Battle Through the Heavens: The Rise Begins at Canaan Academy

Seeing Qin Chen agree, Hai Bodong smiled and nodded, then turned to instruct Mittel Tengshan beside him, "Alright, Tengshan, go invite that old man Fa here at once."

"Yes." Mittel Tengshan cupped his hands in reply and turned to head for the Alchemist Guild.

"Wait." Just as Mittel Tengshan was about to leave, Qin Chen called out to stop him.

"Is there anything else, young friend?" Mittel Tengshan asked with a frown.

"Hehe."

Qin Chen curled his lips into a smile. "I'll have to trouble Patriarch Tengshan to make a trip to the imperial palace and invite Old Jia, the imperial family's guardian, as well."

"Why invite him too?" Hai Bodong asked, looking puzzled.

"Old Hai, do you remember our deal?"

"Of course. In two months, I am to accompany you to the Misty Cloud Sect." Hai Bodong nodded.

Qin Chen chuckled. "The Misty Cloud Sect's former sect leader, Yun Shan, has now broken through the barrier of the Dou Huang realm and entered the Dou Zong realm."

"What I need you to do is hold him off for a while when he appears. But Old Hai, it seems your strength alone may not be enough, so I thought to find another expert to assist you."

"Dou Zong?" The moment those words reached his ears, Hai Bodong was shaken.

He had originally thought Qin Chen was going to the Misty Cloud Sect for a deal or some trivial matter. Even if negotiations broke down, the Misty Cloud Sect would not easily offend a sixth-tier alchemist. The trip should not have been too dangerous. After all, who would joke with their own life?

Yet to his utter surprise, Qin Chen intended to confront Yun Shan directly.

After letting out a soft breath, Hai Bodong pondered for a moment before saying, "If that's the case, then it would indeed be safer to bring that old monster along."

How could he forget his good brother Jia Xing Tian when there were high-grade pills as payment?

When he had first arrived in the imperial capital, that old demon had been incredibly enthusiastic, immediately challenging him to a spar.

Hmph! He clearly just wanted to put him in his place!

As for whether Qin Chen could invite that old monster...

Heh, he would not doubt the influence of a sixth-tier alchemist, especially one so young.

Having learned the full story, Hai Bodong chuckled. "Go on, Tengshan. Do as our young friend says."

"Understood." Mittel Tengshan answered and left.

Watching Mittel Tengshan disappear through the doorway, Qin Chen secretly laughed to himself.

His target was naturally not Fa Ma, nor was it Jia Xing Tian. It was all the medicinal ingredients in the Jia Ma Empire.

"Little Brother Qin Chen, about earlier..." Just as Qin Chen was lost in his thoughts, Hai Bodong spoke hesitantly, his tone full of probing.

"Hmm?"

Qin Chen raised a brow, but the moment he saw Hai Bodong's "familiar" expression, he immediately guessed what the old man was thinking.

He smiled knowingly. "Old Hai, are you asking about that aura from earlier?"

"Th-this... hehe..."

Hearing that, a trace of embarrassment appeared on Hai Bodong's aged face beneath his white beard and hair. He then leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice. "That's right. Though that aura vanished in an instant, it still gave this old man a sense of dread. Could little brother clear up this old man's confusion?"

Medusa had been his nightmare for decades. No one knew her aura better than he did, and Qin Chen had been with Medusa the entire time before this.

Now that this kid had come to the imperial capital, could that terrifying woman have followed him here as well?

At that thought, Hai Bodong's heart clenched. His gaze kept unconsciously sweeping the surroundings, as though afraid that terrifying figure would suddenly appear.

"Oh..."

Qin Chen deliberately drew out the word, a teasing smile tugging at his lips. "It's like this..."

"This is a little fellow I adopted from the Snake-People Tribe. The aura you sensed earlier came from it. Old Hai, what do you think of it?"

As he spoke, Qin Chen lightly rolled up his sleeve, revealing the tiny seven-colored snake coiled around his wrist. He waved it before Hai Bodong as if showing off.

"So that's what it was..." Hai Bodong let out a long breath, and his suspended heart finally settled.

As long as Medusa had not come, he could finally feel refreshed again!

His gaze fell upon the seven-colored little snake. Its tiny body expanded and contracted, and a small snot bubble rose from its nostrils.

Judging by that sleeping posture alone, it was utterly unlike the suffocating pressure Medusa had left in his memories.

Hai Bodong stroked his beard and smiled. "The little fellow is quite adorable..."

Chapter 61: Revival Purple Pill

At the Mittel Family headquarters stood an exceptionally spacious hall.

The hall was brightly lit, with exquisite luminous moonstones embedded in the walls, illuminating the surroundings as brightly as day and clearly revealing three figures.

One was an old man dressed in a plain hemp robe. His face was stern, and his brows carried the authority of someone long accustomed to power. He was Jia Xing Tian, guardian of the Jia Ma imperial family.

Beside him stood a mature, cold, and noble woman dressed in luxurious brocade robes. She was Yao Ye, the future queen cultivated by the imperial family.

As for the old man wearing a medicine-cauldron-shaped hat and purple alchemist robes, he was naturally Fa Ma, president of the Alchemist Guild.

At that moment, all three wore grave expressions as they stared unblinkingly at Qin Chen and Hai Bodong within the transparent energy screen before them.

Within the screen, Qin Chen sat cross-legged before a crimson medicine cauldron burning with azure flames, his eyes tightly shut as he carefully adjusted his condition. Meanwhile, Hai Bodong mobilized his battle qi with all his strength to maintain the stable operation of the formation.

The imperial capital was too close to the Misty Cloud Sect. Refining a sixth-tier pill would trigger a heavenly phenomenon. If it alerted that cackling weirdo, Protector Wu, all their efforts would be wasted. It was better to be cautious and leave no room for error.

Qin Chen did not possess a high-grade medicine cauldron capable of concealing heavenly phenomena, so he could only spend extra effort setting up a formation.

Once this is over, I need to hurry up and go make Han Feng drop some gold coins.

This was a simple formation he had obtained from Canaan Academy. It could conceal the heavenly phenomena caused by refining a sixth-tier pill.

It was also easy to maintain. Someone merely needed to guard the formation core, while the power it could unleash depended on that person's strength.

With Hai Bodong's current strength, he was more than capable of using the formation to conceal the heavenly phenomena triggered by a sixth-tier pill.

You doubt Canaan Academy had something like this? Or wonder why other alchemists did not use this sort of formation?

Come on, Canaan Academy could even seal a Dou Zong-level Heavenly Flame. How could it possibly lack something like this?

Why did other alchemists not use formations?

What a joke. If they could refine sixth-tier pills, they would surely want everyone across the Battle Qi Continent to know. Wouldn't using this formation be like walking at night in fine clothes?

After adjusting his breathing for a moment, Qin Chen's tightly shut eyes abruptly opened. With a sweep of his hand, stalk after stalk of medicinal ingredients floated up from the jade tray beside him as though imbued with intelligence, accurately dropping into the medicine cauldron.

Under his control, the temperature of the azure flames constantly shifted, rapidly extracting the essence from each medicinal ingredient.

A faint medicinal fragrance began to spread, only to be tightly confined by the formation without leaking even a trace. In the end, it formed a light mist within the formation.

"Great-Grandfather, this gentleman is truly extraordinary..."

Watching Qin Chen's smooth and fluid alchemy movements, a trace of amazement flashed through Yao Ye's beautiful eyes.

As the heir the empire had devoted itself to cultivating, Yao Ye had naturally witnessed many relatively grand occasions and observed quite a few alchemists refining pills.

However, compared with Qin Chen, those people's alchemy skills were practically child's play.

To refine a single pill, other alchemists would even divide the process of extracting medicinal ingredients into several stages. The reason was simple: their strength could not keep up, and they could not purify all the medicinal essences in one go as Qin Chen did.

"Indeed..."

Jia Xing Tian nodded in agreement, though he secretly smiled bitterly.

When Mittel Tengshan had approached him, he had once thought the fellow was joking.

At eighteen, he himself had only been a Dou Shi. And now someone was telling him that a person of that age was already a Dou Huang?

And a sixth-tier alchemist too?

Had Fa Ma not been present at the time, he truly might not have come.

But now it seemed...

Good thing I came!

Jia Xing Tian secretly rejoiced.

Fa Ma, standing not far from the two, made few movements. He resembled a silent statue, save for the small eyes hidden beneath his thick brows, which remained fixed on every move Qin Chen made.

Extraction, pill fusion, and pill nurturing flowed together in one seamless sequence.

Under the influence of Qin Chen's powerful soul force, the Revival Purple Pill was completed in less than three hours.

The instant the medicine cauldron opened, a powerful surge of energy burst forth and slammed fiercely into the energy barrier. After sending several ripples across its surface, it dissipated into nothingness.

Qin Chen raised a hand. The fragrant pill spun through the air, then traced a graceful arc into the jade bottle in his palm.

The eyelids of all three people present twitched. Qin Chen's absurdly fast alchemy speed and the pill's quality had clearly shocked them greatly.

Fa Ma's cloudy old eyes had long since widened, and his withered arm trembled slightly. In Qin Chen's earlier alchemy technique, he had sensed a familiar feeling.

"Catch, Old Hai. This is the Revival Purple Pill I promised you."

Seeing Hai Bodong rise from the formation core, Qin Chen chuckled and flicked his wrist. The jade bottle flew toward Hai Bodong as if it had eyes.

"Hahaha, thank you, little brother."

As he laughed, Hai Bodong did not forget to glance at Jia Xing Tian. From that smile alone, anyone unaware of the truth might have thought his strength had already recovered.

Jia Xing Tian's mouth twitched, though a flicker of interest soon flashed through his eyes.

The formation dispersed. Qin Chen swept his gaze across the people wearing different expressions, cupped his hands, and smiled. "Today's alchemy is complete. I hope everyone will keep this matter strictly confidential and not reveal it."

"Please rest assured, sir." Everyone solemnly agreed.

Though they did not know what Qin Chen intended to do, such a breathtakingly talented alchemist was not someone they could easily offend. Keeping his secret was the wisest choice for now.

Seeing everyone state their position, Qin Chen nodded in satisfaction.

"Mr. Qin..."

At that moment, Fa Ma stepped forward and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "Mr. Qin's alchemy skills are truly astonishing. This old man gained much from watching earlier."

"May I presumptuously ask a question?"

"Please speak, President Fa Ma." Qin Chen smiled warmly.

"May I ask where you studied under?"

Where had he studied?

Qin Chen raised a brow. If he remembered correctly, Fa Ma had received Yao Lao's guidance in his youth. Asking this question now, he presumably wanted to inquire about his benefactor's whereabouts.