Zi Yan's transformation: the fierce dragon roared, awoo~!!; Cai Lin: queens never meet (5K)

"Hum..."

At the heart of the Taiqing Gate, within Imperial City.

A pillar of light pierced the heavens, scattering the clouds. Mystical fortune spread from it in every direction, while the fragrance of pills suffused the entire city.

Countless people took a breath and instantly felt their spirits lift. Astonished, they turned toward the source of that pillar... It was deep within the Taiqing Gate. Presumably, that Seventh-Rank Alchemist Grandmaster was refining pills again.

Thunderclouds gathered beneath the previously cloudless sky, but dispersed again after just a few strikes.

"A Seventh-Grade Pill..."

Inside the Alchemy Hall.

A middle-aged man stood to one side, gazing toward the rising phenomenon in the distance. His expression was complicated as he sighed. "So the gap between us has long since grown beyond a mere sliver."

When he first heard that Xiao Yan had become a seventh-rank alchemist, he had not thought much of it. With his own foundation and several exchanges with Xiao Yan, he had gradually begun to touch the threshold of the seventh rank himself.

Yet he had never imagined... that Xiao Yan could refine a pill at the very pinnacle of the seventh grade, much less do so with such composure.

This was probably the legendary Transformation Pill. He had one in his collection, too, and had once traveled to the Snake-People Tribe hoping to exchange it for Medusa's Heavenly Flames. But if he had to refine one himself... that was impossible.

He knew all too well how outrageously difficult it was. "Teacher, is that Xiao Yan?" Liu Ling asked, equally dumbfounded. Years ago, he had personally witnessed Xiao Yan refine a Fifth-grade Pill and had been utterly awestruck. Now that his own alchemy had improved, however, he could at least attempt to push toward the fifth grade.

Just as he