Chapter 108: Hidden Secrets

"Third Elder, I am going to start introducing the Soul Power!"

Xu Chen gave a simple reminder, stuffed a Great Origin Pill into his mouth, and then pretended to press a Soul Bead against his glabella, while actually using his Divine Sense to draw a wisp of white Qi directly from the Blue Light Treasure Bottle in his Sea of Consciousness and send it into the pill furnace.

Following the appearance of this wisp of white Qi, the pill furnace shook violently. The previously quiet Spirit Fire suddenly acted like a fierce beast that had caught the scent of blood; with a 'Boom—', flames soared into the air, attempting to swallow and incinerate this wisp of white Qi.

Xu Chen had been prepared. Under the control of his Divine Sense, surging Qi poured into the pill furnace as if it were free, triggering the furnace's Array to forcibly suppress the Spirit Fire.

The Third Elder had also been keeping a close watch on the changes in the pill furnace. Almost at the same moment Xu Chen gave the reminder, he had already reached out to press his hand onto the furnace's Qi channel. At the same time, his Divine Sense also appeared inside the furnace, clearly seeing that after a wisp of white Qi—which did not belong to the Spirit Medicine—appeared, the Spirit Fire suddenly went out of control. Consequently, he also poured in thick, heavy Qi, cooperating with Xu Chen's Divine Sense to suppress the restless Spirit Fire.

With the two of them working together, the restless Spirit Fire was soon suppressed. The colorful light and shadows of the Arrays inside and outside the pill furnace reflected off one another. The light and momentum emitted left the group of people watching from the side, including Xuanhe Zhenren and the Eldest Senior Brother, all dumbfounded, their fists clenched tightly in nervousness.

To think that a mere first-grade Spirit Pill would require two second-grade alchemists to join forces to suppress the pill furnace; what an incredible thing this was.

And what made people feel even more puzzled was why, among all the Soul Beads, only Xu Chen could directly absorb the Soul Power of the Soul Beads and even integrate it into the pill refining process.

One must know that ever since Xu Chen brought back the news of the Soul Beads, researching the Soul Beads and utilizing them for cultivation had become a common daily activity and topic of conversation for everyone in the Taiyuan Sect.

But apart from Xuanchen Zhenjun, who could use his Nascent Soul to directly refine and absorb the Soul Power, everyone else had failed.

In other words, although the Soul Bead was a heaven-defying treasure rich in Soul Power, it was essentially only useful to great cultivators who had entered the stage of Refining Qi into Spirit, and it had almost no effect on low-to-mid-level cultivators who were still in the stage of Refining Essence into Qi.

However, Xu Chen was a bizarre exception.

He could absorb the Soul Power of the Soul Beads while in the Kaiyuan Realm, and he could also extract the Soul Power separately to integrate it into pills.

In this way, when low-to-mid-level cultivators took these pills rich in Soul Power, they were actually able to utilize the Soul Beads to improve their cultivation in a roundabout way.

Xu Chen's transformation began when he entered Black Wind Ridge and obtained a fortuitous encounter.

But that kind of thing relied entirely on luck; it had no general applicability, and it was unlikely to be successfully replicated.

Because it was said that he had been chased by a Third-Tier Demon Wolf and fled into the depths of a crevice, and after inexplicably falling unconscious, he had acquired this ability upon waking up.

Whether one believed this explanation or not, there was no need to refute or doubt it.

Furthermore, there was no way to verify it; one could only acknowledge that Xu Chen was wrapped in good fortune and blessed by the stars.

With the Third Elder's participation, the manic Spirit Fire slowly calmed down, and Xu Chen was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief and begin controlling the Array to complete the pill.

As the dozen or so Spirit Medicines and the white Qi were rotated by the Array and fused into a mass of emerald-green medicinal paste, the Spirit Fire inside the furnace began to grow restless again. The flames flickered in size, stimulating the Combining Pill Array to begin shaking incessantly, and the pill furnace emitted a muffled, thunder-like sound with a 'Whoosh—' and a 'Clatter—'.

Everyone watching began to feel nervous again, each holding their breath and not daring to release even the slightest bit of Divine Sense or Qi, for fear of interfering with the two men's pill refining process.

Soon, half an hour passed in a flash.

Amidst the agonizing wait where everyone felt as if every day were a year, a faint medicinal fragrance slowly began to emanate from the pill furnace.

"Hoo~"

Everyone couldn't help but secretly let out a breath.

The appearance of the medicinal fragrance indicated that the medicinal power had entered the fusion stage. As long as the Spirit Fire's temperature was controlled to bake it slowly, once all the medicinal materials were perfectly fused together, this batch of pills would be eighty percent successful.

At this moment, a layer of fine sweat had already appeared on Xu Chen's forehead.

Under the observation of his Divine Sense, the pill completion had officially begun, but only he knew best that the pill fire was far more violent than last time; if not for the Third Elder's help, he would have already lost control.

Because of the prolonged persistence, the Qi in his dantian was nearly bottoming out, and a Great Origin Pill had already been consumed, so he had to stuff another Great Origin Pill into his mouth.

Seeing Xu Chen's actions, everyone couldn't help but stir slightly.

Eating a Great Origin Pill to refine a Great Origin Pill—this was unheard of in the world of alchemy.

But everyone could also feel, through the changes in the pill furnace, a violent aura that was on the verge of erupting at any moment, so no one dared to speak or communicate.

Time continued to slip away, and in the blink of an eye, another half hour passed.

By now, the medicinal fragrance emitted by the pill furnace was extremely rich, permeating the entire room, and above the roof of the alchemy room, a mass of cyan-white clouds began to condense and appear.

"Look quickly, the Pill Cloud has appeared!"

The senior brothers and junior sisters standing outside watching pointed at the roof and exclaimed almost simultaneously.

"What kind of decorum is this, shouting and hollering!"

A Divine Sense Transmission rang in the ears of the group of disciples. The Second Elder, Xuanhe Zhenren, who had been sitting to the side observing, stood up and stepped out of the room, looking up at the cyan-white clouds rolling in the sky with a face full of shock.

The scale of this Pill Cloud was clearly much larger than the last time, with a diameter of several dozen zhang, directly shrouding more than half of the Danyuan. Moreover, it was much thicker; under the clear winter sky, it looked like a phantom cyan flower appearing out of thin air.

"This doesn't seem to be a Pill Cloud, does it?"

Seeing this situation, Xuanhe Zhenren's expression was even more surprised.

Just as he was about to release his Divine Sense to probe into the clouds to see what was going on, a deep, resonant voice suddenly rang out in his mind: "Junior Brother, wait. This Pill Cloud is somewhat strange; do not probe and disturb Chen'er's pill refining."

Xuanhe Zhenren was startled and hurriedly withdrew his Divine Sense. He heard a sound of wind above his head, and Xuanchen Zhenjun appeared out of thin air.

"Disciple pays respects to the Great Elder!" Jiu Shixiong and the others hurriedly bowed in unison.

"Senior Brother, why have you suddenly come out of seclusion?" Xuanhe Zhenren asked with a bow, looking surprised.

Xuanchen Zhenjun stroked his beard and looked at the rolling pill energy in the sky, his expression grave as he said: "I was refining a Magic Treasure when my Soul suddenly palpitated. I feared there was a change in the sect, but discovered it was an abnormality in the Danyuan's aura, so I came to take a look."

Xuanhe Zhenren said: "Last time Chen'er refined a Small Yuan Pill, an omen also appeared. The Second Elder and I thought it was truly a Pill Cloud, but today, refining this Great Origin Pill, the scale is larger and the aura is stronger, yet looking at the situation, it does not seem to be a Pill Cloud. Does Senior Brother know what this is?"

Xuanchen Zhenjun pondered for a long time and shook his head: "It is not that I am ignorant; the talk of Dan Tribulation has existed for a long time, but there are very few Spirit Pills that can truly trigger a Dan Tribulation. However, in my view, this is definitely not a Dan Tribulation forming clouds, but rather there is some other mystery to it. It is just that I do not know what it is; perhaps it is related to Chen'er using Soul Power to enter the pill."

Xuanhe Zhenren nodded and said: "Perhaps that is the only explanation, but the Yuqing Hall also has a method of using Soul Power to enter the pill, yet I have never heard of such an omen appearing!"

Xuanchen Zhenjun waved his hand: "The Yuqing Hall's method of using Soul Power to enter the pill does not use ordinary methods. Instead, a Spirit Realm Great Cultivator uses their Primordial Spirit to first refine the Soul Bead, and then uses an Array to integrate the Soul Power into the formed pill. Although it is called pill refining, it is actually more like artifact refining. Otherwise, why has the Third Elder never been able to refine it? That is the reason!"

Xuanhe Zhenren suddenly realized, and at the same time nodded in astonishment: "So that's how it is. I have been in seclusion recently and haven't discussed this matter with the Third Elder. That the Yuqing Hall could think of using this method to put Soul Power into a pill is indeed something one has to admire."

Xuanchen Zhenjun said: "The Yuqing Hall has been passed down for thousands of years and has an extremely deep foundation, which is not something our Taiyuan Sect can compare to. However, Junior Brother, you need not feel inferior. Although the Yuqing Hall's method of using Soul Power to enter the pill is effective, the cost is also great. Every time they refine a batch of soul pills, the Nascent Soul also bears immense pressure, losing at least several years of cultivation. Such a price is something they cannot afford. But Chen'er, despite only being in the Kaiyuan Realm, can directly refine Soul Power into the pill; this method is unknown how much more brilliant it is, and the cost is negligible. In the future, this will be our Taiyuan Sect's unique method of pill refining. How would those old fellows dare to offend us? For this, we must thank you, Junior Brother, for helping our Taiyuan Sect take in a good disciple."

Xuanhe Zhenren's old face suddenly felt a bit ashamed; he did not want to discuss this awkward topic.

Although he and Xu Chen had the name of master and disciple, in reality, picking Xu Chen up back then was just on the way, and after bringing him back, he basically hadn't taught him properly; he had completely relied on his own wild growth.

But fortunately, Xu Chen had deep feelings for this unreliable master and the Taiyuan Sect, working diligently without ever having any complaints.

Especially in the matter of bringing back the Blood God Grass, Xu Chen's contribution was too great; it could be said that he had almost single-handedly pushed the entire sect to its current status.

Therefore, after many inexplicable performances suddenly appeared in Xu Chen, the three Elders all chose not to investigate the truth.

They all knew that Xu Chen had hidden many things.

But the more they asked, the more difficult it would be for Xu Chen to explain, and in the end, it would create a very serious estrangement or even resistance towards the sect. If he were pushed too hard, perhaps one day after going down the mountain, he would never return and would join another Immortal Sect.

After Xu Chen suddenly returned alive from the last Spirit Transformation Ceremony, the two True Monarchs of Yuqing Hall actually collectively invited Xu Chen to Yuqing Hall to drink tea and discuss the Dao; this was almost a naked attempt to poach him, yet True Monarch Xuanchen was unable to stop or refute it.

Because Xu Chen and Lan You had been trapped beneath Black Wind Ridge for nearly a month, and their behavior and answers after returning were far from satisfying to the group of True Monarchs, they simply did not press for details out of respect for True Monarch Xuanchen.

Furthermore, the attitude of True Monarch Chixia was also intriguing; she stopped everyone from continuing to investigate Xu Chen, seemingly intending to protect him.

Consequently, everyone could only choose to remain silent.

As for the matter of alchemy, the three Elders were the same; they did not press Xu Chen for his alchemy methods, especially the Third Elder, who was in charge of Danyuan and taught Xu Chen alchemy, yet even he forcibly restrained himself from asking when Xu Chen did not speak.

It was not until today that Xu Chen took the initiative to request to refine Soul Pills, which made him ecstatic.

(End of this chapter)