Word Count: 2,878 Words
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Xiao Yan remembered the Great Soul Black Purple Pill well. It was the very pill he had relied on to win the Wind and Thunder Fury Flame at the Great Meeting of Factions.
Hun Huzi slammed the mass of soul essence into his medicinal cauldron and burst into wild laughter. "Jie Jie Jie, this is this old man's greatest masterpiece, the Heaven-Devouring Myriad Soul Pill!"
"Soul-Devouring Pill Formation Method, gather the souls and form the pill!!"
Everything changed the instant Hun Huzi drove the soul essence into the Seed Flame of the Nihility Devouring Flame. Across Yao Mountain, the world's energy seemed to freeze in place, and even the pill rain drawn down by Xiao Yan's Mysterious Pill came to a sudden halt. A vast medicinal aura swept outward for miles in every direction until it shrouded the entire Yao Realm.
A peculiar fragrance drifted from that pill aura, utterly unlike any ordinary medicinal scent. The first breath was sharp and biting, like chewing raw chili pepper or inhaling pungent medicated balm. Yet the moment it sank in, a jolt of clarity shot straight into the depths of the soul and left the mind wide awake and invigorated. Anyone who caught even a whiff felt as though they had shed several decades of age in an instant. It was an extraordinary sensation.
"Jie Jie Jie!! It's done! It has finally formed!!" Even Hun Huzi looked half-mad with excitement. He had created this pill recipe himself, but his own chances of succeeding with it had never been high.
Perhaps the pressure of having Xiao Yan as a rival had spurred him on, for this time he had refined the pill to absolute perfection!
The pill aura grew thicker and spread farther, and faint, eerie wails of ghostly agony began to echo from its depths, as though the gates of the netherworld had been wrenched open. A cold dread crept up every spine in the plaza. It was the unmistakable sensation of something unseen breathing right behind their necks.
Yao Dan, Old Man Shen Nong, and the others watched Hun Huzi bring his pill to completion, and their expressions turned grim and reluctant. More than anything, a heavy sense of helplessness settled over them. No matter how little they wanted to believe or admit it, there was no denying that this fellow's skill in alchemy was genuinely formidable.
Even if Yao Dan had entered the contest himself, he could never have refined a Mysterious Pill capable of surpassing Hun Huzi's Heaven-Devouring Myriad Soul Pill!
BOOM!
A pillar of fragrant purple-black light erupted skyward. Clouds surged in from every corner of the sky until they massed into a boundless ocean overhead. Right above Hun Huzi, a vast vortex tore open in the cloud sea, and a deep rumble echoed from its core, swelling louder with every passing breath.
A pill cloud even wider and more massive than the one above Xiao Yan had taken shape across the firmament!
A torrential downpour of purple-black pill rain cascaded from the clouds. Its dark hue looked unsettling, yet when the droplets splashed onto the spectators below, a soothing warmth nourished their souls and set the Dou Qi inside their bodies stirring.
Unlike Xiao Yan's healing pill, Hun Huzi's Heaven-Devouring Myriad Soul Pill was much like the Lightning Calamity Pill. It was a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill forged by refining a special form of energy straight into a pill that could directly elevate a cultivator's strength!
The energy locked inside this Tier 9 Mysterious Pill was potent enough to raise even a 6-star Dou Saint by an entire star without question. Among Mysterious Pills, it stood at the absolute pinnacle!
The chasm between each star at the Dou Saint level was immense, and the energy needed to cross it was staggering. That alone proved just how extraordinary the grade of Hun Huzi's pill truly was.
Even Old Man Shen Nong could not help sighing to himself. The heavens truly are blind. In this world, only strength reigns supreme.
A heavy, bitter silence fell over the Yao Clan. None of them wanted to watch Hun Huzi claim victory at the Medicinal Ceremony. The others glared up at the churning purple-black clouds in frustration, but Yao Ling bit her lower lip and paid the eerie downpour no mind. She turned straight toward Xiao Yan instead, searching his face for an answer.
All at once, her eyes lit up.
Xiao Yan was watching Hun Huzi with complete calm. Neither frustration nor urgency showed on his face, and not even the faintest flicker of surprise. In those dark eyes rested only an easy, unshakable confidence, as though everything unfolding before him remained firmly within his grasp!
"It's a good thing you managed to refine a pill of this level," Xiao Yan said in a flat, unruffled voice. "If you'd failed, this would have been far too boring."
!!!!
His voice was not loud, and beneath the rolling thunder and pelting rain, an ordinary person would never have caught the words. Yet who among those gathered here could be called ordinary? Every single person in the arena heard him clearly.
Hun Huzi snatched his newly formed pill out of the air, a cold sneer curling his lips. "Jie Jie Jie, Xiao Yan, for you to refine a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill at your age... this old man will be frank with you. In the future, I may well fall short of you. But at least in this moment, my alchemy still stands above yours!"
Hun Huzi was speaking the plain truth. Given Xiao Yan's youth and his astonishing pace of growth, it was all but certain that he would one day refine a Tier 9 Golden Pill.
Xiao Yan offered a faint smile. "You're not wrong. Right now that may be true, and in the future I certainly will surpass you. However... the future has already arrived."
!?
Crackling arcs of silver lightning suddenly spilled from Xiao Yan's body, their threads woven with silver fire. It was the lightning-fire of the Nine Dragon Lightning Flame!
Xiao Yan slowly parted his lips, and a golden pill wrapped in that same Nine Dragon Lightning Flame drifted out before him.
"What is that?!"
"A pill? A pill nurtured inside a Heavenly Flame?"
"What is Xiao Yan playing at, pulling out a finished pill at a time like this?!"
When a Mysterious Pill formed, pill rain fell! Yet back when Xiao Yan refined the Lightning Calamity Pill, not a single drop of pill rain had descended!!
That meant the Lightning Calamity Pill he had refined back then had never truly been finished! It was still an embryonic pill! The only difference was that it had been brought to the very brink of completion, with even the pill-fusion and pill-forming steps essentially done. Calling it a finished pill would not have been wrong either.
The instant Xiao Yan recalled the Nine Dragon Lightning Flame, a savage surge of golden lightning burst from the Lightning Calamity Pill. Thick, densely packed bolts of Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning roared across the sky like countless raging rivers!
"Golden lightning? Is that the Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning?!" Yao Wanhuo's expression shifted drastically. Even with all his knowledge and experience in alchemy, whatever Xiao Yan was attempting lay completely beyond his comprehension. He had no idea what Xiao Yan meant to do next!
"That's a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill... could it be the Lightning Calamity Pill? So this boy really did succeed in refining a Tier 9 Mysterious Pill before!" Old Man Shen Nong's face was a picture of astonishment. Just when he had thought Hun Huzi's alchemy unmatched, here came Xiao Yan with yet another outrageous stunt!
Old Man Shen Nong could not fathom what Xiao Yan had in mind either, though he knew full well that the young man would never act without purpose.
"That isn't an ordinary Mysterious Pill, or rather, it doesn't even seem like one! What on earth is Xiao Yan trying to do with a pill that's already this close to completion?!" Nearby, Yao Dan knitted his brows tightly. Now that he thought about it, the Medicinal Ceremony had never actually forbidden the use of an embryonic pill!
After all, the entire purpose of the Medicinal Ceremony was to determine the strongest alchemist. If Xiao Yan had prepared an embryonic pill beforehand and completed it on the spot, and if the finished pill was something no one else could ever hope to refine, then he would still unquestionably be the greatest alchemist!
The trouble was that this pill had already taken form.
Only Hun Huzi's eyes went wide. His heart hammered against his ribs, and he cried out in shock, "Don't tell me you intend to refine a Tier 9 Golden Pill?!"
Xiao Yan swept his hand through the air and summoned the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame and Mao Wu at the same time. His fingers locked into a seal, and a colossal Refining Sky Ancient Formation spanning a hundred thousand feet materialized in an instant. The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame and Mao Wu took their places at the heart of the array, one above and one below, and the entire formation began to whirl at breakneck speed.
Xiao Yan flicked his wrist and sent his newly refined Mysterious Pill streaking into the Refining Sky Ancient Formation. Then he turned his eyes to the golden pill floating before him. "I told you once that our meeting was fate. Whether you can seize this chance now is entirely up to you."
Roar! Roar! Roar!!
An earth-shattering dragon roar resounded throughout the Yao Realm, and an indescribable might exploded from the golden pill. Endless arcs of lightning converged from all directions, and the blinding golden bolts rapidly wove themselves into a colossal golden true dragon spanning a hundred thousand feet!
"The Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning?!! Isn't that the Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning that only descends when a Golden Pill is refined?!"
"Wait, wasn't that a pill?! How could it turn into this?!"
The entire crowd stared, slack-jawed and astonished. The Lightning Calamity Pill let loose a deafening dragon roar and transformed into a giant golden dragon. It plunged straight into the Refining Sky Ancient Formation, unhinged its cavernous jaws, and lunged for the Mysterious Pill.
The Mysterious Pill sensed the danger and turned into a streak of light, shooting toward the heavens. The golden dragon gave chase without pause, just like a true dragon pursuing a dragon pearl!
A solemn glint flickered through Xiao Yan's eyes. Out of old habit, his thumb brushed the spot on his finger where a ring had once rested.
'Master... bless me.'
Xiao Yan closed his eyes briefly and drew in a long, deep breath. When they snapped open again, his hands blurred through a rapid succession of seals. A staggering wave of energy rippled outward, and the entire Refining Sky Ancient Formation began to tremble!
Whoosh!!
Eerie white flames rose silently before the Bone Chilling Flame erupted in a frenzied tide. Three Heavenly Flames were now blazing at the same time!
"What on earth is this fellow trying to do?!" Yao Wanhuo gaped at the three Heavenly Flames Xiao Yan had unleashed at once. Who in their right mind used three Heavenly Flames to refine a single pill??
Before the onlookers could even process their shock, Xiao Yan willed the three flames forward. Under countless horrified gazes, the blazes slammed straight into one another and swallowed the entire Refining Sky Ancient Formation in a sea of fire.
The clash of three Heavenly Flames gave birth to a wave of nearly apocalyptic destruction. Yet before that force could break loose, a vast spiritual pressure surged from between Xiao Yan's brows and enveloped the flames like an inescapable net. It drove the Refining Sky Ancient Formation into an even faster spin.
"This guy has lost his mind!"
"Is he trying to blow the pill to pieces?!"
Xiao Yan's actions threw the entire plaza into an uproar. Countless spectators stared at him in utter disbelief, convinced he was about to destroy his own pill.
Down below, Yao Wangui abruptly shot to his feet. That method... he had heard of it somewhere before!
Yao Dan's aged eyes widened as he stared at the young man in silver-white alchemist robes. For a fleeting moment he wondered if his sight was playing tricks on him, for another figure seemed to overlap with Xiao Yan's silhouette.
"This is... Yao Chen's..."
Xiao Yan clapped his palms together, and his resonant voice rolled out across the entire Yao Realm.
"Members of the Yao Clan, open your eyes wide and see clearly! This is the alchemy method created by my Master, the very outcast your clan cast aside!"
On the heels of his shout, the dragon of Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning let out a thunderous roar and swallowed Xiao Yan's newly refined Mysterious Pill in a single gulp. Fearsome arcs of Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning immediately went to work refining the pill inside its belly.
A staggering wave of energy burst from the Mysterious Pill in an instant!
"Spirit... Ascension!"
Had any alchemist been close enough to sweep the array with their Spiritual Strength right then, they would have discovered that the Lightning Calamity Pill within the Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning was undergoing an extraordinary transformation!
"Grug!"
Xiao Yan's expression turned grave. He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue and spat a fine mist of blood into the air. The crimson haze drifted outward before sinking straight into the Refining Sky Ancient Formation.
His face paled slightly, and a low shout tore from his throat.
Across the body of the Nine Mysterious Golden Dragon, the crackling arcs of golden lightning began to draw inward. Bolt after bolt solidified into dazzling, lifelike dragon scales!
The golden dragon, which had looked somewhat illusory only moments before, turned completely solid! To the naked eye, it was now impossible to tell truth from illusion!!
It brimmed with spirituality and vital life, no different from a flesh-and-blood dragon.
The moment the Nine Mysterious Golden Dragon took solid form, the two pill-rain thunderclouds high in the distant sky began to churn violently again. Some unseen pull drew them together until both clouds merged into one!
A single colossal thundercloud now blanketed nearly the entire Yao Realm, and within its dark depths flashed streaks of golden light!
That sight hit the plaza like a thunderbolt and plunged the entire crowd into a sea of stunned disbelief.
"The thunderclouds up there are changing!"
"G-Golden... golden lightning!"
"I'm not dreaming, am I? Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning... doesn't that mean..."
"A Tier 9 Golden Pill?!"
"Holy shit!!"
Cries of disbelief rang out across the mountains. Countless eyes locked onto the vast thundercloud above Xiao Yan's head, where more and more golden lightning crackled through the churning mass.
Dumbfounded expressions spread across the crowd as they took in that miraculous sight. Xiao Yan had actually done it. He had refined a Tier 9 Golden Pill!
For a thousand years, not a single soul on the entire Dou Qi Continent had managed to refine a Golden Pill alone!
Yet while laymen merely marveled at the spectacle, true masters saw the deeper truth. Old Man Shen Nong, Yao Dan, and Hun Huzi stared with faces full of disbelief and even outright terror. Despite all the centuries the three peak alchemists had lived, they could scarcely believe their own eyes.
What rattled them was not the mere fact that Xiao Yan had refined a Tier 9 Golden Pill. The previous Clan Head of the Yao Clan had accomplished that feat before, and Hun Huzi too had succeeded once after numerous failures by borrowing the power of the Nihility Devouring Flame.
However!
This was no ordinary Tier 9 Golden Pill at all!
"It has spirituality... no, this is a living pill with complete self-awareness..."
Even a tier 9 pill was still just a medicinal pill at heart, fundamentally different from beings like the Pill Tower Ancestor or Tuan Tuan. Tuan Tuan possessed real combat strength and self-awareness, making it a living creature on par with a Dou Saint. That was even truer of the Pill Tower Ancestor. Refining a Mysterious Pill did not automatically produce an existence like the Pill Tower Ancestor, and the pills Xiao Yan and Hun Huzi had finished only moments ago were proof enough of that.
"The legendary bestowal of life! He actually reached that mythical realm!" Hun Huzi felt as though he were losing his mind. A Tier 9 Golden Pill possessing both true life and complete self-awareness...
It was utterly unheard of!
More than that, Xiao Yan had imbued it with complete life at the very moment of its creation, which placed it far beyond any ordinary Tier 9 Golden Pill!
Gazing up at the golden thunderclouds overhead, Xiao Yan wore a satisfied smile. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and chuckled softly. "Even in heaven, Master should be able to hear the roar of this Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning."
When the Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning appeared, a Tier 9 Golden Pill was born!
From this moment on, beyond any doubt or dispute, the number one alchemist on the Dou Qi Continent was Xiao Yan!