Alchemy

Late at night.

Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged on his bed, with two exquisite wooden boxes placed before him.

The Soul Ascension Pill was on the left.

The Profound Water Pill was on the right.

Either of these items would be enough to make an ordinary Soul Master green with envy, yet Huo Yuhao was not thinking about how to consume them.

Besides automatically refining pills, the Heavenly Creation Cauldron possessed an even more outrageous ability—reverse-engineering pill formulas.

As long as a finished pill was placed inside, the cauldron could analyze its ingredients, medicinal properties, and refining process, eventually deriving a complete method of refinement.

Huo Yuhao reached out and opened the wooden boxes.

"Let's see whether you're really worth that much money."

With a thought, both pills vanished at once.

Deep within the Sea of Spirit.

The Heavenly Creation Cauldron gave a faint tremble, and Creation Mist completely enveloped the Soul Ascension Pill and the Profound Water Pill.

Before long, a vast flood of complicated information poured directly into Huo Yuhao's mind.

The names of hundreds of medicinal herbs, their processing methods, Soul Power control points, and refining procedures so complex they made one's scalp tingle all crowded together.

Huo Yuhao's face turned pale.

Good grief.

That amount of information nearly made his brain smoke.

First soul skill, Mind-Clearing.

A cool sensation instantly spread through him. Huo Yuhao's somewhat muddled mind swiftly regained clarity, and the chaotic information was gradually sorted out.

The Soul Ascension Pill required twelve century-old medicinal herbs.

The Profound Water Pill was even more absurd. Besides over a dozen types of water-attribute Soul Beast blood essence, several of its primary ingredients were nearly ten thousand years old.

Furthermore, after the pill took shape, several high-level water-attribute Soul Masters had to nourish it continuously with Soul Power for forty-nine days.

After reading through it all, Huo Yuhao remained silent for a long while.

No wonder this thing sold for tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins.

The ingredients were expensive, sure, but the refining process was genuinely torturous too.

Yet the Heavenly Creation Cauldron's assessment consisted of only four words—adding legs to a snake.

A great deal of precious medicinal potency was wasted during the crude processing, while the so-called Soul Power nourishment merely compensated for flaws left behind during refinement.

Huo Yuhao could even sense a hint of disdain in the information sent by the cauldron.

It was like a master chef watching someone turn ten-thousand-year ingredients into a pot of slop.

What a waste.

Fortunately, the Heavenly Creation Cauldron quickly derived an alternative method.

Huo Yuhao opened his eyes, picked up paper and pen, and wrote down every ingredient that was truly needed.

A batch of Soul Ascension Pills cost fifty Gold Soul Coins.

A batch of Profound Water Pills cost three hundred Gold Soul Coins.

There was no need for primary ingredients nearing ten thousand years in age, nor any need for high-level water-attribute Soul Masters to toil continuously for forty-nine days.

Huo Yuhao looked at the list, and the corners of his mouth slowly rose.

The original Profound Water Pill cost at least several thousand Gold Soul Coins per batch, and that was without factoring in labor.

After all, those Soul Masters belonged to their own sect. They could just issue a mission and give some contribution points—why would they actually pay them?

But his version of the Profound Water Pill eliminated a series of complicated processes, replaced high-level spiritual herbs and Soul Beast blood essence with lower-grade substitutes, and directly removed the labor-intensive step of having high-level water-attribute Soul Masters nourish it.

How was that merely cutting costs?

It was practically breaking the price's legs.

Early the next morning.

Ju Zi held that ingredient list and studied it for a full quarter of an hour.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Three hundred Gold Soul Coins can refine Profound Water Pills?"

"They should be better than the ones you brought back."

Huo Yuhao answered with complete seriousness.

Ju Zi's breathing immediately grew more hurried.

Having controlled the Sun Moon Empire for many years in her previous life, she understood better than anyone that the true value of these pills did not lie in making money.

It lay in cultivating geniuses in batches.

If the Profound Water Pills and Soul Ascension Pills could be refined at low cost, the list of geniuses in her hands would no longer be just a list.

It would become a core force that truly belonged to her.

Ju Zi abruptly stood up.

"Three days."

"What?"

"Within three days, I'll deliver every ingredient to you."

With that, she turned and left.

Watching her hurried retreating figure, Huo Yuhao could not help reminding her, "Sister Ju Zi, you haven't eaten breakfast yet."

"I'm not eating."

"You won't grow taller."

Ju Zi's footsteps paused for a moment.

Then she walked even faster.

Three days later.

The empty room in the small courtyard had been completely stuffed with wooden crates of all sizes.

Huo Yuhao sorted the ingredients into categories and threw them all into the Heavenly Creation Cauldron.

His Soul Power began to drain rapidly.

Fortunately, he had already reached level thirteen. Coupled with the Soul Power replenished by the embryonic Blue Jade Pills, he could barely sustain the cauldron's continuous operation.

Half an hour later.

The first batch of Soul Ascension Pills emerged.

There were twelve in total.

Each was a pale cyan color, with purer medicinal potency and none of the impurities remaining in the original pills.

Another hour passed.

Nine Profound Water Pills quietly fell into Huo Yuhao's palm.

The pills were no longer dull and black. Instead, they were a translucent water-blue, with faint ripples of light flowing within them.

Ju Zi picked one up, her eyes going slightly blank.

"They really were refined..."

"Don't rush."

Huo Yuhao handed her two pill bottles, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"There's something even more interesting."

Besides replicating those two pills, the medicinal knowledge poured into him by the Heavenly Creation Cauldron's reverse-engineering of the formulas had, under the effects of Mind-Clearing, unconsciously been fully integrated by Huo Yuhao.

He had accidentally derived two new pill formulas himself.

Blue Jade Pill.

It could restore Soul Power and increase the speed of Soul Power cultivation for a period of time.

Azure Jade Pill.

It could stimulate brain activity, enhance neural response, and slowly increase spiritual power with long-term use.

To test the effects of the Profound Water Pills and Soul Ascension Pills, Ju Zi had Shao Xing, the first confidant she had recruited and a six-ring Soul Emperor, take them.

He first consumed a Profound Water Pill. After an hour, once Shao Xing had refined it, he delightedly reported that his Soul Power had increased slightly. But that was not important. What mattered was that the impurities accumulated in his body had been removed, his cultivation speed had increased severalfold, and his Innate Soul Power had risen by one level.

Next came the Soul Ascension Pill. In theory, this thing was only effective up to the Soul Elder rank. After reaching Soul Elder, even if one had never taken a Soul Ascension Pill before, it would only increase some Soul Power rather than directly raise one's level.

Ju Zi had never expected that after Shao Xing consumed it, his Soul Power Level would rise directly by one level, reaching level sixty-three.

"It works on a Soul Emperor too?"

Ju Zi stared at Huo Yuhao, her gaze growing brighter and brighter.

Huo Yuhao nodded.

"It works, but the higher the cultivation level, the weaker the effect."

Afterward, Shao Xing successively consumed an Azure Jade Pill and a Blue Jade Pill. Both pills were still useful to a Soul Emperor, though their effects were not particularly strong.

That was already enough.

One had to know that any cultivation resource effective on a Soul Emperor was an astonishingly valuable treasure.

Yet the main ingredients of the Blue Jade Pill and Azure Jade Pill were merely herbs that were a few decades old.

Ye Guyi stood nearby, silently watching the row of pill bottles on the table.

She suddenly felt that her younger brother might be even more terrifying than Ju Zi.

One was responsible for finding people, money, and ingredients.

The other was responsible for turning ordinary materials into top-grade pills.

With these two together, would they really not turn the entire continent upside down someday?

Time slowly passed.

With a stable supply of pills, the three of them began improving at an astonishing pace.

Red Jade Pills strengthened the body.

Blue Jade Pills assisted Soul Power cultivation.

Azure Jade Pills slowly increased spiritual power.

Combined with the training regimen formulated by Ju Zi, after Huo Yuhao's soul skill had been enhanced by the Heavenly Creation Cauldron, his brain's control over and perception of his body reached unprecedented heights.

While using his soul skill, he could clearly sense the path of every strand of Soul Power during cultivation, every tremor of muscle during training, and the friction between his bones.

Because of this, Huo Yuhao understood better than others why he grew stronger after cultivating and training—what microscopic changes occurred within his body that led to increased Soul Power and a stronger physique.