Seeking the Mysterious Yellow Quenching Spirit Milk

Watching the Dan Family Siblings leave, Ling Xi's gaze finally fell on Cao Ying.

"Miss Cao, hand over the Blood Lotus Essence and the Fourth-Order Ice Attribute Magic Core, and we'll be even."

Hearing this, Cao Ying's brow immediately furrowed.

"What's this? Weren't we agreed that I'd help you refine the Blood Lotus Pill?"

"Heh!"

Ling Xi raised an eyebrow, suddenly breaking into a smile, then spoke slowly.

"That was my original plan, but since I've gotten my hands on the Purple Abyss, a divine artifact on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking..."

"I figure with my current Alchemy Skill and strength, I should be able to use this Heavenly Cauldron Ranking divine artifact to refine a fifth-grade pill, right?"

Watching Ling Xi's smug expression and listening to him drone on about the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking divine artifact, Cao Ying nearly ground her silver teeth to dust.

"Hmph, while a cauldron can boost an Alchemist's chances of forming a pill, it's still a bit risky."

Cao Ying coaxed him in a tone that feigned concern for his well-being.

"If I used my Alchemy Skill along with the Purple Abyss, I guarantee I'd refine a top-quality Blood Lotus Pill for you."

"Miss Cao, trying to scheme against me, are you?"

Ling Xi snorted, calling her out without hesitation.

"If I let you use the Purple Abyss to refine the Blood Lotus Pill, you'd leave a soul imprint on the cauldron, wouldn't you?"

"What if, after the pill's done, you take the cauldron and bolt? What do I do then?"

Cao Ying's face flushed slightly at having her intentions seen through, but she quickly let out a long breath.

"The Purple Abyss was originally a relic of an elder from our Pill Tower, lost for many years. Who would've thought it'd be in this space?"

"And who'd expect it to be hidden in the belly of a Mysterious Armored Dragon Turtle, only for you to claim it?"

An Exotic Flame and a cauldron on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking were the pursuit of every Alchemist, and Cao Ying was no exception.

"Some things just can't be envied."

Ling Xi chuckled wryly, reaching out his hand toward Cao Ying.

"Hand over the Blood Lotus Pill materials quickly—I'm getting impatient."

"Bastard!"

Cao Ying cursed under her breath but still took out two jade boxes from her Nakai Ring.

"I only have one set of Blood Lotus Essence and Fourth-Order Ice Attribute Magic Core, meaning you've got just one shot at refining it!"

"No need for Miss Cao to worry about that."

Ling Xi stowed the jade boxes Cao Ying handed over, then without even a goodbye, he used Flowing Fire Afterimage Steps to dart down the mountain.

"That damned bastard!"

Cao Ying gritted her teeth and stomped her foot in place.

Coming to this space, she'd ended up with the smallest gain and even lost two medicinal herbs to boot.

At least the Dan Family Siblings had each taken a share of the Mysterious Yellow Quenching Spirit Milk.

"The world turns—we'll see each other again!"

After glaring fiercely at the spot where Ling Xi had vanished, Cao Ying finally left the mountaintop.

Ling Xi's ethereal figure flickered through the forest, the speed beneath his feet a testament to his cheerful mood.

A single Form-Shaping Grass had traded for a divine artifact on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking—even Ling Xi hadn't expected his luck to be so absurd.

After traveling for about a full day, he finally returned to his temporary camp by the waterfall.

"So this is the divine artifact on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking?"

After another night of rest, Ling Xi adjusted his condition to its peak before taking out the Purple Abyss Cauldron.

Reaching out to touch the Purple Abyss's somewhat rough cauldron body, Ling Xi couldn't help but marvel.

"They say the Purple Abyss was formed from a purple strange stone gathering spirit, not forged by hand—seems that's true."

A forged cauldron would never have the grainy texture unique to stone, like the Purple Abyss did.

"The Blood Lotus Pill... it's time to refine it."

Taking two deep breaths, Ling Xi laid out all the materials needed for the Blood Lotus Pill.

"Only one set of materials—better make it work on the first try."

Sitting cross-legged before the Purple Abyss Cauldron, Ling Xi waved his hand, and the golden-red Crimson Sun Fire surged into the cauldron, blazing flames erupting within.

As the temperature inside the cauldron rose, the strange natural patterns on its body slowly lit up.

Bathed in the flowing purple glow, Ling Xi felt a profound calm in his heart.

Ling Xi waved his hand toward the Blood Lotus Essence on the ground, and it was tossed into the cauldron.

Under the refining of the golden-red flames and the suppression of the purple glow, the Blood Lotus Essence quickly turned into a pool of pure, crimson medicinal liquid.

Soul Power surged from Ling Xi's brow, enveloping the crimson medicinal liquid as it dripped into a jade bottle set aside.

The refinement of the Blood Lotus Essence went surprisingly smoothly, but the remaining two main ingredients proved far more troublesome.

The fourth-tier Ice Attribute Magic Core was inherently an ice-attribute material. Even under a seventh-tier Crimson Sun Fire, it took an entire night of continuous calcination before it finally transformed into a pool of pure energy liquid.

As for the Ice Spirit Flame Grass, it possessed both ice and fire attributes, demanding extreme caution during the extraction process.

Refining a fifth-tier pill was still somewhat beyond Ling Xi's current capabilities. All told, it had been barely over a year since he first began dabbling in alchemy.

Though his Soul Power was strong enough to refine a fifth-tier pill, his Dou Qi level was too low, which held back his alchemical skill.

Fortunately, he had Purple Abyss—a cauldron listed on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking.

Whether it was the cauldron's innate ability to gather flame or the purple light that calmed the mind, both helped Ling Xi avoid any major mistakes throughout this pill-refining process.

"As expected of a fifth-tier pill—even extracting the essence from these ingredients took two whole days."

Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, Ling Xi cast all the extracted medicinal essences into the cauldron.

Clang!

The mass of medicinal liquid clearly possessed strong mutual repulsion, crashing violently about inside the cauldron.

"Condense!"

Ling Xi's hand seal shifted, and a torrent of Soul Power surged from his brow into the cauldron, forcibly pressing all the medicinal essences together.

With the continuous calcination of the Crimson Sun Fire, the essences of the various herbs finally began to slowly merge.

This step was the most critical in the entire pill-refining process. The slightest mistake would instantly incinerate the hard-won medicinal essences.

Ling Xi dared not let his focus waver for even a moment, tightly controlling his Soul Power as he carefully observed every stage of the fusion.

With the cauldron's support, the worst-case scenario did not occur.

After two full days of fusion and calcination, a blood-red pill gradually took shape within the cauldron.

A red medicinal fragrance, accompanied by strange heavenly and earthly energy, slowly drifted out from the cauldron. This sight gave Ling Xi a jolt of renewed energy.

"Colored medicinal fragrance—looks like the pill is about to succeed."

As time passed, the originally irregular red pill embryo became round and smooth.

"Condense!"

Ling Xi's hand seal shifted again, and the golden-red Crimson Sun Fire within the cauldron suddenly surged and swelled.

And within it, a red pill was fully formed!