Chapter 56: Opening the Furnace

The Xiao family's martial arts arena was currently buzzing with noise.

In order to welcome the alchemists who were about to arrive, Xiao Zhan had led the various elders and the elite disciples of the Xiao family here early this morning to make preparations.

At this moment, on the seats surrounding the martial arts arena, Xiao Zhan and the various elders were already seated, and the arriving alchemists had also taken their places in the adjacent seats.

It is worth mentioning that although that middle-aged alchemist surnamed Wang had been kicked out by Xiao Yan, the sudden arrival of Bai Ye, a third-rank alchemist, had perfectly filled the extra spot.

However, what no one noticed was that Jia Tianyu, who was sitting in the seats along with everyone else, was currently looking at the third-rank alchemist Bai Ye, who was sitting below him, with an inexplicable gaze.

As for Bai Ye, after scanning the Xiao family scene around him, he revealed a look of disappointment, but he quickly shook off this expression and focused his full attention on the slender figure standing in the very center of the martial arts arena.

"Strange, Young Clan Leader Xiao Yan asked us to come to the Xiao family to take a look; I thought it was to see the residences, the resources provided, the medicine cauldrons, and so on, but now he has dragged us to this place to look at him? What is this for?" someone asked curiously.

"Yeah? It couldn't be to let us admire his strength that can defeat a Dou Ling, could it? Threatening us that if we don't agree, we die?" someone said nervously.

"That can't be right, Young Clan Leader Xiao doesn't seem like that kind of person," someone questioned.

"Why not? I think that's exactly it! Otherwise, what would he use to keep us here? It couldn't be to let us admire him refining pills," someone said, thinking they had seen through the truth.

Just as this person finished speaking, Xiao Yan, standing in the center of the martial arts arena, suddenly tapped his storage ring, and a large cauldron, mysterious black in color with dark red flame patterns on it, appeared out of thin air and landed steadily in the center of the martial arts arena.

"Hiss~" A series of sounds of people gasping in cold air rang out.

Although the vast majority of people, including Xiao Zhan and Jia Tianyu, only felt that this cauldron looked quite good, the alchemists present were all people who knew their stuff and immediately discovered that this cauldron was absolutely worlds apart from the ones they used themselves.

"Hiss~ This cauldron, could it be that Young Clan Leader Xiao Yan brought us here just to see this cauldron? Does it mean that as long as we come to the Xiao family, we can use this cauldron to refine pills?"

Once this guess was made, many alchemists were moved on the spot. It must be known that an excellent medicine cauldron can not only improve the quality and success rate of pill refining, but can also provide assistance when breaking through. For example, in a situation where there was originally only a fifty percent chance of breaking through to the next alchemy realm, having a good cauldron might increase the success rate by ten percent out of thin air!

Facing this Black Demon Cauldron, even the most indifferent Bai Ye was a little distracted, muttering to himself: "This cauldron is actually even better than the one my teacher uses."

Bai Ye's voice was very soft, but it was caught clearly by Jia Tianyu above.

Jia Tianyu could not help but shrink his pupils; he knew exactly what kind of person Bai Ye's master was.

And just as the alchemists were whispering and even indulging in fantasies, Xiao Yan ignored their thoughts and took dozens of rare pill-refining materials directly from his storage ring, including a fire-red fourth-tier monster core—this was the monster core of the Twin-Headed Fire Spirit Snake that Xiao Yan had hunted previously!

"This, this is... pill-refining materials? And they should be materials for a fourth-rank pill! What is Young Clan Leader Xiao trying to do?"

At this step, some people had gradually realized Xiao Yan's purpose, but they felt it was unbelievable; after all—this was a fourth-rank!

In the disbelieving gazes of the many alchemists, Xiao Yan chuckled, flipped his palm, and a cyan-red flame appeared in his hand. With a flick of his finger, the original flame rapidly surged, turning into a flame the size of a person, which he injected into the medicine cauldron, quickly raising the furnace temperature to the appropriate level.

"He, he really is going to refine a pill, and it's a fourth-rank one! My god, is he crazy or am I crazy, or is this world crazy?"

At this moment, not only the alchemists present, but even the Xiao family members who already knew that Xiao Yan could refine pills could not help but be surprised. After all, they only knew that Xiao Yan could refine pills; they did not know that the pills Xiao Yan could refine were fourth-rank.

"This, can he really succeed?" Although he had long deeply experienced Xiao Yan's monstrous talent, Jia Tianyu still found it somewhat unacceptable that Xiao Yan could reach this level even in pill refining.

"Perhaps, it is not impossible." Bai Ye's words once again reached Jia Tianyu's ears, and Jia Tianyu looked over in shock. However, Bai Ye did not pay attention to him, completely immersed in Xiao Yan's pill-refining movements.

Unlike Jia Tianyu, and unlike all the alchemists present, Bai Ye was the one who could best understand just how monstrous Xiao Yan was. To say nothing else, Xiao Yan was using a Heavenly Flame, which the vast majority of alchemists dreamed of.

Only Bai Ye discovered this, because the other first or second-rank alchemists either could not even condense real fire, or could only use Dou Qi to condense real fire, without any beast fire. But Bai Ye had beast fire.

At this moment, the water-blue beast fire inside Bai Ye's body was trembling under the aura of Xiao Yan's flame!

And besides the flame, in Bai Ye's eyes, Xiao Yan's demeanor while refining pills and his control over timing and heat had also reached the pinnacle.

Because it was a fourth-rank pill approaching the limit of his ability, Xiao Yan did not, as he usually did, roll all the medicinal materials in with a wave of flame to refine them simultaneously. Instead, he carefully watched the changes in the flame inside the cauldron, occasionally tossing in the medicinal materials one or two stalks at a time.

The crackling sound of medicinal materials being burned could be heard from the cauldron from time to time, and Xiao Yan carefully controlled the Glazed Lotus Heart Flame, slowly refining the essence he needed.

On the huge Xiao family martial arts arena, the shock and commotion from when they first learned that Xiao Yan was going to refine a pill had gradually subsided, and everyone was nervously staring at the medicine cauldron in the center of the arena.

The cyan-red flame kept dancing in the medicine cauldron. Half an hour passed quickly, and wisps of medicinal fragrance began to drift out from the medicine cauldron. This was the fragrance of the herbal essence that had been refined, but soon Xiao Yan swept the flame, completely sealing the medicine cauldron, keeping all the medicinal properties inside without a single leak.

Xiao Yan let out a deep breath, carefully confirmed that the medicinal liquid in the medicine cauldron had all been refined to a perfect state, and only after confirming there were no problems did he carefully toss in the final fourth-tier monster core.

After all, Xiao Yan could still produce the other medicinal materials, but there was only this one fourth-tier monster core. If he failed, there would be no chance to try again, and Xiao Yan would lose face completely.

However, what Xiao Yan did not know was that in the eyes of the alchemists watching from the surroundings, Xiao Yan was already an unquestionable master alchemist, because the flame-control technique of completely sealing the medicine cauldron without affecting the medicinal liquid inside was not something they could compare to.

Without a doubt, an unprecedented alchemy genius was slowly, and unquestionably, appearing before everyone's eyes!