Chapter 51

After preparing all the materials and carefully checking them once more to confirm their accuracy, Xiao Yan did not immediately begin; instead, he sat cross-legged and slowly regulated his emotions, gently circulating his cultivation method to soothe his battle qi.

Even with Hun Xu Zi, that giant ghost, watching right beside him, Xiao Yan completely ignored him.

When his battle qi, essence, spirit, and physical strength all returned to their optimal states, Xiao Yan was ready to ignite the alchemy furnace.

Seeing that Xiao Yan did not grow anxious upon hearing he could obtain a heavenly flame, but instead calmed himself swiftly, even Hun Xu Zi's face showed a faintly intrigued expression as he watched.

Xiao Yan glanced at Hun Xu Zi, then recalled in his mind a third-rank pill formula stored in his space ring: Doukai Pill.

It is well known that high battle masters can condense battle qi into armor, forming a battle qi armor on their bodies. The Doukai Pill's function is to allow those below high battle master rank to condense a battle qi armor for defense—a defensive-type elixir.

But Xiao Yan chose the Doukai Pill for another reason: its medicinal materials do not require extremely high temperatures to extract their essences, since Xiao Yan was still only a ninth-star battle seeker; even with a bit of Bone Spirit Cold Fire's aid, he could hardly incinerate advanced medicinal materials.

With his palm pressed against the furnace's fire inlet, Xiao Yan slowly sank his spirit into his body. A few strands of Bone Spirit Cold Fire, wrapped in battle qi, shot swiftly through his meridians, then passed through his palm into the alchemy furnace.

With a soft boom, deep yellow flames rose and burned within the alchemy cauldron; unless one looked closely, it would be hard to notice several white fire threads drifting within the deep yellow battle qi flame.

Through the mirror-like surface of the alchemy furnace, Xiao Yan watched the chaotic flames inside, waiting until, after a moment, the furnace's temperature gradually rose.

The next instant, Xiao Yan's soul perception surged out of his body, slithering up his arm and into the alchemy cauldron, using his powerful soul force to firmly control the unruly flames.

Xiao Yan had previously attempted third-rank pill alchemy, but never once succeeded—not even by accident.

With extremely gentle motions, he picked up a nearby medicinal material, used soul force perception to sense the furnace's temperature, and only when the temperature reached the precise extraction point did he toss the material into the furnace with a hiss.

As the temperature continued to rise, one medicinal material after another was tossed into the alchemy furnace. Each had different medicinal properties and required extraction at separate locations within the furnace.

As the surfaces of the medicinal materials cracked and blackened, Xiao Yan manipulated several strands of Bone Spirit Cold Fire like needles and threads, piercing through the shattered shells and drilling into the interiors to draw out droplets of green medicinal essence.

As more and more liquid seeped out, the medicinal materials rapidly withered. When the final green droplet was squeezed free, their bodies turned to black ash and sank to the bottom of the furnace.

After extracting all the medicinal materials, Xiao Yan exhaled in relief—this first step was complete.

Xiao Yan picked up a Soul-Returning Pill and swallowed it; his cultivation realm was his greatest weakness in pill alchemy—he had too little battle qi.

With a hiss, a red second-tier magic core entered the alchemy furnace. As the magic core burned, a fierce beastly aura erupted from it, carrying a resentment that sought to destroy everything around it.

This was the resentment of the magic beast at the moment of death; such resentment remained trapped within the magic core. If the alchemist could not purify this resentment, the furnace would explode.

"Hah!" Xiao Yan's eyes sharpened. Previously, this might have troubled him, but now his soul force had greatly increased—how could the dying resentment of a mere second-tier magic beast possibly match him?

His soul force formed a pair of giant hands, crushing the magic beast's resentment into a single ball, then burning it completely away with battle qi flames.

After purifying the magic beast's resentment came the most difficult step: fusing all the materials and the magic core together to form the final pill.

This was the hardest part, because if any step went wrong—if certain medicinal materials had not fully fused evenly, or if they were burned too long and impurities formed—the resulting chain reaction would render all effort useless.

Medicinal materials vary in potency due to age and growing environment; only precise soul force perception could determine when their properties had fully fused.

The quality of a pill depended entirely on these details—the more perfectly the medicinal properties fused, the higher the pill's quality.

After an unknown duration of fusion, the flames slowly receded, and all furnace fire, medicinal essences, and magic core energy contracted into three pills, each the size of a dragon's eye.

Puff! Puff! Puff!! Xiao Yan used soul force to remotely retrieve the three Doukai Pills and sealed them into a vial.

"Three pills per furnace," Xiao Yan said, gazing at the three pills in the vial, a smile spreading across his face—he was clearly very satisfied with the result.

One furnace of pill alchemy can produce more than one pill; how many pills emerge depends on how precisely the alchemist extracts the materials and how little waste occurs during fusion.

Producing a third-rank pill had already broken Xiao Yan's personal record, and to produce three pills in one furnace?

Hun Xu Zi said nothing; his soul light slowly faded away.

The fact that Hun Xu Zi offered no criticism proved just how successful Xiao Yan's pill alchemy had been.

If Hun Xu Zi himself were to return to age sixteen, he likely could not have done better than Xiao Yan.

A ninth-star battle seeker producing a third-rank pill? Hun Xu Zi himself had never achieved that in his youth.

【What you seek lies within the Heaven-Rank Treasure Hall. Whether you can obtain it depends on your own fortune.】

Hun Xu Zi's soul sound echoed from all directions; the next instant, a passage shaped like a black hole appeared. Without doubt, Xiao Yan had passed Hun Xu Zi's trial!

Xiao Yan's eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at the pitch-black passage—he had never forgotten Hun Xu Zi's earlier words: Swallowing Flame was born among the Soul Sovereign.

Although Xiao Yan did not know what a sub-flame was, if he could obtain even a fraction of Swallowing Flame, ranked second on the Heavenly Flame Ranking, he would benefit immensely!

"I must go see it!"

Xiao Yan had thought he was already well-traveled and no longer easily astonished—but he now realized he was still too young.

When he passed through the black hole and saw what lay before him, Xiao Yan could not help but be startled.

A dark flame planet, split open at its center, floated in boundless space.

The planet was not very large—its diameter roughly several kilometers—but as it drifted in the endless void, it still sent chills down Xiao Yan's spine.

"Could this be the birthplace of Swallowing Flame?!"

Seeing tendrils of dark flame rising from the planet's surface, Xiao Yan roughly understood what this place was.

The Heavenly Flame Ranking described Swallowing Flame as having been born in space—and only the Soul Realm, which had always existed within space, could possibly locate such a place!

Indeed, as Xiao Yan had guessed, the Soul Sovereign had first encountered Swallowing Flame right here!

Swallowing Flame was the heavenly flame born within this dark flame planet in space!