An Upgraded Soul Ascension Pill

Opening another book, Xiao Yi began reading it carefully from cover to cover.

This book had also been left behind by the senior from four thousand years ago. It described in great detail his experiments with alchemy.

He had first discovered this by chance: after placing a medicinal herb in the Ultimate Fire of his Martial Soul and roasting it, he found that the herb didn't disappear. With deliberate control, it could be turned into pure medicinal liquid.

This discovery had made him realize what might be possible.

But problems soon arose. He found that high heat alone sometimes couldn't purify the herbs; instead, it simply burned them to ash.

After countless attempts, he finally worked out a method of refinement. He needed to use his spiritual power to control the fire's temperature to keep the herbs from being burned to a crisp.

Then he discovered something deeply regrettable: although he had created four substances that could truly be called pills, no one was able to inherit his alchemy skills.

Three of them had already been lost, because some of the herbs in their recipes couldn't be purified without Ultimate Fire, leaving no one able to make them.

He was at a loss for words. So the reason Douluo Continent hadn't developed a distinct profession of alchemist all these years was that the fire wasn't good enough...

The only one that had been passed down and could still be made was the Soul Ascension Pill. Xiao Yi had finally found what he was really looking for.

A pill-condensing method unique to Douluo Continent.

After finishing the book, Xiao Yi sat in silence for a long while. A feeling of speechlessness spread through him.

The so-called pill-condensing method of this Limit Douluo was actually to use spatial abilities to forcibly construct an extremely weak spatial structure, then solidify the pill inside it.

Seriously? Then where had the later Soul Ascension Pills come from?

Xiao Yi could only set aside the books left behind by the Limit Douluo. It was obvious he wouldn't find what he wanted here. He refused to believe that all later Soul Ascension Pills had been made this way.

Time slipped by as Xiao Yi continued searching through the records...

A month later, in a spacious residence in Shrek City.

This quiet courtyard was one Xiao Yi had bought. The academy had also offered him some discounts and assistance.

At that moment, Xiao Yi sat cross-legged in the center of the courtyard, several medicinal herbs hovering in his hands.

He had spent nearly all his time in the Library Pavilion lately. At last, he found a detailed account of how to make the Soul Ascension Pill. Only after tracking down the elder in charge of the matter at the academy had he finally figured out the key.

This so-called process of pill-making wasn't complicated. At its core, a fire-attribute Soul Master burned the herbs to extract their medicinal liquids, then used spiritual power to split the liquids into threads.

These threads wound and circled like the patterns of a Soul Guidance Array. He had to keep directing them with his spiritual power, weaving the different liquids together until they reached a point of balance, whereupon they condensed into a pill.

Xiao Yi had also discovered why so few pills were widely available.

The Soul Masters of the original Douluo Continent had focused more on cultivating themselves, so they only dared use pills that removed impurities and left no serious hidden problems behind.

It wasn't that pills with other effects couldn't be made. Rather, most Soul Masters' flames couldn't fully remove the harmful impurities in herbs, causing the pills to inflict irreversible damage on a Soul Master's later cultivation.

The pills on the Sun Moon Continent were much the same, except they had Soul Tools to assist with the process. Their ability to remove impurities was far better than that of the original Douluo Continent, so they could make a wider variety of pills. As for the side effects...

Xiao Yi was left somewhat speechless. It wasn't that the original Douluo Continent lacked anything related to alchemy. The problem was that extracting medicinal liquids was already difficult, and their Soul Tool technology was too limited. They were even less capable of developing Soul Tools to assist with pill-making.

He was feeling his way across the river by stepping on the stones left by those who came before, but why were the stones so slippery?

Xiao Yi stilled his breathing and focused. Soul Power surged in his hands, and the Fallen Heart Flame ignited in an instant. As his hands formed seals, spiritual power and Soul Power merged, lifting the herbs and sending them flying into the Fallen Heart Flame.

Controlling flames was as effortless as moving his own arms to Xiao Yi. He didn't need to set aside spiritual power to control their temperature.

After all, to the people of Douluo Continent, a Martial Soul was almost like another organ. Xiao Yi only needed to control how the herbs blended together.

The medicinal liquids were purified and spun within the flames, forming countless droplets of different colors in the air. Threads began to separate from the droplets and flow toward the point where Xiao Yi's spiritual power converged.

A vortex formed in the central flame. Medicinal liquids of different colors flowed into it and spun into a circle. If anyone probed inside with spiritual power, they would see the threads circling the center along a set of unusual paths.

Compared with the original method, this was a complete transformation. The ingredients blended together along the pattern on the circle's cross-section, allowing herbs with complementary effects to combine far more effectively—turning addition into multiplication.

At last, the vortex sphere shrank at astonishing speed. Xiao Yi drew it into his palm, and the Fallen Heart Flame circled around the pill before finally forming a green pellet.

Xiao Yi let out a long breath.

"No wonder you need to be at least a fire-attribute Soul King to try making even the most ordinary pills. The spiritual power required is no joke."

If not for his naturally powerful soul as a transmigrator and the advantage of his eye Martial Soul, attempting this at the Soul Ancestor stage would have been difficult.

His spiritual power had reached the level of a Soul Saint, which in later generations was known as the Spirit Sea Realm.

His method was also more complicated than the one used on the original Douluo Continent. That was what Xiao Yi needed most. It was like playing a game: good equipment didn't make you skilled; you still needed ability.

With the power of Heavenly Flames, the purification was beyond what ordinary flames could achieve. Herbs that left other Soul Masters helpless were completely at Xiao Yi's mercy. Harmful substances that affected one's potential? They didn't exist, all right? Not at all.

Looking at the High-Grade Soul Ascension Pill in his hand, Xiao Yi felt satisfied. He wasn't going to research new formulas for now. He lacked both the knowledge and the money to support that kind of work.

This Soul Ascension Pill had been made simply by replacing the ingredients with herbs that had matured for longer. Ordinary flames couldn't fully remove the impurities from those herbs, so they couldn't be used to make pills.

An ordinary Soul Ascension Pill could only be taken once. Taking more would affect one's potential, and the Soul Power it provided could only raise the level of a Soul Master below Soul Elder by one rank.

Xiao Yi's version was completely different. It had no side effect that affected potential, but its medicinal properties were strong. Anyone below Soul Elder couldn't use it, and it could reliably raise a Soul Master below Soul King by one rank. This was the strongest pill Xiao Yi had made so far. The only reason he couldn't go further was that he had no herbs of the same kind that had matured for longer.

He had also made pills that reliably raised the Soul Power of anyone below Soul Ancestor by one rank, as well as the original version without side effects. Though those had no side effects, taking too many was pointless. After two of each kind, one developed resistance, and taking more was a pure waste. Even so, they were still absurdly powerful.

He had divided them into three simple grades based on how much Soul Power they provided: low, medium, and high. The one he held now was the highest grade.

He had gone through quite a lot of herbs of different ages during this period. He hadn't succeeded every time, and he hadn't even known what some of the rare herbs in the White Tiger Duke Mansion were for. Had the people of Douluo Continent really been eating them raw all this time?

Xiao Yi was fairly satisfied with what he had achieved. The Soul Ascension Pill wasn't the main point; the important thing was that he had worked out the process and developed a more complete method of alchemy. From now on, he only needed to study the unique herbs of Douluo Continent. Then more pills would appear in this world.

Xiao Yi slowly rose to his feet, put the High-Grade Soul Ascension Pill in a jade bottle, and stored it in his Storage Soul Tool.

During this period, he had made several grades of Soul Ascension Pills, from low to high. Besides giving him practice, they could also be taken by him and those around him. Some had gentle medicinal properties, while others were much stronger.

After stretching, Xiao Yi headed inside. He planned to rest for a while. His routine had been extremely regular this past month.

He spent the day in the Library Pavilion, went to Mu En in the afternoon for guidance, and came here in the evening to study the properties of herbs or make pills. From time to time, Tang Ya and the other girl would come by, and the three of them would share a meal and spend a quiet moment together.

Jiang Nannan was still a little awkward, but she had grown used to Xiao Yi's occasional affectionate gestures, and their relationship was gradually warming.

Just as he was about to go to sleep, he heard a knock at the courtyard gate.