Watching an Observation of Alchemy!

Jiang Yun gave Zi Yan, who was trying to act tough, a mild glance. He seemed to have said nothing, yet also seemed to have said everything.

With her head held high, Zi Yan suddenly felt a wave of malice coming her way. Her magical beast instincts told her something unfavorable to her was happening.

When she turned back and saw Jiang Yun's "warm" gaze, she immediately felt she had been worrying too much.

Still, Jiang Yun had actually dared to laugh at her. She bared her two little canine teeth at him in a somewhat "ferocious" manner. Yes, the "fangs of an evil dragon."

The happy-go-lucky Zi Yan was the source of Jiang Yun's daily joy.

Jiang Yun waved his palm, and a wisp of white flame swelled in the wind, transforming into a pure white cauldron in the blink of an eye. Forming objects from flames was no profound technique. With sufficient soul power, never mind a cauldron-even a beautiful woman could be conjured with ease.

On the Dou Qi Continent, a Medicine Cauldron was an indispensable tool of an alchemist's trade.

A good Medicine Cauldron could stabilize both flames and medicinal liquids while increasing the success rate of pill refinement. Those on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking, in particular, were objects alchemists flocked after.

But once someone reached the ninth grade, whether they needed a Medicine Cauldron no longer mattered, because such a person was already the most powerful "Medicine Cauldron" themselves.

As for why Jiang Yun did not need one, first, his soul power was naturally strong. Second, he did not have one. Third, he was merely refining medicinal ingredients, not making pills; there was no need to make things so complicated.

Jiang Yun had never practiced alchemy. He had only learned the names of these ingredients from the labels on the counter, and knew nothing about their medicinal properties or melting points.

However, Jiang Yun had one advantage that never failed him: his naturally powerful soul power, sufficient to handle any unexpected situation.

If ordinary alchemists were regular players who needed to grind experience day and night, then Jiang Yun... was a "pay-to-win" player.

He was someone people envied, and someone they despised.

Looking at the completed cauldron, Jiang Yun tossed the ingredients into it under Zi Yan's expectant gaze.

At once, fierce flames churned violently within the cauldron. Under their scorching heat, the ingredients gradually changed, while Jiang Yun tested their limits bit by bit.

This sort of refinement was hardly difficult. All it required was sufficiently intense heat, so it took little effort on Jiang Yun's part and proceeded very quickly.

A moment later, the Purple Cloud Fruit inside had completely melted into a thick purple liquid. Jiang Yun waved his palm, sending a handful of seasonings Zi Yan had selected into the cauldron, where they immediately blended with the viscous liquid.

His ten fingers suddenly danced rapidly before him. With their movements, the mixture inside the Medicine Cauldron swiftly separated, ultimately forming dozens of tiny balls of liquid.

"Condense!" At his soft command, the liquid rapidly solidified. In the blink of an eye, it became dozens of purple pills surrounded by white halos, spinning above the Saint Heavenly Demon Flame inside the cauldron.

Looking at the pills giving off their unusual fragrance, Jiang Yun nodded and waved his small hand. Dozens of purple pills shot out of the Medicine Cauldron trailing white light, finally landing in the jade bottle in his hand.

He poured a pill out of the bottle and held it a dozen or so centimeters before his eyes. He did not even need to sniff carefully; an enticing fragrance was already scrambling into his nose.

No appraisal was necessary. One sniff told him it was a "good pill"-though this was the version made exclusively for Zi Yan.

Gulp!

Suddenly, the sound of someone swallowing came from beside Jiang Yun. Zi Yan, who had been watching from farther away, had somehow run up beside him, her large black eyes brimming with longing.

"Here, try the flavor!"

Jiang Yun looked at Zi Yan with a smile and offered her the purple pill in his hand.

Zi Yan had long been staring until her eyes nearly wore out. Now that he had delivered it right to her, why would she stand on ceremony? She abruptly bit down on Jiang Yun's finger... no, on the pill resting on his finger.

Jiang Yun immediately felt something soft and slippery against his finger. He silently pulled it free, finding it covered in saliva. Looking at Zi Yan eating happily, he handed her the jade bottle.

"It looks like this really suits your taste. Take it. Once I finish refining all these ingredients, there should be enough for a month."

Zi Yan nodded repeatedly, took the bottle, and quickly poured out another purple pill. She tossed it straight into her mouth and chewed vigorously. This pill did not last long either; after just a few bites, she crushed it and swallowed it into her stomach.

"Hehe, it's delicious!" Zi Yan smiled in satisfaction.

Watching the happy Zi Yan, Jiang Yun took out the remaining ingredients and used the same method to refine them into pills of different flavors, placing them in separate jade bottles.

When he finally handed these bottles to Zi Yan, he saw that more than half the pills in the first bottle were already gone.

Good grief, she really was a bottomless pit! I still underestimated that body of hers. These would be lucky to last a week.

"Zi Yan, if you keep eating like that, you'll finish the pills in no time," Jiang Yun kindly reminded her as she kept munching away.

"Once they're gone, you can just make more for me, Xiao Yun!" Zi Yan licked her lips and spoke as though it were only natural.

For a moment, Jiang Yun was at a loss for words. He explained, "The Outer Academy's Medicinal Materials Treasury probably can't withstand you eating like this. You're already equivalent to a human Dou Wang. Low-grade ingredients probably won't do much for you, and most of the Outer Academy's ingredients are low-grade ones used to refine pills below the third grade. The few high-grade ingredients they have probably won't withstand your appetite either."

Hearing Jiang Yun say this, Zi Yan became troubled. She looked reluctantly at the jade bottle in her hand. The medicinal fragrance wafting from it was so tempting.

Eat to her heart's content? There were not enough ingredients. Stop eating? Absolutely impossible!

Seeing Zi Yan's little face scrunched up yet still so adorable, Jiang Yun was amused. It was rare to see her like this. Unfortunately, he had neither a camera nor an image-recording stone, or he could certainly have preserved this as an embarrassing moment from her past.

Just then, Zi Yan seemed to think of something, and her eyes lit up. She waved her small hand and declared with considerable swagger, "Xiao Yun, I'll take care of the ingredients. Just wait! All you need to do is not go on strike when the time comes!"

Seeing the flames burning in Zi Yan's eyes, Jiang Yun felt as though he had unleashed a "monster." He had a vague idea of what her solution might be.

Jiang Yun nodded. Zi Yan was not only his lifesaver but also his first friend on the Dou Qi Continent. Of course he was willing to help her with this little matter.

"Then wait for me-" Seeing Jiang Yun nod, Zi Yan shouted excitedly. His vision blurred for an instant, and her figure vanished from before him.

Watching Zi Yan disappear in the blink of an eye, Jiang Yun was not particularly worried.

Zi Yan had already broken through to the fifth rank. Unless a seventh-rank magical beast intervened, the bloodline suppression of an Ancient Void Dragon and the advantages of her spatial attribute meant her life would not be in much danger.

And were there any seventh-rank magical beasts in the Outer Academy's Magical Beast Forest?

One would likely be dealt with by Jia Nan Academy the moment it appeared. Even sixth-rank magical beasts were rarely seen.

A Fifth Rank Ancient Void Dragon had already begun entering maturity, enough for Zi Yan to roam freely through the Magical Beast Forest.

Once Zi Yan left, Jiang Yun suddenly felt the whole world fall quiet. He was rather unused to it.

As someone who had grown up without companions, he quite enjoyed the atmosphere of being with Zi Yan. Even if he was an adult at heart, who said adults necessarily grew accustomed to loneliness?

He shook his head. Why had he suddenly become so sentimental?

Gathering his thoughts, Jiang Yun took out a stalk of Blood-Stopping Grass, an ingredient for first-grade pills, with a thoughtful gleam in his eyes.

Whoosh- Suddenly, the Saint Heavenly Demon Flame ignited again in Jiang Yun's hand. Through his earlier experience with "alchemy," he could now precisely control the heat required for such low-grade ingredients.

The white flame quickly burned the Blood-Stopping Grass in his hand into green medicinal liquid. Using the same method, Jiang Yun condensed it into a pill like those he had made for Zi Yan.

Looking at the white markings on the green pill, Jiang Yun gained a measure of understanding.

But, being meticulous, he took out another stalk of Blood-Stopping Grass. The flame in his palm began to change, its color slowly deepening until it became pitch-black as ink. This was the other half of the Saint Heavenly Demon Flame.

The black flame brimmed with an evil, chilling aura. A single glance could stir the darkest impulses in a person's heart.

Jiang Yun repeated the process, using the black flame to refine the Blood-Stopping Grass into another pill. This time, black markings covered it. His instincts told him the pill had no effect whatsoever; the Blood-Stopping Grass's medicinal potency had completely vanished under the flame's scorching heat.

"Sure enough, it's just as I thought!"

Looking at the pills extracted from identical ingredients in his hands, Jiang Yun confirmed his suspicion.

As a flame composed of two completely opposing powers, the Saint Heavenly Demon Flame did more than stir human desires and emotions. The properties of its two flames also offered endless ingenious applications.

The white flame brimmed with vitality, while the black flame brimmed with destruction.

Then could he use this life-filled white flame to replace the role of an alchemist's wood attribute and explore alchemy?

As the Dou Qi Continent's seemingly impossible technology, alchemy naturally interested Jiang Yun. The prerequisite for becoming an alchemist was to possess a fire attribute, and furthermore, that fire-aligned body had to contain a trace of wood attribute to act as a catalyst for pill refinement!

The attributes of people on the Dou Qi Continent were determined by their souls. A person's soul would only ever possess one attribute, with no possibility of another being mixed in. Thus, alchemists, whose souls possessed two attributes, were exceedingly rare.

After all, once Xiao Yan ascended to the Great Thousand World, the Endless Fire Domain became one of its three major pill-refining powers!

Naturally, his alchemy skills had improved after he entered the Great Thousand World, but there was no denying that the Dou Qi Continent's alchemy had laid a profound foundation for him.

Thus, when Jiang Yun learned that he possessed a pure fire attribute, he had already given up on alchemy. Although the Dou Qi Continent had an exception like Tang Zhen, who possessed a pure fire attribute yet had refined many low-grade pills, alchemy at that level held little appeal for Jiang Yun.

Now it seemed he still had a sliver of hope.

At this thought, even Jiang Yun's state of mind stirred with a faint ripple.

Having reached this conclusion, Jiang Yun tidied up and turned toward the Alchemy Department. He wanted to verify in person whether he could become an alchemist.

Jiang Yun walked leisurely toward the Alchemy Department. As alchemy was an elite profession on the Dou Qi Continent, there was no need to ask for directions. He knew the Outer Academy's most lavish building had to be the Alchemy Department.

A great cluster of auras filled with fire-attribute soul power gathered there. Jiang Yun could have found it with his eyes closed.

Upon reaching the Alchemy Department, he indeed saw many proud-looking boys and girls coming and going. Each wore a badge on their chest shaped like a Medicine Cauldron, inlaid with either two stars or one to represent their alchemy proficiency.

From Jiang Yun's observations, most were first-grade alchemists, with a few second-grade ones among them. He did not see a single third-grade alchemist.

"Hey-have you heard? Elder Liu is going to fire up his cauldron personally and give us pointers on alchemy!"

"Really? Elder Liu is a fourth-grade Grand Alchemist! Back in my hometown, someone like him would be president of the city's Alchemist Association. We absolutely can't miss someone of his standing taking action himself!"

"Let's go together, then!"

Watching the crowd discussing this as they quickened their pace in one direction, Jiang Yun felt a stir of interest. Better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early. A fourth-grade alchemist demonstrating his craft certainly warranted this much excitement.

Jiang Yun followed the crowd toward their destination. Along the way, many noticed the little fellow among them. At seven years old, Jiang Yun had already grown to 1.2 meters-not short for his age, but among a crowd averaging seventeen or eighteen, he stood out like a crane among chickens.

Still, they had no interest in investigating him at the moment. How could gawking at gossip compare to watching alchemy?

And so Jiang Yun successfully slipped into the "scene of the crime"!

This was a square in the Alchemy Department large enough to accommodate a thousand people. Today, North Square, normally sparsely populated, was packed with a dark sea of people, all because of the unremarkable white-haired old man at the center of the platform-a fourth-grade alchemist.

Through his soul perception, Jiang Yun discovered that at least half the people present were not alchemists.

In truth, this was perfectly normal. As the Dou Qi Continent's most prestigious profession, alchemy seemed sophisticated and mysterious to outsiders.

In the outside world, a fourth-grade alchemist could become an honored guest of a Dou Wang, someone most of those present could only look up to.

How could that fail to attract people?

As time passed, Elder Liu, sitting cross-legged on the platform, moved. He took out a five-opening Medicine Cauldron and lightly flicked a fingertip, sending a yellow flame into it.

As Elder Liu began to act, the square gradually fell silent.

The pill refinement had begun!

Everyone stared unblinkingly at Elder Liu's movements, afraid of missing a single detail. Jiang Yun was no exception. His bright eyes followed Elder Liu's every action, hoping to glimpse the true principles within.

The flame burned steadily inside the Medicine Cauldron. Elder Liu swept his large hand, and seven medicinal ingredients slowly appeared, falling into the cauldron one after another to melt into medicinal liquid.