At that moment, Wu Bai had no idea what a stir he would cause in the Inner Academy simply by taking Han Yue for a flight.
During his eleven months in seclusion, quite a few more "orders" had piled up.
Perhaps those elders who had actually received their Dou Ling Pills had made the others realize that Wu Bai's reputation as a Tier 6 Alchemist was no empty boast.
This time, he had a full ten Dou Ling Pills to refine.
Besides the Dou Ling Pills the elders needed, there were also medicinal pills for his own people to use in their cultivation.
Sixth-rank Zen Heart Pills, as well as Fourth-Rank Pure Heart Pills.
Now that he had advanced to Dou Wang, he also needed to prepare some fifth-rank Qi Cultivation Pills to restore his dou qi, along with fifth-rank Azure Origin Pills for cultivation.
Oh, right-he had previously obtained a medicinal formula for a sixth-rank Healing Pill from the Alchemy Department. Its effects were exceptionally gentle and would not burden a gravely injured body.
He could prepare a few extra pills like that. It was not the ten thousand certainties one feared, but the one unforeseen disaster.
As for the third-rank Qi Recovery Pills and third- and fourth-rank Healing Pills Wu Bai had previously stocked in his Storage Ring, keeping two or three bottles would be enough. The rest could go to the organization, rather than take up space in his Storage Ring.
These might have been pills Wu Bai was phasing out, but that was only because he himself was an alchemist.
Most Dou Wang experts restored their dou qi with third-rank Qi Recovery Pills-the kind that sold outside for five thousand gold coins apiece.
Fifth-rank Qi Cultivation Pills were premium goods. Unless one knew a Fifth-Rank Alchemist, finding one on the market was purely a matter of luck. With good fortune, one might manage to buy a single pill.
Even if they bought one, they would not use it lightly, instead keeping it tucked away as a last-resort trump card.
So there was nothing wrong with using third-rank Qi Recovery Pills all the way up to Dou Wang.
Even some newly advanced Dou Emperors who had yet to befriend a Fifth-Rank Alchemist still had to use Qi Recovery Pills.
After tallying everything up, Wu Bai discovered that he really did have quite a few medicinal pills to refine this time.
"Fine by me. I haven't touched a Medicine Cauldron in nearly a year. I'll refine a Qi Cultivation Pill first and see whether my alchemy skills have gotten rusty."
Setting down the Medicine Cauldron, Wu Bai let the smile slowly fade from his face. It was time to get serious.
Compared with combat, alchemy demanded even finer control over one's own power.
Dozens of medicinal herbs were tossed into the Medicine Cauldron at once, and blue-white flames instantly swallowed them.
Within that single Medicine Cauldron, each herb occupied a region with a different temperature. Their pure medicinal essences were extracted simultaneously, without even a millisecond's discrepancy.
Guided by Wu Bai's soul power, the multicolored medicinal essences converged in a precise rhythm. As the flames grew steadily hotter, the pitted outline of a pill flickered into view amid the fire.
After a final nurturing in the flames, a smooth, perfectly rounded Qi Cultivation Pill emerged from the cauldron!
Wu Bai stored the freshly refined Qi Cultivation Pill in a fine jade bottle, not forgetting to clean the Medicine Cauldron.
Feeling that he had regained some of his touch, Wu Bai tossed ten sets of ingredients into the Medicine Cauldron in one go. He intended to refine ten Qi Cultivation Pills at once.
An hour later, ten smooth, perfectly rounded Qi Cultivation Pills slipped one after another into the little jade bottles prepared for them.
Just like that, an entire day passed while Wu Bai refined pills.
Han Yue returned just as a batch of pills was completed.
As the trembling teacup settled, Han Yue turned her gaze toward the pill-refining room on the ground floor.
After refining medicinal pills all day, most of them sixth-rank, Wu Bai was feeling mentally drained.
He was still yawning when he came out.
Accepting the cool tea Han Yue handed him, Wu Bai sat on the sofa and leaned his head back.
Han Yue stepped lightly behind Wu Bai, placed her fingers against his temples, and gently massaged them.
"Little Bai, did you know? Everyone's curious about who carried me out of the tower and flew with me today. They're wondering which powerhouse on the Inner Academy's strong ranking broke through to Dou Wang."
"Did you tell them?"
"None of them asked me, so I didn't say anything."
"Good. A little peace and quiet."
Wu Bai breathed a sigh of relief. He did not want to spend every day "receiving visitors," with people lining up to stare at him like a monkey in a zoo.
Of the top ten on the Inner Academy's strong ranking, the top five had all been stuck at Nine-Star Dou Ling for a long time-at least half a year.
They had been steadily honing their cultivation, to the point where they could even be called Half-Step Dou Kings. Yet they were still that little bit short and had failed to truly advance to Dou Wang.
If those fellows seeking an opportunity to advance to Dou Wang learned that Wu Bai, who had only entered the Inner Academy two years ago, had already surpassed them...
Then they could hardly help being curious.
Wait!
Something suddenly occurred to Wu Bai. Wasn't this the perfect chance to recruit them?
When he mentioned it to Han Yue, they both felt that might indeed be the case.
"But, Little Bai, the way you advanced to Dou Wang doesn't seem like something they can replicate, does it?"
Han Yue had identified the crucial point. Wu Bai's cultivation technique was special, allowing him to slowly clear away the obstacles to advancing to Dou Wang.
Others simply could not learn that method.
"True. Then let's let things take their natural course. But that doesn't mean we should do nothing. We can have someone publicize some of the Zen Heart Pill's effects."
Wu Bai thought it over and felt that this might serve as a selling point.
At the very least, the Zen Heart Pill could address a sore spot for the experts currently on the strong ranking.
They could not remain in seclusion for long. Without wondrous things like heavenly flames to protect them, they had to worry about fire poison and could not cultivate in seclusion for extended periods.
Even Half-Step Dou Kings had to emerge after two or three months in seclusion and wait for the fiery energy in their bodies to dissipate.
That cultivation rhythm was awkward. Breaking through a major realm like this surely required a long stretch of uninterrupted seclusion, not one where they came out every so often.
Wu Bai had the right to speak on this. Having spent nearly a year in seclusion, he knew that a long, uninterrupted stretch made breakthroughs easier.
At a time like this, if there were a medicinal pill that allowed them to remain in seclusion for a long time without worrying about fire poison, while also assisting their cultivation...
"...Could it possibly help those who are one step away from Dou Wang take that final step?"
Wu Bai shared his conjecture with Han Yue.
Han Yue pondered for a moment before slowly nodding. "Everyone's circumstances are different, but I think it should."
Listening to the two youngsters agonize over the matter, the Yellow Springs Demon Saint spoke up to remind them:
"You two fools, it's not as though you're lying. Just publicize the pill's effects and let them decide for themselves!"
"The fact that it frees them from worrying about the corrosive effects of fire poison is enough to draw them in. You truly know nothing of ordinary people's hardships. Apart from you two, who among them dares to stay in seclusion for more than three months at a time?"
Hearing their teacher's teasing, the two exchanged a smile.
That was true. Most people in the Inner Academy had to worry about fire poison eating away at them if they stayed in seclusion for more than a month.
Following that line of thought, the two suddenly realized that the problem they had been worrying about had never existed in the first place.
The reason was simple: their organization imposed virtually no restrictions, nor did it force its members to do anything that would put them in a difficult position. All they had to do was gather widely circulated information. It was not as though they were being asked to find out what color underwear a Dou Zun expert wore!
With terms like that, plus medicinal pills boasting all manner of miraculous effects, who could resist these benefits exclusive to [Baiyue]?
Before you continue