Word Count: 2,803 Words
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Xiao Yan sensed Hun Huzi's malicious stare, yet he kept his full attention on his pill and did not even bother to look up.
Space rippled in front of him, and a hulking, headless puppet stepped out of the distortion without a sound.
"Hun Huzi, if you provoke me, this won't stay a mere alchemy match of the Medicinal Ceremony."
Xiao Yan went on melting down the crystals of the Ancient Devouring Insects at the same unhurried pace. He approached every refinement with the same meticulous care. Ordinary alchemists thought little of failing once or twice, but Xiao Yan despised failure and knew all too well that certain pills only ever offered a single chance. Because of that, he treated every refinement as though no second chance existed.
Xing Tian stood before him like an ironclad bodyguard, arms folded across his chest, and 'stared' straight at Hun Huzi. Though the puppet had no head, an invisible gaze seemed to bore out of him, locking onto Hun Huzi with chilling intensity.
"Are you kidding me?! T-That puppet..."
"A 6-star Dou Saint puppet?!"
The instant Xing Tian appeared, many of the Yao Clan's Dou Saint elders froze in disbelief. Even among the Dou God Clans, neither the Hun Clan nor the Gu Clan possessed a puppet at the 6-star Dou Saint level!
In other words, Xiao Yan's Xing Tian was the highest-ranked puppet on the entire Dou Qi Continent! A 6-star Dou Saint guardian was enough to drive every top expert on the continent mad with envy!
Off in the distance, where he had been keeping out of sight, Yao Wangui was so terrified that his legs gave out beneath him. He collapsed onto his backside, his whole body trembling without pause.
The Yan Alliance was far more than a faction bold enough to threaten war. With Xiao Yan at its helm, it genuinely had the strength to crush the entire Yao Clan!!
Xiao Yan himself had already reached the 6-star Dou Saint stage. Beside him stood Xing Tian, a supreme puppet forged from the flesh, blood, and Monster Cores of the Northern Dragon King and Huang Tian, and it carried explosive physical might. Once peak powerhouses like Xiao Chen, Xun Er, and Medusa were counted as well, the Yao Clan actually fell short of the Yan Alliance in top-level combat power!
Cold sweat poured down Yao Wangui's back until his robes were drenched. He had come within a hair's breadth of dragging the entire Yao Clan into eternal ruin!
Even Hun Huzi's expression stiffened at the sight of Xing Tian. He had clearly never expected Xiao Yan to hold such a trump card. The puppet's combat strength went beyond that of an ordinary initial 6-star Dou Saint. A frighteningly volatile power coiled beneath that quartz-like frame.
Hun Huzi's eyes narrowed. The power of his Clan Mark flared across his brow and drove his Spiritual Strength higher still. Two torrents of black fire shot from the dark vortexes and shaped themselves into giant black hands, which plunged straight into the cauldrons of Yao Wanhuo and Old Man Shen Nong.
Not content with stealing their energy, he was reaching for the embryonic pills they had spent over half a month refining! How could Yao Wanhuo and Old Man Shen Nong possibly stomach such an outrage?
"Hun Huzi, you're courting death!" Yao Wanhuo knew he had no hope of completing his own pill. He recalled his Heavenly Flame to shield his embryonic pill and launched himself at Hun Huzi.
"Hmph, since you're so greedy for energy, this old man will give you your fill." Old Man Shen Nong had little fondness for combat, yet he was no pushover to be bullied at will. Like Yao Wanhuo, he stood at the 6-star Dou Saint stage.
A black hurricane born of the Nine Serene Wind Flame had barely torn across the sky when a vast sea of emerald fire surged up from below. Countless towering trees sprouted inside that green inferno in the blink of an eye, and their massive branches whipped toward Hun Huzi like coiling vines.
Hun Huzi merely narrowed his eyes and sneered coldly at the combined assault of two 6-star Dou Saints. With a sweep of his hand, he met them both head-on.
Bolstered by his Clan Mark, the Nihility Devouring Flame condensed into a colossal dragon of black fire that shot forward and coiled around the hurricane of Nine Serene Wind Flame. The two titans thrashed and tumbled violently across the sky, sending a relentless downpour of blistering fire toward the ground. Had the Yao Clan elders not stepped in to intercept the blaze, that fiery rain would have reduced Yao Mountain to ash.
From afar, Xiao Yan spared a brief glance for the three great Heavenly Flames tangling across the sky before returning his full focus to his cauldron. Now that he had absorbed all the natural energy he needed, only the final step of condensing the pill remained.
"Path of Nether Soldiers and Hundred Ghosts!"
Hun Huzi locked his fingers into a seal and pushed his Spiritual Strength to the limit. A High Tian Class Soul Technique burst forth and plunged the surrounding sky into darkness.
Every ray of light across the mountain range seemed to be drained away, leaving behind a bone-chilling gloom. Piercing wails and ghostly howls tore through the dark. Countless black-robed specters clawed their way out of the void, each clutching a wicked weapon in its grasp.
These ghostly creatures marched in from every direction and converged into a wide ring at the center of the sky. Then they surged outward like a night parade of a hundred demons, lunging not only at Yao Wanhuo and Old Man Shen Nong but straight toward Xiao Yan as well.
"Be careful, these things feed on Spiritual Strength." Old Man Shen Nong narrowed his eyes. The Hun Clan's eerie Soul Skills were always a headache to contend with, forcing him to draw back his Life Spirit Flame into a defensive curtain.
Yao Wanhuo likewise ignited the power of his Clan Mark, though the Yao Clan's mark had never been suited for open combat. At the 6-star Dou Saint level, the boost it offered in a fight was negligible.
Xiao Yan glanced around at the pitch-black gloom. The incessant screeching of the nether soldiers and the jarring ripples of their soul fluctuations were starting to interfere with his concentration.
"Ah, your Soul Skill is too much of a nuisance. Little Yi."
"Yi Yi!"
After more than half a month of alchemy, Little Yi had long since woken from his nap. Surveying the pitch-black sky around them, the little fellow planted his hands on his hips, threw out his chest, and lifted his chin with a look of lofty disdain.
"Purify!" Little Yi called out in a crisp, childish voice and pointed a tiny finger forward.
Pop!
The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame bloomed like dawn breaking through the dead of night, and its milky-white radiance flooded every corner of the sky.
How could the nether soldiers and ghosts lurking in the gloom possibly withstand the purifying might of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame? In a single breath, the white blaze tore the darkness to shreds.
To Xiao Yan, an ordinary High Tian Class technique was nothing special, and dismantling it took no effort at all.
"No, my embryonic pill!" Only after Xiao Yan dispelled the Soul Skill did Yao Wanhuo discover that the embryonic pill sealed inside his Heavenly Flame had vanished without a trace.
Old Man Shen Nong's face was just as dark, and his eyes bored into Hun Huzi. His embryonic pill was gone too!
Without Xiao Yan lending a hand, how could the two of them possibly contend with Hun Huzi?
"Jie Jie Jie, many thanks to you both for the embryonic pills," Hun Huzi sneered with an eerie grin, cradling the two unfinished embryonic pills in his palms.
"Hmph, Hun Huzi, our pills have entirely different medicinal properties. Taking our embryonic pills won't do you any good," Old Man Shen Nong snorted coldly. He was furious, but he knew full well that he could not defeat Hun Huzi in a fight.
"Jie Jie Jie, then I won't trouble you to worry on my behalf," Hun Huzi replied, his lips curving into a cold smirk.
Before the crowd's eyes, he tossed both embryonic pills straight into the Seed Flame of the Nihility Devouring Flame and poured his Dou Qi and Spiritual Strength into the black fire cauldron.
Whoosh!!
Pitch-black flames swallowed the two embryonic pills whole. A ravenous devouring force rose from the heart of the blaze, stripped the energy from both pills, and converted it into pure strands of natural energy!
"The devouring power of the Nihility Devouring Flame!" Old Man Shen Nong finally realized why Hun Huzi had snatched their embryonic pills. No other Heavenly Flame in existence could pull off such a feat!
Yao Wanhuo looked toward the seat of honor. Meeting his gaze, Yao Dan fell silent for a long moment before slowly shaking his head.
Seizing another alchemist's embryonic pill in full view of the crowd was undoubtedly underhanded. Still, the Medicinal Ceremony was not the Pill Gathering. It had no set rules to begin with and served solely as a contest to produce the highest-ranked pill by any means necessary.
Only moments ago, had all four of them not been fighting tooth and nail to snatch the world's energy from one another?
More importantly, the Hun Clan stood behind Hun Huzi. That fact alone filled Yao Dan with deep wariness, and as Clan Head, he had no desire to provoke that unfathomable clan.
Under Hun Huzi's control, the Seed Flame of the Nihility Devouring Flame drained the two stolen embryonic pills dry and funneled their vast reserves straight into his cauldron. Little by little, his own pill began to swell and round into shape.
Roughly half a day passed before a deafening boom thundered across the sky.
Every head snapped upward. High above Xiao Yan, thick arcs of black lightning were coiling through the clouds.
"Why is it Black Demon Lightning? Did Xiao Yan's refinement fail?" Several less experienced spectators felt their hearts sink. Black Demon Lightning was the tribulation of a Tier 9 Treasure Pill, so they assumed Xiao Yan had fallen short.
"No, that's where you're mistaken. A Mysterious Pill doesn't call down a lightning tribulation. When a Mysterious Pill is born, the Black Demon Lightning transforms into pill rain and falls to the earth."
"When the Mysterious Pill forms, pill rain falls. Refining a Mysterious Pill drains an immense amount of natural energy, and the pill rain gives back to the world, restoring vitality to the withered land."
Immersed in the refinement, Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes and looked into the Refining Sky Ancient Formation. The Bodhisattva Ancient Tree now stood lush and towering, its branches heavy with foliage while the gathered world energy circulated through its trunk. Its blossoms had opened in full, and fruit was on the verge of setting.
His hands shifted into a new seal. Heavenly Flames surged through the Refining Sky Ancient Formation, and his vast Spiritual Strength and Dou Qi erupted like a tempest. The entire Yao Realm shuddered once more. Overhead, the clouds of Black Demon Lightning churned violently and thunder shook the peaks. A fierce soul gale swept across the mountain ranges and tore up soil and brush, like the prelude to a torrential storm.
"Hundred Lifetimes Pill Fusion Method, fuse the pill!"
At Xiao Yan's shout, the Flame Mantra revolved at full speed, and the Dou Qi born of the God Class Qi Method surged into the Bodhisattva Heart inside his chest. The Refining Sky Ancient Formation spun faster than ever. Wild currents of energy tore through the sky while violent spatial rifts shredded the surrounding void.
Thump. Thump.
A deep, steady heartbeat echoed across the sky.
The Refining Sky Ancient Formation no longer held the origin of the Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning. Then again, normal alchemy never called for divine treasures like the Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning or Essence Flames in the first place. What it used was a Monster Core!
Cradled within the crown of the ancient tree lay a Monster Core wreathed in strands of dragon aura. While the Monster Cores of the Northern Dragon King and Huang Tian had been forged into Xing Tian, Xiao Yan had saved the Monster Cores of the Southern Dragon King and the Western Dragon King specifically for refining pills!
Buzz!
A deep hum ran through the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree, and emerald leaves and blossoms began to drift down from its boughs. Falling leaves returned to their roots, and a hundred lifetimes melted into a single pill!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!
The Refining Sky Ancient Formation whirled at a breakneck pace. Bone Chilling Flame roared across the array like a blizzard out of a frozen wasteland, swallowing everything inside and turning the interior into a world of ice and snow.
A thunderous crash shook the heavens as the Refining Sky Ancient Formation shattered apart. From its core, a column of emerald pill aura brimming with vibrant life erupted skyward and pierced straight into the clouds of Black Demon Lightning above Xiao Yan's head.
That pillar of fragrant light was as wide as a mountain range. Bathed in Xiao Yan's pill aura, the ink-black thunderclouds looked as though they were being painted anew, gradually shifting from pitch-black into a lush, living emerald.
"The pill is about to take form!"
"I never thought I'd live to witness the birth of a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill!"
Down in the stands, the spectators were even more keyed up than Xiao Yan himself. People rose to their feet one after another, their eyes fixed on the emerald clouds heavy with impending rain!
Drip.
A single drop of rain splashed onto the spectator stands, and the clan head it touched immediately felt a warm pulse of vitality sink into his skin.
"Rain, it's pill rain! The Mysterious Pill is complete!! It really formed!"
Even the veteran experts of the older generation, ordinarily so composed, could no longer keep their seats and cried out in amazement.
On the heels of that first drop, an impossibly rich medicinal fragrance rolled out across the mountain. Moments later, a dense curtain of rain brimming with boundless vitality poured from the emerald clouds in a grand 'rain of life'!
"It's pill rain! It really is a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill!"
"By Emperor Yao, how old is Xiao Yan?! To think he can already refine a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill!"
Trembling before that miracle, quite a few alchemists in the square sank to their knees and bowed low. They tilted their faces upward as though welcoming a sacred blessing and let the life-giving rain wash over them.
In the Yao Clan's stands, Yao Ling slowly extended a slender, pale hand into the falling rain. A crystal-clear droplet landed on the soft skin of her palm and sank straight into her flesh, and a rich, heady warmth spread through her limbs. Her luminous dark eyes stayed fixed on the tall figure commanding the sky above. Deep in her chest, a quiet emotion began to stir, as natural and unstoppable as a flower in full bloom turning toward the sun.
"He really refined a Mysterious Pill..." Yao Tian murmured beside her, still struggling to believe his own eyes. A Tier 9 Treasure Pill and a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill stood only a single grade apart, yet the chasm between them was immeasurable.
While the Yao Clan had several elders capable of refining Tier 9 Treasure Pills, the Clan Head alone could refine a Mysterious Pill!
By now, Yao Tian felt nothing but wholehearted admiration for Xiao Yan.
"He's truly extraordinary. I'm nowhere near his level. Still..."
Yao Tian narrowed his eyes and looked toward Hun Huzi in the distance. Neither Yao Dan nor Old Man Shen Nong was celebrating Xiao Yan's triumph either. Every one of them had fixed a solemn gaze on Hun Huzi's cauldron, where a deeply unsettling fluctuation of energy had begun to pulse from within.
High above, Xiao Yan closed his right hand around his newly formed Mysterious Pill and turned his eyes toward Hun Huzi as well.
Hun Huzi sensed that look and suddenly bared his teeth in a grin, then produced a huge mass of soul essence from his Soul Command Token!
"Soul essence?!"
"Just how many lives had to be slaughtered to gather that much soul essence?!"
Hun Huzi projected his voice directly into Xiao Yan's ears. "You've refined the Great Soul Black Purple Pill before, haven't you? That pill recipe was my creation, and it is nothing more than a pale shadow of the pill I am refining today!"