Chapter 217: Xia Wan’er’s Objective
Xia Wan’er got straight to the point, her gaze bright, without the slightest intention of hiding anything.
“Your news is quite well-informed.”
Su Yan revealed a bit of surprise. Xia Wan’er smiled and said, “It’s not that my news is well-informed; it’s that you didn’t hide it yourself. Just a few months ago, you registered as a Second-order Low-grade Pill Master at the Pill Refining Pavilion. How much time has passed since then, and you can already divide an iron ball into eighteen parts? With such skill, it’s suspected to be that of a Third-order Pill Master.”
As she spoke, her gaze secretly observed Su Yan’s expression and found him completely unperturbed, which surprised her even more.
‘He’s truly a monster. Where does he get so much time to study.’
Others wished they could spend all their time on cultivation, but he was different—his cultivation rose steadily, and he still possessed such Pill Refining techniques.
She had never seen any Spirit Merging Stage Martial Artists who were Third-order Pill Masters.
But that wasn’t quite right… Given his physical body, he should be able to withstand a furnace explosion.
Su Yan suddenly felt a slight chill on his back and suspiciously glanced at Xia Wan’er, feeling like she was thinking something very offensive.
“I have never refined Third-order Pills.”
Su Yan shook his head slightly, but Xia Wan’er said, “I have the Pill Prescription, main ingredient, and most auxiliary materials for Seed Aperture Pills.”
Su Yan’s eyes brightened slightly. She didn’t know that he had already exchanged for the Seed Aperture Pill Prescription and even had the main ingredient.
“That said, it’s not impossible to give it a try.”
Xia Wan’er giggled, “It seems you know about it.”
If he didn’t know, how would he know the materials for Seed Aperture Pills were precious.
Seed Aperture Pills have the effect of opening Dan Qiao, mainly used by those in the Fourth Realm of True Intent, Spirit Merging Stage, but in reality, for Dan Qiao Realm True Persons, taking one Seed Aperture Pill is also beneficial for opening acupoints, preparing for the Fourth Heaven—that is, All Stars Heaven.
The main ingredient required for such pills is undoubtedly precious: Spiritual Aperture Illuminating Fruit.
Third-order Low-grade Spiritual Aperture Illuminating Fruit typically grows in caves within mountain bellies, above spiritual veins, beside spiritual springs. Finding it requires spending many resources.
Su Yan did want to refine Spiritual Aperture Illuminating Fruit, but currently, he had no way to find it.
“The sect isn’t without Third-order Pill Masters, so why come to me specifically?”
Su Yan asked curiously. Xia Wan’er rolled her eyes at him and said wistfully, “Which Third-order Pill Master isn’t a Dan Qiao True Person.”
Unless it’s a sect elder, who would go to the trouble of helping you refine Third-order Pills.
Even if they did refine them, she couldn’t offer suitable compensation.
Moreover, who says finding Su Yan to refine pills isn’t an investment?
What’s wrong with Xia Wan’er acting as an angel investor once? For such a monster, who wouldn’t want to get close.
“I’ve prepared most of the materials. I’ll give you the Seed Aperture Pill Prescription first so you can familiarize yourself. Later, I’ll give you all the materials for refining. If successful, I’ll take one pill; the rest is your reward. If it fails, I’ll give you two thousand Contribution Points separately.”
“No need for the Pill Prescription; just give me the materials.”
What?
Xia Wan’er looked at Su Yan in surprise, then suddenly realized, “You’ve already exchanged for the Seed Aperture Pill Prescription at the Pill Refining Pavilion?!”
Su Yan nodded. A joyful expression flashed in Xia Wan’er’s eyes. Since he had already exchanged for this Pill Prescription, it proved he truly had the ability to refine Third-order Pills.
Moreover, having studied the Pill Prescription for so long, he would surely be even more confident.
“Looks like I underestimated Junior Brother. Here.”
Xia Wan’er directly took out the items: Spiritual Aperture Illuminating Fruit, auxiliary materials like golden jade marrow, Fire Essence, green wood spiritual milk, etc., all placed before Su Yan in brocade boxes of various sizes.
Su Yan opened one to look; they were all materials of very good quality.
“The auxiliary materials were exchanged in the sect, but the Spiritual Aperture Illuminating Fruit wasn’t. I had someone get it from Lingnan Prefecture City.”
If someone in the sect had it listed for sale, Xia Wan’er would have exchanged for it long ago.
Even though its price wasn’t low, it was in no way inferior to some Third-order Cultivation Manuals.
“Still short four auxiliary materials. If you can wait, I’ll post a few tasks at the Sect Main Hall.”
Su Yan put away the items. “I have the remaining ones here; those I don’t have can be substituted sufficiently.”
In Pill Refining, the most important thing is medicinal property. Over thousands of years, it’s impossible for no changes in any pill.
Adapt to the times, adapt to the place; materials will change, but as long as the medicinal properties match and fuse properly, the same effect will be produced.
Mastering medicinal property is the key for a Pill Master.
Su Yan had mastered three Alchemy Skills extremely proficiently; the Five Elements Alchemy Technique had even reached Transformation Realm. His understanding and control of medicinal properties were already at Third-order level, so he naturally felt confident.
“The foolish are still thinking about competing for rankings, while the smart have already started acting.”
Su Yan smiled. He didn’t know when Xia Wan’er started paying attention to him, but she could spot something beneficial to him from clues and take the initiative. This woman wasn’t ordinarily clever.
“Good, it saves me time finding pill materials, but it would be better if there was a Spiritual Aperture Illuminating Fruit tree.”
……
The ranking climb competition was still two days away, but the number of people trying to break in during these two days was clearly much fewer than the previous days.
Su Yan had long been listed in everyone’s minds as someone not to challenge lightly, so like the top ten disciples, he enjoyed some leisure.
He no longer paid much attention to the fights but instead checked the materials one by one: one main ingredient, over twenty auxiliary materials, all prepared properly.
He headed up Beast King Sect and went directly to the Pill Refining Pavilion main hall.
“Get me an Alchemy Room with an A designation.”
The front desk disciple was momentarily stunned upon hearing this, then took out a token for Su Yan.
“100 Contribution Points per day.”
A-designation Alchemy Rooms were on the bottommost floor of the entire Pill Refining Pavilion, nearly the best Alchemy Rooms.
The earth fire was stable and extremely powerful; under the arrangements of Spirit Sealers and Formation Masters, it could operate freely between the finest control and fierceness.
“One day.”
Su Yan transferred the Contribution Value, then took the A-2 token and walked toward the passage on the left.
The passage led straight underground, a gently sloping spiral stone path three people wide. Special patterns and beast patterns could occasionally be seen in the passage, with the pupils of the beast patterns being night-luminous pearls, illuminating the entire tunnel.
The passage, along with the entire Pill Refining Pavilion, was set with special formation arrays that gathered earth fire while protecting the entire Pill Refining Pavilion from being overwhelmed by earth fire or external forces.
Su Yan reached the bottommost level, where a bluish-black metal gate was engraved with “A-2”.
The token fit onto it, and the bluish-black metal gate rippled like waves.
Su Yan walked in and immediately felt a scorching heat rushing at him.
The Alchemy Room was about two zhang high and ten zhang in circumference, an extremely spacious room.
Red patterns covered the walls and floor from top to bottom, intersecting with beast patterns resembling Fire Crows interspersed among them.
Just staying in this space, Su Yan could feel the abundant spiritual energy and surging heat; it was an excellent place for Pill Refining.
“The firepower is abundant, even more vigorous than that of the Flame Armored Scorpion.”
Su Yan showed a satisfied expression. Although he was already quite confident in refining Seed Aperture Pills, using this Alchemy Room would undoubtedly speed things up.
With a wave of his hand, a Upper Second-order Blazing Fire Furnace appeared before him.
This Blazing Fire Furnace was a new Alchemy Furnace exchanged in Southern Sky City, Upper Second-order quality, superior to many weapons.
It was originally from Da Chuan Pill Workshop, now his.
Su Yan took out the materials one by one and placed them before him, while also summoning the Flame Armored Scorpion.
“Rise.”
Su Yan controlled the formation patterns in the entire Alchemy Room via the token, and instantly several flames like flying crows enveloped the Alchemy Furnace.
Flame heating the furnace.
Su Yan still felt it insufficient. The flames controlled via the token were exquisite, but to achieve arm-like flexibility, it was still lacking.
Thus, with a thought, the Flame Armored Scorpion spewed out its demonic flames, turning into a sky full of blazing fire that merged into the refining flames.
The dancing flames were completely under the Flame Armored Scorpion’s control, and as its master, Su Yan executed the fire control techniques from his Alchemy Skill, instantly raising three fire dragons that merged into the Blazing Fire Furnace.
The furnace preheated, Su Yan gripped remotely with his left hand, and the Spiritual Aperture Illuminating Fruit flew into the furnace.
Buzz.
Spiritual energy burst out fiercely. Su Yan’s hand formed Pill Arts changes, several strands of True Essence weaving like threads to seal, forming a dense net that completely sealed the spiritual energy and fused it into the Blazing Fire Furnace.
To refine into Seed Aperture Pills, this Spiritual Aperture Illuminating Fruit needed repeated refining to extract impurities and distill the medicinal potency sufficient to open Dan Qiao and connect meridians.
For this spiritual fruit, the medicinal potency was all in the fruit flesh meridians; damaging even a bit would reduce the effect by that portion—no room for carelessness.
Su Yan refined it fully for an hour. Even being extremely careful, the fruit flesh meridians were still damaged by twenty percent.
He steadied his mind, then tossed in the auxiliary heavenly materials and earthly treasures one by one into the furnace fire.
One hour…
Two hours…
Three hours…
When the last ingredient, Second-order Feral Beast Blood Marrow, was added, the originally calm spiritual power boiled like rolling water, trying to rush out of the Blazing Fire Furnace instantly.
“Nine Dragon Pill Seal!”
Su Yan directly executed the Nine Dragon Pill Seal, along with the exquisite controls from Five Elements Alchemy Technique and Gu Pill Manual, intercepting the rampaging spiritual energy bit by bit and sealing it into the furnace fire.
Just this final step alone took Su Yan over half an hour.
After Core Formation, the furnace fire stabilized, and a strand of Pill Fragrance couldn’t be suppressed and wafted from the Alchemy Furnace.
Just this Pill Fragrance immediately invigorated Su Yan’s spirit slightly.
He opened the Blazing Fire Furnace and looked intently: four pills had formed in total inside.
The green pills resembled emeralds, thumb-sized, but the contained medicinal potency was enough to drive many mad.
Su Yan took out the four pills, sensed them briefly, his eyes narrowing slightly as he revealed a satisfied smile.
“All perfect quality. So I’ve steadily entered the ranks of Third-order Pill Masters.”
Pills form in three grades: minor flaw, perfect, and Super Grade. Su Yan had consumed quite a bit of the Spiritual Aperture Illuminating Fruit’s potency during refining, so naturally not Super Grade.
But perfect quality was the norm for most Pill Masters.
“Let’s test the effect.”
Four pills; per the agreement, one was for Xia Wan’er, leaving three for him.
Su Yan had no idea of sharing half; pills earned by skill—why share half?
Moreover, even a single pill, even minor flaw, meant this girl lost nothing.
Third-order Pills weren’t cheap to begin with, especially ones that solidified foundation and expanded limits.
Su Yan exited the Alchemy Room, returned the token, and went straight back to Xuan Shuang Mountain.
It was already late at night, with the bright moon high, as if hanging over the mountain peaks.
Su Yan sat cross-legged in the courtyard, with no intention of appreciating the moon.
He took out a Seed Aperture Pill and swallowed it in one gulp, immediately circulating Star Constellation Profound Beast Skill as well as Five Poisons Body Forging Scripture, Poison Dragon Golden Body Technique, and other physical body Cultivation Manuals.
His body was like a vortex, constantly absorbing spiritual energy from Xuan Shuang Mountain. In the empty courtyard, it was as if a fierce wind had risen.
Meanwhile, huge changes were occurring in Su Yan’s body. After the Seed Aperture Pill entered, the medicinal potency rapidly dissolved, forming a storm.
Pain assaulted continuously, as if millions of ants were gnawing at his meridians.
Pain, numbness, itch…
Multiple unbearable sensations intertwined, from meridians to flesh and blood, then to bone marrow.
‘As expected of its infamous reputation—not for nothing; trading pain for strength…’
Su Yan circulated his physical body Cultivation Manuals; his powerful body suppressed much of the pain, but even so, the pain in his meridians still made his muscles twitch involuntarily.
The massive medicinal potency of the Seed Aperture Pill rampaged through his body, the pain constantly spreading.
Su Yan focused all his spirit, simultaneously trying to guide this medicinal potency through the crisscrossing, billions of meridian nodes to find the Dan Qiao position.
In Martial Arts cultivation, upon entering Dan Qiao Realm and condensing the upper, middle, and lower three Dantians, come the acupoints known as minor Dantians.
Common acupoints correspond to the number of the heavenly cycle: three hundred sixty-five acupoints distributed throughout the body—one acupoint, one star; each internal star becomes a Martial Artist’s power source.
Thus, the fourth layer of Dan Qiao Realm, beyond the sun, moon, and star three Dantians, is also called Star Aperture.
The reason Seed Aperture Pills are precious is that they prematurely open the prototype of Star Apertures, allowing more Star Apertures under the same realm and thicker True Essence.
Premature opening means forcing it, so pain is inevitable.
‘Found it.’
The constantly wandering medicinal potency discovered a suitable node outside the Dantian under the meridians.
Like a crevice had formed, all medicinal potency surged in; the powerful force nearly tore his body apart.
A suppressed low roar came from deep in his throat. Su Yan’s body trembled slightly as more True Essence was mobilized to steadily reinforce the meridians and crevice around the acupoint, repairing the damage.
After a quarter-hour, Su Yan’s face was slightly pale, and finally, the pain subsided.
In the Dantian, True Essence flowed in like trickling streams, swirling to form another True Essence vortex.
Fully one-third of his body’s True Essence filled this Minor Star Aperture’s deficit.
Su Yan finally showed joy: “At this rate of True Essence capacity, once the Minor Star Aperture stabilizes, it’ll increase True Essence quantity by at least thirty to forty percent.”
Just one Minor Star Aperture achieving this; more was unimaginable.
“Tomorrow, give the pill to Xia Wan’er first. For the remaining two Dan Qiaos, use one at an opportunity, then release one to exchange for Spiritual Aperture Illuminating Fruit.”
Fishing requires baiting the spot. If Su Yan wanted more Seed Aperture Pills, he really had to let some news out.
