"Fellow Daoist Li, you mean...?"
Quick-witted, Ji Yue soon realized that Li Haichuan's earlier remarks probably had not been insulting the Mirror Moon Sect's master alchemist, but had been literal. As far as he knew, True Martial True Lord always had a Black Hound spirit pet at his side.
Before that Black Hound grew into a fourth-tier Demon King, he had been a somewhat renowned Second-Tier Alchemist in the Mirror Moon Sect, skilled at refining spirit pills. His name also seemed to be Iron Egg.
But Ji Yue had never considered that possibility before.
There was no other reason: alchemy was not like cultivation.
True Martial True Lord was already adept in the Way of Beast Taming and was a Nascent Soul True Lord. If he was willing to nurture his spirit pet's bloodline with secret arts and pour rare fourth-tier resources into it, he could indeed transform a third-tier Demon General into a fourth-tier Demon King in a short time.
Such things were rare in the Southern Wasteland, but not without precedent.
Alchemy, however, was different!
The Dao of Alchemy placed greater emphasis on innate talent, with extremely high requirements for a cultivator's Pill Sense, temperament, and inheritance.
What was Pill Sense?
It was an alchemist's instinctive perception, during pill refinement, of the medicinal properties' interplay as Monarch, Minister, Assistant, and Envoy, the rise and fall of Civil and Martial True Fire, and the clashes and changes in medicinal potency.
This perception could be innate or cultivated through practicing alchemy, and generally appeared only in alchemists of upper third tier or higher.
There was little need to elaborate on temperament: a hair's breadth of error could lead a thousand miles astray.
Alchemists lacking concentration, resilience, and experience would almost never amount to much.
As for the final factor, an