Battle Through the Heavens

“Swoosh!”

Xiao Yan swung his hand through the empty space in front of him after taking out the Bodhisattva Seed, and many medicinal ingredients continuously flew out of his Storage Ring. In the blink of an eye, they piled together in the air above his head. At a glance, there were at least a thousand of them. Such a number of medicinal ingredients caused the surrounding alchemists to feel speechless.

Xiao Yan ignored these people’s surprise. His hand gently pressed against the air. A large number of medicinal ingredients was separated from the pile above before they were swiftly thrown into the medicinal cauldron. They were devoured by the fire dragon within the cauldron.

The mound of medicinal ingredients in the sky formed a line under Xiao Yan’s control as they continuously poured into the medicinal cauldron. Within a short couple of minutes, a frightening energy wave spread from the medicinal cauldron. This energy wave caused the surrounding space to slowly fluctuate.

“This large number of medicinal ingredients has surpassed the amount needed to work with the Bodhisattva Seed. Could it be that he is not refining a Bodhisattva Pill? But why is the majority of the medicinal ingredients similar to the ingredients required to refine a Bodhisattva Pill?” Xuan Kong Zi frowned and muttered.

Yao Lao and the other two could only slowly shake their heads when they heard this question. They were also unaware of what Xiao Yan was planning to do.

“Now, we can only wait until the end…” The few of them sighed. They suppressed their doubt in their hearts and began to pay full attention to the competition.

The commotion that Xiao Yan’s pill refinement had stirred might have been great, but not everyone’s eyes were fixated on him. This was the Small Pill Tower. It had gathered all of the extremely well-known alchemist gurus in the Central Plains. Their standards were high since the alchemists beside Xiao Yan were all extraordinary individuals. The sound of wind and lightning accompanied their refinement as a powerful aura formed around them all. If this competition were to be held in the Central Plains, many alchemists would become intoxicated by it…

Other than Xiao Yan, the person who caught the most attention among the many alchemists was old demon Hou. Regardless of how unlikable he was, no one doubted his ability to refine pills. Being able to nearly snatch Yao Lao’s Pill Gathering champion position was sufficient to describe his talent in pill refinement. Moreover, the current old demon Hou was no longer the young man of the past. After so many years of training, his medicinal refinement ability had undoubtedly soared. Hardly anyone even in this Small Pill Tower could surpass him.

This old demon Hou had the highest chance of winning in this Elder selection.

At this moment, old demon Hou was fully focused on his medicinal cauldron. A couple of medicinal ingredient rings continued to rotate around him. Occasionally, some medicinal ingredients with a rich energy would be thrown into the cauldron. After which, they would quickly be refined before they solidified. The many steps were performed with great familiarity. His motions revealed a grandmaster demeanor.

The eyes of the seven Elders on the stone stage slowly swept over the square and finally nodded.

“Looks like old demon Hou is very likely win this time.” An Elder looked at old demon Hou’s demeanor and involuntarily laughed. The few other Elders around nodded after hearing his words. The medicinal refinement skills of old demon Hou were not inferior to these Elders.

The linen-clothed First Elder did not speak with them. Both of his hands were withdrawn into his sleeves as his calm eyes swung to where Xiao Yan was located. There were extremely few people in recent years whom he was unable to see through. This young man called Xiao Yan had given him this feeling for some unknown reason…

This feeling gave him a sense of foreboding. This selection would likely have a dark horse appearing…

Pill refinement, especially the refinement of high tier medicinal pills, usually required a long period of time. It was extremely common for alchemists of Xiao Yan’s level to take ten days to half a month to refine a pill. The surrounding alchemists were well aware of this, so they did not display any impatience. Instead, they watched the many cauldrons with great enjoyment. An outsider merely watched for it for its entertainment value while those within the trade observed the skills involved. Other people might feel impatient while watching a pill refinement competition, but it was extremely interesting for these alchemist.

Time flowed by and five days passed in the blink of an eye. Some chaotic energy fluctuations spread from quite a number of medicinal cauldrons, causing many medicinal essences to be destroyed. However, no one felt disappointed about failing. Failure was something only too common to those present. No one could guarantee that they would maintain a hundred percent success rate. Even Xiao Yan was unable to say such a thing because his failure rate during these five days had been quite high. He had destroyed three cauldrons of medicinal ingredients.

There were different reasons for each failure. Fortunately, after experiencing three failures, Xiao Yan’s refinement had become more smooth and much faster. He had gained a lot of insight from his failures.

After these five days, everyone began to get on the right track. The number of failures also fell. Another five days passed and the medicinal cauldrons of some alchemists began to show the figure of an embryonic pill. The surrounding energy fluctuations also became more intense…

Following the flow of time, the atmosphere within the open ground had become more solemn. Everyone could sense that the most interesting part was approaching…

“Bang!”

Dark clouds suddenly gathered in the sky and lightning swiftly danced through them like silver snakes. A moment later, layers of colors gradually surfaced on the clouds until seven colors were visible. The colors slowly stopped on the seventh color.

Seven-colored Pill Lightning!

If this had occurred in the Central Plains, it would have attracted countless numbers of shocked eyes, but many people present shook their heads when they saw the seven-colored Pill Lightning. It was obvious that this result would not enable one to obtain victory because they had already seen five seven-colored Pill Lightnings over the past three days…

“Another seven-colored Pill Lightning…” Xuan Kong Zi looked at the Pill Lightning in the sky and laughed.

“Old Ling seems a little depressed…” Yao Lao smiled. He glanced at the old man who had summoned this seven-colored Pill Lightning. At this moment, old Ling was helplessly shaking his head. Clearly, he was not satisfied with this result.

Xuan Yi smiled as she nodded. Her gaze shifted to where Xiao Yan was located and softly said, “It seems that this little fellow is the calmest person present…”

Yao Lao bitterly smiled and inclined his head after hearing this statement. Some of the faster individuals had managed to summon Pill Lightning already. Those who were slower had already formed the shape of an embryonic medicinal pill, but there was not even a slight reaction from Xiao Yan’s cauldron, but there was no anxiety on his face. No one knew whether he was calm or putting up a brave front.

“Old demon Hou should be able to successfully form a pill in three days. If I have guessed correctly, he should be refining the “Flame Demon Quiet Mysterious Pill.” If he successfully refines the medicinal pill, he will definitely attract a nine-colored Pill Lightning…” Xuan Kong Zi informed everyone.

“Aye, the medicinal refinement skill of this old fellow has significantly risen over these years.” Yao Lao nodded slightly as he replied.

“If Xiao Yan wishes to beat him, he must refine a tier 9 medicinal pill, but regardless of how one raises the level of the Bodhisattva Pill, it is impossible to breakthrough to the ninth tier.” Xuan Yi commented. Although Xiao Yan had relied on an external object to raise the quality of his medicinal pill during the Pill Gathering, it would not work this time. After all, the ninth tier and the eighth tier were two completely different concepts.

“He has his own plans.”

Yao Lao hesitated for a moment, but a sentence was all that he could reply with. However, he was a little inwardly anxious. The medicinal ingredients that Xiao Yan was using for this refinement did not match either of the tier 9 medicinal pills he had given Xiao Yan. In other words, unless Xiao Yan possessed another tier 9 medicinal formula… he was off doing something random.

…

Three days passed in an instant. Currently, only a handful of people were still refining within the open ground. Most of the remaining people successfully attracted Pill Lightning and then withdrew.

The eyes of everyone present gathered on two individuals. Those two individuals were old demon Hou and Xiao Yan. Everyone had already identified demon Hou’s medicinal pill. If that medicinal pill was successfully born, it would attract a nine-colored Pill Lightning. It would be the strongest Pill Lightning that had appeared in the selection. Xiao Yan, on the other hand, had attracted gazes because of his strange actions. His medicinal cauldron had not revealed signs of an embryonic medicinal pill since the very beginning. There was only a fire dragon that danced inside the cauldron, but they were unable to sense any medicinal pill fluctuations from this fire dragon.

“Bang!”

A low loud sound was suddenly emitted from the sky while everyone was feeling puzzled. An extremely powerful energy fluctuation suddenly spread. Immediately, clouds began to gather in the sky with lightning-like speed…

“Old demon Hou is about to successfully refine his medicinal pill?”

Someone exclaimed after seeing these clouds form.

Old demon Hou stood up in front of many pairs of eyes. His dead-man-like face revealed an ugly smile. He laughingly glanced in Xiao Yan’s direction. Both of his hands were placed behind him as he looked at the thunderclouds in the sky. The thunderclouds churned a couple of times before revealing nine colors…

“It is indeed a nine-colored Pill Lightning!”

Everyone involuntarily exclaimed after seeing the colors.

“Ha ha, Yao Chen, it looks like this elderly-self is victorious this time around!”

Old demon Hou looked at the thunderclouds. A moment later, he turned his head, looked at Yao Lao in the crowd, and coldly laughed.

Yao Lao involuntarily frowned after hearing his words. He was just about to speak when a faint laugh appeared.

“That may not be the case.”

Old demon Hou’s face sunk after hearing these words. His eyes looked for the source of the voice. Xiao Yan, who had kept his eyes shut, slowly opened them at this moment.