Yes, Jian Qi'er was the one he admired most... an oddity!
"Wow! Fang Ren, you're so amazing!"
Just as Fang Ren's words had barely left his mouth, Jian Qi'er's eyes gleamed with excitement as she looked at the ring on the table, showing a look of utmost admiration.
A strained smile froze on Fang Ren's face as he said with a forced grin, "Keep it, keep it low profile..."
"Can I, can I take a look?" Jian Qi'er asked with hopeful eyes, full of admiration for Fang Ren.
Seeing her silly excited face, Fang Ren had no reason to refuse her.
With Fang Ren's permission, Jian Qi'er carefully stretched out both hands to pick up the stone ring from the table, treating it like a treasure.
Watching her silly behavior, Fang Ren felt helpless and resigned, turning his attention back to the furnace, ready to rectify his previous mistake.
"Fang, Fang Ren, does this ring require blood to acknowledge its master?" Jian Qi'er asked excitedly.
"Ah, it seems like it does. I haven't figured out how to make it recognize its master," Fang Ren replied casually to the foolish girl.
"Can I, can I try?"
"Sure."
Fang Ren said nonchalantly, although blood recognition might be a viable method, it needed the blood of cultivators to work, after all, it operated via True Qi.
For an ordinary person like Jian Qi'er, it wouldn't be usable.
But what he didn't know was that Jian Qi'er had indeed bitten her fingertip lightly and dripped a drop of blood onto the ring.
As the blood touched the ring, the excited expression on Jian Qi'er's face suddenly became vacant.
After a long moment, she came back to her senses, and the excitement on her face faded, revealing exceptionally clear eyes behind her old-fashioned glasses.
In a mere moment, her whole aura seemed to have undergone a radical transformation, erasing any hint of her former silliness.
"How is this possible..." she was incredibly shocked inside.
Her gaze moved away from the ring to Fang Ren, who was earnestly tending the furnace. Her slightly furrowed brows and her clear eyes seemed to be trying to see through the young man in front of her.
A Space Ring ... no one had managed to create such an object in 210 years, and this guy, ranked third from last in his class at the medical school, had today produced something that would astound the whole world.
Who exactly was he?
The moment the blood merged, Jian Qi'er felt about ten cubic meters of space floating beside her. With a single thought, she could make it tangible.
Yes, the Space Ring was a success.
And Jian Qi'er was not the ordinary person she appeared to be...
"What's up, did I fail?"
Having not heard from Jian Qi'er for almost half a minute, Fang Ren turned back and said with a smile.
When he turned around, he saw Jian Qi'er looking silly, as she earnestly said, "I, I believe Fang Ren will succeed next time!"
"I was just kidding, don't take it seriously," Fang Ren laughed as he reached out to take the ring from her hand.
Jian Qi'er immediately hid the ring behind her, still shy but serious as she said, "I, I, um, can I buy it?"
"Ah?" Fang Ren was taken aback, then chuckled, "If you like it, I'll just give it to you."
"Really?" Jian Qi'er asked, astonished.
"Of course," said Fang Ren, turning his attention back to the Small Furnace.
After all, the raw stone for the Space Ring was still with him, capable of making a dozen more rings. The surplus ones were of no use; since Jian Qi'er liked it, he decided to simply give it to her.
After hearing this, Jian Qi'er's expression once again turned excited as she said, "There will definitely be many people jealous of me in the future."
"What's up now?"
"Because I'm wearing the ancestor of all Space Rings in the world!"
Fang Ren looked at her serious expression and couldn't help but laugh, "Haha... why so serious?"
"What's wrong with that? I believe Fang Ren can surely make a real Space Ring in the future!" Jian Qi'er said earnestly, with both hands clenched into fists, "Please do your best!"
"Alright, I'll take your good words," he said.
...
After fussing with the Small Furnace for a while, the lab class was quickly coming to an end, and Fang Ren realized that he had gotten a bit too absorbed in the alchemy. It wouldn't be good to actually complete a product.
Keeping a low profile, that's the life creed.
Just as the Elixir in the furnace was about to take shape, Jian Qi'er, face aglow with excitement, leaned in to watch it closely.
Fang Ren, watching the Elixir inside, frowned slightly. He hadn't expected the Elixir to have already taken shape!
This won't do, he had to remove something, otherwise it would be the spitting image of the world's most standard Qi Gathering Pill, and wouldn't that expose his genius identity?
He immediately took the formed Elixir out of the furnace and placed it on a piece of white paper next to him.
Looking at the ball of Elixir, Jian Qi'er returned to her silly frozen expression once more.
This was actually a standard new Qi Gathering Pill! And judging by the scent, it was of superior grade!
"Slap!"
As Jian Qi'er stood there in a daze, Fang Ren slapped the Elixir, deforming it on the spot!
What is he doing!?
Jian Qi'er was utterly baffled, her eyes fixed on Fang Ren beside her, unable to comprehend his actions.
"Oh no, it's ruined," Fang Ren said with a pained expression as he picked up the pill he had flattened.
Didn't you flatten it yourself!?
Jian Qi'er was completely disordered! An upper-grade, new type of energy-gathering pill just got ruined like that?
With a sorrowful face, Fang Ren turned back to Jian Qi'er and said helplessly, "We're going to get scolded again later."
Jian Qi'er immediately reverted to her previous foolish demeanor, but her face still showed incomprehension as she looked at Fang Ren and said, "But, but it was fine just moments ago, why did you flatten it?"
"Huh?" Fang Ren scratched his head, pretending to be clueless, and said, "Isn't the last step of making energy-gathering pills to tap it to test its hardness?"
"..."
Jian Qi'er suddenly didn't know what to say anymore.
Is that how you're supposed to tap it! Everyone else does it lightly, you almost made a hole in the table!
Although she was internally chaotic, Jian Qi'er still looked up to him and said admiringly, "Right, I actually forgot about that step! Fang classmate is so smart!"
"Not at all, not at all, let's keep it low-key," Fang Ren said with a silly grin.
Jian Qi'er looked at his expression and felt even more disordered inside.
Pretending! This Fang Ren is really good at pretending! Even better than me!
So anyone can just casually come up with a Space Ring!? And to think an upper-quality energy-gathering pill could be made by a university student on their first lab class!?
That last slap was obviously on purpose!
The me who should be coordinating with your acting, pretends to be blind to it...
At the end of the class, Fang Ren and Jian Qi'er ended up being scolded by Teacher Huang just as they expected.
However, after the scolding, Teacher Huang looked at the furnace with a relieved face and said thankfully, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have criticized you two, you have worked very hard."
This sudden statement left Fang Ren and Jian Qi'er dumbfounded.
"Congratulations, you've finally saved this classroom," Teacher Huang said, hand over his face, his expression one of relief as he seemed on the verge of tears.
As the class ended, Fang Ren once again blended in with Jing Haichuan and Li Xingwang, while Jian Qi'er, sitting in the corner, kept her gaze on Fang Ren.
Who is he really? He could casually give away a Space Ring that no one in the world can make.
He doesn't publish papers, apply for patents, or seek fame and wealth but instead spends his days in this small place, ranking third from the bottom in class and hanging out with 'Condom Prince' and a guy from a notorious second-generation background... Jian Qi'er simply couldn't fathom what this guy was really thinking.
Just the invention of this Space Ring alone could make him famous for eternity, and isn't he after Liu Qianqian? With instant fame, wouldn't pursuing Liu Qianqian be a piece of cake?
"Master was right; Mediocre University isn't as simple as it appears on the surface. Even a medical class is concealed with crouching tigers and hidden dragons..."
Jian Qi'er touched the Space Ring on her hand, feeling fortunate that she had always acted foolishly in the class.
Some people may appear to be at the bottom of their class on the surface but could very well be a Master of refining tools or a Master of Elixir behind the scenes!
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In the evening, Fang Ren went home. Although there were dormitories at the university, his home wasn't too far, so he sometimes stayed there.
And now, with Mu Hui living there, he had another reason to go home for the night. If he didn't stay at home at night, the cranky old man at home would probably come straight to the university to beat him up.
When Fang Ren got home, he found Mu Hui sitting in his room, watching a soap opera on her laptop.
She seemed quite like a regular girl.
"Sister Hui Qing, I have a gift for you."
Fang Ren tossed the stuff he was carrying onto the bed, holding out the Space Ring he had made in his spare time.
Although the Space Ring wasn't usable by ordinary people like Jian Qi'er, Sister Hui Qing, as a Cultivator, should be able to use it. Even though her meridians were completely severed, she should still be able to use some True Qi.
If she couldn't use it, then there must be a problem with his Space Ring.
Mu Hui turned around, staring at the stone ring in his hands, her gaze suddenly blank.
In the soap opera she was watching that afternoon, there was this scene where a boy gives a girl a ring, which signifies... a proposal.
"Ah Ran..."
Mu Hui's heart started to beat a little faster as Fang Ren approached, something she found discomforting.
"Don't just look at it as a piece of stone, it might possess other abilities," Fang Ren said.
"Do you want to... put it on for me?" Mu Hui's heart raced even more.
"Sure."
Fang Ren squatted down, took one of her hands, and tried to put the ring on her finger.
But just as he grasped Mu Hui's hand, she suddenly withdrew it.
Fang Ren was taken aback for a moment, looked up at her, and saw that she was bowing her head, holding the hand he had just touched, appearing displeased.
"If you don't like it... then let's forget about it," Fang Ren said with a smile, quickly getting up, his smile tinged with bitterness.