Martial Peak
chapter-2383

Yang Kai just couldn’t understand why a place like Ice Heart Pavilion that sells materials would want to hire an Alchemist. What’s more, from the state and material of the wooden sign, it had clearly been up for some time. In other words, Ice Heart Pavilion had been recruiting for an Alchemist for a long time.

When they saw Fan Xin bringing Yang Kai in, the female disciples of Ice Heart Pavilion seemed very surprised. Beautiful eyes all turned over to this side, watching them intently. These disciples were all young women with beautiful and clear eyes that were pure and flawless. They seemed to cultivate the same type of Secret Art, but their cultivations were quite varied. Fan Xin was only at the Second-Order Dao Source Realm, but these few girls weren’t even at the Dao Source Realm. The strongest one of them was only in First-Order Origin Returning Realm. There were even some who were in the Saint King Realm and Saint Realm. Who knows how this Ice Heart Pavilion Master picked their disciples.

“Junior Sister Fan, how many Alchemists are there in Ice Heart Pavilion?” Yang Kai didn’t care about how the girls were looking at him though and just asked casually.

“We used to have one, but that Alchemist was dismissed a few days ago,” Fan Xin told him.

“Dismissed?” Yang Kai was surprised, “Was that person not meeting their quota?”

[If you are currently recruiting, then why dismiss?] Yang Kai couldn’t figure it out.

Fan Xin smiled but did not answer his question. Who knows if it was something secret or maybe something that made it inconvenient to talk about, but while talking, the two arrived at the third floor of the pavilion.

Walking all the way here, Yang Kai found that Ice Heart Pavilion was filled with materials, and the higher you went, the higher the grade of the materials.

On the third floor was a room designed like a secret chamber. After leading Yang Kai in, Fan Xin said, “Senior Brother Yang, you can do the examination here. There are no Earth Fire sources on Clear Sky Island, so the conditions here are a little simple. I hope you won’t mind it.”

“No problem.” Yang Kai waved his hand. He found that this room covered quite a large space, and there were a dozen big and small Alchemy Furnaces here, each one at least Dao Source Grade, with three even being Dao Source Grade High-Rank.

Ice Heart Pavilion did not have any Alchemists, but they had a lot of Alchemy Furnaces, so it was clear they collected these for a reason.

Yang Kai was puzzled by this. Reasonably, if Ice Heart Pavilion’s business was selling raw materials, then they could just sell raw materials, why bother to hire a high grade Alchemist? What’s more, they even prepared so many Alchemy Furnaces. Ice Heart Pavilion’s Pavilion Master was a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master and definitely wouldn’t be short of cultivational materials. Yang Kai could only think of one obvious possibility as to why Ice Heart Pavilion Master wanted to refine Spirit Pills, and that was why they were looking for a high-level Alchemist.

“You can use these Alchemy Furnaces as you like as long as you don’t damage them.” Fan Xin pointed to the pill furnaces.

“Understood, but may I know what sort of Spirit Pill Junior Sister Fan wants me to refine?” Yang Kai asked.

“Any Dao Source Grade Mid-Rank Spirit Pill will be fine. Give me the pill recipe and I’ll prepare the materials for you, Senior Brother.”

Yang Kai nodded and pondered for a moment, “Then, I’ll refine the Seven Star Dragon Tiger Pill.”

The Seven Star Dragon Tiger Pill was a Dao Source Grade Mid-Rank Spirit Pill that could boost a cultivator’s strength by ten to thirty percent depending on its quality, possibly even fifty percent if Pill Veins were formed.

Once the effects of this pill had passed, the consumer’s entire body would become weak and would be unable to exert their Qi for two months. Not only that, some damage would be done to the user’s meridians and their foundation.

The Seven Star Dragon Tiger Pill’s effects were so violent that a non-Dao Source Realm cultivator would not be able to use it. Forcibly taking the pill would only result in death. But which cultivator at Dao Source Realm would be willing to take this sort of pill to improve their strength by force? Once their meridians and foundation were damaged, it was very likely they would never be able to advance any further.

Therefore, this type of Spirit Pill was practically worthless. There was not much of a market for it as only some desperate people would keep a couple of such pills on them to protect themselves.

Yang Kai read out the ingredients for the Seven Star Dragon Tiger Pill while Fan Xin noted them in her heart and immediately went off to prepare them.

The reason he chose the Seven Star Dragon Tiger Pill was because its ingredients were not hard to find and should be available even on Clear Sky Island.

Sure enough, it didn’t take long before Fan Xin returned with ten sets of the ingredients.

She handed the materials to Yang Kai, “Senior Brother Yang, you’ll pass if you can succeed in refining two furnaces of pills. Junior Sister will be waiting outside, just call out to me when you’re finished.”

Ten sets of the ingredients and only two successive refinements. For a true Dao Source Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist, this wasn’t too difficult. As long as they focused a little, they would be able to succeed.

For Yang Kai, it was no problem at all.

He could even refine Emperor Grade Spirit Pills, let alone Dao Source Grade Mid-Rank Pills.

Fan Xin obviously knew it was not advisable to disturb an Alchemist while they were refining pills, so she took the initiative to wait outside.

After she left, Yang Kai took out his own Black Jade Furnace and placed it in front of him. Then, he pushed his Conflagrated Spiritual Energy and began refining.

Even though it was his first time refining the Seven Star Dragon Tiger Pill, he didn’t experience any hiccups at all. His movements were extremely skilful and his control of the fire and timing to add ingredients were all perfect.

Very soon, Yang Kai engrossed himself in Alchemy.

While he was concentrating, the Soul Splitting Sabre in his Knowledge Sea suddenly jolted, instantly pulling him from his focused state.

His expression remained unchanged and his hands did not stop, but Yang Kai began examining himself thoroughly.

This sort of abnormality couldn’t happen with the Soul Splitting Sabre without a reason, so the only explanation for this was that something had happened to him.

He searched and searched, but still did not find any clues.

Quite a while had passed before Yang Kai suddenly understood. Someone was spying on him! The Soul Splitting Sabre moved because it could sense a Divine Sense that did not belong to him nearby.

And the fact that he was not able to detect this person’s spying meant that their cultivation was far superior to his own.

[Ice Heart Pavilion’s Master!]

Yang Kai immediately realized who the one spying on him was! Other than the Pavilion Master, who else would have such an incredible ability within Ice Heart Pavilion?

It seemed like his previous assumptions were wrong. He thought that a master like this would definitely be living in the best secluded home in the Inner City, but now it seemed they were right here in Ice Heart Pavilion.

There were six floors in total in Ice Heart Pavilion, and he was on the third floor. There was a high chance that the Pavilion Master lived on the sixth floor!

[What was the meaning of a Master like that spying on me while refining pills? What’s more, I am only refining a Dao Source Grade Mid-Rank Spirit Pill… What use would this pill be to such a Master?]

[Unless… The Pavilion Master is trying to observe my Alchemy skills?]

Thoughts flashed past Yang Kai’s mind like lightning, but the movements of his hands did not slow down by even half a beat.

He originally planned to refine two furnaces of Spirit Pills, then wait until it was just about time before reporting to Fan Xin, but now that he knew that Ice Heart Pavilion’s Master was spying on him, how could Yang Kai dare do so?

He quietly modified the Spirit Array within the pill furnace and soon, a muffled sound suddenly erupted from within, followed by a burnt smell.

After a brief pause, Yang Kai made a dejected expression and sighed heavily, seemingly lamenting his failure of refining this Spirit Pill.

He poured out the dregs from the furnace and after some rest, Yang Kai began refining again.

It was already night when Yang Kai came out from Sang De’s place, so this test went on until morning the next day.

When Yang Kai opened the door, Fan Xin who was waiting outside quickly came over.

“Fortunately, I did not fail, three furnaces of pills succeeded. Please take a look, Junior Sister Fan.” Yang Kai handed three jade bottles to her, each of them containing four to five Seven Star Dragon Tiger Pills of varying quality.

This was the normal level of performance that a Dao Source Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist should show.

Fan Xin took the jade bottles and did not even look at them, as if she had already expected the result. Smiling warmly, she said, “You’ve passed, Senior Brother Yang. As long as you’re willing, Senior Brother Yang can become our Ice Heart Pavilion’s Alchemist.”

“Naturally, I am willing!” Yang Kai responded through gritted teeth.

He came to this Ice Heart Pavilion hoping to take the opportunity to meet Ice Heart Pavilion’s Master and get acquainted with them. However, he realized that Ice Heart Pavilion had some sort of hidden agenda, so he didn’t even know if it was the right or wrong choice for him to apply as their Alchemist.

But now, he had no choice but to say yes.

“Wonderful!” Fan Xin was overjoyed, “Senior Brother Yang, you have no idea how difficult it is to find a Dao Source Grade Alchemist on Clear Sky Island! There are only a few Alchemists at this level in the entire Clear Sky Island, and none of them met our requirements. Fortunately, we met you.”

Yang Kai originally wanted to ask what sort of requirements those Alchemists did not meet, but he ended up swallowing his words back down when he was about to say them.

He didn’t believe that Fan Xin would answer that question.

“It’s like this, Senior Brother Yang. If you join our Ice Heart Pavilion as our Alchemist, then you will get half the profits of every pill sold.”

“Half?” Yang Kai was surprised.

He didn’t think it was too little, but instead, this was a little too much!

He didn’t need to prepare any materials and just had to refine pills here, but he could actually receive half of the proceeds? What a boon.

“Sixty percent is fine, too.” When Fan Xin saw his reaction, she thought he wasn’t satisfied with the reward so she quickly changed her tone, “What’s more, as Senior Brother Yang can see, our Ice Heart Pavilion is not short of materials. As long as you work here, you will sooner or later be able to advance your Alchemy skills. Even becoming an Emperor Alchemist would no longer be a dream.”

This was true. Ice Heart Pavilion was in fact full of materials. An Alchemist who wished to improve their level and ability would need a lot of materials to practice with. Any other Alchemist would be overjoyed to enter Ice Heart Pavilion.

“No need, half is fine.” Yang Kai waved his hands.

Fan Xin felt stunned for a moment before she smiled, “You’re a good person, Senior Brother Yang. So, when can Senior Brother Yang come to refine pills?”

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it immediately. In three days… Uh, well, two days from now, I have an agreement to meet with someone. I’ll come again after my business with him is settled,” Yang Kai said.

Even though Fan Xin was a little disappointed, she didn’t push the matter, “Naturally, Senior Brother Yang’s business comes first. Please, Senior Brother Yang, once you’re ready, you must return to Ice Heart Pavilion at once.”