Ye Lingling and Qian Renxue

After successfully refining the Origin-Recovery Pill, Zhao Ming felt as though he had pushed open a door to a whole new world.

The mysteries and charm of alchemy captivated him completely. The sense of accomplishment from blending various medicinal herbs in exquisite proportions and tempering miraculous pills with pill fire was no less exhilarating than a breakthrough in cultivation.

He became increasingly immersed in it, pouring nearly all his available time into researching and practicing alchemy.

He turned down the Royal Dou Team's daily training.

Though Qin Ming was somewhat puzzled, Zhao Ming's explanation was perfectly reasonable: His Highness the Crown Prince had prepared special cultivation resources for him, and it would not be convenient for others to know.

The excuse made perfect sense. It was only natural for His Highness the Crown Prince to give special attention to a gifted young genius.

Although the Royal Dou Team members were curious, none of them dared ask further. Matters concerning His Highness the Crown Prince were not something they could casually inquire about.

Only Ye Lingling and her grandfather, Ye Renxin, knew that Zhao Ming had truly developed pills on his own.

After refining a batch of Origin-Recovery Pills, Zhao Ming thought it over and felt that Ye Renxin had taught him everything he knew over the past six months. Both emotionally and morally, he ought to show his gratitude.

So he found an opportunity to give several Origin-Recovery Pills to Ye Lingling and Ye Renxin.

Ye Lingling was still doubtful when she received the pills, but Ye Renxin recognized the extraordinary nature of the tiny pellets at once.

He swallowed an Origin-Recovery Pill and closed his eyes to sense it for a moment. When he opened them again, a sharp gleam burst from his cloudy old eyes, and he looked at Zhao Ming as though he were a priceless treasure.

Old and worldly-wise, Ye Renxin knew full well what kind of upheaval this pill would cause across Douluo Continent if it were ever spread.

Without another word, he immediately had Ye Lingling swear a Martial Soul oath with him, promising never to reveal the source of the pills.

A Martial Soul oath was one of the harshest vows on Douluo Continent. Once broken, the Martial Soul would backlash against its owner. At best, their Martial Soul would shatter and their cultivation would be crippled; at worst, they would die on the spot.

Ye Renxin's solemn response was enough to show just how seriously he regarded the matter.

From then on, the pills became a shared secret between Zhao Ming and Ye Lingling.

With a secret in common, the distance between them naturally closed by quite a bit.

Ye Lingling had already felt guilty for misunderstanding Zhao Ming before. Now that she had witnessed his astonishing talent in alchemy, she admired this boy, who was more than a year younger than her, even more.

Moreover, Zhao Ming went with her to study medicinal knowledge under Ye Renxin every other day. The time they spent together exceeded that of all the other Royal Dou Team members combined.

After some time, the two had become quite close friends.

Before Zhao Ming, Ye Lingling was no longer as cold and distant as she had been at first. Occasionally, she even showed the smile and playfulness proper to a girl her age.

Zhao Ming was also happy to have someone his own age with whom he could share secrets. Whenever something interesting happened during alchemy, he would tell Ye Lingling about it.

Before he realized it, a year had passed.

Half a month ago, Zhao Ming had celebrated his ninth birthday.

Over the past year, his life had appeared ordinary, but in truth, he had been making rapid progress every single day.

In alchemy, he had successively refined more than a dozen kinds of pills. From the basic pills at the beginning to increasingly complex intermediate pills later on, his success rate continued to rise, and the quality of his pills improved as well.

Four types were especially useful, and each was enough to drive Soul Masters across Douluo Continent mad.

The first was the Body-Strengthening Pill. Refined primarily from Whale Rubber, this pill could be taken by Soul Masters below the Soul Elder rank.

After taking it, one's physique would be strengthened and the age limit for absorbing Soul Rings would increase. A person could take at most three; the fourth would have virtually no effect.

After taking three, any Soul Master could safely absorb a thousand-year second Soul Ring, while the age of their third Soul Ring could be raised to five thousand years.

What did that mean? It meant that an ordinary Soul Master who could originally absorb only a five- or six-hundred-year second Soul Ring could, after taking three Body-Strengthening Pills, possess a Soul Ring configuration comparable to that of a super genius from the second era of Douluo.

If this pill were spread, the entire Soul Master landscape of Douluo Continent would be completely rewritten.

The second was the Soul-Tempering Pill. As its name implied, this pill tempered the soul and enhanced spiritual power. Likewise, only three could be taken, as the fourth would have virtually no effect.

The importance of spiritual power to a Soul Master went without saying, especially when absorbing Soul Rings. Powerful spiritual strength could help a Soul Master better withstand the impact of a Soul Ring.

When used together, the Body-Strengthening Pill and Soul-Tempering Pill could give a Soul Master at the Soul Elder stage the foundation needed to attempt a ten-thousand-year fourth Soul Ring.

A ten-thousand-year fourth Soul Ring was a feat that, in the original Douluo story, only a chosen son of destiny like Tang San could achieve. Yet Zhao Ming's pills could give even ordinary Soul Masters such a possibility.

The third was the Realm-Breaking Pill. Of all the pills Zhao Ming had refined so far, it had the most direct effect: it could raise Soul Power by one level without any side effects.

However, the version he could currently refine was only the most basic one, effective only on Soul Masters below the Soul Elder rank.

The reason it only worked below the Soul Elder rank was mainly due to material limitations. Refining the Realm-Breaking Pill required several extremely precious medicinal herbs, and the quality of the ingredients Qian Renxue could currently obtain was limited, making it impossible to refine a higher-grade version.

But Zhao Ming believed that as long as he could later obtain the precious herbs within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eyes, he would be able to refine Realm-Breaking Pills useful even to those below Titled Douluo, perhaps even ones that could help people break through to Titled Douluo like a Soul Core.

The fourth was the Mysterious Water Pill. This pill had been mentioned in the original Douluo Continent story and could raise Innate Soul Power by one level.

Innate Soul Power determined the upper limit of a Soul Master's talent and was the most important measure of their future achievements.

One Mysterious Water Pill could turn a Soul Master with level-seven Innate Soul Power into level eight, or raise someone with level-nine Innate Soul Power to full level ten.

To any Soul Master clan, the value of such a pill was immeasurable.

Any one of these four pills, if spread, would be enough to make Zhao Ming the hottest figure on all of Douluo Continent.

But Zhao Ming understood the principle that possessing a treasure invited disaster. Aside from Qian Renxue and the Ye Clan grandfather and granddaughter, he had not revealed the existence of the pills to anyone.

Qian Renxue had not reported the matter to her grandfather either. She knew very well that if her grandfather learned of the pills, he would definitely summon Little Ming back to Spirit Hall. Then Little Ming would no longer be able to stay by her side.

Besides, Zhao Ming's ability to refine such miraculous pills was something her grandfather could never hide from that woman. She did not want that woman's disciple, that horny furry, to enjoy pills refined by Little Ming.

Zhao Ming naturally knew of Qian Renxue's decision, and he was delighted by it. If the pills were given to Bibi Dong, wouldn't that mean giving them to that fool, and thus to that little bastard?

Then that fool's Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul would become Eleven Core Competencies of Martial Soul, and that little bastard's second Soul Ring would turn purple. Wouldn't that be helping the enemy?

So when Zhao Ming learned that Qian Renxue had kept the matter of the pills hidden, he was overjoyed and worked even harder at both cultivation and alchemy.