaoshou, how could it be you?!"
To her, this guy only fit the "strange man" description in her fantasy, and the rest of the other adjectives could be removed.
"Don't call him Xu Xiaoshou, called him Senior Brother!" Elder Sang suddenly appeared in front of her and struck his knuckles down. The little girl could do nothing but cradle her head in her arms.
"Hi, Senior Brother."
[Cursed Passive Point +1]
Xu Xiaoshou was amused. "What?" he asked while cupping a hand behind his ear.
Mu Zixi glared at him and exclaimed, her face white with fury, "Xu Xiaoshou, watch yourself!"
Bang!
Elder Sang struck his knuckles down again, and Mu Zixi said with tears in her eyes, "Hi, Senior Brother!"
"Very good."
Xu Xiaoshou burst into laughter.
He was still surprised that his junior sister was Mu Zixi.
He'd first met this girl on the competition platform, where this violent girl had almost blown him up. She was pretty good with fighting control. If it wasn't for that bad habit of hers, she would have expelled him from the platform.
However, it didn't look like she had an Innate Level physique, so why did Elder Sang take her as a disciple?
Xu Xiaoshou was very curious.
Yet, Elder Sang didn't care so much. He waved his hand and said, "All sit down."
Having said that, Elder Sang took out his large tripod bathtub. Seeing this, Mu Zixi was shocked.
Xu Xiaoshou was amused and came closer to the bathtub and asked, "What does it look like?"
Elder Sang paused for a second but didn't turn his head around, as he was obviously focused on the task at hand for the time being, and he still held a grudge against Xu Xiaoshou for the comment he'd made last time about his [Magic Pill Tripod] looking like a bathtub!
"This thing," Mu Zixi paused, looking hesitant. "It looks like a [Magic Pill Tripod]."
Elder Sang was pleased and glared at Xu Xiaoshou. But before he could say anything, the little girl went on to say, a cautious look in her eyes, "But aren't we supposed to cultivate Magic Pills? What's the point of taking this bathtub out?"
"Poo!" Xu Xiaoshou immediately burst out laughing. "Look, I told you this thing looked like a bathtub, but you didn't believe me, old man.
"If it didn't have three feet..." He trailed off mid-sentence, as the old man was glaring at him with a murderous look in his eyes.
Xu Xiaoshou wryly rubbed the back of his head and turned toward Mu Zixi. "Magic Pill Tripod!" he lectured her. "This is the [Magic Pill Tripod]! Don't you have any sense?"
Mu Zixi rolled her eyes. "You think I'm stupid?"
Elder Sang's eyelids twitched, and he said crossly, "This is indeed a [Magic Pill Tripod]!"
"Uh."
The young girl's pretty face seemed full of questions, and she glared back at Xu Xiaoshou.
[Cursed Passive Points +2]
"Okay, enough of this nonsense!" Elder Sang rolled up the sleeves of his robe. "I'll make a load of Magic Pills first so you can see what you can learn."
The large bathtub was placed underneath a large red bead. No sooner had Elder Sang's hands reached out then the milky white exterior immediately started to warm up, giving off a reddish glow.
"It's turning red?" Mu Zixi said while curiously reaching out her hand.
Xu Xiaoshou glanced at Elder Sang, who was cultivating the Magic Pills, and found that the old man obviously had no intentions of explaining this. As the senior brother, he had no choice but to take on this responsibility.
He pointed to a void below the tripod. "See that?"
"What?" Mu Zixi inclined her head and rubbed her eyes, but failed to see anything.
"Air?"
Xu Xiaoshou: "…"
"It's the [Infernal Heavens]. The old man should have talked to you about it!"
But he suddenly realized something. He had the [Passive Technique Sense], but this little girl did not!
"Try to see it with your Spiritual thoughts."
After one's cultivation level broke through to the Origin Court level of the three innate levels, an origin court would be opened up in the brain, giving birth to spiritual thoughts.
Its role was similar to [Sense], but one had to actively use it. Any passive effect was probably nothing but a danger warning.
Mu Zixi swept over the area with her spiritual thoughts and saw the invisible [Infernal Heavens] under the tripod. She was stunned!
"Puff, puff!"
The sudden rise in temperature startled Mu Zixi, and she lowered her head only to see an invisible flame on Xu Xiaoshou's hand as he placed his palm under her face.
He knew how to do it?
She ws about to compliment him to ease the tension between the two of them, but then she heard a mocking voice in her ear say:
"Haha, you can't!"
Xu Xiaoshou cheerfully withdrew his hand and said, "Don't worry. Your senior brother will teach you how later!"
Mu Zixi was so angry that she ground her teeth. "D*mn you, Xu Xiaoshou," she swore inwardly.
[Cursed Passive Points +1]
Xu Xiaoshou was pleased. In the past, he'd been scared while facing Elder Sang alone and didn't dare to joke around, resulting in no increase in his Passive Points.
Now that he had a junior sister, it would be much more fun around here.
Any Passive Point was a point, much like meat was meat, even if it was a mosquito. Though one point wasn't a big deal, they would add up over time!
Elder Sang was very focused while he cultivated the magic pills. He didn't speak, even though he was merely raising the temperature of the tripod.
Xu Xiaoshou had seen him cultivate the Magic Pills once before and naturally knew this.
Based on the knowledge in his head, he explained with a sense of responsibility as he pointed to the big bathtub, "Look, this process is called heating up.
"The process of cultivating Magic Pills can't be hurried. It's similar to the principle of Cooking. Even if we're not going to add oil, we have to warm the pot up first."
The corners of Elder Sang's mouth twitched. He thought this analogy was rather fit, but it felt a little cheap since he was cultivating none other than Magic Pills!
Mu Zixi looked suspicious, but seeing that Elder Sang unexpectly didn't refute this, her expression became one of understanding.
[Suspected Passive Point +1]
[Respected Passive Point +1]
[Cursed Passive Point +1]
"Hmm? A curse?" he thought. "That must've come from the old man!"
Xu Xiaoshou nodded satisfactorily. He noticed that Elder Sang had started making other movements. He was throwing a handful of herbs into the tripod after pulling them out from his ring over and over again.
The little girl was surprised by the operation. How could her master cultivate so much with all those herbs?
Xu Xiaoshou, of course, knew what she was thinking. He'd been amazed too when he'd witnessed it the first time.
"No need to doubt; this is the cultivation of Magic Pills.
"Of course, a novice couldn't do it this way, but the old man is very powerful, and he can multi-task.
"This isn't important!"
Xu Xiaoshou searched his mind for relevant knowledge and named the ingredients as Elder Sang threw them into the bathtub. "Look, that's the silver frost flower. It's cold and bitter but very sweet to eat; and that's the green tree fruit, which is very fragrant and delicious.
"And that's the strange apple seed. In ancient times it was used to feed…
"Ahem!"
"D*mn," he thought. "I almost revealed the secret."
"Anyway," he went on. "Adding up all of these ingredients, it's not difficult to guess what pill this is going to be." There was a peculiar expression on Xu Xiaoshou's face. What pill was it going to be?
"The [Origin Court Pill]?" He looked at Elder Sang and saw the old man nod in the affirmative.
Xu Xiaoshou was so baffled by his own actions that he didn't notice the line from Mu Zixi change from "Suspected" to "Admired" in the information bar.
"This Mastery of Cooking is rather wonderful," he thought. "I can postulate what Magic Pill will be cultivated based on the combination of the ingredients and their properties.
"However, my [Mastery of Cooking] is only at [Acquired Level 6], so how could I postulate the Magic Pill of seventh-grade? Seventh grade is an [Innate Magic Pill]!
"Perhaps…
"Perhaps the [Innate Magic Pills] aren't all made up of [Innate Spiritual Medicines] but a mixture of innate and acquired herbs, which are then cultivated with [Special Techniques] and finally condensed into pills?" Xu Xiaoshou ventured.
Elder Sang couldn't help but peek at him and was surprised at how much he'd been able to figure out.
This was a far cry from the first time they met when he'd remarked, "You're making Magic Pills," and "This is the [Magic Pill Tripod]!"
Xu Xiaoshou excitedly clenched his fists from being approved. He turned to his junior sister and said, "I told you so!
"Cultivating Magic Pills is like Cooking dishes. One has no need for good ingredients as long as one has good technique and the right supplements. If you have those two things, you can achieve your goal."
He pointed at the large bathtub. "Look at this. A messy stew can also produce a delicious hotpot!"
Elder Sang's hands shook once, and the tripod almost exploded.
"Xu Xiaoshou, shut up!"
[Requested Passive Points +1]