She was already imagining the wonderful life after getting a golden item from ten draws:

Happily claiming her rewards, Qin Ruqing organized her thoughts and adjusted her next set of plans.

First, the pill industry task for the family wasn’t fully completed yet, and production needed to be increased.

She had to find a way to boost this.

Second, her ancestor’s injury still lacked one ingredient, the Ice-Fire Dual Grass, to fully heal.

Although it was guarded by a Golden Core stage beast, making it very difficult to obtain, the Qin family couldn’t just sit and wait.

If a direct attack wasn’t possible, maybe they could use a clever approach?

Finally, they had to acquire the Mysterious Heart Elixir, which could increase the chances of forming a Golden Core by 20%.

This was crucial for their ancestor’s breakthrough.

After reviewing her tasks, Qin Ruqing prioritized them.

According to Hao Gou’s information, the Mysterious Heart Elixir was likely in the floating small island in Xiling.

Whether this was true or not, Xiling was remote and hard to reach.

Therefore, dealing with the Mysterious Heart Elixir would be the last task.

For now, she would focus on completing the pill industry task and discussing with her ancestor how to obtain the Ice-Fire Dual Grass.

However, her ancestor seemed to have gone into seclusion again after the family meeting, so it wasn’t convenient to disturb her now.

Qin Ruqing decided to focus on improving the pill industry.

Increasing production… Heh, she already had an idea.

Since manpower couldn’t be significantly increased, she needed to work on improving tools and equipment.

If only someone could help improve the pill furnaces used by the Qin family’s alchemists.

The design of the pill furnace, including the number of fire openings and how the heat was distributed, was already set.

Improving these furnaces was very difficult and required a genius artifact master to study and make improvements.

As luck would have it, didn’t a talented person “voluntarily visit” the Qin family recently?

Qin Ruqing decided immediately to pester Tang Zifeng.

---

Tang Zifeng stood there with a stoic expression, a vein pulsing on his forehead, watching Qin Ruqing gesticulate wildly.

“Look, our pill furnaces are too old. The fire is unstable, the temperature is inconsistent, and they don’t really aid in pill nurturing…

So, I was thinking, could we improve the furnaces? Maybe add more fire openings but keep the temperature control as easy as before, make the temperature stable and easy to manage, and also help with pill nurturing to improve the quality…”

Tang Zifeng suddenly interrupted coolly, “Shouldn’t it also automatically refine the pills for you?”

Qin Ruqing paused, then exclaimed in surprise, “Is that possible?”

Tang Zifeng pressed his lips together, staring straight at her without speaking.

Qin Ruqing’s usually absent sense of shame finally appeared for a second (but no more than that!), and she laughed awkwardly.

“Maybe automatic refining is too much to ask, let’s forget that!”

“So, Master Tang, with your talent and your prestigious background in a famous artifact family, you should be able to create such a pill furnace, right?”

Tang Zifeng replied bluntly, “I can’t.”

He pushed Qin Ruqing towards the door, stopping at the doorway to add, “Also, I’ve been expelled from the Tang family. So, don’t try to flatter me with “prestigious family” nonsense.”

This was a small revenge for Qin Ruqing mocking him about being expelled before.

Qin Ruqing inwardly scoffed, thinking he was quite petty.

Outwardly, she kept smiling sweetly, her voice dripping with honey. “Oh, come on, we’re old friends. I’ve taken good care of you at the Qin family, and I was the one who introduced you to our ancestor. Isn’t it a bit harsh to refuse me so flatly?”

Tang Zifeng stopped pushing her, his hand on the door handle, and said seriously, “I paid you back for introducing me to your ancestor.”

What?

When did that happen?

She couldn’t recall.

Seeing her bewildered expression, Tang Zifeng reminded her with a stern face, “Those two feeding bracelets—I know you have them.”

Oh, that.

Qin Ruqing smiled awkwardly, “You never said they were a gift. Can that count as a payment?”

Tang Zifeng, still expressionless, replied, “If they’re with you, they’re yours. Naturally, that counts as payment.”

What a twisted logic!

Qin Ruqing clung to the doorframe desperately.

If soft tactics didn’t work, she would use hard ones.

“Hey, you little artifact master, how can you have no ambition at all?

Do you know that to become a master in artifact crafting, one must have their own pursuit in the way of artifacts?

All those difficult problems, they take an interest in them automatically. Why do you have no reaction at all? Your attitude is just wrong!”

First, she tried a taunt.

Tang Zifeng blinked his eyes, which, for some reason, seemed especially earnest.

Although his facial expression didn’t change much, it gave a feeling of seriousness. “I am very serious and have my own pursuit in artifact crafting. Your request is just too unreasonable. It’s impossible to craft such a pill furnace!”

Qin Ruqing couldn’t help but softly retort, “One should dare to think and act, besides, I didn’t even ask for a furnace that automatically refines pills…”

Tang Zifeng immediately started pushing the door again.

“Hey, hey, hey, I was wrong, I was wrong… Master Tang, I came to you because I trust you. Also, this matter is somewhat related to you, you know. I’m not asking for no reason!”

Tang Zifeng paused, his pushing force lessened.

Qin Ruqing felt his skeptical gaze through the doorframe.

She snorted inwardly.

She knew it!

For someone as peculiar and logical as Tang Zifeng, normal methods wouldn’t work.

—She had to use Tang Zifeng’s own logic to defeat him!

Qin Ruqing suddenly became serious, saying, “I know you came to the Qin family seeking an equal partnership. The Qin family promised to make pills that can accelerate your cultivation speed. You have secondary training in alchemy, so you should know that something which can speed up cultivation is already extraordinary. Even finding the raw materials for such pills is hard—luckily, the Qin family has them! Your pills are promising!”

Tang Zifeng stopped pushing the door, his attentive gaze fixed on Qin Ruqing’s face. “What does this have to do with whether I help you improve the pill furnace?”

Qin Ruqing snorted, “It has a lot to do with it because I’m the only one who can provide you with those raw materials!”

Seeing his confusion, Qin Ruqing pulled out a jade pendant hidden in her collar. “Look, what’s this?”

Tang Zifeng’s gaze finally moved from her face to the pendant in her hand.

He focused for a while, then said instinctively, ” Thousand Mysterious Ice… No, there’s a spiritual aura hidden in the ice, Jade Marrow?”

Tang Zifeng’s usually expressionless handsome face seemed to sprout a question mark. “How can these two completely unrelated things be fused together?”

Qin Ruqing tucked the pendant back into her collar nonchalantly. “Don’t worry about that. Since you can recognize the Thousand Mysterious Ice, you should know its purpose, right? Assisting cultivation, speeding it up—heh, I have an entire ice cave full of this stuff!”

Tang Zifeng was stunned.

Seeing his reaction, Qin Ruqing’s smile slowly widened. “And the ownership of this ice cave is in my hands.

Even the Qin family members have to exchange spirit stones with me to use the products from this ice cave.

So, understand?

The key to making your pills lies with me! I control the raw materials. If I don’t agree, no one can do anything!”

“So, the person you should be trying to please is me.” Qin Ruqing pointed at herself with a cheerful smile.

Tang Zifeng frowned, beginning to understand Qin Ruqing’s scheme. “You intend to threaten me with this?”

“Hey~” Qin Ruqing shook her head. “How can you call it a threat? I’m simply stating the facts. Let me lay it out for you: just like when you first came to the Qin family, no one could take you to see the Ancestor except me.

You had to agree to my conditions to meet the Ancestor. It’s the same this time. You want to make those special pills, and I control the key raw materials.

If you want to collaborate with the Qin family, you need to meet my conditions first. Only then can the cooperation be achieved.”

This logical relationship was a bit convoluted, but Tang Zifeng wasn’t confused by her explanation.

He continued to frown and said, “But when I negotiated with the Qin family earlier, I also paid a price. I agreed to make two feeding bracelets for the Qin family.

According to what you’re saying, should I no longer need to make those bracelets and just meet your conditions?”

A normal equal partnership is one-to-one, but now Qin Ruqing clearly wanted him to take on a one-to-two deal.

Tang Zifeng quickly understood this logical relationship and naturally refused.

Damn, this guy isn’t easy to fool. Luckily, I have a trick up my sleeve!

Qin Ruqing’s expression remained unchanged. With hands behind her back, she said, “Indeed, but are you sure you don’t want to make those feeding bracelets?

Originally, if you agreed to help me improve the pill furnace, you would get the Qin family’s pills and the Mysterious Ice I provide…

You’re a master in artifact crafting, and with this Thousand Mysterious Ice in your hands, you could probably make many powerful spirit artifacts.

When you take those to negotiate with the Tang family, your bargaining chips will be even stronger! But if you don’t want it… well, that’s your choice.”

Her tone was filled with regret, and she looked as if she was lamenting someone refusing a billion-dollar gift.

This expression was giving him a headache.

Tang Zifeng turned his head away, but his mind was in unprecedented turmoil.

She was actually willing to provide Thousand Mysterious Ice for him to craft spirit artifacts!

Mysterious Ice is a top-grade artifact crafting material, extremely rare!

Moreover, Tang Zifeng’s excellent memory reminded him of something Qin Ruqing had mentioned when describing the requirements for her life-bound artifact.

“Think along the lines of a Heart of Frigid Ice,” she had said.

At the time, he had wondered why she used such an example.

Now it seemed she had control over an entire Ice cave.

If that ice cave were fully formed, there might indeed be a Heart of Frigid Ice.

The Qin family was just a reputable family, so why did she have such wealth?

As he was still grappling with this, Qin Ruqing shook her head and sighed, getting ready to leave. “Well, if you don’t agree, I won’t force you. I’ll be on my way then.”

She sighed heavily again as she said this.

“Wait!” Tang Zifeng held his forehead, gritting his teeth, speaking with a mix of reluctance and inexplicable willingness, “I agree.”

Tang Zifeng carefully went over the logic again and realized that following Qin Ruqing’s requirements would maximize his benefits.

Even though he disliked seeing her smug face, it was the truth.

She seemed to see through him.

Thus, he had to let her lead him by the nose.

Qin Ruqing immediately beamed, “Ah, Master Tang, this is the right attitude! This is what smart people do!”

She enthusiastically pulled him along, and this time, Tang Zifeng didn’t refuse.

He awkwardly took a few steps forward and suddenly, with a stern face, added, “Just this once. There won’t be a next time.”

Qin Ruqing agreed readily, “Fine, fine, just this once. As if I have another Mysterious Ice cave to tempt you with…”

Hearing this, Tang Zifeng thought it made sense.

Such a treasure like the Mysterious Ice cave couldn’t be easily found.

She must have obtained it through extraordinary luck, and she probably didn’t have a second item to tempt him with.

Thus, he followed her calmly.