Although some of the medicinal herbs had lost some of their potency, the sheer quantity made it anything but a small haul.
"You didn't hold anything back, did you?" Yang Kai shot a sideways glance at Lü Guichen.
"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare!" Lü Guichen nearly jumped, waving his hands in a panic. With the way things stood, how could he possibly dare give Yang Kai any reason to pick a fight? He hurriedly swore oaths—if he had hidden anything, may he be struck by lightning, and so on.
"Alright, you're dismissed. Get out of my sight." Yang Kai waved his hand with a look of impatience.
But Lü Guichen remained rooted to the spot, gazing at Yang Kai with an awkward, indecisive expression, as though he wanted to say something but couldn't bring himself to.
"What else?"
"The… young hero… that, that Origin…"
"Is that something you should be asking about?" Yang Kai's face darkened, a sharp chill flashing in his eyes as an invisible wave of Divine Sense surged outward.
Lü Guichen felt as though he had been struck by a devastating blow in an instant. His spiritual sea defenses were ripped apart in a heartbeat, and his head throbbed with agonizing pain. He staggered backward, his face draining of all color.
After taking that hit, Lü Guichen was thoroughly shaken. He immediately realized that his earlier guess had been correct—if Yang Kai truly wanted to kill him, it would be no harder than slaughtering a chicken or a dog.
He looked up, but Yang Kai was nowhere to be seen. At some point, the man had already vanished from the spot.
Lü Guichen let out a bitter laugh, then quickly sat cross-legged and circulated his cultivation technique, channeling his Holy Yuan to heal his injuries.
Meanwhile, in some corner of the Floating Continent—amidst lush mountains and clear streams—Yang Kai appeared.
"Nice scenery. This will do," he murmured to himself, then released several Blood Beasts, sending them outward to stand guard in the surrounding area.
Even though Lü Guichen was the only outsider on the Floating Continent now, and Yang Kai was confident the man wouldn't dare disturb him rashly, one could never be too careful. With a few Blood Beasts standing watch, Yang Kai could set his mind at ease.
He then brought out the Purple Void Cauldron he used for alchemy and began searching through his space ring for medicinal ingredients.
"What kind of pill should I refine?" Yang Kai swept his spiritual sense through the space ring.
The main purpose of this pill refinement was to trigger the momentum needed for his breakthrough, so the type of pill didn't really matter. All he needed was to use the alchemical process to help himself merge with the surrounding heaven and earth.
"Purple Sun Grass, Hundred-Leaf Lotus… Oh? Even Hollow Fruit. That's everything. I'll refine Dao Comprehension Pills then—perfect for stabilizing my realm after the breakthrough." Yang Kai quickly made his decision.
The main reason was that he now possessed every ingredient needed to refine Dao Comprehension Pills, making it the most convenient option.
He took out the various herbs one by one, arranging them at his side. Then Yang Kai formed hand seals and pointed a finger at the Purple Void Cauldron.
Divine Sense Fire poured into it in an instant, and the temperature inside the cauldron spiked dramatically.
One herb after another was fed into the furnace in an orderly fashion by Yang Kai, the Divine Sense Fire fluctuating in intensity throughout. Yang Kai's knowledge of alchemy had been inherited early on from the True Art of Alchemy and supplemented by guidance from the Old Man Tianzang of the Profound Tang Continent. Later, he had received the legacy of the Dao of Alchemy True Comprehension. Everything he had learned represented the absolute pinnacle of alchemical arts.
On top of that, he regularly discussed the Dao of Alchemy with Xia Ningshang, which had given him considerable attainments in the field.
A variety of alchemical seals were continuously imprinted into the Purple Void Cauldron—spiritual formations flickering in and out of existence inside it. Yang Kai's expression was one of intense focus as he gradually cast aside all distracting thoughts, devoting himself entirely to the refinement.
His aura began to merge with heaven and earth, as though he himself had become a part of the natural world.
Refining a spirit pill was an elaborate process with countless steps. It wasn't simply a matter of condensing medicinal liquids and letting them interact within the furnace.
When to apply what level of heat, when to inscribe which spiritual formation, what kind of alchemical seals to use—every step had strict requirements. A single misstep, a momentary lapse in timing, and the refinement could fail entirely. Even if a pill was successfully formed, its quality would suffer.
Alchemy was a grand path that demanded extraordinary mental focus and perseverance.
Yang Kai possessed Divine Sense Fire, which gave him an exceptional advantage in alchemy, allowing him to spend far less time and energy than an ordinary alchemist.
Combined with the restorative properties of the Seven-Colored Soul Warming Lotus and the formidable strength of his spiritual soul, he could unleash Divine Sense Fire without the slightest restraint.
Time slipped by. From within the Purple Void Cauldron came a bubbling gurgle—the sound of precious medicinal liquids interacting and undergoing a miraculous transformation.
A faint, wondrous fragrance drifted from the cauldron, refreshing and invigorating to anyone who breathed it in. It was a sign that the pill was beginning to coalesce.
Yang Kai's expression, however, grew even more solemn. He beckoned with one hand, and a Blood Beast that had been standing guard in the distance transformed into a Golden Blood Thread and shot back into his palm.
The Golden Blood Thread danced at his fingertip like a wisp of golden-red smoke.
As it moved, the thread gradually separated—the golden glow reasserting itself while the red was stripped away, condensing into a ball of crimson mist.
From within the mist came the faint, muffled roar of a beast, and at times it would flicker into the shape of a demon beast.
"Quit your struggling. Being used in a pill is the best fate you could hope for. Behave yourself," Yang Kai said with a light laugh, reaching out to grasp the ball of crimson mist.
The remarkably sentient mist seemed to sense that something was wrong. Far from settling down, it thrashed about even more vigorously.
Yang Kai snorted coldly and tossed the crimson mist directly into the furnace.
The final line of the Dao of Alchemy True Comprehension had stated: only when a pill possesses spirit can it be called a true spirit pill!
Yang Kai had contemplated those words for a long time before finally understanding what they truly meant.
A pill could not spontaneously develop spirit on its own—unless it had been stored for an excessively long time in an environment of incredibly dense spiritual energy, where the right conditions, over countless years, would give rise to something like a Pill Spirit.
But since pills couldn't gain spirit on their own, he could simply infuse them with it himself.