Battle Qi Transformation Wings

The dazzling, radiant Empyrean Flame refined the endless Sea of Thunder summoned by heaven and earth, and the layers upon layers of dark clouds in the sky finally dispersed completely.

As the heavy thunderclouds overhead vanished, warm sunlight poured down from the heavens once more, illuminating the land ravaged by Pill Tribulation Lightning. The warmth gave many of the demon race a strange feeling of being reborn after a disaster.

Wrapped in Empyrean Flame, the Spirit Pill slowly descended. Yan Kuan raised his right hand, and the flame withdrew and faded away. A round, lustrous pill gradually floated up from his palm, scattering a rich glow through the air.

The moment this pill appeared, the fragrance of pills throughout the area became much richer. Countless gazes turned toward it. The floating pill shone as brilliantly as a Night Pearl.

The pill was blood red throughout and about the size of a longan. It looked exceptionally mysterious; at a glance, it resembled a transparent pearl filled with blood.

Faint green and dark lights drifted within the pill. At its center was a point of blood-red radiance, darker than the rest. From afar, it resembled a tiny eye, giving the whole thing an eerie feeling.

A faint spiritual mist shrouded the surface of the floating pill. Within it, a jade-green spirit dragon and a pitch-black yin serpent intertwined, appearing and vanishing from sight.

"Pill-condensed spiritual mist. This is a pill close to Eighth-Rank. Although it did not draw a multicolored lightning tribulation, in terms of its miraculous effects, this Flawless Life-Devouring Pill is no weaker than some Eighth-Rank pills. The Undying Divine Medicine truly is a treasure of heaven and earth. What a pity it was tainted."

Yan Kuan shook his head with a sigh. This Life-Devouring Pill had been refined perfectly, almost unbelievably so. Yet he had mostly only guided the energy to prevent the cauldron from exploding. The reason it had become a pill close to Eighth-Rank was primarily due to the extraordinary effect of its main ingredient.

Undying Divine Medicine was born from the creations of heaven and earth. Aside from some naturally born Divine Seeds, most Undying Divine Medicines were actually transformed from Immortal King Remains, containing the power of the Immortal King Dao Fruit Law. That was why their effects were so miraculous.

Divine Tree Branches were far inferior to the Dao Fruit of the Divine Tree, but they were still divine objects capable of benefiting Quasi-Emperors and even Great Emperors. Naturally, pills refined from them would be of an extremely high grade; they could even serve as a main ingredient for Emperor Pills on the Battle Qi Continent.

However, Divine Tree Branches from an Undying Divine Tree that had been tainted by death qi were an inferior divine object. Though they still possessed the miraculous effect of prolonging life, they were far inferior to pure Divine Tree Branches from an Undying Divine Tree.

Yan Kuan had used it for pill refinement as a form of waste utilization. The Life-Devouring Pill refined this way had far surpassed the limits of Yan Kuan's ability as an alchemist.

Yan Kuan himself was a Sixth-Rank Alchemist. Under normal circumstances, he could attempt a Seventh-Rank Low-Grade pill, though he could not guarantee success. As for Eighth-Rank pills, he did not even dare think about them. Yet now, he had refined one.

Although Seventh Grade and Eighth-Rank pills looked much the same on the surface, even someone utterly ignorant of pill refinement could tell the difference at a glance. That difference lay in spirituality.

Seventh Grade pills might contain abundant energy, but they were Dead Pills. Eighth-Rank pills, however, already possessed spirituality of their own. Only such pills could be called Living Pills, or Spirit Pills.

Like the Life-Devouring Pill before Yan Kuan, faint spiritual mist coiled around its exterior, vaguely forming the shape of a dragon and serpent. Though it was so weak that it seemed ready to disperse at any moment, it was true spirituality—a genuine Spirit Pill.

The spiritual qi gathered between heaven and earth gradually thinned. Yan Kuan reached out and stored the Spirit Pill in a Jade Vial. The warmth of the vial slowly stirred a burning desire in his heart. He felt the urge to immediately enter seclusion and break through.

Deep within the core spiritual land of Ten Thousand Demons Valley, nearly tangible spiritual qi flowed outside a quiet chamber. This secret ground of Ten Thousand Demons Valley used a Formation to continuously lock in, refine, and gather spiritual qi here, creating a special place for secluded cultivation. Only the Valley Lords of each generation could cultivate here.

Yet today, this secret ground of Ten Thousand Demons Valley welcomed an unfamiliar guest. Yan Kuan was likely the first human to set foot here since its construction thousands of years ago.

He had reached an agreement with the Three Valley Masters of Ten Thousand Demons Valley to borrow the spiritual qi here for a secluded breakthrough, and the price he paid was not great. Ten Thousand Demons Valley had seen his potential and was willing to invest in him; they also wished to preserve this favor.

After adjusting himself for three days and feeling that he had reached his peak state, Yan Kuan sat cross-legged on the cushion Old Crane had left behind. Streams of pure spiritual qi converged toward him, and the Battle Crystal churning within his Sea of Bitterness began to change.

He hesitated no longer. With a movement of his hand, a jade-green Jade Vial appeared in his grasp. As he tilted its mouth downward, a blood-red pill the size of a longan rolled out. A strange fragrance spread through the air, refreshing his spirit.

Yan Kuan looked at the Life-Devouring Spirit Pill in his hand, then placed it by his lips without hesitation. Opening his mouth, he swiftly swallowed the pill.

The Life-Devouring Pill melted the instant it entered his mouth, transforming into a slightly violent surge of blood qi and medicinal power that crazily rushed into Yan Kuan's body.

The enormous, pure medicinal power flooded into his body, and Yan Kuan's lips trembled slightly as it swiftly entered his meridians and coursed in every direction.

The Burning Art within Yan Kuan's body began operating on its own. In a daze, it seemed as though some barrier within him had opened. While his cultivation soared by leaps and bounds, his body was also affected in an exceptionally obvious way.

Medicinal power surged violently within Yan Kuan, and his cultivation rapidly rose. The space around him began to ripple intensely as well. Streams of energy emerged, gathering into an energy vortex above his head before slowly seeping into him through the crown of his head.

Within Yan Kuan's body, the Life-Devouring Spirit Pill continuously displayed its miraculous effects. This was not the sort of pill that contained vast, violently explosive medicinal power, but rather an energy that gently assisted in raising one's cultivation.

It nourished Yan Kuan's body. His Heavenly Meridian glowed with crystalline light, bringing the meridians and dantian within him to the level expected of a powerhouse of the same rank. It was a leap and transformation from the inside out.

Such rapid change could not naturally be achieved through the pill alone, so it began consuming the body's own life source energy. This perfect reconstruction led to the depletion of one's life origin, which was why anyone who consumed a Life-Devouring Pill had only three years left to live.

With a thunderous boom, the diamond-shaped Battle Crystal within Yan Kuan instantly vanished into the Sea of Bitterness. The divine power flowing within the Sea of Bitterness immediately underwent a different change. Surging divine power raced along the route of the Burning Art, and Yan Kuan's back suddenly stirred on both sides.

Bang!!!

Crimson flaming wings suddenly burst from his back, spanning over a zhang in width, their sweeping curve like the wings of a Phoenix—gorgeous and breathtaking.

Battle Qi Transformation Wings, the mark of a Dou Wang Strong. This signified that Yan Kuan's strength had reached another level. Yet less than a quarter of an hour had passed since he swallowed the Spirit Pill, and the changes were still continuing.