Heartfire Tempering, Millet Pearls Suspended

Two days later.

The night was deep.

Only Lu Xuan and Shen Shuyun were present in Honored Guest Hall.

The hall was silent, save for the occasional roar of earthfire surging forth.

"Junior Brother, are you ready?"

Shen Shuyun asked softly, turning to Lu Xuan at her side.

Lu Xuan glanced at the sky and replied with a smile, "Senior Sister, go ahead and open the furnace. I certainly won't disappoint you."

Though Shen Shuyun carried rather too much of that "green tea" air from his previous life, her heart for the Dao and her talent in alchemy were both exceptional. Over the past two days, she had broken down every principle and crucial detail of the Suspended Heart Millet Pearl Pill for him, allowing him to thoroughly grasp Fire-Controlled Wood Melting.

She could truly be called an excellent teacher.

It also gave him greater confidence in the coming pill refinement.

After all, so long as they produced more than two pills, he would receive one.

The Suspended Heart Millet Pearl was greatly beneficial to Spiritual Sense, and was no pill easily obtained. Once he took it, his path of cultivation would surely advance another step.

Moreover, when Lu Xuan sensed the Jade Disc, it seemed that entering Honored Guest Hall, meeting Shen Shuyun, and refining the Suspended Heart Millet Pearl Pill in exchange for Bright-Jade Grass also accorded with the path of [Opening Another Bypath].

If it succeeded, the character [Bypath] could solidify a little further.

It was only that such a [Bypath] seemed to be but a minor road, causing the character [Bypath] to solidify rather slowly.

Yet grains of sand made a mountain. In the end, it was another sliver of hope, and could be considered killing several birds with one stone.

"Since that is so, I'll open the furnace."

Hearing this, Shen Shuyun's expression turned solemn as she spoke seriously.

Lu Xuan also nodded solemnly.

Seeing this, Shen Shuyun no longer looked at Lu Xuan, instead devoting all her focus to the pill furnace before her.

Her lips moved in silent incantation. Then, the earthfire beneath the pill furnace abruptly surged with ferocious force, turning into a blaze of bright purple flame that began licking at the golden-bronze furnace.

This was the earthfire of the Alchemy Office, called Flame Pivot. Unlike the earthfire of Righteous Qi Hall, it excelled at melting ores and spiritual materials, and its temperature moved at the user's will.

The earthfire rose, yet Shen Shuyun did not immediately open the furnace. Instead, she waited quietly until the pill furnace became scorching hot, crimson light spilling out from within and without, while its lid began to hum.

This was Furnace Awakening—activating the Spirit-Gathering Pill Formation within the pill furnace, the step that laid the foundation for the pill.

Different pills required different methods of Furnace Awakening.

The Flame Pivot earthfire was fiercely tyrannical from the very start, without the slightest gentleness. This meant the present refinement would be a rapid, fierce-fire process rather than a slow, gentle-fire one.

That also meant the spiritual materials used in this refinement required extremely high temperatures before they could be melted into slurry.

Such a method demanded exquisitely precise timing. A moment too slow, and the slurry would evaporate into nothing; a moment too fast, and the spiritual materials would wither before yielding their essence.

"Buzzz!"

The Flame Pivot earthfire came rolling forth, growing ever hotter and more turbulent, like a fire wyrm baring its claws and fangs as it completely engulfed the pill furnace.

The pill furnace hummed even more intensely.

Yet Shen Shuyun remained unmoved, waiting until the sound of clashing gold and iron arose from the furnace's belly.

Shen Shuyun abruptly opened her eyes. Her spiritual qi transformed into a hand, and with lightning speed, she tossed Glazed-Glass Grass, Mirage Shell Powder, and Rootless Dew into the furnace one after another.

"Junior Brother Lu, focus your mind into the furnace!"

She gave a sharp shout toward Lu Xuan.

Lu Xuan did not dare delay. His Spiritual Sense immediately surged forth, descending into the furnace like the light of a great sun.

Boom!

The pill furnace was incomparably scorching. If ordinary Spiritual Sense entered it, it would inevitably be damaged and weakened. Yet Lu Xuan's Spiritual Sense contained the nature of the great sun; it was like a fish returning to water. Not only did it not diminish in the slightest, it became even more surging and saw all the more clearly.

Within the pill furnace, a golden crucible actually hung suspended in midair. The earlier sound of gold and iron clashing had been the sound of this crucible trembling.

This was the Suspended-Womb Cauldron, also known as the Mother-and-Child Furnace. To refine the Suspended Heart Millet Pearl Pill, it had to be refined while suspended, never touching the ground.

At this moment, the three spiritual herbs Shen Shuyun had thrown in seemed to pass through space itself, entering the golden crucible directly.

Sizzle!

Bang!

The Glazed-Glass Grass and Mirage Shell Powder melted the instant they entered the crucible. Wisps of black smoke and ash drifted upward, yet amid that smoke and ash, two drops of slurry hung suspended.

The grass was burned and the shell was ignited, their forms reduced to ash—but their essence was also burned forth, dripping like tears.

Yet the heat within the crucible was beyond measure. The two drops of slurry had barely emerged before they were about to be vaporized by the high temperature. At that moment, the Rootless Dew abruptly fell into the crucible and wrapped around them.

Sizzle!

Rootless Dew was cold and pure. At that moment, it was like a layer of ice film, instantly wrapping around the two drops of slurry and preventing their fate of evaporation.

Not only that, with the slurry gathered together, it naturally fused into a single drop of "spiritual pearl" glowing with a faint green light.

"Junior Brother Lu!"

At that moment, Shen Shuyun's voice rang out again.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Xuan immediately activated [Burning Heart Sunfire].

Boom!!

In an instant, incomparably searing yet formless and intangible Heartfire suddenly descended into the golden crucible.

At the very moment Lu Xuan's Heartfire entered the crucible, a piece of spiritual wood, amber-like in texture and gnarled in twisted knots, was thrown inside.

This wood was formless and invisible to the naked eye. Only those who had opened their Spiritual Sense could perceive it.

The temperature in the furnace was well beyond a thousand degrees, yet when this wood fell within, its form remained unchanged and it did not burn, utterly unaffected by any heat.

Crackle!

When Lu Xuan's Heartfire surged, the wood immediately trembled and crackled. Its amber-like substance began to melt, and mysterious golden liquid dripped from within like raindrops.

"Junior Brother, give it everything you have—hold nothing back!"

Shen Shuyun's urgent voice came through.

If this Unburnt Wood could not be melted within three breaths, everything would come to naught.

Lu Xuan naturally understood the stakes. He drew a deep breath, his Spiritual Sense pouring forth like floodwaters through opened gates as he exerted every ounce of strength to activate [Burning Heart Sunfire].

Furthermore, the blood within his body began to burn, driving an even more tyrannical power.

This power could only bolster his physical body and Qi Sea, and had a negligible effect on the activation of Spiritual Sense.

But even the slightest trace was still an increase.

Lu Xuan's Heartfire had already surpassed the mundane. Now, driven with all his strength, it blazed incomparably hot, truly like the radiance of a great sun seeking to burn everything dry.

"—Drip."

The Unburnt Wood was indeed burned dry, yet golden spiritual liquid dripped down, falling into the "spiritual pearl" wrapped in Rootless Dew.

Boom!

Scorching spiritual light erupted, like lava falling into ice water as spiritual mist billowed up.

But just then, piece after piece of spiritual material was thrown inside. They evaporated in an instant, turning into slurry that filled the air, wrapping around the boundless spiritual mist before sinking downward.

Shen Shuyun's techniques fluttered like butterflies among flowers, nimble beyond compare. In accordance with the order of pill principles, she fused the various spiritual liquids together.

Until, at last, a "millet core" fell into the furnace, hanging at the center of the spiritual liquid and stabilizing everything.

"Stoke the fire again!"

Shen Shuyun's hurried voice came through.

Lu Xuan had long been waiting for this step. His Heartfire rose once more, wrapping around the pill embryo that already faintly bore golden patterns.

Heartfire tempered its form, burned away Yin Dregs, purged impurities—then the Millet Pearl hung suspended.

"It's done!"

"Subdue Fire, Collect the Pill!"

Shen Shuyun's voice was filled with delight.

A smile also appeared on Lu Xuan's face.