Alchemy

The moment he took the Seven-Colored Flower in hand, the white light pillar within Ye Yu's dantian began to circulate involuntarily, and a dense aura of life energy dispersed from it, flowing along his meridians to gather in his palm.

In the next instant, the Seven-Colored Flower, which had originally been insufficient in age, grew older and older under the white light's radiance, reaching two hundred years—enough to meet the standard for refining the Life Profound Origin Pill.

Situ Guang, who knew nothing of alchemy, naturally could not see the change in the Seven-Colored Flower. He only noticed the shift in Ye Yu's expression and immediately tensed up.

Ye Yu also saw Situ Guang's anxiety and promptly reassured him, "It's fine, I can refine it. I'll just need to trouble you, Senior, to stand guard."

Hearing this, Situ Guang let out a long breath, his heart brimming with ecstasy. But he quickly came to his senses and asked, "You plan to refine it now? Don't you have matters to attend to tomorrow?"

Alchemy was an extremely time- and energy-consuming task. Generally, refining a Rank 7 Pill required at least half a month.

But Ye Yu was different. In the Nine Nether Blood Spring, the Devil Race wouldn't give him that much time to refine pills—not half a month, not even a single day.

With an entire night still ahead, it was naturally no problem.

"It'll be in time. Please, Senior, make sure no one disturbs me." Ye Yu smiled, then went alone to the back courtyard, taking out a pitch-black alchemy furnace.

Seeing this, Situ Guang's expression turned grave. This concerned the hidden injuries in his own body. He took a deep breath, and the pressure of the Nascent Soul Realm spread outward from the inn as its center.

The surrounding commoners and minor cultivators, sensing this pressure, all voluntarily left, not daring to come any closer.

Taking out the medicinal ingredients, Ye Yu formed hand seals, and streams of Spiritual Flame surged from within his body. However, this Spiritual Flame, originally red, had turned white under the influence of the white light pillar in his dantian.

Feeling the power of the White Flame, Ye Yu's heart rejoiced. This flame was far stronger than before.

Not in destructive force, of course.

Rather, the flame was imbued with a dense life energy, capable of stimulating the medicinal properties of the herbs to a greater extent, resulting in higher-quality pills and a greater success rate in refining.

With that, Ye Yu drove the flames to envelop the hundred or so scattered medicinal ingredients entirely.

In an instant, the temperature of the entire back courtyard soared sharply.

Watching this, Situ Guang frowned deeply. Though he didn't understand alchemy, that didn't mean he had never seen anyone refine pills.

Ordinary alchemists, when refining, would toss the herbs into the furnace one by one to be purified.

According to alchemists, the furnace not only concentrated heat but, more importantly, locked in the spiritual energy of the herbs, preventing it from leaking out.

Otherwise, once these Spiritual Medicines were refined into liquid and their spiritual energy dispersed, they would be no different from ordinary herbs.

At this moment, Situ Guang's heart grew tense. He began to wonder whether he should stop Ye Yu from continuing. After all, these herbs had cost him most of his lifetime's effort, plus a third of Great Qin's national treasury, to gather.

If they were wasted, he might never be able to collect a second set in his lifetime.

Just as he was thinking this, Situ Guang saw something even more shocking.

Around Ye Yu's body, Spiritual Seals began to appear—no fewer than a thousand, scattered in the air.

Situ Guang stumbled, nearly falling off his chair.

"A Formation Master! This Ye Yu is actually a Formation Master! And a Thousand-Seal Formation Master at that! What kind of monster is this guy?!"

Aside from cultivators and alchemists, there existed another profession on the continent—the Formation Master!

A true Formation Master could form a formation with a mere gesture, its power no less than that of a cultivator of the same rank, and often even stronger.

A Thousand-Seal Formation Master was comparable to a cultivator in the Nascent Soul Realm.

Ye Yu glanced around and nodded. A thousand Spiritual Seals should be enough. Then, with a wave of his hands, the seals converged, transforming into Spirit Sealing Formations that sealed all the herbs, preventing even a trace of spiritual energy from leaking out.

This was the reason Ye Yu's alchemy was so fast.

Only Ye Yu could do this.

Even a combination of an ordinary alchemist and a Formation Master could not achieve such perfection, because knowing exactly when to seal and when to unseal required extreme precision. If even one seal failed, everything would be ruined.

Ye Fan, oh Ye Fan, what kind of existence has your Great Flame lost!

Watching this, Situ Guang marveled inwardly. From mocking Great Flame at the start, he was now filled with deep emotion.

This is a true dragon!

If he were still the Crown Prince of Great Flame, the nation's fortune would be secure for a hundred years—no, even a thousand years!

Cangyun left the imperial palace, wandering the royal city with a heavy heart, sighing repeatedly.

He truly regretted it now. If he had insisted on taking Ye Yu as his disciple back then and forcibly imparted his own Dao to him, Ye Yu might never have surpassed him, but at least he wouldn't have ended up like this.

As he walked, Cangyun suddenly caught a whiff of medicinal fragrance. His expression changed, and his instincts as an alchemist compelled him to savor it carefully.

Upon analyzing it, Cangyun's face filled with shock. The fragrance contained the scents of several hundred different herbs.

"Is someone refining a Rank 7 Pill? Does Azure Prefecture even have such a person?!" Cangyun murmured, his gaze falling on a distant inn.

The scorching heat was emanating from there.

Then he sensed the Nascent Soul Realm pressure and felt the urge to retreat. Alchemists despised being disturbed during the refining process.

But a Rank 7 Alchemist at work—this was something he, a Sixth-Rank Alchemist, could hardly give up.

Gritting his teeth, he waved his hand, summoning spiritual energy to shroud himself, and moved forward silently, without a sound.

Cangyun's movements were naturally noticed by Situ Guang. But seeing that Cangyun was being so tactful, and mindful of the power behind him, Situ Guang turned a blind eye.

Sensing no hostility from the Nascent Soul cultivator, Cangyun let out a long breath. He approached the inn and cautiously stepped inside.

Once through the door, Cangyun saw Situ Guang before him and nodded in greeting, then turned his gaze toward the back courtyard, eager to see clearly.

But Situ Guang reached out and stopped him, shaking his head.

Seeing this, Cangyun gave an apologetic smile, then found a seat and sat down without making a sound.

After a long while, a sudden thunderclap rang out from the sky above the Great Yan Imperial City. Black thunderclouds gathered in that moment, and a rich, white fragrance of alchemy wafted forth.

Every corner of the Great Yan Imperial City sensed it, and one by one, people looked up at the sky.

"Colored pill fragrance, heavenly thunder gathering—this is a Rank 7 Pill?! Someone is refining a Rank 7 Pill!"