Several days had passed since Xiao Yan had been installed as the Holy Son. During that time, aside from consolidating his level and familiarizing himself with his new Heavenly Flame, Xiao Yan had devoted himself to learning the art of pill refining.
"Xiao Yan, your former teacher was a renowned grandmaster of alchemy on the Dou Qi Continent, known as Yao Lao. Under his tutelage, you mastered the art of alchemy to perfection. Even without your memories, gradually regaining your mastery will be no great difficulty." With that, Yan Xiao fell asleep. His memories were still too incomplete, and whether Xiao Yan was using his soul power or he himself was recovering his memories, a dormant state was more suitable. Thus, ever since Xiao Yan had begun gradually relearning an alchemist's skills, Yan Xiao had spent more and more time dormant.
As the recollection faded, Xiao Yan opened his eyes. After meditating for a while, his soul power had been fully replenished, and he could refine a good batch of pills.
Xiao Yan looked around. Sandalwood incense curled through the air, making this the perfect place to focus and calm the mind. This was Xiao Yan's own alchemy room. Not long after his first attempt at alchemy, Bibi Dong had spent a fortune to have this costly little building constructed for him. Rare medicinal ingredients collected from the two great empires filled the space around him, and a massive black cauldron stood before him, its dragon-shaped flame ports lifelike. Thinking of the cauldron, Xiao Yan could not help laughing aloud.
It had happened just after he broke through to the two-ring level, when Yan Xiao had suddenly told him that he was an alchemist.
Good child that he was, Xiao Yan clearly had no idea what an alchemist was, and Yan Xiao, with his incomplete memories, could not explain it either. After troubling his teacher for half a month without results, Bibi Dong finally paid a high price to bring in master smiths from the two great empires. Piecing their memories together, Yan Xiao and Xiao Yan somehow managed to come up with this great cauldron. Afterward, relying entirely on muscle memory, Xiao Yan refined the first batch of pills in this world.
Xiao Yan would never forget the pill fragrance that had filled the air when he opened the cauldron. Clearly, it was not a true pill fragrance, but even that faint scent was enough to intoxicate everyone present. The fragrance not only greatly benefited the master smiths, but also brought considerable relief to Bibi Dong, whose nerves had been worn thin by the endless succession of miracles surrounding Xiao Yan. Clearly, pill refining had become an inseparable part of the existence known as "Xiao Yan." Even without a pill formula, even with insufficient soul power, even when the ingredients were worlds apart and the medicinal cauldron was utterly bizarre, Xiao Yan could still use them to refine a batch of pills.
But one thorny problem remained stubbornly unsolved: Magic Cores. According to Yan Xiao, Magic Cores were unique to that distant world, found only within magical beasts. But magical beasts clearly did not exist in this world, and nothing similar could be found inside Soul Beasts, which bore some resemblance to them. Xiao Yan had tried using Soul Rings to refine pills, but the results had been poor. This was also a major reason his pill production had never been able to rise. For now, Xiao Yan could only rely on certain special natural treasures to barely refine a few low-grade pills, and their effects were greatly diminished compared to those on the Dou Qi Continent. This gave Xiao Yan no end of headaches.
"If this goes on, it won't do..." With that, Xiao Yan took out a natural treasure, intending to test its properties and see whether it could be used in place of a Magic Core.
After a day of trying, Xiao Yan finally left his alchemy workshop with his hair blown into a wild explosion and his face black.
The path of alchemy truly was a heavy burden and a long road...