The Pill Refining Assembly: Dual Flames Break the Deadlock, and the System Template Crumbles

The "Heaven Pill Assembly" of the Jia Ma Empire opened as scheduled at the foot of the Sunset Mountain Range. Hundreds of bronze pill cauldrons stood in neat rows across the plaza, the "System Certified" runes carved into them flickering with a ghostly blue glow. Xiao Feng stood beside Xiao Yan in a dark, patterned outfit of the Xiao Clan. The Emperor Scale markings beneath his sleeves rose and fell with his breathing as he keenly sensed the Soul-Devouring Insect aura seeping through the gaps in the cauldrons. "Xiao Yanzi, these cauldrons have been turned into insect nests. Ten alchemists' skeletons are buried beneath each one."

Xiao Yan's pupils contracted at his words. He crushed a "Basic Pill Recipe Jade Slip" issued by the system between his fingertips. As the jade slip shattered, half a Soul-Devouring Insect pupa wrapped in code fell out, its surface still clinging to the Soul Clan's distinctive curse markings. He swept his gaze over the blue-robed alchemists moving in unison across the plaza. The "System Alchemy Badges" at their waists gave off faint mental ripples, and they bowed to the cauldrons in perfect synchrony, like puppets on strings. "Even the angle of their kowtows is exactly the same. The Soul Clan has turned this entire assembly into a puppet farm."

At the opening ceremony, Thunder Venerable, the Pavilion Master of the Heaven Pill Pavilion, stepped onto the high platform. His gait was stiff and mechanical, and code patterns were faintly visible beneath the skin showing at his cuffs. He held aloft the "System Certified Pill Flag," his voice stuttering like electronic speech. "This year's assembly... shall strictly follow the Heavenly Dao's pill recipes. Anyone whose alchemy deviates from the prescribed steps... will be deemed to have blasphemed against the Heavenly Dao and executed without mercy!" Before his words had even faded, transparent code barriers rose around the plaza, trapping all the alchemists inside. The words "Plot Locked: Alchemy Template Standardization" drifted across the barriers.

First Trial: Basic Flame Control!

As the bell rang, all hundred pill cauldrons ignited at once. Xiao Yan swept his gaze across the plaza and saw every alchemist summon Beast Flame and use the "Three-Fold Wave" flame-control technique. Each flame stood precisely three inches high, and even the frequency with which they fanned their sleeves was identical. He curled his lip in a cold smile, while two flames quietly sprang to life in his palm—one crimson, the Flame Emperor Fire; the other chaotic, the Emperor Flame. The two flames melded in his palm, becoming a pale golden "Dual Flame Heart Fire."

Ding! Non-system flame detected in use by host Xiao Yan. "Violation Warning" triggered!

Protagonist Halo reduced by 200 points. Alchemy success rate forcibly lowered by 50%!

As the system notification boomed in his mind, the bronze badge at Xiao Yan's waist spat sparks. He crushed it casually into dust. "Halo? It's just a placebo the Soul Clan gave its puppets." He snatched up a "Blood Lotus Essence Leaf" and ignored the order in the system's pill recipe, adding the ingredients that required fierce heat first, then blending in the nourishing herbs. A roar like dragons and tigers erupted from the pill cauldron, startling the alchemists at the neighboring cauldrons into turning their heads. But their eyes held nothing but mechanical blue light, not a trace of shock.

"Blasphemy! You dare alter the Heavenly Dao's pill recipe?" Thunder Venerable roared, sending out a chain forged from code. The words "Violators Die" flashed red along its length. "You think the Xiao Clan's backing gives you free rein?"

Xiao Feng took half a step forward. The Emperor Flame turned into a net that blotted out the sky in his palm, easily melting the chain. "The Heavenly Dao? The so-called Heavenly Dao you speak of is nothing but a pigpen the Soul Clan uses to raise mortals. Xiao Yanzi, show them how the true art of alchemy breaks this deadlock."

Xiao Yan understood at once. Inside the pill cauldron, the Dual Flame Heart Fire took the shape of a yin-yang fish. The Emperor Flame was yang, burning away the impurities in the ingredients; the Flame Emperor Fire was yin, nourishing their essence. This technique of "yin and yang in mutual harmony" had been created by Yao Lao using the Flame Mantra. Now, even under the system's suppression, Xiao Yan's display of it drew the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the cauldron, as rivers rushing into the sea. A vortex of spiritual energy formed above his head, and within it sat the faint shadow of an ancient alchemy grandmaster.

Ding! Host Xiao Yan has triggered the hidden "Defy Heaven and Refine a Pill" storyline!

Alchemy technique beyond the template detected. System activating "Pill-Destroying Program"!

Thunder Venerable sneered and produced a "System Pill-Destroying Talisman." Countless Soul-Devouring Insects crawled out of its runes, swarming toward Xiao Yan's pill cauldron like a black tide. Xiao Feng had been ready for this. His Emperor Flame Domain burst open, and orange-red flames descended like a canopy. The insects shrieked in the scorching heat, and just before they turned to ash, they spelled out the character "Soul" in midair—confirming Xiao Feng's suspicion. The Heaven Pill Pavilion had long since been infiltrated by the Soul Clan.

"That's all you've got?" Xiao Feng flicked his sleeves, scattering thousands of Emperor Flame sparks. They landed precisely in the other alchemists' cauldrons, helping them burn through the shackles of the system's code. "Open your eyes and look! The pill recipes you revere as the Heavenly Dao are nothing but parasites the Soul Clan uses to drain your spiritual energy!"

The alchemists touched by the sparks shuddered violently, and the blue light in their eyes gradually faded. One of them clutched his cauldron and wept bitterly. "I... I actually used my master's bones to make a Soul-Devouring Insect Nest..." "My pill recipe... was code bought with my daughter's soul..."

When Xiao Yan's pill cauldron exploded with a roar, gasps rang across the plaza. A pill wreathed in seven-colored radiance soared into the air. Pill clouds gathered into the phantom shapes of nine giant dragons—the legendary "Nine Dragons Pulling the Cauldron" phenomenon, said to appear only when a Ninth-grade Pill was refined! Thunder Venerable's face turned as pale as paper. The Soul-Devouring Insect Nest beneath his system robe had gone out of control, crawling out of his sleeves and exposing his identity as a Soul Clan lackey before everyone.

"N-Ninth-grade Pill!" He trembled all over. "The system's pill recipes only go up to sixth grade. How could you possibly..."

Xiao Yan approached with the pill in hand, the Dual Flame Heart Fire dancing at his fingertips. The power of burning destruction mixed into the pill fragrance burned a hole through Thunder Venerable's robe, revealing a back covered in insect nests beneath it. "Because the true way of alchemy has never been something code could define." He turned toward the corner of the plaza, where several dark figures were dragging a blue-clad figure toward a nearby alley. It was Xiao Yi Xian! The system had turned her Woeful Poison Body a bluish purple, and she had clearly fallen unconscious.