Refining Four Furnaces at Once

The next day, the sun rose.

Yao Chen's soul floated out of the black ring. After spending the entire day calming his mind and focusing his thoughts, he had adjusted himself to his peak condition. His soul force was vast, and his eyes gleamed with confidence and solemnity.

Refining four Eighth-Tier Pills at once was an immensely difficult challenge, even for him at the height of his powers. There could be no room for error.

"Sir, this old man is ready to begin," Yao Chen said respectfully to Lin Hai, who stood quietly to the side.

Lin Hai gave a slight nod and said nothing, merely flicking his sleeve.

A vast, invisible force instantly enveloped the entire back mountain of the Xiao Clan, completely sealing off the area from the outside world to prevent the commotion to come from attracting unwanted attention.

Yao Chen took a deep breath, his gaze suddenly turning razor-sharp. He formed a series of profound hand seals and barked, "Rise!"

A surging wave of pale Bone Spirit Cold Flame burst forth. Rather than forming a single cauldron, it took shape under his exquisite control, tracing and coalescing directly in the air into four enormous medicinal cauldrons, each made entirely of Heavenly Flame!

Every flame cauldron was solid and substantial. Flames swirled across their surfaces, runes flickered into view, and astonishing heat and energy fluctuations radiated from them.

Next, he split his soul force into four streams. Like the nimblest of hands, they lifted dozens of precious medicinal ingredients from the four jade boxes on the stone table and tossed them simultaneously into the four flame cauldrons.

The sight was breathtaking!

Refining the ingredients for four Eighth-Tier Pills at once demanded a degree of control over flames and soul force that was practically monstrous!

The slightest deviation could lead to uneven extraction of the medicinal properties—or even burn the ingredients to ashes.

Under the scorching Bone Spirit Cold Flame, the ingredients quickly withered and melted, yielding drops of incomparably pure medicinal essence in a variety of colors.

Yao Chen concentrated completely. Tiny beads of sweat even appeared on his forehead as his soul force surged with unprecedented intensity. He precisely controlled the changing temperatures inside all four flame cauldrons, ensuring that every batch of medicinal essence was refined to perfection.

The refining process lasted a full two hours, during which he could not afford to lose focus for even an instant.

When all the ingredients had been refined and clusters of radiant, surging medicinal essence hovered in each of the four flame cauldrons, even Yao Chen felt a trace of exhaustion. But excitement outweighed it.

Next came the fusion.

This step was even more dangerous. Dozens of medicinal essences with different properties and violent energies had to be fused perfectly. The slightest mistake could trigger an energy explosion and ruin all their efforts.

Yao Chen held his breath and focused, his hands flashing through a rapid sequence of seals.

Under his guidance, the medicinal essences in the four flame cauldrons began to draw slowly closer and merge... The process was slow and nerve-racking. Energy fluctuations shook violently, yet Lin Hai's barrier locked them firmly in place.

Another hour passed. At last, four fist-sized proto-pills, vivid with color and beginning to show Pill Patterns across their surfaces, slowly took shape inside the four flame cauldrons!

The astonishing medicinal fragrance almost seemed to turn tangible. Though the barrier held most of it back, a trace still drifted out, leaving Xiao Yan and Xiao Yixian, cultivating in the distance, feeling refreshed and invigorated as the spiritual energy coursing through their bodies quickened.

The final steps were nurturing the pills and imbuing them with spirit. These were the most crucial stages in completing Eighth-Tier Pills. They needed to absorb vast quantities of the world's energy and draw down pill lightning to temper them!

"Congeal!"

Yao Chen roared, driving his soul force and Bone Spirit Cold Flame to their limits!

The four proto-pills spun wildly like four black holes, greedily devouring the energy of the world around them!

Even the barrier Lin Hai had set up rippled faintly, deliberately loosening its hold on the energy and allowing an even more tremendous force to pour into the back mountain.

The sky darkened in an instant. Dark clouds gathered at an astonishing speed, and deep peals of thunder resounded across the heavens!

This time, because four Supreme Pills were being refined at once, the pill lightning's might far surpassed that of the previous occasion!

Silver snakes danced wildly within the dense clouds, and faint traces of cyan light even flickered among them!

The destructive pressure made everyone in Wutan City feel their hearts seize and their legs go weak. One after another, they stared in terror toward the Xiao Clan.

"The pill lightning is here! And it's four layers stacked together!" Yao Chen's expression was utterly grave. The lightning's power might already be enough to threaten an ordinary Spirit Venerable!

Yet Lin Hai merely glanced at the terrifying pill lightning about to strike and raised his hand once more.

Again, he simply pressed down lightly.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no dazzling clash of energy.

The terrifying fourfold pill lightning, powerful enough to flatten all of Wutan City and a hundred miles around it, was forced back into the clouds as if by an invisible cosmic hand!

The silver and cyan lightning roiling across the sky let out a string of muffled rumbles, then obediently retreated into the clouds like a flock of docile sheep. Then... the clouds dispersed, the thunder faded, and the sky cleared once more, as though nothing had happened.

Yao Chen: "..." (He was already too numb to feel shocked.)

He composed himself and devoted all his strength to the final stage of nurturing the pills.

A moment later, four brilliant pillars of light shot into the sky from the four flame cauldrons. The dense medicinal fragrance spread through the air, and even a single breath of it seemed to loosen the bottleneck in one's cultivation.

Four pills the size of dragon's eyes rose slowly into the air, round and flawless, their bodies radiating a regal purple-gold luster. Natural Great Dao Pill Patterns marked their surfaces, and they pulsed faintly with abundant spiritual awareness, as if they were alive.

Eighth-Tier Pills, Supreme Pills—four completed! And every one was of the highest quality!

Yao Chen let out a long breath. His soul form looked somewhat translucent, clearly drained, but his face was filled with a tired yet satisfied smile.

Successfully refining four Eighth-Tier Pills at once was a landmark achievement, even in his career as an alchemist!

He carefully placed the four Supreme Pills, each radiating terrifying energy, into the jade bottles he had prepared and respectfully handed them to Lin Hai. "I have fulfilled your expectations, sir."

Lin Hai took the bottles and glanced at Yao Chen, who looked somewhat weak. With a flick of his finger, a force of law entered Yao Chen's soul form and helped him recover.

"Well done. Rest and recover. There are still a great many pills for you to refine," Lin Hai said calmly.

Feeling his soul force rapidly recover, Yao Chen's spirits lifted. He bowed and said, "I am at your service, sir!"