The stove alone took half a month, which was unmatched. Long Chen directly chose the Immortal King Pill to start refining, because it is a mainstream pill. Although the ingredients are precious, the difficulty to refine is relatively low, roughly above average.
After all, it was his first time using the Qiankun Cauldron to refine pills, and Long Chen wasn't sure if he could succeed, so he chose the Immortal King Pill.
"Whoosh!"
After finishing the heater, Long Chen tossed the rare medicine into the cauldron and began refining the powder.
"What?"
After tossing the rare medicine into the alchemy cauldron, Long Chen nearly jumped up.
"How could this be?"
Yu Qingxuan, who was guarding Long Chen nearby, was also stunned. The rare medicine Long Chen had thrown into the Qiankun Cauldron had completely vanished, leaving not even a speck of dust.
Long Chen and Yu Qingxuan locked eyes, exchanging glances. Both were experts in alchemy, but they had never seen anything like this before.
"Whoosh."
Long Chen threw in another handful of rare medicines. This time, they saw clearly—the medicine melted in an instant and was then absorbed by the Qiankun Cauldron.
"Long Chen, should we first offer rare medicines to the cauldron, so that the Qiankun Cauldron can be fed before it can refine pills?" Yu Qingxuan said.
"That's possible."
Then Long Chen threw handfuls of rare herbs into the Qiankun Cauldron, starting with handfuls and pouring them out, then to large bundles.
In the end, Long Chen was responsible for dumping the rare medicines out like trash, while Yu Qingxuan tossed the mountains-like rare herbs into the Qiankun Cauldron.
Each of these rare herbs was extremely precious. If it were anyone else, they would have been in agony, but Long Chen didn't care. With the Chaos Space in place, there was as much rare herb as he wanted.
Things like Demon-Eyed Water Lilies, Divine Beard Narcissus, and Dragon Star Grass—here, they were like wild grass, frantically thrown into the Qiankun Cauldron.
Long Chen was furious too. "I'll have as many rare medicines as I want. If you have the ability, take them. Let's see how much you can eat."
Yu Qingxuan felt her scalp tingle as she watched. She couldn't imagine just how many rare herbs Long Chen had. In just one hour, the amount of precious medicine thrown into the Qiankun Cauldron would be enough to pile up a mountain stretching ten thousand miles.
The value of these rare herbs was immeasurable; in her life, Yu Qingxuan had never seen so many rare herbs.
"Whoosh!"
Finally, a dark brown divine light appeared on the Qiankun Cauldron, and the rare medicine Long Chen had placed inside no longer disappeared.
It seemed the Qiankun Cauldron was finally fed, and in Long Chen's chaotic space, millions of li of medicinal fields were almost being drained by him.
To help the medicine field recover quickly, Long Chen dropped another ancient demon corpse into the black soil, causing the rare herbs in the field to immediately proliferate wildly.
"Whoosh!"
Long Chen began to formally refine pills, throwing the rare herb into the Qiankun Cauldron. The medicine instantly melted, turning into powder in no time.
Yu Qingxuan exclaimed in surprise. You have to understand, refining medicinal powder is the first step in pill refining. It may seem simple, but in reality, the extraction of medicinal powder directly affects the final quality of the pill.
When refining medicinal powder, it must be formed in one go. Even if there are many impurities, this is the only way to do it; a second extraction is impossible. Otherwise, while the impurities are removed, the essence will also be removed.
Yu Qingxuan was an expert at alchemy. She could tell at a glance that the powder was extremely pure, which should be impossible.
No matter how much you control the heat, some impurities in rare medicines cannot be removed. Once removed, the essence is lost—this is what is called the coexistence of essence and dregs.
To remove these dross, one must gradually erase them step by step during the subsequent refining process, in order to preserve the essence of the pill to the greatest extent possible.
But the powders Long Chen refined contained not a single impurity. Not only was Yu Qingxuan stunned, even Long Chen looked utterly incredulous. This defies the common knowledge of alchemy.
"Could it be..."
Long Chen and Yu Qingxuan both thought of something.
Long Chen's heart raced wildly; he seemed to understand why the Qiankun Cauldron had absorbed so many pills.
Long Chen guessed a possibility: the Qiankun Cauldron had absorbed countless rare herbs and had become a nourishing pool for pills. When refining pills, it absorbed all impurities directly and used its own power to replenish the lost essence.
What alchemists cannot do does does not mean the pill furnace cannot do it. At that moment, Long Chen and Yu Qingxuan were both shocked and filled with wild joy as they saw another path on the alchemy path.
In the past, they focused too much on their own alchemy skills and didn't rely much on the pill furnace. Now, with the powerful Qiankun Cauldron, they were suddenly shown a different way of refining pills.
"Huff huff huff... Long
Chen poured various rare herbs into the Qiankun Cauldron, instantly turning them into powder. He didn't need to refine them himself; everything was as easy as breathing.
Once the powder was refined, it was easy to mix in, blend, and seal it—there was no need for Long Chen to do anything.
But just as he was condensing the pill, runes lit up on the Qiankun Cauldron. Long Chen pressed his large hand on it, and at that moment, his essence, energy, and spirit were forcefully absorbed by the cauldron.
Long Chen was startled. In all his years of alchemy, this was the first time he'd encountered something like this. Didn't alchemy always require soul power before? With soul power, controlling the forces of heaven and earth to awaken the elixirs, why would one need their own essence, energy, and spirit to join in?
Fortunately, the cauldron's fierce suction ended in an instant without causing any harm to Long Chen, and then the cauldron trembled slightly.
"Rumble rumble rumble... Suddenly
, the sky trembled as endless tribulation clouds descended. Yu Qingxuan was startled: "The tribulation clouds have already arrived before the pill is even formed?" "
You have to understand, in the Immortal Realm, only Golden Core cultivators are qualified to invite heavenly tribulations; spiritual pills and treasure pills are not qualified to bring down heavenly tribulations from the Heavenly Dao."
Even if there is a heavenly tribulation, it is only at the moment the Golden Core is formed, erupting with a powerful aura that is captured by the Heavenly Dao and then descends.
The pills were still condensing, not yet formed. The heavenly tribulation had already begun to gather—a sight Yu Qingxuan had never seen before.
The tribulation clouds gathered more and more, enveloping the entire ghost ship. Clearly, the heavenly tribulation didn't care what kind of ghost ship it was—it would strike you when it was time to strike.
"Buzz!"
At that moment, the Qiankun Cauldron suddenly opened, completely uncontrolled by Long Chen. The moment it opened, nine golden pillars of light shot up into the sky, piercing into the tribulation clouds.
Amidst the dazzling golden light, Long Chen and Yu Qingxuan looked stunned: "Top-grade Golden Core, all nine are top-grade Golden Cores." "
You have to know, Yu Qingxuan can also refine top-grade Golden Pills, and even has done so before, but there's a certain probability of that.
Even after Yu Qingxuan refined a hundred furnaces, he might not produce a single top-grade golden core, yet Long Chen produced nine at once. Watching the dazzling patterns on the pills and radiating golden light, the two felt as if they were in a dream.
"Boom!"
At that moment, the tribulation clouds in the sky exploded with a roar, and countless wild thunderbolts poured down like billions of thunder serpents, rushing straight toward the nine Golden Core pills.