The environment on the eighth floor of the Medicine Hall was similar to the ninth, but the power of the earth fire was not as intense. Nobody was particularly picky about it; they simply sat cross-legged in the main hall, facing Yang Kai's direction as he explained the mysteries of the Pill Dao.
If this had been before, having Yang Kai lecture so many alchemists on the Pill Dao—even though his alchemy skills were genuinely superior to theirs—would have been beyond his capacity.
Knowing how to refine pills was one thing; explaining and elucidating the Dao to others was quite another. The latter required one to have reached an extremely high level of understanding before one had the ability to do so.
But things were different now. The Great Dao Pill Sound had resounded beside Yang Kai's ears for an entire day, and the secrets of the Pill Dao it had conveyed were branded into his mind like a seal. His comprehension of the Pill Dao had reached an entirely new height—a height no predecessor had ever achieved.
Lecturing to these Saint King-grade and Void-grade alchemists was now a trivial matter.
Yang Kai spoke on the Pill Dao for three days, covering everything from how to select medicinal ingredients and evaluate the quality of pill recipes, to condensing medicinal liquids, controlling fire intensity, inscribing spirit arrays, and finally the pill-gathering techniques—the scope was vast and all-encompassing.
Every alchemist listened in a state of rapt fascination, utterly oblivious to the passage of time.
From time to time, someone would break into a look of surprised delight, clearly having had a problem that had long plagued them suddenly resolved by a single piece of guidance from Yang Kai.
Yang Kai himself benefited enormously as well. Through explaining the Pill Dao to these alchemists, he gained yet another layer of deeper understanding of everything the Great Dao Pill Sound had imprinted upon his mind.
In the beginning, he would occasionally pause to reflect, but as time went on, his words flowed without stop—everything that came out of his mouth was the kind of pill-refining insight that ordinary alchemists could spend their entire lives without ever glimpsing.
Some alchemists who had awakened on the ninth floor made their way down to the eighth, sat quietly cross-legged, and devoted themselves to listening.
After experiencing the fortune of the Great Dao Pill Sound, they received yet another tremendous benefit from Yang Kai.
Three days later, the entire eighth floor held over five hundred alchemists, not a single one missing. All of them sat before Yang Kai, gazing up at him with solemn reverence—even Zong Ao was no exception.
Yang Kai had noticed him come in long ago and merely offered a slight nod in acknowledgment. He did not pause his lecture on the Pill Dao.
Then, abruptly, Yang Kai's voice fell silent.
The eighth floor of the Medicine Hall was so quiet one could hear a pin drop; everyone had suppressed even their breathing to the minimum. When Yang Kai stopped speaking, they understood that this session of Pill Dao lecturing had come to its end.
Not a single person could conceal the look of reluctance to see it finish.
Yang Kai rose with a smile and clasped his fists. "That will be all for today. Thank you, fellow daoists, for your kind attention."
Over five hundred alchemists rose in unison, their expressions solemn, clasped their fists and bowed together, and spoke as one: "Disciples thank Master Yang for his guidance! Master Yang has worked hard!"
Yang Kai was taken aback for a moment, but quickly came to understand.
Zhan Yuan had, because of a few casual words of guidance from Zuo De many years ago, always considered himself a disciple and addressed Zuo De as his benefactor and teacher.
This time, Yang Kai had spent three days lecturing over five hundred alchemists on the Pill Dao. In a sense, he had become their mentor as well—though, since he had not given his consent, they could not yet address him as "teacher," they could refer to themselves as his disciples.
The craft of alchemy placed tremendous weight on lineage and transmission.
Yang Kai's selfless act of sharing all his pill-refining experience and understanding without reservation—even though it could not transform them overnight—was undoubtedly a great kindness.
In particular, those miraculous pill-gathering techniques: if all of them could be fully grasped, it would absolutely bring about a massive revolution to alchemy throughout the entire Star Domain.
After all, it had always been the understanding of alchemists that a single set of ingredients could produce only one spirit pill. But with that special pill-gathering technique, a single set of ingredients could yield two, three, or even four or five spirit pills. This would drastically reduce the cost of pill-refining and greatly increase the output of spirit pills.
If it were to spread widely, warriors in the Star Domain would never again have to worry about running out of spirit pills.
Regardless, from this day forward, these five hundred-plus Saint King-grade alchemists and above were all considered Yang Kai's disciples. Even Zong Ao was no exception.
This was unquestionably a force that could shake the entire Star Domain.
Who could guarantee that among these five hundred people, several would not one day advance to become Void King-grade alchemists?
Yang Kai did not put on airs and returned the salute with clasped fists. "You are too kind."
"Master Yang, something you said earlier has been weighing on this disciple's mind. I have a question, but I'm not sure if it's appropriate to ask." A middle-aged woman with the appearance of a refined beauty spoke to Yang Kai with a smile.
"This lady, please feel free to ask whatever you wish. If I am able to answer, I will certainly not hold back," Yang Kai replied with a smile.
"Everyone here trusts Master Yang's character, of course. However... Master, before your alchemy competition with Master Zuo De, you mentioned that there was an alchemist whose skills surpassed Master Zuo De's, and even surpassed your own. Could that... possibly be true?"
The moment these words were spoken, others immediately echoed them: "Yes, yes, I heard that too! But how could such a thing be possible? Master Yang's pill-refining skills have already reached perfection—who in this world could surpass him?"
"Master Yang was just saying that casually. Did you all actually believe it?"
"It wasn't just casual talk." Yang Kai shook his head with a smile. "There truly is such a person whose attainment in alchemy surpasses mine."