The experiment succeeded!

"You finished all those pills already?" Jiang Yun did not rush to agree to Zi Yan's request. Instead, he drew her closer and looked her over carefully. Only after making sure she was unhurt did he speak unhurriedly.

"I finished them this morning, and I couldn't find you after I came back. I've been hungry all day."

Zi Yan pursed her little lips and spoke pitifully. As she went on, Jiang Yun actually saw a glimmer of tears in her eyes.

"Ah..."

"Hand them over!"

Jiang Yun let out a long sigh, marveling at Zi Yan's appetite. Fortunately, he had prepared for this and held out his hand.

"Hehe, that's what I've been waiting to hear!" Once Jiang Yun agreed, Zi Yan's expression instantly changed. Grinning, she took out several high-grade medicinal ingredients in succession.

Jiang Yun was no longer a complete novice at alchemy. Purple cloud flowers, vajra fruits, fire cloud grass-these were all primary or supplementary ingredients for fifth- and sixth-grade pills. They made it plain what Zi Yan had been doing in the Magical Beast Forest these past few days.

"I can refine them for you, but you have to stay at the academy for the next few days. No more running off into the forest."

Jiang Yun put away the ingredients and spoke to Zi Yan with a stern expression. The moment he saw them, he knew she had practically become a wanted criminal in the Magical Beast Forest.

For Zi Yan's safety, Jiang Yun had to let both sides cool down.

"But..." Zi Yan wanted to protest, but faced with Jiang Yun's stern expression, she could only hang her head and say dejectedly, "All right!"

"You can't rush cultivation. You have to advance step by step. You've eaten too many medicinal ingredients these past few days, and some haven't been fully digested yet. Give yourself a proper rest."

"I'm working on an experiment. If it succeeds, it'll be enough to help you grow up quickly and raise you nice and plump."

Seeing Zi Yan's downcast expression, Jiang Yun stepped forward, rubbed the top of her head, and spoke gently.

"Really?" The clouds over Zi Yan's face instantly cleared. She looked up at Jiang Yun in delighted surprise.

"Really!" Jiang Yun nodded. Once he succeeded at alchemy, wouldn't he be stepping onto the fast track of cultivation?

"Then hurry up!" With Jiang Yun's confirmation, Zi Yan excitedly pushed him along, urging him to go cultivate.

"Don't rush. First, help me get a few things. Remember, don't let anyone catch you!" Faced with Zi Yan's greater impatience, Jiang Yun could not help chuckling. Growing up truly seemed to be an obsession for her now.

She looked up at Jiang Yun in confusion. Seeing this, he leaned over and whispered into her ear. He had already grown as tall as Zi Yan, so at least he did not look awkward.

"Leave it to me!"

Zi Yan felt a tickle in her ear and a strange sensation in her heart. Fortunately, Jiang Yun soon finished speaking. After memorizing his requests, she patted her chest and gave him her assurance.

"Remember, you absolutely mustn't let anyone discover you. And take this along as payment." Still uneasy, Jiang Yun reminded her again. Once Zi Yan nodded earnestly, he took out a black iron fragment. It looked ordinary, yet exuded an inexplicable attraction that drew the eye to it involuntarily.

"I'm off! When I get back, I want pills!" Zi Yan put away the iron fragment and vanished in a flash, but her voice still echoed in his ears.

Watching Zi Yan leave, Jiang Yun silently weighed his plans. This time, he had sent her to the Alchemy Department to get him a medicine cauldron and several sets of ingredients for low-grade pills. Those would be enough for his experiments.

Still, Jiang Yun felt guilty about constantly taking things from the academy, so he had played the "old grandpa" who handed out fortuitous opportunities. The iron fragment contained an incomplete soul cultivation method, much like the prize Xiao Yan had received at the Pill Gathering, but it was still extremely precious.

It was his Evil Spirit Clan's soul cultivation method, one of the few cultivation methods he had brought down from the Great Thousand World. He could not teach the academy the entire text, so he could only extract a single passage as compensation.

Jiang Yun had also tampered with it. The stronger a person's soul power, the more clearly they could sense its extraordinary nature. Only someone with the soul power of at least a fifth-rank alchemist could uncover its mysteries, and only a handful of people in the academy, including Elder Huo, possessed such soul power.

What if someone discovered it and kept it for themselves? Naturally, Jiang Yun had left a safeguard. After it had been separated from Zi Yan's aura for a certain period, the soul power he had left inside would erupt. At that point, concealing it would no longer be a matter of simply wanting to.

Elder Huo was currently the strongest member of Jia Nan Academy's Alchemy Department. As its foremost alchemist, he had immersed himself in alchemy for many years, so his skills were certainly sufficient. As the department's chief, his flame was undoubtedly excellent, and his cultivation had reached the Dou Emperor realm. The only thing he lacked was soul power.

Now, with Jiang Yun's secret assistance, Jia Nan Academy would surely gain a sixth-rank alchemist soon.

While Zi Yan was fetching the supplies, Jiang Yun refined the spoils of her exploits into delicious pills, one after another. Only then did he take out a book and read it closely as he waited for her return.

Before long, night fell.

An excited voice rang out. "Little Yun, I'm back!"

Hearing Zi Yan's familiar voice, Jiang Yun turned his attention away from the book. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly as he smiled at the figure bursting through the door.

His vision blurred, and in the next instant, all the jade bottles beside him vanished.

Zi Yan stood before him, took out a jade bottle, and sniffed it gently, revealing a blissful smile. Then she poured out several pills and tipped them into her mouth.

"So tasty!" As she ate, Zi Yan did not forget to hand Jiang Yun a Storage Ring.

Jiang Yun took the Storage Ring and probed it with his soul power. Inside sat a cauldron with four openings, along with more than a dozen sets of the ingredients he had requested. He nodded in satisfaction and looked at Zi Yan approvingly as he spoke.

"Thanks for your hard work. Get some rest early tonight. We'll have the results tomorrow!"

Zi Yan had no time to pay attention to Jiang Yun. She waved her little hand and walked toward her room, holding the jade bottle and pouring pills into her mouth.

Seeing this, Jiang Yun also rose and returned to his room, where he took out the crimson cauldron with four openings and the medicinal ingredients.

He took a deep breath. His theoretical knowledge already deserved full marks; now it was time to test his practical skills.

Jiang Yun raised his hand and lightly touched the cauldron. The black-and-white vortex inside him stirred slightly, and white Dou Qi traveled along his meridians to his palm before entering the medicine cauldron.

Puff...

With a muffled sound, the white current passed through the flame opening and transformed into a tangible, pure white flame that churned and burned inside the medicine cauldron.

Following an ordinary alchemist's procedure, he should have introduced that trace of wood energy now, using the principle of wood feeding fire to make the flame last longer and become easier to control.

However, Jiang Yun had no wood energy, nor did he need it to stabilize his flame.

"One stalk of blood-clotting grass, two poppy flowers, and one first-tier wood-attribute magic core."

Following the formula in his memory, Jiang Yun placed the ingredients into the medicine cauldron one by one. After helping Zi Yan refine medicinal ingredients over the past few days, he was already thoroughly familiar with this step and made none of the novice mistakes that would burn and ruin them.

Under the flame's heat, the outer layers of the ingredients burned away one after another, yielding the liquid contained within. This was their medicinal essence, a crucial component in forming a pill.

Having reached this stage, the next step was to gradually fuse these essences together into a pill.

Jiang Yun guided the medicinal liquids into contact one by one. The moment they touched, he sensed a repulsive force arise. Fusing medicinal liquids of different properties was no simple matter.

Jiang Yun knew he could not rush this step. He could only slowly heat the medicinal liquids with his flame. Finally, he seized a fleeting opportunity and guided them into a gradual fusion. The instant they merged, he sensed a faint thread of vitality flow from the white Saint Heavenly Demon Flame in his hand into the pill.

At this, Jiang Yun slowly let out a breath of relief. He now knew his conjecture was correct: he really could use the Saint Heavenly Demon Flame to refine pills.

The Dou Qi of pure fire-attribute cultivators was filled with violent power. Without that trace of wood energy to act as a catalyst when fusing the ingredients, they could not form a pill.

Yet he had done it. From this moment on, the gates of alchemy would open to him, making his future endeavors much easier.

As the nascent pill was tempered by the flame within the medicine cauldron, it turned green, and a faint medicinal fragrance spread from the cauldron.

Only now was this First-Grade Recovery Pill truly complete.

With a beckoning motion, the pill flew into his palm. Looking at it, Jiang Yun could not help smiling, despite his normally composed expression. This was his very first pill, worthy of remembrance.

Putting the pill away, he checked the abundant Dou Qi within his body. He felt no fatigue whatsoever. High-grade cultivation methods really were wonderful-not only was his Dou Qi purer, but it also recovered quickly.

No wonder everyone pursued high-grade cultivation methods!

Feeling that he was in excellent condition, Jiang Yun struck while the iron was hot and placed another set of ingredients into the medicine cauldron. This time, he would refine a second-grade Qi Recovery Pill.

As time passed, the medicinal ingredients beside Jiang Yun dwindled, replaced by small jade bottles. From their faint, lingering medicinal fragrance, it was clear that the pills inside were all rare, top-quality specimens.

The moon set, and the sun rose.

The next day soon arrived. After placing the last pill into a jade bottle, Jiang Yun stretched languidly. Despite spending nearly the entire night refining pills, he looked full of energy.

Jiang Yun's advantages were simply far beyond the norm, incomparable to those of an ordinary Dou Zhe. A night of alchemy had not tired him at all; instead, he had advanced by one star and become a four-star Dou Zhe.

Looking at the dozen or so jade bottles beside him, Jiang Yun nodded in satisfaction. He put them into his Storage Ring and walked outside.

As soon as he opened his door, Jiang Yun looked startled. A small figure sat on a chair in the main room, her little head bobbing up and down adorably.

Ripples of warmth spread through Jiang Yun's heart. Though this girl usually acted frivolously, she never let him down when it mattered.

"Mmm..." Half asleep, Zi Yan seemed to sense the movement and instantly grew alert. In a flash, her drowsy expression turned icy, and she swept a cold gaze around the room.

When she saw Jiang Yun, the ice and snow melted. Her little face filled with excitement. "Little Yun, you've come out of seclusion!"

Looking at Zi Yan's silly grin, Jiang Yun raised his hand to wipe the drool from the corner of her mouth and said gently, "I have. My experiment succeeded. From now on, I can feed you until you're nice and plump."

"Really?" Zi Yan's eyes lit up. Without even noticing that she had drooled in her sleep, she leaned toward Jiang Yun and sniffed. "What a rich medicinal fragrance! You succeeded?"

Zi Yan had brought back every item herself, so how could she not know what Jiang Yun intended to do? Though the idea seemed somewhat inconceivable, she trusted him and had not discouraged him. Instead, she had helped him at every turn. At worst, she could skip a few meals when the time came. She certainly would not eat Jiang Yun out of house and home over this.

"I succeeded!" Meeting Zi Yan's delighted gaze, Jiang Yun nodded firmly. "This is a second-grade Qi Recovery Pill. It has no effect on a Dou Wang, but it's the first second-grade pill I've refined. Keep it as a memento!"

Taking the pill Jiang Yun handed her, Zi Yan happily opened its container and sniffed it, completely unaware of how astonishing his words were.

A second-grade pill?

That meant Jiang Yun had already become a Second-Rank Alchemist. Overnight, a complete novice had turned into an alchemy "big shot" in the Outer Academy. If word got out, people would not die of shock-they would die laughing.

Jiang Yun did not think reaching the second rank overnight was anything remarkable. His soul power exceeded even Elder Liu's and was at least at the fifth-rank level, while the flame in his hand was no ordinary fire. With such advantages, he was naturally extraordinarily quick at learning alchemy. Had he not run out of ingredients, he could even have attempted a third-grade pill.

"Oh, right. Zi Yan, don't tell anyone I've become an alchemist."

Jiang Yun looked at Zi Yan and spoke earnestly. He would not be surprised by whatever demons and monsters an alchemist without a wood attribute might attract. On this continent, the disparity between the numbers of alchemists and fire-attribute cultivators was enormous; barely one in ten thousand qualified.

If this were exposed, even Jia Nan Academy could not protect him.

"I understand. I won't tell even old man Su Qian. This is our little secret." Hearing Jiang Yun's warning, Zi Yan nodded earnestly and answered with a solemn little face. She was not a dragon who failed to grasp the gravity of things; she knew what could and could not be said.

"Don't worry! Once we're strong enough to protect ourselves, we won't have to do this anymore!"

"It won't take long!"

In the days that followed, Jiang Yun's life remained as peaceful as ever. Each day, he was either cultivating or refining pills.

Thanks to the special privileges Zi Yan had obtained from the First Elder, she took plenty of medicinal ingredients from the dispensary. Combined with her occasional forays to wreak havoc in the Magical Beast Forest, Jiang Yun never lacked ingredients to practice with.

Of course, in his eyes, alchemy was merely a supplementary pursuit. His own strength mattered most.

After breaking through to Dou Zhe, he had been busy experimenting with alchemy and had not practiced any Dou Techniques. Now that he had proven he could learn alchemy, he began training in Dou Techniques.

To his disappointment, he had obtained few Divine Arts from his clan, and many were immensely powerful, beyond what he could practice at his current stage. Thus, he did not rush to force their cultivation.

Instead, with the Tower Spirit's help, he slowly absorbed and refined the Saint Heavenly Demon Flame, his cultivation rising with the tide throughout the process.