Wei Tonghe almost lost his focus but Cao Yun's words echoed in his mind. There was no judgment or reprimand. Honestly, Cao Yun knew how difficult it was and Wei Tonghe was as competent as Director Hua had said. He had barely made any mistakes. But he was so afraid of doing things right that the failure with those two pills was affecting him. As such, Cao Yun simply calmed him down and comforted him.
Assured of himself, Wei Tonghe made sure that the third circle was properly finished. The medicinal essence from the kidneys and various herbs had to be used as well. Cao Yun had to give him a mere suggestion and Wei Tonghe immediately knew what to do. In a few hours, the old man bound the medicinal essence to the third circle. Some medicinal essence remained in the cauldron as it would be used for the next circles. However, it made the control of the flame more complex because they couldn't afford to burn the medicinal essence within. Indeed, it could corrupt it and even cause all the pills to fail.
Once Wei Tonghe was done, the fourth circle had to be added. After Wei Tonghe's group, it was a younger man who would take over, Han Ziyu. Although he was younger than Wei Tonghe, Han Ziyu was still more than a thousand years old. That being said, he looked like a fifty-year-old man with barely any gray hair on his head and a lush beard that covered his entire chest. Han Ziyu was a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior, almost ready to break through as Cao Yun could sense. Although his cultivation was higher, his talent for alchemy wasn't much better than Wei Tonghe. It wasn't much worse either. Both men were relatively on the same level, but Han Ziyu had more strength and vitality. As such, he was also a bit more brazen and arrogant, thinking he had enough time to go higher and higher while Wei Tonghe had more or less accepted his limitations.
As arrogant as he was, Han Ziyu was not stupid at all. He hated taking commands from Cao Yun who was not even a century old. At the same time, he hated it because he could tell that Cao Yun was a formidable alchemist. Besides, Feng Yingyue was around Cao Yun's age, and she was already better than Han Ziyu. She had been better even before breaking through recently. All of that, as well as Director Hua's direct words, had curbed his arrogance a little.
Han Ziyu was ready to begin. He sent his spiritual senses within the cauldron. But, suddenly, a pill let out a surge of energy all around. It was very similar to spiritual senses as it was the same energy as a soul. Cao Yun detected it and even sensed some Jing within. The kidneys had infused Jing into the pills, so they were beginning to gain consciousness. For now, they were akin to plants, they only reacted to stimuli with no awareness of the world around them. Han Ziyu's presence had just triggered something.
In the Calamity Wing, Han Ziyu coughed up some blood. He was not ready for the clash and his actual soul was damaged. Thankfully, his Soul Embryo was safe. Cao Yun intervened within the Thirteen Celestial Pyre while Sun Liao intervened outside with array formations. Indeed, array formations had been set up to prepare for the pills gaining wills of their own. Thanks to those two young men, Han Ziyu wasn't injured very seriously. However, he was injured. Of course, a few alchemists were already ready to take his place if need be. But Han Ziyu couldn't accept that. He just spit out the blood in his mouth, cleaned his lips with his sleeve, and kept on going as if nothing happened.
For a moment, Cao Yun hesitated but Han Ziyu didn't show any sign of irritation or any lack of control. He was focused on the task at hand and didn't dwell on the issue that had just happened. Since his state of mind wasn't affected, Cao Yun let him go on.
From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took out the lungs of the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu. Han Ziyu sent the flames into the lungs. Just like Wei Tonghe before him, he formed the fourth circles. Maybe because of the earlier backlash, Han Ziyu was very cautious. The entire process took him four entire days. However, Cao Yun never tried to press him because he was doing an excellent job. Unfortunately, it made the task of Sun Liao and the alchemists controlling the flames harder and harder. They had formed several teams to take shifts. Even that was too much strain on them. The refinement wasn't even halfway through and they were already exhausted. Without Cao Yun's presence to make the flames more docile, they would have no chance of ever succeeding. Even Cao Yun's presence might not be enough, though.
Once Han Ziyu was done, another alchemist took care of the fifth circles. She was a woman around the same age as Han Ziyu. Her shape wasn't very impressive and no one could claim that she was the most beautiful woman of the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute. But many praised her elegance, as much as her wisdom. Cao Yun barely knew her but Director Hua did. Indeed, Qin Rui had been raised by the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute, for more than ten generations, her entire family had gone through the institute. They all lived nearby and Qin Rui was the most talented alchemist of her entire family. However, Director Hua feared that she wouldn't go much higher than a 3-star Heaven alchemist. At the very least, she could become a 4-star Heaven alchemist, but she lacked the decisiveness to go farther than that. Hopefully, it was a good opportunity for her.
This time, the fifth circle would be made from the spleen of the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu. Because a lot of time had already passed, Qin Rui felt as if she had to fight time. She was completely right, but it was also extremely dangerous. The fifth circle was much harder to inscribe than all the previous ones. In theory, it was in fact easier, but the pills were reacting, waking up, and the flames were more and more difficult to control.
Qin Rui knew it was a great honor to be chosen for this refinement process. Besides, it might help her gain enough insights for her to break through in her alchemy. This was her sole purpose, and the only way she measured her worth. She always felt that she wasn't enough. As such, she wanted to prove herself. At the same time, she sensed that she couldn't take her time, she had to go fast, which would endanger the pills. She had to make a choice. If she tried to show off, she would make great fifth circles, but she would put the rest of the refinement at risk.
For the first time, Cao Yun was forced to intervene directly in the work of the alchemist. His voice resounded in her sea of consciousness.
"You know what you need to do, so do it. Stop thinking about it, you're just wasting more time. Stop thinking about failure or consequences. I'll take full responsibility. Make a decision and go with it."
Qin Rui didn't answer, she didn't even look at Cao Yun. She simply agreed with his words and made a decision, whether it was right or wrong wasn't the point.
The old woman decided that she had to do her best on the circles while saving time as well. The best way to do so was to focus on a small number of pills, even though some pills would have to be sacrificed. Losing the efforts of the alchemists before her felt terrible, but she was convinced that this was the right call. As such, she only focused on five pills. Honestly, Cao Yun himself didn't know if it was the right decision or not, but they needed to go faster. Time was playing against them as they were all getting exhausted. As such, Qin Rui chose the five best pills and focused her efforts on them.
At first, she thought about doing the minimum work on the other four pills but decided against it. Instead of wasting even a portion of her strength, she discarded them completely. Since Cao Yun had told her he would take full responsibility, he took the other four pills out of the cauldron entirely.
As it turned out, Qin Rui had made a good decision. It might not have been the best, but it definitely worked out fine. Indeed, she made near perfect fifth circles and it took her less than two days. If she had tried to work on twice as many pills, it would have taken much more than twice the time. In fact, she could have well spent an entire week on this. Such a delay would have been a disaster for everyone involved. Moreover, Cao Yun didn't have to intervene at all during the entire process, he didn't even give her any advice. Qin Rui followed the recipe he had given as if it were an imperial command.
In her alchemy, Cao Yun saw why she stagnated, she left no room for innovation or improvisation, she simply followed the recipe. Yes, she was exceptionally good at it. But she probably lacked the ability to invent her own recipes. If something went wrong, she would also think about it too much, trying to find the right way to do things. Ultimately, it would make her fail.
Anyway, in the current refinement process, it helped her. After two days, her fifth circles were great. Cao Yun had nothing negative to say about them. Even before Cao Yun took out the next part of the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu, a powerful screech echoed throughout the Calamity Wing. All around the Thirteen Celestial Pyre, the shape of the 9-core demonic beast began to appear. It unleashed a powerful sound that went straight toward Qin Rui. Cao Yun barely had enough time to react. On the other hand, Sun Liao activated all his defensive array formations.
The wave crashed against a wall. The entire Calamity Wing turned into a vast valley. Each group of alchemists was on top of a high peak floating above the ground. The sound wave crashed against those peaks, but flooded the valley. Cao Yun took out his 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' spear. Up in the sky, the Thirteen Celestial Pyre was now covered in feathers. With no hesitation at all, Cao Yun struck at it using his Spear Heart. The 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar' turned into an actual pillar that spread from the ground into the heavens. The cauldron was pierced clean through. Suddenly, the entire image collapsed. Everyone was back in the Calamity Wing and the specter of the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu was gone, for now. Sun Liao deactivated a few defensive array formations to spare them for later.
After Qin Rui, it was Feng Yingyue's turn. Although she had broken through recently, she was full of vitality and her alchemy was above anyone else's except Spirit Masters Hua and Xiao's. Even Cao Yun couldn't claim that his alchemy was better than hers. At the very least, he could tell that he had much more experience and knowledge in some aspects thanks to the memories he had absorbed. However, Feng Yingyue was incredibly talented and competent in every single aspect of alchemy. After all, it was her life.
From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took pieces of muscles and tendons from the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu. Like everyone before her, Feng Yingyue spread the flames around the flesh. Unlike anyone else, though, her control of the flame was astonishing, even to Cao Yun. Hundreds of tongues of fire soared toward the flesh when they suddenly split into millions, then billions. The flames were so thin that no one could see them with their naked eyes, they had to use their spiritual senses just to perceive them. Cao Yun could follow their every movement. Each tendril of fire went into an individual cell. Then, they extracted all of the medicinal essence from the flesh, burning most toxins and impurities.
Cao Yun was impressed. Deep within his heart, he also felt that the Solar-Orchid Flame was reacting to Feng Yingyue. With the Solar-Orchid Flame's presence, his Dao companion's control over fire was magnified to some inconceivable height. It was as if fire was part of herself. Controlling it was as easy as controlling her own Qi.
Anyway, Feng Yingyue had absolutely no problem whatsoever inscribing the sixth circles. All five pills reached an incredible level of success. Although Feng Yingyue showed no sign of fatigue, Cao Yun could tell that it was taxing. It took her two days as well. Just as she was finishing, Feng Yingyue literally fell forward. She stopped moving and closed her eyes. Even her breathing was slower. Although Cao Yun was worried, he didn't lose his concentration. He simply made sure that she was fine. And she was.
Exhausted as she was, Feng Yingyue was perfectly fine. After a week or two, she would have rested enough. Unfortunately, her cultivation was still too weak. But if she became a late Spirit Warrior, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she would clearly surpass Spirit Masters Hua and Xiao. Every single alchemist could tell. They already knew she was great, but now they had realized that she was even greater than they thought. She might actually become the new director before the end of the century. Director Hua was so proud she couldn't describe it. In fact, she was looking forward to the day when she would give up her position to her disciple.
Now, only three circles remained. Two of them would be inscribed by the famous Spirit Masters Hua and Xiao. After all that, Cao Yun would take care of the final circle as well as the final step of the refinement. But those last four steps had hidden difficulties. Indeed, it was the moment when the three of them would introduce the poison within the pills. But they couldn't poison all the pills. They only wanted the best pill to poison as it was the one they would give to Emperor Weide. That also meant that the other pills couldn't surpass the one they would choose.
No matter what, they had to succeed with the poison. In fact, Cao Yun had already planned to throw the whole thing away if they failed with the poison because Emperor Weide couldn't get the genuine pill. Otherwise, it would make him stronger.