Chapter 52: Lotus Flower Transforms into a Cauldron

The Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus began to rotate slowly under Li Xuan's control.

Li Xuan extended his hand, and the soul power in his body slowly flowed into the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus; the next second, the Lotus flew up from his palm, hovered in front of him, floating in the air, its surface coated with a layer of Burning Heart Divine Flame.

Then, Li Xuan's soul power continued to flow in, and the palm-sized Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus gradually expanded, eventually reaching the size of a basketball.

Next, Li Xuan gauged how much soul power was consumed to keep his martial soul at this level; not feeling it he wouldn't know, but upon feeling it he was startled, and his eyes filled with delight.

Because the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus draws not only Li Xuan's soul power but also the support of the Burning Heart Divine Flame, and the Burning Heart Divine Flame is not a soul skill but Li Xuan's innate talent, its use does not consume much soul power.

Overall, maintaining the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus does not drain much of Li Xuan's soul power, and his martial soul, unified with his will, feels more comfortable to use than a Copper Cauldron.

"It's fine, it's fine, the soul power consumption is low; otherwise using the martial soul as a Pill Furnace would be impossible. If I can alchemy normally, I can use the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus as a Pill Furnace," Li Xuan said, looking at the floating cyan lotus before him, and nodded with great satisfaction.

Whether the Pill Furnace is effective ultimately depends on the results of the Alchemy.

Then, with a shift of Li Xuan's thoughts, the nine petals instantly folded together, forming a bud-shaped furnace cauldron.

The next second, the Burning Heart Divine Flame ignited directly inside the bud, and Li Xuan poured the ground medicinal powder into the bud.

Li Xuan's martial soul does not require a warming furnace; it can directly alchemy Alchemy Pills, which is one advantage of using a martial soul as a Pill Furnace.

Moreover, Li Xuan was surprised to discover that when using the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus as a Pill Furnace, his control over the flame inside the bud became much more effortless! This saved Li Xuan a great deal of energy! Then, Li Xuan spent a full two hours refining all the herbs and grains into powder, and seven clumps of powder floated within the bud.

The next step is fusion and pill formation!

Li Xuan's spirit shifted, and the soul power in his body poured wildly into the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus, causing the temperature of the Burning Heart Divine Flame to surge sharply.

Under the scorching high temperature, the seven powders gradually converged, slowly fusing together under the intense heat.

Li Xuan simultaneously regulated the flame's temperature and used soul power to sift the medicinal potency within the Alchemy Pill, increasing the chance of successful pill formation and enhancing the pill's quality.

After a dozen minutes, all the powder had fully coalesced, though it was uncertain how many Alchemy Pills this lump of medicinal mud could yield.

"Pill formed!"

Li Xuan let out a light laugh, and the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus exploded instantly, its soul power backflowing into the Alchemy Pill; the mud instantly disintegrated, turning into five smooth, round Alchemy Pills.

Li Xuan extended his hand and steadily caught the five Alchemy Pills, then placed them into a porcelain bottle.

【Congratulations Host for successfully alchemy "One-Piece Mid-Grade Nourishing Soul Pill*5, gaining secondary profession "Alchemist" experience 5 points】

"The Alchemy Pill's quality actually reached One-Piece Mid-Grade! The Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus as a Pill Furnace is unbelievably effective! It not only saves soul power but also raises the pill formation rate and improves pill quality!" Li Xuan blinked, joyfully raising the porcelain bottle in his hand.

Maintaining the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus martial soul does consume some soul power, but the Lotus can completely lock in heat, thereby saving some soul power during Alchemy; the back-and-forth results in an overall greater saving of soul power.

First, using the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus as a Pill Furnace can save Li Xuan a great deal of soul power; for example, the Yunling Pill just alchemized—under normal circumstances Li Xuan would have to expend at least one-third of his soul power, but with the Lotus as the Pill Furnace, he only used one-quarter.

Although keeping the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus enlarged requires a certain amount of soul power, the entire Alchemy process saved a portion of soul power thanks to the Lotus, and overall Li Xuan saved a lot of soul power.

More importantly, the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus is Li Xuan's own martial soul; controlling flame within a martial soul is far easier than under normal conditions, also saving Li Xuan a great amount of effort.

Moreover, the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus has an extraordinary innate talent, able to completely isolate the internal temperature from the outside, further saving Li Xuan some soul power. In short, the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus is perfectly suited as a Pill Furnace!

"Haha, now I finally have a proper Pill Furnace!" Li Xuan said, smiling broadly at the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus.

After resting for a while, Li Xuan took a third batch of herbs from the Void Pearl, preparing to alchemy a third Alchemy Pill.

……

As the sunset set, the Nine Hearts Nine Flame Lotus suddenly exploded, scattering the Alchemy Pills inside instantly; Li Xuan, quick-eyed and swift-handed, gathered all the pills and placed them into the porcelain bottle.

【Congratulations Host for successfully alchemy "One-Piece Mid-Grade Nourishing Soul Pill*6, gaining secondary profession "Alchemist" experience 6 points】

"Hahaha, six Alchemy Pills!" Li Xuan cradled the porcelain bottle, happy as a child.

However, at this moment Li Xuan's body no longer contained any soul power at all, yet he still took out a water bladder, washed all the grinding tools clean, and placed them into the Void Pearl.

At that moment, Li Xuan felt three Burning Heart Seals approaching him.

"Just in time for the return," Li Xuan said with a smile, shaking his head.

Qian Fugui, accompanied by the remaining two people, rode slowly in a carriage toward Li Xuan's direction.

Even from a distance, Li Xuan could see the contents of the carriage compartment, which was packed to the brim.

When they were a dozen meters away from Li Xuan, the three people on the carriage stopped the vehicle and sprinted toward Li Xuan.

They knelt directly before Li Xuan.

"Greetings, Master. All the supplies on your list have been fully procured and are in the carriage compartment," Qian Fugui said, kneeling before Li Xuan with his forehead touching the ground, speaking respectfully.

"The procurement went well, did you eat dinner?" Li Xuan asked with a smile, looking at the three people before him.

"In response to the master, we haven't eaten yet," Qian Fugui replied again.

"There is food inside; each of you take some and eat on your own," Li Xuan waved his hand, saying casually.

"Thank you, Master!" the three said in unison.

Then the three got up from the ground, went into the carriage, took out several portions of food, placed them on a stone far away, and began eating.

Li Xuan returned to his own carriage and then cultivated another Void Pearl.

Carrying the new Void Pearl, Li Xuan went to the new carriage and began loading its contents into the Void Pearl.

Looking at the remaining space in his belt, Li Xuan's stockpile of travel supplies was almost full; even without entering the city to purchase supplies for a while, he could live for a long time.

Li Xuan thought for a moment, returned to his carriage, sat cross-legged, and began slowly restoring his soul power.

Dear readers and esteemed elders, happy weekend! I was working overtime all day, only now have time to write, apologies (Chapter complete).