Battle Through the Heavens

Xiao Yan undoubtedly felt pressed for time after having agreed to Ye Zhong’s request. He needed to try his best to practice and raise his medicinal refinement skill within two short months. Facing outstanding alchemists who came from all over the continent and trying to stand out among them caused even Xiao Yan to feel the weight of the matter.

This kind of competition was completely different than an ordinary battle. This was a fight on a completely different level. The difficulty of such a competition was also much harsher compared to using Dou Qi to wildly charge forward. After all, refining pills did not rely on going out with a bang. It required one to be calm as one controlled everything within a medicinal cauldron to an extremely precise degree!

Another way to describe raising one’s medicinal refining skill was burning money, or rather burning medicinal ingredients. No matter how outstanding the talent of an alchemist was, actual practice was still the most important. If one needed to practice refining pills, one naturally must not lack medicinal ingredients. At Xiao Yan’s level, the medicinal ingredients he used to practice were not ordinary items. If there had not been a powerful faction supporting him, one would really end up feeling dwarfed by these things.

Fortunately, despite the Ye clan being in decline, their collection over the years was still quite rich. Moreover, they were indeed truly prepared to place all their hopes on Xiao Yan this time around. They tried their best to satisfy all of Xiao Yan’s various requests. Those rare medicinal ingredients were continuously placed in Xiao Yan’s area under Ye Zhong’s order. If he was still stingy at this moment, it was likely that the Ye clan would really be finished…

With the Ye clan supporting Xiao Yan with its entire strength, he was saved the trouble of having to go around in search of medicinal ingredients himself. The only thing he needed to do was refine the medicinal pills. Regardless of whether the refinement succeeded or failed, he was, at the very least, gaining some experience from the process. This kind of experience was the unique and personal treasure of an alchemist. Following the accumulation of experience, it would sooner of later erupt and bring about a great change.

Not a single one of those grandmaster level alchemists on the continent discussed things. All of them, without exception, possessed rich experience that an ordinary person would have difficulty matching…

Talent might be important in the alchemist world, but experience was also something that one must not lack. Regardless of how Xiao Yan was pressed for time during these years, he had never stopped refining pills. Moreover, the rich medicinal formulae that Yao Lao had left him helped pave a smooth path. This had enabled him to advance further than an ordinary alchemist given the same amount of time.

Of course, Xiao Yan naturally understood that he was definitely not the only alchemist in the entire continent who possessed such outstanding talent. There were some who had a much better start than him. It was definitely not a simple thing to surpass those people during the gathering.

Therefore, Xiao Yan needed to put in a great amount of effort during the two months that remained, placing all of his attention on the refinement of pills!

A high temperature spread through a spacious chamber, causing the chamber to turn into something like an oven. Hot air curled and rose. If an ordinary person were to remain in this place for ten minutes, it was likely that that person would flee after finding it difficult to breath…

The secret chamber was built using a kind of crimson stone. This kind of stone was called Magma Rock and was obtained from a volcano. Not only was it hard, but it also possessed the unique effect of retaining heat. It was specially used to build some Pill Refinement Rooms, and its effect was spectacular.

There was not the slightest gap within the chamber. At a glance, it appeared as though it was made by someone who had emptied the interior of an extremely large Magma Rock.

At this moment, quite a number of jade boxes were piled within this chamber. A faint, dense medicinal ingredient fragrance wafted out of them. After being baked by the surrounding high temperature, the scent became much denser.

There was a rock platform in the middle of the chamber. A skinny figure was seated with his legs crossed on the stone platform. A crimson medicinal cauldron was suspended in the air in front of him. A jade-green flame that was burning fiercely in the cauldron. The high temperature pervading the room came from within the medicinal cauldron…

The person seated there was naturally Xiao Yan, who was bitterly practicing his medicinal refinement skill. Ever since he had felt pressed for time, he had spent all his time here. As long as he was free, he would refine pills. Although it was full of bitterness and was tiring, all of these hardships were naturally nothing as long as it was for the Three Thousand Burning Flame.

The jade-green flame fiercely danced within the interior of the medicinal cauldron. While the flame burned, one was able to vaguely see an embryonic medicinal pill being formed. A faint pill fragrance diffused through the room.

The embryonic medicinal pill gradually became round under the grilling flame. After around an hour or so, Xiao Yan suddenly opened his tightly shut eyes. He flicked his finger and the cover of the medicinal cauldron flew aside. A green, bright glow rushed out of the cauldron before settling on his hand.

The thing that landed in Xiao Yan’s hand was a thumb-sized round medicinal pill. Although this medicinal pill was small, it would definitely stir envious gazes if it were to be auctioned outside.

The name of the medicinal pill was called Instant Qi Pill. This was a kind of depletion type medicinal pill. It barely reached that of the tier 7 low grade level. It was able to allow one to recover some Dou Qi within a short period of time. Moreover, it was quite effective when an elite Dou Zong consumed it. If one were to fight an opponent until both parties’ Dou Qi was exhausted, consuming this medicinal pill would allow one to recover some Dou Qi. One might be able to turn the situation around with this recovery. Hence, some of strong experts would prepare a few of them. However, this kind of medicinal pill was very expensive. Those experts without some wealth would likely not be able to randomly consume it.

It should be known that Xiao Yan had never prepared an Instant Qi Pill in the past. One reason was that it was a high tier pill while the other reason was that the medicinal ingredients required were complicated and expensive. Who could consume it like eating beans…

Xiao Yan took out a jade bottle from his Storage Ring. After which, he placed the Instant Qi Pill in his hand into the bottle. At this moment, there were six Instant Qi Pills of similar quality within the bottle, Xiao Yan’s harvest during these twenty days.

During this half a month, Xiao Yan had never stepped out of this chamber. There would naturally be someone who would personally deliver the medicinal ingredients after he had used all of them up. All of his focus was on pill refinement. After forgetting to rest or eat during this period of time, Xiao Yan naturally benefited. He had successfully refined quite a number of medicinal pills at the tier 7 low grade level, and he had even successfully refined a tier 7 middle grade medicinal pill.

After this crazy pill refinement, Xiao Yan could clearly sense how his medicinal refinement skill had grown. Of course, Xiao Yan’s pill refinement talent was something that even Yao Lao could not deny. Before Yao Lao had left, Xiao Yan could, at the very most, refine a tier 5 medicinal pill. Now, he was able to refine a tier 7 medicinal pill because of his hard work. Although Xiao Yan’s hard work was a large factor, his talent was also of critical importance.

However, the twenty plus days of crazy pill refining caused Xiao Yan to feel a little stunned. He had discovered the Dou Qi within his body growing at a slow pace. Only after some thought did he come to a sudden understanding. Pill refinement was a task that exhausted the person doing it. This kind of exhaustion was a burden on one’s Dou Qi and Mental Strength. Once the Dou Qi within Xiao Yan’s body was exhausted during this period of time, he would immediately enter his training mode. After he recovered his Dou Qi, he would continue the refinement. With this kind of exhaustion and replenishment, it was not surprising that his Dou Qi was growing.

Xiao Yan gradually recovered some Dou Qi after sitting on the stone platform. Only then did he exhale a breath of air. He softly muttered to himself, “With my current pill refinement skill, the success rate of refining a tier 7 low grade medicinal pill is already quite high. If it’s a tier 7 middle grade medicinal pill, the success rate is a little lower, but it is still passable. Naturally, it is already much better than some ordinary tier 7 alchemists. However, this is insufficient…”

If Xiao Yan wanted to stand out in an alchemist gathering of this level and enter the top ten, it was obvious that it would be difficult to rely on a tier 7 middle grade medicinal pill. According to Xiao Yan’s guess, he would, at the very least, need to feel confident when refining a tier 7 high grade medicinal pill in order to be assured that he could enter the top ten…

“Tier 7 high grade…”

Xiao Yan slowly tightened his fist. A ruthless expression flashed across his eyes. It was only a high grade tier 7. He did not believe he could not do it!

This fierce thought flashed across Xiao Yan’s heart. He grabbed with his hand and a jade box, filled with medicinal ingredients, was pulled over. He waved his hand, and the many medicinal ingredients within it immediately floated up. A dense medicinal fragrance came pouncing over.

Xiao Yan gently inhaled a breath of air. He flicked his finger and the medicinal ingredients rushed into the medicinal cauldron. After which, the seal formed by his hands changed, and the jade-green flame within the medicinal cauldron roared to life…

The crazy way Xiao Yan refined pills during his retreat caused even Ye Zhong and the others to feel a little worried. They also let out a sigh at the same time. The abilities that Xiao Yan had obtained at such an age really did not come from nowhere. When compared to his crazy pill refining, the members of the younger generation of the Ye clan were really no different than trash…

Xiao Yan’s pill refinement retreat lasted for an entire month. During this month, he did not take a single step out of the Pill Refinement Room. What he had obtained was also quite dazzling. The number of tier 7 low grade and middle grade medicinal pills that he had successfully refined had continued to increase. Xiao Yan had even gradually become adept at refining tier 7 high grade medicinal pills after many failures. From the looks of it, a tier 7 high grade medicinal pill may appear if he was feeling well.

A hurried bell sound was suddenly emitted from outside the Pill Refinement Room after a month of bitter training.

Xiao Yan’s pill refinement state was broken by this sudden bell. After being slightly startled, his expression began to change a little. He knew that this bell was the emergency call of the Ye clan…

“Something has happened to the Ye clan?”

Xiao Yan tightly knit his brows. He swiftly got up and opened the door to the Pill Refinement Room. Now that he had already made a promise to the Ye clan, Xiao Yan naturally could not simply stand idly by the side if something happened to them during this period of time. Moreover, he had also exhausted a large portion of the Ye clan’s collection and felt a little bad. He knew that the Ye clan had placed all of their hopes on him.