When Lin An opened his eyes again, he found himself still in front of the seventy-second Heavenly Stele, but the entire ruins were extremely quiet.
"It seems the ruins are closed."
Lin An understood, but instead of leaving immediately, he flew up and arrived at the top of the valley.
"Besides the Heavenly Pill Forest Heavenly Stele itself, the Heavenly Stele is also an opportunity within this Pill Forest Heavenly Stele."
Lin An looked at the valley, which resembled a pill-refining furnace, with colorful clouds above it and a crimson lava river at the bottom, with a large amount of medicinal residue floating on its surface.
In reality, this was a batch of semi-finished elixirs.
The refined elixir is called the Immortal Origin Pill. After consuming this pill, one can directly enter the World Origin Sea and attempt to break through to the Immortal Realm within it.
This was something Lin An discovered after becoming an Immortal Rank alchemist; it turned out that the Pill Forest Heavenly Stele had long ago left behind an opportunity to break through to the Immortal Realm.
However, even if one discovers this opportunity, it would be difficult to refine the remaining half of the pills unless one is Immortal Rank alchemist.
Even a master at the Sovereign Realm would find it impossible to seize the seven-colored rosy clouds and the spiritual herbs within the river.
"Now I've gotten off easy."
Lin An smiled, then a thought struck him, and the Pill Pattern Lotus Platform appeared. With a wave of his hand, the seventy-two celestial steles shone with dazzling light, and countless pill patterns appeared, landing on the four walls of the valley.
Rumble...
The next instant, the entire crimson lava river boiled, resembling a giant crimson dragon coiling in the valley.
The spiritual herbs in the river began to be refined, and the colorful clouds above the valley began to flow accordingly.
Lin An's expression was serious, and his hands moved without stopping for a moment as he displayed various alchemy techniques.
More than ten days passed before Lin An finally stopped what he was doing.
Boom...
Another roar resounded, and the seventy-two celestial tablets flew out together, eventually forming a canopy that covered the entire valley, turning it into a complete alchemy furnace.
"Next comes the cultivation of the core, which will take about a year," Lin An thought to himself.
This was only because of the effect of his Heart of Auxiliary Cultivation, which reduced the pill-forming time by 95%. Otherwise, according to his estimate, it would have taken at least fifty years to refine this Immortal Origin Pill.
Of course, if he wanted, he could stay here for another six months and refine the pills ahead of schedule.
However, he still longed for the Sin Banquet.
The Sin Banquet, which only occurs once every thousand years, may trigger new system events once it begins.
Moreover, he had promised Zhou Chang beforehand, so he couldn't break his promise. Besides, he was quite interested in Zhou Chang's legacy as Immortal Heavenly Diviner.
"By the time the Sin Banquet is over, the Immortal Origin Pill should be ready. At that time, I can break through to the Immortal Realm in one fell swoop."
Thinking of this, Lin An had an idea. He took out the Anchor of Space-Time and left an anchor point in the ruins.
Then, he activated the Anchor of Space-Time, and Lin An's figure disappeared from the spot.
The next moment, Lin An left the ruins and returned to the Pill Forest Mountain Range. When he entered the ruins earlier, he had deliberately left an anchor point to avoid any accidents.
Now it's come in handy.
The Pill Forest Mountain Range were now eerily quiet, and the millions of people who had gathered there earlier had long since left.
Especially during the days that Lin An was away, the news that the Sin Banquet was about to begin had spread Domain, and many people were busy making preparations, so naturally they no longer paid attention to the already closed ruins.
Swish, swish, swish...
Just as Lin An appeared, three figures arrived as well; it was Li Tan and his two companions.
"Young master, you've finally come out."
Upon seeing Lin An, Li Tan and the other two breathed a sigh of relief.
"What's wrong? Has something happened in the Domain?" Lin An asked.
"Indeed, something has happened. The Sin Banquet is about to begin, and within the next two months," Li Tan said.
Li Tan expected Lin An to be surprised, but found him to be calm, which immediately gave her a clue.
Perhaps the other party already knew this news when they met with the domain lord.
Just as Lin An was about to speak, another spatial rift suddenly appeared, and a figure walked out from it.
Upon seeing this person, Li Tan and his companions were initially taken aback, then their expressions changed drastically, and they hurriedly bowed, saying, "Greetings, Lord Domain Lord."
The newcomer was none other than Zhou Chang, the Lord of the Western Severance Region Territory.
Zhou Chang smiled and nodded, his gaze falling on Lin An, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.
He could already see that Lin An possessed an additional aura of Immortal, a rich medicinal fragrance that clearly indicated he had achieved the status of Immortal alchemist.
"I underestimated you, fellow Daoist. Congratulations on becoming Immortal Alchemist," Zhou Chang said, cupping his hands in greeting.
Although Lin An is only at the Sovereign Realm, his identities as Immortal Array Master and Immortal Alchemist alone are already comparable to those of the Immortal Realm experts.
Especially in the current Domain, Lin An is the only Immortal Alchemist and Immortal Array Master, making him even more precious.
Li Tan and the other two were shocked and looked at Lin An in disbelief, even though they had been somewhat prepared when Xu Ming told them about it.
But no one expected that the other party would actually become Immortal alchemist.
The three were immediately overjoyed; they had really made the right choice in latching onto this powerful patron.
"You're too kind, Domain Lord. You didn't come here because you're worried I'll break the contract, did you?" Lin An joked.
Zhou Chang smiled and said, "Of course I'm not worried. My avatar is here not only to pick you up, but also because the five domain lords are holding a council meeting in Central Heaven City."
Lin An understood; the meeting of the five domain lords must be discussing matters related to the Sin Banquet.
"Now that you've come out, why don't you come with me to the meeting? I'll need your help then," Zhou Chang said.
Lin An naturally had no objections; in fact, he also wanted to get to know the other four domain lords.
"Young Master, then we shall return to the Western Severance Region first." Li Tan said with his head down. Naturally, they were not qualified to attend the meeting of the Five Territory Lords.
Lin An didn't speak, but looked at Zhou Chang.
"You can bring your entourage; I'll take care of things at the Li Clan's place," Zhou Chang said with a smile.
He secretly thought to himself that the Li Clan was really lucky to have managed to latch onto Lin An's coattails.
Perhaps this is a case of good deeds being rewarded; after all, the Li Clan's reputation throughout the entire Western Severance Region was something even he had heard of.
"Come along with us," Lin An said.
Li Tan and the other two were excited. This was the Five Domain Lords' Meeting, and they never expected that they would be qualified to attend.
Even as a follower, it was a great honor; no family had ever been known to attend such a high-level meeting before.
Moreover, the Domain Lord Zhou Chang specifically said that he would take care of the Li Clan, which was clearly because of the young master's reputation.
"Yes!"
The three quickly bowed and followed closely behind Lin An, instantly adapting to their role as attendants.