Peak Fourth Grade

"Hah..."

After closing his eyes to rest his mind for a quarter of an hour, Lin Feng slowly exhaled a breath of foul air and began the most difficult challenge of his alchemy career.

A peak fourth-grade pill—the Three-patterned Azure Spirit Pill!

He carefully examined the ingredients Fa Ma had prepared beside him: Green Flame Grass, Black Sky Hemp...

More than twenty medicinal herbs in total. This was the greatest number of raw materials Lin Feng had ever used to refine a pill, clearly demonstrating the difficulty of the task.

Boom...

A cluster of blue Beast Flame appeared in Lin Feng's palm. The sixth-tier Beast Flame—Azure Flame—was one of the three Beast Flames he had absorbed anew, and it too came from the Alchemist Guild's treasured collection.

Of course, those three sixth-tier Beast Flames had nearly emptied the guild's stock of top-grade Beast Flames, so the Alchemist Guild naturally had its complaints.

After all, no matter how gifted Lin Feng was, it had little to do with ordinary people like them.

Lin Feng naturally understood this, but the rules of the world would not change because of a few grievances from the weak.

Truth was ultimately held in the hands of the few. As for the masses, as long as they remained unaware of it, it would not affect them.

Lin Feng had experienced this deeply in his previous life.

Of course, he was not some monster who only knew how to bleed others dry. All the pills he had refined over the past few days belonged to the Alchemist Guild, which was why no one had come to cause trouble so far.

Moreover, Lin Feng had brought out a trump card—the Five Elements Pill.

That was right. Lin Feng's exclusive pill. From Dou Zhe to Da Dou Shi, he had refined ten pills of each of the three varieties over the past three days.

For now, these pills circulated only within the guild. That was right—not a single scrap of news had leaked out.

Because Lin Feng had stated that this kind of pill would not conflict with other advancement pills, most of the alchemists had gone wild with excitement.

This meant they could save another two stars' worth of time for studying alchemy. As for the claim that advancing through pills resulted in weak combat power...

What a joke. Which mediocre alchemist would care about that? They wished they could devote every moment of their lives to the great profession of alchemy.

And if you did not believe it, even those warriors whose heads were full of brute force—if such a pill were placed before them, would they refuse to take it?

As for why there were only ten of them? What a joke. They were called exclusive pills. If they became common goods, what would be exclusive about them?

This was the real reason why, despite their complaints over Lin Feng using so many of the guild's resources, none of the alchemists caused trouble.

It involved the interests of most alchemists. If you would not use them, would your descendants not use them?

You were lofty, you were remarkable—but were your descendants remarkable too? If that were really the case, a hundred years later, your coffin lid would probably end up in a drainage ditch beneath the Imperial Capital.

He first tossed the relatively easy-to-refine Green Flame Grass into the Medicine Cauldron. The Azure Flame began to boil along with it, slowly roasting the herb.

The refinement method for Green Flame Grass was extremely simple. He merely needed to bake out the liquid energy contained within it. For battle-hardened Lin Feng, this was not a particularly difficult step.

As time passed, the medicinal ingredients were added to the Medicine Cauldron one by one. Fortunately, although it was his first attempt, Lin Feng made no mistakes.

Finally, after all the ingredients had been refined, it was time for the most difficult step: refining with three flames at once.

"Boy Lin Feng, you must be careful from here on. The most important thing is to keep the three flames balanced." Fa Ma paused, his expression turning slightly grave. "The slightest deviation will produce an enormous energy reaction. Even a Dou Wang expert could be injured if he was not careful. In a moment, you should do this..."

"Yes. Thank you for the guidance, Elder Fa." After answering without turning his head, Lin Feng—

Boom...

Boom...

Two clusters of Beast Flame rose once more from his palms. The sixth-tier Beast Flames—Peach Blossom Fire and Lion Tiger Beast King Flame—surged into the Medicine Cauldron.

Under the control of his powerful Soul Force, comparable to Seventh Grade, the three clusters of Beast Flame began rotating at high speed around the mass of energy at the center of the cauldron.

With every rotation, the fluctuations of all four became increasingly similar, accompanied by enormous energy ripples.

Fortunately, under his powerful soul control, everything remained safe and sound.

As the energy fluctuations within the Medicine Cauldron grew stronger and stronger, at a certain instant, a strange radiance appeared before Lin Feng and Fa Ma's eyes, followed by waves of rich fragrance.

Boom...

As that peculiar fragrance emerged, a tremendous disturbance suddenly erupted within the Medicine Cauldron, even spreading throughout the alchemy room.

Fortunately, every standard of the alchemy room had been built to the highest specifications. The energy fluctuation merely caused ripples across the walls before slowly fading away.

However, Lin Feng, whose nerves were stretched taut, paid it no attention. At that moment, all his Soul Force pressed fiercely down upon that violent source of energy and light.

Even Fa Ma stared fixedly at it, watching to see whether this genius alchemist could create another miracle.

Thump, thump, thump...

At last, a rumbling sound came from within the Medicine Cauldron. The two men, who had been staring intently all this time, finally revealed relieved smiles.

"It succeeded! A peak fourth-grade pill—the Three-patterned Azure Spirit Pill!"

"Hahaha, boy Lin Feng, you truly make people jealous. In just a few days, you rose from newly becoming a fourth-grade alchemist to Peak Fourth Grade." Once Fa Ma sensed that the pill had taken shape, he could no longer hold back his hearty laughter.

"Haha, just luck, just luck." Faced with Fa Ma's constant praise, Lin Feng actually became modest for once, leaving Fa Ma slightly stunned.

"But, Elder Fa, if we announce this news, do you think we could receive more valuable congratulatory gifts at the banquet?" Lin Feng rubbed his hands together and waggled his eyebrows.

"You brat, I never realized you had this side to you." Fa Ma did not know whether to laugh or cry. Seeing Lin Feng clown around, so unlike his usual shrewdness, Fa Ma finally saw a trace of youthful behavior in him.

"Still, in this old man's opinion, there probably will not be much more added—unless..." Fa Ma stared closely at Lin Feng, and the faint heat in his gaze sent a chill down Lin Feng's spine.

"Unless you can advance to become a Fifth-grade Alchemist!"

"Oh, a Fifth-grade Alchemist?" Hearing this, Lin Feng pinched his chin, a thoughtful look appearing on his face, as though he were considering whether to continue and attempt refining a Fifth-grade Pill.

"Boy Lin Feng, this old man was only teasing you. You are not seriously thinking of trying, are you? The gap between the fourth and fifth grades may not be an insurmountable chasm, but it is not so easily crossed." Fa Ma froze for a moment before hurriedly trying to dissuade him.

"Do not assume that your success rate with fourth-grade pills seems decent because you have studied many fourth-grade alchemy techniques. You have had very little exposure to fifth-grade techniques."

Seeing Fa Ma's tense expression, Lin Feng laughed. "Haha, Elder Fa, I was only joking. Even reaching Peak Fourth Grade was merely luck. Before stabilizing my fourth-grade level, I will not make a reckless attempt. Besides..."

After a pause, he continued, "Besides, I have not seen my two lovely little wives for several days. I miss them dearly!"