Purpleflame Pill

Hu Jiujiu answered and impatiently tugged Lin Yu outside.

She pulled at Lin Yu's sleeve, her steps as light as if she were walking on springs. Anyone could see just how elated the young mistress of Demon Valley was.

The two left the Alchemy Cavern and headed down the mountain path, passing through terraced medicinal fields and several checkpoints guarded by Demon Clan experts before quickly vanishing into the depths of the vast mountain range.

Hu Jiujiu was clearly intimately familiar with the terrain. She led Lin Yu twisting and turning through the forest, following a winding gravel path while stepping precisely on its flattest spots.

After walking for a while, she suddenly turned her head toward Lin Yu with a smile in her eyes. Moonlight reflected in her amber pupils, making them seem filled with starlight.

"Lin Yu, I remember there's a seventh-tier Purple Crystal Winged Lion King ahead. Let's go there first."

"Sure, Sister Little Demon." Lin Yu replied with a smile, quickening his pace to keep up with her.

The Purple Crystal Winged Lion King's lair had been carved into the middle of a steep cliff. The rocks around its entrance had been baked an eerie purplish-black by the lingering heat of Beastfire over countless years, leaving not a blade of grass growing there.

Hu Jiujiu had barely arrived at the cave entrance with Lin Yu when a low lion's roar came from within, shaking loose pebbles from the cave walls. Immediately afterward, a massive lion-shaped magical beast covered in purple crystal armor emerged from the darkness.

It was more than three times the size of an ordinary male lion. A pair of wings shimmering with purple light was folded across its back, and its vertical pupils glowed faintly violet in the night.

The Purple Crystal Winged Lion King lowered its head and warily stared at the uninvited visitors at its entrance, issuing a threatening growl from its throat.

But when its gaze fell on Hu Jiujiu, the growl abruptly stopped, replaced by a low cry tinged with helplessness.

Clearly, this Demon Clan little princess was not visiting it for the first time.

"Don't be nervous. I'm not here to steal your Purple Spirit Crystal this time. I just need a little Beastfire—just a tiny bit."

Hu Jiujiu grinned as she held out her hand, leaving a gap of less than half an inch between her thumb and forefinger. Her expression was as innocent as could be.

The Purple Crystal Winged Lion King fell silent for a moment, then snorted out two heavy breaths carrying the aura of purple flames. It obediently opened its mouth, and a wisp of pure purple Beastfire slowly drifted out, condensing into a fist-sized flame in midair.

Hu Jiujiu nodded in satisfaction and turned to Lin Yu, only to find that he had no intention of taking out a flame container to store the Beastfire.

"You're not putting it away?" Hu Jiujiu asked in confusion.

Lin Yu shook his head.

The Purple Crystal Winged Lion King's Beastfire was exceptionally domineering. It would be better to refine it on the spot—but relying on himself to wear it down bit by bit, taming this seventh-tier Beastfire would not be easy.

He glanced at Hu Jiujiu, then at the Lion King, and a bold idea arose in his mind.

Hu Jiujiu was extremely clever. With a single look from Lin Yu, she understood what he meant.

She turned back to the Lion King, her smile even sweeter than before—so sweet that the Lion King's crystal armor bristled slightly.

"Um... could you help us out?"

The smile on Hu Jiujiu's face did not change. She merely tilted her head slightly, her amber eyes fixed unblinkingly on the Lion King. The threat in her gaze was almost tangible.

She said nothing, yet seemed to have said everything.

Under her gaze, the Lion King's enormous body visibly wilted.

Its ears drooped, its tail weakly slapped the ground twice, and then, as if resigned to its fate, it trudged heavily over to Lin Yu and snorted out two streams of scorching air.

Under Hu Jiujiu's threatening supervision, the Purple Crystal Winged Lion King obediently cooperated.

With the Lion King's help, refining the purple flame became as easy for Lin Yu as taking something from his pocket.

He sat down cross-legged, spread out his soul power to envelop the purple flame, and circulated his battle qi along the paths of his cultivation technique. In only a short while, he completely refined the seventh-tier Beastfire.

The purple flames danced joyfully in his palm a few times before obediently sinking into his dantian.

"Done." Lin Yu opened his eyes and nodded at Hu Jiujiu.

"That's it?" Hu Jiujiu blinked, apparently not expecting it to happen so quickly.

She had thought it would take at least some effort. It seemed this fellow's soul power was even stronger than she had imagined.

"Next one!" Hu Jiujiu clapped her hands and took the lead, her mood bright.

They visited thirty caves in succession.

Nineteen seventh-tier Beastfires, eleven eighth-tier Beastfires.

From the Purple Crystal Winged Lion King's purple flame, to the Blackwater Python's Deep-Blue Frostfire, to the Golden-Plume Eagle's Golden Sunfire, every Beastfire was the purest flame seed within those high-tier magical beasts. Outside, any one of them would have driven alchemists into a frenzy.

But before Hu Jiujiu, these seventh- and eighth-tier magical beasts that normally dominated the mountains and forests were as docile as housecats. Some even voluntarily spat out their Beastfire before Hu Jiujiu could speak, begging this little ancestor to leave quickly and stop ruining their caves.

They were only giving up Beastfire. For them, it was merely separating a wisp of flame from within their bodies, not much of a loss. They could also earn a favor from the Demon Clan's little princess. It was an exceptionally worthwhile deal.

Lin Yu fused the thirty high-tier Beastfires together with the Fusion Panel, and their power was already no weaker than some Heavenly Flames.

After returning to Demon Valley Peak, Lin Yu and Hu Jiujiu parted ways.

Hu Jiujiu kept thinking about the "important matter" the Saintess had mentioned last night. Though she was unwilling in every possible way, she still pouted and headed toward the Saintess's residence.

Lin Yu went straight to the Alchemy Cavern—he could not wait to try out the newly acquired Beastfire.

Inside the Alchemy Cavern, Yao Chen was seated cross-legged before his medicine cauldron, faint battle qi fluctuations lingering around him.

Feng Xian was sorting medicinal ingredients nearby. His movements were still somewhat unpracticed, but he had improved considerably compared with when he had first begun.

On the other side of the cavern, Dan Huchen and Qu Dongsheng were each tending their own medicine cauldron as they refined pills.

The two were busy with their own work. The only sounds in the cavern were the whooshing of pill flames and the faint sizzling of medicinal ingredients under intense heat.

Upon seeing Lin Yu enter, Yao Chen raised his head and nodded to him, while Feng Xian waved in greeting.

Lin Yu found a clean spot and sat down cross-legged. He closed his eyes and focused, and after adjusting himself to his best condition, slowly opened them.

This time, he intended to refine a pill from a pill formula Yao Chen had created himself.

The Purpleflame Pill was a sixth-grade pill. Its effect was simple yet domineering: it could give someone an additional chance to break through a bottleneck.

Yao Chen had been able to refine this pill when he was only a Battle Master. Now that Lin Yu had reached the Battle Spirit realm, refining this Purpleflame Pill was naturally no challenge for him.