Chapter 68

“How long has it been?”

Bai Yan Wang looked as if he had seen a ghost. It had only been about an hour, and the medicinal materials had been completely refined. It should be noted that some of these materials were even fifth-grade!

“Is Lord Lin really only a fifth-grade alchemist?” Bai Yan Wang quietly asked Qian Tong Shen. He no longer doubted Lin Xuan’s identity as an alchemist; what he doubted was whether this young man was actually some old alchemist who had returned to his youth, playing with the world.

Qian Tong Shen: “…….”

This old guy’s change was indeed quick; he had gone from calling him “this kid” to “little brother,” and now he was outright calling him “Lord Lin.”

However, Qian Tong Shen didn’t pay attention to Bai Yan Wang; he was focused entirely on Lin Xuan’s actions.

Now that the medicinal materials had been fully refined, the next step was the most crucial phase of pill formation. He had a premonition that this would be the most stunning legendary scene he would witness in his life. Perhaps only now could he witness the rise of a legend, and the young man before him would undoubtedly walk towards a broader horizon, where he would shine with extraordinary brilliance.

Bai Yan Wang also realized this and stopped speaking.

Lin Xuan gazed at the glowing pillar rising from the cauldron. His hands moved in intricate patterns, forming a special seal, mysterious and profound. He appeared calm and indifferent, as if all of this was just a trivial matter to him.

The medicinal materials were intermingling under his control, and the entire Wanbao Auction House was now enveloped in the fragrance of herbs. The surrounding essence swirled like a tidal wave, forming a small vortex. Fortunately, the people in the auction house had already been driven away; the only ones remaining were Qian Tong Shen, Bai Yan Wang, Li Qiudao, Qian Xiaoling, and Lin Qing’er.

“What… what happened?”

Wang Guang struggled to rise from the rubble, staring in shock at the scene not far away.

In the distance, a brilliant, pale white lotus was blooming, and sitting upon it was a figure clad in white like snow, seemingly a deity. Before him was a bronze cauldron, from which a red glow erupted, shooting into the sky.

“Not enough!”

Lin Xuan frowned slightly. He could feel that the pill inside the cauldron could at most achieve the level of pill rhythm, but it was far from perfect quality.

Lin Xuan took out ten thousand mid-grade essence stones from his storage ring, then a pale white flame incinerated all ten thousand stones, unleashing a terrifying wave of essence that exploded like a tide.

At this moment, under the onslaught of the essence tide, the color of the pill inside the cauldron grew more vibrant, with a faint golden light surrounding it, and the small red beams rapidly expanded!

………

“What a powerful energy fluctuation! Someone is refining fifth-grade pills!”

In the depths of the royal palace, an old pair of eyes slowly gazed at the sky. The somewhat cloudy gaze held a hint of suspicion; he could feel that this energy fluctuation was significantly stronger than those of previous alchemists.

Could it be… someone had made a breakthrough in alchemy?

“Forget it, no matter who it is, since they’re in my royal city, I should go and see.”

An elderly man dressed in plain linen slowly walked out from the depths of the palace, then transformed into a gray shadow, disappearing without a trace.

………

Alchemist Guild

“This energy fluctuation… so pure. Has someone formed a pill rhythm?”

“That direction is… Wanbao Auction House.”

A middle-aged figure in a white robe murmured quietly.

Not long ago, he felt a heartbeat-inducing aura from the direction of Wanbao Auction House. Now, there was a sign of fifth-grade pill formation, which made him feel uneasy.

“Could it be… someone has discovered something?”

………

“That direction is… Wanbao Auction House?”

Returning to Dayan Academy, Qi Xuan looked at the towering red light pillar, his eyes filled with shock.

He had just left not long ago; could something else have happened?

A figure flashed in Qi Xuan’s mind, and he had a premonition that perhaps this commotion was related to that young man!

“I need to go back and take a look. That Qian Tong Shen guy only acts when there’s profit; could it be that I misjudged that kid and he has secrets I don’t know about?”

As his words fell, Director Qi shot back towards the direction of Wanbao Auction House under the puzzled gazes of the elders at Dayan Academy.

………

At this moment, Lin Xuan had reached the final step.

“Rise!”

As Lin Xuan’s deep voice commanded, the blood-red pillar trembled slightly, and an even richer fragrance of medicine wafted out.

Everyone present, whether it was Qian Tong Shen, Bai Yan Wang—powerful figures at the peak of the Divine Ability realm—or Li Qiudao, Qian Xiaoling, Wang Guang, and Lin Qing’er, felt the true essence within them accelerating several times at that moment.

As the red pillar faded, Lin Xuan raised his hand and slowly stood up, revealing two red pills surrounded by a faint golden light floating before him. The higher the grade of the pill, the fewer could be produced in a single refining session. With the properties of the materials he had obtained, managing to refine two fifth-grade pills at once was already his limit.

However, he was unaware of the immense storm his seemingly ordinary accomplishment had stirred in the eyes of Qian Tong Shen and Bai Yan Wang.

“Gold… golden… pills?”

“Qian kid, have you ever heard of such pills?” Bai Yan Wang stuttered as he spoke. The golden light emanating from one of the pills seemed to carry a rhythm that made every cell in his body feel an intense yearning.

Qian Tong Shen shook his head; he had never heard of such pills that emitted a golden glow from their surface.

However, he did acquire a fourth-grade pill, and the energy and efficacy contained within it far surpassed the fifth-grade pills produced by those other alchemists.

No… comparing them was simply an insult to this golden pill!

“Another perfect-grade pill… and it’s fifth-grade!”

“Lin brother… no, Lin big brother.”

“I am your long-lost brother!”

Li Qiudao’s eyes went wide as he stared at the pills in Lin Xuan’s hand. Even if they were to beat him up and force him to leave, he wouldn’t go!

All along this journey, the biggest opportunity had been right by his side: an alchemist capable of producing perfect-quality fifth-grade pills, a future star in alchemy!

This was the opportunity that countless people dreamt of!

If he entered the Pill Hall, it would be nearly impossible to invite him to refine pills; even cultivators like him, who were solitary, wouldn’t even have the qualifications to meet him!

Thinking of this, Li Qiudao couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief that he hadn’t left and hadn’t made an enemy of the young man. Otherwise, the consequences would be far more terrifying than offending the Blood Kill Mansion…