With the final fire-control hand seal complete, six dark red, broad-bean-sized Rejuvenation Blood Pills emerged from the Pill Furnace. But Lin Hao felt no excitement, staring anxiously at Cang Yan instead.
'An hour has already passed, and Cang Yan's Divine Soul still hasn't returned.' Lin Hao was burning with anxiety.
Thankfully, just as his anxiety reached a fever pitch, the blood lion let out a low roar as the Divine Soul returned to its body.
"Senior, how did it go?" The moment Cang Yan opened his eyes, Lin Hao rushed over impatiently.
Cang Yan shook his head. "I've searched every place I could probe within the Celestial Break Mountain Range. There wasn't a trace of anyone."
"How can that be?" Lin Hao asked, utterly dejected.
"A supreme expert appeared in the mountains yesterday. Thinking about it now, it might be the 'female ghost' you mentioned. I'll go investigate tonight," Cang Yan said consolingly, suddenly recalling the strange phenomenon he'd witnessed the night before.
Lin Hao was overjoyed and thanked him profusely.
'To surpass the Spirit Transformation Realm... She must be the undisputed number one expert on the continent. Why would she stay in the Celestial Break Mountain Range instead of advancing to *that place*?' Cang Yan muttered to himself, unable to figure it out.
Lin Hao was too worried about Yan'Er to hear Cang Yan's muttering. Cang Yan, on the other hand, suddenly leaped to his feet and scurried over to the Pill Furnace.
"Kid, where are the pills?" The Pill Furnace was completely empty, and Cang Yan looked agitated.
Lin Hao held out his hand. Before he could pull it back, Cang Yan snatched the pills away.
"Rejuvenation Blood Pills! They're really Rejuvenation Blood Pills!" Staring at the six dark red pills in his hand, Cang Yan was so excited he could barely contain himself.
But that wasn't all. Upon closer inspection, Cang Yan cried out in shock again. "Pure color... Tier One, Top Grade... All six of them! Six Top Grade Pills! How is this possible?!"
Normally, although an entire batch of pills is refined at once, their quality tends to vary, as it is intrinsically linked to the fire-control hand seals.
On the continent, even a Pill King refining First Grade Pills couldn't guarantee that every single one would be a Top Grade Pill. It was like scooping rice into a bowl—could you ever guarantee that two scoops would be exactly the same?
Yet now, all six pills Lin Hao had refined were Top Grade. Never mind an amateur like Cang Yan—even a Pill King would be astonished.
In Lin Hao's eyes, however, this was perfectly normal. He gave a mischievous smile and teased, "I think you're mistaken. These are peerless."
Pills were divided into Tiers One through Nine, with each tier further divided into top, middle, and low grades.
However, because the hand seals for the Rejuvenation Blood Pill had been lost to time, any successful refinement, regardless of grade, was considered peerless.
Cang Yan remembered this too. The muscles in his face twitched as he struggled to suppress his excitement. Then, his eyes darted around as he brought up the old subject once more.
"Kid, your alchemy talent is exceptional, but in this world, just being good at Alchemy isn't enough. I won't even hold your lack of Martial Dao talent against you. I'll take you as my Closed-door Disciple!"
This time, Cang Yan was confident Lin Hao wouldn't refuse.
Why else had he agreed to help so readily? It was all to show off his martial prowess in front of Lin Hao.
'After a kid at the Blood Coagulation Realm Second Layer witnesses the power of a Spirit Transformation Realm expert, he'd have to be a fool or an idiot to refuse.'
Lin Hao was neither a fool nor an idiot, but he still intended to refuse.
'This old man just wants to keep me here.' Lin Hao knew it perfectly well.
He had too much to do. How could he possibly stay?
That was why he had refused Cang Yan before. But now that the old man had brought it up again, rejecting him outright would seem too callous.
"Senior, it's not that I won't agree. It's just... I have to find my little sister, and in half a month, the Lin family expects me to take the Heaven-Stepping Sect's entrance assessment. So..."
The words were a bit of a white lie, and Lin Hao felt a pang of guilt after saying them.
He expected the old man to get angry, but instead, Cang Yan's small eyes narrowed. His gaze darted about, and he dropped the subject of discipleship.
Instead, he asked, "You said you're going to the Heaven-Stepping Sect?"
"Yes! In half a month, I have to pass the Heaven-Stepping Sect's entrance assessment!" Lin Hao nodded, his expression resolute.
"Difficult! Very difficult! The Heaven-Stepping Sect's entrance assessment has three tests. Setting aside the others, you don't even meet the minimum requirement of the Third Layer of Blood Coagulation Realm." Cang Yan shook his head, his small eyes narrowing to slits. He wore a strange smile, and no one could guess what he was thinking.
"There's plenty of time. Reaching the Third Layer of Blood Coagulation Realm shouldn't be a problem."
Before his bloodline was stolen, Lin Hao had already reached the Third Layer. Cultivating back to it would be a familiar path.
Besides, with the wildly domineering Godslaying Celestial Slash Skill, Lin Hao was absolutely confident he could advance from the Second Layer to the Third Layer in three days, tops.
The moment the words left his mouth, Cang Yan staggered and nearly fell into the Pill Furnace.
'I thought I was arrogant, but this kid is even crazier.' Even though he was at the Blood Coagulation Realm Second Layer, breaking through to the Third Layer in half a month was unheard of.
He remembered how his master had praised him as a once-in-a-millennium martial arts prodigy, yet it had taken him a full month to get from the Second to the Third Layer of the Blood Coagulation Realm. Now this little brat was claiming he could do it in half a month. 'Did he fry his brain just now during Alchemy?!' Cang Yan wondered.
If he knew Lin Hao was actually planning to do it in *three days*, he might have died of shock on the spot.
Though Cang Yan didn't believe him, he didn't want to crush the boy's spirit. Seeing the red sun slowly sinking in the west, his eyes suddenly lit up. "Kid, this old man will go have another look for you."
Before Lin Hao could react, Cang Yan had already vanished.
'That old man is surprisingly warm-hearted.' Lin Hao realized Cang Yan had gone to look for Yan'Er, and a warm feeling spread through his chest.
However, the "warm-hearted old man" Lin Hao was thinking of actually flew *out* of the Celestial Break Mountain Range after leaving the small wooden hut. His voice trailed behind him, "Haha! With these Rejuvenation Blood Pills, this old man can finally bathe in Dream Red Dust!"
The Cangnan Kingdom occupied the southern corner of the Li Long Dynasty, containing six provinces, thirty-six commanderies, over two hundred prefectures, and more than a thousand cities.
The vast and boundless Celestial Break Mountain Range stretched across the Southern Border Prefecture. Under the prefecture's jurisdiction, two cities were the most famous: one was War Dragon City, the other, Red Beauty City.
Legend told of a supreme Martial Dao expert who battled a dragon in War Dragon City in ancient times. Red Beauty City, meanwhile, was world-famous for its exquisite Red Beauty Wine.
The Dream Red Dust that Cang Yan spoke of was the absolute finest vintage of Red Beauty Wine.
The saying, "Dream Red Dust in Red Beauty City / Can shatter your soul and cleave your cultivation," was known far and wide.
Though Cang Yan's Martial Dao Cultivation was astonishing, he came from humble origins and was perpetually broke. He'd never even had his fill of regular Red Beauty Wine, let alone a supreme vintage like Dream Red Dust.
He was a man who loved his drink. Now that he had priceless Rejuvenation Blood Pills that couldn't be bought on the open market, it would be a miracle if he *didn't* go drinking.
Lin Hao, however, was completely oblivious. Snapping out of his reverie, he saw the many medicinal herbs still beside the Pill Furnace. His eyes lit up, and he began another round of Alchemy.
An hour later, ten jet-black pills emerged from the furnace. Lin Hao held them, his expression turning cold. He let out a cold snort. "Yi Mingcheng, just you wait! When I return to the Lin family, I will first claim a measure of justice for Yan'Er!"
After carefully stashing the pills, Lin Hao looked at the remaining herbs and began refining another batch.
By the time this batch was complete, the sun had fully set and the moon was rising in the east.
Lin Hao cleared his mind of distracting thoughts and meditated for half an hour. A bright light flashed in his eyes before disappearing.
He was in peak condition. It was time to cultivate.
He once again began to reverse-circulate the Godslaying Celestial Slash Skill, and the familiar pain washed over him.
However, having already been through it twice, Lin Hao found it far more manageable.
Just as Lin Hao entered a critical stage of his cultivation, a shooting star streaked across the distant night sky, falling into the Celestial Break Mountain Range and colliding with a large tree with a loud THUD.
"Damn it, get out of my way!" a staggering, drunken old man slurred, kicking the tree hard.
With his tattered Daoist robe and bright red nose, who else could it be but Cang Yan?
"Which way was I supposed to go... this... this..." Before he could finish, Cang Yan froze. His eyes shot wide, and his face paled.
The essence of the moon was being drawn from the sky again, just like last night.
"Crap!" Seeing where the moonlight was converging, a jolt went through Cang Yan. His drunkenness vanished in an instant, replaced by pure vexation and regret.
He had witnessed that being's terrifying power last night. 'It's near my hut now... how can that kid possibly survive?!'
Mad with regret, Cang Yan pushed his speed to its absolute limit, arriving at the wooden hut in the blink of an eye.
Then, he witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Under the moonlight, Lin Hao stood on his hands, perfectly still, as unmoving as a mountain.
With his powerful vision, Cang Yan could clearly see wisps of energy flowing from the soles of his feet into Lin Hao's body.
Cang Yan sucked in a sharp breath. His eyes went so wide they looked like they might burst from their sockets, as if he were staring at a god or a demon.
'Drawing the essence of the moon into his body... at the Second Layer of the Blood Coagulation Realm!'
'Not even those supreme Martial Dao masters who reached the very peak could have done something like this in their youth, could they?!'
'So last night... it was this kid who was using the moonlight for Body Refinement!'
Recalling how he had been injured the previous night, Cang Yan was overcome with a complicated mix of emotions.
Cang Yan remained frozen in shock for a full half hour before he finally snapped out of it.
"What a monstrous Cultivation Technique... What formidable willpower!" Cang Yan's own incredible cultivation finally allowed him to see the essence of what was happening. He muttered in awe, his old face flushing red as a wave of relief washed over him.
'No wonder the kid would rather die than become my disciple. Compared to the skill he's practicing, my own Blood Coagulation Realm cultivation technique is dirt. His is from the heavens.'
'This skill... I'm afraid only the legendary Elemental Realm Cultivation Technique from the sect could possibly compare!'
At the thought of the Elemental Realm technique, Cang Yan trembled. That was a skill said to have been practiced by the Great Emperors of antiquity!
'Just what are this kid's origins? He's so young, yet his attainments in the Alchemy Dao are already heaven-defying. On top of that, he possesses an Emperor Level Skill?!'
"Alas, what a pity. You only have a mortal constitution," Cang Yan lamented, his expression turning somber.
'No, that's wrong! If I could cultivate to the Spirit Transformation Realm with my Spirit Body, how can I presume to declare that a mortal body cannot break its shackles? The human body itself is the most mysterious and unfathomable thing in this world...' Suddenly, Cang Yan jolted, his eyes shining brightly as if he'd had an epiphany.
A gentle breeze stirred. Cang Yan vanished, reappearing the next instant atop a mountain peak.
He sat cross-legged and gazed at the gathered moonlight. Then, he closed his eyes and began to re-evaluate his own Martial Dao.