Chapter 151: Inner Disciple Trial Begins

Although Yu Zhangsheng's three spirit beasts all had decent potential, having three spirit beasts also meant that if Yu Zhangsheng broke through to Foundation Establishment, he would be unable to drive all three spirit beasts to advance simultaneously.

This counts as one of the drawbacks of having too many spirit beasts, of course the benefits are also obvious — during daily cultivation, the three spirit beasts would also drive his cultivation, but when it came to major realm advancement, he would be powerless to do so.

And now the appearance of the Beast Nurturing Pill gave Yu Zhangsheng an idea, and could be considered to have solved his most pressing problem.

So in the following days, besides daily cultivation and feeding, Yu Zhangsheng spent his time learning to refine Beast Nurturing Pills.

Refining ordinary Yun Beast Small Pills was not difficult in itself, and Yu Zhangsheng could refine them, but in order to gain familiarity with the use of Void Fire, at the final step of pill formation, Yu Zhangsheng would always subject them to Void Fire tempering.

This was also the most difficult step; at the beginning, the soon-to-be-formed pills would often turn to flying ash the moment they touched Void Fire, leaving not a trace behind.

Later, under the control of Yu Zhangsheng's Divine Sense power, burning them bit by bit, they no longer turned to flying ash, but not to mention advancing a step further to temper out toxins and improve pill quality, the medicinal properties changing and pill quality lowering was a common occurrence.

A week's time passed in a flash like this, and Yu Zhangsheng continued his alchemy journey here in the Spirit Chicken Garden.

Although the Beast Nurturing Pills he refined often had their medicinal effects altered and became failed products, they were still fine for feeding spirit chickens; if there was a problem... after feeding them there was no problem.

…………

"Condense!"

A heat wave rushed his face, flames surged; within the hand seals Yu Zhangsheng's heart was perfectly calm, a cluster of Void Fire slowly floated in midair, and under the control of Yu Zhangsheng's Divine Sense, the Beast Nurturing Pill inside the alchemy furnace slowly drifted toward the Void Fire.

The instant they made contact, the surface of the green pill rapidly turned pitch black; fortunately it was only a thin layer, and under the control of Yu Zhangsheng's Divine Sense it was not turned to flying ash.

Immediately after, the Void Fire condensed into a thin layer, gently covering the Beast Nurturing Pill; visibly to the naked eye the Beast Nurturing Pill instantly shrank by a circle, and its green color once again showed a scorched hue.

Seeing this, Yu Zhangsheng helplessly sighed, withdrew the Void Fire, and a slightly smaller green-black Beast Nurturing Pill appeared before his eyes; with a wave of his big hand, he carefully sensed it for a moment, then Yu Zhangsheng frowned.

"Is it still because of the fire intensity? The power of Void Fire, I still cannot control it with complete precision to permeate bit by bit, causing the medicinal efficacy to change and the pill quality to lower, and even the needed parts were scorched."

Yu Zhangsheng had a bit of a headache; this was the first time he felt something was truly tricky.

He wanted to add more points, but looking at the massive amount of Essence required for a single batch of alchemy, he silently dismissed the thought.

"But there has been progress; if I continue it will only get better and better, and my use of Void Fire is also becoming increasingly handy."

Exhaling a mouthful of turbid Qi, Yu Zhangsheng was not discouraged.

"Medicine is three parts poison, and the role of Void Fire is to perform the final step of tempering to remove poison before the pill leaves the furnace, reducing the pill's toxicity, therefore the pill quality improves."

"But how could that possibly be easy? Throwing the pill into the flame, this difficulty — even with my Divine Sense — I find hard to control; having progress is already not bad."

In the span of a few thoughts, Yu Zhangsheng lowered his head to look at the scorched Beast Nurturing Pill in his hand, did not mind it, and casually tossed it into the spirit chicken flock.

The pill hit the ground, and after a bout of chickens flying and dogs jumping, one Spirit Chicken King pressed down on the crowd of chickens, pecked up the Beast Nurturing Pill, and ate it with satisfaction.

【You successfully fed a Spirit Chicken King, consumed a defective Yun Beast Small Pill, gained 300 Essence】

These defective Beast Nurturing Pills had no effect whatsoever on Yu Zhangsheng's spirit pets, but for these low-rank spirit chickens they still had use. And normally he would also refine some Yun Beast Small Pills that had not undergone Void Fire tempering for his own spirit pets to eat; although the effect certainly could not compare to the Two-Grain Yun Beast Pills refined by Gongsun Yang, they were sufficient for daily spirit nurturing.

And after all the Beast Nurturing Pills refined by Gongsun Yang were fed, Cai Xing the deer also smoothly advanced to First Rank Ninth Layer.

At this point, Yu Zhangsheng's three spirit beasts had all reached First Rank Ninth Layer, and his own cultivation base had also reached Qi Refining Nine Heavens.

"Now, if one were to say number one below Foundation Establishment? There should be no problem, right?"

Yu Zhangsheng's thoughts wandered far and wide; after a long while he self-mockingly smiled and shook his head, denying this unrealistic thought.

"I am invincible below Foundation Establishment here in the Wanxiang Sect, but placed in the whole of Wuzhou I might just be a joke; I still need to cultivate hard, strength is everything."

"Just keep going like this; when I can refine Yun Beast Large Pills and obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill, my spirit beasts and I will break through together!"

Time flew... in the blink of an eye another three weeks passed.

And the Inner Disciple Trial arrived on schedule today.

Yu Zhangsheng slowly opened his eyes, ended his cultivation, sensed the vibration of the Jade Tube, and checked it: "The annual Inner Disciple Trial begins; registrants please gather at the Sect Square within two hours."

"Has it started?"

Yu Zhangsheng set off, somewhat expectant.

This Inner Disciple Trial, once a year, each year the Five Inheritance Peaks, registrants number over a thousand, yet those who ultimately pass are only ten people — enough to see the cruelty within.

Within the Wanxiang Sect, because of this, the treatment of Inner Sect Disciples and Outer Sect Disciples is worlds apart; only by entering the Inner Sect can one barely be said to have become the core of the Wanxiang Sect.

The Sect also attaches great importance to every Inner Sect Disciple; therefore, outside, the identity of a Wanxiang Sect Inner Sect Disciple also possesses considerable deterrence.

The life and death of every Inner Sect Disciple triggers a Sect investigation; if they die an unnatural death, a full-scale pursuit and arrest will be carried out — these are things Outer Sect Disciples do not possess.

Not to mention cultivation resources — they enjoy all kinds of conveniences; therefore so many people flock toward entering the Inner Sect.

The Wanxiang Sect belongs to the low-start-high-finish type of sect; entry is easy, but those who can walk to the core are one in a hundred.

And this is actually the current situation of most sects; except for Inner Sect Disciples and above, the rest are all serving them.

Using the Sect's outer circle resources to exchange for outer circle personnel to perform various services and help for the Sect's inner circle personnel, satisfying their needs — this is reality; the truly core part of the Sect is forever grasped in the hands of inner circle personnel.

Under various reasons, the Sect pays great attention to the annual Inner Disciple Trial; those who perform outstandingly may even gain the favor of an Inner Sect Elder and be taken as a disciple — that is truly a meteoric rise.

A minority of people control the vast majority of people's resources!

Recalling various matters about the Inner Sect, amidst Yu Zhangsheng's turning thoughts, the square also loomed in the distance.

The square that normally had not many people, at this moment viewed from above, was packed into a black mass, dense and crowded, with disciples from every peak present.

(Chapter End)