Emperor’s Domination

In the next few days, Li Qiye stayed behind closed doors in Insane Court. He actually spent more time on pill refinement than cultivation.

He was practicing on how to cultivate the Longevity Pill. Though there were all types of pill in Three Immortals such as Sourceboost Pill meant for increasing strength, Golden Cure Pill meant for healing, Calm-mind Pill meant for breaking spells, the only thing that interested him was the longevity one.

Eternal life was an ancient topic researched by countless progenitors, brilliant True Emperors, and even mortals. Some have embarked on unique paths in search of this goal in Three Immortals.

Longevity Pill was such a path, perhaps the most efficacious currently. Many sages and talents went on to become incredible alchemists.

Of course, the pills couldn’t grant true immortality, just a longer life up to several hundred thousand years for cultivation. This was the backup plan for people despite its limitation. Numerous alchemists took pride in creating the best pills.

Back in the nine and tenth worlds, Li Qiye’s alchemy was peerless. Though there were differences in Three Immortals, all dao had the same origin and source. After being exposed to the alchemy here, he could comprehend it and become a great master right away.

Pill refinement wasn’t hard but Li Qiye was a perfectionist. Because of this, he started from the most simple and lowest-ranked Longevity Pill. After several cauldrons worth of attempt, he mastered the process beautifully.

Yang Shengping and Zhu Sijing were astounded standing next to him. They wouldn’t believe that this was his first time refining Longevity Pill if he hadn’t told them so.

However, judging from the first cauldron and his techniques, Shengping believed that this was indeed the case.

The next batch stunned him even more since he had never seen someone improved so quickly.

In terms of cultivation, this was a cultivator learning today, becoming a True God the next day, then a True Emperor the next, and finally a progenitor on the fourth. It was true that Li Qiye’s alchemy improved at an insane and unbelievable rate after just several batches.

“The greatest genius of all time…” Shengping justifiably concluded for this was the only explanation.

Li Qiye only smiled after hearing this evaluation. If it wasn’t for his long accumulation and research on alchemy, there was no way he could improve so fast.

“Poof!” The flame of Myriad Cauldron jumped out and revealed many phenomena.

A musky fragrance was oozing out of the cauldron; just a sniff could make one quite comfortable and at ease.

“Ra!” It seemed that there was a faint dragon roar within as well.

“It’s at the second tribulation soon.” Shengping said: “There’s a big disparity between the grade of the materials and the pills. These materials are barely one-hundred-thousand-year old, but the pills are already at the second tribulation level. That’s abnormal.”

“Open!” Li Qiye shouted and interrupted his musing then took out the pills.

Mist erupted from the cauldron with an auspicious aura and a thick medicinal fragrance. Shengping’s heart was hanging on a thread, realizing that this was the key moment.

“Gather!” A flame surged from the cauldron and acted like a jaw to swallow all the billowing mist back inside. Li Qiye then sealed the cauldron, letting this escaped mist gestate the pills.

This was the moment deciding whether the pills would form or not. These Longevity Pills had nine different tribulations, each with a different result.

The most common and lowest grade was naturally the first tribulation pills - “Flame Control”. The cauldron’s flame would go crazy. If one couldn’t control it, the batch would be ruined. Doing it too late would result in the pills being destroyed. Doing it too early would stop the pills from forming in the first place.

However, if the pills were to form during this tribulation, the batch would be of the lowest grade, only increasing life by several years.

Listed from lowest to highest, the nine tribulations were: Flame Control, Pill Mist, Sinking Metal, Roaming Dragon, Accordance, Void, All-world, Soaring Immortal, Eternal. 

He was at the second tribulation, Pill Mist. A dragon cry would happen with the pill fragrance oozing out in the form of mists and clouds. The alchemist must gather the fragrance, not allowing it to disperse completely. 

They needed to gather just the right amount as well in order to keep the batch.

“Finish!” Li Qiye shouted and opened the cauldron, taking the pills out and putting them into a jade bottle with lightning speed.

“Finally made it.” Zhu Sijing heaved a sigh of relief after seeing this.

“Barely passable.” Li Qiye took one pill out for a look before throwing it at Yang Shengping.

The old man caught the pill and saw that it was as smooth as jade. He sniffed it and became quite surprised: “The musk of a dragon, ten years of life at the very least, the finest among second-grade Longevity Pills. To be able to create this grade with such low-quality materials… you are a grandmaster alchemist, the best in all Three Immortals, not just Insane Court.”

Shengping was quite shocked. A batch of pills was reliant on the quality of the material, not just the skill of the alchemist.

In order to create a batch of first-grade Longevity Pill, the materials needed to be ten thousand years old or more.

For a second-grade batch, they needed to be one hundred thousand years and up.

Li Qiye used the bare minimum yet was able to create the finest level of that grade. One could see how skilled he was with this.

“For you.” Li Qiye leisurely said.

“Thank you, Young Noble.” Shengping immediately kneeled and expressed his gratitude.

In the last few days acting as an assistant, Li Qiye had given him several bottles of Longevity Pills since he didn’t need them.

Zhu Sijing was young and didn’t need them either. This wasn’t the case for Shengping. He was old enough to die at any moment so these pills were crucial.

Normally, someone like him couldn’t obtain these pills. The decent ones were too heavily-contested while the bad ones had little to no effect on him.

The pills given to him were just regal pills, more than enough in his eyes.

Regal pills were Longevity Pills from the first tribulation to the third. The reasoning behind this name was very simple. It was meant for kings and influential cultivators.

From fourth to sixth rank pills were called divine pills. Only True Gods were eligible to use them.

As for the highest level? Imperial pills, reserved for True Emperors and Eternals.

Li Qiye didn’t care for these regal pills. It was only training, his real goal was the ninth-ranked imperial pills. Of course, the pills themselves weren’t the main focus; he was only looking at how they were related to true immortality.