Pill Tower

Biodata

Background

The Pill Tower is the only organization authorized to certify alchemist ranks recognized across the Central Plains and the wider continent. Its influence stems from both this authority and its status as an alchemists’ sanctuary: Yao Lao advanced to seventh-tier alchemy there, while Su Zhang was once selected as a Pill Tower attendant 216 233.

Although the Soul Hall surpasses it in raw strength, the Pill Tower is described as the Central Plains’ strongest faction in influence and reputation. Its concentration of high-level alchemists gives it an almost monopolistic position in the profession, making even major factions dependent on its aid 409 440.

Its organization is deliberately loose. Alchemists generally attach themselves voluntarily and remain free to leave, a model that makes the Tower attractive but leaves it vulnerable when a rival can offer better resources or protection 436 449.

Organization and Authority

Known Senior Figures

Alchemist Certification

• Pill Tower badges use a flame-wreathed tower and purple-gold stars; each star represents an alchemist grade, while nine stars denote a ninth-tier alchemist 234.
• Its branches provide rank assessments, though certification limits vary by location; the Nine Star City branch can certify up to intermediate seventh-tier alchemist 233.
• A recognized badge grants practical access to high-level medicinal-ingredient markets that may refuse sales to non-alchemists regardless of wealth 233.

Resources and Facilities

• The Tower holds countless pill formulas, the continent’s most comprehensive soul research, and its richest medicinal-ingredient reserves; it also publishes the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking 409.
• A Dou Sheng-created storage space preserves nearly one-third of Holy Pill City’s precious natural treasures 452.
• Its major internal holdings include the Soul Skill Pavilion, Ten Thousand Pill Pavilion, and medicinal-ingredient storage, allowing it to support the enormous costs of eighth-tier alchemy 452.
• The Pill Tower rules the Pill Region from its headquarters in Holy Pill City, where even Soul Hall members avoid acting recklessly 410.
• Entry to the headquarters is restricted; its gate guards are peak Dou Emperors 425.
• Its Star Region imprisons the Three Thousand Burning Flame, a Heavenly Flame whose power the Three Great Heads continuously suppress 629.

Affiliated Clans and Membership

• The Tower once had five major affiliated clans. Four defected to the Spirit Clan during the build-up to the Pill Convention, while the Dan Clan—the last remaining affiliated family—later followed them 421 436 499.
• Cao Ying and Dan Chen, two Tower-associated alchemy geniuses, eventually renounced the Spirit Clan and declared allegiance to the Pill Tower after Xiao Yan cured the bloodline scheme affecting them 595.
• The Tower’s inability to compel its attached alchemists to remain was a central weakness in its conflict with the Spirit Clan 436 449.

Major Events and Operations

Pill Convention

• The Pill Convention is the Pill Tower’s premier alchemy tournament, normally held once every thirty years 409.
• During the Spirit Clan crisis, the Tower postponed the convention by one year, expanded its rewards, and renamed it the Hundred Realms Pill Convention 409.
• It established strict participation standards: only contestants at least fifth-tier could claim the final stone platforms 511.
• For the final refinement stage, contestants could use only medicinal ingredients gathered inside the Pill Realm; personal ingredients resulted in disqualification 511 570.
• The Tower jointly set five Heavenly Secrets Talents Ranking tests with the Spirit Clan after the latter partnered with the Heavenly Secrets Tower 436.
• The Dragon Pillar Fire Trial was one of the events directly overseen by the Pill Tower, testing source-flame control through nine dragon-patterned metal pillars 458.

Spirit Clan Crisis

• The Spirit Clan openly challenged the Tower by recruiting its affiliated clans and using the Heavenly Secrets Talents Ranking to compete for young alchemy talent 436.
• Xuan Kongzi recruited Xiao Yan as the Tower’s candidate, offering resources, soul skills, pill formulas, and protection in exchange for preventing the championship from going to the Spirit Clan faction 449.
• Xiao Yan won the Pill Convention with an eighth-tier pill that summoned quasi-six-colored pill lightning, restoring the Tower’s advantage in the public struggle 593 595.
• A Spirit Clan spy was later suspected within the Tower after the enemy repeatedly exploited confidential Pill Convention information 603 604.
• Xuan Leizi was exposed as a traitor during the Spirit Clan’s attack on Holy Pill City 624.
• The Spirit Clan sealed Holy Pill City with a formation supported by more than fifty Dou Zuns, then targeted the Pill Tower Ancestor for live refinement 623 659 660.
• The Pill Tower Ancestor arrived to defend the organization but was trapped by the enemy’s formations until Xiao Yan destroyed both the Mother-Child Rune Grand Formation and the Space Imprisonment Formation 652 667.
• Xiao Yan’s role in the battle was decisive; without him, the Pill Tower would have fallen 778.

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Rank recognition — Xiao Yan sought Pill Tower certification because its badge carried authority across the Central Plains and opened access to restricted alchemist markets 233 268.
• Pill Convention preparations — The Tower became increasingly dependent on Xiao Yan as Ling Zhuo dominated the Heavenly Secrets Talents Ranking and threatened its standing 458.
• Pill Convention victory — Xiao Yan’s championship prevented the Spirit Clan faction from claiming the title and reversed the Tower’s political momentum 449 593 595.
• Internal betrayal and siege — The Tower’s secret leaks culminated in Xuan Leizi’s betrayal and the Spirit Clan’s large-scale assault on Holy Pill City 603 624 633.
• Origin Return Manor alliance — The Pill Tower later joined Origin Return Manor, contributing its senior alchemists and resources to the new alliance 1062 1067.

Relationships

• Xiao Yan — Recruited as the Pill Tower’s champion candidate during its struggle with the Spirit Clan; his Pill Convention victory and actions during the siege saved the organization 449 593 778.
• Yao Lao — Formerly advanced to seventh-tier alchemy within the Tower and regarded it as trustworthy enough to recommend to Xiao Yan 216 233.
• Spirit Clan — Principal adversary; it poached affiliated clans, contested the Tower’s authority through the Heavenly Secrets Talents Ranking, infiltrated its leadership, and assaulted Holy Pill City 436 624 659.
• Cao Ying and Dan Chen — Alchemy geniuses produced through a Pill Tower-approved human-modification experiment; both later declared allegiance to the Tower after being freed from the Spirit Clan’s scheme 477 595.
• Origin Return Manor — Later ally and parent organization following the post-war alliance 1067.

Trivia

• The Pill Tower Ancestor is its most revered symbol despite being unable to refine pills himself 1062.
• The Tower’s headquarters was built strongly enough that its main structures withstood the shockwave from a nine-star Dou Zun’s self-destruction 616.
• By the time it joined Origin Return Manor, the Pill Tower possessed more than fifty eighth-tier alchemists, including two who had touched the ninth-tier threshold 1067.