"Slurp, slurp." I'll reluctantly forgive you for your rudeness just now. Ice Empress chewed on the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow and said indistinctly, "And don't forget that whatever-it-is pill of yours."
"Don't worry. I'll definitely make the pill for you." Xiao Jinchen's mouth twitched slightly. Ice Empress had already eaten eight of his Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrows.
Ice Empress had explained that she'd suffered hidden injuries while undergoing her three-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation. Wasn't it perfectly normal for her to eat a little extra to heal them?
"Ice Empress, I have a miraculous pill. Would you like to hear about it?" Xiao Jinchen asked with a smile.
"Slurp, slurp." Ice Empress ate another Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow and asked, "Is it another pill that can speed up cultivation?"
"The Humanoid Transformation Pill, a high-grade Seventh-Grade Pill."
"With the Humanoid Transformation Pill, a Soul Beast can completely take human form. Once you do, not only will your cultivation speed increase, but the Heavenly Tribulations you've always worried about will disappear, too." Xiao Jinchen smiled gently. "What do you think?"
"Plop."
The Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow fell to the ground and rolled twice.
Ice Empress's little hand remained frozen in midair. Her amber eyes were wide as saucers, and she stared blankly at Xiao Jinchen like a kitten caught by the tail.
She'd even forgotten to wipe the ice crystals from the corner of her mouth. Astonishment filled her face.
"E-escape the Heavenly Tribulation!?"
Ice Empress's voice rose half a pitch, trembling slightly.
Seeing Ice Empress's adorable, dazed expression, Xiao Jinchen couldn't help chuckling.
He stepped closer and raised a hand, gently wiping away the glistening ice crystals at the corner of her mouth.
His fingertip brushed Ice Empress's cool skin. She stiffened all over and blinked her amber eyes, still too shocked to come to her senses. She could only let Xiao Jinchen do as he pleased.
"That's right." Xiao Jinchen lowered his hand and met her eyes, his tone certain. "You'll escape the Heavenly Tribulation."
"With this pill, you'll never have to worry about those Heavenly Tribulations again."
Ice Empress stared blankly at the handsome Xiao Jinchen, a blush rising to her lovely face.
Ice Empress unconsciously pressed her lips together, as if trying to confirm whether he was telling the truth.
"R-really? I won't have to undergo tribulations anymore?"
Ice Empress murmured, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
Then Ice Empress suddenly came to her senses. As if afraid Xiao Jinchen might go back on his word, she grabbed his sleeve. Unprecedented light shone in her amber eyes as she asked urgently, "Can you make this Humanoid Transformation Pill right now? What main ingredients do you need? I'll... I'll go find them!"
As she spoke, she bent to pick up the fallen piece of ice marrow, moving so hurriedly that strands of hair fell loose.
Xiao Jinchen reached out and gently caught Ice Empress's drooping emerald-green hair, then tucked it behind her ear.
"Don't rush." Seeing her flustered state, Xiao Jinchen spoke softly. "Leave the ingredients to me. You just wait and enjoy the pill."
With that, Xiao Jinchen ignored Ice Empress's cheeks, now so red they looked ready to bleed, and began selecting herbs from the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well.
"Transformation Grass, one of the main ingredients for the Humanoid Transformation Pill..."
"Ice-Fire Soul-Melting Fruit..."
"Water Spirit Lotus Seed Heart..."
"Ice-Condensing Grass..."
"Frost Lotus Seed..."
"Spirit-Gathering Grass..."
After searching around the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well for about half an hour, Xiao Jinchen finally smiled with satisfaction and prepared to begin refining the Humanoid Transformation Pill.
Once he'd gathered the ingredients, Xiao Jinchen found a spot and prepared to refine the pill. He raised his right hand slightly, and Emperor Flame surged above his palm. Then Green Lotus Core Flame split off from it.
Xiao Jinchen flicked a finger. In an instant, Green Lotus Core Flame transformed into a pill cauldron, hovering in midair as if it weighed nothing.
Forging a cauldron from flame! Refining pills without a cauldron!
Such skill showed that Xiao Jinchen's pill-refining art had reached the height of perfection.
Although he'd never bothered to assess his own rank as an alchemist, refining Sixth-Grade Pills was effortless for him, so making a Seventh-Grade Pill shouldn't be too difficult.
Next, Xiao Jinchen lifted his hand, and Emperor Flame poured into the pill cauldron. A scorching heat swept out from within.
Xiao Jinchen brushed a finger over his Storage Ring. A massive eyeball, frosted with cold, dropped to the ground—it was none other than the Evil Eye Tyrant Ice Empress had slain in an instant!
Xiao Jinchen rummaged around inside the Evil Eye Tyrant's enormous eyeball for a while, then pulled out a small silver skull.
Whenever the Evil Eye Tyrant species produced a Spirit Bone, it was invariably a Head Soul Bone, because their bodies consisted almost entirely of their heads.
Xiao Jinchen glanced at the silvery-white Spirit Bone in his hand and tossed it into the pill cauldron without hesitation.
One of the ingredients for the Humanoid Transformation Pill was a Magic Core, which supplied the origin energy needed for transformation. It usually required a Magic Core produced by a sixth-tier magical beast, and a hundred-thousand-year Evil Eye Tyrant was roughly equivalent to a sixth-tier magical beast on the Dou Qi Continent.
"Ah Chen, why did you throw the Spirit Bone in!?" Ice Empress cried in surprise, her eyes wide. It was a hundred-thousand-year Spirit Bone! Why wasn't Ah Chen absorbing it? Why was he tossing it into the pill cauldron?
"One of the ingredients for the Humanoid Transformation Pill is a Spirit Bone. I can't absorb it anyway, so I'll use it to make your pill." As Xiao Jinchen answered Ice Empress, he controlled Emperor Flame to melt the Evil Eye Tyrant's Spirit Bone into liquid and remove its impurities. Then he added the Ice-Fire Soul-Melting Fruit and Water Spirit Lotus Seed Heart.
"Huh? Ah Chen, you can't absorb Spirit Bones?" Ice Empress asked, puzzled. "Can't all you humans absorb Spirit Bones?"
"Maybe my constitution is special. Every time I try to absorb a Spirit Bone, it melts." Xiao Jinchen spoke softly. "At any rate, I can't absorb Spirit Bones."
Xiao Jinchen used Spirit-Gathering Grass to neutralize the violent energy in the Spirit Bone. Under his control, a stream of pure silver energy merged with the other ingredients, which had already been burned into powder.
The Humanoid Transformation Pill's crude shape slowly emerged.
"Phew." Xiao Jinchen took a deep breath and gestured with his hand. Ten Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrows, along with the remaining ice-attributed herbs, flew into the pill cauldron. He had no intention of making an ordinary Humanoid Transformation Pill. He planned to refine one that would let Ice Empress reach Limit Douluo after taking it and transforming.
The Humanoid Transformation Pill Xiao Jinchen was refining this time had been custom-made for Ice Empress.
The Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow was useless to him anyway. Even after using some for pill refinement and giving some to Ice Empress, he still had twenty-three left.
As time passed, the pill's rough shape in the cauldron grew round and full. Ice-blue patterns appeared across its surface, making it look quite beautiful.
"Now! Condense!"
Xiao Jinchen's gaze sharpened, and he shouted. The Emperor Flame inside the pill cauldron immediately grew hotter.
"Buzz!"
As his shout rang out, an intensely rich pill fragrance billowed from the cauldron, spreading throughout the entire Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well.
The Humanoid Transformation Pill was complete!
But Xiao Jinchen wasn't pleased just because he'd succeeded in refining the pill. He knew the final step still awaited him.
"Rumble!"
Just as the Humanoid Transformation Pill emerged from the pill cauldron, thunder suddenly boomed across the sky above the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Well. Looking up, they saw black thunderclouds gathering, with streaks of lightning like black dragons faintly writhing within them.