Inside the alchemy chamber, violet flames danced like fiery spirits in Elder Huo's hand, casting a brilliant glow across the room.
Calm and composed, Elder Huo watched the purple flames surge within the cauldron. With practiced ease, he continuously withdrew herbs from his storage ring and tossed them into the fire. One by one, the ingredients were consumed by the flames, broken down into either fine powders or shimmering liquid essences, which settled into the cauldron's base.
Xiao Yun's eyes were fixed intently on the fire within the cauldron. Although it burned fiercely, he could sense that Elder Huo had suppressed its true temperature to an incredibly low level. Despite its ferocious appearance, the fire wasn't damaging the medicinal essences—instead, it was purifying and refining them with surgical precision.
Typically, an alchemist couldn't be disturbed during refinement, or it might end in disaster—a ruined pill or even an exploding cauldron. But Elder Huo, a Tier Five Alchemy Master, was refining a simple Tier One pill specifically for Xiao Yun to observe. He remained at ease, even explaining each step of the process in meticulous detail.
Before long, the medicinal essences within the cauldron coalesced into a misshapen, rough-looking pill.
As the flames continued their careful roasting, trickles of liquid emerged, gradually filling in the pockmarks and craters. Slowly, a smooth, red pill began to take shape.
At the moment the pill formed, Elder Huo used his Dou Qi to extract it and placed it into a jade vial, tossing it to Xiao Yun.
"This is a Qi Recovery Pill—Tier One. It can restore a small amount of Dou Qi. Did you catch how I refined it just now?"
"Yes, Teacher. I saw everything clearly."
"Good. Come over here and get familiar with the cauldron. Place your hand on the fire inlet, then channel your Dou Qi into it." Elder Huo stepped aside and sat down cross-legged.
Following the instructions, Xiao Yun placed his palm on the inlet and directed his Dou Qi into it. A flickering red glow ignited in his hand and was instantly absorbed into the cauldron, transforming into a crimson flame.
Seeing the fire surge from his palm, Xiao Yun jumped slightly, nearly pulling his hand back by reflex. But when he realized the flames weren't burning him, he finally relaxed.
Staring at the fire churning inside the cauldron, Elder Huo nodded with satisfaction. "Now use your soul power to locate the trace of Wood energy within your body and guide it into the flame."
Xiao Yun closed his eyes, calming his mind. He concentrated his soul power inward, searching diligently. It took more than ten minutes, but eventually, he located a faint thread of Wood energy.
A barely visible stream of green gas appeared on his palm, which Xiao Yun gently guided into the cauldron. The moment it entered, the green thread entwined itself with the flame.
The once-turbulent flames calmed noticeably. Though less intense in appearance, Xiao Yun could feel the fire had become far more stable and enduring under the influence of that thread of Wood energy.
"He found the Wood energy so quickly? My student must have extraordinarily strong soul power."
Elder Huo's eyes widened in surprise. He remembered that back when he'd first learned alchemy, it had taken him an entire hour to locate his own Wood energy—and even then, his master had praised him as a prodigy.
It seemed Xiao Yun not only possessed exceptional talent in cultivation, but also a rare gift for alchemy. A once-in-a-generation genius, taken as his own disciple—what a stroke of luck!
Though delighted inside, Elder Huo quickly composed himself and said sternly, "Now that you've located it, follow the steps I demonstrated and refine a pill yourself."
Xiao Yun nodded. He had some Qi Recovery Pill ingredients in his storage ring. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a bright green herb that resembled a trumpet flower, then carefully placed it into the cauldron while controlling the fire.
Whoosh!
The moment the herb hit the flame, it was instantly engulfed. Before Xiao Yun could react, the once-vibrant green plant was reduced to a blackish-brown sludge, ejected from the cauldron through a side vent.
Staring at the charred waste, Xiao Yun winced. Even though it was only a Tier One ingredient, it had cost a fair few gold coins—and he'd burned it to ashes in seconds.
"Keep going. Don't worry about wasting materials," Elder Huo said coolly.
Without a word, Xiao Yun steeled himself, his focus sharpening. He reached into his ring again and retrieved another herb, tossing it into the fire.
One failure followed another. After burning through over a dozen ingredients, Xiao Yun finally grasped the right flame temperature for handling the green herb. Using his soul power, he controlled the heat more delicately.
Before long, under the careful roasting of the flame, the herb's outer shell peeled away, leaving behind a fine medicinal powder.
Watching Elder Huo earlier had seemed effortless, but now that Xiao Yun was doing it himself, he realized just how demanding alchemy truly was.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, he retrieved the next herb and continued feeding the cauldron…
No one knew how much time had passed. Xiao Yun's Dou Qi was nearly depleted, and piles of blackened sludge lay beside the cauldron. Finally, he succeeded in extracting all the medicinal essences from the ingredients.
Under the fire's steady influence, the essences began to merge, eventually forming a rough, bumpy pill. Xiao Yun quickly retracted his hand, using the last of his Dou Qi to lift the pill and hand it to Elder Huo.
"Hahaha! So, how did it feel refining your first pill?" Elder Huo chuckled as he took the crude pill, examining it closely and giving it a sniff.
"Not bad. Though it's misshapen and lacks fragrance, it's still a legitimate pill. Qi Recovery Pills are mid-grade Tier One, and for a first attempt, this is impressive."
Pale-faced and panting, Xiao Yun forced a bitter smile. He had imagined alchemists to be graceful and elegant—summoning flames with a flick of the wrist and producing coveted pills with ease.
In reality, it was more exhausting than mining coal.
"Alright, enough whining. You made a single Tier One pill and you're already like this?" Elder Huo waved his hand. In a flash, a pile of herbs and dozens of jade bottles appeared on the floor. The ruined leftovers vanished.
"If you run out of Dou Qi, take a Qi Recovery Pill. If you're tired, meditate to recover. Finish refining this batch of herbs—then come find me."
"Teacher, can I maybe... refine a few less?"
"Nope! Not negotiable! And if you dare waste materials on purpose, don't blame me for showing you no mercy!"
With that, Elder Huo walked off, leaving Xiao Yun standing alone in the alchemy room, face as long as a funeral banner.
After becoming Elder Huo's apprentice, Xiao Yun's life as an alchemist changed drastically. The good news was that Elder Huo was rich—obscenely so—and Xiao Yun never had to worry about alchemy resources again.
The bad news? Elder Huo was too rich.
From that day forward, Xiao Yun's life became rigidly structured: lectures in the morning, alchemy training under Elder Huo in the afternoon, and cultivation at night—foregoing sleep to train his Dou Qi to the limit.
A persistent sense of urgency gnawed at him. In his memories, Hun Tiandi had spent a thousand years scheming. Events might not unfold the same way in this timeline.
Hun Tiandi and Void Devouring Flame—both Nine-Star Dou Saints—weren't the sort to sit around twiddling their thumbs. When one of them eventually broke through to Dou God, who knew what catastrophe might follow? They could very well sacrifice all life on the continent to aid their ascension.
Xiao Yun couldn't pin all his hopes on Xiao Yan alone.
In the world of Dou Qi, strength was everything. Only by becoming strong himself could he avoid being turned into someone else's stepping stone.
And so, he continued his grueling regimen—alchemy by day, cultivation by night. Whenever he had questions, he sought out Elder Huo, whose guidance proved invaluable for someone still new to both disciplines.
Time slipped by like a fleeting shadow.
Half a year later, inside the outer court's alchemy room at Jia Nan Academy—
Xiao Yun sat before a red cauldron, his hands moving in swift, practiced gestures to form a series of intricate hand seals. In sync with his movements, the blue flames within the cauldron churned and danced, steadily refining the ingredients inside.
He reached for a nearby herb and casually tossed it into the flame. Under the precise control of his fire, the herb's outer shell was stripped away, leaving behind its purified essence.
Now, after six months of strict training and an endless supply of materials, Xiao Yun was no longer the clueless novice who struggled to refine a single herb.
"Condense!"
With a sharp command, Xiao Yun's eyes gleamed. He focused all his attention on the cauldron, his hand seals shifting rapidly. Using his soul power to guide the flame, he began shaping the essence into a compact orb.
His soul energy permeated the orb, monitoring the interactions between the various essences. By adjusting the flame at key moments, he nudged them toward complete fusion.
Soon, a nascent pill took shape inside the cauldron. As it stabilized, the surrounding energy surged, automatically smoothing its surface into a flawless sphere.
Refining, shaping, and forming—these were the three essential steps of alchemy. Now, Xiao Yun had reached the final stage. One misstep could still ruin everything.
But after hundreds of practice runs, he had long since mastered the process. With deft control of the flame, he completed the final touches, and the pill coalesced into a vibrant red orb, exuding a light medicinal fragrance.
"My success rate is now over eighty percent for Tier One pills. Even with high-grade variants, I have a sixty percent chance. It's time to take the Alchemist Examination and earn the title officially."
With a smile, Xiao Yun caught the pill as it leapt from the cauldron and carefully sealed it inside a jade vial.