Cao Yun was supervising everything so he could tell how talented Song Guixiang really was. The plump man who spent his time playing around with women, drinking wine, enjoying great food and art, was still a very impressive alchemist. As such, Cao Yun understood why his own master was always reprimanding him so that he would take his studies more seriously. Any occasion was good for Director Hua to force him to abstain from his pleasures. Honestly, if he spent more time on alchemy, he would become an incredible alchemist in a very short time. In fact, he was already among the best alchemists in the Hongchen Kingdom. He might actually rival Director Hua with more effort. Unfortunately, he seemed to be similar to Chief Instructor Peng, with a bit of Chief Elder Meng Jia.
As he thought that, Cao Yun stopped himself. Maybe he was mistaken. It was because Song Guixiang knew when to stop and enjoy life that he was such a great alchemist. Studying harder and longer wasn't necessarily a recipe for success. It was important to work smarter. Cao Yun quickly got rid of his thoughts as he had to be ever vigilant about the refinement process. But it was food for thought, for later. Cao Yun could learn from them for his own cultivation.
Anyway, Cao Yun was still making things easier for Song Guixiang by his mere presence. The Solar-Orchid Flame seed in him was making the flames a bit more docile. Of course, they were still hard to tame. That being said, Song Guixiang was doing a great job. Seeing more and more alchemists in his group who were either exhausted or literally collapsed on the ground, Sun Liao sent some of the masters under his command to activate a few array formations around them. Suddenly, they had more vitality as the masters themselves were giving the alchemists their own Qi.
With this increase in vigor, they were finally able to use all the flames that had consumed the first head of the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu. All the flames were now within the Netherstill Soul Steel. However, the first circle wasn't done yet. This first circle was the hardest to form. Indeed, they were in fact two circles at both poles of the spherical pill. As such, the area was incredibly small. That being said, it was ironically the easiest one because all other circles would have to harmonize with the previous ones. Even though they were individually easier, or at least not as hard, they would require more expertise and talent. As such, Song Guixiang wanted to make sure that the first circle was as perfect as it could be since it would make the refinement process easier to complete.
After forming the first circle, the alchemists had to use various ingredients to prepare it. First of all, they had to make sure that the soul would not erupt from the pill. But they also had to get it ready to harmonize with the following souls.
Song Guixiang himself was covered in sweat. In his mind, instead of his usual indulgences, he could only think about his current task. Besides, he was making several pills at the same time. Indeed, to ensure that at least one pill was successful, they had to refine a few of them. At the moment, there were twelve pills in the Thirteen Celestial Pyre. Cao Yun had calculated the number of pills based on the ingredients he had prepared. If everything went perfectly, they could refine at least twelve pills from the corpse of the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu. Unfortunately, the truth was that they knew most of them would fail. The goal was for at least one to succeed. Hopefully, they would have more successes. However, Cao Yun was not counting on them. They would be great, but they were not essential. His goal was to refine one pill. Anything more would be a welcome surprise.
By the end of the day, they were done. The first circle was finally completed on the twelve pills. Not a single pill had failed. Of course, some had succeeded better than others. Cao Yun was glad to see that only one pill was mediocre, the others were all great or above. This was a very good start.
When the first circle was finally complete, Song Guixiang literally collapsed on the ground along with all the other alchemists from his group. Most of them were awake, but they had spent all of their strength. A few students who were just acting as assistants came to them and helped them up. Song Guixiang was supported by two young women. As they grabbed his sweat-soaked body, Song Guixiang quickly came back to reality. He grabbed their shoulders as they were supporting him and whispered something in their ears. Any alchemist could have heard it but they were focused on the task at hand. Only Cao Yun and Director Hua paid attention to his words. It was a good thing no one else heard him as even the two women blushed. But, they quickly decided that his proposition was enticing after the show he had given them.
Then, the second circle was about to be refined. This time, it was Mei Hua's turn. From his spatial ring, Cao Yun took the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu's liver. The young man had cut the liver into four lobes. Each one had various runes and characters inscribed in them. Besides, he had covered it with some herbs and let it marinate in a special concoction. There was a sweet aroma coming from the liver, but it couldn't hide the great sensation of rage and anger all around it. It was as if the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu's Flying Poison was in it.
As it appeared, the flames below the Thirteen Celestial Pyre grew stronger and stronger. They produced a strident screech that hurt the very souls of everyone present. Sun Liao was ready for it as Cao Yun had told him exactly what to expect. The very moment the liver appeared, he had raised a few defensive barriers. Without them, a few alchemists would have been actually injured. Thanks to them, the alchemists were only in some pain and discomfort.
Mei Hua and her group were too focused on their task to even register any of that. Mei Hua immediately sent powders into the Core Earthly Life as well as several ingredients directly into the Thirteen Celestial Pyre. Without wasting any time, she manipulated the flames that appeared. Her control was even better than Song Guixiang's. Although he was busy looking at the two charming beauties taking care of him, Song Guixiang was still focusing his spiritual senses around Mei Hua's group. He was not surprised by her talent. Indeed, it was exactly what he was expecting from her. From the moment he had met her, he knew how talented she was and he was not disappointed. It was hard to say whether she was better than him, but she wasn't any worse, for sure.
The liver burned very slowly as she sent the flames throughout pathways Cao Yun had already cut into the organ. As the liver was still being consumed by the flames, Cao Yun let it go, and Mei Hua threw it into the Thirteen Celestial Pyre. The herbs on its surface as well as the special liquid used by Cao Yun began to evaporate within the cauldron whose lid was now closed. Some of Mei Hua's group controlled the released medicinal essence to prepare the twelve pills. The second circle would be on the upper part of the pill, just below the pole where the first circle had been engraved. The third circle would be on the bottom part, just above the pole where the other part of the first circle was. Then, each circle would be alternately on the upper and bottom part until the ninth one that would be exactly in the middle, merging both halves together.
As the liver was finally consumed, another screech echoed throughout the Thirteen Celestial Pyre, but quickly died down. Mei Hua did exactly as her senior brother Song Guixiang had done. It took her a bit more time, but as another day passed, the second circle was slowly being formed.
The pill that was already mediocre was harder to work on. Mei Hua tried to split her focus equally at first. Soon, she realized it was not realistic. Thus, she chose to sacrifice this pill and focused more on the other pills. Unfortunately, that mediocre pill didn't simply collapse and crumble. Suddenly, it exploded. After all, Netherstill Soul Steel and Ninefold Warm Spirit Grass were extremely volatile together.
Both Cao Yun and Mei Hua were surprised. Mei Hua was too busy working on the other pills. That explosion couldn't be contained and would damage all the other pills. The refinement process could end right now. Before it could happen, Cao Yun intervened. His spiritual senses flooded the cauldron. He took over the flames used to inscribe the second circle on that twelfth pill. Immediately, Mei Hua and her alchemists let go and let Cao Yun take care of the problem. With his Rune of Fire, Cao Yun had great control over the flames. In fact, he even sent a wisp of his Black Heart Flame into it. Cao Yun simply consumed the entire pill as well as the flames around it. Although they had lost one pill, they had saved all eleven pills Mei Hua was working on.
At last, she was done. All eleven pills now had two circles inscribed on them. Some were better than others, but Cao Yun and Mei Hua were both pleased by the fact that a majority of them were simply great. It was thanks to Song Guixiang's efforts in the first step.
Mei Hua and her group also collapsed under the strain of more than a day of continuous efforts.
After Mei Hua's group, it was time for a 3-star Heaven alchemist Cao Yun had come to know during his stay. He was an old man with no hope of reaching any higher than his current rank. He was a 5th-grade Spirit Warrior, but he was already more than 1,400 years old. In other words, he was reaching the end of his natural lifespan. With alchemy, he had been able to break through to this stage, but he had also destroyed his future potential. For most mortals, it was still a great trade-off and Wei Tonghe didn't regret anything. In fact, the mere fact that he had been chosen by Director Hua herself for this task simply proved to him how right he had been all his life. If he could help refine this 5-star Spirit pill, his life would have been worth it.
The old man was covered in wrinkles with long, thin, gray hair falling on his forehead and his shoulders. From his chin, a short white beard was his only facial hair. With severe eyes, he took over when Mei Hua collapsed. He didn't allow himself to admire the talent of the younger generation as he was fully focused on his task.
After the liver, Cao Yun took out the kidneys of the Nine-Headed Bird of Chu. Everyone felt a great surge of vitality everywhere. The 9-core demonic beast's kidneys were full of his Jing. Cao Yun had been able to preserve it before the Death Energy consumed it all completely. For the alchemists, it was as if the actual 9-core demonic beast was right in front of them. Most of them were terrified. Then, they remembered that Cao Yun had slain it, alone. They were even more terrified.
Wei Tonghe didn't let himself be distracted. He wanted to prove Director Hua right for choosing him. Staking his entire life and reputation on his talent, Wei Tonghe controlled the flames of the Core Earthly Life. He was slightly surprised by how easy it was. Indeed, he had already worked with the Core Earthly Life several times. Cao Yun's presence was making it easier to control. Of course, the difference wasn't prodigious, but still great enough for him to notice it. Calming himself, Wei Tonghe sent the flames into the two kidneys. Then, he controlled their fall toward the Thirteen Celestial Pyre.
Before letting them in, Wei Tonghe had to send the flames directly into the Jing. It was a very subtle process, but Wei Tonghe had trained nonstop since he had been chosen. He had consumed many kidneys of other demonic beasts to master the process and had spent days in his sea of consciousness reminiscing about each attempt. As it was the real deal, Wei Tonghe didn't panic and performed what he had already done thousands of times. He was successful. The flames became completely golden. In fact, they literally looked like liquid gold floating in the air.
Finally, Wei Tonghe sent them into the cauldron. Then, he opened the lid and let the kidneys in. The two organs would be used for medicinal properties, but the real circle would be formed by the golden flames.
Wei Tonghe knew that he couldn't reach the same level of success on the eleven pills. At the very least, he had to make sure that none would collapse during his refinement. But he also had to prepare for the next steps. In fact, it was better to risk losing one pill now rather than risk losing them all later. As such, he decided to do as Mei Hua, he didn't split all of his attention equally. He chose the best pills to spend most of his effort on but he didn't disregard the other pills.
This time, it took two days. As he was inscribing the third circle in the pills, Wei Tonghe could feel that it was clashing with the first circle below it. Besides, the second circle was also reacting even though it was not directly in contact with the new circle.
Wei Tonghe didn't lose any pill. However, he could tell that two of the pills were really not that great. They might fail at any moment. As such, they were a danger for all other pills. For a few hours, he tried to repair them. But, he ended up deciding that it was too risky. Still, he didn't want to make the decision to simply throw them out. As such, he turned to Cao Yun.
Before Wei Tonghe could even ask anything, Cao Yun grabbed the two deficient pills and threw them out of the Thirteen Celestial Pyre. He simply put them in a spatial ring he had prepared beforehand. Maybe he could do something with them at some point. Or he might just give them to the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute to study them. Anyway, he had no time to think about it right now. He had to focus on the nine remaining pills.