However, the next moment, Ye Qingshuang dismissed her own thought.
Although Ye Yu possessed Pill Fire and an alchemy furnace, his method was wrong. Cangyun had once said that the alchemy furnace had to be used to lock in the spiritual energy of the medicinal ingredients.
Though Ye Yu's Pill Fire was powerful and refined the medicinal liquid quickly, its spiritual energy would gradually dissipate, and in the end, it would be impossible to form a pill.
Just as Ye Qingshuang mocked her own thoughts, the Spiritual Seals inside the cave emerged once more, trapping the clusters of medicinal liquid and directly sealing away their spiritual energy.
Then Ye Yu waved his hand, sealing all the medicinal liquid into the alchemy furnace. Barely a few incense sticks later, a green aura drifted out from within the furnace.
Colored pill fragrance!
Ye Yu was refining a sixth-rank pill! And he had even succeeded!
For a moment, Ye Qingshuang felt as though her entire worldview had collapsed. Setting aside why Ye Yu possessed the ability to refine sixth-rank pills—
This speed alone was far too fast. From beginning to end, it had taken no more than an hour.
As Cangyun's disciple, she had once watched Cangyun refine a sixth-rank pill. Including the preparation time, it had taken a full half month to refine a single one.
Just what kind of monster was Ye Yu?!
Fake. It had to be fake! There could not possibly be anyone in the world capable of forming a pill so quickly!
Yet in the next second, Ye Yu suddenly lifted the furnace lid, and a jade-green pill floated out, caught in his palm.
The last sliver of fantasy in Ye Qingshuang's heart shattered. With her ability, she could naturally tell that it was a genuine sixth-rank pill, and it even gave off a rich pill fragrance and Life Energy.
He succeeded! This guy had really succeeded!
Ye Yu took the pill and fed it into Qin Ruoxian's mouth.
The next moment, Qin Ruoxian let out a groan. The pallor on her face began to fade, and the wounds on her body started healing.
Ye Yu stared fixedly at Qin Ruoxian's wounds. Only after he saw wisps of Nine Nether Blood Qi being forced out and used the Small Cauldron to absorb them all did he finally let out a long breath.
Before coming here, Ye Yu had refined quite a few healing pills. But he had not expected this secret realm to contain a Nine Nether Blood Spring, so those pills were not foolproof.
Seeing Qin Ruoxian's condition improve more and more, Ye Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief and removed the seals around the cave.
Yet Ye Qingshuang stood rooted to the spot, staring at Ye Yu in shock. Only after a long while did she mutter, "You... you really are a seventh-rank alchemist?!"
After seeing Ye Yu casually refine a sixth-rank pill, Ye Qingshuang no longer had the slightest doubt about Cangyun's words. Ye Yu truly had the ability to cure the poison afflicting Ye Qingxuan.
"What? Only you and your dear little brother Ye Xuan are allowed to become alchemists?" With Qin Ruoxian already out of danger, Ye Yu relaxed and spoke.
"Then back then, my mother..." Hearing the mockery in Ye Yu's voice, Ye Qingshuang seemed to suddenly realize something and hurriedly spoke.
Ye Yu glanced up at Ye Qingshuang but did not answer. He sat down cross-legged to regulate the spiritual power within his body. His earlier actions had stirred his spiritual power, and if he did not suppress it soon, he feared he would form a Nascent Soul.
Impossible, impossible! If Ye Yu really was an alchemist, then Mother back then?!
At this point, Ye Qingshuang began carefully recalling that past she had been unwilling to remember. With her current abilities, she quickly concluded from her memories that the fourth-rank pill she had refined back then had truly never fully formed!
Ye Qingshuang's entire body trembled. She suddenly collapsed to the ground, her face pale as she stared at her own hands.
"Could it be... could it be that Mother died by my hand!!!"
Consumed by grief and pain, Ye Qingshuang did not notice that the wounds which had originally healed now showed faint signs of splitting open. Strands of nearly imperceptible blood qi kept winding around the wounds, preventing them from healing.
Even the flesh around the wounds began to rot.
That was the terrifying part of Nine Nether Blood Qi.
Ye Yu, who was regulating his breath, naturally noticed this as well. But he chose to keep silent and let go of his urge to help others.
Inside the cave, Ye Yu finished regulating his breath, and Qin Ruoxian woke up as well. However, the moment she saw Ye Qingshuang, she nearly brought a sword down on her, only for Ye Yu to stop her.
Ye Qingshuang was now tainted by Nine Nether Blood Qi.
What awaited her would be a future more terrifying than death.
Let Ye Qingshuang experience for herself that so-called act of feigning illness and pretending to be pitiful in her eyes.
Within the cave, streaks of light flashed by as Ye Yu and Qin Ruoxian emerged and headed straight for the palace at the heart of the mountain. Ye Qingshuang, having recovered her senses, pursed her lips and followed closely behind. Her gaze at Ye Yu's back was filled with complicated emotions.
Several blood corpses they encountered on the way to the palace were casually wiped out by Ye Yu.
The group of three soon arrived before the palace gates.
At the same time, quite a few others arrived from all directions. However, they all bore more or less some wounds, and without exception, they had been contaminated by Nine Nether Blood Qi.
Qin Ruoxian anxiously looked around. Only when she saw Qin Yue and Qin Xiong arriving did she finally relax.
After Ye Yu secretly activated the Small Cauldron to absorb the Nine Nether Blood Qi from their bodies, he raised his head and looked at the weathered mountain gate before him.
Outside the mountain gate, three large characters were written in plain sight.
Sacred Pill Sect!
"It's actually the Sacred Pill Sect!" someone immediately cried out.
Not to mention the others—even Ye Yu's expression became extraordinarily vivid. He had known far too little about this secret realm in his previous life. Never had he imagined that this secret realm was actually the ruins of the Sacred Pill Sect.
According to ancient records, the Sacred Pill Sect had once stood in unrivaled splendor across Azure Prefecture. At its peak, one sect had five Spirit Transformation cultivators, and there were even rumors of a Void Refining stage expert.
There had been countless Rank 6 Alchemists within the sect. Even seventh-rank alchemists, who now left no trace anywhere in Azure Prefecture, had numbered as many as five.
Yet such a powerful sect had vanished without a trace overnight, becoming one of the great unsolved mysteries of the time.
But Ye Yu knew that, judging by the current situation, the destruction of the Sacred Pill Sect was most likely inseparable from the Nine Nether Blood Spring!
"That's wonderful, Qingshuang! If this is the ruins of the Sacred Pill Sect, then it was tailor-made for you!" Ye Xuan's delighted voice rang out.
Everyone's eyes fell on Ye Qingshuang, disciple of the Cangyun Alchemist.
Indeed, the Sacred Pill Sect was renowned for alchemy. There was likely an alchemist's inheritance hidden within these ruins!
If Ye Qingshuang obtained it, Great Flame might very well produce a Sixth-Rank Alchemist comparable to the Cangyun Alchemist in the future. The Great Yan Dynasty would soar into the heavens!
Yet Ye Qingshuang could not bring herself to feel happy at all. Yesterday, she might have been delighted, but after witnessing Ye Yu's alchemy, she understood that this place was truly tailor-made for Ye Yu!
After the shock passed, someone could no longer hold back. They shot into the air and rushed straight toward the central palace.
Qin Ruoxian and the others wanted to follow, but Ye Yu stopped them.
Before they could react, the air suddenly blazed with light. Streams of spiritual power crisscrossed, and the mid Golden Core cultivator did not even have time to scream before he was directly erased into ashes.
"Just as expected, the sect-protecting grand formation is still here!" Ye Yu drew a deep breath and said in shock.
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