"Student Sushang!"
"Present!"
"Now I'll quiz you."
"Yes!"
"What are the three most important internal factors in pill refining?"
"Soul power, control, and comprehension!"
"And the external factors?"
"A pill furnace, pill fire, and a pill formula!"
"Mm, you remember the basics well. Here, take this."
Xie Feng nodded in satisfaction and handed her the Pill Cauldron. "This is a pill cauldron named Water Dragon Chant. Its performance is stable, and it's unlikely to explode. It suits you very well."
"Thank you, Master!"
Sushang took it, gazing at it so fondly that she could hardly bear to put it down. Her round almond eyes narrowed into crescents as she held the Pill Cauldron and bowed happily.
"This pill cauldron has been sealed away for at least ten years and has long since fallen dormant. Artifacts recognize their masters. Senior Brother erased his contract with it back then, so you need to awaken it and establish a mental connection before you can gain basic control over it!"
Xie Feng said.
"Understood!"
Sushang answered eagerly. Holding the Pill Cauldron against her chest, she closed her eyes, concentrated, and began mobilizing all her soul power.
She had only been training in pill refining for a few days, so controlling her soul power was still somewhat difficult.
But the little girl was highly talented, and with Xie Feng guiding her from the side, strands of white soul power soon stirred, curling around her before flowing into the Pill Cauldron bit by bit.
The Pill Cauldron glowed.
As time passed, the light grew brighter, and spiritual vitality filled the room, wondrous beyond measure.
Roar!
Suddenly, a dragon's cry rang out!
Vigorous vitality erupted.
As though something had been awakened...
The Pill Cauldron expanded with a boom!
A blue dragon phantom emerged in world-shaking splendor, sweeping up a blast of air!
"Ouch!"
The blast knocked Sushang onto her bottom.
"It worked!"
She cried happily. Without bothering to brush the dust off her clothes, she scrambled up from the floor, tilting her plump little face upward, her eyes sparkling.
The Pill Cauldron now stood three meters tall, with six ventilation openings and a deep blue body. Dark gold reliefs of mountains and rivers adorned its belly, the mountain ranges stretching on and on, exuding a lofty, imposing presence!
Sushang loved it. She hugged one of its legs and happily rubbed her cheek against it while Xie Feng watched with a smile.
At that moment!
High in the sky beyond Xuanji Mountain, a sliver of golden light pierced the clouds, and another extraordinary phenomenon appeared on the Heavenly Ranking.
This set the world speculating.
"The Heavenly Ranking has appeared again!"
"Could there be another change?"
"Could something be about to happen?!"...
As people speculated uneasily, every name in the Heavenly Ranking's standings shifted rapidly, its light flickering between bright and dim.
Everyone held their breath and concentrated.
Pairs of eyes stared at the shifting names.
Finally!
The names on the Heavenly Ranking settled into place!
"Look, look! It really has changed!"
"A new person has made the ranking!"
"Another top-tier immortal artifact! My heavens, it's replaced the Fate Cauldron!"
People were utterly shaken, shouting out!
Fifth place on the Heavenly Ranking had originally belonged to the Fate Cauldron of Qi Wuyan from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion. Now, someone else had replaced it!
Another top-tier immortal artifact!
[Fifth place] Name: Water Dragon Chant Grade: Immortal artifact Owner: Sushang Evaluation: A top-tier immortal artifact forged by the Forging Saint in the primordial era. It has absorbed the power of creation for nearly a hundred million years!
In the video, within a space lay a vast, deep blue ocean, its rolling waves flowing eastward. Suddenly, a dragon's cry resounded through heaven and earth, and a divine dragon burst through the waves and soared into the clouds!
The divine dragon transformed into an immortal cauldron!
Whoosh-
The video ended.
Yet the unceasing sound of waves still lingered in everyone's ears.
The crowd erupted!
"A top-tier immortal artifact!"
"And an existence even more ancient than the Fate Cauldron!"
"No wonder it could replace Qi Wuyan!"
"Sushang again! She's also second on the Aptitude Ranking!"
"In other words, whether it's aptitude or the artifact she owns, this Sushang is second only to Xie Feng!"
"Where did this person come from? She's far too heaven-defying!"
People were astonished!
They had witnessed two monsters emerge out of nowhere, rising from obscurity to become invincible beneath the heavens!
And furthermore...
At the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, Qi Wuyan was startled!
In the Azure Dragon Clan, Qu Jiangxuan frowned!
Within Guixu, Changying sighed in wonder!
Deep in the Devil Grotto, Lu Xiuluo was astonished!
The hearts of mighty figures from every quarter were stirred.
They all had a premonition.
The future...
Would be an era in which these two held sway over the world!
It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. Heroes emerged in droves, and mighty waves sifted the sand!
At that moment!
The Heavenly Ranking began distributing rewards of the Great Dao.
[Fifth-place reward] Divine-grade pill formula
In pill refining, formulas were akin to basic materials-indispensable. The higher a formula's grade, the higher the grade of the pills it produced.
Pill formulas followed the same grading system as pills, divided into grades one through ten, with divine, immortal, and saint grades above the tenth grade!
Each was further divided into low, intermediate, and advanced levels.
The Heavenly Ranking's reward was an advanced divine-grade pill formula!
A ball of light descended.
The reward appeared before Sushang.
"Master!"
The little girl handed the pill formula to Xie Feng.
Pill formulas were hard to come by and were generally created by mighty figures of the pill Dao. When passing them down to later generations, most would add a seal to avoid certain troubles or for other reasons.
Although the seal on this divine-grade pill formula was ancient, the person who had placed it was immensely powerful. Sushang had no grade yet, so naturally, she could not open it.
Xie Feng, an advanced eighth-grade pill refiner, opened it with ease.
The pill recorded in this formula was the Great Radiance Spirit-Enhancing Pill!
It could strengthen soul power!
This was exactly what Sushang urgently needed!
Xie Feng then gave Sushang the fire seed. "Try opening it!"
"Okay, okay!"
Sushang nodded and took the purple-gold fire seed.
She immersed herself in seeking comprehension.
Awakening heavenly fire required powerful soul comprehension.
Pill refining was a profession that required talent, and that talent was measured by soul comprehension, something one was born with.
The little girl was highly talented.
It took her only three short minutes to awaken the heavenly fire.
The heavenly fire acknowledged Sushang as its master!
An ordinary pill refiner needed at least three days to awaken a flame. Even an outstanding one needed several hours!
Unless they were a monster!
And Xie Feng and Sushang were precisely that kind of monster!
An ungraded pill refiner who had never formally refined a pill had awakened a highly intelligent heavenly fire right off the bat. What extraordinary talent!
Her soul comprehension truly was very strong.
"Not bad."
Xie Feng patted her head approvingly.
Sushang obediently clasped her hands behind her back and leaned forward, so happy at the praise that she secretly rose onto her toes.
"Little girl!"
"Here!"
"You have a pill furnace, pill fire, and a pill formula. What comes next?"
"Refining! Pills!"
"Good. Start with first-grade pills and work your way up slowly. Go fetch the coal poker and the fan!"
"Yes!"
Sushang answered happily.
Then she suddenly realized-wait, what coal poker, what fan? Those were immortal artifacts! Calling them that dragged their prestige down.
What a strange, strange master!
But...
How was he so cute?!!