Luo Chen had gradually caught the drift of the Alchemy Saint Hall's trials.
Overall, they lacked the perils typical of inheritance trials across the cultivation world.
Before the trials even began, an entire side hall had been provided for participants to prepare in advance.
Such an arrangement was exceedingly lenient.
Yet on second thought, this inheritance was left within the Mingyuan Sect for later generations of fellow disciples; how could it be fraught with deadly traps?
Moreover, Alchemy Saint Chu Yan herself had been a gentle and kind person, so she naturally wouldn't go out of her way to make things impossible.
The purpose of her trials lay primarily in screening.
Judging by the first trial he had just completed and the accounts of past opening trials, the objective was always to select those with profound foundations in the Dao of Alchemy, winnowing away anyone whose grasp was too shallow.
However, upon arriving at the second stage, Luo Chen found himself somewhat uncertain.
[Trace back to the origin, reverse-refine to pass.]
What did this prompt truly mean?
The first trial had at least offered the hint of "reaching a hundred to pass," but what standard would judge the second?
Was it merely the words "reverse-refine"?
Taken literally, it meant reverse-refining pills to trace them back to their source and extract their constituent ingredients.
Yet to what degree and in what quantity must one reverse-refine to qualify?
The chamber was vast and empty; no one was there to give Luo Chen an answer.
Luo Chen sank into deep thought.
Time slipped by quietly, yet no one entered the empty chamber for a long while.
This shouldn't be happening.
When Luo Chen had cleared the first trial, he had clearly sensed that the other three were not far from finishing.
Chen Mozi in particular had taken a rapid-completion approach similar to Luo Chen's. Although a few pills might trip him up, so long as he made no errors, he would surely identify them with careful deliberation.
Luo Chen believed that a man of great renown could not be completely hollow; the man wouldn't fall short so easily.
Since he hadn't appeared after so long, it likely meant each person was sent to a different room upon passing.
Luo Chen did not dwell on the matter, turning his thoughts back to the examiner's intent.
Gradually, an understanding dawned on him.
"If the true goal were solely to screen for someone with a vast, encyclopedic foundation in alchemy, there would be no need to establish a side hall full of texts for advance preparation."
"In other words, the pill-books in that side hall also cover the scope of this second trial."
"The hundred pills each person selected in the first trial represent the hundred they understand best, feel most confident in, and know most intimately. Even if someone hasn't personally concocted them before, the knowledge absorbed from the side hall would leave a deep impression. If we are to reverse-refine them, they naturally remain the hundred pills we have the highest confidence in handling."
"Furthermore, the knowledge recorded in those pill-books covers the medicinal ingredients needed, the preparations, alchemy techniques, the characteristics of the finished pills, and methods of preservation and storage."
"Thus, the texts in the side hall are indeed meant to assist trial-takers in reverse-refining pills—especially unfamiliar pills they have never personally crafted."
"Then how does one judge whether a pill has been successfully reverse-refined?"
"It must be when the original raw ingredients composing the pill are successfully extracted!"
"The knowledge memorized from the side hall serves as our foundation."
"Yet no alchemist under the heavens can guarantee success in every single refinement, let alone reverse-refining all one hundred pills without a single failure."
"Therefore, the criterion for passing is not the sheer number of pills reverse-refined, but the raw materials ultimately yielded from the process!"
Following this chain of analysis, Luo Chen gradually found the examiner's intent amid the fog.
This second trial tested two broad aspects.
One was still an alchemist's foundation.
The other began to delve into practical mastery of alchemy techniques.
The former was a matter of experience and breadth of knowledge; the latter required hands-on execution.
Normal concoction was already immensely difficult, let alone reverse-refinement.
Even though Luo Chen was confident in reverse-refining low-tier pills, he had never even considered reverse-refining high-tier ones. What was more, among the hundred pills he had selected, many were ones he had never laid hands on before.
The passing condition placed its emphasis on the raw ingredients!
Luo Chen swept his gaze over the hundred pills encircling him. Drawing on his memory, the constituent raw materials of each pill gradually surfaced in his mind.
He was startled to find that among the hundred pills he had chosen, quite a few shared similar properties, and some even utilized the exact same herbs.
"Selecting the hundred pills one knows best leans into personal preference, which leaves a generous margin for maneuver."
Luo Chen now had a clear grasp of the situation.
Regardless of the standard, he planned to reverse-refine as many distinct raw ingredients as possible.
If any refinement failed, he could still salvage a matching ingredient from another pill.
As for where to begin?
With a faint smile, Luo Chen reached out and grasped a first-tier Qi-Nourishing Pill.
This time, he would start from the simplest and work his way up, feeling out the path step by step!
***
At the outset, Luo Chen hadn't cared much about the Alchemy Saint's inheritance.
Because he hadn't known about it at all!
It wasn't until they were on the way to the Mingyuan Sect that Ye Lingtian had brought it up—likely out of concern that Luo Chen might think the Mingyuan Ancestor had gone back on his word and planted a trap in their agreed terms.
It felt just like a job interview in his past life, where the boss told him: "Come on over, I'll pay you a hundred thousand a month and make you general manager right away."
Then, after showing up for work, the company informed him that he had to pass a performance review first, or the general manager's office wouldn't be his.
When Luo Chen learned the truth, he hadn't been terribly angry.
To him, an Alchemy Saint's inheritance truly wasn't indispensable.
He possessed the alchemy legacy of the Heaven Refining Demon Lord, which contained countless pill texts and recipes spanning the three paths of humans, demons, and fiends.
Even after studying it intermittently over all these years, Luo Chen had yet to fully master it.
Not to mention several fifth-tier, sixth-tier, and even eighth-tier pill recipes contained within.
When Primordial Monarch Qixia demanded the recipe for the Dao Integration Pill, why had Luo Chen agreed so readily?
Aside from the absolute disparity in their strength, another key reason was that Luo Chen simply could not digest the Dao Integration Pill recipe.
Meat that could not be eaten anytime soon—or even for a very long time—held little value to keep. Surrendering it in exchange for his life was far wiser.
That was straying off topic.
In short, from the very beginning, Luo Chen's attitude toward the Alchemy Saint's inheritance had been exactly as Ye Lingtian observed.
He did not pursue it, did not refuse it, was not enthusiastic about it, nor was he intimidated by it.
Yet after studying in the side hall and passing the first trial, Luo Chen had grown increasingly fascinated by this trial.
No!
Not the inheritance itself, but the contents of the trials!
Luo Chen was becoming engrossed in advancing through these stages.
Systematic learning, structured examinations with clear directions, and comprehensive tests of foundational mastery offered a sense of fulfillment that concocting any single pill could never match.
It was like... a student who, after nine years of compulsory education, was tested through the gauntlet of the college entrance exams.
The exam didn't measure how many eccentric problems one could solve; rather, it primarily tested the foundation laid over those nine years.
Through these trials in the Alchemy Saint Hall, Luo Chen was truly taking stock of his actual level developed over three hundred years!
In terms of fundamentals, the depth of his foundation was far beyond what ordinary alchemists could rival.
To outsiders, the title of "Alchemy Grandmaster" meant he could concoct various high-tier pills. But to himself, it meant any low-tier pill came effortlessly to his hands, and countless alchemy techniques could be executed at a whim.
Now, in this second trial, the myriad alchemy techniques Luo Chen had mastered could finally show their full prowess!
"The Qi-Nourishing Pill is the most universally applicable low-tier pill in the cultivation world. Qi Refinement cultivators of all spiritual roots and constitutions can consume it."
"The ingredients used are balanced and mild, primarily composed of low-tier materials encompassing the five elements and combining yin and yang."
"As for concoction methods, it can be refined through fire or water. The one left behind by the Alchemy Saint in my hands, however, incorporates both."
"The techniques chosen are none other than the Cloud Transforming Hand, Origin Cultivating Hand, Qi Consolidation Form... among nine basic alchemy techniques."
"If I wish to reverse-refine it, selecting three of them will suffice!"
The same problem had multiple solutions.
Having grasped the examiner's intent, Luo Chen swiftly chose the solution he was most skilled at executing.
Clang!
After many years, the Hunyuan Cauldron appeared once more.
Its luster remained as of old, though faint hairline fractures on its body had yet to fully mend.
For the purpose of reverse-refining pills, however, it was more than sufficient.
Placing the Qi-Nourishing Pill inside, Luo Chen executed his alchemy arts with practiced ease.
Spiritual power flowed through his fingertips, his mudras and technique seals dancing with the graceful elegance of butterflies drifting through blossoms.
In less than half a day, thirteen raw ingredients were produced.
Some were solids, some liquids, and some were misty vapors.
These were the raw components of the most widely circulated pill in the cultivation world!
Unlike the first-tier pills Luo Chen had refined in his early years, which usually required only a handful of ingredients, this seemingly simple Qi-Nourishing Pill contained thirteen distinct materials. No wonder its universal applicability was so remarkable.
The first attempt was a success!
Luo Chen did not pause, turning his attention to the second pill.
The Jade Dew Pill!
The second-tier pill that had once allowed Luo Chen to gain a firm footing in Tianlan Immortal City and had been treasured by Fenghua Palace was equally popular within the Mingyuan Sect.
Facing this pill, Luo Chen was brimming with confidence.
The corresponding raw ingredients, refinement techniques, and specific properties all surged into his mind.
Luo Chen moved swiftly, decomposing the Jade Dew Pill without the slightest hitch.
Yet at the very end, as Luo Chen looked upon the ribbons of spiritual light, his face turned somewhat dark.
Most of the spiritual lights were clear and untainted, representing the purest raw materials.
However, one cluster among them had a muddy color and chaotic aura.
There was no need to state what that implied.
"A reverse-refinement that went so smoothly managed to decompose eighty percent of the materials, yet the final twenty percent failed to separate and became even more entangled!"
"Where did it go wrong?"
He halted his preparations for the next pill and began reflecting on this failure.
Indeed, even though eighty percent of the materials had been successfully extracted, failing on twenty percent of a pill he knew best still counted as a failure in Luo Chen's eyes!
One day, two days...
Several days later, Luo Chen awoke from deep contemplation with a spark of realization.
"Reverse-refinement and normal concoction are fundamentally different after all."
"Whether it is the techniques used, the general process, or even the depth and scale of spiritual power mobilized, corresponding adjustments must be made."
Luo Chen took a deep breath, gathered the successfully extracted ingredients, and set the failed portion aside on its own.
Then, he began reverse-refining the next pill.
During the process, Luo Chen murmured under his breath, "If only there were an alchemy technique specifically designed for reverse-refinement, that would make things infinitely easier."
That murmur slipped out and vanished; Luo Chen didn't give it much thought, taking it merely as a passing whim.
How could such an alchemy technique exist in this world?
Yet as successes and failures continued to alternate thereafter, that whimsical thought echoed louder and more violently in Luo Chen's mind.
A hundred pills—how many was that?
And how intricate were the required techniques!
Even though the constituent ingredients leaned toward those Luo Chen was familiar with, their sheer variety was vast as an ocean.
No matter how deep his alchemy foundation was, categorizing and reverse-refining them one by one to finish all hundred pills would take at least seven, eight, or perhaps more than a dozen years.
Yet before entering, the Mingyuan Sect Ancestor had granted only ten years!
Luo Chen halted his preparations to reverse-refine a third-tier pill, hesitation written across his face.
"If such an alchemy technique truly existed, it would settle everything once and for all!"
"I have mastered numerous alchemy arts, and most of them have reached peak perfection or the Great Circle. I have even dabbled in the alchemy techniques of the demon and fiend paths."
"Using these as a foundation, taking their strengths to mend weaknesses and bringing a hundred streams into one sea, creating a reverse-refinement technique is not necessarily a fool's dream."
"The only issue is time..."
Luo Chen looked at the more than seventy remaining pills, his hesitation deepening.
Suddenly!
His hesitation vanished, replaced entirely by resolve.
"To me, the Alchemy Saint's inheritance amounts to nothing more than a few high-tier recipes, some ancient alchemical texts, and at most some remnants of the Saint's legacy."
"Compared to the Heaven Refining Demon Lord's inheritance, it isn't truly vital."
"Conversely, if I can create an alchemy technique specifically for reverse-refinement, it will mark a monumental leap forward in my personal Dao of Alchemy!"
"This place is clearly the ideal opportunity to create an alchemy technique. How could I let it go to waste?"
Phew...
Luo Chen exhaled a long breath of turbid air, his mind fully made up.
He would seize this sudden spark of inspiration and the suitable environment of this place to attempt creating an alchemy technique of his own.
Even if it cost him the Alchemy Saint's inheritance, he would have no regrets!
"Let this Five Aggregates Pill be the first experimental subject!"
"The techniques used during its concoction are the Florescence Gathering Seal, Five Extremes Hand, and Falling Star Technique. Reverse-refining it should also rely on these techniques."
"If I invert the mudras and integrate them into basic alchemy techniques, could it succeed?"
***
Outside the Alchemy Saint Hall.
Ye Lingtian drifted down along the mountain walkway with ethereal steps.
He was the overseer for this opening of the Alchemy Saint Hall.
However, he wouldn't dedicate all his energy to guarding this place; in his spare time, he still cultivated in a fourth-tier abode within the mountains.
Upon arriving, he saw Lu Chun still seated stiffly outside the hall.
Ye Lingtian shook his head and walked over.
"Which year is this?"
Lu Chun answered reflexively, "The third year."
"The third year already! Who knows how things are going inside?" Ye Lingtian murmured, then frowned at Lu Chun. "Junior Brother, since you have already failed, why not return? Sitting here serves no purpose."
Lu Chun raised his head and said solemnly, "It does serve a purpose. Drawing on my memory, I have repeatedly replayed the first trial where I failed, and I have finally arrived at the solution. If the Alchemy Saint Hall opens again and the first trial remains the same, I am fully confident I will pass!"
"Heh."
Ye Lingtian gave a soft chuckle without arguing.
Where would one find so many "ifs" in this world?
Perhaps someone would clear all trials this very time and claim the Alchemy Saint's inheritance.
Even if everyone failed, the tests set by Chu Yan's arrangements would never remain identical the next time it opened.
Still, Lu Chun's talent was indeed commendable; relying solely on his own replay, he had identified the root of his mistake.
If he had kept this focus entirely on the Dao of Alchemy rather than taking unorthodox paths to forcibly push his cultivation realm, the outcome of this trial might have been different.
While the two were conversing, a gust of black wind suddenly swept outside the hall.
Ye Lingtian's expression shifted, and he barked in a low voice:
"Who goes there?"
The black wind dispersed, revealing an old man clad in dark robes.
His hair was grizzled white yet neatly combed.
Deep wrinkles lined his face, but his complexion was ruddy and full, brimming with vigorous spirit.
"Fellow Daoist Ye, have you forgotten even this old man?"
Ye Lingtian froze for a moment.
Beside him, Lu Chun had already risen with solemn respect, bowing deeply toward the newcomer.
"Junior Lu Chun pays his respects to Mister Xuan Yan!"
Mister Xuan Yan let out a hearty laugh and waved his hand. "Fellow Daoist Lu, why stand on such ceremony? You ceased being a junior long ago. Today, you and I are peers."
Lu Chun shook his head, declining to accept that framing.
Realization struck Ye Lingtian—so it was Mister Xuan Yan!
No wonder Lu Chun, despite also being in the Nascent Soul realm, referred to himself as a junior.
The man's age was unmatched among the Nascent Soul True Persons of the Mingyuan Sect.
At eleven hundred years old, he had reached the very limit of a Nascent Soul cultivator's lifespan!
Moreover, having stepped into the realm of an alchemy grandmaster extremely early, it could be said that most alchemists in the Mingyuan Sect—and indeed across the entire Eastern Desolation—were his juniors.
Even Alchemy Saint Chu Yan, who had already ascended!
Collecting himself, Ye Lingtian asked, "Mister Xuan Yan, what brings you here today?"
"What brings me?"
Mister Xuan Yan laughed heartily, taking a step toward the Alchemy Saint Hall.
"Before I depart this world, this old man wishes to see what that girl left behind."
The laughter still echoed in their ears, but his figure had already vanished into the misty clouds.
Ye Lingtian's mouth opened slightly, his expression shifting repeatedly, but in the end he did not stop him.
Mister Xuan Yan had contributed immensely to the Mingyuan Sect; even the rise of Alchemy Saint Chu Yan owed a measure of credit to him.
Although he was now advanced in years and clearly displaying the final burst of a dying ember, and even if obtaining the Alchemy Saint's inheritance would bring little practical benefit to the Mingyuan Sect, those past contributions gave Ye Lingtian no reason to deny an old man his final wish to look upon the remnants left by an old acquaintance before his death.
Still, this matter had to be reported to the three Ancestors.
Just as he expected, the reply from Mount Yanfu was brief:
"Let him go!"
Chapter 900