Dazzling Xun'er
Xiao Yan closed his eyes and pondered for more than an hour before opening them and beginning to refine the extremely difficult Profound Void Sacred Pill.
Xiao Yan was only 50% confident in successfully refining the Profound Void Sacred Pill. If he failed, he obviously wouldn't have time to refine it again and would have to use the Supreme Pill he had refined earlier as a substitute.
First are the Empty Filter Fruit and the Profound Constant Wood. Both are rare and precious materials that can increase Dou Qi. Ordinary Low-star Dou Zun only need to consume one dose to break through one star.
Xiao Yan put both of the similar medicinal Medicinal Herbs into the medicine cauldron, and occasionally added some auxiliary Medicinal Herbs to help the Emperor Flame extract the medicinal essence contained in the Empty Filter Fruit and the Profound Constant Wood.
The extraction of just these two Medicinal Herbs took Xiao Yan three days and three nights, as well as 195 different auxiliary medicines.
Xiao Yan combined the final extracted medicinal liquid and powder together to form a gel-like liquid, then sealed it aside and began the next step of refining.
Next are the Great Void Yin Yang Vine, the Son Yang Divine Soul Grass, and the Yin Spirit Stone.
To break through to the Half-Saint, having Dou Qi alone is not enough; one also needs Soul Power sufficient to compress the Dou Qi accumulated over Nine Revolutions and ultimately transform it.
Both Son Yang Divine Soul Grass and Yin Spirit Stone have the effect of increasing Soul Power, but they both have certain side effects.
The Son Yang Divine Soul Grass causes the user to feel intensely hot all over, with their physical body inexplicably bursting into flames. Since the flames are fueled by Dou Qi, they cannot be extinguished and the user will eventually have to abandon their physical body.
The Yin Spirit Stone, while increasing Soul Power, also mixes a chilling aura into the Soul Origin. In as little as three to five years, or as long as more than ten years, the soul of the user will be frozen.
What Xiao Yan needs to do is use the Great Void Yin Yang Vine as a guide to draw out the hot energy in the Son Yang Divine Soul Grass and the cold energy in the Yin Spirit Stone, so that the two can be neutralized.
The refining of these three Medicinal Herbs was much more difficult than that of the Empty Filter Fruit and the Profound Constant Wood. Xiao Yan spent seven days and seven nights refining them, consuming 417 portions of the Medicinal Herbs, before finally completing the extraction and fusion. He then carefully sealed the resulting highly spiritual powder.
Finally, there's the Long Life Spring Water and Green Wood Saliva.
The first few main Medicinal Herbs correspond to Dou Qi and soul, respectively, while the last two ingredients correspond to the body.
Breaking through realms is increasingly difficult at higher levels, and the consequences of failure are even more terrifying. The vigorous life force contained in the Long Life Spring Water and Green Wood Saliva undoubtedly provides a way out, allowing the user to survive even if they fail to break through.
Therefore, the medicinal properties of Long Life Spring Water and Green Wood Saliva are quite mild and easy to guide. Xiao Yan only spent one day and one night, as well as thirty-seven portions of Medicinal Herbs, to complete the extraction and obtain a pure and transparent liquid.
Exhaling a breath of stale air, Xiao Yan waved his hand, and as the Emperor Flame surged, the gelatinous liquid, spiritual powder, and transparent liquid gathered together, simultaneously drawing upon the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth to infuse them and promote fusion.
Their medicinal properties are generally complementary, and after being blended, they are all relatively mild, so they do not cause strong rejection.
However, it will take considerable time and effort to fully integrate them and condense them into Pills.
Another ten days and ten nights passed. With the continuous infusion of Spiritual Qi and the refining by the Emperor Flame, the spiritual powder had completely dissolved into the liquid.
The fist-sized clump of liquid also had a translucent luster, and the three different medicinal essences had been completely fused together.
The refining of the Profound Void Sacred Pill was basically complete, with only the final refining and condensation remaining. Xiao Yan's tense mind finally relaxed a lot.
At this moment, Xiao Yan realized that the sky was covered with dark clouds and there were not many Alchemist left on the field. Only a few dozen people had flames flickering in their medicine cauldrons.
However, most of them are still novices, not even at the Spirit Realm Soul. At most, they can refine a single peak seventh-grade Pills, which is hardly worthy of being considered high-grade.
After a brief glance, Xiao Yan focused his mind and continued to work on the liquid mass in the cauldron, trying to imbue it with more spirituality in the final stage.
Accompanied by the occasional Silver Thunder and the explosions of furnaces that failed to condense the pill, the final day arrived.
At this moment, only Xiao Yan, Gu Xun'er, Dan Chen, and Cao Ying remained on the field. Xiao Yixian had refined an eighth-grade two-color Dan Lei pill the day before, while Gu He had refined a seventh-grade high-grade pill on the same day.
Dan Chen sat cross-legged on the Stone Platform. Her face was completely bloodless. Her body was already weak, and if it weren't for the support of some Soul Power, she would have given up long ago.
Dan Chen's hand seals changed continuously, and a vast amount of Soul Power poured into the medicine cauldron, with streams of spiritual Spiritual Qi being injected into the Pills.
Suddenly, Dan Chen's cheeks flushed red, and she spat out a mouthful of blood, shooting it all into the medicine cauldron. Finally, it fused together with a Pills rolling in the flames.
"Boom!"
A dazzling light suddenly appeared, followed by a surge of unique energy characteristic of Pills in their formation. The cauldron was shattered into countless fragments by this energy.
After shattering the medicine cauldron, the intense light transformed into a green pillar of light that shot straight into the sky!
Dark clouds gathered, and three different colors of Pill Lightning —blue, silver, and red—rolled within them. This was clearly an Eighth Grade Pill made of Three-Colored Pill Lightning!
A smile appeared on Dan Chen's pale face. Although this was not as good as the Pills Xiao Yan had refined in five days as a backup, it should be enough to surpass Cao Ying's.
Cao Ying slowly stood up. Her once alluring face was now deathly pale, and even her smile had vanished.
Alchemy was also a source of pride for Cao Ying. Cao Ying accepted that she couldn't compare to the monstrous talent of Xiao Yan, but the Pills that Dan Chen had refined seemed to be even better than hers...
Sensing Dan Chen's gaze, a defiant glint appeared on Cao Ying's face. She formed a hand seal with her jade-like hands and then uttered a soft shout, "Rise!"
As the shout fell, a huge beam of light shot out from the medicine cauldron in front of Cao Ying and soared into the sky!
New Pill Lightning appeared in the sky, with a faint red hue in addition to their blue and silver colors.
Clearly, Cao Ying also refined an Eighth Grade Pill with Three-Colored Pill Lightning, but its quality was much worse than Dan Chen's.
Only Xiao Yan and Gu Xun'er remained on the field, still refining Pills, and the audience focused their attention on the two of them.
The audience was astonished to discover that this unfamiliar female Alchemist was stunningly beautiful, both in appearance and temperament. After a month of painstaking alchemy, her face remained rosy, suggesting that she had not consumed much energy and was clearly incredibly powerful.
As the sun set and dusk fell, Gu Xun'er finally stirred.
With a wave of her hand, Gu Xun'er opened the medicine cauldron, and a golden beam of light several meters wide shot out from it!
"Boom!"
It wasn't just the fluctuations from the Pills; the raging Golden Flame, after being bound by the cauldron for a month, finally erupted completely.
The rising Golden Flame shocked all the Alchemist present. If Gu Xun'er hadn't suppressed the power of the flames from the beginning, everyone would have been affected by them!
"Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame ... If the fluctuations of this flame were to spread, this Pill Gathering likely become her solo show..." Xuan Kongzi sighed softly.
"Her Pills are of a high grade!" Tian Lei Zi said with a solemn expression.
As the Golden Flame rose, a glittering golden Pills took shape, and a dazzling golden pillar of light exploded, transforming into several golden beams that shot into the sky!
The long-dispersed dark clouds regrouped, and everyone could clearly see that within the churning clouds, there were six different colors of lightning!
This is an Eighth Grade Pill with Six-colored Pill Lightning!
This is the only Pills that surpasses Xiao Yan's Four-Colored Pill Lightning!
When I got to Xun'er, I couldn't help but write a little more. Well, this chapter was originally supposed to end with Xiao Yan, but Xun'er has pushed it aside, and I've ended up writing a little more.