Battle Through the Heavens

Xiao Yan gaze slowly swept over the ten plus snow-white jade boxes in front of him. He gently inhaled a breath of air and suppressed a ripple within his heart. With a flick of his finger, the enormous ‘Thousand Beast Cauldron’ appeared out of nowhere. It heavily landed on the ground, emitting a low and deep ‘gong’ sound.

Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes. The refining method and the various things to take note of when refining the ‘Zong Breaking Pill’ once again flashed across his mind. Awhile later, he opened his eyes and a jade-green flame rose within his dark-black pupils.

“Puff!”

A jade-green flame sprang from Xiao Yan’s finger with a sound. He then flicked his finger and the flame transformed into a ray of light that entered the medicinal cauldron in a lightning-like manner.

The flame had just entered the cauldron when its small size suddenly expanded. Within a short instant, that tiny flame transformed into a fierce fire that wildly burned within the medicinal cauldron. Following the increase in size of the jade-green flame, the bright-red surface on the ‘Thousand Beast Cauldron’ became a more eye-piercing red. At a glance, the cauldron appeared just like a cluster of dancing flames.

“This medicinal cauldron left behind by Han Feng is indeed not an ordinary thing. Despite being grilled by my ‘Heavenly Flame’ so many times, it is still able to remain fine. Its quality might even be comparable with that ‘Black Demon’ belonging to teacher.” A satisfied glint flashed across Xiao Yan’s eyes while he muttered to himself. There was not a single crack line on the ‘Thousand Beast Cauldron’ despite having used it so many times.

Xiao Yan waved his hand after the internal temperature of the medicinal cauldron reached a certain stable temperature. A snow-white jade box that was emitting some chillness was sucked into his hand. In the jade box lay a withered tree branch that looked like it had been carved from ice. Although this thing did not have an attractive appearance, the rich medicinal fragrance that it emitted allowed one to know that this was not an ordinary thing.

This item was known as the ‘Cold Marrow Twig’. It was not an actual tree twig but rather something that was agglomerated from pure freezing energy within an extremely cold place. If a person practicing ice type Dou Qi were to refine and absorb it, it would cause that person’s Dou Qi to become even colder. Hence, this thing could be considered priceless in their eyes. Xiao Yan was only able to obtain it because he had luckily entered a cold pond deep in the mountains. However, he was wildly chased by a Magical Beast hidden there, a beast that was about to break into the seventh rank, for over fifty kilometers before he managed to successfully flee.

Xiao Yan’s fingers held the ‘Cold Marrow Twig’ with two fingers and a bone-piercing chill swiftly followed his finger and seeped into him. It almost caused his entire arm to become numb.

Xiao Yan’s eyes glanced at his hand covered in thin pieces of ice. A thought flashed in his mind and the jade-green flame within his body swiftly flowed over, swiftly expelling the coldness that had seeped into him.

Xiao Yan’s hand gently tossed the Cold Marrow Twig accurately into the medicinal cauldron. The jade-green flame suddenly surged and swallowed the former like a savage mouth.

The Cold Marrow Twig did not simply await death in the face of these flames. It emitted unceasing waves of cold air in an attempt to block the erosion of the high temperature.

The cold air and the jade-green flame eroded each other. A faint, white fog rose from the point of contact amid a ‘chi chi’ sound. This Cold Marrow Twig relied on its cold energy that it had gathered over a countless number of years. It was actually able to engage in a stalemate with the Glazed Lotus Heart Flame for a short period of time.

“It is indeed worthy of being something that would cause a Magical Beast of that rank to go all out to protect…” Xiao Yan quietly clicked his tongue and praised when he saw this scene in the medicinal cauldron. His mind immediately moved and the temperature within the medicinal cauldron rose!

The Cold Marrow Twig was finally unable to endure after being burned by the high temperature of the flame. The icy-crystal-like appearance of its surface began to show signs of melting.

Xiao Yan softly sighed in relief upon seeing this scene. It was thanks to his ‘Heavenly Flame’. If it was an ordinary flame instead, it was likely that just refining this Cold Marrow Twig would need one to two days time. If that was the case, not only would it waste time but it would also exhaust his Dou Qi.

A ‘Heavenly Flame’ did not lose to a genuine magical weapon from an alchemist’s point of view.

The refinement continued for an hour or so before the stubborn Cold Marrow Twig finally transformed into a viscous snow-white liquid. The liquid circulated and emitted an extremely rich, pure energy.

Xiao Yan spent another half an hour after the completion of the refinement to finish the hardening step. He did not rest after he finished this. With a movement of his hand, he threw another similarly stubborn medicinal ingredient into the medicinal cauldron…

Time slowly flowed past in the tightly sealed secret chamber. The medicinal ingredients in the jade boxes in front of Xiao Yan gradually diminished. A rich medicinal fragrance mixed from the medicinal ingredients lingered in the secret chamber like a cloud.

Xiao Yan’s expression became more and more solemn as the medicinal ingredients were gradually refined. He knew that the steps still left were the truly troublesome ones. This Zong Breaking Pill could be said to be the highest tier medicinal pill that Xiao Yan had ever personally refined. Therefore, the chances of success were quite low.

The Zong Breaking Pill could be considered top grade even among tier 6 medicinal pills. A pill of such tier might not have much use to a genuine Dou Zong, but it was able to attract many large factions into fights in order to obtain. After all, as long as one possessed this kind of medicinal pill, there might be a chance that their sect would gain an additional elite Dou Zong. For those factions who focused on inheritance, it possessed an allure that no one could resist.

Just think of this Black Emperor Sect. One could understand such a mindset by just looking at the amount of natural treasure that they had spent over the years in order to groom Mo Ya, this Junior Sect Leader.

Of course, the ingredients that were necessary to refine this Zong Breaking Pill were rare. If Xiao Yan had not relied on Zi Yan’s treasure seeking ability, during their half a year of travel, to obtain quite a fortune, it was likely that he would have been unable to gather these ingredients.

Despite this, Xiao Yan had only gathered three sets of of ingredients during this half a year. In other words, Xiao Yan only had three chances to refine this Zong Breaking Pill. If he failed every attempt, there was no telling when the next time he would be able to refine it again.

With Xiao Yan’s current medicinal refining skill, there would not be much trouble in refining some ordinary tier 6 medicinal pills. However, this Zong Breaking Pill was not an ordinary item. Even he would likely have less than a forty-percent change in refining it successfully. Moreover, this was the result after accounting for the help from his ‘Heavenly Flame’. If an ordinary tier 6 alchemist were to make an attempt at refining it, it was likely that their chances of success would be even lower.

Xiao Yan similarly knew the degree of difficulty in refining this Zong Breaking Pill. Therefore, he did not dare to neglect it even a little. His eyes stared intently at the activity within the medicinal cauldron. His mind moved at a certain instant, and he suddenly began to compress all the pure medicinal ingredients, that he had refined in the medicinal cauldron, together.

“Puff!”

An intense energy ripple erupted the moment the many medicinal ingredients made contact. Immediately, those pure medicinal liquids that had been refined with much difficulty were shaken until over half of them scattered.

Xiao Yan knit his brows as he sensed the unexpected change in the medicinal cauldron. He softly sighed, “As expected… it is always like this. The first time is indeed very difficult.”

Xiao Yan remained seated on the stone bed as he mused for a moment. His mind repeatedly replayed the unusual phenomenon that had been created when the medicinal ingredients had been merged together. It was a long while later before he once again refocused his mind. He cleared the medicinal cauldron and began once again…

Refining medicinal pills was a harsh and troublesome thing. After Xiao Yan’s first failure, he spent nearly five to six hours in order to completely refine a second set of medicinal ingredients. This time around, no trouble appeared during the merger due to Xiao Yan’s careful control. However, when the medicinal pill was about to take on an embryonic form, a small deviation appeared. Hence, a cauldron of precious medicinal ingredients was once again scrapped. Blood dripped from Xiao Yan’s heart as he stared at the medicinal ingredients worthless. These medicinal ingredients were not things that one could just buy if one wanted to.

“Dammit, I have underestimated this thing’s difficulty.”

Xiao Yan forcefully endured the blood dripping from his heart, and gradually calmed his mind a moment later. His hand trembled as he once again took out the final set of medicinal ingredients. This was his last chance. If he failed, he could forget about refining a Zong Breaking Pill anytime soon.

Xiao Yan’s eyes locked onto the medicinal ingredients. This continued for a while before he clenched his teeth. His hand moved and a flame once again rose within the medicinal cauldron.

The little flame withered and a jade-green light landed on Xiao Yan’s unusually solemn face, causing him to appear exceptionally cold and stern. One by one, the precious medicinal ingredients made their way into the medicinal cauldron from Xiao Yan’s rising and falling hand. They were immediately swallowed by the flame.

Time quietly flowed by like sand while the flame churned. Dense beads of perspiration began to faintly appear on Xiao Yan’s forehead. A day long of unceasing refinement was strenuous for even him.

This time around, Xiao Yan had nearly poured all of his Spiritual Strength into the medicinal cauldron. Any unusual activity would be discovered by him immediately. Under this high degree of scrutiny, the many medicinal liquids within the medicinal cauldron gradually began to merge…

The merger proceeded while Xiao Yan felt a great nervousness. However, it was fortunate that nothing went wrong this time. When the medicinal liquid fusion was complete, a gorgeous liquid that was half a fist large began to appear within the medicinal cauldron.

Xiao Yan did not sigh in relief within his heart while he studied the mixture of the liquid body of many medicinal strength. His mind was still tense as his Spiritual Strength controlled the flame to a perfect degree. He slowly reduced the temperature, and allowed the many medicinal liquids within the liquid body to completely solidify.

Around half an hour after the liquid shrank and solidified, the surface of the liquid body began to gradually harden. An embryonic medicinal pill with an uneven surface was slowly formed…

Xiao Yan finally tossed aside the large stone that weighed down his heart when he saw that the embryonic medicinal pill was successfully formed. The most difficult steps had already been completed. All he needed to do now was to maintain the flame keeping this embryonic medicinal pill warm and nourished. After which, the Zong Breaking Pill could be considered to have been successfully created!