158: The pill is ready!

Duobao Rat's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he quickly took out the crocodile corpse and various auxiliary Materials.

The so-called auxiliary Materials were actually just to balance the Five Elements ratio of the Materials.

After all, the Yao Beast's Five Viscera do not all have equally strong Five Elements energy.

Although Xiao Qingyuan had never learned Alchemy, his Spiritual Eyes were his advantage, allowing him not only to clearly observe the flow of medicinal power but also to observe the power of heaven and earth.

More importantly, the art of the Five Elements was his forte; not only was his Spiritual Root a Five Elements Heavenly Spiritual Root—a special Spiritual Root five times stronger in energy level quantity than a single-attribute Heavenly Spiritual Root—

but his original profound talisman also had a great boost.

Although the Dragon-Tiger Golden Pill was difficult, it was not impossible to refine.

“Hoo…” Xiao Qingyuan took a deep breath.

With a clang, he took out a Pill Furnace and quickly removed the internal organs from the crocodile that Duobao Rat handed him.

Speaking of this Pill Furnace, it was one of Duobao Rat's many collections.

He had visited quite a few Cultivator Immortal Caves, and this second-tier Five-Colored Pill Furnace was not even the best one.

It was merely crafted using Five Elements Materials, which provided a bonus for refining the Dragon-Tiger Golden Pill.

This made Xiao Qingyuan particularly satisfied.

Listening to the thumping sounds behind him, Xiao Qingyuan ignited the furnace fire.

The two previous attempts had been conducted in safe locations.

This time, he had pushed himself to the brink.

And surprisingly, it felt quite exhilarating.

Under this pressure, he actually became more focused.

As the furnace fire ignited, Xiao Qingyuan carefully controlled the Spirit Medicine, melting and purifying it into pure medicinal liquid little by little.

Each time he completed a step, he carefully stored it in a jade bottle.

This step was the simplest for him, as it only tested his control over the flames and his grasp of the Medicinal Materials' state.

In this step, his flame control had already met the standard during his Artifact Refining studies, and with the boost from the mutated Spirit Communication Flame, he even surpassed it.

For the timing of grasping the Medicinal Materials' state, he also had his Spiritual Eyes to cheat.

However, Duobao Rat looked as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Sure enough, a moment later, the first attempt at refining failed again.

“AnotherWaste Pill! Alas…”

Xiao Qingyuan frowned. He had followed the Pill Formula for the Dragon-Tiger Pill almost strictly, performing every step almost to perfection.

Although he lacked his own understanding and didn't comprehend the medicinal properties or anything else,

when it came to Five Elements balance, he could confidently guarantee that no Alchemist could control it more precisely than him.

“A’Bao, do you have any thoughts? Speak boldly.”

A’Bao nodded upon hearing this and, after some thought, said, “I do have a slight guess. I noticed two details, but I don’t know if they’re correct.”

Xiao Qingyuan’s eyes lit up at his words.

“Speak boldly.”

“Then I’ll speak. Well, I’ve watched Mo Dengxian perform Alchemy. When he refines Medicinal Pills, although he also purifies the medicinal liquid, he purifies it while refining, and doesn’t take the medicinal liquid out again.

Sometimes, he just roughly mixes the medicinal liquid and other things together.

Finally, he casts the Pill Condensation Art. That’s the first point.”

Xiao Qingyuan pondered seriously upon hearing this. Although he hadn't fully understood the specific operation, his eyes still lit up as he said, “Continue.”

“The second point is about the quantity.”

Saying this, A’Bao explained the matter.

Generally speaking, a batch of finished Medicinal Pills consists of three, six, or nine pills.

For many simple Medicinal Pills, such as Grain Abstinence Pills, an Alchemist can use more Materials to refine eight or nine pills in one batch.

For complex ones, the Materials are divided into three portions, like for Foundation Establishment Pills.

This means one set of Materials provides three chances to refine.

However, Xiao Qingyuan didn't care about waste; he often used the maximum amount of Materials, even if only one Medicinal Pill was formed.

Xiao Qingyuan had received quite a few Alchemy Legacies.

His techniques were even more Advanced than Mo Dengxian’s.

Indeed, among these Advanced methods, there were similar techniques, such as when refining Foundation Establishment Pills, Alchemists often put most of the medicinal power into one genuine pill, with the remaining two being inferior products.

However, this was a method used when the Materials were not entirely adequate.

What about Xiao Qingyuan?

Because he had never been exposed to the Dao of Alchemy and couldn't even identify Medicinal Materials,

he lacked some confidence before even starting.

Su Yufei had mentioned that the difficulty of the Dragon-Tiger Golden Pill was comparable to that of the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Naturally, he felt that Alchemy was a very difficult thing.

After hearing all this, Xiao Qingyuan closed his eyes in contemplation.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing within them.

This time, he opened the furnace again.

His hands moved quickly, cutting out one-third of the most essential parts from the Five Viscera of a crocodile.

He did not use any auxiliary Medicinal Materials.

He directly started the furnace and began refining, his mind constantly replaying the methods for processing the five-attribute Materials from the Pill Formula.

He attempted to multitask with five tasks simultaneously.

A cup of tea, two cups of tea... Gradually, the power of heaven and earth, just like when he was drawing talismans, was once again stirred by him.

A moment later, there was a loud bang.

The furnace exploded!

Although the furnace exploded, Xiao Qingyuan's face showed not alarm, but delight.

He had never experienced a furnace explosion before; he wasn't worthy!

Now, it was good, he could even cause a furnace explosion!

This was his first time attracting the power of heaven and earth.

“Indeed, I’ve been going in the wrong direction all along. The difficulty isn't in the beginning at all; the Eighteenth Palm of Subduing Dragon is simply a combination of the first seventeen palms!

Hahaha, Duobao Rat, you’ve been a great help!”

Next, Xiao Qingyuan did not rest and immediately resumed Alchemy.

This time, he was more composed.

Instead, he cut off the worst piece from the remaining Five Viscera.

He even used a slightly smaller quantity.

Then he quickly started the furnace and began refining.

He vaguely understood that the Pill Condensation Art used by ordinary Alchemists to distribute medicinal properties might not actually be about distributing medicinal power.

Rather, it was about desperately guiding the distribution of the power of heaven and earth.

But he was different; he felt like he could have formed a Medicinal Pill just now.

It was just that the power of heaven and earth, that little bitch, was too enthusiastic.

Which led to him not paying attention and causing a furnace explosion.

This time, it went unusually smoothly.

Finally, another stick of incense passed.

As Xiao Qingyuan cast the final spell, a faint fragrance wafted from the Pill Furnace.

Ignoring the scorching Pill Furnace, Xiao Qingyuan quickly lifted the lid.

What met his eyes were three Dragon-Tiger Golden Pills, entirely golden, with five colorful Pill patterns on each, spinning at the bottom of the furnace.

Xiao Qingyuan scooped them into his hand.

“Hahaha, they’re all genuine products!”

“Duobao Rat, you…”

However, the next second.

The thumping sound from behind, which Xiao Qingyuan had been ignoring, suddenly grew louder.

The stone wall creaked, and distinct cracks slowly began to appear.

Xiao Qingyuan’s smile froze.

He grabbed Duobao Rat, shoved a Dragon-Tiger Golden Pill into Duobao Rat’s mouth, and turned to flee.

“Damn it, how could I forget about this thing!”