The Sloppy Youth and the Third Floor of the Miracle Hand Pavilion

Celine Lin rolled the Youth-Preserving Beauty Pill between her fingers, and when she heard Evan Lin's words, her elegant brows faintly furrowed.

"In that case, I suppose I'll just consider it my gain."

Celine nodded and said nothing more.

She had wanted to ask a few more questions, ideally to find out who had refined this pill.

But seeing the boy in front of her with his obvious air of indifference, she found his attitude rather off-putting.

"Probably just some lucky nobody who stumbled on a pill by chance. I actually thought I'd met someone worthwhile."

Celine shook her head inwardly, put the pill away, then turned to leave. Before going, she glanced at Gary Liu, who still had a footprint on his chest, and said coolly, "There are a lot of guests today—don’t cause trouble."

"Master is on the third floor. You’ve just been promoted to a three-pill Little Doctor today, and Master is very pleased. Come with me upstairs now."

With that, Celine left without another word.

Gary Liu visibly perked up at her words, scrambled to his feet, shot Evan Lin a vicious glare, and hurried after Celine Lin.

“Is that iron box really useful? I feel like twenty Vitality Pills would be more practical,” Leo Liu scratched his head.

Byron Liu also breathed a sigh of relief. Glancing at Evan Lin—who called himself Evan Nine-Mysteries and had just traded a Youth-Preserving Beauty Pill for twenty Vitality Pills, then swapped those for a black iron box—he couldn’t help feeling frustrated, wanting to scold this kid for being so wasteful.

Outside the Miracle Hand Pavilion, you can’t buy Vitality Pills at all. Even inside, Byron Liu hadn’t seen anything for sale that could be purchased with cash.

So even with money, he couldn’t buy Vitality Pills, but this kid traded them for some iron box whose use was unknown?

If I get the chance, I’ll give you some real pills. Those so-called Vitality Pills are just a bunch of mixed dregs.

Evan Lin shook his head slightly.

Leo Liu looked full of longing, while Byron Liu just snorted in disbelief.

Soon, the second round of testing began on the second floor of the Miracle Hand Pavilion.

This time, the participants were all three-pill Little Doctors—ten in total. They had one stick of incense’s time to refine a pill called the Three-Essence Pill.

The Three-Essence Pill was much harder to make than the Vitality Pill; the herbs on their long tables had increased from four types to six.

Evan Lin and the others watched from the second floor.

Originally, Evan Lin planned to leave right away—this so-called pill master conference was a joke to him. But seeing Leo Liu’s eager face, he decided to stick around for now.

Byron Liu found Evan Lin endlessly irritating, but Leo Liu admired him completely.

The second-floor test was underway.

Just then, Celine Lin led Gary Liu up a wooden staircase.

The stairs stretched upward, old and creaking, and the higher they climbed, the hotter the air became.

Celine Lin walked ahead, calm-faced, while Gary Liu struggled to keep up, forcing himself to ignore the discomfort.

Farther back, Kenny Liu and Ivy Liang were already drenched in sweat—even before reaching the third floor, the sudden rise in temperature was almost unbearable.

As Celine Lin stepped onto the last stair, she turned to Kenny Liu and Ivy Liang, her tone cold: “You two aren’t Miracle Hand disciples. You have no right to enter. Leave now.”

“Huh?” Kenny Liu was clearly stunned.

He’d been hoping to tag along and see something new, but after hearing Celine’s words, he immediately looked at Gary Liu beside him.

“Let’s go back and rest for now. I’ll find you later.”

Gary Liu ignored Kenny’s pleading look, tossing out his words before quickly switching to a fawning smile at Celine Lin: “Thanks for the reminder, Senior Sister! If Master caught me bringing outsiders up, I’d get chewed out for sure.”

“You’re not even worth a special warning from me. It’s just that Master’s in a bad mood lately, and I don’t want him getting angrier.”

Celine Lin’s blunt words left Gary Liu awkward and embarrassed.

Only then did Kenny Liu realize that his older brother Gary wasn’t nearly as important in Miracle Hand as he’d thought.

“Move it! Don’t block my way. If you don’t get lost right now, this genius might just beat up your brother too!”

A cocky voice rang out from below the stairs. The group turned to see a sloppy-looking youth appear out of nowhere.

He looked about eighteen, dressed in rustic clothes with a battered backpack slung over his shoulder. The guy was a total mess—definitely not handsome—and when he spoke, his nose was in the air as he flicked his messy bangs aside.

When he spotted Ivy Liang, his eyes lit up. He grinned and sidled over. “Well, well, a pretty girl! Not bad—great figure, too.”

“I can see your brow’s a bit red, your breathing’s off—you’ve got a hidden illness. Come on, let this genius give you a diagnosis. Guaranteed cure!”

The sloppy youth cheerfully slapped Kenny Liu aside, then reached out toward Ivy Liang with a grin.

“Back off!”

Ivy Liang’s face changed, clearly frightened. She instinctively covered herself with both hands.

Kenny Liu, knocked to the ground, shook his head and finally realized what was happening. He was terrified, but before he could rush over to help, he saw Gary Liu looking panicked: “Senior Brother! When did you get back? Uh, Master’s waiting upstairs—let’s hurry!”

Gary Liu could only give a bitter smile and beg for mercy when the sloppy youth started hitting on Kenny’s companion.

But the sloppy youth didn’t care at all. His eyes were still locked on Ivy Liang, and he kept chuckling: “I’m a genius Little Doctor of Miracle Hand. A beauty like you shouldn’t waste time with a loser—why not come with me?”

“Just call me ‘big bro’ and I’ll show you the secrets of the third floor. Sound good?”

He kept grinning, his hand almost touching Ivy Liang, eyes full of anticipation for that soft feeling.

“That’s enough!”

Celine Lin frowned, her voice sharp: “If you want to mess around, fine, but don’t keep Master waiting—you’ll deal with the consequences!”

She added coolly, “And don’t say I didn’t warn you—Master sent you down the mountain for a reason. Did you finish the job? Also, the Southriver Sword Sect is here this time, so don’t screw up Master’s plans!”

At Celine Lin’s words, the sloppy genius immediately withdrew his hand and his gaze cleared. He nodded. “All done, all done. Just had to find out who killed Dr. Donald Dong—easy stuff!”