Pill Emerges

"What is he trying to do?"

Hu Liena, Xie Yue, Yan, and the others were completely baffled.

Ning Rongrong, Shui Bing'er, Huo Wu, and the others could not make heads or tails of it either.

The concept of pills was simply too ahead of its time.

Tang San had been reduced to eating immortal herbs raw.

That alone showed just how advanced the concept of pills was.

Still, setting aside what they could not understand, there was at least one thing they could understand...

Alchemy!

This bug-like existence!

How could it refine anything and everything?!

Twenty-five liters of Water of Life?

Since when was that stuff measured in liters?

Did they know how precious Water of Life was?

Ordinary people had never even heard of it!

It was a divine substance capable of extending a person's lifespan!

Outside, it was sold by the drop!

One drop cost several million Gold Soul Coins!

Since when was it measured by the liter?

And then there was the Tianshan Blood Lotus. It needed to be nourished with vast quantities of blood, and ordinary blood was not even suitable. It had to be fed the blood of soul beasts or Soul Masters. A single Blood Lotus often consumed the essence blood of dozens of thousand-year soul beasts. Eating one could miraculously transform one's physique. Across the Human Race's thousands of years of history, the Tianshan Blood Lotus had appeared fewer than five times in total, generally only once every thousand years or so. Most Title Douluo had never seen the real thing, only written descriptions and pictures!

Measured by the jin?

Shouldn't that stuff be counted by the flower?

What hurt Yue Guan the most was the twenty jin of phoenix blood!

At least it was no longer measured in liters. That was worth celebrating. But phoenix blood was not some roadside cabbage either. In the world of Soul Masters, it ought to be measured in taels. For example: how much did one tael of phoenix blood cost? How had it suddenly become something measured by the jin in Ye Qingcang's hands?

Measuring it by the jin would have been bad enough, but he casually asked for twenty jin?

As they listened to Ye Qingcang name one familiar ingredient after another, each in absurd quantities, everyone who understood their value wore expressions of agony. Those who did not know how expensive these materials were were instead the fortunate ones.

If they did not know, they would not feel the pain.

Still, even among those who felt pain, there were different degrees.

The worst was Yu Xiaogang.

His envious eyes were practically shooting fire.

It was as though Ye Qingcang was not reciting names, as though Violet had not transformed these materials through alchemy, but as though they had been snatched directly from his hands. His greed and jealousy had reached a point where they could no longer be concealed.

Ning Rongrong was somewhat better.

Although her glass-like eyes were also full of envy, it had not reached the point of nearly bursting into flames. Her envy was merely envy, without greed or jealousy. The additional emotions in her eyes were yearning, which Yu Xiaogang lacked, and a faint, barely perceptible admiration.

Yue Guan performed the best.

That was also related to how much Yue Guan had seen.

Wasn't it just using gold to transform Water of Life?

Wasn't it just using gold to transform Tianshan Blood Lotus?

Wasn't it just using gold to transform precious materials?

To a Deity, that was nothing. They could even raise a Soul Master's spirit ring age, turning a hundred-year spirit ring into a ten-thousand-year spirit ring. Just like the High Priest Qian Daoliu they had seen—the fact that Qian Daoliu was the Angel God's high priest was no secret within Spirit Hall. A full set of ten-thousand-year spirit rings, along with three 100,000-Year Spirit Rings whose colors had long been altered by soul skills—his configuration was already maxed out.

Besides, Deities were immortal.

Water of Life had no effect on Deities.

Was that really worth being surprised about?

Of course, Yue Guan did not know that even Deities could not freely transform matter. It was as laughable as a farmer imagining that an emperor plowed fields with a golden hoe. Yue Guan had seen much of the world, but not enough of it. He instinctively glorified Deities, believing them omnipotent and confining himself within that worldview. He could not be blamed for it.

Thus, after deciding that Deities were omnipotent, the things that astonished Yu Xiaogang, Ning Rongrong, and the others were completely unremarkable to Yue Guan. What astonished him was something else: Ye Qingcang had refined so many precious materials and three ninety-thousand-year Thousand Jun Ant Kings. Could he even digest whatever came out of it?

He was definitely going to absorb it.

Otherwise, there would have been no need for Ye Qingcang to refine it.

He could not possibly be refining it for fun, could he?

But refining so many things together meant that the energy contained within would be enough to overfeed a Title Douluo to death. It was like an ordinary person taking a bite of a genuine hundred-year ginseng—he would get a nosebleed before long. Could Ye Qingcang's body withstand all that energy?

What?

Ye Qingcang = a humanoid Thousand Jun Ant?

Then never mind...

"But something's strange..." The fragrance of pills spread through the air, carrying for miles. Smelling it, Gui Mei felt his body grow unusually warm. He signaled Hu Liena, Xie Yue, Yan, and the others that they did not need to hold their breath and could breathe normally; the scent was harmless to the body. Only then did he descend beside Yue Guan and say something that woke him from his thoughts. "Did you notice? Those three Thousand Jun Ant Kings didn't produce spirit rings!"

"That is because the Qi and Blood Furnace, after its third sublimation, gains the ability to refine pills."

Liu Erlong had also calmed the Blue Tyrant Academy students.

In truth, she did not even need to calm them.

Blue Tyrant Academy's original students were extremely sensitive to qi and blood.

They had already sat down cross-legged and begun circulating their qi and blood.

Only students who had joined Blue Tyrant Academy later, like Tang San, Dai Mubai, and Ning Rongrong, knew nothing at all. They neither practiced Stellar Martial Arts nor understood the value of pill fragrance.

The same was true for Shui Feng, Huo Lie, and Feng Wuji.

They followed Liu Erlong's approach.

They told their own academy students to breathe in as much as possible.

Even if they could not circulate their qi and blood, stimulating it a little was still beneficial.

They walked over with Liu Erlong.

They also heard Liu Erlong explain to Yue Guan, Gui Mei, and Dugu Bo, "The Qi and Blood Furnace begins with the ability to fear neither cold nor yin spirits. Every move can be imbued with pure, vigorous qi and blood. The first sublimation allows the furnace to manifest physically. The second lets Blood Flame be ignited within it. The third allows pills to be refined within the furnace. Pills are a new concept Little Eagle proposed after spirit cuisine. The name comes from the idea of being round and flawless. They are like round medicinal pellets and can combine many kinds of medicinal ingredients... though not only medicinal ingredients. Anything can be used. Just like the pills Little Eagle is currently refining, which contain minerals such as Fine Gold, Five Elements Amber, and Spirit-Sealing Sea Silver. Extract the essence of these things and remove the impurities, and you can obtain a pellet containing highly concentrated energy."

"Separate the impurities." While Liu Erlong, Yue Guan, and Gui Mei were talking, Ye Qingcang's pill-refining process reached its final stage. He struck the furnace with one palm, Brilliance Piercing the Stars blazing forth. "One drop of Poison Dragon Blood!"

"Understood!"

Violet flipped her hand, activating the Alchemy Array.

A drop of pure black blood shot into the Qi and Blood Furnace.

She also took a piece of chocolate from the gemstone on her chest.

She placed it in her mouth, chewed, and absorbed its nutrients.

There were many varieties of spirit cuisine.

Chocolate was one of them.

However, because chocolate was easy to carry and had a long shelf life, its production cost was relatively high. It was not sold externally or included on the Spirit Cuisine Room's ingredient list. It existed only within Blue Tyrant Academy and could be purchased only with academy credits.

"Open the furnace!"

Ye Qingcang withdrew the Qi and Blood Furnace into his body.

Two pills, one large and one small, fell into his palm.

The moment Brilliance Piercing the Stars appeared, Yue Guan, Gui Mei, Liu Erlong, and the others were alerted. Not only them—everyone else was alerted as well. Thus, everyone saw the two pills.

One was red, about the size of a marble.

The other was black, only the size of a fingernail.

Around the red pill floated a miniature red spirit ring, making it resemble a star in the cosmos!

As for the black pill, while no miniature spirit ring floated around it and it lacked any starlike effects, a giant dragon coiled around it!