Alchemy, Two Months

Xiao Clan, Back Mountain.

Xiao Yan took out his Storage Ring and laid the Pill Formulas and ten sets of Medicinal Materials for each one, all brought from the Mittel Auction House, on the grass. After a quick inspection, he frowned in thought.

There were four Pill Formulas in all: three Second-Rank and one Third-Rank.

The Second-Rank Pills were the Blood-Melting Pill, the Qi Recovery Pill, and the Blood-Burst Pill. The Third-Rank formula was for something called Qi-Raising Powder.

"Hmm..."

Xiao Yan flipped through the Pill Formulas, pondering.

Dust still covered the Third-Rank formula. Clearly, no one had touched it in years. Third-Rank might be nothing special to the Mittel Family, but to its Wutan City branch, this formula carried considerable weight. Calling it their greatest treasure would not be an exaggeration.

Looking back, he had been rather rash. Yet Gu Ni and Ya Fei had handed over one of their prized possessions without a second thought.

Was it because of the Qi Fire? Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes and played with the fire serpent in his palm. The moment it had appeared, Gu Ni had stared at it, transfixed. After that, he had agreed to everything without hesitation.

"..."

"Forget it. I'd better start refining." Xiao Yan smacked his lips. Perhaps he could ask about it next time they met. With a raised hand, he summoned the pitch-black Furnace.

The fire serpent slithered along his sleeve and up the Furnace. Flames spread across it in an instant, bathing Xiao Yan's face in red light.

"A Second-Rank Pill. This is a first..." Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes. With ten sets of ingredients, he needed to produce at least three pills. Anything beyond that would be his "payment."

Most alchemists worked on those terms. The higher a pill's rank, though, the harder it was to refine. Sometimes twenty sets of ingredients yielded just one pill.

But that was beside the point...

Xiao Yan controlled the heat and tossed in a white orchid mushroom. Fire serpents surged around it. As the temperature gradually rose, its outer layer peeled away, revealing a snowy white interior that gleamed like jade.

He then tossed in a ten-year-old Snow Ginseng. Under the Qi Fire's heat, it seemed to melt, releasing a milky-white liquid.

Xiao Yan's brow tightened. He did not relax for an instant as he controlled two entirely different temperatures and slowly brought the ingredients together.

Once refined into essences, different ingredients needed different temperatures to hold their form. That called for precise control, with the heat varying from one part of the Furnace to another. For an Alchemist, it was a severe test of Soul Perception.

But Xiao Yan was different.

He had Qi Fire.

Pfft!

Black smoke curled from the Furnace. Xiao Yan's face darkened. After working out what had gone wrong, he stubbornly took out a second set of Medicinal Materials for the Blood-Melting Pill.

After two failed attempts, he finally produced an uncanny red Pill Pellet.

"The Blood-Melting Pill replenishes blood and vitality after consumption. If the person who takes it is gravely injured, it repairs their internal wounds in a short time and instantly restores them to peak condition. Effective only for those at the Dou Shi level or below..."

Xiao Yan turned the successful Blood-Melting Pill between his fingers and nodded. This was good stuff. He ought to keep a few on hand for emergencies.

From time to time, thunderous booms echoed across the Back Mountain.

Another two months passed in the blink of an eye.

Wisps of smoke rose from the Furnace—not the black smoke of a failed batch, but thin trails of blue smoke. A faint medicinal fragrance drifted through the air. Xiao Yan sat cross-legged in midair, his gaze fixed on the dark, ink-colored Pill Pellet about to take shape as he controlled the Qi Fire roasting and refining it.

"Hum..."

A faint ripple of Dou Qi passed through the air. The dark Pill Pellet trembled, then solidified. Xiao Yan snatched it into his palm.

"A Third-Rank Pill—the Qi-Raising Powder!"

It was the first Third-Rank Pill he had ever refined. During the past two months of constant alchemy, his cultivation had risen to Two-Star Dou Shi, giving him enough strength to refine it.

"Huff..."

With the pill complete, Xiao Yan let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He placed it in a Jade Bottle, then glanced at the twenty-one Jade Bottles piled beside him. Apart from this Third-Rank Pill, every one of them held Second-Rank Pills.

Perhaps it was thanks to his Qi Fire, but his success rate with Second-Rank Pills was frighteningly high. Out of ten sets of ingredients, once he got past the first two or three failures, he could refine at least seven or eight pills!

"Huff. Alchemy is exhausting. I don't know how those people from the Yao Clan can do it from birth without getting sick of it..." Xiao Yan flopped onto his back in the grass, grimacing as he complained.

"You brat. Most people would wake up laughing if they reached your level, and it's still not enough for you?" Taishang Laojun manifested and studied Xiao Yan with a smile.

"Uh... Teacher, you weren't asleep?" Xiao Yan scratched his head awkwardly.

"With all that complaining, I thought you wanted me to hear it." Old Lord sat cross-legged in midair, smiling. "I know you long for the complete Eight-Nine Arcane Arts. You want to attain sainthood in the flesh like Yang Jian, wield Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation, and stand proudly above the world. But unless you take it step by step—refining Qi Fire into Essence Fire, then into Divine Fire, before uniting all three flames—you'll find it hard to achieve mastery."

"By the way, Old Lord, if I get the chance, could I meet... that person?" Xiao Yan's face lit up with excitement.

"You can," Old Lord said with a smile. "But first, refine your pills."

"Huff... Fine!"

Xiao Yan gritted his teeth, sprang to his feet, and got back to work on the remaining Third-Rank Pills.

Wutan City.

The Mittel Merchant Guild.

Inside a lavishly furnished room.

Master Gu Ni paced back and forth, his face clouded with worry. He sighed now and then, glancing at Ya Fei, who lounged lazily in a reclining chair, her long, fair legs slightly crossed.

"Why don't you go to the Xiao Clan and ask for those copied Pill Formulas back? Even if you can't get the formulas, bringing back the Medicinal Materials would do."

Gu Ni looked hesitant as he spoke.

Yes, he regretted it.

Xiao Yan's Qi Fire had indeed stunned him at the time. But thinking back, what if it had been some other kind of flame that merely resembled Qi Fire? Years ago, he had been some distance from the Alchemy Association president and had only vaguely sensed an early form of Qi Fire. Even then, he had seen it for only an instant.

That memory was growing hazier by the day. Perhaps he had mistaken what he saw.

Those Pill Formulas and ingredients were the Mittel branch's lifeblood.

They were treasures left by the Alchemist previously stationed in Wutan City. If headquarters investigated, he might not escape responsibility.

He had even begun to suspect that the whole thing was a trap set for the Mittel Auction House, designed to swindle him out of his Pill Formulas.

Perhaps the rumor that the Xiao Clan had a Second-Rank Alchemist had been spread deliberately.

But that seemed too far-fetched. Besides, the agreed-upon deadline had not yet arrived. So he remained anxious without taking any action.

"Master Gu Ni, what's the rush? I trust Xiao Yan..."

Ya Fei stretched. Hardly any man could keep his eyes from her slender, sinuous waist.

Gu Ni was the sole exception. His mind was fixed on his Pill Formulas, his face still full of worry.