"Mister Xuan Yan, why have you come?"
Chen Mozi, who had been sitting stiffly in silence just a moment ago, rose respectfully to his feet the instant he caught sight of the elder.
*Mister Xuan Yan?*
Luo Chen looked in astonishment at the elder who had serenely stepped into view.
Clad in a plain dark robe, the man possessed an air that was unpretentious yet dignified and grand. His face was flushed with ruddy vitality, bearing none of the decrepitude whispered of in rumors.
Hadn't Ye Lingtian said that he had no intention of meddling with the Alchemy Saint's inheritance?
Why was he here today?
Mister Xuan Yan gave a warm smile. "Staying up on the peak for too long inevitably gets lonely. When I heard less than a year ago that you young fellows had entered the Alchemy Saint Hall, I thought I'd stretch my legs and come have a look. Am I not welcome?"
"No, no, no, how could you not be welcome, Elder?"
Chen Mozi waved his hands repeatedly. Though his demeanor was not servile, it was filled with deep reverence.
Mister Xuan Yan had held many Daoist titles in his past, but there was a good reason everyone had ultimately come to address him as "Mister."
In his early years, he had cared nothing for sect or clan, completely unconcerned with lineage and bloodline ties.
Even as his sect fell into decline, he had made no effort to turn the tide, dedicating himself entirely to the Dao of Alchemy.
Yet he was never stingy about passing on his alchemical insights, frequently lending a helping hand to younger generations who were starved for knowledge.
Whenever someone asked to become his formal disciple, they were usually turned away, because he had no desire to be dragged down by mundane responsibilities. Even his decision to join the Mingyuan Sect had merely been for convenience—finding a backer so he could research alchemy in peace. Down to this day, well over a thousand years later, he had only a single personal disciple and an attendant boy, now the Medicine Emperor, who had once tended fires and sorted herbs for him.
Even juniors such as Alchemy Saint Chu Yan, Chu Yu, and Lu Chun of the Mingyuan Sect had all received his personal guidance at one time or another.
Unable to address him as Master, everyone respectfully called him "Mister" instead.
Chen Mozi was no exception. His ability to pass the second stage this time owed just as much to Mister Xuan Yan's guidance all those years ago as it did to his own competence.
Luo Chen, meanwhile, was thoroughly shaken.
From the elder's casual remark, he had picked up a crucial detail: "less than a year ago!"
In other words, from the moment this elder stepped into the hall to clearing both stages back-to-back, less than a single year had passed!
Even if he had cleared the trials in the past, the trials of the Alchemy Saint Hall were constantly evolving.
To pass so swiftly was testament to the staggering depth of his foundation and the terrifying height of his alchemical attainments!
As Luo Chen stood in shock, Mister Xuan Yan turned a pair of curious eyes in his direction.
"The Alchemy Grandmaster?"
Luo Chen quickly gathered his composure and bowed deeply in a formal Daoist greeting.
"Before you, Mister, I would never dare claim the title of Alchemy Grandmaster. Please just call me Luo Chen."
"Haha, so humble!"
Mister Xuan Yan gave a hearty laugh, stroking his whiskers as if reminiscing about the distant past.
"When I was your age, I had no idea what humility even was."
His tone then shifted.
"To breeze through two consecutive stages on your first time participating in the trials Chu Yan left behind—you are an Alchemy Grandmaster in every sense of the word!"
Luo Chen demurred once more. "Mister praises me too highly."
Chen Mozi, standing beside them, could contain himself no longer and hurriedly asked, "Mister, how should we pass this third stage?"
Mister Xuan Yan waved a hand dismissively. "How else? Select suitable ingredients from what you already have, assemble a pill recipe, and refine it. For people like us, isn't that just our daily bread?"
Chen Mozi opened his mouth, caught between speechlessness and sheer helplessness.
"Mister, how could it possibly be that simple?!"
Mister Xuan Yan's smile faded, replaced by solemn gravity. "Do you think achieving the realm of a Grandmaster was simple, then? Grandmasters of our caliber should naturally disregard trials and hardships, advancing forward with absolute resolve. Even if you have only a single attempt, you must possess enough confidence that you will certainly succeed! That is the pride of an Alchemy Grandmaster!"
Chen Mozi said with a bitter tone, "But if it fails..."
Mister Xuan Yan spoke no further. Instead, he made his way to an earthfire vent and released his own alchemy furnace.
One after another, he began casting into it the materials he had reverse-refined during the second stage. A black flame sparked from his fingertips, immediately engulfing the furnace.
It was as if he had already decided exactly what pill to refine before he had even set foot in the third stage.
Luo Chen stopped watching the elder's movements.
The three successive trials were linked step-by-step, and each person's ultimate result was bound to be distinct.
From identifying pills by scent to tracing origins through reverse-refinement, and finally to concocting a pill on a single attempt, every participant had chosen different pills and extracted different materials. Naturally, the pill recipes they devised on their own would also be unique.
He pulled his attention back to his own predicament.
What kind of pill should he refine using the raw ingredients he had reverse-refined?
His gaze swept across the more than one hundred purified raw materials before him, every name and medicinal property intimately familiar to him.
Stream angelica, Qi lotus, turbulent duckweed, ghost pepperweed seed, heavenly thunder vine...
Dried ginger, fleshy cornus, six suns stone, flame cloud smoke...
As the names of these herbs floated through his mind, realization dawned upon Luo Chen.
During the first stage of identifying pills by scent, he had instinctively chosen pills of the water and fire attributes, the ones he knew best. As a result, most of the raw materials he recovered from reverse-refinement in the second stage also fell into these two categories.
This was deeply rooted in his past alchemical experience.
Early on, the Jade Marrow Pill, Nether-Passage Pill, Jade Dew Pill, and similar medicines he concocted were predominantly Yin-cold in nature, while the Blood Fiend and Dust-Settling Pills were fire-attribute.
Back then, however, things had been mixed together, with no shortage of hybrid-attribute medicines like the Fanxing Pill.
It was only after going to the North Sea that he gradually abandoned mixed-attribute concoctions like the Fanxing Pill and devoted himself purely to the paths of water and fire.
The alchemical style in the North Sea relied heavily on water-attribute herbs and demonic beasts, so he had frequently refined water-attribute pills there.
Yet because his core cultivation art was fire-based, he had routinely needed to refine top-grade fire pills like the True Flame Pill for his own cultivation.
In the end, this had fostered a distinct personal preference for these two types of ingredients.
*So right now, what should be the primary ingredient, and what attribute should the pill have?*
Scanning the materials, Luo Chen momentarily felt at a loss for where to begin.
Among the more than one hundred raw ingredients, there were over a dozen primary materials of the fourth and even fifth tier, a dizzying array of options.
Suddenly!
Luo Chen's eyes locked onto a blob of bright red liquid that looked just like liquid fire.
This was flameflow marrow!
Luo Chen was no stranger to this material, as Fu Chaosheng had once gifted him a portion back in the Central Plains.
The reason his source true fire had been able to advance to the fifth tier was precisely because it had absorbed that portion of flameflow marrow, vastly increasing its spirituality and providing the subsequent opportunity for breakthrough.
However, Luo Chen was far more accustomed to calling flameflow marrow by the name Demonic Lord Liantian had used: Withered Source Fire Marrow!
This was simply because that name was far more vivid and intuitive.
Withered Source Fire Marrow was born from the withered origin grounds left behind after a powerful, exotic flame departed, and it possessed a wide variety of miraculous uses.
Most notably, within the alchemical heritage Demonic Lord Liantian had left behind, there was a fourth-tier pill recipe recorded under the name "Liangyi Pill."
By taking Withered Source Fire Marrow and a unique spiritual liquid from the Demonic Realm as primary ingredients, one could refine this pill. Consuming it over a prolonged period would temper a cultivator's true fire, causing it to gradually evolve until it transformed into a formidable divine flame known as the Yin-Yang Ultimate Flame!
When Luo Chen had first obtained that portion of Withered Source Fire Marrow from Fu Chaosheng, his immediate thought had been to refine the Liangyi Pill. Unfortunately, lacking the necessary supplementary ingredients, he had ended up feeding it to the Wither-Bloom True Fire instead.
And now...
Luo Chen's gaze drifted uncontrollably across the remaining primary materials, finally settling upon a pool of shimmering azure liquid.
That was Nether Cold Spring!
It was harvested from the very bottom of the Nether Abyss, which had guarded the Mingyuan Sect for three millennia.
In terms of inherent properties, it was not the least bit inferior to that specialized spiritual liquid from the Demonic Realm.
*If I use the two of them as the primary ingredients and supplement them with the other rare materials here, can I restructure the recipe for the Liangyi Pill?*
For a moment, Luo Chen's heart raced with excitement.
***
Inside the Earthfire Main Hall, waves of heat rolled through the air.
Three figures occupied three separate corners, each engrossed in their own task.
Mister Xuan Yan refined his pill with leisurely, unhurried grace. Luo Chen wrote furiously, his brow alternating between deep furrows and delighted smiles. Chen Mozi, meanwhile, remained paralyzed by indecision.
Though there seemed to be an undercurrent of competition among them, the overall atmosphere remained remarkably harmonious.
Time trickled past, and in barely a month, an extraordinary fragrance began to waft through the hall.
Jarred from his deep contemplation, Luo Chen snapped to attention, his eyes turning in unison with Chen Mozi's toward the far side of the room.
Smiling faintly, Mister Xuan Yan struck a series of hand seals into the furnace lid.
With a soft cry, he commanded, "Open!"
The furnace lid flew up, and a fist-sized black pill slowly drifted into the air.
Luo Chen and Chen Mozi exchanged a glance. *Did he succeed?*
Mister Xuan Yan reached out and beckoned, drawing the fist-sized black pill into his palm. He looked at it, his brow creasing slightly.
"The quality is mediocre, and the medicinal potency isn't concentrated enough. Still, this Limit Exhaustion Pill counts as finished. Passable, I suppose!"
With that, his gaze swept over the two men before coming to rest on Chen Mozi.
Amid Chen Mozi's astonishment, the black pill was tossed lightly into his arms.
"This?" Chen Mozi sputtered in bewilderment.
Mister Xuan Yan offered a gentle smile. "This is a fourth-tier pill I created in my later years, named Limit Exhaustion. I originally hoped to rely on it to break past the Nascent Soul limit and ascend to Soul Formation, but it was missing something after all. It could only remain at the fourth tier, falling short of the fifth.
"Even though it cannot bridge the major realm into Soul Formation, it still holds some use. It can help a Nascent Soul cultivator advance by a minor sub-stage.
"Of course, to people like us, cultivation realm is important, yet not that important.
"The reason I am giving this pill to you is in the hope that you will embody its name: when pushed to your limits, seek change. Do not spend your entire life clinging blindly to rigid rules, merely trying to follow in the footsteps of predecessors.
"Otherwise, even if you become a Grandmaster, you will only ever be a synthesist, never a trailblazing founder!"
Without waiting for Chen Mozi to decline, he turned and strode briskly toward the exit of the Earthfire Main Hall.
Regardless of how dissatisfied he was with the outcome of this refinement, he had undeniably succeeded.
The gates to the fourth stage had swung wide open for him.
A wisp of cloud and mist swept over, wrapping around Mister Xuan Yan and vanishing from the Earthfire Main Hall along with him.
Cradling the fist-sized black pill in his hands, Chen Mozi fell into stunned silence.
On the other side of the room, Luo Chen's eyes were wide with shock.
*He tried to invent a pill recipe to break through into the Soul Formation stage?!*
*What monumental ambition Mister Xuan Yan has!*
Though this world possessed Foundation Establishment Pills, Liquid Condensation Pills, and even Nascent Soul Formation Pills, pills that could overcome the bottleneck to the Soul Formation stage were entirely unheard of.
The elder had attempted to walk a path never trodden by those before him, seeking to achieve godhood through alchemy.
Regrettably, he seemed to have failed, unable to refine a fifth-tier Limit Exhaustion Pill.
Even so, for a fourth-tier Limit Exhaustion Pill to forcibly propel a Nascent Soul cultivator forward by a minor sub-stage was already utterly miraculous.
Across the nine layers of Nascent Soul, which layer did not require a cultivator to expend monstrous effort to cultivate bit by bit?
A single pill that could save decades, or even a century, of bitter cultivation...
*Tsk, why couldn't he have given it to me?* Luo Chen muttered inwardly, though he wasn't genuinely envious.
He knew full well that he had no ties to Mister Xuan Yan. No matter how much the elder enjoyed supporting juniors, such benefits would never fall into his lap.
Glancing at the dazed Chen Mozi, Luo Chen returned to developing his recipe for the Liangyi Pill.
Because the primary materials differed from the original recipe left by the Demonic Lord, he had to inject his own understanding to forge a brand-new formula on that foundation, which was extraordinarily difficult.
Demonic Lord Liantian had been a supreme existence at the pinnacle of alchemy, someone beyond mere titles like Grandmaster or Saint.
Except for formulas he had acquired from others, any recipe he devised had undoubtedly been refined to its absolute limit.
How could modifying and evolving such a thing ever be simple?
Yet Luo Chen refused to give up!
It wasn't because Chu Yan's legacy was within arm's reach. After all, Mister Xuan Yan had already advanced to the final stage. Judging by the elder's overwhelming performance, the legacy would nine times out of ten belong to him; Luo Chen saw no need to scramble for it.
He simply couldn't bear to let these rare raw materials he had reverse-refined go to waste.
If he could truly use them to experiment and craft a brand-new pill recipe, the benefits to him would be immense.
He had no interest in the so-called Yin-Yang Ultimate Flame, but nestled inside his Purple Mansion was a Nirvana Holy Fire that had only recently been born!
The Liangyi Pill possessed the property of promoting the growth and metamorphosis of true fires.
If he could refine one or two pills, it might help the Nirvana Holy Fire safely navigate its most fragile infancy.
*Thank goodness I passed that second stage earlier!*
Luo Chen felt a surge of gratitude.
Modifying the Demonic Lord's recipe was far too difficult.
In the past, he certainly wouldn't have possessed the ability.
Yet after undergoing the second stage and grasping the underlying essence of medicinal herbs, his comprehension of their properties had reached an entirely new depth.
Only because of this did he possess the confidence to attempt it.
Even with his vast foundation and deeper insight into the essence of ingredients, Luo Chen's progress in modifying the formula remained agonizingly slow.
Inside the Earthfire Main Hall, silence reigned supreme.
Days slipped away one after another—one month, two months, half a year, an entire year...
After enduring a full year, Chen Mozi finally moved.
As if having steeled his resolve, he produced a square bronze cauldron and carefully placed his reverse-refined materials inside, one by one.
Meanwhile, Luo Chen's work seemed to have reached its culmination as well.
A notification was flashing across his attribute panel:
*[Liangyi Pill, complete fourth-tier pill recipe. Mastery initiation available.]*
*[Initiate mastery?]*
The answer was naturally yes. It was only the fourth tier, costing a mere ten achievement points.
With a thought, a new entry surfaced upon the panel:
*[Liangyi Pill: Initiation (1/100)]*
Now, it was time to put it to the test and actually refine the pill.
Yet at this very moment, a trace of hesitation instinctively crept into Luo Chen's heart.
He had only a single set of raw materials. What if he failed?
The answer to that question surfaced in an instant!
Because Chen Mozi had asked Mister Xuan Yan the very same thing earlier.
The elder hadn't answered, and Luo Chen hadn't dwelled on it at the time.
Why dwell on it at all?
Which of them, as alchemists, hadn't crawled their way forward through countless failures?
One had to dare to try, dare to take action, and possess the resolve to accept failure.
An alchemist had to have confidence!
Even if there was only one chance!
With a carefree smile, Luo Chen waved his sleeve and summoned the Hunyuan Cauldron.
*Clang!*
The ten-foot-tall Hunyuan Cauldron settled down firmly over the earthfire vent, letting out a deep, resonant hum.
Luo Chen activated the array formations, channeling the earthfire to preheat the cauldron.
Alerted by that heavy metallic chime, Chen Mozi looked over from across the hall.
Perhaps because Mister Xuan Yan was already far ahead of them, his displayed power so overwhelming that both men had tacitly accepted where the Alchemy Saint's legacy would end up, there were no sparks of rivalry when their eyes met—only calm serenity.
"Luo Chen... I wish you success," Chen Mozi said quietly, his tone betraying neither warmth nor deceit.
Luo Chen smiled faintly. "I wish you swift success as well, Fellow Daoist!"
Whatever petty calculations had lingered in their minds before, they dissolved into nothingness in this moment.
Fellow travelers on the same path, even if they could not be kindred spirits, had no reason to bare their fangs at one another when there was no direct conflict of interest.
*Boom!*
The flames surged into life.
Chapter 902