Alchemy

Waterfall Cave.

The Moonlight Stones embedded in the stone wall emitted a bright glow, dispelling the darkness within the cave as though it were daylight.

"Splash, splash~"

From time to time, water splashed in through the cave mouth, causing Ling Er to dodge from side to side. The little fellow clearly disliked water, yet she was extremely playful and soon began having the time of her life.

Compared to Ling Er's antics,

Yao Yan was immersed in cultivation, absorbing the gains from this battle.

His entire body was submerged in the Diamond Fruit's juice. Forming hand seals, he used the method recorded in the Indestructible Diamond Body to circulate his Blood Qi and absorb the Diamond Fruit's Medicinal Power. At the same time, he used Rank 6 Body Tempering Pills to temper his body, rapidly increasing its strength.

The tyrannical Medicinal Power swept through his entire body. Waves of numb, prickling pain struck him incessantly, as though blades were carving through his flesh, making it almost unbearable.

Fortunately, Yao Yan had already grown accustomed to this pain. Compared to what Hun Xuzi had once done to him, the pain brought by body refinement was nothing much. Moreover, every bit of pain brought an increase in strength, enough for him to ignore everything else.

A long while later,

Yao Yan raised his head from the now-transparent medicinal liquid. A phantom of Golden Flame flickered in his opened eyes, while invisible Soul Power surged from between his brows and swept across his body, allowing him to clearly sense the changes within himself. As the power of his Blood Qi boiled, his skin instantly turned bronze, its color deeper than before and now speckled with tiny hints of silver.

He frowned slightly and muttered, "The cultivation difficulty of the Indestructible Diamond Body Second Level has increased. Reaching mastery will probably take several years. As for the Third Level... following that logic, it will take at least several decades."

At that moment, he realized he had somewhat underestimated the difficulty of cultivating this Body Refining Dou Skill. It was undoubtedly impossible to maintain his previous Cultivation Speed.

At least, this kind of bitter cultivation would no longer be enough.

At the same time, he understood that his rapid entry into mastery of the First Level had entirely been because he had devoured the Dou Di Bloodline Power of a core member of the Stone Clan, borrowing the other party's strength to complete that step. From then on, he could only rely on himself—unless he once again used the Tunling Clan bloodline's talent to devour the Blood Qi of others.

Of course, core members of Dou God Clans would naturally be the best choice.

The Three Great Magical Beast Clans would work as well...

Thinking of this, Yao Yan closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his gaze had cleared somewhat. He scooped up some water and washed his face. He felt that he was becoming a little possessed, his mind filled with thoughts of improving his cultivation through devouring others. Sure enough, taking shortcuts was an instinct everyone possessed.

If one could cheat or take a shortcut, who would be willing to cultivate bitterly on their own?

But if he could not perfectly control this power, he would inevitably become its slave, completely lose his mind, become a demon controlled by the Tunling Clan bloodline, and slaughter people everywhere.

Thinking of what had happened when he devoured that Stone Clan member, Yao Yan immediately took a deep breath and suppressed the restlessness in his heart. He then closed his eyes again, leaned against the edge of the bathing tub, emptied his mind, and allowed Heaven and Earth Energy to flow into his body as he felt the Spirit Crystal within his soul slowly release Spiritual Qi.

The Dou Qi in his body had already begun to crystallize. He was not far from breaking through to Da Dou Shi.

He knew it.

This period of secluded cultivation and his Strength Surges had made him increasingly restless, filling him with an urge to think himself above everyone else.

The influence of his Previous Life was also fading more and more.

"Ying ying~"

Suddenly, a crisp, pleasant cry rang by his ear. As he opened his eyes, a tiny, adorable green-furred fox came into view. Her fluffy ears drooped at the sides of her head, and many droplets of water clung to her fur, making her look like a drenched chicken. Her emerald-green eyes stared at him pitifully.

Seeing Ling Er, Yao Yan's mood calmed considerably. He reached out to stroke her head and chuckled. "Hungry? Don't worry. I'll refine some for you in a moment."

Cultivation should not only be about pursuing strength. The process itself was also important.

Such as the people and things one encountered along the way.

He planned to focus on alchemy for the next period of time, polish his State of Mind, and sort through what Hun Xuzi had taught him.

"Ying ying~"

Hearing that there would be food, Ling Er's ears instantly perked up. She rubbed against Yao Yan affectionately, not caring whether he was still wet.

Sometimes, he truly wondered whether he had been mistaken.

Yao Yan could not help laughing inwardly at the sight. Who could have imagined that the legendary Living Flame would look like this?

He cleaned himself up, then draped a thin shirt over himself. With a raise of his hand, he took his medicine cauldron from his Storage Ring—a Mysterious Yellow Sixth-Order Medicine Cauldron. Yao Nong had given it to him for use, and it could withstand part of the energy impact from Rank 6 Pills.

Bang!

The Three-legged Medicine Cauldron landed steadily on the ground.

Yao Yan then took out a meditation cushion and sat down cross-legged. Raising his hand, he used Illusory Gold Flame to ignite the medicine cauldron and maintained it with Dou Qi. He then took out all kinds of medicinal ingredients and tossed them inside, using the Illusory Gold Flame to burn away their Impurities and refine their essence. Finally, he used Soul Power to condense them into pill after pill.

In a short while, pills condensed from the essence of the medicinal ingredients took shape. Under the control of his Soul Power, they floated out.

"Whoosh~"

A green blur flashed past and pounced toward the flying pills, only to be bound in midair by Yao Yan's Soul Power. She could only keep flailing her little paws.

"They just came out of the furnace. Why are you in such a hurry?"

Yao Yan was amused and scolded her with a laugh.

Unable to break free, Ling Er looked at Yao Yan pitifully and let out a series of ying ying sounds.

Yao Yan smiled and gently set her down. He then controlled the pills and sent them into the Medicine Bottles he had prepared beforehand. Once he had filled ten bottles, he handed one to Ling Er and stored the rest in his Storage Ring, causing Ling Er to circle around him unhappily with a full Medicine Bottle in her mouth.

"They're all yours. I'll give you more after you finish them."

Yao Yan rubbed her head and soothed her.

At his words,

Ling Er finally gave up. She leaped into his arms, found a comfortable spot, and began enjoying her "delicacy."

Yao Yan stroked her head. After pondering for a moment, he took out all the Storage Rings belonging to Mu Xiao and the Mercenaries. His Soul Power entered them, and he began searching for valuable items. Before long, he had taken out a large quantity of medicinal ingredients and Dou Skill Scrolls, along with many miscellaneous items that all needed sorting.

His gaze quickly swept over the Dou Skills. The highest-ranked Dou Skills cultivated by these people were merely Profound High-Rank, holding little value for him.

Dou Skills valued quality over quantity.

In the Original Work, Xiao Yan had used a single fire lotus all the way to the Great Thousand World.

His gaze soon settled on the miscellaneous items. Quite a few were maps collected by the Mercenaries, recording the various dangerous areas of the Shennong Mountain Range and the locations of precious medicinal ingredients. These had been scouted out by Mercenaries risking their lives, making them quite valuable.

However, he currently had no interest in organizing them.

Yao Yan sorted these items by category and stored them in his Storage Ring. He then turned his attention to the medicinal ingredients, intending to refine them all into pills.

To use this opportunity to settle himself.