Chrysanthemum Douluo was wearing a soot-covered handyman's uniform, his face smeared with charcoal.
When he heard Fa Ma's words, he shuddered in fright and instinctively covered his chest. "P-President?"
"What do you want to see my Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum for?"
"Cut the nonsense! If I tell you to release it, then release it!"
Fa Ma urged him impatiently. "I suspect the material of your Martial Soul would make a perfect filter!"
A filter?!
Chrysanthemum Douluo froze.
His was a top-grade Immortal Herb Martial Soul, the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, which could temper the body into an Indestructible Diamond Body if consumed. And in this old man's eyes, it was something to use for filtering medicinal dregs?!
"Get a move on! Stop dragging your feet!"
"If you delay my alchemy, I could refine you into a pill and it still wouldn't be enough to make up for it!"
So, under the pressure of Fa Ma, a Five-Star Dou Emperor, Chrysanthemum Douluo released his Martial Soul with tears in his eyes and a tremble in his limbs.
Buzz!
Soon, a huge chrysanthemum with purple-gold petals slowly bloomed in his palm.
Though the plane's suppression had dimmed its radiance considerably, its unique Immortal Herb aura remained.
"Good! What a treasure!"
The instant Fa Ma saw the flower, he grew so excited he slapped his thigh. "The veins in these petals make a natural spiritual-energy sieve!"
"And the metal-attributed veins are just right for absorbing the fire poison in the Red Flame Dragon Fruit!"
"It's practically a natural filter for medicinal dregs!"
With that, Fa Ma grabbed Chrysanthemum Douluo by the wrist and dragged him straight over to the boiling-hot pill furnace.
"Come, come, stick your hand in!"
"Spread your Martial Soul! Hold it over the furnace's fire outlet!"
"I'm going to use your Martial Soul to filter the impurities out of this medicinal liquid!"
Stick it in the pill furnace?!
Looking at the blazing Beast Fire, Chrysanthemum Douluo turned green. "N-no, President! That's Beast Fire!"
"My Martial Soul may be plant-type, but it can't withstand that kind of burning!"
"And it's my lifebound Martial Soul, connected to my soul! If it gets burned up, I'll turn into an idiot!!"
"Oh, give it a rest! Why all the nonsense?"
Fa Ma was focused entirely on alchemy. Why would he care whether a slave lived or died?
He sent out a blast of Dou Qi, forcibly controlling Chrysanthemum Douluo's arm.
Then he shoved the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum straight into the scorching mouth of the pill furnace!
"AAAHHHHH!!"
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!
A shrill scream instantly rang through the alchemy room!
The moment the delicate Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum touched the high-temperature medicinal liquid and flames, Chrysanthemum Douluo felt as if his soul were being roasted on a red-hot iron plate!
The agony was ten thousand times worse than any pain of the flesh!
"Hold still! Don't shake!"
Fa Ma completely ignored his screams, directing him with a solemn expression instead. "Spread the petals a little! Yes! Just like that!"
"Hold that position! The fire poison is being absorbed!"
"Heh, heh, heh, this works even better than the Heavenly Silkworm Mesh I bought for hundreds of thousands of gold coins!"
And so, under the horrified gaze of the entire Douluo Continent,
Chrysanthemum Douluo, once second only to one in Spirit Hall and the man who treasured flowers and plants above all else, became a living funnel!
Scalding red medicinal liquid washed over his Martial Soul again and again.
His petals forcibly absorbed the fire poison, while the purified medicinal liquid streamed down through the flower's center.
As the fire poison ate away at it, the once purple-gold Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum quickly began to blacken and wither—
"My flower, my flower..."
Chrysanthemum Douluo was in such agony that snot and tears ran down his face. As he watched his beloved Martial Soul slowly turn to charcoal, his heart bled.
"That should do it!"
Half an hour later,
as the last wisp of black smoke was drawn into the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, Fa Ma was overjoyed and slapped the pill furnace. "Form the pill!!"
Boom!
A smooth, plump red pill, exuding a rich medicinal fragrance, flew out of the furnace and landed neatly in a jade bottle.
"It's done! A peak Fifth-grade Pill, a superb Spirit Fusion Pill!"
Fa Ma looked at the pill, not a trace of impurity in it, and grinned from ear to ear.
Nearby, Chrysanthemum Douluo lay limp on the ground like a discarded rag.
His right hand remained outstretched, but the once-gorgeous Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum in his palm had become a charred, stinking lump.
His aura had plummeted from Titled Douluo to Soul Saint in an instant!
His Martial Soul was damaged, his foundation destroyed!
"Mm, you did a great job helping with this batch of pills."
In high spirits, Fa Ma casually grabbed a handful of leftover scraps from the table and tossed them in front of Chrysanthemum Douluo. "Here, have some Energy Recovery Powder dregs. I'll reward you with them."
"Go back and take care of yourself. Get that flower of yours growing again."
"When I refine Sixth-Grade Pills next time, I'll need to use it again."
Use it again?!
At those words, Chrysanthemum Douluo's eyes rolled back, and he foamed at the mouth before passing out completely.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Douluo Continent.
Spirit Hall, from Ghost Douluo's perspective.
"Yue Guan!!!"
Looking at the chrysanthemum that had turned to charcoal and his old partner twitching on the ground,
an unprecedented wave of ghostly aura burst from Ghost Douluo.
"How dare they—"
"That's his life! It's the thing he treasured most in the world!"
"They actually used it as a filter?"
"After using it up, they still expect him to grow it back so they can use it again?"
"This is sheer hell!!"
Gui Mei knelt on the ground, his fingernails digging deep into his flesh.
He hated them!
But he was even more afraid!
He knew that if his Gui Mei Martial Soul had been sent there instead, he probably wouldn't have been used as a filter. Those alchemists would have seized him outright and refined him into a Ten Thousand Soul Banner or a Heavenly Demon Puppet!
Sunset Forest, Dugu Bo.
Seeing what had happened to Chrysanthemum Douluo, Poison Douluo instinctively touched his Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Martial Soul.
"Thank goodness, thank goodness I'm the one who plays with poison—"
"But if I went there, would they use me as a poison ingredient?"
"Or just toss me into a pot and stew me?"
At the thought, Dugu Bo couldn't help shuddering.
He suddenly felt that even though people hunted him in Douluo Continent, at least nobody had ever treated him like a funnel!
Battle Through the Heavens Plane, Jia Ma Empire.
In a corner of the Alchemist Guild's pill room.
The dim corner was filled with the smell of charred things and a strange medicinal fragrance.
"Cough, cough, cough—"
Chrysanthemum Douluo curled up on the cold floor, in unbearable pain, as if someone had just pulled out every bone in his body.
Trembling, he raised his right hand and looked at the Martial Soul in his palm. It had once been gorgeous and noble, but now it was a lump of black charcoal, giving off a pungent smell of sulfur. Once again, tears streamed down his face despite his best efforts to hold them back.
"It's ruined. Completely ruined."
"Old Ghost, I can't go back—"
"My Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, my pride... It's not even as good as a wild chrysanthemum by the roadside now."
His Soul Power had fallen to the Soul Saint level, and the fire poison had eaten into his meridians. His body was so weak that he could barely stand.
Just then, his gaze fell on the pile of trash Fa Ma had casually tossed aside.
It was a heap of black, sticky medicinal dregs mixed with the crumbs of failed pills, giving off a pungent, bizarre smell.
"Gurgle—"
Suddenly, Chrysanthemum Douluo's stomach gave an unseemly growl.
In this world, abundant in spiritual energy but also tremendously demanding, even he—a Titled Douluo who once could abstain from food—now felt a hunger that seemed to come from the depths of his soul.
That hunger was telling him: Eat it! Eat it, and you'll survive!
"T-this is medicinal dregs."
"The waste left over after that old man refined his pills—"
"I, Yue Guan, have lived a refined life. I drink only dew and eat only flower petals. How could I eat something that looks like shit?"
Chrysanthemum Douluo resisted and struggled against the thought.
But when the warm aura left behind by the Fifth-grade Pill drifted from the dregs and entered his nostrils, the meridians in his damaged body actually let out a yearning moan!
"Forget it!"
"To survive, to get my revenge someday, I'll eat it!!"
At that thought, Chrysanthemum Douluo steeled himself, shut his eyes, reached out a trembling hand, grabbed a fistful of sticky black dregs, and shoved them into his mouth!
Squish, squish.
The moment it entered his mouth, it was bitter.
So bitter he wanted to spit it out.
It tasted of fire poison and impurities.
But the next second—
BOOM!!!
An energy as scorching as magma and as surging as a flood exploded in Chrysanthemum Douluo's mouth!
"Mmph!!!"
Chrysanthemum Douluo's eyes flew open, and his face instantly turned the color of pig liver!
It was the residual medicinal power of the Fifth-grade Spirit Fusion Pill, mixed with the essence of the fire poison from the fifth-tier medicinal ingredient, the Red Flame Dragon Fruit!
To Fa Ma, it was impurity, trash that had to be filtered out.
But to the people of Douluo Continent, who had never encountered energy this concentrated, even if it was a mouthful of shit, it was shit shat out by a divine dragon!
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!
The violent medicinal power rushed down his throat into his stomach, then instantly spread through every limb and bone!
"AAAHHHHH, it's hot! So hot!"
Chrysanthemum Douluo rolled wildly on the ground, his skin turning red as steam began to rise from his body!
He felt as if he had swallowed not medicinal dregs, but a sun!
Yet this domineering fire-attributed medicinal power didn't destroy him. Instead, it began madly repairing and reshaping his burned Martial Soul!
Crack! Crack!
The black char covering the chrysanthemum in his palm began to split apart, piece by piece!
From the cracks came a heart-stirring crimson-gold glow!
"This is—"
Chrysanthemum Douluo endured the agony and stared fixedly at his Martial Soul.
His once delicate plant-type Martial Soul had undergone an unbelievable mutation after absorbing the fire-poison-laced medicinal dregs!
The blackened skin peeled away!
A brand-new, strange chrysanthemum slowly bloomed, its petals a fiery crimson edged in gold!
Each petal looked as if it had been carved from ruby, and scorching patterns of lava flowed across them!
Martial Soul Evolution: Crimson Vajra Chrysanthemum!
"ROAR!!"
As his Martial Soul was reforged, Chrysanthemum Douluo's Soul Power began to surge in a fountain-like eruption!
Level 70, Level 75, Level 80—
Level 90, Level 95—
Level 96!
Level 97!
BOOM!
A terrifying aura, even more powerful than he had been at his peak, suddenly rolled out from his body!
Though he was still a Titled Douluo, his Soul Power now brimmed with the attributes of Ultimate Fire and Ultimate Metal!
He had fire immunity!
And an Indestructible Diamond Body!
"I—I broke through?"
Chrysanthemum Douluo sat dumbfounded on the ground, feeling the power inside him that seemed capable of burning everything to ash.
He had been stuck at level ninety-five for decades!
He had dreamed of breaking through to level ninety-six!
And yet, after eating a handful of medicinal dregs, he'd broken through to level ninety-seven?
His Martial Soul had even evolved into a top-grade fire-attribute Mutated Martial Soul?
"Hahahahaha!"
Chrysanthemum Douluo stared at the half-handful of medicinal dregs left in his palm and suddenly burst into a wild laugh.
Laughing and weeping at once, he scooped up every last bit of the black medicinal dregs from the ground and stuffed them into his mouth like a starving man!
"So good! It's so delicious!"
"How is this medicinal dregs?"
"This is a divine pill!!"
"My Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum is nothing compared to an Immortal Herb! This pile of trash is the real divine treasure!!"
Meanwhile, on Douluo Continent.
At Spirit Hall, Ghost Douluo Gui Mei watched the old companion on the screen kneeling on the ground, frantically wolfing down black waste and leveling up with every bite.
His expression turned into one of utter disbelief.
"Level ninety-seven."
"Yue Guan reached level ninety-seven by eating shit?"
"And his Martial Soul evolved, too? He's no longer afraid of fire?"
Ghost Douluo glanced at the treasured spirit herbs from the Worship Hall in his hands and suddenly found them utterly tasteless.
"The resources we used to fight tooth and nail over..."
"In that world, are they really worth less than garbage?"
"I want to eat garbage, too."
For a moment, an absurd longing began to spread through Ghost Douluo's heart.
In the Battle Through the Heavens World, inside the alchemy room.
Creak.
Just then, the door swung open.
President Fa Ma walked in with a new prescription in hand, and at once spotted Chrysanthemum Douluo, who was glowing red and exuding a completely different aura.
"Hm?"
Fa Ma froze for a moment, then twitched his nose. "What happened? Where'd that pile of medicinal dregs go?"
"Did you eat it?"
At the sound of his voice, Chrysanthemum Douluo spun around.
The fear and timid submissiveness he'd shown before were gone.
But he didn't fight back, either!
Thump!
Chrysanthemum Douluo dropped into a sliding kneel and shot straight to Fa Ma's legs, clinging tightly to his thigh. His now rosy, bewitching face was filled with obsequious gratitude. "President! You're practically my parents reborn!"
"That medicinal dregs was so delicious! It was so nourishing!"
"Thank you for your gracious gift, President!!"
Fa Ma was so taken aback by this sudden display of enthusiasm that he could only stare, then kick his legs in disgust. "Let go! You reek of medicinal dregs!"
"You didn't eat yourself to death? Looks like you flower demon have a pretty tough life."
"Hm?"
Fa Ma suddenly noticed the Crimson Vajra Chrysanthemum swaying behind Chrysanthemum Douluo. His eyes lit up again. "It mutated?"
"Your fire resistance has increased? And your metal attribute is purer, too?"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Not bad, not bad!"
Fa Ma nodded in satisfaction as if he'd found an upgraded tool. "I was worried your lousy flower wouldn't hold up under the flames. Who'd have thought eating some trash could make it evolve?"
"Perfect! This next batch of Sixth-Grade Break Calamity Pills needs to be refined with a flame split from a Heavenly Flame. The temperature will be higher, and the fire poison more potent!"
"I was just worried I couldn't find a filter that could take the heat!"
"Come on, come on! Since you've recovered, let's get back to work!"
At the words "back to work"—
If this had happened before, Chrysanthemum Douluo would have been so scared he'd wet himself.
But now, an unprecedented gleam blazed in Chrysanthemum Douluo's eyes!
Back to work = back to being a filter = absorbing the essence of the fire poison = eating even higher-grade medicinal dregs = getting even stronger—
"Yes, President!"
Chrysanthemum Douluo sprang to his feet and rushed over to the scalding pill furnace. He even eagerly thrust his Crimson Vajra Chrysanthemum toward the fire outlet. "President! Hurry!"
"Burn me! Burn me as hard as you can!"
"Even a Heavenly Flame is fine! I'm not afraid of pain!!"
"As long as you give me all the medicinal dregs after the pills are refined!!"
Watching Chrysanthemum Douluo beg to be burned like some kind of masochist, Fa Ma was stunned. Then he burst out laughing. "Good! That's the spirit!"
"You can only find top-grade tool men like this by picking them up from another world!"
"Light the fire! Start refining!!"
Boom!!!
The purple Beast Fire surged up once more!
Before you continue