At that moment, Chen Gong and Meng Fu stepped forward. It was clear that the three of them would be refining the Essence Pill together this time.
Xu Yi thought to himself, Meng Fu had kept his ambush well hidden. He hadn't let anything slip the entire way here.
Before long, the dark furnace glowed red-hot, faintly shining with a dazzling light.
Zhao Gan and the other two moved at the same time, tossing three successive ingredients—Black Root Grass, He Ye Fruit, and Hundred Seed Lotus—into the furnace almost simultaneously.
The three of them urged their spiritual power at once, sending it into the furnace. Their spiritual energy flowed straight inside, and soon several currents began swirling around within.
Xu Yi was no novice. He could see clearly that this was the process of removing impurities, the part where they could least afford to be careless. It demanded extraordinary patience.
The flames roared. Though everyone had cultivated enough to close their pores at will, they still couldn't help sweating profusely.
Zhao Gan, Meng Fu, and Chen Gong, who were casting the spells, were drenched as if they'd been pulled from the water.
A full hour passed before the currents inside the furnace finally merged into one. A soft ring sounded from within, and delight burst into everyone's eyes.
Everyone knew that they had successfully cleared the first and most critical hurdle.
As soon as the soft ring faded, a red fruit appeared in Zhao Gan's palm. Everyone stared at it, their eyes almost fixed in place.
This was the most crucial ingredient in refining an Essence Pill: the Essence Fruit. The pill took its name from this fruit.
A single Essence Fruit was worth no less than twenty Essence Pills. It was extraordinarily precious.
Xu Yi had heard plenty about