Sixth-Order Demonic Flame—Flame Gold Flame

"Whew, refining pills really was exhausting!" After finishing the last batch of materials, Lin Ming sighed.

"Haha, Lin Ming, kid. On your very first attempt at pill refinement, you managed to produce Finished Pills—and two of them at that! In all my decades of life, let alone seeing such a thing, I had never even heard of it. And now you're complaining about being tired." Master Toso spoke to Lin Ming with a bitter smile.

"Hehe, it was all thanks to your excellent guidance, Master. That's why I was able to achieve Pill Formation," Lin Ming flattered Master Toso.

"Your gift for talking isn't any worse than your talent for pill refinement! All right, it's getting late. Go back and rest!" Master Toso said.

"Then I'll be heading back."

Looking at the Crescent Moon that had already appeared in the sky, Lin Ming slowly walked home alone. He recalled the process of refining pills that day and thought over Master Toso's pointers regarding his shortcomings.

As Lin Ming walked, he reviewed and summarized the flaws in his pill refinement that day, gesturing with his hands as he considered how to improve them. Only by repeatedly reviewing failures and seeking the right methods amid mistakes could one travel farther and more smoothly on the path of an Alchemist.

After returning home, Lin Ming washed up and began that day's cultivation. Perhaps because he had used Dou Qi throughout the day, increasing his body's demand for it and allowing him to absorb it faster, but Lin Ming felt that his cultivation speed had improved somewhat. At this rate, he would advance to Three-Star Dou Zhe in a little over a month.

The next day, Lin Ming returned to the Medicine Refinement Hall. After meeting Master Toso, he went with him to the Pill Refinement Room. "Start when you're ready!" Master Toso said.

Lin Ming went to the medicinal materials area and took enough of the materials he had used yesterday to refine ten batches of pills. Returning to the medicinal cauldron, Lin Ming adjusted his breathing for a moment before lighting the fire and warming the cauldron. Once he felt it was about right, he took out an Arhat Fruit and tossed it into the medicinal cauldron to begin refining it.

Boom! The Arhat Fruit exploded. Lin Ming had failed to control the flames properly during the transition just now, causing the refinement of this Arhat Fruit to fail.

Fortunately, Lin Ming did not lose heart and began the second refinement. This time, it succeeded without incident. Next came the Vitality Fruit—success! Golden Bright Grass—success... failure! He began refining again—failure! After making some adjustments, he started once more—success!

"Begin the fusion and form the pill!" Master Toso said after Lin Ming finished refining.

"Mm." Lin Ming responded and began the fusion process.

The Arhat Fruit essence went in and was nurtured. The Vitality Fruit essence went in and was nurtured. The two essences fused—success! The Golden Bright Grass essence was added—success! Then... the flames were too strong, and it was ruined. This attempt at fusion and pill formation had failed.

"Continue," Master Toso said.

Lin Ming began another round of refinement... failure.

"Your timing was wrong. Use your Spiritual Strength and Wood-Attribute Dou Qi to sense the vitality within the medicinal liquid and find the right moment." Master Toso once again pointed out the problem.

Thinking back on it, Lin Ming also felt that he had acted too early. Every plant had slight differences, and when the small differences among all the medicinal materials accumulated, they became substantial. Therefore, the timing for each refinement would never be exactly the same. An Alchemist had to control it personally and find the appropriate moment.

After pondering for a moment, Lin Ming began another round of pill refinement. Although there had been a close call midway through, he finally formed the pill after making a timely recovery.

"Mm, although you made a mistake in the middle, you knew how to remedy it in time, so that's not bad. Mistakes will always occur during pill refinement. Thinking about how to recover after a problem arises and still forming the pill is also something an Alchemist must consider. Refining Low-Grade pills is fine for you now, but once you reach High-Grade pills, sometimes the materials will only be enough for a single batch. If a mistake occurs then and you cannot remedy it, you won't be able to make a second attempt for a Short Time. So, a good Alchemist must also consider the matter of recovery." Master Toso continued imparting his experience to Lin Ming.

Lin Ming humbly listened to Master Toso's teachings. Afterward, he began refining the remaining batches of medicinal materials.

Bang! The cauldron exploded. Failure!

The flames were too strong, destroying the medicinal liquid. Failure!

Pill formation, nurturing, pill collection! Success!

...Failure!...Failure! Success! Success!

Finally, Lin Ming placed the pills into jade bottles and sealed them with stoppers. Looking at the four jade bottles before him, this was Lin Ming's harvest for the day. Out of ten batches of materials, he had refined four pills; the other six batches had all been ruined.

"Not bad. A forty percent success rate on the second day." Master Toso spoke blandly. Back when he had been learning pill refinement, he had not even learned how to refine medicinal liquid by the second day. But that did not stop him from putting on airs now—he could not let this kid become too proud.

Lin Ming had been able to begin pill refinement so quickly, form pills on his first day, and achieve a forty percent success rate on his second day. Aside from his exceptional talent, his three years of studying medicinal theory and Master Toso's guidance had also played a major role.

A month passed amid Lin Ming's daily routine of refining pills, cultivating, and sleeping.

Over that month, Lin Ming became increasingly skilled at refining the Strength-Accumulating Pill. His success rate rose from forty percent on the second day to over ninety percent now. Out of a hundred batches of materials, he would generally fail only three or four times. In the final few days, several of the Strength-Accumulating Pills he refined even bore Pill Patterns. A pill would only develop Pill Patterns when every step was nearly perfect. Thus, Lin Ming had attained quite remarkable mastery in refining the Strength-Accumulating Pill.

At night, while cultivating, Lin Ming sensed an opportunity for a breakthrough. It seems that such intense pill refinement has even accelerated my Dou Qi cultivation. It came several days earlier than I expected. But since I can feel it, I might as well break through! Lin Ming considered why the breakthrough had come early, but advancing a minor realm did not require so much concern, so he immediately began his breakthrough.

Half an hour later, he circulated his Dou Qi and launched his charge. The barrier preventing Lin Ming from advancing was like a sheet of paper, easily sliced apart by his Dou Qi, sharp as a dagger, after which Dou Qi poured in wildly.

"Whew, Three-Star Dou Zhe at last." Lin Ming exhaled a breath of turbid qi and spoke.

The following days passed in cultivation, pill refinement, and occasionally spending time with Ya Fei.

Half a year later, at the Medicine Refinement Hall.

"Lin Ming, you basically have no problem refining First-Grade Pills now, and your success rate is quite good. Next, I intend to have you begin refining Second-Grade Pills," Master Toso said to Lin Ming with a smile.

"No problem. I'll follow your arrangements, Master," Lin Ming replied immediately. After all, he had been refining First-Grade Pills for over half a year already and had grown somewhat tired of them.

"Catch. This is the Second-Grade Pill you'll be refining next." Master Toso tossed over a pill formula scroll as he spoke.

Lin Ming caught the pill formula and opened it to read.

Ice Heart Pill. Second-Grade Pill. It could keep one's soul in a clear and lucid state. Required medicinal materials: Frost Mark Grass... Second-Order Wood-Attribute Magic Core.

"A Second-Order Wood-Attribute Magic Core?" Lin Ming asked in surprise.

"Mm. Starting from Second-Grade Pills, Magic Cores are generally added as ingredients," Master Toso said. Then he added, "You've studied medicinal theory for several years. Tell me what you know about Magic Cores."

Lin Ming recalled the introduction to Magic Cores from the books.

Magic Cores were the source of power for a type of creature on the Dou Qi Continent known as Magical Beasts, equivalent to the Dantian cultivated by humans. Therefore, Magic Cores contained enormous energy. However, this energy was extremely violent and also contained some Remaining consciousness from Magical Beasts, so humans could not absorb it directly. Later, after generations of Alchemists continuously explored the matter, they finally discovered a method: using Magic Cores in pill refinement. Medicinal materials could neutralize and completely remove the Violent Factor within the Magic Core, along with the Remaining consciousness of Magical Beasts and the like, transforming it into pills that humans could absorb.

Low-Grade Magical Beasts rarely possessed Magic Cores. This was because forming a Magic Core required a Magical Beast to gather and compress all the power in its body, which required extremely high intelligence. Thus, the chance of Low-Grade Magical Beasts possessing Magic Cores was very low. Tier One Magical Beasts had only about a one-in-ten chance, Tier Two Magical Beasts had less than a fifty percent chance, Third-Order Magical Beasts had around a seventy percent chance, while Fourth-Order Magical Beasts and above basically all possessed Magic Cores.

Therefore, Magic Cores were extremely expensive. Low-Grade Magical Beasts that possessed Magic Cores were already scarce, and it was common for Mercenary Groups to hunt more than ten Magical Beasts without obtaining a single Magic Core if they were unlucky. Furthermore, Magical Beasts with Magic Cores were far more intelligent than those without them. When they saw large groups of people coming to hunt them, they would avoid them on their own. As for High-Grade Magical Beasts, they all possessed Magic Cores, but if one lacked the strength, one would simply be swallowed in a single bite. After all, the energy contained within humans through cultivation was also a choice morsel to Magical Beasts, allowing them to progress faster.

Lin Ming explained to Master Toso what he had read in the books, along with his own understanding.

"Mm, not bad. That was basically correct." Master Toso affirmed Lin Ming's explanation.

Master Toso's approval did not make Lin Ming feel proud. It was only knowledge about Magic Cores. Leaving aside what he had learned from books, he had already known the rough details from reading Battle Through the Heavens in his previous life. The books had merely taught him more historical details.

"Master Toso, Magic Cores are condensed products of a Magical Beast's power essence. With flames driven by my Seven-Star Dou Zhe cultivation, it would take a very long time to refine a Magic Core," Lin Ming said to Master Toso.

"Do you know why I'm having you refine the Ice Heart Pill?" Master Toso asked in return.

Lin Ming shook his head.

"Come with me." Master Toso told him to follow and began walking.

When they arrived at the door of a room, Master Toso opened it and walked inside. Lin Ming hurriedly followed.

The moment he entered the room, Lin Ming was startled. There were seven platforms inside, each holding a transparent cover. Blazing flames surged within every cover.

"These are flames collected by the clan. There are countless flames in this world. Aside from the Heavenly Flames born of heaven and earth, many Fire-Attribute Magical Beasts also possess Beast Flames. After being gathered through special methods, these Beast Flames can be preserved and refined by Fire-Attribute cultivators. These seven clusters of Beast Flames are all the flames the clan has collected," Master Toso said.

Of course, Lin Ming knew that the greatest opportunity in this world was the Heavenly Flames. Finding and refining Heavenly Flames was also a way for him to grow stronger rapidly in the future. However, the Heavenly Flame Ranking had twenty-three Heavenly Flames. The one ranked first was formed from the fusion of the other twenty-two, so there were actually only twenty-two Heavenly Flames. Although the first few Heavenly Flames were unique, with only one existing on the entire continent, several of the later ones could exist at the same time. Even so, there could not be many of them. Lin Ming estimated that the total number of Heavenly Flames in the entire world did not even reach a hundred. Yet no one knew how vast this world was, so searching for a Heavenly Flame to refine was no different from looking for a needle in a haystack. Thus, many people settled for the next best thing and set their sights on the flames of Magical Beasts. Though their power could not compare to Heavenly Flames, they were still stronger than flames transformed from Dou Qi, and they were more plentiful and easier to find.

Seeing Lin Ming stare blankly at the flames, Master Toso interrupted him. "These flames were painstakingly collected or purchased by the clan. The four flames on the lower level came from Fourth-Order Magical Beasts, equivalent to human Dou Ling Experts; the two flames on the middle row came from Tier 5 Magical Beasts, equivalent to human Dou King Experts; and the flame at the very top was the natal flame of the Sixth-Order Magical Beast Golden Flame Python—the Flame Gold Flame. That Magical Beast was even stronger than most Dou Emperor Experts. In order to obtain the Flame Gold Flame, the Golden Flame Python's natal flame, the clan even mobilized the Clan Leader some time ago. Only then were they able to seize its shed skin from a Golden Flame Python Emperor that had just completed its molt and was in a weakened state, thereby collecting this flame."

This time, Lin Ming was genuinely shocked. They had dared to seize a shed skin from the jaws of a Tier 6 Magical Beast. One mistake, and their entire force could have been wiped out.

Before Lin Ming could recover from Master Toso's words, Master Toso delivered something even more shocking. "Refine the Ice Heart Pill within five days, and this Sixth-Order Flame Gold Flame will be yours."