The moment Yang Lingtian took out the Alchemy Furnace, the eight people knew that he had a Space Ring, which meant his identity was extraordinary.
Not one of the eight had a Space Ring.
Those who could wear a Space Ring were all people of unusual status.
The eight people were responsible for searching for specific spirit herbs, while Yang Lingtian began lighting the furnace and refining the Beast Origin Pills.
Various spirit herbs were arranged around him, giving off unique medicinal fragrances.
He then placed the spirit herbs into the Alchemy Furnace and continuously controlled the heat.
Seeing such skilled alchemy techniques, the eight people admired Yang Lingtian even more.
He was so young, yet he was actually an alchemist. That was already extremely rare.
However, they thought Yang Lingtian was only a First-Rank Alchemist. They had never imagined that he was a Tier 3 Alchemist.
If they could tell that Yang Lingtian was a Tier 3 Alchemist, they would certainly have been utterly shocked.
After all, none of the nearby cities had a Tier 3 Alchemist.
As time passed, the spirit herbs inside the furnace gradually underwent wondrous changes.
They slowly fused and condensed, beginning to form translucent Spirit Pills one after another. The pills had taken shape preliminarily.
After several hours of refinement, they were finally complete.
There were five pills in total—and all five were Third-Order Spirit Pills.
However, they were Beast Origin Pills. They were highly effective for demon beasts, but had little use for humans.
Otherwise, a single Third-Order Spirit Pill would have been extremely precious even in Tianchen City, and could only be purchased at an auction.
The unique medicinal fragrance of the Beast Origin Pills soon attracted that Second-Order Beast.
It roared, "So fragrant! I can feel an enormous energy contained inside. Eating it will definitely help me break through in cultivation."
"Human boy, hurry and bring it over. Let me try its effects."
Yang Lingtian replied in beast language, "Big brother beast, don't be anxious. I'll tell you a few things to watch out for."
"This pill's medicinal properties are extremely potent. You can't eat it all at once."
"You must eat them one by one. Refine one completely before eating the next."
"I know, I know!" the Second-Order Beast roared impatiently.
It took a full five days for it to finish refining the five Beast Origin Pills.
It was also while refining the final Beast Origin Pill that the Second-Order Early-Stage Beast successfully broke through to the Second-Order Mid-Stage.
After breaking through, the Second-Order Beast roared wildly, celebrating its success.
Afterward, the Second-Order Beast went straight to find its love rival.
Yang Lingtian also successfully collected all the spirit herbs here into his Space Ring.
With these spirit herbs, he no longer needed to buy medicinal materials from the True Elixir Pavilion.
He could refine large quantities of pills himself. Wouldn't his cultivation then break through with a series of booming advances?
Of course, refining those pills would also take a great deal of time.
It seemed Yang Lingtian's identity was not only extraordinary—his abilities were formidable as well.
The eight people began to consider pledging themselves to Yang Lingtian.
One of them took the initiative to ask ingratiatingly, "Young Master Yang, do you need a subordinate?"
Yang Lingtian also saw what they meant. He responded with a disdainful smile, "I don't need anyone for now."
"When you become useful to me, I might accept you. I don't take in people who have no value."
Inside Chen Manor, Chen Zhengqing was anxiously waiting for news from below.
Yang Lingtian had already been missing for six or seven days without returning home.
A week ago, Yang Lingtian had gone straight to the Monster Beast Mountain Range after leaving the Weapon Workshop, without telling anyone.
After making inquiries again and again, Chen Zhengqing learned that someone had seen him leave the city, but no one knew where he had gone.
Chen Zhengqing had also learned that Yang Lingtian had forged a Spirit Sword, which he found unbelievable.
When had his adopted son become a First-Rank Artifact Refiner? As his adoptive father, he had not even known.
This news had come from the Weapon Workshop, and every one of them claimed to have seen it with their own eyes.
But Chen Zhengqing had not witnessed it personally, so he was still half-convinced and half-doubtful.
"Someone come! Search outside the city for me!"
"Spread the word throughout Tianchen City. If anyone knows anything about Yang Lingtian, report it. If the information proves true, reward them with 100 Low-grade Spirit Stones."
"If anyone can find him and bring him back, reward them with 1,000 Low-grade Spirit Stones."
The rumor that Yang Lingtian was a First-Rank Artifact Refiner soon spread throughout Tianchen City, and many people refused to believe it.
"What? That good-for-nothing spendthrift adopted son of the Chen Family is a First-Rank Artifact Refiner?"
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible. He's only eighteen—how could he have already become a First-Rank Artifact Refiner?"
"This is a fabricated lie the Chen Family made up to whitewash that wastrel, isn't it?"
"That's what I think. A First-Rank Artifact Refiner from the Chen Family died not long ago."
"Now they're claiming there's another First-Rank Artifact Refiner, just to steady everyone's nerves."
"If that good-for-nothing spendthrift could be a First-Rank Artifact Refiner, the sun could rise in the west."
Everyone in the city sneered at the rumor.
However, they also knew that Yang Lingtian had truly disappeared. Otherwise, the Chen Family would not have gone to such lengths to search for him.
Judging from this, Chen Zhengqing truly placed great importance on Yang Lingtian.
He had been missing for less than a week, yet Chen Zhengqing was already so anxious.
At this moment, Yang Lingtian had already parted ways with the eight people.
After leaving that treasure-filled place, the system's voice rang out in his mind.
[Congratulations, Host, on completing the mission. You have been specially rewarded with the first level of the Movement Technique, Flowing Cloud Wind Movement.]
A martial movement skill appeared in Yang Lingtian's mind. He had not expected it to be a Movement Martial Skill.
The first level of Flowing Cloud Wind Movement was equivalent to a Yellow-grade Top-tier Martial Skill. It was extremely rare.
Martial skills themselves were already rare, while Movement Martial Skills were even rarer.
Even most Golden Core experts had never come into contact with a Movement Martial Skill. For someone in the Qi Refining Stage to possess one was truly uncommon.
The system's rewards were indeed all tremendously useful. They were bound to be premium goods.
Once this Movement Technique was mastered, he would move with the lightness and grace of flowing clouds, possessing extremely high movement speed and agility.
If he encountered someone stronger than himself, he could simply run if he could not win, leaving his enemy helpless and fuming. That felt incredible.
It could increase his agility in battle and also be used for escaping. It was an extremely useful life-preserving Movement Technique.
Yang Lingtian smiled with satisfaction.
Now that the mission was complete, he planned to return to Tianchen City and cultivate the martial skill as soon as possible.
Early the next morning, Yang Lingtian slowly opened his eyes from his cross-legged cultivation.
Although the speed at which he absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth after circulating the Chaos Dao Divine Art was extremely fast—almost catching up to the rate at which Golden Core experts absorbed spiritual energy—
most of the spiritual energy he absorbed was snatched away by the Chaos Bead in his dantian.
Very little could be absorbed by his own dantian.
Otherwise, one night of cultivation would have been enough to let him break through from Qi Refining Level 7 to Qi Refining Level 8.
He did not know whether obtaining the Chaos Bead was a blessing or a calamity.
What comforted him, however, was that after the spiritual energy of heaven and earth entered his dantian, it seemed to be affected by the Chaos Bead.
The spiritual power transformed from the spiritual energy became even purer.
Although he was only at Qi Refining Level 7, the purity of the spiritual power in his dantian was no worse than that of someone at Qi Refining Level 8.
Yang Lingtian rose and walked toward Tianchen City. After going some distance—
a beast's roar suddenly came from afar. As the weeds ahead shook violently, a beast a full meter tall appeared before him.
Yang Lingtian also understood the beast's roar, and his heart tightened.
It meant: "Boy, I've finally found you. This aura is definitely the one."
It looked like a wild boar. The only difference was that it had a pair of long fangs growing from its mouth and a pair of horns on its forehead.
Yang Lingtian's expression instantly turned solemn. This was a Second-Order Mid-Stage beast, though it appeared to be injured.
Even so, it was still beyond what he could contend with.
Yang Lingtian replied in beast language, "May I ask your name?"
"You look furious. What do you want with me?"
Soon, the Unicorn Demon Beast arrived in front of Yang Lingtian.
It was slightly stunned and extremely surprised when it heard that Yang Lingtian could speak beast language.
"My name is Pi Dan. Da La was right. You human ant really can speak our beast language."
The moment he heard the name Pi Dan, Yang Lingtian suddenly remembered that the mate of the beast from yesterday had been stolen by a beast called Pi Dan.
Yang Lingtian immediately sensed that something was wrong!
Clearly, Pi Dan had lost this time and had now come to cause trouble for him.
"That's right. I'm proficient in your demon beasts' language. Why? Is there something you want with me?" Yang Lingtian asked calmly.
Pi Dan looked at Yang Lingtian and replied, "It's extremely rare for a human to speak our demon beasts' language."
"I originally wanted to eat you, but I've changed my mind. I'll take you as my slave and have you refine pills for me."
Yang Lingtian frowned. Become a slave? And a demon beast's slave, at that.
He cursed inwardly, Screw you. You're ugly, yet you sure have beautiful dreams.
You actually want me to become your slave? As a strong cultivator, how could I become someone else's slave?
However, his opponent was a Second-Order Beast. He probably could not defeat it yet, so he could not afford to speak too harshly for now.
Thus, Yang Lingtian said with a broad grin, "Becoming a slave is impossible. It'll never happen in this lifetime."
"But refining some pills for you isn't entirely out of the question."
Upon hearing this, the Unicorn Demon Beast flew into a rage and roared, "What? You refuse to become my slave? Then die!"
This Unicorn Demon Beast seemed to have a terrible temper—extremely violent, with no room for negotiation.
That made sense. Its newly snatched woman had just been taken back by someone else, so its mood was naturally foul.
After a furious roar, the Unicorn Demon Beast pounced directly at Yang Lingtian. It moved incredibly fast, and before Yang Lingtian could react, he was sent flying.
This was a Second-Order Mid-Stage beast, with strength equivalent to a human Foundation Establishment Middle Stage expert.
Fortunately, the beast had not intended to kill Yang Lingtian so quickly and had held back its strength.
Otherwise, Yang Lingtian would have been gravely injured even if he survived the blow.
It seemed to want to beat Yang Lingtian into submission.
After crashing to the ground, Yang Lingtian was startled inwardly. Damn, it's that strong? And it knows how to launch sneak attacks? This beast has some tricks!
Yang Lingtian cursed in beast language, "A sneak attack? You actually launched a sneak attack on me, a young man who's only eighteen!"
"You beast, you've successfully enraged me. This time, I'm getting serious."
Yang Lingtian then took out his Spirit Sword. His aura surged as he directly unleashed the final move of the Hundred Shadow Cold Sword—Hundred Swords Convergence—slashing toward the Unicorn Demon Beast.
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