Ning Huarong, nicknamed the Witch, indeed acted with the style of a demonic sect.
She even sought out disciples from the family for dual cultivation.
To be more precise, it was less dual cultivation and more about these male disciples becoming her Cultivation Cauldrons, being exclusively drained by Ning Huarong.
The male disciples of the family who were drained by her naturally did not fare well, mostly suffering significant depletion of their vital energy.
Some even damaged their Dao Foundations, their cultivation regressing instead of advancing, making their future path difficult.
Yet, Ning Huarong held an extremely high status within the family.
For most male disciples she fancied, unless they had considerable status or outstanding talent, it was difficult to refuse her.
Furthermore, blood relation was not an issue. Although they were all in the same family, in reality, the bloodlines of Ning Family cultivators from different branches were very distant, having gone beyond five generations. After all, the Ning Family had millions of mortal bloodline descendants alone.
This was the population of a small country on Earth.
Additionally, Ning Huarong generally did not resort to coercion, primarily using temptation and being extremely generous with her rewards.
For the male disciples who dual cultivated with her, she would bestow generous amounts of Spirit Stones. Thus, the family tacitly approved, and most male disciples approached by her could only accept their fate.
Even many male disciples with mediocre talent in the family yearned to be noticed by Ning Huarong. Just like the family disciple in the blue robe just now, named Ning Chuanwei.
He only had mediocre pseudo-spiritual root talent, with no hope for his cultivation path to begin with, so damaging his Dao Foundation wasn't something to fear.
Moreover, Ning Huarong was a great beauty, and held a high position and power in the family. As long as he complied with her, he would receive a large sum of Spirit Stones.
This held immense attraction for them, as low-level cultivators earning over ten Spirit Stones a year was considered good.
However, Ning Huarong had high standards; ordinary talent or appearance rarely caught her eye.
And Ning Fa was the one Ning Huarong had always coveted.
It was just that Ning Fa previously had the halo of a Lightning Spiritual Root, and the family did not permit Ning Huarong to make a move on him.
Later, after Ning Fa was abandoned by the family, Ning Huarong happened to be in seclusion for a period. Upon emerging from seclusion, she indeed sought out Ning Fa again.
At this time, Ning Fa's previous self was obsessively focused on alchemy as if possessed, and had reached a dead end, lacking the Spirit Stones to continue supporting his alchemy.
His previous self intended to fight a battle of desperation, thus making this bet with Ning Huarong to obtain a large sum of Spirit Stones from her.
He foolishly hoped that by doing so, he could smoothly become a family alchemist and regain the family's attention.
But unfortunately, his previous self ultimately failed. Even after spending the five hundred Spirit Stones borrowed from Ning Huarong, his alchemy skills did not improve much. Yesterday's family alchemist assessment also ended in failure.
In despair, his previous self died from internal frustration, and Ning Fa happened to transmigrate and occupy his body.
"It's one thing that you died, but it's quite another that you've made things difficult for me."
Ning Fa sat on the stone chair in the courtyard, looking dejected.
Although there was still a month left until the one-year period agreed upon by his previous self and Ning Huarong, unless a miracle occurred, it would be difficult to avoid becoming her dual cultivation cauldron.
"It seems my pure body can only be handed over."
Ning Fa muttered. Although he could still joke about it, he felt very helpless inside.
While becoming Ning Huarong's dual cultivation cauldron seemed to only damage his Dao Foundation and ruin his cultivation prospects, without posing a threat to his life.
However, since Ning Fa had the fate to transmigrate into this cultivation world, especially after learning that cultivators with profound magic power could possess incredible divine abilities.
In addition to the astonishingly long lifespan, he was naturally moved and unwilling to be a dual cultivation cauldron, damaging his Dao Foundation and losing the hope of ascending the Great Dao.
But at present, the outcome seemed unavoidable, unless he could truly become a family alchemist within this last month.
Yet, his previous self had worked so hard and still couldn't achieve it. Could he, a transmigrator, expect to become a family alchemist in just this short month?
What's more, his previous self had spent all the Spirit Stones, and he had no Spirit Stones to buy materials to continue refining pills.
Thinking of this, Ning Fa couldn't help but feel a sense of helplessness.
After a while, he stood up and returned to the hall, or more accurately, this should be his previous self's alchemy room.
Ning Fa first glanced at the small alchemy furnace lying tilted on the ground, then looked at the few pale yellow pills that had fallen onto the floor.
He bent down, picked up these five pills, and examined them closely in his hands.
It could be seen that these pills were only about the size of a little finger, emitting a faint fragrance that invigorated the spirit upon inhalation.
However, there were some flaws: the surfaces of these pills were covered with several cracks, and their shapes were not uniform. They were not perfect circles, but mostly oval.
At this moment, Ning Fa already knew that these pills were a first-grade low-tier pill called [Essence Replenishing Pill], which could enhance the magic power of early Qi Condensation cultivators. They were very precious, and one pill could sell for ten Spirit Stones.
However, all the ones in his hands were Failed Pills, only one step away from becoming true pills.
Despite being only one step away, the medicinal effects were vastly different. This step was like a chasm, preventing Ning Fa's previous self from truly mastering the key techniques, and he rarely managed to refine successful pills.
In yesterday's family alchemist assessment, Ning Fa only managed to refine one successful Essence Replenishing Pill. Unwilling to accept this, he returned home to continue trying. After exhausting the last of his materials and only refining five Failed Pills, he finally died of internal frustration in despair.
As Ning Fa sighed, he suddenly felt a burning sensation on his right arm, causing him to cry out in pain.
Ning Fa looked surprised. He carefully pulled open the clothing on his right arm and saw a long, white imprint on his bare right arm, flashing with white light.
Before Ning Fa could react, this white imprint suddenly flew out from his right arm. After a flash of white light, it transformed into a white scroll-like object, hovering in the air, flickering and emitting a mysterious white glow.
Ning Fa's eyes widened.
Wasn't this white scroll something he'd picked up from an antique market on Earth before?
After buying it, he'd kept it on his desk as a decoration. Could it be that his transmigration here was because of this white scroll?
Just then, the white scroll suddenly unfurled on its own, revealing white paper about two feet long and one foot high.
While it was called white paper, it looked more like some kind of unknown white beast hide, covered in mysterious patterns that made one dizzy.
The white paper flashed with white light, and gradually, numerous tiny white runes appeared and flickered unstably, making the scroll seem even more mysterious and unfathomable.
These tiny white runes slowly condensed together, transforming into a mass of white light. As the white light slowly receded, patterns resembling pills appeared on the scroll.
There were a total of five pills displayed, each about the size of a little finger, pale yellow, irregularly round, and all showing several cracks.
Ning Fa stared in astonishment. He looked at the mysterious scroll before him, then at the pills in his hand.
Weren't the pills shown on this mysterious scroll the very five Essence Replenishing Pill failed pills he held in his hand?
This mysterious scene before him left Ning Fa somewhat bewildered. He wanted to touch the mysterious scroll but dared not.
Just then, the pill patterns on the scroll flashed with white light, and the white light then extended downwards, followed by a white line.
Soon, the mass of white light stopped extending, and after the light faded, another thing appeared on the scroll.
More accurately, it was patterns of several spirit herbs.