Next,
Lin Changheng went about his daily business in an orderly fashion, his life already settled into a familiar routine.
He traveled between his rented cave dwelling and the Xu Family Alchemy Shop, occasionally extending his route to the Li Family Spirit Meat Shop once a month.
With the boost to his comprehension from the First-Level Origin Treasure Seed, Lin Changheng steadily advanced toward mastery of the Flowing Fire Art. His progress was gratifying.
The same was true of his alchemy.
The powerful positive feedback left Lin Changheng utterly absorbed, lost in his pursuits.
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Lin Changheng was alone in the scorching alchemy room. He looked somewhat tired, but he was struggling to contain the joy in his eyes.
Three long wooden boxes lay before him.
That was right—three!
Their lids had all been lifted, revealing heaps of spent and inferior pills inside.
For the first two months, Master Mo had continued as before, refining pills every other day, working one day and resting the next. He'd had it easy.
But after an urgent letter arrived from the Xu Family,
Master Mo's leisurely, retirement-like life was completely torn to shreds.
He was now refining pills twice every three days, making two batches in a day, then resting for one.
Although Master Mo hadn't revealed what was going on, Lin Changheng had carefully noticed that
whereas Master Mo had previously made one batch each of the Wood Origin Pill and the Crimson Flame Pill every day, he was now making three batches of the Crimson Flame Pill and one batch of the Wood Origin Pill every two days.
This meant that, for some reason, the Xu Family's demand for the Crimson Flame Pill had risen sharply.
But that was very good news for Lin Changheng.
People's joys and sorrows weren't shared, but the universe always balanced the scales!
Master Mo's formerly cheerful mood had gradually vanished from his face as he worked overtime refining pills, transferring into Lin Changheng's heart instead.
He just couldn't show it.
Besides, Master Mo was old and frail. Such an intense alchemy schedule made it hard for him to concentrate and left him struggling to keep up physically.
Though his alchemy skills were well-honed, the proportion of spent and inferior pills inevitably climbed from nearly twenty percent to almost thirty!
As a result, the Spirit Snatch progress of Lin Changheng's Fire Crow Treasure Seed had leapt from nine or ten points a month to eighteen or nineteen, nearly twenty!
He communicated with the Origin Cauldron using his mind.
[Fire Crow Treasure Seed · Spirit Snatching Transformation in Progress] [Spirit Snatch: 82/100]
"Success is within reach!"
After murmuring the words, Lin Changheng focused and reached out toward the spent pills.
Whoosh!
In an instant, the essence and blood within all the spent pills were drained.
"No need to rush. One step at a time."
Without hurrying, he dealt with the spent pills as usual before moving on to draw roughly half the essence and blood from the inferior pills.
An hour later,
the pills before him had all been processed and packed away separately. Lin Changheng stared fixedly at them, but his mind was already elsewhere.
It had sunk into his sea of consciousness, settling upon the Origin Cauldron at its center.
[Fire Crow Treasure Seed · Spirit Snatching Transformation in Progress] [Spirit Snatch: 100/100]
Then, beneath Lin Changheng's watchful gaze, azure radiance rose and fell at the mouth of the cauldron,
and a crimson Treasure Seed on the verge of solidifying quietly divided into three illusory seeds.
[Fire Crow Treasure Seed: First Layer] [Choose one Demon Race innate talent to refine into the seed: Fire Control, Breath Attack, Beak Strike]
"Refine Fire Control!"
Lin Changheng had already considered the matter thoroughly and made his choice. There was no need to hesitate.
The other two Treasure Seeds withered in an instant, their hazy aura and Dao resonance flowing into the seed representing Fire Control.
[Acquired: Fire Control Strange Art: Path Glimpse]
With a thought, Lin Changheng plucked the Treasure Seed, and it slipped into his mind.
He felt a slight warmth in his soul.
"Vmmm—"
A soft sound rippled through his mind. Warmth spread through his body, as if flames had enveloped him.
When he opened his eyes, he found that everything in his vision was cloaked in a crimson halo. Even the lingering flames in the alchemy furnace looked entirely different...
As Lin Changheng saw it, the remaining fire in the furnace was clearly a fire seed leaping about, with fire spirit energy gathering, surging, and bursting forth around it.
Thoughtfully, he slowly raised his right hand, spread his fingers, and gently moved them.
To his surprise, the remaining fire swayed from side to side in time with his movements, like an obedient pet.
At the same time, a realization arose in Lin Changheng's heart.
"Such docile flames that obey my every whim... this must be the effect of Fire Control."
After carefully sensing it again, he discovered to his delight that he was not only more attuned to the remaining fire in the furnace, but also to the fire spirit energy drifting all around him. He could manipulate it more easily, too.
"Come."
With a thought, Lin Changheng beckoned to the remaining fire in the furnace. It immediately floated out and hovered above his palm.
The flame curled obediently around his fingers, yet brought no pain from the heat.
[Effect: Basic control over ordinary flames; slightly enhances fire-based techniques]
Lin Changheng noticed this and looked puzzled. "This level of control over fire is only 'basic'?"
Over the past six months, he had watched Master Mo—a middle-grade first-tier alchemist at the fifth layer of Qi Refining Realm—refine pills more than a dozen times. Master Mo's control over fire seemed only slightly stronger than his own...
It was worth mentioning that in the nearly ten years before this, Lin Changheng had watched Master Mo refine pills fewer times up close than he had in these six months.
As he saw it, the turning point had come after the family increased Master Mo's alchemy assignments.
During this period, Master Mo seemed to be deliberately training him.
"To help him shoulder the heavy burden of pill refinement?" Lin Changheng smiled. He certainly wouldn't refuse; he was happy to go along with it and became even more enthusiastic about his work.
"Once the Double Fire Crow Treasure Seed is complete, could my control over fire surpass that of a middle-grade alchemist who's practiced for years?"
Middle-grade alchemists held a certain status in Zichuan Market and in the Xu Family.
"And just how much of a boost will 'slightly' give to fire-based techniques?"
With his thoughts burning bright, even the rosy clouds on the horizon became a reflection of his excitement.
At last, his shift ended. Lin Changheng went straight back to his Grade-D cave dwelling.
"Fire Bullet Art!"
After closing the door, Lin Changheng immediately gave it a try.
He formed a hand seal with one hand and chanted an incantation. About three breaths later, a ball of fire the size of an adult's fist appeared in his palm, crackling as it burned.
This was one of the three low-level spells Lin Changheng practiced.
The other two were the wood-based Entanglement Art and the earth-based Earth Shield Art.
One for offense, one for control, and one for defense—a sensible combination.
The Fire Bullet Art in particular packed a tremendous punch.
But it took a long time to form, and it flew slowly, making it hard to hit a target. Even so, most low-level cultivators favored the spell. As long as it hit someone squarely, they'd be sprawled on the ground, and the fight would be over.
Lin Changheng didn't release it. Each fireball used up twenty percent of his magic power, and he couldn't afford to waste it. After drawing it back, he formed another hand seal, guiding the spell again while applying the Fire Control Strange Art to it.
In less than two breaths!
"Fsssh!"
Like oil poured onto a fire, the fist-sized fireball blazed fiercely in an instant, swelling to more than one and a half times its original size. Crackling bursts rang out without end, and sparks flew in every direction.
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