Pill Lightning (42k)

"Boss, I want to eat some pills right now!" Zi Yan tugged at Liu Yu's robe, pouting as she wheedled.

Liu Yu rubbed her little head and said indulgently, "All right! I'll make you some now."

With a wave, he summoned a large, fiery-red cauldron engraved with a lifelike, ferocious red dragon. The Purple Cauldron he had obtained from the Mittel Family had finally succumbed to the heat of his heavenly flames and "retired with honors."

The Red Dragon Cauldron had been acquired by the Feather Pavilion. It was stolen merchandise that had eventually found its way into his hands.

The Red Dragon Cauldron was made of extraordinary materials. Supposedly, it had been forged from the entire skeleton of an eighth-rank draconic magical beast and various kinds of black iron, with a dragon soul fused into it. When pills were refined inside, faint dragon roars would echo from the cauldron. It had quite the impressive air, ranking below only the medicine cauldrons on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking.

As Zi Yan studied the unusual red cauldron beside her, she inexplicably felt a peculiar connection to it. That stirring grew especially strong whenever she looked at the red dragon engraved on its body.

"Boss, this medicine cauldron feels so strange!" Zi Yan looked at Liu Yu curiously.

"Does it? Probably because it's made from some unusual materials," Liu Yu said casually. It seemed the rumors about the Red Dragon Cauldron were most likely true. Moreover, that draconic magical beast had probably possessed a trace of Ancient Void Dragon blood.

Zi Yan nodded with only a vague understanding. Liu Yu waved his hand, and a wisp of ice-blue flame welled up from his palm. The instant Zi Yan saw it, she darted behind him and clutched his robe tightly, a flicker of panic in her purple eyes.

The Golden Ape nearby reacted much the same way, fleeing into the tree hollow in a few bounds. Only the ape's golden head poked out, beastly eyes fixed solemnly on the ice-blue flame.

Liu Yu paused, then understood. Zi Yan and the Golden Ape must have sensed how terrifying the Profound Lotus Ice Flame was.

Generally speaking, magical beasts without a fire affinity strongly recoiled from heavenly flames, those divine wonders of Heaven and Earth. Fire-affinity magical beasts might not reject them, but they still feared them. Heavenly flames did not care what affinity you had. If you dared approach, they would gladly burn you to ashes.

"Ha, it's fine. My flame won't hurt anyone. It's very gentle," Liu Yu reassured her with a smile. At his words, Zi Yan's tense body gradually relaxed. Her boss would never lie to her.

Then Liu Yu tossed the ice-blue flame into the Red Dragon Cauldron, followed by two Mighty Vajra Fruits. With a thought, he sent the blazing flames churning fiercely inside.

Seeing him put both mighty vajra fruits into the medicine cauldron, Zi Yan could not help asking, "Boss, are you going to eat some pills too?"

"No, they're all for you." This refinement was so simple that Liu Yu could spare the attention to answer her. The Mighty Vajra Fruits were of little use to him, so he might as well give them to Zi Yan.

"Boss, you're the best!" Zi Yan's eyes curved into pretty crescents. She felt so happy to have a boss who treated her this well.

Liu Yu chuckled. A child's affection really was easy to win. If affection points were visible, he would probably see "Affection +1" popping up over Zi Yan's head nonstop.

Sensing that the Mighty Vajra Fruits inside the Red Dragon Cauldron had melted into a mass of thick, golden liquid, Liu Yu took a jade bottle of diluted earth core body tempering milk from his Storage Ring.

The moment he opened the bottle, a refreshing, exotic fragrance spread through the air, making Zi Yan gulp behind him. Still, she did not ask for any. Her boss had already given her so much. She could not keep asking him for things. If she made him unhappy, she would lose far more than she gained.

Liu Yu poured a drop of "earth core body tempering milk" into the Red Dragon Cauldron, using his soul power to merge it with the golden liquid. Then the golden liquid rapidly separated into dozens of tiny portions.

"Condense!"

At his quiet command, the liquid swiftly solidified. In the blink of an eye, sixty glittering golden pills formed, spinning above the ice-blue flames.

With a wave of his hand, the sixty radiant golden pills shot out of the Red Dragon Cauldron and landed in the jade bottle he had prepared.

"Try them. They should taste pretty good." Smiling, Liu Yu handed the jade bottle to Zi Yan, who had been watching eagerly.

"Mm-hmm!" Nodding repeatedly, Zi Yan impatiently tipped out a golden pill. Ignoring its lingering heat, she tossed it straight into her mouth and chewed vigorously.

"Mmm... delicious!" Zi Yan crushed the golden pill in a few bites and swallowed it, then tipped another three pills from the jade bottle into her mouth and chomped away.

Watching her savage way of eating, Liu Yu could not help thinking, These sixty pills probably won't last even half a quarter-hour.

Fortunately, Zi Yan also knew how to savor things slowly. After eating ten golden pills, she gazed longingly at the bottle holding the rest, then put it into her Storage Ring.

"Oh, right, Boss! My name's Zi Yan. Old Man Su gave it to me. What do you think? Sounds nice, doesn't it?" Zi Yan suddenly smacked her little head, realizing that her boss did not even know her name, and spoke to Liu Yu with a rather endearing goofiness.

"Zi Yan. Yes, it sounds lovely." Liu Yu smiled.

"Boss, I'll tell you another secret. I can sense natural spiritual treasures! I'll take you to find them in a bit. Hehe." Zi Yan grinned, as though she could already picture herself taking her boss around and "throwing their weight about."

"Yes, very impressive." Liu Yu smiled.

"Of course! I'm super amazing. There isn't a treasure in this world I can't find." Zi Yan puffed out her chest, thoroughly pleased with herself. To Liu Yu, she simply looked cute and goofy.

"Boss, what kind of pill are you making?"

In a clearing deep within the Forest Sea, Zi Yan looked brightly at Liu Yu. These past two weeks and more had been the most comfortable days of her life. Using her treasure-hunting gift, she had taken her boss all over the mountains behind the Inner Academy. Under his forceful methods, all manner of natural treasures had obediently found their way into her mouth.

What she remembered most vividly was a sixth-rank wolf-like magical beast that her boss had crushed to death with a single finger. That was a sixth-rank magical beast, comparable to a human Dou Huang expert!

That moment had completely overturned her understanding of her boss's strength. She had thought he was only a little stronger than her. She had never expected the difference to be not one little bit, but two! She felt that even Old Man Su might not be a match for him.

"A pill that restores dou qi. Mostly Dou Zong experts take it."

Liu Yu took a considerable quantity of medicinal ingredients from his Storage Ring. All of them had been gathered in these mountains. Zi Yan's treasure-hunting gift truly was incredible. For the past two weeks and more, they had either been gathering medicinal ingredients or on their way to gather them. Along the way, he had also acquired magic cores from fifth- and sixth-rank magical beasts.

"A pill for Dou Zong experts? That's amazing!" Zi Yan looked at Liu Yu with admiration. Dou Zong experts were truly powerful people. A pill that worked even for them had to be delicious...

Liu Yu chuckled. There she went again. For the past two weeks and more, Zi Yan had constantly been saying things like "Boss, you're amazing!" and "Boss, you're so handsome!" It was pleasant to hear, but after hearing it so often, it really could go to his head...

"Zi Yan, keep watch nearby for me. If any magical beast comes blundering over, just hit it!" Liu Yu instructed.

At her boss's words, Zi Yan's little face grew solemn, and her childish voice took on a serious note. "Boss, I'll make sure to protect you!"

With that, Zi Yan flapped her Purple Wings and flew aside, circling the clearing as she surveyed the surroundings.

Watching Zi Yan fully embrace her role as a guard, Liu Yu shook his head. Then he focused his attention and prepared to refine this low-grade seventh-rank pill—the Instant Qi Pill!

As its name suggested, the Instant Qi Pill could restore the dou qi within one's body in an extremely short time. It was highly effective even for Dou Zong experts and could be considered an upgraded version of the fifth-grade Qi Cultivation Pill.

As Liu Yu's strength continued to grow, the Qi Cultivation Pill had become less useful to him. During his previous visit to the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, for instance, he had stuffed a handful of Qi Cultivation Pills into his mouth, only just managing to replenish some of his depleted dou qi.

That was not to say the Qi Cultivation Pill was "trash." As a fifth-grade pill, it worked quite well for Dou Wang and Dou Huang experts. Liu Yu was simply an exception. Ah, he was too strong. Only seventh-rank pills were worthy of his status...

Of course, that was one reason. There was another: he wanted to go fishing! As for which fish he was after, naturally, it was that big fish, Great Elder Su Qian.

Now that he had become Zi Yan's boss, he could abandon his original plan to "outwit" his way into obtaining a wisp of the fallen heart flame's essence. With Zi Yan connecting them, and with his own "personal charm" to persuade Great Elder Su Qian, surely the Grand Elder would willingly let him give the fallen heart flame a proper "lesson." (Fallen heart flame: ...)

While he considered this, Liu Yu's hands began moving. The Red Dragon Cauldron appeared out of thin air and landed on the ground with a crash.

He extended his slender hand slightly, and a mass of ice-blue flame quietly welled up from Liu Yu's palm.

The instant the ice-blue flame appeared, the surrounding temperature split into two extremes: one side cold, the other hot. The flickering flame was beautiful, yet deadly!

With a sweep of his palm, the ice-blue flame surged into the Red Dragon Cauldron. Blazing fire immediately rose high from within.

The refinement of the seventh-rank Instant Qi Pill officially began!

Controlling the ice-blue flame, Liu Yu first warmed the cauldron. After the fire had blazed for half a minute, he began tossing the medicinal ingredients beside him into the Red Dragon Cauldron one by one to extract their essences.

Within a few breaths of touching the Profound Lotus Ice Flame, the medicinal ingredients rapidly withered. Their bodies finally crumbled to dust, leaving behind droplets of pure medicinal liquid that gradually merged under Liu Yu's precise control of his soul power.

The cycle repeated without pause: adding ingredients, extracting their essences, merging them...

Pill refinement became immensely complicated starting at the seventh rank. Even a low-grade seventh-rank Instant Qi Pill was beyond comparison with a sixth-grade pill.

Time slowly passed as Liu Yu controlled the flame's intensity and the merging of the various medicinal essences...

Before he knew it, two days had passed.

Though Zi Yan found guarding Liu Yu rather boring, she still dutifully patrolled their surroundings, keeping magical beasts from disturbing him. Meanwhile, she held a jade bottle in her hand, occasionally taking out a pill and popping it into her little mouth.

Over the preceding two weeks and more, Liu Yu had refined over a hundred bottles of colorful pills for Zi Yan, enough to last her quite a while. He had also limited her to one bottle a day so that she could fully digest their medicinal power. Once she finished those hundred bottles, she would probably be ready to advance.

While Zi Yan patrolled the surroundings, Liu Yu began the final step: condensing the pill!

"Buzz..."

As a clear sound rang out from the Red Dragon Cauldron, the previously pitted pill embryo inside finished transforming into a perfectly round, azure pill no larger than a thumb.

The instant the pill formed, the sky above Liu Yu's clearing suddenly darkened. Layer upon layer of black clouds rapidly gathered overhead. Within them, faint silver flashes of lightning slithered about like silver snakes.

The sudden change in the sky brought the patrolling Zi Yan to a halt. Her little mouth fell open, and she rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Her boss's pill refinement had summoned heavenly lightning?

Liu Yu stood with his hands behind his back, calmly watching the upheaval overhead.

Mere Pill Lightning—he had faced it long ago. He had not feared even the Pill Lightning of the high-grade seventh-rank Transformation Pill. Besides, times had changed. He was no longer the youth he had once been. He could destroy the Pill Lightning summoned by this low-grade seventh-rank Instant Qi Pill with a single sword strike!

The dense black clouds spread, enveloping a vast stretch of the Forest Sea. Silver lightning roamed within them, occasionally colliding and erupting into tremendous thunderclaps. That heavenly might left Zi Yan trembling at the edge of the clearing. She wanted to fly to her boss's side, but feared disturbing him.

Meanwhile, beastly roars occasionally rose from the distant forest. It was easy to hear the terror of that heavenly might within those cries.

Crack!

Amid the spreading black clouds, a silver streak as thick as an arm suddenly flashed past. Its dazzling light illuminated the darkened Heaven and Earth.

"Boom!"

The silver lightning clashed ever more violently within the black clouds, and the entire sky grew unbearably oppressive. Suddenly, a fissure opened in the clouds. A bolt of silver lightning roughly half a foot wide burst out like a gigantic silver python, accompanied by a thunderous roar that resounded through Heaven and Earth.

The target it sought to destroy was none other than Liu Yu... or rather, the azure pill in the Red Dragon Cauldron before him!

Seeing the silver lightning crash down, Zi Yan could not help looking worried at the edge of the clearing.

Boss can definitely withstand this little bit of lightning, Zi Yan told herself, as though encouraging herself as much as Liu Yu.

Deep within the Inner Academy, in a room overlooking a window in a secluded pavilion, an old man dressed in loose black robes stood beside the window with his hands behind his back. His hair and beard were white, and his aged face was as tranquil as an old monk's, scarcely ever showing a ripple of emotion.

Suddenly, astonishment surfaced on the black-robed elder's face, which had remained as still as an ancient well. His gaze passed through the greenery outside the window and fixed on a spot deep in the distant mountains.

"Impossible! How could Pill Lightning appear in the mountains behind the Inner Academy?" The black-robed elder's expression shifted repeatedly. During his youthful travels across the Central Plains Continent, he had once been fortunate enough to witness a Seventh-Grade Alchemist refining a pill. When the pill was completed, thunder had stirred across the sky!

And that terrifying upheaval of Heaven and Earth deep in the mountains was precisely the Pill Lightning that only the emergence of a seventh-rank pill could summon!

Thanks to 瑜_eA for the monthly ticket.