Crack—!
The alchemy cauldron shattered with a crisp snap.
That made eight…
Yang Fan suddenly realized buying twenty cauldrons might not have been excessive after all.
Though he'd blown up eight in a single afternoon, it wasn't without progress.
From his initial clumsy attempts—igniting flame, tossing in herbs—to now mastering quenching and purification, he was only one step away from pill formation.
From dusk to midnight, from midnight to dawn…
A faint herbal fragrance stirred Yao Lao from rest. He drifted softly from behind Yang Fan.
"You succeeded?"
But the moment Yao Lao saw the pill, his composure vanished.
"Meridian Protecting Pill?!"
This was a Tier-2 pill!
Alchemist rankings were simple: your grade matched the highest-tier pill you could reliably produce.
Before Yao Lao could process this, a pile of scorched debris nearby caught his eye.
"What's this mess?"
Yang Fan yawned, nonchalant. "Couldn't make a Tier-1, so I just whipped up a Tier-2 instead."
He didn't even know how it happened!
Last night, after failing repeatedly to refine a Tier-1 pill and nearly exhausting his herbs, he'd impulsively recalled Yao Lao's demonstration of the Meridian Protecting Pill.
Its formula required:
- One 10-year Sandwood Root
- Two 10-year Imperial Blood Grasses
- One 1000-year Flame Tiger Whip
He had no tiger whip—so he substituted a similar-attribute herb from his soul tool.
And somehow… it worked.
Yao Lao examined Yang Fan's pill, utterly baffled.
Above Tier-1… yet not quite true Tier-2.
Though vastly inferior in quality and luster to a proper Meridian Protecting Pill…it had formed.
This proved Yang Fan was now a genuine alchemist.
As for his exact grade…
Yao Lao suddenly understood why Yang Fan could produce a Tier-2 pill but failed at the simpler Blood-Clotting Powder.
He'd personally demonstrated the Meridian Protecting Pill before—but never the Blood-Clotting Powder.
This kid keeps surprising me with his unorthodox breakthroughs!
"Show me you can refine Blood-Clotting Powder."
Yang Fan pulled out his last set of herbs from his soul tool.
Ignite flame → Preheat cauldron → Add ingredients → Quench…
His movements flowed seamlessly—no signs of imminent explosion. But when he reached the purification stage, Yao Lao intervened.
"Increase the flame!"
"Wrap the cauldron in Dou Qi! Use your soul perception to inspect the pill inside!"
"Purification is the most critical step—it determines a pill's quality. You need sufficient flame intensity to complete it properly."
Under Yao Lao's guidance, the herbs coalesced into a pill.
It was earth-brown, smaller than a marble, utterly devoid of luster.
"Now you've got it," Yao Lao nodded.
Yang Fan understood alchemy on a deeper level now.
"Keep practicing."
Blood-Clotting Powder was still a Tier-1 pill—far superior to most wound-healing remedies on the market. Mastering it would bring substantial income… and bring them closer to acquiring Blazing Dragon Gallbladder Grass.
Yang Fan carefully stored his first-ever pill. It held immense sentimental value.
Saving this for Grandfather!
Though meant for healing, its ingredients were beneficial for soul masters—safe to consume as a tonic. His grandfather would be thrilled.
After tidying up, Yang Fan headed out to buy more herbs.
…
Within days, he could refine Blood-Clotting Powder effortlessly.
Though Tian Dou City was an imperial capital teeming with nobles, not everyone lived above worldly concerns.
Leveraging the Great Spirit Arena's fighters' desperate need for healing salves, Yang Fan quickly carved out a market.
"Try this," Yao Lao suddenly appeared, holding a crimson pill.
"Master, you finished it?"
Yang Fan hadn't duelled since suspicions arose about his identity—but that was because he'd been immersed in alchemy!
"Test it."
This pill had one purpose: alter Yang Fan's soul ring color.
Why did soul rings have colors? Yang Fan didn't know—but all soul masters knew the spectrum: white → yellow → purple → black → red… each signifying greater energy density.
Like soul bones, soul rings were energy vessels. Their colors likely resulted from spectral reactions during energy compression.
So perhaps… soul rings had no inherent color at all.
(Of course, this was just Yang Fan's theory.)
Yao Lao, approaching from a cultivator's perspective, reached a similar conclusion. He'd crafted a pill to temporarily extract a soul ring's energy—thus changing its appearance.
"Even if it doesn't work," Yao Lao chuckled, "it won't poison you."
Seeing Yang Fan's cautious expression, he nearly laughed out loud.
"Thank you, Master!"
Yang Fan swallowed the pill, awaiting miracles.
At first, only a cool sensation. But within two minutes, a "black hole" seemed to open in his body—soul power rushing inward uncontrollably.
When he summoned his martial soul, his soul ring flickered… then turned an eerie yellow.
"It worked!" Yao Lao stroked his white beard, grinning. "This pill will temporarily shift your ring to yellow."
Now Yang Fan could return to the arena—silencing doubters and proving his strength beyond question.
"Any side effects?" Yang Fan asked nervously.
Whap! The Dou Qi whip struck instantly.
"If there were side effects," Yao Lao scolded fondly, "would I let you eat it?"
From that day, Yang Fan returned to the dueling platform.
Under his black cloak, he could shrink his true martial soul—the Soul Breaking Spear—to palm-size, wielding the Heavy Xuan Ruler in combat.
Flame Splitting Tsunami became his signature "first soul skill"!
The entire arena knew of a mysterious one-ring "old man" who constantly defied ranks—and always won through sheer combat mastery.
By day, Yang Fan refined and sold pills.
By night, he dueled in one-on-one matches.
And afterward? He trained relentlessly.
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