Chapter 1549 - Pill Spirit
Yang Kai had lost count of how many times he had repeated this process aboard the Starship, so he was crystal clear about each step.
He felt he had made no mistakes in the timing and temperature he used for each herb, but still hadn’t figured out why he wasn’t able to refine an Origin King Grade pill.
But now, he had an extremely bold conjecture; whether this idea could be realized or not had yet to be verified though, so he still acted extremely cautiously, not daring to show the slightest carelessness.
Each Origin King Grade herb was placed into the Purple Origin Furnace and under the tempering of Yang Kai’s Conflagrated Spiritual Energy, and with the help of various Spirit Arrays, these herbs were transformed into medicinal liquids, merged with each other, and underwent profound and mysterious changes.
Yang Kai’s demeanour became more and more focused, his actions of adding herbs becoming more and more careful. Each Spirit Array was portrayed precisely using his Conflagrated Divine Sense and inserted into the Purple Origin Furnace to assist with the refining of herbs at precisely the right time.
Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion without the slightest of mistakes.
As time went by little by little, fine beads of sweat began appearing on Yang Kai’s forehead.
Refining an Origin King Grade pill was still a great test for him, not only because of the demands on his Spiritual Energy control but also because of the psychological burden.
He felt a mountain of pressure.
Faint fragrances began diffusing from the Purple Origin Furnace, an indication that the various medicinal liquid had begun to fuse properly, a positive sign; however, Yang Kai did not celebrate yet.
During the two years aboard the Starship, he had smelled medicinal fragrances from the Purple Origin Furnace countless times, but never once had he succeeded in refining a true Spirit Pill, always winding up with burnt failed products.
It was what came next that was the most critical moment in Alchemy.
This was the final step in a thousand step journey, and as Yang Kai gently inhaled the medicinal fragrances, monitoring their development, he looked for a suitable opportunity.
The aroma gradually thickened, and soon, a unique medicinal fragrance filled the surrounding thousand-metre radius, refreshing the sense of all who smelt it.
At a certain moment, when this fragrance reached the height of its potency, Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly flashed brilliantly.
It was now!
Stretching out his hand, Yang Kai summoned a ball of gold and red light into his palm. Inside this ball of light was the phantom image of a Monster Beast that had been shrunk down countless times.
Blood Beast!
It was the Blood Beast that Yang Kai had just finished refining with his Golden Blood Thread.
Lifting the lid of the Purple Origin Furnace, Yang Kai tossed the Blood Beast inside.
Silently, under the huge power of his Conflagrated Spiritual Energy, the Blood Beast instantly dissipated and completely merged into the medicinal liquid inside the cauldron.
A faint bloody smell mixed in with the medicinal fragrance, but this did not create any sense of dissonance and instead only made the medicinal fragrance stronger.
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up, faintly feeling that he had grasped the key point, but still not daring to neglect. Quickly urging his Conflagrated Spiritual Energy, he continued to refine the medicinal liquid.
The knowledge he had gained from comprehending the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture was transformed into the foundation of Yang Kai’s Alchemy skill at this moment, and his movements flowed smoothly without any hint of delay.
The Blood Beast condensed from his Golden Blood Thread and the essence of a Monster Beast completely dissolved and transformed into a part of the medicinal liquid.
The Purple Origin Furnace shook suddenly, as if something unknown had happened inside, but Yang Kai quickly suppressed these tremors with his Conflagrated Divine Sense.
A clattering sound rang out from the Purple Origin Furnace, as if there was some kind of living creature hitting its walls, trying to escape.
Yang Kai remained focused, however.
After a half cup of tea’s time, the movement of the furnace gradually subsided.
Yang Kai retracted his Conflagrated Spiritual Energy and took a deep breath as he stared at the Purple Origin Furnace solemnly and hesitantly.
Whether he succeeded or failed would become clear in the next moment. Yang Kai couldn’t be sure which result he had achieved in his Alchemy this time, but at least, he didn’t smell anything burnt like before, so it was a good start.
After hesitating for a long time, Yang Kai stretched out his hand towards his Purple Origin Furnace.
Whatever the result was, it was better to simply take action and find out.
The lid of the Purple Origin Furnace’s was lifted by Yang Kai, and at that moment, a stream of light flew out, circling only once before trying to flee towards the distance.
“Where are you trying to run!” Yang Kai shouted as he stretched out his hand towards the streak of light, swiftly grasping it.
Although he grabbed hold of this stream of light, Yang Kai still held it gently as he felt it struggling and resisting. Soon, this struggle subsided, as if whatever it was had accepted its fate.
Yang Kai opened his fist and stared at his palm carefully.
A pale, silver pill, about the size of a longan, appeared before his eyes, and although its fragrance was not as strong as when it was being refined, when Yang Kai inhaled this scent it gave him a completely different feeling than previously.
It was significantly more refreshing than before.
An Origin King Grade Spirit Pill! Under the examination of Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, he could determine that the medicinal efficacies contained in this Spirit Pill were indeed Origin King Grade, and although it was only a Low-Rank Origin King Grade pill, it was of extremely high quality.
Yang Kai’s face filled with joy as he carefully studied this pill, letting out a hearty laugh after a while.
He finally understood the meaning of the phrase, ‘only if a pill had a spirit could it be called a Spirit Pill’.
This Origin King Grade Spirit Pill was the best proof.
His Golden Blood Thread was rich in spirituality, and the Blood Beast which had been transformed from his Golden Blood Thread was even more so. As such, using that Blood Beast during the refinement process had allowed Yang Kai to produce an Origin King Grade Spirit Pill.
It could be said that before he refined this pill, everything had only been speculation. But now, it had turned into confirmation.
A pill would not obtain spirituality for no reason. Even peak level Origin King Grade herbs could not possibly possess spirituality unless they had mutated to become World Spirit Treasures that had their own sense of sentience.
As such, one needed to use something that had spirituality to refine it.
In other words, a pill spirit! As long as Yang Kai could imbue a pill spirit, he could refine Origin King Grade Spirit Pills!
His Blood Beast has served as the pill spirit of this Spirit Pill.
It was when Yang Kai saw the rich spirituality of his Blood Beast that he suddenly had an epiphany and after trying it out, it worked just as he suspected.
Yang Kai didn’t know how other Origin King Grade Alchemists refined their Origin King Grade pills, but the method he now used was perfectly acceptable. The True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture had not clearly guided him to this result, it was an original method he had developed all on his own.
If one thousand Alchemists studied the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture, they would produce one thousand different interpretations.
Yang Kai had now discovered his own Alchemic Way from the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture!
The pill in hand was a Three Spirits Cleansing Pill that could be used to increase one’s cultivation. In terms of Origin King Grade pills, it wasn’t very high grade, and although its value was still quite good, it was by no means a Heaven defying treasure.
At the very least, it was a bit wasteful to use a Blood Beast refined from a Golden Blood Thread as its pill spirit.
Although the method Yang Kai had discovered was feasible, if he were to really use this method for all his Alchemy in the future, it likely wouldn’t be long before Yang Kai exhausted his supply of Golden Blood Threads.
Yang Kai couldn’t afford this kind of consumption.
But how could he improve upon this result?
Yang Kai was not satisfied with this momentary success and instead fell into contemplation.
Soon, he had a new idea.
Since a Blood Beast, which had spirituality, could become a pill spirit, then perhaps a pure Golden Blood Thread or even just a drop of his Golden Blood would suffice.
Additionally… Perhaps the spirit of a Monster Beast could also be used.
As soon as he thought of this, Yang Kai immediately went into action and began verifying his own ideas.
Half a day later, another Three Spirits Cleansing Pill appeared in Yang Kai’s hands. This Spirit Pill had been refined using a drop of Yang Kai’s Golden Blood.
Comparing the two Spirit Pills together, Yang Kai surprisingly discovered that the first batch of Three Spirits Cleansing Pill he had refined actually had a denser medicinal efficacy than the second batch.
Realizing this, Yang Kai adjusted his thinking again.
Instead of continuing with his Alchemy, Yang Kai began searching for appropriate Monster Beasts in the jungle.
One month later, Yang Kai held a jade bottle in his hand. This bottle was filled with Origin King Grade Spirit Pills, each one a pale silver colour.
In order to refine this bottle of Three Spirits Cleansing Pill, Yang Kai had expended a great deal of effort. The number of Monster Beasts above the Eighth-Order he had killed alone numbered several dozen.
After some experiments, he determined that his previous ideas were feasible.
To refine an Origin King Grade Spirit Pill, he didn’t need to use his own Golden Blood as a pill spirit. Any existence that had spirituality and did not conflict with the herbs could become a pill spirit!
For example, the spirit of a Monster Beast.
Yang Kai had his Demon Eye of Annihilation, and it had incorporated the power of the Coloured Glass Divine Light, so it was an easy task for him to suppress and collect the Soul of a Monster Beast. By integrating this Monster Beast spirit with the necessary herbs, he could give the pill spirituality.
However, Origin King Grade Spirit Pills had high requirements for their pill spirits. The spirit of a Seventh-Order Monster Beast was completely insufficient, Eighth-Order was passable, while Ninth-Order was the best choice. If he could use the spirit of a Tenth-Order Monster Beast, Yang Kai felt he could even refine a Spirit Pill that formed Pill Veins!
In addition to Monster Beast spirits, World Spirit Treasures that had formed sentience could also fulfil the role of a pill spirit.
The higher the grade of pill spirit used was directly related to the probability of successfully refining a Spirit Pill. After many experiments and failures, Yang Kai had created a basic framework for success.
He had gained a lot!
One month’s hard work had resulted in a bottle of Origin King Grade Spirit Pills and consumed countless materials, but it also marked his official promotion to Origin King Grade Alchemist, allowing Yang Kai to stand at the pinnacle of the Star Field’s Alchemic Way.
His method of refinement was his own original creation, and only he could use it.
It would be extremely difficult for others to capture the spirit of a dead Monster Beast and integrate during pill refinement, so even if someone were to steal Yang Kai’s Alchemy method, they wouldn’t be able to use it unless they cultivated a special Soul type Secret Technique which allowed them to produce similar results.
The sublimation of Yang Kai’s Alchemy’s skills had also deepened his understanding of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, so although his cultivation realm hadn’t changed much, his mastery of his strength was far superior to a month ago.
After becoming an Origin King Grade Alchemist, the next step Yang Kai needed to take was to study a particular Alchemy technique.
He had always thought that only one pill could be refined from a single batch of herbs.
This was also how he had done things since he began performing Alchemy years.
But the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture had put forward a different and revolutionary opinion.
Supposedly, one batch of herbs could actually be used to refine more than one pill. Using this method, if one’s luck was bad, perhaps they would only be able to refine three to five pills at once, but with good luck and skill, one could refine seven or eight pills at once, while a perfect result would yield a full ten pills.
This theory allowed Yang Kai to peer into a far vaster Alchemy world.
However, to produce such an astonishing result, one needed to utilize a special technique at the exact moment before pills were formed. This required a lot of experience and skill and was not something every Alchemist could accomplish.
