Training Hard in Alchemy

"What nonsense! When have I ever taught you improper alchemy?" Yao Lao glared, though his tone betrayed a hint of guilt.

"Stop wasting time. Let's get started." Xiao Yan glanced at Yao Lao and spoke impatiently.

Once he decided to do something, he seized every moment, unwilling to waste even a single second.

At those words, Yao Lao's expression turned serious as well.

"With your Dou Qi cultivation and soul strength, you already have everything you need to become a Seventh-Rank Alchemist. All you need is to keep building your experience in alchemy.

"Since you can already refine pills at the peak of the fifth grade, you can start attempting sixth-grade pills." With a flick of his finger, countless precious ingredients appeared in the refining chamber.

"Refining sixth-grade pills isn't easy. Start with the simplest, the Void Spirit Pill. After that, try the Azure Nether Longevity Pill, the Purple Spirit Recovery Pill, and the Emperor's Extreme Pill. Their difficulty increases in that order. I'll watch from the side and point out any problems as they arise."

Yao Lao tossed several recipe scrolls to Xiao Yan. However, Xiao Yan already possessed all of them except the Purple Spirit Recovery Pill recipe, so that was the only scroll he opened.

A moment later, a stream of information flowed into his mind through his soul.

"Origin recovery fruit, purple spirit seven-leaf grass..."

After carefully committing the Purple Spirit Recovery Pill recipe to memory, Xiao Yan reviewed the Void Spirit Pill recipe in his mind before finally beginning the refinement.

An azure flame flicked from his fingertip, then blazed throughout the medicinal cauldron a moment later.

Watching the cauldron's temperature gradually rise, Xiao Yan tossed in a void spirit heavenly fruit, one of the main ingredients for the Void Spirit Pill, followed by several supplementary ingredients.

Even so, Xiao Yan did not dare throw in all the ingredients at once. Refining a sixth-grade pill was a complicated process that required the essences of nearly a hundred ingredients to work together.

A single wrong step could cause the refinement to fail, so Xiao Yan proceeded cautiously, taking three full batches to finish extracting the essences from the dozens of ingredients.

"Phew!" Only after extracting all their essences did Xiao Yan draw a deep breath. He closed his eyes to settle his mind and restore some of his Dou Qi along the way.

Even with his current Dou Qi strength, refining a sixth-grade pill was quite strenuous.

Once he had nearly recovered, he kindled the flame again and poured in the extracted essences one by one, following the procedure laid out in the recipe.

"The temperature is a little too high."

"You'll get better results if you weave the flame through the void heavenly spirit fruit's pulp as you heat it." The green flame cast a green tint over Yao Lao's aged face, but all his earlier flippancy had vanished, replaced by a solemn expression.

Although he was not the one refining the pill, whenever he began any work related to alchemy, he became utterly serious and meticulous. Perhaps that was the true mark of a master alchemist.

Under Yao Lao's guidance, Xiao Yan's alchemy improved by leaps and bounds.

An alchemist on the threshold of the ninth rank would be a major figure even in the Xiao Clan or the Yao Clan. Before Xiao Yan became the Emperor's Son, he would indeed have had to treat Yao Lao with the utmost courtesy.

After all, in the Xiao Clan, an eighth-rank alchemist capable of refining pills that summoned six-colored pill lightning or better was entitled to choose a Heavenly Flame from Heavenly Flames Valley.

Two hours later, the medicinal cauldron trembled slightly. The energy released as the pill took shape struck the cauldron's walls, producing a pleasing chime.

"Sounds good, doesn't it? A good sound means a good cauldron." Xiao Yan focused his mind and withdrew a pill wreathed in mist from the cauldron.

The pill was white as jade, and a single breath of its fragrance was enough to invigorate the spirit.

"Not bad. Succeeding on your very first attempt at a sixth-grade pill-your talent really is frighteningly powerful." Yao Lao smiled faintly, once again confirming that the disciple he had taken truly possessed heaven-defying aptitude.

"Rest for a while before refining the next pill. Every successful alchemist is built upon a mountain of medicinal ingredients."

Xiao Yan nodded lightly at his words.

After sitting cross-legged and resting for half an hour, he began refining the next pill.

The same thing was happening in Xuan Yi's refining chamber.

"It worked!" Cao Ying drew a dark azure pill out of the medicinal cauldron.

It was a fifth-grade pill, the Azure Tortoise Longevity Pill. Once consumed, it made a person's bodily functions as enduring as those of a fifth-tier magical beast, the Azure-Armored Longevity Tortoise. Many experts with one foot in the grave used it to extend their lives.

However, the price of taking this pill was that they could use no more than thirty percent of their strength. If they exceeded that limit, the Azure Tortoise Longevity Pill would lose its effect, and they would have to take another pill to enter that state again.

Even so, this pill was highly sought after by many elderly experts.

"Excellent. You've finally refined a fifth-grade pill." Xuan Yi looked at her beloved disciple with gratification.

Cao Ying was still a few months shy of fifteen, yet she could already refine fifth-grade pills. Soon, this fifteen-year-old girl would become a true fifth-rank alchemist.

A fifteen-year-old fifth-rank alchemist was a prodigy seen only once in a century, even throughout the entire Pill Tower.

"It's still not enough!" Seriousness and determination filled Cao Ying's delicate, alluring face.

"This is still nowhere near enough to beat Xiao Yan!" With that, she raised the blood demon ape flame once more and continued refining.

"This child..." As she watched Cao Ying's earnest expression, Xuan Yi's own expression grew somewhat complicated.

This girl, whom her peers had looked up to throughout her life, had been defeated by someone her own age for the first time. Worse still, he had ground her into the dirt in the very field she excelled at-flames.

"That old rascal Yao Chen probably knew how strong Ying'er was, yet he was still so confident in his disciple. Just how heaven-defying is that boy called Xiao Yan?"

At that thought, she could not help silently cursing Yao Lao. It was bad enough for you to bully me, you old rascal. Now even your disciple has to bully mine?

In a refining chamber within the Dan Family's rest area, Dan Chen was also constantly honing her alchemy. At that moment, her delicate, fair little face was filled with concentration.

Seven days passed almost in the blink of an eye, and the so-called Pill Region Youth Alchemy Competition slowly raised its curtain.

Although this competition could not compare to the staggering scale of the Pill Gathering, a grand feast for alchemists across the Central Plains and even the entire Dou Qi Continent, it was still a lively event for the people of the Pill Region.

Sacred Pill City remained packed with surging crowds, and many young alchemical geniuses arrived one after another.

Bang! A terrifying surge erupted within the medicinal cauldron, its power comparable to a Dou Wang expert's self-detonation.

However, ninety percent of that terrifying energy was contained within the cauldron, and Xiao Yan dispersed the remaining ten percent with a wave of his hand.

"Three times. That's the third failure." Xiao Yan drew a deep breath, his eyes bloodshot.

"It's only three attempts. Although the Emperor's Extreme Pill isn't the very best among sixth-grade pills, it still ranks near the top. Even with your exceptional talent, you're bound to fail sometimes. Besides, you've worked yourself far too hard these past few days."

Yao Lao glanced at the twelve jade bottles arranged before Xiao Yan. In seven days, Xiao Yan had refined pills thirty times in succession, succeeding twelve times and failing eighteen. The ingredients he had lost were enough to make even a Dou Zong expert's eyes burn with envy.

Yet Yao Lao had not so much as blinked at that loss. What truly moved him was Xiao Yan's fierce resolve-the ruthless determination to do something well once he had decided to do it. That was what left him marveling.

A powerful background and heaven-defying talent were impressive enough, but he also possessed such a fierce, tenacious disposition. Someone like that was destined for limitless prospects.

"You've exhausted yourself lately. Get some proper rest. Once you've recovered, you might be able to refine this Emperor's Extreme Pill."

Xiao Yan nodded at his words, casually popped a Spirit Recovery Pill he had refined into his mouth, and sat cross-legged to rest.

Refining pills day and night for the past seven days had indeed drained him immensely. Even his soul power was nearly exhausted. Some things yielded better results only when effort was balanced with rest.