Chapter 454: Opening the Furnace and Concocting Pills
Translator: _Dark_Angel_ Editor: Kurisu
Ling Han had indeed decided to certify as a Heaven Grade alchemist on an impulse.
An eighteen-year-old Heaven Grade alchemist was too dazzling a presence; furthermore, he had yet to build up his own power base. If some sect like the Winter Moon Sect or the Beast Emperor Sect secretly kidnapped and imprisoned him to force him to concoct alchemical pills, what was he to do?
…On the surface, there was indeed no one who would dare do anything damaging to a Heaven Grade alchemist, but in secret, hehe.
After all, in this whole world, there were only two Heaven Grade alchemists!
Ling Han possessed the Black Tower and it was indeed enough to allow him to protect himself, but if the secret of the Black Tower was leaked, he could possibly encounter even more trouble. Just look, hadn't the Thousand Corpse Sect already taken note of him?
However, for his father's sake, Ling Han chose to be rash. He definitely needed to obtain the Nine Leaf Black Ganoderma so that he could concoct the Restore Spirit Pill.
The problem now was, could he actually concoct Heaven Grade alchemical pills? After all, he now only had a Spiritual Pedestal Tier cultivation level, and in theory, the highest grade he could concoct would be Earth Grade mid level pills. With the Strange Fire thrown into the mix, Earth Grade high level pills should be no problem, but Heaven Grade… it was a matter of chance!
He could only hope that Small Fire had been terribly trained enough in the Black Tower and thus had a big power upgrade; otherwise, there was really a chance he could fail. Losing face was not that important, but the important thing here would be that he would not be able to snatch back the Nine Leaf Black Ganoderma.
Ling Han gathered his scattered thoughts, and drew out a stalk of Spirit Heart Heaven Spring Bamboo from within the Black Tower.
This was a Spirit Herb that could be used to concoct the most commonly seen Return Origin Pill which was used to replenish Origin Power. However, the Spring Heart Heaven Spring Bamboo was used to concoct a high grade Return Origin Pill. A ten-year-old herb could allow a Spiritual Infant Tier cultivator to instantly recover one tenth of his Origin Power, a hundred-year-old one was effective for a Deity Transformation Tier cultivator, whereas a thousand-year-old herb could be used by a Heaven Tier cultivator.
Ling Han obtained a hundred-year-old Spirit Heart Heaven Spring Bamboo in the Devil Sky Mystery Realm which, after close to a year of growing in the Black Tower, had now reached a thousand years old, and could now be used to concoct the highest grade Return Origin Pill.
An alchemical pill that was to be used by a Heaven Tier cultivator was naturally a Heaven Grade alchemical pill.
Though Heaven Grade alchemical pills could also be categorized into low, mid, and high level pills, because the pill grade was too high, Heaven Grade low level pills were directly referred to as Heaven Grade. Heaven Grade mid level pills were called Saint Grade, and Heaven Grade high level pills were called Immortal Grade.
Saint Grade alchemical pills were effective for Shattering Void Tier cultivators, whereas Immortal Grade pills truly did not belong to this world.
In his last life, Ling Han could concoct out Saint Grade alchemical pills, and had touched a bit on Immortal Grade alchemical pills as well. He had even found some substitute ingredients and managed to concoct pseudo-Immortal Grade alchemical pills, which also proved that his talent in alchemy was unparalleled in both ancient and modern times, and was extremely awesome.
The name of Alchemy Emperor was not something that had come from mere praise, but had been obtained through genuine talent and skill!
Those two Heaven Grade alchemists of the middle state should be Heaven Grade low level alchemists. A great lapse in the passing down of alchemical knowledge had absolutely no relation with how prosperous the environment was for martial arts, and there was no way they could become Saint Grade.
Though Heaven Grade Return Origin Pill was the most common kind and most worthless Heaven Grade alchemical pill, no matter how ordinary or trashy it was, it was still a Heaven Grade alchemical pill. It could not be concocted by any kind of Earth Grade alchemist, and would be more than enough for him to pass the certification.
More importantly, he did not have any other Heaven Grade ingredients.
Ling Han began to sort the ingredients. The Spirit Heart Heaven Spring Bamboo was the main ingredient, but other supplementary ingredients were needed as well. His movements were natural and smooth, making all those alchemsits who were observing him from outside dumbfounded. Sorting out ingredients could actually be done so elegantly, and actually seem so beautiful.
Zhu Xuan Er's heart throbbed loudly. Though she had been called the greatest beauty of the north region, and one of the strongest of the younger generation, if you were to ask her if she could actually speak with a Heaven Grade alchemist, then that would be mere fantasy for her!
In the whole middle state, there were only two Heaven Grade alchemists, and their status could be considered to be on par with Shattering Void Tier ultimate elites; was she qualified to converse with an ultimate elite cultivator of the Shattering Void Tier?
Of course not!
Thus, Tang Zu Ming's threat and temptation was extremely effective; if she wanted to ask those two Heaven Grade alchemists to concoct alchemical pills, making her request through their younger descendants was the most effective method. Otherwise, Zhu Xuan Er could only wait until she had developed to the level that even Heaven Grade alchemists would have to give her some face—the Shattering Void Tier!
Setting aside the question whether Zhu Xuan Er would be able to advance to the Shattering Void Tier, even if she could, when would that be?
But if Ling Han could successfully become a Heaven Grade alchemist…!
Zhu Xuan Er's heart throbbed uncontrollably. She should be considered Ling Han's friend, right? And since they were friends, then helping her out should not be anything too difficult for him, right?
In this moment, she hoped tremendously that Ling Han could succeed.
Tang Zu Ming sneered. There were a total of twenty-seven Earth Grade high level alchemists in the middle state and they have been barraging the doorstep to become a Heaven Grade alchemist for a whole hundred years, but ultimately, none managed to take this final step. What was the reason for that?
That one step was much, much too hard to breach!
An eighteen-year-old youngster wanted to succeed, that was really much too naïve of him!
However, he was still quite astonished by Ling Han's movements, because he, too, was a genius alchemist who was already a Black Grade high level alchemist in his mere twenties, which was proof enough of his extraordinary talent in alchemy. Ling Han's movements were much too practiced, and made him feel inferior. He even had the thought to stealthily learn, but looking at how his movements seemed blurred to the eye, he had absolutely no idea where to begin stealthily learning from.
At first, it was quite noisy, but an absolute silence had fallen over them all in this moment. They were all watching Ling Han quietly; the rhythm of his movements actually caused a powerful resonance to arise in all of them, as if something was about to gush out from within their bodies.
After sorting the ingredients, Ling Han entered into the purification stage. Those amazing movements of his naturally caused his audience to be shocked and stunned, and quite a number even exclaimed in surprise, but they were quickly silenced by multiple disdainful looks from their companions.
The most important stage was here, and that was the pill concoction stage.
No matter how beautifully you sorted the ingredients, or how amazingly you had purified the them, if you were not able to concoct the alchemical pill, then everything would be worthless.
Ling Han sharpened his focus and calmed his emotions. Then he summoned the Strange Fire and thought, 'Small Fire, it's up to you now.'
Hong , a crimson red flame suddenly arose. If one looked closely enough, there was actually a small spot of purple in the heart of the flame, making it appear out of the ordinary.
Ling Han was surprised; Small Fire was indeed very different from before.
Compared to how it was early on, after Small Fire swallowed another Strange Fire, there would indeed be a great power upgrade, but the greater change should have originated from being upgraded by the Black Tower, making it really experience a true rebirth.
Heaven Grade alchemical pill, there was hope!
The flames roared fiercely, and the light of the fire shone brilliantly.
"No way, to use such a powerful flame right from the very beginning, isn't he afraid that he would lose control?"
"That's right, the furnace could explode at any moment."
Immediately, a great number of people began to shake their heads. Ling Han's skill in sorting out the ingredients and purifiying them made them feel ashamed of their inferiority, but his skill in pill concoction, ai, it was really a bit poor! Such a person managed to become an Earth Grade alchemist too? Probably mere boasting!
Though many aged, serious-looking elders did not say a thing, their eyes revealed their disappointment. At first, they had really thought that Ling Han was slightly assured of his success based on how aggressive and confident he had been. They had never thought that it was a mere show of false bravado from him.
Ai, the latter was only a youngster, so why had they, for some unknown reason, placed their faith in him?
What a joke!
The furnace fire burned fiercely, reaching all the way to ceiling, forcing Ling Han to have no choice but to activate his Thunder Battle Armor to withstand such extreme heat.
One hour, two hours, three hours, time passed extremely quickly.
"Yi, so much time has already passed, but why has the furnace not exploded yet?"
"That's right; it's at least been three hours, so shouldn't it have long since exploded?"
"Could it be that there is some hope for success?"
"Impossible! I would guess that the ingredients he used were not Heaven Grade in the first place, and he is simply concocting a false Heaven Grade alchemical pill!"
"Hey, hey, hey. He couldn't have been so reckless, could he?"
The spectators all discussed spiritedly, whereas Tang Zu Ming simply broke out into uproarious laughter; how could Heaven Grade alchemical pills be so easily concocted? Ling Han must have failed early on, and was merely adamant on not admitting his defeat now. He had to be merely putting on a farce now for the sake of his pride.