Alchemy

The moment Ye Yu held the Seven-Colored Flower, the White Light Pillar within his dantian began to circulate of its own accord. A rich aura of life spread from it, gathering in his palm along Ye Yu's meridians.

In the next instant, the Seven-Colored Flower, which had originally lacked sufficient age, began to grow older and older beneath the white light, until it reached two hundred years—enough to meet the requirements for refining the Life Profound Origin Pill.

Situ Guang, who knew nothing of alchemy, naturally could not see the changes in the Seven-Colored Flower. He only saw the change in Ye Yu's expression, and his heart immediately tightened.

Ye Yu also noticed Situ Guang's anxiety and reassured him at once. "It's fine. It can be refined. I'll just have to trouble you to stand guard for me, Senior."

Situ Guang let out a long breath at those words, his heart brimming with wild joy. Yet he quickly came back to his senses and asked, "You're planning to refine it now? Don't you still have matters to attend to tomorrow?"

Alchemy was an undertaking that consumed an enormous amount of time and energy. Refining a Rank 7 Pill generally took at least half a month.

But Ye Yu was different. In the Nine Nether Blood Spring, how could the Devil Race possibly give him so much time to refine pills? Forget half a month—even a single day was more than they would allow.

Now, with an entire night ahead of him, there was naturally no problem.

"There's enough time. I just ask that you don't let anyone disturb me, Senior." Ye Yu smiled, then headed alone to the back courtyard and took out a pitch-black alchemy furnace.

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

The nearby commoners and low-level cultivators sensed that pressure and consciously withdrew, not daring to come any closer.

After taking out the medicinal ingredients, Ye Yu formed hand seals with both hands. Strands of Spiritual Flame surged from his body. Yet the flames, formerly crimson, had been affected by the White Light Pillar in his dantian and turned white.

Feeling the power of the White Flame, Ye Yu's heart leapt with joy. His current fire was many times stronger than before.

Not in destructive power, of course.

Rather, the flames contained a dense aura of life, capable of drawing out the medicinal properties of the ingredients to a greater extent. This would produce pills of higher quality and greatly increase the chances of success.

Ye Yu then guided the flames to envelop all of the more than one hundred scattered medicinal ingredients.

For a moment, the temperature throughout the back courtyard soared sharply.

Situ Guang frowned tightly as he watched. Though he did not understand alchemy, that did not mean he had never seen someone refine pills.

Ordinary alchemists would feed medicinal ingredients into the alchemy furnace one plant at a time for refinement.

According to alchemists, the alchemy furnace was not merely used to concentrate heat. Its greater purpose was to lock in the spiritual energy within the ingredients and prevent it from leaking away.

Otherwise, once those Spiritual Medicines were refined into medicinal liquid, if their spiritual energy dissipated, they would become no different from ordinary herbs.

Situ Guang could not help growing nervous. He began to consider whether he should stop Ye Yu from continuing. After all, these Spiritual Medicines had cost him most of his life, along with one-third of Great Qin's treasury, to gather.

If they were wasted for nothing, he might never be able to assemble a second set in this lifetime.

Just as he was thinking this, Situ Guang saw a sight that shocked him even more.

One Spiritual Seal after another appeared around Ye Yu's body—no fewer than a thousand of them.

Situ Guang staggered and nearly fell from his chair.

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

Besides cultivators and alchemists, there was another profession on the continent: formation masters!

A true formation master could form formations with a mere gesture. Their power was no weaker than that of cultivators of the same realm, and could even surpass them.

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. With a wave of both hands, the seals began to gather, eventually turning into Spirit Sealing Formations that sealed every medicinal ingredient. Not a trace of spiritual energy leaked out.

This was why Ye Yu refined pills so quickly.

Only Ye Yu could accomplish such a thing.

Even if an ordinary alchemist and formation master worked together, they could not achieve such perfection. The timing of sealing and unsealing had to be incomparably precise. If even one point failed, everything would be ruined.

Ye Fan, Ye Fan, what kind of existence had your Great Flame truly lost?!

Watching this scene, Situ Guang sighed inwardly. The mockery he had once felt toward Great Flame had now become nothing but boundless emotion.

This truly was a real dragon!

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

Cangyun left the palace, wandering through the imperial city with a heart full of melancholy, sighing again and again.

He truly regretted it now. If he had forcibly taken Ye Yu as his disciple back then and forcefully imparted his own path to him, Ye Yu might not have surpassed him in the future, but he would not have ended up in his current state.

As he walked, Cangyun suddenly caught the scent of medicine. His expression immediately changed, and his instincts as an alchemist made him carefully savor it.

After examining it, Cangyun's face became utterly shocked. The medicinal fragrance was mixed with the scents of several hundred different ingredients.

"Is someone refining a Rank 7 Pill? Azure Prefecture actually has such a person?!" Cangyun muttered, his gaze then landing on an inn in the distance.

The scorching waves of heat were emanating from there.

Cangyun then sensed the pressure of the Nascent Soul Realm, and the urge to retreat arose in his heart. Alchemists greatly feared being disturbed while refining pills.

But someone was refining a Rank 7 Pill. As a Sixth-Rank Alchemist, he simply could not bring himself to leave.

Gritting his teeth, he waved a hand. Spiritual power surged around him, sealing him within it as he slowly approached without making the slightest sound.

Situ Guang naturally noticed Cangyun's movements. But seeing how tactful Cangyun was, and mindful of the influence behind him, Situ Guang chose to turn a blind eye.

Only when Cangyun failed to sense any hostility from the Nascent Soul Realm cultivator did he let out a long breath. He came to the inn and carefully walked inside.

The moment he entered, Cangyun saw Situ Guang before him. He nodded in greeting, then looked toward the back courtyard, wanting to see clearly.

But Situ Guang raised a hand to stop him and shook his head.

Cangyun smiled apologetically at this, then found a place to sit without making any sound.

After quite some time, a thunderous boom suddenly rang out in the skies above the Great Yan Imperial City. Dark thunderclouds gathered at once, while a dense white pill fragrance spread through the air.

Every corner of the Great Yan Imperial City sensed it, and people raised their heads to look at the sky.

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