Chapter 150: Joint Refining
There were countless arrays on Mount Inch, lower-level and simplified version of advanced-level arrays Yunxiao had carved with his divine sense. In the Divine Realm Tablet, he was almost omnipotent.
A purple cauldron flew out of his hand and spun across the air before floating over the formation, where it began to gradually grow larger. Under his control, it soon fell into the formation.
As soon as it landed, the Cauldron of Five Elements glowed with a purple light, giving people a calm, guileless, vast, and ethereal feeling.
“A fifth-tier purple cauldron!” Xu Han exclaimed as he felt the energy waves ripple out of the vessel. Both he and Zhang Qingfan looked incredulous.
They could not understand how Yunxiao managed to refine a fifth-tier purple cauldron, since he was just a third-tier alchemist. A cauldron was unlike an ordinary mystic weapon; it was already rare for someone to refine a mystic weapon higher tier than his level, and to refine a higher-tier cauldron was almost impossible, let alone refining a purple cauldron that was the best among all cauldrons of the same tier. But, they were getting used to Yunxiao’s stunts, so they calmed down after a moment of shock.
“I’ll now teach you the joint refining method for the Nine Orifices pill, so please listen carefully, Masters. Joint refining is very different from refining alone. If we work well together, its power will be far greater than our combined strength. However, a tiny mistake during the process will yield us a result worse than refining alone.”
After that, Yunxiao began to explain the refining method in detail while both alchemists listened attentively. When he finished, he let them ask him questions, and answered them with patience. Several hours later, both men finally figured out all the steps and techniques, and they looked eager to try. It would bring them great benefits if they could refine the strongest fourth-tier medicinal pill after all.
“Not bad! Although you have learned it slower than I expected, at least you have understood everything. Let’s delay no further and start now.” He gave the purple cauldron a slap, causing the top of the vessel to spin and reveal its internal structure.
Zhang Qingfan and Xu Han smiled wryly in their hearts. They were a little complacent, because they thought they had learned it so quickly and they were more gifted than they had expected, but Yunxiao still dealt them a blow in the end. Nevertheless, they put on a serious look and watched nervously as he controlled the cauldron.
An incantation seal was sent into the cauldron, and a low rumbling noise gradually rang out of it. As a fifth-tier artifact, the Cauldron of Five Elements had begun to take on a certain spirituality. When Yunxiao was robbing it outside the city, it was by spraying a mouthful of blood on it and then using a unique refining method that he was able to subdue the vessel. But, part of the reason was also because of his soul power, which the cauldron felt very familiar with.
Suddenly, the cauldron burst into a blinding purple light, which spread out and blanketed the whole mountain and turned all the clouds in the sky purple, then began to spin rapidly over the array with a rumbling noise constantly ringing out of it.
At that moment, the alchemists and apprentices refining various mystic weapons and medicinal pills on Mount Inch stopped their work and looked up at the sky in shock, staring at the three figures in the distance.
It had been a long time since Yunxiao had refined something so formally, and it was very laborious for him to control a fifth-tier purple cauldron with his current strength. But luckily, he had the experience of refining Zhou Chuan into a pill not too long ago, so he was able to cope with it. “Help me control the cauldron, Masters! I will add the materials now!”
Zhang Qingfan and Xu Han quickly sent out a few incantation seals, taking over the task of controlling the cauldron from Yunxiao.
With both hands freed, Yunxiao took out over a hundred materials and sprinkled them across the air, then began to extract them with his soul power. Meanwhile, as Zhang Qingfan changed his incantation gestures, five different colored light beams shot out of the cauldron and enveloped all the herbs.
The people down below were dumbfounded, as they had never seen such a way to extract medicinal materials. It had completely overturned their common sense.
It was with the help of Zhang and Xu that Yunxiao dared to perform a series of difficult and complex moves. If he were to do it alone, he would be extremely lucky to have just refined a pill. He moved faster and faster, dazzling the eyes of those who watched from the distance, and it soon looked as if countless figures were wheeling around the purple cauldron restlessly.
Yunxiao had invented this refining method in his previous life, which he named ‘Illusive Waves Technique’. He could hardly use it with his third-tier soul power, but he was helped by his Glazed Body; hence, many difficult movements were actually forcibly completed with physical force. The Cauldron of Five Elements was also refined by him with this technique in his previous life.
As he used the technique, an indescribable feeling surged in his heart. He felt as if he had returned to his previous life, when he was a ninth-tier Alchemy Sovereign and demonstrating this technique in front of all the alchemists who came to the Sea of Soul Formation. A sensational feeling overwhelmed him; he moved even faster and more easily, and a long-lost feeling was returning to his body bit by bit.
“I’m going to activate the array, Masters! Remember to change the incantation gestures accordingly!” Yunxiao cried out suddenly, waking both Zhang and Xu, who were stunned by what they saw. They broke out in cold sweats in an instant. ‘How can I lose focus during such an important refining process! This is very dangerous! But his movements just now…’
‘How I wish I could watch them again!’
Both men had the same thought. They were deeply struck by the smooth movements that fit the laws of the heaven and earth. It was as if they had just witnessed the ultimate technique of alchemy.
“Pay close attention!”
Yunxiao cried out again as he sent various strange incantation seals into the array. Suddenly, a gust of astral wind rose from the array, accompanied by faint crackles of thunder while streams of hot air rushed up and engulfed the purple cauldron.
Zhang Qingfan and Xu Han quickly changed their incantation gestures, sending different seals into the cauldron to control it over the astral wind. Waves of unbearable hot air kept spewing out of the array, twisting and distorting their figures and the whole mountain.
Silence fell over Mount Inch. This kind of refining method was not only unseen, but also unheard of by everyone. Liang Wenyu felt that something very important was looming in his mind, but he could not grasp it. He was so anxious and agitated that he kept scratching the back of his head.
Many alchemists had the same feeling; the thing that they had been searching hard for through meditation seemed to be ahead of them, but they just could not grasp it.
Now, Yunxiao, Zhang Qingfan, and Xu Han were in three different spots, sitting cross-legged while constantly controlling the purple cauldron. They had sent over a thousand seals into it. At this point, even the two masters, who were both fourth-tier alchemists, started to feel tired. ‘Are we really refining a fourth-tier medicinal pill? Why do I feel it is even more difficult than a fifth-tier pill?’
Fortunately, the ancient array beneath the mountain was constantly replenishing their soul power. As time went by, Zhang and Xu grew more and more surprised, because under such a strong replenishment, they could last at least three to four times longer than normal.
In the distance, Liang Wenyu’s eyes were clouded by a puzzled look. All of a sudden, his mind was clear, and the sky seemed to have turned bright at this moment. The confused look in his eyes was gone in an instant as he sat down cross-legged to comprehend in silence.
“Master Liang broke through!” An alchemist beside him shouted in horror. Beams of light broke out of Liang Wenyu’s body, and the waves of soul power that rippled out of him were that of a third-tier alchemist. Meanwhile, the concept and enlightenment of breaking through spread out of him like some kind of power, causing the surrounding alchemists to break through as well.
As time went by, the alchemists began to break through in batches while many advanced apprentices became first-tier alchemists. Those who did not break through also comprehended something and had their cultivation base improved significantly.
At the moment, the three men who had worked for several hours on the mountaintop were already soaked through with sweat, and their soul powers had bottomed out; they were almost at the end of their tethers. It had taken all the strength of two fourth-tier alchemists and Yunxiao, whose soul power was not weaker than theirs, as well as a heaven-defying ancient array, to refine this medicinal pill. Was it really just a fourth-tier medicinal pill? Both Zhang and Xu were full of doubts, but they could only smile wryly. Even pill refinement had become so abnormal when Yunxiao was involved.
“Back off now, Masters! I’m going to condense the pills with a divine flame! Its power is too strong, and I’m afraid it might burn you. There may even be a thunder tribulation later!” Yunxiao shouted with a pale face as his eyes flickered brightly. Startled, Zhang and Xu quickly moved back from the cauldron. They trusted him from the bottom of their hearts. Since he asked them to back off, the flame must be too powerful for them to resist.
As they stopped performing incantation gestures, a rumbling noise began to echo out of the cauldron, and the vessel rocked violently, as if something was about to explode out of it. Yunxiao’s eyes flashed coldly. Meanwhile, a tiny flaming cloud appeared between his eyebrows.
Suddenly, a shadow of the Phoenix Divine Flame emerged over the cauldron, which instantly pressed down the violent aura. Then, a five-colored light of five elements bloomed from the cauldron, towering into the sky and blanketing the whole Mount Inch.
The alchemists in the distance looked at the strange sight in shock.
Yunxiao looked up nervously at the sky while frowning. He was at the last step of pill refinement, but the sky was still clear, with no signs of a thunder tribulation.
Supposedly, a fourth-tier medicinal pill would not attract a thunder tribulation, but because he had used the phoenix flame, he had attracted two thunder tribulations in his last two pill refinements. Was it because they were inside the Divine Realm Tablet, so there was no thunder tribulation?
He frowned in puzzlement.