Battle Through the Heavens (Web Novel)
chapter-539

Chapter 539: Stir of Activity

A dense white-colored flame was partially visible among the green shade of the lush green mountain peak, much like a ghostly flame.

Yao Lao’s expression was serious as he eyed the swiftly rising dense white flame within the medicinal cauldron. Due to the quality of the ‘Black Demon’ cauldron being exceptionally extraordinary, this initial step of warming the cauldron required a little bit longer compared to other ordinary cauldrons. However, Yao Lao’s medicinal refinement skills and his degree of control over the ‘Bone Chilling Flame’ naturally enabled him to forego this extra time needed. Therefore, Yao Lao’s hand waved at the few medicinal ingredients on the ground in front of him after the flame withered for nearly one minute. Immediately, the fiery red ‘Flame Core Ganoderma’ slowly flew up and was finally thrown into the medicinal cauldron.

The moment the ‘Flame Core Ganoderma’ entered the medicinal cauldron, the dense white flame swallowed it like a hungry wolf pouncing on its meal. In an instant, the former began to swiftly wither.

Xiao Yan’s eyes stared intently at the interior of the medicinal cauldron. Although the flame within the cauldron was blazing, he was able to sense that the temperature of the flame had been suppressed by Yao Lao to a very precise degree. Therefore, this flame may have appeared ferocious, but it did not incinerate the ‘Flame Core Ganoderma’ until it turned into ashes. Instead, under a gradual withering, blood-colored tiny and dense water droplets seeped out from within the ‘Flame Core Ganoderma’. Finally, they rolled down along the surface and were suspended over the flame, repeatedly rolling and turning.

Following the repeated grilling and blood-colored water droplets seeping out, the fiery red-colored surface of the ‘Flame Core Ganoderma’ also swiftly withdrew. An instant later, the ‘Flame Core Ganoderma’ was completely transformed into a withered gray color. At this moment, the medicinal strength essence that was contained within it had been completely forced out by the flame. Hence, its original body had completely turned into a useless scrap.

Yao Lao waved his hand. The withered ‘Flame Core Ganoderma’ rushed out from the medicinal cauldron. Finally, it landed on the grass to the side. It turned into a pile of gray-colored soot the instant it landed on the ground, and scattered with the winds.

“He is indeed an alchemist grandmaster. This refinement technique is far from what I can compare with.” Xiao Yan quietly praised as he eyed the soot-stained ground. He basically completely burned the medicinal ingredient when he was refining medicinal ingredients in the past. This could not be attributed to the ferocity of the flame. Instead, it could only be said that his degree of control of the flame had yet to truly reach the pinnacle. Only by being able to control the temperature the instant the medicinal ingredient was truly withered and being able to toss the withered remnants out of the medicinal cauldron with ease just like Yao Lao, could one be said to have truly perfect control.

A cluster of blood-red liquid rolled and rotated within the medicinal cauldron. It was just like a blood-colored droplet. This blood-colored liquid was the medicinal strength essence that came from the initial refinement of the ‘Flame Core Ganoderma’. The energy that was contained in it was so large that it left one speechless.

After the agglomeration of this blood-red liquid, this liquid did not quietly comply with the refinement like the medicines that Xiao Yan had refined in the past. Instead, numerous blood threads extended out. An extremely powerful energy was contained in the threads of blood. When each blood thread struck the interior wall of the cauldron, it would emit numerous clear sounds of metal colliding.

Under the random collisions of these blood threads, even the medicinal cauldron trembled slightly.

Xiao Yan was startled as he eyed the dense blood tentacles being shot around explosively within the medicinal cauldron. He could not help but smack his mouth. It was indeed worthy of being a medicinal ingredient needed to refine a tier 6 medicinal pill. It actually even possessed the ability to retaliate. From the looks of the strength of these blood threads, it was likely that those ordinary medicinal cauldrons which Xiao Yan had used would at the very most be able to withstand a couple of hits before it would be filled with holes.

The violent movement of these blood threads did not cause Yao Lao’s expression to change. He waved his hand faintly and the dense white-colored flame within the medicinal cauldron suddenly soared. Those blood threads appeared to be shocked the moment they came into contact with the flame, because they hurriedly shrank back. In this way, the originally packed blood threads were completely suppressed into that cluster of red liquid under the large scale encirclement of flame. The liquid no longer dared to randomly charge out under the covetous gaze of the surrounding flame.

“Puff!”

A cluster of dense white flame separated out. Finally, it was suspended below the blood-colored liquid. As the flame rose, it unleashed an extremely hot temperature. In an instant, the surface of the blood-colored liquid immediately began to boil. Numerous tiny bubbles were being formed.

As the bubbles were formed, wisps of extremely faint gray-colored smoke immediately rose. This smoke contained impurities within it. In order to refine a good quality medicinal pill, one must completely expel these impurities. Otherwise, one might end up having difficulty forming a pill due to the saturation of these impurities.

Eliminating the impurities of ordinary medicinal ingredients might at the very most require over ten minutes. However, it was obvious that the ‘Flame Core Ganoderma’ did not belong to that category. Therefore, it only spat out impurities in a lethargic manner even with the presence of such a powerful ‘Heavenly Flame’ like the ‘Bone Chilling Flame’ grilling it. In the end, it basically required the flame to grill it for over ten minutes before it would slowly spit out a wisp of gray-colored smoke. Such stubborn impurities caused Xiao Yan, who was watching from the side, to be somewhat speechless. This was still the result obtained under Yao Lao’s control. If he were to be the one in control, it was likely that he would waste nearly a day’s time just on refining the medicinal ingredients. This tier 6 medicinal pill was indeed extremely difficult to refine.

The wait time was extremely dull. However, Xiao Yan did not let himself get distracted. His gaze did not shift away from the medicinal cauldron even once for nearly three hours.

Following three hours of refinement, the impurities within that blood-colored liquid were finally completely removed. The blood-colored liquid with all its impurities removed not only became even rounder, but its color also became a little more transparent. If one were to look at it carefully, one could even see bubbles billowing within.

Yao Lao’s face also relaxed a little with the completion of the refinement. He gently flicked his finger, and that cluster of blood-colored liquid within the cauldron immediately slipped out after being wrapped by a cluster of thick white flame. Finally, it was poured into a jade bottle together with the flame.

Xiao Yan was a little surprised when he saw this unique preservation method Yao Lao used. His gaze looked at that jade bottle only to realize that there was actually a faint layer of flame film at the mouth of the bottle. He was immediately startled. Only after musing for a moment did he come to an understanding.

“This kind of preservation is able to allow the medicinal liquid within it to maintain the temperature and purity as when it exited the cauldron. Moreover, it would not be doped with the impurities in the air. However, it requires a high degree of control of one’s flame. A jade bottle is brittle. If the temperature is too high, the jade bottle would be burned until it cracked. In the event when one was caught off guard and could not react in time, it would cause the refined medicinal liquid to become completely worthless.” Yao Lao slowly said as he waved his hand once again and tossed the ‘Green Wood Celestial Vine’ into the medicinal cauldron.

Xiao Yan nodded slowly. He quietly remembered this tip within his heart.

The refinement of the ‘Green Wood Celestial Vine’ was not any easier than that of the ‘Flame Core Ganoderma’. Due to the material that the former was made of, its flame resistance was something that even caused Yao Lao to be surprised. The time needed to just expel the medicinal strength from the ‘Green Wood Celestial Vine’ was over an hour. The refinement that followed took an even longer time. This long four hours caused Xiao Yan to wipe the cold sweat off his face. Yao Lao was able to endure this long because of his powerful spiritual strength. With Xiao Yan’s current ability, he could at the very most last for over three hours while refining medicinal pills before he needed to rest. He could only continue refining after waiting for his Dou Qi to recover!

Night had already covered the entire mountain range by the time the ‘Green Wood Celestial Vine’ turned into a cluster of green-colored liquid that was also preserved in a jade bottle. The thick white flame that was on the peak of a mountain was a little eye-catching amid the nighttime darkness.

Yao Lao did not rest for even a moment after he had completed refining the ‘Green Wood Celestial Vine’. He once again began refining the ‘Asparagus Ice Fire Fruit’.

Xiao Yan’s somewhat tired eyes were once again stimulated with energy as he eyed Yao Lao’s tense expression. He once again focused on the refinement. In his heart, he clearly knew that observing a pill refinement of such a level would be extremely beneficial to him. He could not just waste such an opportunity.

The time needed to refine the ‘Asparagus Ice Fire Fruit’ was similar to that needed to refine the ‘Green Wood Celestial Vine’. It was already late into the night by the time the refinement was completed. The stars that were spread across the sky flickered, scattering a weak light,

It must be said that refining a tier six medicinal pill was an extremely troublesome and tiring work. Just the refinement of the medicinal ingredients had nearly taken an entire day. However, it was fortunate that Yao Lao had an extremely great ability. He still did not show the slightest sign of being tired even after refining for an entire day without stop. On the other hand, Xiao Yan already had dark circles forming under his eyes.

That rank 6 water affinity Monster Core was also completely refined by Yao Lao into a pile of blue-colored powder on the second day. This segment alone exhausted over ten hours of Yao Lao’s time. The resistance of the rank 6 Monster Core to the flame was more than dozens of times more intense compared to that of those medicinal ingredients. Moreover, due to the restraint that both elements had with each other, the rich water affinity energy had nearly even rushed out of the medicinal cauldron. However, it was fortunate that Yao Lao had anticipated this. Therefore, it did not result in much losses. However, such torment naturally exhausted a large amount of time.

Xiao Yan sat by the side. He could not help but feel some palpitations as he watched Yao Lao contend with that rank 6 Monster Core. If it was him doing it, he would likely have difficulty subduing this stubborn Monster Core even if he spent three to four days. Moreover, if it was an ordinary flame that was being used, it might even be extinguished by the rich water affinity energy.

However, no matter how tough the process was, the refinement was finally completed. On the third day, the repellence of the few medicinal ingredients, and the powder from the Monster Core began to gradually weaken under the grilling by the ‘Bone Chilling Flame’ which went on for day and night. With this, they finally began to merge together.

Although it was merging, the speed at which it was doing so was just like a tortoise crawling. It was so slow that it was difficult for one to endure. During this period of time, Xiao Yan could not resist dozing off once even with his mental strength.

Fusing was the most important step in the refinement of medicinal pill. As long as one makes a slight mistake during this period of time, the medicinal ingredients that they had refined with great difficulty would be instantly incinerated. Therefore, even with Yao Lao’s ability, he did not dare be distracted on this step. He was too busy to bother even when Xiao Yan had been secretly snoozing off.

Although this step was extremely risky, it was fortunate that there was Yao Lao, who was an alchemist grandmaster, controlling it. Therefore, the worst case scenario did not occur. After two full days of fusing, a faint blue-colored embryonic medicinal pill was slowly forming within the medicinal cauldron.

The instant this embryonic medicinal pill was formed, Xiao Yan clearly sensed the energy around him begin to fluctuate suddenly. That condition was just like a huge rock being thrown into the surface of a calm lake where the enormous waves rolled.

Yao Lao’s expression did not change even slightly because of the fluctuating energy in the outside world. His mind was focused intently on the change of the medicinal pill within the medicinal cauldron. This kind of critical juncture did not allow him to be even slightly distracted.

Following the flow of time, that embryonic irregular-shaped pale-blue medicinal pill gradually became round. A bright glow was emitted from within it, rendering the pill until it became like a blue-colored gem.

The instant the medicinal pill started emitting a bright glow, Xiao Yan was somewhat stunned to discover that circular somewhat substance-like energy ripples began to repeatedly surge out in all directions with the medicinal cauldron at its center. That unceasing momentum was quite spectacular.

Xiao Yan swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He did not expect that this tier 6 medicinal pill would actually create such a large reaction when it was formed. No wonder Yao Lao said that they must come into the deep mountains to refine it. If this was in the Inner Academy, it was likely that it would immediately attract everyone from within over.

“You should step back a little. An even greater reaction will come later!” Yao Lao’s gaze stared at the interior of the medicinal cauldron in an intent manner as his mouth suddenly let out a reminder.

The Purple Cloud Wings on Xiao Yan’s back nearly sprang out together as he heard this. With a flap of the wings, Xiao Yan’s body rushed to a region away from the peak of the mountain.

The seal on Yao Lao’s hand suddenly changed when he saw that Xiao Yan had moved aside. He let out a low cry from his mouth. In an instant, the thick white flame within the medicinal cauldron suddenly soared. It nearly filled the entire medicinal cauldron. In that instant when his eyes were filled with a thick white color, the bright blue-colored light became increasingly eye-piercing.

The blue-colored light shrank and expanded. Following this expansion, waves of energy ripples began spreading even more quickly. Looking down from above, the mountain rocks rolled and the tree trunks broke wherever these energy ripples spread to. Even the turf flipped open. This powerful destructive strength caused Xiao Yan’s throat to involuntarily roll.

The blue-colored glow shrank and expanded at an increasing rate. It was as though the glow was brewing something. This continued for nearly half an hour before the glow suddenly shrank to its smallest point.

The serious look on Yao Lao’s face was even denser than it was anytime before this. The glow had shrunk in such a swift manner!

“Bang!”

The spot of light which had suddenly shrunk was maintained for a couple of minutes. Suddenly, it was expanded under Xiao Yan’s pupils, who was focusing intently on it. Eventually, the surge in the blue-colored light wrapped around the entire mountain peak. A thunder-like explosion occurred from nowhere. Immediately, a blue-colored light pillar that was twenty feet thick shot into the sky from the medicinal cauldron.

Xiao Yan was stunned as he eyed the enormous blue-colored light pillar that shot into the clouds. He involuntarily inhaled a deep breath of cold air. This reaction... was a little too big right? Even though this place was far from the Inner Academy, it was likely that it would not be possible to escape the senses of some of the powerful Elders, no?

“Hopefully, it will not attract the people from the Inner Academy. Otherwise, there will be some trouble...” Xiao Yan swallowed his saliva. He eyed the light pillar, that did not disappear for a long time, as he muttered with a bitter smile.