On a misty mountain peak, Elder Nishikawa was currently sitting in front of a tall cauldron that was lit up with a redish-orange flame. Her hands were moving back and forth as sweat dripped from her forehead. “If I can succeed….”

*Rattle*

The cauldron began to shake, causing Elder Nishikawa’s eyes to widen and her face to pale she quickly retracted her spiritual power and her flames but it was already too late.

*Boom!*

The cauldron exploded and black soot shoot everywhere covering the entire room. Elder Nishikawa’s hair was thrown into disarray and her face had turned black due to the soot. “Damn it! I was so close!” 

She could only sigh. She had been trying to break through to become a rank nine alchemist, but she once again failed. The ingredients she had just wasted costed more than one could ever imagine and now they were all burnt to ash. “Is it really impossible for me to create a flesh and rebirth pill?” 

The flesh and rebirth pill was a pill that could make a cultivator feel reborn. It would strengthen their muscles and bones to their peak and firm up their foundations. But the biggest thing about this pill was that it could even regrow a missing arm or repair damaged meridians. Elder Nishikawa had been in a slump for a long time and was still stuck at a rank eight alchemist. There were only a few rank eight alchemists in the world in the mortal world, and Elder Nishikawa was one of them. One must successfully refine a rank nine pill in order to call themselves a rank nine alchemist. But the herbs were normally very rare, especially for the mortal world she was on. “Do I need to make a trip there?” 

Elder Nishikawa bit her lip. She wanted to help her disciple regrow her finger, but she would be unable to until she broke through. She let out another helpless sigh as she stood up and disrobed. She planned to go to the pond to wash up. But just as she exited her immortal cave, she saw two figures slowly walking towers her. She almost panicked, wondering how someone could come up on her mountain peak without her permission but relaxed when she saw who it was. It was just that…. She rubbed her chin when she saw Yuki and Nana holding hands. “Hmmm? So it finally happened?”

With a small smile on her lips, she walked over, unabashed by the fact that she was in the nude, and greeted the two girls. “I see you two have gotten closer.”

“Master, why are you naked?” Nana asked while stepping in front of Yuki to block her view. Her jealousy was completely obvious.

“Ah, well, as you can see, I am quite dirty. I blew up a cauldron while trying to make a pill. Come to the pond, and we can chat there.” Elder Nishikawa waved at the girls to follow her before turning and walking over to the pond. She slowly stepped into it before finally submerging her entire body. She washed her face real quickly before surfacing again. “So what did you girls need?”

“Actually, Master, I came to ask if you knew of any kind of method or way to re… umm… grow a finger….” Yuki was unsure if she was speaking nonsense or not, but she still had to ask. She could clearly remember reading about such things in her past life, so she could only hope they were true.

“Actually, the reason why I was covered in soot was because I was trying to refine such a pill for you. Yuki, the pill to regrow your finger, is a rank nine pill and is not easy to make. The ingredients alone are so rare that it is almost impossible to get, but… I failed. I am sorry. I am still only a rank eight alchemist.” Elder Nishikawa cursed her inability to help her disciple. 

Yuki looked at Elder Nishikawa, and tears began to appear in her eyes. She was grateful to be surrounded by so many who cared about her. “There is no need to apologize. I thank you for even trying for my sake. I will work hard. Maybe I will find the ingredients needed for such a pill.”

Elder Nishikawa felt conflicted. If she went to that place, she could easily get such a pill but right now, she just…. She took a deep breath before letting it out. “Alright. But you will do more than just look for the things needed to refine it. I want you to learn alchemy, both of you. It is a good skill to have and will aid you later on when you need to make money.”

Both Yuki and Nana nodded their heads. “We will work hard!” Yuki was kind of excited. To be able to learn alchemy was something they had both wanted to learn, so this was a chance they could not pass up. 

“Good! But first, Yuki, did you meet Elder Shoji? Or more like, did you meet Kenji at all while you were out?” Elder Nishikawa asked.

“I met Kenji, who had followed me, Nana, and our group. I was just about to kill him with some old man attacked me and almost killed me. If not for Nana, I might have died.” Yuki explained. But to her surprise, the water in the pond suddenly burst into the air as a powerful spiritual pressure weighed down on the area.

“That fucking old fuck!” Elder Nishikawa was so mad she could not even form words correctly. “He even dared to try to touch my disciple!? Hah… Hahahahaha! Let’s see how that old man weasels his way out of this one. And oh…. Yuki, Kenji Is dead. My guess is that it was Elder Shoji.”