Pill Lightning (Seeking Recommendations, Seeking Follow-ups)

Li Fufeng had truly intended to use the Blazing Heavenly Flame Tiger's Magical Core as the main ingredient to refine a Seventh-Rank Pill.

This would help him become a true Rank 7 Alchemist sooner—a realm he now dreamed of attaining.

To this end, he used his position as the Xu Family's chief alchemist and borrowed the family's channels to begin gathering rare medicinal ingredients from the market.

At the same time, he sent word to his disciples, ordering them to hand over part of their personal collections and deliver them to him as quickly as possible.

This caused quite a stir within the Xu Family, and everyone speculated over what sort of pill this chief alchemist was planning to refine.

Even so, it took nearly three months to gather all the medicinal ingredients Li Fufeng needed.

Afterward, he did not refine the pill within the Xu Family, nor even within Tiannan City. Refining a pill of the seventh rank or above would draw down pill lightning.

Thus, Li Fufeng headed to a Barren Mountain outside the city, intending to refine the pill there. The only people who knew of his whereabouts and followed him out of the city were Xu Tianlong and Xu Haoyu.

Within the Barren Mountain!

Xu Tianlong stood in midair, forming hand seals as combat qi surged wildly from within him. His robes billowed, making him look like an incomparably fierce man covered in knotted muscles.

Through his control of spatial power, the space around the Barren Mountain had faintly warped, sealing off the inside from the outside and preventing outsiders from noticing what was happening within.

After finishing all this, Xu Tianlong descended to the ground again and said to Li Fufeng, "Brother Fufeng, you may begin. Absolutely no one outside will be able to sense what is happening here."

Li Fufeng nodded with a smile. Then, with a flick of his finger against his Storage Ring, a streak of red light shot out and landed on the ground, revealing its true form—the Flame Dragon.

Li Fufeng then looked at Xu Haoyu and smiled.

"Little Haoyu, watch carefully. Watching a high-level alchemist refine a high-level pill will surely benefit you greatly."

Xu Haoyu's eyes shone brightly. He gathered his soul perception into his eyes, making them seem to gleam with divine light. He nodded earnestly.

"Teacher, I will."

Their conversation ended there.

Li Fufeng's expression turned exceptionally solemn. After taking a deep breath, he gave a low shout. Vast soul perception surged forth, enveloping both himself and the alchemy cauldron. With a raise of his right hand, the Storage Ring on his middle finger flashed, and medicinal ingredients began appearing one after another.

Very soon, hundreds of medicinal ingredients were arranged around Li Fufeng. All were enveloped in soul perception and suspended in the air like orderly soldiers standing in formation, ready to charge at any moment.

At that moment, Li Fufeng raised his hand, and a violet-black flame quietly burned in his palm. It was the Origin Flame of a highly unusual sixth-rank magical beast, the Purple Wing Scorpion Dragon Beast.

Though it was only sixth-rank, the flame was of extremely high quality. If the Purple Wing Scorpion Dragon Beast had grown to the seventh rank, Li Fufeng would never have had the chance to obtain its Origin Flame.

With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the violet-black flame into the alchemy cauldron. The fire blazed within it, quickly completing the preheating process.

Then, Li Fufeng began precisely controlling the intensity of the flames—not a fraction too high, not a fraction too low—before starting to refine the medicinal ingredients.

Wrapped in soul perception, the medicinal ingredients entered the alchemy cauldron one after another. The violet-black flames instantly pounced upon them and began extracting their essences.

This process was extremely tedious. If the flames were too hot, the ingredients would be burned to ashes; if they were too weak, the ingredients could not be refined to their greatest purity.

It was a process that tested one's patience greatly, and Li Fufeng's patience was clearly exceptional. The entire process flowed as smoothly as drifting clouds and running water.

Xu Haoyu watched without even blinking, studying Li Fufeng's refining techniques—his use of soul perception and his control over flame temperature.

Before they realized it, day had turned into night. After more than ten hours of uninterrupted effort, the hundreds of medicinal ingredients were finally all refined into medicinal essences.

At last, Li Fufeng took out the Blazing Heavenly Flame Tiger's Magical Core from his Storage Ring and tossed it into the alchemy cauldron. The violet-black flames swiftly rushed toward it.

However, a Magical Core differed from ordinary medicinal ingredients. As the violet-black flame enveloped it, it suddenly trembled violently, and the energy contained within it ignited a cluster of white flames.

The two flames collided against the inner walls of the alchemy cauldron, causing the entire cauldron to shake.

A sharp glint flashed through Li Fufeng's eyes.

"When you were alive, I truly could do nothing to you. But now that all you have left is a Magical Core, let us see which of us can endure until the end."

Then, a tug-of-war began. White flames and violet-black flames intertwined, their scorching heat seeming to burn even the air and make it hiss.

"Roar!" "Roar!"

It was as though two roars emerged from the two flames. The white fire came from the Blazing Heavenly Flame Tiger, while the violet-black fire came from the Purple Wing Scorpion Dragon Beast. It was truly a battle between dragon and tiger.

Second by second, the two battling flames finally determined a victor. Li Fufeng's violet-black flames tore apart the white flames produced by the Magical Core and began roasting the core's outer shell.

Refining those hundreds of medicinal ingredients had already taken more than ten hours. Roasting this sixth-rank Magical Core likewise took more than ten hours.

By the time sweat was constantly beading on Li Fufeng's forehead, he had finally refined the sixth-rank Magical Core into a highly concentrated mass of liquid energy brimming with fiery and yang energy.

Li Fufeng let out a long breath. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he began nourishing all the medicinal ingredients again while taking a brief rest himself.

Another three hours passed. Li Fufeng had recovered some of his mental strength, physical strength, and combat qi. Then his eyes narrowed, and with a grave expression, he began the final step...

—Pill Condensation!

"Fuse!"

Li Fufeng gave a low shout, his blazing gaze fixed on the inside of the alchemy cauldron. All the medicinal essences surged toward that highly concentrated mass of liquid energy brimming with fiery and yang energy.

Whoosh! Crackle!

The energy ripples unleashed by that mass of energy repeatedly slammed against the cauldron's inner walls. Had it been a more ordinary alchemy cauldron, it would likely have suffered a Cauldron Explosion from the impacts by now.

Thump! Thump!

The mass of liquid energy began pulsing like a heart. Each expansion seemed as though it would burst apart, yet Li Fufeng immediately suppressed it with his soul perception, making it continue to beat like a heart.

Meanwhile, with each expansion and contraction, the mass of liquid energy gradually shrank. Originally as large as a human head, it was compressed again and again until it finally became no bigger than a longan fruit.

Yet this longan-sized embryonic pill contained energy compressed to the absolute limit. Just the trace amount of energy it leaked formed a pillar of light that shot into the sky. Such a phenomenon would only appear when a Six-Rank Pill or higher was nearing completion.

Fortunately, Xu Tianlong had already sealed off the surrounding space, so none of the commotion could be detected from outside.

Under the pull of that energy, the sky quickly filled with dark clouds. Lightning churned within them like thick, enormous pythons.

Pill Lightning!

Li Fufeng looked nearly delirious with excitement. He had truly succeeded. Using the Blazing Heavenly Flame Tiger's Magical Core, its contained fire energy and yang energy had elevated the Six-Rank Pure Yang Pill to the level of a seven-rank pill. And he himself had grasped the threshold of Rank 7—he would soon become a true Rank 7 Alchemist.