The first two drops of Channel-Clearing Dragon Altar Water were already consumed, but with those two drops as trial runs—especially the second one, where Lu Xiaotian had pushed the pill-refining process to its final stages—he originally had not planned to attempt the breakthrough to a rank-four pill saint just yet. Only after the second failure did he seem to enter some profound, mysterious state, moving entirely on instinct. It was as if, without even waiting for Wen Yan's consent, he launched directly into the third refining without the slightest pause.
The fusion of the first two drops of Channel-Clearing Dragon Altar Water with Wen Yan's vital qi and dragon essence had reached the very final step, and her own consumption was far from trivial. By now her face was as white as a sheet, the actual situation far more dire than Wen Tingdao had anticipated. The golden hue across the surface of Wen Yan's five-clawed golden dragon form was already beginning to fade, her vital essence over-consumed during Lu Xiaotian's pill-refining process.
As this third refining commenced, Lu Xiaotian acted entirely upon his own instincts, while Wen Yan was keeping him company at the risk of her life. Despite her excessive consumption during the first two attempts—to the point where she could barely maintain the form of the five-clawed golden dragon—upon seeing Lu Xiaotian slip into a state of sudden enlightenment regarding the dao of pills, she gave it no further thought and continued to force the vital essence from her body. Should this third pill-refining fail as well, there was a nine-in-ten chance the noble bloodline of the five-clawed golden dragon within her would be entirely exhausted.
Still immersed in this mysterious state, Lu Xiaotian remained oblivious to Wen Yan's extreme weakness and went right on refining. This third