Yang Kai truly had no idea how to create a Pill Cloud.
When he'd refined that last Lihuo Pill, his mind had been utterly clear—no pressure, no distractions—just an unshakable belief that he would succeed.
When the pill was completed, Yang Kai distinctly felt a portion of his vitality being stripped away, which was why he was now so thoroughly weakened.
If not for the Demon God's Golden Blood running through his veins and his extraordinarily robust life force, that final stripping alone would have killed him on the spot.
That Lihuo Pill wasn't just a pill—it was a life!
That was why it now pulsed with vitality and brimming energy, enough to leave even Zong Ao in awe.
Despite having pulled it off once, if asked to do it again, Yang Kai couldn't replicate the result no matter what. The version of himself in that moment had possessed a fearless, all-or-nothing resolve—a feeling he could no longer summon.
After laying it all out for Zong Ao, the old man finally calmed down. He consoled his wounded pride with a self-deceptive spiel about "artistic conception," claiming that Yang Kai had produced the Pill Cloud purely due to his exceptional state of mind.
Having devoted centuries to studying alchemy only to be outdone by a youth not yet thirty—Zong Ao felt as though his entire life had been wasted. The shame and frustration were almost more than he could bear.
But at least he wasn't about to die. He still had plenty of time to keep researching.
At the Hengluo Trading Company branch palace, Yang Kai had moved Xue Yue there and administered the freshly refined Lihuo Pill. Once her vital signs stabilized, he stepped out of the room.
He rounded a few corners and found Harika, Lin Mufeng, and the rest gathered around Zong Ao, showering him with flattery, their faces plastered with sycophantic smiles, heaping praise on the elder for being "strong with age" and "vigorous in his twilight years," marveling that his alchemy skills were nothing short of miraculous—producing a Pill Cloud just like that. Truly a figure worthy of admiration.
Even the top Void King-grade alchemists elsewhere in the Star Field couldn't manage such a thing. They were merely a notch above Zong Ao in alchemist rank—that was all. A bunch of fame-seekers with no real skill to speak of, not worth a fraction of the elder's prowess!
Zong Ao's aged face flushed crimson as he endured their relentless flattery with barely concealed impatience. He wanted to send them away but lacked the nerve, and holding back was torture.
The worst part was that Harika and Lin Mufeng—those idiots—had no ability to read the room. They assumed he was enjoying it and doubled down, flattering him even more shamelessly against whatever remained of their better judgment. The old man's expression only grew darker.
It wasn't until Yang Kai strolled out looking perfectly relaxed that the group finally stopped their bootlicking. They all stared at him with odd expressions—Harika even quietly gave Yang Kai a thumbs-up, his face full of admiration—before he and Lin Mufeng threw arms around each other's shoulders and took their leave.
The two of them retreating together carried a distinct air of complicity.
Yang Kai approached Zong Ao with a bewildered look, having no idea what their strange glances meant.
"Kid, you just handed all that incredible benefit to me?" Zong Ao said in his unhurried way, lifting a teacup and taking a small sip. "Being able to produce a Pill Cloud and generate Pill Veins at a steady thirty to forty percent rate—with just that skill alone, you could become an honored guest of the Hengluo Trading Company. No one would dare cross you. You'd have your own territory, servants, beautiful attendants, the highest standard of treatment. Everything others chase their entire lives would be handed to you on a platter. And with the Hengluo Trading Company's resources, nurturing your growth would be child's play. You could reap the greatest returns in the shortest time. I simply can't understand—why didn't you tell them you refined that Lihuo Pill yourself? Instead you made this old man step forward to take the fall, handing over all the credit and the reputation!"
Harika, Lin Mufeng, and the rest all believed that the Lihuo Pill with the Pill Cloud had been Zong Ao's work, because that was what Yang Kai had said from the start. And Zong Ao hadn't bothered to correct them, which only deepened their conviction.
That was why they'd been laying it on so thick.
Yang Kai sat down beside him, poured himself a cup of tea, drained it in one gulp, and chuckled: "Come now, Elder Zong, don't play dumb with me. Everyone knows the saying—the tree that towers above the forest will be destroyed by the wind. I'm not even thirty yet. Sure, I have a few small tricks, but my cultivation realm is still far too low. A gift and reputation this enormous? I can't handle that kind of attention. Only you, Elder—with your distinguished reputation and your title as a master alchemist—can shoulder that weight. Believe it or not, if the two of us each brought a Pill Cloud Lihuo Pill to Chairman Aio, we'd receive completely different receptions. You'd only be revered more. Chairman Aio would treat you with even greater courtesy—maybe, in a good mood, he'd even gift you a Medicine Star and let you rule it as its master. But me? He'd have me placed under house arrest, assign powerful experts to 'protect' my safety, forbid me from stepping one foot outside the territory, and make me spend every day dealing with medicinal herbs. And who knows—even when I'm in bed with a beautiful woman enjoying myself, someone might be outside with eyes wide open, peeping at every move..."
"Ha ha ha ha!" Zong Ao burst out laughing at Yang Kai's words, vividly imagining the absurd scene. He laughed with unrestrained delight, nodding again and again. "Kid, you're smooth in every direction—what a piece of work! I honestly can't imagine how many storms you've been through to develop such cunning little plots."
"Without these schemes, I'd have been dead long ago!" Yang Kai shrugged.
"You're right—the tree that towers above the forest will be destroyed by the wind! Fine, I'll take on all this credit and reputation. After all, my alchemy skills really have improved considerably, so it's not entirely undeserved!"
Yang Kai's eyes lit up. He quickly rose and offered his congratulations: "Congratulations, Elder Zong! I've been so wrapped up in the Lihuo Pill recently that I completely failed to notice your advancement on the path of alchemy. That was terribly remiss of me!"
Having said that, he sat back down and added with a worried expression: "But Elder Zong, with things having turned out this way, you'll probably have no choice but to join the Hengluo Trading Company. Before, they were willing to indulge you and let you be—but now, I'm afraid that won't fly anymore. If I'm not mistaken, Harika and Lin Mufeng have already reported everything back to Shuiyue Star. It won't be long before someone from the Hengluo Trading Company shows up."
"I know." Zong Ao nodded. "I've been living it up on this Yupu Star for a hundred years now. As long as they don't interfere with my alchemy, everything else is negotiable. Joining or not joining is just a formality—piss this old man off, and what's to stop me from walking away?"