Gu Changsheng stared at the thunder qilin rising from within the burst of spiritual radiance and roaring ferociously at him, completely frozen in place.
He had never imagined that the legendary Qilin Soul would look like this.
Gu Changsheng parted his lips, hesitating.
Noticing this, Li Guanqi could not help asking softly, "Uncle Gu, is something wrong? Are these two items different from what is recorded in the formula?"
Gu Changsheng smiled wryly, shook his head, and sighed. "It isn't that they're different. On the contrary... both in quality and age, they are more than sufficient."
A spark of realization flashed through Li Guanqi's mind, and he suddenly understood why Gu Changsheng had hesitated.
With a quiet sigh, Li Guanqi said, "Both of these came from a mysterious qilin ruin. There was only one stalk of the Seven-Colored Glazed Flower, and only one qiyin. As for finding more... that would depend entirely on luck."
Indeed, when alchemists typically took on a refining commission, the client would provide three sets of ingredients. Moreover, even if a cauldron produced a flawless batch of nine pills, the client would receive only a third of them. The remainder—both leftover materials and finished pills—belonged entirely to the alchemists. That was precisely why alchemists remained exceedingly wealthy despite their immense consumption of resources.
For the pill formula Li Guanqi provided, every single spiritual herb was an extraordinary treasure in the outside world. Even so, Gu Changsheng and the others had mobilized all their connections to gather several sets of the other ingredients.
Yet...
If there was only one Seven-Colored Glazed Flower and one Qilin Soul, it meant they had only a single attempt to refine this cauldron of pills!
Failure was not an option!
Guo Feng, Jiang Qizhi, and the other alchemist stirred from their meditation one after another. The three of them flashed over together, but upon seeing the contents of the boxes, none of them spoke.
Though they knew these two items were exceedingly difficult to find, having only one set of materials was daunting.
Guo Feng frowned. "Old Gu, there's only one set of materials..."
The others remained silent, but their meaning was obvious.
An extraordinarily difficult formula requiring five rank-eight alchemists to join forces, yet they had only one set of materials. In other words... not the slightest mistake could be tolerated during the refinement!
Such difficulty was no different from a mortal trying to ascend to heaven!
The atmosphere grew heavy for a moment. Li Guanqi broke the silence with a smile.
"Seniors, please don't let this weigh on you. Just give it your all without reservation."
Offering a warm, reassuring smile, Li Guanqi consoled them, "Even if it fails, nothing will happen to me right away. If it doesn't work, consider it valuable practice, and I will simply go search for more."
Jiang Qizhi sighed with a deep frown. "A Qilin Soul... where could another ever be found? You said yourself that the pocket realm vanished afterward."
Left with no choice, Li Guanqi pulled out the Qilin jade seal and said with a smile, "There might still be a chance. Perhaps there are other Seven-Colored Glazed Flowers that I simply missed before."
Meng Wanshu remained silent throughout. She knew full well that once the ruin had disappeared, finding anything even with the Qilin jade seal would be a shot in the dark. Xuan Lin had simply been lucky; because he had never entered the qilin ruin, it had remained where it was without vanishing.
Gu Changsheng's expression relaxed slightly, and he murmured in comfort, "I suppose that is all we can do."
The group made their way to the Gu clan's great hall. Gu Changsheng took a sip of tea and said, "Now we just await word from Xiang Huaizhi. He hasn't sent any message for so long; who knows when he will arrive. If two more days pass and he still isn't here, I'm afraid Guanqi won't be able to suppress his aura much longer. When that time comes, we will fire up the cauldron and begin refining!"
Li Guanqi frowned. He clearly had not expected Xiang Huaizhi to remain completely out of contact after returning to the Seventh Domain.
Meng Jiangchu reached out and placed a hand on Li Guanqi's wrist, sending the boundless fiery power within him surging into Li Guanqi's body like a ferocious beast. The fire mark between Li Guanqi's brows flared with ghostly green flames as five spectral silhouettes resembling vicious ghosts continuously reinforced the seal within him.
After a long while, Li Guanqi let out a deep breath, finally able to ease the strain of keeping that power suppressed.
Meng Jiangchu curled his lip and said, "Your mother told me you two kept her company for the past few days and she was very happy."
With that, he pointed toward the empty space beside Li Guanqi and said with a smile, "Little fellow, thank you."
Pengluo popped out and scratched its head sheepishly. After all, receiving gratitude from a Mahayana realm expert still made it feel rather flustered.
Li Guanqi took out an ancient jade slip and looked down at it for a long time. When Meng Jiangchu and the others saw the jade slip, all conversation ceased, and every eye discreetly fixed upon Li Guanqi.
In the end, Li Guanqi put the jade slip away. Grandfather knew his condition. His fire mark was primarily guided by Xiang Huaizhi; when it burned, Xiang Huaizhi would surely know. Yet Xiang Huaizhi had not appeared for so long, which meant something in the Seventh Domain had kept him from getting away.
In the earlier battle against Sha, many among the Eight Generals had been severely wounded. As an alchemist, Xiang Huaizhi would naturally have to see them properly settled before he could come.
Suddenly!
A terrifying burst of flame power swept across the entire Gu clan domain!
Everyone shot to their feet and teleported outside the hall.
In midair, space warped violently, followed by an eruption of flames as a hundred-zhang rift was torn open!
A man treading upon a flaming beast stepped slowly out from the blaze. Pale-faced, Xiang Huaizhi looked at the gathered crowd and asked in a deep voice, "I'm not late, am I?"
Gu Changsheng cursed under his breath in exasperation, "The hell you aren't! You haven't coordinated with us even once, and now we only have a single chance! What are we supposed to do?"
A gleam of unprecedented confidence flickered in Xiang Huaizhi's eyes, and he said coolly, "One chance is enough."
With that, he turned his gaze toward the massive cauldron. "Shall we begin now?"
This time, not only Gu Changsheng, but even Guo Feng, Jiang Qizhi, and the others could not help their lips twitching.
"How about... we run a simulation of the refinement process first?"
Xiang Huaizhi did not object. Instead, he gave Li Guanqi a deep, meaningful look.
Before Li Guanqi could grasp what the look meant, Xiang Huaizhi's voice transmission reached his ears: "I heard about taking an apprentice. I can meet them, but whether I accept is not guaranteed."
Li Guanqi's eyes lit up, and he bowed respectfully. "That alone is an honor."
Afterward, the group proceeded together into the sky above the Gu clan's highest peak, where the cauldron was already firmly positioned over the mouth of a volcano.
Gu Changsheng looked at the slightly pale Xiang Huaizhi and frowned. "Do you need time to adjust your condition?"
Xiang Huaizhi waved a broad sleeve and answered firmly, "No need! Let's begin. You all must have already coordinated well with one another; running through a few simulations after I join will suffice."
With that, five top rank-eight alchemists took their positions in the void and slowly sat cross-legged.
Meng Jiangchu also sat before the cauldron, as the other three needed to borrow his heavenly flame power.
Watching this scene unfold, Li Guanqi could not help feeling a knot of tension. Even though it was only a simulation, it represented the very possibility of whether his divine soul could be mended.
Chapter 981