First Time Dabbling in Pill Concoction
“Isn’t this…”
The woman sewn on the garment was charming unlike her usual self. She was gorgeous, captivating and even had hot flushes on her cheeks. The garment she wore was unquestionably the one Yang Tian was holding onto. She was none other than the holy maiden out for his life!
“Did Gu Mo steal this, or did that hag give it to him? I’m not convinced he could steal from a Battle Emperor adept, especially something so private.”
Yang Tian sent his divine soul energy into Golden Crow Divine Furnace to see Gu Mo’s miserable state.
“Yang Tian, release me!”
“Wow, tough guy, eh? I like it.”
A fire suddenly came down from above Gu Mo.
“Argh!” cried Gu Mo, rolling around. Although Gu Mo glared at Yang Tian, the fire erased any viciousness he was harbouring.
“Exactly. Behave yourself. I finally understand why that woman is so protective of you. I found out you two are having an affair. Getting in your aunt’s pants, Gu Mo, you have my admiration. Say, what do you reckon would happen if I spread the word?”
“You… you…”
Yang Tian laughed and left. If the east of the continent found out, he’d have a VIP ticket. “Is she a holy maiden or was it all a farce? Food for thought, huh…? “
Yang Tian refined the Golden Dragon Seal for a while, then entered the pill manual.
Unsurprisingly, Yang Tian became notorious throughout Demon Subjugation City. Several big clans sent their young ones out to capture him. The young ones setup ambushes around the perimeter of the mountain. Worth mentioning was that Yang Tian had gone missing for several days already.
***
Star Dragon Martial Arts used to be a very small place. Nowadays, it had expanded by dozens of times, becoming the richest place in the area. Green Sun Empire’s adepts guarded the place.
Thanks to his consumption of vitality water and boatloads of pills, Lin Yuan broke through to Warrior Realm and regained much of his youth. Lin Yuan exhaled heavily subsequent to reading the information in a jade slip. “Tian, you must come back safe and sound.
***
Three days had gone past inside Ancestral Dragon Ring. Yang Tian slowly opened his eyes and sighed. Pill concoction wasn’t as simple as he believed it to be. The procedure included five steps, namely: Herb Refinement, Pill Smelting, Pill Formation, Pill Consolidation and Pill Production. Each step consisted of plenty more intricacies.
To become an alchemist, not only was one’s control with fire tested but also their control. In the second phase, Pill Smelting, one needed to be able control the output of the divine soul – a task demanding precision and attention to detail. At the same time, the divine soul energy couldn’t be weak. It was said that some high-level alchemists could use nature as a furnace to concoct pills.
Yang Tian’s divine soul had almost peaked. Usually, a divine soul that powerful would be able to produce Level One High-Grade Pills. Needless to say, success rates varied. Some failed even after going through ten furnaces.
Yang Tian dove into Lightning Dragon Flame Control Technique. Forming one’s first Flame required thousands of hand seal techniques. If there was a single misstep during the seal creation, the pill would be rendered useless.
Yang Tian honed in on the hand seals.
Hand seals, Flame Seeds, divine soul energy and a relative equal pill furnace were absolute necessities.
The heaven and earth vital essence around would alternate between gathering and dispersing…
Besides earning handsomely as an alchemist, they were also connected with many people in addition to being highly skilled and influential. For that reason, lots of big clans strove to train a high-level alchemist.
There was a place on the continent called Pill Valley – a gathering spot for alchemists. They maintained a lower profile than the three Sacred Grounds and rarely made appearances.
Yang Tian had gained a much deeper understanding of seals over the last three days. Initially complex hand seals were easily summoned at this point. Once he formed the last hand seal, he opened his slightly heavy eyelids and smiled.
Yang Tian summoned his Flame Seed. The heat and energy had intensified since its last appearance. The purple lightning around it, to the contrary, didn’t change much. Next, he widened his eyes and formed a seal. As seals were manifested, the heaven and earth vital essence in the vicinity reared to go.
The thumb-sized Flame Seed rapidly transformed as it released energy from its outer perimeter. As the energy gathered and Yang Tian formed hand seals, the energy’s lustre increased. The hovering energy grew to the size of a human head once he formed around a hundred seals. The lightning around it finally began to stir.
“Lightning Dragon Flame Control Technique – Flame Formation!”
A unique light beamed out from his fingers and transformed the body of energy into a dragon head. The instant the dragon head was completed, the heaven and earth vital essence in the surroundings jumped to life.
Yang Tian, noticing the danger, desperately tried to stop it before it erupted, but the energy only ever increased as he performed hand seals. Very soon after, the dragon head shrunk until it totally disappeared.
“Why did that happen? The trigger was fine.”
Yang Tian observed the energy still lingering in the air, then traced back his steps but couldn’t ascertain the problem. He noticed thunderbolts around the flame in the air. Therefore, he inferred that something must’ve gone wrong with the lightning for the rest to go bonkers. He nodded affirmatively then reflected on his flame control technique before beginning to perform seals again.
The energy changed whenever it made contact with the lightning. Controlling lightning was a tall order. Multiple attempts ended in failure when he almost condensed the energy. It fell apart when the berserk energy gathered and impacted the Flame’s ability to condense.
“Lightning Dragon Flame Control Technique used ‘lightning’ as its name. The technique must be able to counter lightning. But alas, I can’t control the berserk energy. I won’t be able to form a Flame if I continue trying.”
Once he regained his qi and blood, Yang Tian fell into deep thought. When he budged a finger, heaven and earth vital essence collected. He discharged qi and blood. He calmed himself the moment right before the energy above was about to reach the size of a human head.
“Condense!”
Yang Tian changed his seal to have the accumulating energy form a dragon. As opposed to trying to control the berserk lightning as he previously did, he did the opposite this time, allowing the berserk lightning to float around the dragon head forming. The most worrisome moment came. Yang Tian formed the last seal.
The red dragon seemingly woke from its slumber and stood proud in the sky.
“Finally!”
Yang Tian chuckled before bringing out his pill furnace and infusing it with his qi and blood, expanding the crimson pill furnace over thirty metres. He then threw it into the void in front. He clenched his fist, popping the lid off the furnace, allowing countless rays of fire to be fired out, heating up the atmosphere. The dragon head in the void dove down into the pill furnace. The calm furnace went up in intense flames. The heaven and earth vital essence around raced into the furnace.
“I can finally begin!”
Yang Tian brought out a pile of herbs and a sheet with the formula for a Rank One Low-Grade Pill. The pill he aimed to concoct was a body cleansing pill, which was bottom of the rung among pills.
“Seven stars herb, yinshan herb, apricot blossom…”
Yang Tian skimmed his eyes over the required herbs. Body cleansing pill required eight herbs.
Yang Tian removed a pill furnace’s lid and starting an intense fire. He proceeded to throw in a seven stars herb and shut the lid. The herb gradually landed in the central zone in the furnace. The flames enveloped it, generating a flow as it resisted the heat. The dormant flames woke; the dragon opened its mouth and spat out a flame enhanced with lightning around it. When the flame made contact with the herb, the latter quivered, and it began to lose its lustre as it melted, starting from its stem.
The thunder dragon blew out a breath of fire that smothered the entire furnace with a heat wave. The herb, consequently, gradually melted quicker.
Being meticulous was certainly important. Another vital ingredient was patience. Some high-level pills required days to concoct a single pill. Some ancient records stated that pills that could trigger lightning were even more excruciating.
The process lasted ten hours. Yang Tian ruined six in the process of getting refining the eight. That wasn’t too shabby for a first timer.
There was a pool of clear liquid elixir in the centre of it. As the flames raged, the energy in the liquid began to condense.
“Fuse!”
The liquid suddenly collected together. Yang Tian’s divine soul energy burst, bringing the pill out of the pill furnace.
Yang Tian switched hand seals, amplifying the collection of heaven and earth vital essence in the surroundings once again. His divine soul energy inside the palace went to work on the liquid within the furnace, gradually condensing it into a pill.
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