Word Count: 2,885 Words
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His three rivals were supreme masters of alchemy in their own right. Like Xiao Yan, none of them intended to use an ordinary medicinal cauldron. One after another, they unleashed their Heavenly Flames and shaped the fire itself into cauldrons.
Hun Huzi flashed atop his black fire cauldron and settled down cross-legged. A sweep of his sleeve sent a sky-blanketing torrent of medicinal ingredients streaming into the air, and a rich herbal fragrance flooded the surroundings.
Across the sky, Elder Wanhuo likewise condensed his Nine Serene Wind Flame into a towering fire cauldron. At their level, a physical cauldron was largely superfluous. With a flick of the wrist, any of the four could mold a Heavenly Flame into a vessel of the finest quality.
Of the four, however, the grandest spectacle belonged neither to Xiao Yan nor to Hun Huzi, but to Old Man Shen Nong.
The liquid-like sea of green flame overhead expanded rapidly across his corner of the sky. He sat cross-legged in the heart of that blaze, swept his wide sleeves, and scattered a rain of fragrant medicinal seeds into the fire. Before countless stunned eyes, the seeds sprouted on contact and grew at a visible pace inside the roaring flames.
Old Man Shen Nong smiled down at the maturing herbs and flicked a finger. Ripples spread across the sea of fire, then condensed into droplets of crystalline green liquid. Tiny wisps of flame danced inside each bead, exuding a thick, vibrant breath of life.
The emerald droplets hovered above the young plants before drifting down soundlessly. Wherever that fiery liquid touched, it acted like a potent catalyst, and the herbs' growth surged. Within a dozen minutes, every tiny seed had matured into a rare medicinal plant of its own variety. Freshly grown herbs soon rose across the green sea of fire and swayed with a lively, almost joyous vigor.
"Worthy of the Life Spirit Flame. Its reputation as the Heavenly Flame every alchemist dreams of is no empty boast."
"To think it can control the growth and age of medicinal herbs and raise them to the exact maturity best suited for a pill..."
Xiao Yan watched that miraculous display from across the sky and could not help sighing in admiration. Combat weakness aside, the Life Spirit Flame was everything an alchemist could wish for. In the hands of the Pill Tower or the Yao Clan, such a method of cultivating herbs would be nothing short of a divine treasure, even if he knew full well that forcing herbs to mature at that speed had to exact an immense toll on the user.
Not even Little Fairy Doctor could cultivate herbs to such a precisely matched maturity for him, because Xiao Yan was the one refining the pill. Only the alchemist at the cauldron knew the exact age and stage of growth each ingredient needed to harmonize with the recipe.
At the level of a tier 9 pill, the slightest discrepancy could alter the outcome. A Tier 9 Treasure Pill already required tens of thousands of ingredients. If every herb carried even a minute flaw in maturity, those tiny deviations would compound into a massive error and might ruin the refinement altogether.
The Life Spirit Flame bypassed that problem completely.
Xiao Yan soon drew his thoughts back and waved a hand. Dense streams of medicinal ingredients poured from his storage ring and orbited his fire cauldron in a vast ring. The variety was staggering, with easily ten thousand different herbs represented. Quite a few alchemists below clicked their tongues in amazement. Beside the grand scale of what the four masters in the sky were undertaking, even the nine-colored Pill Lightning Yao Tian had called down earlier seemed a minor spectacle.
Part of this vast stockpile had come from the wedding gifts Hun Tiandi sent for Xiao Yan and Xun Er's marriage, a haul that had included several tier 9 pill recipes as well.
"Just how in the world did that guy cultivate?"
"He's barely any older than we are, yet he's already qualified to compete on equal footing with Elder Wanhuo..."
Around the edges of the square, many of the Yao Clan's younger generation stood clustered together. These youths, ordinarily so proud of their heritage, stared up at the sky looking thoroughly deflated. Unwilling as they were to accept it, the chasm between them and Xiao Yan was so vast that they could not even muster the heart to feel jealous.
"It looks like they're all planning to refine Tier 9 Mysterious Pills." Yao Tian's pupils contracted slightly. He had helped refine a Tier 9 Treasure Pill before and recognized the signs at once. Both the sheer volume of medicinal ingredients and the energy undulations inside their fire cauldrons far exceeded the threshold of a Tier 9 Treasure Pill.
There was no doubt about it. Neither Xiao Yan, Old Man Shen Nong, nor Hun Huzi would settle for a Tier 9 Treasure Pill today. All three had set their sights on a Mysterious Pill!
Beside Yao Tian, Yao Ling stood half a step ahead of the crowd, her dark eyes fixed on the composed figure high above. Young men of the clan clustered around her like stars around the moon, yet she paid them no mind. Her chin tilted slightly upward as she followed every movement of Xiao Yan's hands. The cool, aloof poise remained intact, though the habitual frost in her gaze had quietly thawed into an intent, searching brightness. Her slender fingers curled unconsciously against the silk of her sleeve, and each effortless shift of his seals sent a vivid ripple across the still waters of her eyes.
In all her years, she had never seen someone of her own generation stand shoulder to shoulder with a titan like Elder Wanhuo and match him in alchemy with such ease. Even as a proud daughter of the Yao Clan, she could not deny the admiration taking root in her chest, nor the way her pulse quickened a little more with every passing breath.
High above, Elder Wanhuo watched the other three begin refining their medicinal ingredients. A sharp, cold glint flashed through his eyes, and he gritted his teeth, resolving to attempt a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill as well!
From the seat of honor, Yao Dan slowly shook his head at the sight. He knew Elder Wanhuo's limits all too well. Although Elder Wanhuo could refine Tier 9 Treasure Pills with practiced ease and had spent years attempting the next step, he had never once succeeded in completing a Mysterious Pill.
Since Xiao Yan and the other two were all attempting Mysterious Pills, Elder Wanhuo had no choice but to push his limits one more time.
Yao Dan naturally held little hope for his success. Under ordinary circumstances, he himself would have taken the stage. Yet dark undercurrents were swirling across the Dou Qi Continent, and every faction harbored its own designs. Even toward the Lei and Yan Clans, the Yao Clan maintained a quiet vigilance.
None of the ancient clans dared trust the others completely. In the end, the Yao Clan had agreed to send Elder Wanhuo into the match while Yao Dan stood guard. That way, even if Elder Wanhuo lost, the clan would have an excuse ready to preserve its prestige as the foremost lineage in the alchemy world.
Across the vault of the sky, all four masters were now refining Tier 9 Mysterious Pills. Together, the medicinal ingredients arrayed around them exceeded a hundred thousand. Dense clouds of herbs hung overhead until they nearly blotted out the sun, and wave after wave of rich fragrance rolled across the square.
"This is unreal... Look at how many herbs there are."
"Yeah, and a huge number of them are tier 7 or even tier 8 medicinal herbs."
In the refinement of a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill, even tier 8 ingredients were relegated to supplementary roles. The handful of tier 9 main ingredients shone with blinding radiance, standing out like bright moons amid a sea of lesser stars and drawing every eye in the arena.
Yao Dan swept a brief glance across the four corners of the sky and murmured, "Wanhuo only knows a single Tier 9 Mysterious Pill recipe. From his main ingredients, he is indeed attempting the healing-type Nine Revolutions Life Restoring Pill. Old Man Shen Nong is refining the Silver Jade Heavenly Fragrance Pill, which can accelerate a Dou Saint's cultivation speed a hundredfold. As for Hun Huzi, that must be a pill recipe unique to the Hun Clan. By the look of the ingredients, it's a pill that directly raises one's cultivation level."
Even within the same tier, medicinal pills naturally varied in difficulty. Healing pills were generally the most straightforward, followed by auxiliary pills that aided cultivation. The hardest of all, without question, were pills capable of directly elevating a cultivator's realm.
By category alone, Hun Huzi had chosen the most demanding refinement of the four.
"As for Xiao Yan..." Yao Dan narrowed his eyes slightly. "His main ingredients are the tier 9 Fire Dragon Eye Nectar, Ten-Thousand-Year Deep Sea Blood Coral Bug Jerky, Ancient Dragon Heavenly Fragrance Saliva, and Nether Camellia Seeds. Only four peak tier 9 herbs. That should also be a healing-type Tier 9 Mysterious Pill, and the simplest of the four in difficulty."
On the surface, the choice made complete sense. Xiao Yan was the youngest of the four and had spent the fewest years studying alchemy. Rather than gambling on a high-difficulty recipe, playing it safe with the most straightforward Tier 9 Mysterious Pill was the sensible path.
A Tier 9 Mysterious Pill was no easy feat to pull off. Even Yao Dan himself could not guarantee success every time he opened a cauldron.
Yet this was Xiao Yan. Yao Dan did not believe for a second that this young man would meekly accept coming in behind the others.
Before long, Xiao Yan answered that doubt himself.
Down in the square, the assembled alchemists watched the fluid, masterful techniques unfolding across the sky in rapt absorption, the fervor in their eyes burning brighter by the hour.
The extraction of the medicinal ingredients lasted roughly a week. Because the Mysterious Pill Xiao Yan had chosen was the simplest of the four, his extraction progressed the fastest, and he was the first to open his eyes.
He looked into the Refining Sky Ancient Formation at the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree, whose branches now hung heavy with dense clusters of refined medicinal leaves. He let out a long breath, formed a hand seal, and shouted, "Energy of the world, heed my command!"
"Gather!"
His hands shifted into a new seal, and half-step Emperor State Spiritual Strength erupted from within him. Joined with his cultivation, that vast soul force seized command of the natural energy across several hundred miles.
A fierce gale swept across the mountains. Boundless natural energy surged in from every direction toward the Refining Sky Ancient Formation, where Xiao Yan's Spiritual Strength guided the formation to devour every last wisp.
The draw of the formation grew ever more violent. Before long, the incoming torrents condensed into mottled storms of energy that roared across the horizon and plunged straight into the array.
Tier 8 pills gathered spiritual energy, whereas tier 9 pills gathered the energy of the world. The divide between the two realms was absolute.
When Xiao Yan refined the Lightning Calamity Pill in the past, he had likewise drawn upon the world's energy, condensing it into the Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning.
Without the energy of the world, a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill could never take form.
The instant Yao Dan saw Xiao Yan begin seizing the world's energy, he understood the youth's intention. He slapped his thigh hard and exclaimed with undisguised admiration, "Good lad! So that was his game all along! No wonder he picked the simplest Tier 9 Mysterious Pill!"
Xiao Yan's Spiritual Strength spread outward until it blanketed nearly every mountain range in the Yao Realm, and his three rivals abruptly realized what he had been plotting from the very beginning.
This realm simply did not hold enough natural energy to sustain the birth of four Tier 9 Mysterious Pills at the same time!
Xiao Yan had known from the start that not even the Yao Realm could supply the energy required to form four Tier 9 Mysterious Pills simultaneously. After all, this place was no Void Lightning Pool.
Even a treasure ground like the Void Lightning Pool had been drained dry by the refinement of a single Tier 9 Mysterious Pill. That alone showed just how astronomical a sum of world energy a Mysterious Pill demanded.
From the very beginning, Xiao Yan's strategy had been to seize the initiative. By choosing the fastest recipe, he could finish extracting his ingredients ahead of everyone else and start drawing in the world's energy while the other three were still tied down with their herbs. He would monopolize the realm's reserves and complete his own pill first.
Once the natural energy ran dry, it would not matter how skilled the other three were at refining Tier 9 Mysterious Pills. Their efforts would come to nothing!
Hun Huzi and the other two stared in stunned silence, completely dumbstruck!
You brat, playing dirty!
A strange look crossed Yao Dan's face as well, and he gazed up at the silver-robed young man in the sky with undisguised admiration.
This fellow actually uses his head when refining pills!
"So long as none of the others can finish their Mysterious Pills, even the lowest-grade Mysterious Pill still takes first place... This fellow..." Yao Dan shook his head with a wry, helpless smile. There was nothing anyone could say against it. In past Medicinal Ceremonies, at most one contestant had ever attempted a Mysterious Pill. When had four people ever tried to refine Mysterious Pills at the same time?
Under such conditions, the world's energy was guaranteed to fall short.
By the time the other three realized what was happening, it was already too late.
Hun Huzi and Old Man Shen Nong both possessed extraordinary skill in alchemy and stood a solid chance of completing a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill. Yet the recipes they had chosen were far more complex, so their preliminary refinement required much more time.
As for Yao Wanhuo, his recipe was simpler, but his skill in alchemy fell half a step behind the other three, and his pace was no faster.
For the moment, the three elders could only look on helplessly while the quick-witted Xiao Yan hogged the world's energy for himself.
"Hehe, since the three seniors don't seem to need the world's energy yet, this junior won't stand on ceremony." Xiao Yan flashed an infuriatingly cheeky grin and even made a grand show of cupping his hands toward them.
Even the mild-tempered Old Man Shen Nong felt a sudden urge to strangle the shameless brat.
Xiao Yan truly did not hold back. He pushed his Spiritual Strength to its absolute limit and scoured the surrounding realm for the special strands of energy hidden within it. Every wisp he captured was drawn into his fire formation and funneled straight into the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree.
The other three gritted their teeth at the sight. Throwing aside all other concerns, they poured everything they had into speeding up the extraction of their herbs.
Even so, they had already fallen several steps behind. Two full days passed before Hun Huzi and the other two finally finished extracting their ingredients. Without a breath of pause, all three unleashed their Spiritual Strength to contest the world's energy with Xiao Yan.
"Gather the energy of the world!"
"World's energy, condense!"
"Clan Mark, appear! Gather!"
Driven into a corner, Elder Wanhuo even called upon the power of his Yao Clan Mark.
The sky across the entire Yao Realm tore open under the strain. All three latecomers possessed perfected Heavenly State Spiritual Strength, and Hun Huzi's soul force rivaled Xiao Yan's own. The collision of four such titans fighting over the world's energy was nothing short of earth-shattering.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!!!
Three immense torrents of Spiritual Strength crashed into the airspace Xiao Yan had monopolized. The surrounding skies were wrenched into chaos as all four alchemists tore at the realm's energy without restraint.
The firmament above the Yao Realm fractured under the pressure, and a violent gale of Spiritual Strength howled across the entire square!
"Activate the protective barrier!!"
Yao Dan swept a hand through the air. A deep hum echoed across the peak, and a shimmering barrier rose over the spectator stands to shield the crowd from the shockwaves.
Down in the square, the crowd of alchemists stared up in sheer awe at the thunderous energy storm raging across the sky. All four contestants were refining Tier 9 Mysterious Pills, and all four were locked in a tug-of-war over the energy of the world!
Such a spectacle had not been seen on the continent in nearly ten thousand years!
"Good heavens... they've all gone mad!"
"That Xiao Yan is sharp! Did he foresee this very scene from the start?"
"You really have to hand it to a young man's wit. His mind works fast."
"My scalp is starting to itch. Don't tell me I'm finally growing a brain..."