Pill Fire Pavilion was only a few dozen li from Forest Sea City. Several hours earlier, the dark clouds stretching for over a hundred li from Pill Fire Pavilion had caused several Seventh-grade Alchemists in the city to fly out. When they saw the terrifying lightning contained within those clouds, reverence filled their faces.
"Pill lightning—and at the very least, the pill lightning formed by a peak seventh-grade pill." An elderly man in purple robes spoke solemnly. He himself was a Peak Seventh-grade Alchemist; otherwise, he would not have been able to hire a Dou Zun expert. Watching the churning clouds, he could sense that this pill lightning was stronger than that produced by any peak seventh-grade pill he had ever refined. Yet the pill lightning bore no color, meaning it was not the birth of an Eighth-grade pill.
"That direction is Pill Fire Pavilion. Should we go take a look?" Another, somewhat younger elder with graying hair asked as he looked toward the cliff where Pill Fire Pavilion stood, the source of the dark clouds.
"What is going on with that Heavenly Fire Venerable? If he had said his faction possessed an alchemist, why would we have acted against him? Yet now, an alchemist capable of refining peak seventh-grade pills has appeared. I refuse to believe he was newly recruited. How could a Peak Seventh-grade Alchemist be so easily recruited? Let's watch for now!" The final elder, dressed in green robes, pondered for a moment before speaking.
After reaching an agreement, the three flew to the skies roughly seven or eight li from Pill Fire Pavilion and watched Gu He atop the cliff as he carried out the final pill-nurturing step.
"The pill has yet to take form, yet it has already drawn such a powerful lightning tribulation. Could