The Snake-Person Race's altar stood deep within the tribe, in a broad plaza.
At the very center of the plaza stood a tall stone pillar, with an eternal flame burning atop it. This was the Snake-Person Race's sacred fire, said to have been burning for hundreds of years.
Rows of tiered seats circled the plaza, with room for several hundred people.
The seats quickly filled with Snake-People, young and old, men and women. Sitting in the front row were the Dou Wang leaders, including Mo Basi.
A massive stone chair stood alone directly opposite the altar.
Medusa sat there, looking down at everyone below.
Ye Xiu stood in the middle of the altar, with the Five-Hole Medicine Cauldron set before him.
It was quite a sight.
Ye Xiu glanced around at the Snake-People. Some looked curious, some doubtful, some had come to watch the show, and a few were clearly hostile.
He paid them no mind and lowered his head to prepare the ingredients.
Medusa watched from above without saying a word.
Mo Basi stood beside her and muttered, "Your Majesty, letting a human refine pills on the altar, this..."
Medusa merely glanced at him.
Mo Basi immediately fell silent.
Below, Ye Xiu had already begun.
Poof!
Purple-gold flames sprang from his palm and surged into the Medicine Cauldron. The temperature across the altar rose several degrees in an instant, and the Snake-People nearby instinctively edged back.
Ye Xiu ignored them, his full attention fixed on the cauldron.
The Soul-Melting Pill was a Sixth-Grade Pill, far more complex than the ones he had refined before. It required more ingredients, and preparing them was much more troublesome.
But he was now a Sixth-grade Alchemist, with over a hundred Sixth-grade Pill Recipes in his head. He might as well have spent hundreds of years refining pills.
One ingredient after another went in, refined and purified.
At first, the Snake-People around the plaza whispered among themselves. Gradually, they fell silent. Every eye was fixed on the young man at the center of the altar, watching his hands and the flames surging inside the cauldron.
The flames shifted from purple to gold, then back to purple-gold, as if they were alive.
Medusa watched from above, a strange light flickering in her eyes.
She had seen plenty of Alchemists and knew all the famous ones in the Jia Ma Empire. But none of them had ever made her feel this way while refining pills.
It was as if the flames were part of his body, and he could make them do whatever he pleased.
Time passed slowly.
The sun moved from high overhead toward the west.
Sweat began to bead on Ye Xiu's forehead, but his hands never faltered.
The final step was fusion.
The different medicinal liquids slowly drew together and touched. They resisted at first, but Ye Xiu didn't rush. He used his soul force to suppress them gradually, coaxing them to blend little by little.
In his hands, the medicinal liquids were as obedient as children.
Another incense stick's worth of time passed.
Ye Xiu gave a low shout. "Rise!"
He slapped the Medicine Cauldron, and the flames went out instantly. The lid flew open, and five pills the size of longans shot out, tracing an arc through the air.
Ye Xiu snatched up a jade bottle and caught them in midair.
All five pills landed inside.
The entire plaza fell silent.
The Snake-People stared at the jade bottle in Ye Xiu's hand as if they had seen a ghost.
Five?
Five pills from a single batch of ingredients—and they were Sixth-Grade Pills?
This was unheard of!
Standing beside Medusa, Mo Basi had his mouth open wide enough to fit a fist inside. He wasn't an Alchemist, but he knew what a Sixth-Grade Pill meant. A normal Alchemist was lucky to produce one. Two meant an exceptional performance; for three, you'd have to burn incense and pray for good fortune.
And this kid had made five?
Medusa rose from her stone chair and glided down the steps toward Ye Xiu.
Ye Xiu handed her the jade bottle.
"Go ahead and inspect them."
Medusa took the bottle and poured out one pill.
It was round and smooth, with a faint golden pattern encircling its surface.
A Pill Pattern!
She looked up at Ye Xiu, a hint of approval in her eyes.
Ye Xiu wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled. "Think I did all right, Your Majesty?"
Medusa was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"Not bad."
Coming from her, those two words were the highest praise.
When the Snake-People heard their queen's verdict, their looks toward Ye Xiu changed completely.
This guy was insanely good.
After finishing the pills, Ye Xiu didn't rush off. He sat on the altar to rest.
Medusa put the pills away, came over to him, and gazed out at the desert.
"You're going to devour a Heavenly Flame in a week, right?" Medusa asked.
Ye Xiu nodded. "Yeah."
"Are you confident?"
Ye Xiu thought for a moment. "I'd say I have a seventy- to eighty-percent chance."
Medusa turned to look at him, her brows drawing together slightly.
"What do you mean, you'd say?"
Ye Xiu couldn't help smiling. "What, Your Majesty—is that concern I hear?"
"Hmph. Arrogant." Medusa turned her head away again.
After a moment, she suddenly asked, "Where does your confidence come from? Few people have ever managed to subdue a Heavenly Flame. Why is it that, when it comes to you, I don't sense any pressure at all?"
Ye Xiu looked at the distant sunset and said, "Just wait and see, Your Majesty."
Medusa didn't ask anything else.
On the distant horizon, the sun sank slowly, staining the whole desert crimson.
Ye Xiu kept busy during the following week.
He believed his Innate Medicine Body might make him immune to flames, but Heavenly Flames were too strange for anyone to guarantee anything. If something went wrong, it would be a real joke.
So he still had to prepare.
The Blood Lotus Pill was a Fifth-Grade Pill specifically used to protect the body. Taking one before devouring a Heavenly Flame would create a protective film over the skin and could save his life at a crucial moment.
Ye Xiu had prepared the ingredients for this pill long ago. He had bought the Blood Lotus Essence from the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion in Qingshan Town, and dug up the Ice Spirit Flame Grass from Xiao Yi Xian's cave.
One ingredient was still missing: Ice Spirit Cold Spring.
He had planned to go to Heiyan City and trade for it from an old man named Gute. The old man had some Ice Spirit Cold Spring and wanted the Companion Amethyst Source in exchange.
But when Ye Xiu went to Heiyan City to certify his Alchemist rank last time, the old man wasn't there, so the deal fell through.
Ye Xiu had been a little worried, but a few days ago, when Medusa had someone deliver a list of ingredients, he discovered that one of them could replace the Ice Spirit Cold Spring.
The Snake-Person Race really did know its own territory. They had plenty of good stuff.
Ye Xiu picked out the ingredients and spent the whole night refining a batch of Blood Lotus Pills.
For the remaining time, he sat cross-legged in the courtyard and cultivated.
Medusa came by from time to time, staying for a while before leaving. Sometimes they didn't speak; sometimes they chatted a little. Their relationship remained neither close nor distant, neither clear nor defined.
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
On the evening of the seventh day, Ye Xiu stood in the courtyard and gazed at the moon overhead.
Tomorrow, he would go to meet the Green Lotus Core Flame.
He took a deep breath and clenched his fists.
Four-Star Dou Emperor, Sixth-grade Alchemist, a batch of Blood Lotus Pills!
That was enough!
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