Yang Kai couldn't quite figure it out. Ice Heart Pavilion was a place that sold materials — why would they want to hire an Alchemist? And judging by the material and wear on the wooden sign, it had clearly been hanging there for quite some time. In other words, Ice Heart Pavilion had been recruiting Alchemists for ages.
When Fan Xin brought Yang Kai inside, the female Disciples of Ice Heart Pavilion seemed quite startled. Pair after pair of delicate eyes turned to examine them. These young women were all youthful maidens, each with refined features and an air of pristine innocence. They appeared to have cultivated the same technique, though their levels of Cultivation varied widely. Fan Xin was only at the second level of the Dao Source Realm, and the other girls hadn't even reached the Dao Source Realm — the strongest among them was merely at the first level of the Void Return Realm, while some were still at the Saint King or even the Saint realm. Yang Kai couldn't fathom how the Ice Heart Pavilion Master chose her Disciples.
"Junior Sister Fan, how many Alchemists does Ice Heart Pavilion have now?" Yang Kai asked casually, paying no mind to the way the young women were staring at him.
"We used to have one, but he was dismissed a few days ago," Fan Xin replied.
"Dismissed?" Yang Kai was taken aback. "Was he not putting effort into his Alchemy?"
If they had gone to the trouble of hiring someone, why dismiss him? Yang Kai couldn't make sense of it.
Fan Xin offered a faint smile but didn't answer this time — whether there were hidden reasons or it was simply inconvenient to discuss, Yang Kai couldn't tell. By the time they finished talking, they had already reached the third floor.
As he made his way up, Yang Kai noticed that Ice Heart Pavilion was packed with materials of every kind, and the higher he went, the more valuable they became.
At a corner on the third floor, there was a room that looked like a private chamber. After Fan Xin led Yang Kai inside, she said, "Senior Brother Yang, you can conduct the test here. There's no Earth Fire Source on Heaven Spire Island, so the conditions are a bit crude — please bear with me."
"Not a problem," Yang Kai said with a wave of his hand, surveying the room. It was quite spacious, and scattered throughout were over a dozen pill furnaces of various sizes. Every single one was at least Dao Source grade, and three of them had even reached the superior-grade Dao Source tier.
Ice Heart Pavilion had no Alchemist, yet it possessed this many pill furnaces — clearly they had been deliberately collected.
Yang Kai's suspicion deepened. Logically speaking, if Ice Heart Pavilion was in the business of selling materials, they should just sell materials. Why go out of their way to hire a high-level Spirit Pill Master? And why prepare so many pill furnaces? The Ice Heart Pavilion Master was, after all, a powerhouse at the third level of the Emperor Realm — she certainly wouldn't lack Cultivation resources. The more he thought about it, the more one possibility seemed likely: the Ice Heart Pavilion Master probably wanted to refine a particular Spirit Pill and was deliberately seeking out skilled Alchemists.
"You may use any of these furnaces, as long as you don't damage them," Fan Xin said, pointing to the collection.
"Understood. But I have to ask — what Spirit Pill does Junior Sister Fan want me to refine?" Yang Kai turned to her.
"Any mid-grade Dao Source Spirit Pill will do. If you provide the formula, I'll go fetch the materials."
Yang Kai nodded and pondered for a moment before saying, "Then I'll refine Seven-Star Dragon-Tiger Pills."
The Seven-Star Dragon-Tiger Pill was a mid-grade Dao Source Spirit Pill. Its effect was to temporarily boost a warrior's combat power to a significantly higher level, though it came with a notable drawback: once the pill's effects wore off, the user would suffer from full-body soreness and weakness for two months, unable to channel any strength whatsoever. Not only that, it also inflicted some degree of damage to the meridians and foundation.
An inferior-grade Seven-Star Dragon-Tiger Pill could enhance a warrior's strength by ten percent, a mid-grade one by twenty, and a superior-grade one by thirty. If it manifested Pill Veins, the boost could reach a full fifty percent.
The Seven-Star Dragon-Tiger Pill was extremely potent, and only warriors at the Dao Source Realm could take it. Anyone below that level who tried to force it down would simply explode and die. But then again, which Dao Source Realm warrior would willingly consume a pill like this just to temporarily bolster their power? If their meridians and foundation were damaged, it was very possible they would never advance again.
As such, this particular Spirit Pill was essentially a useless existence with virtually no market demand. Only the most desperate daredevils kept one or two on hand as an emergency measure.
Yang Kai recited the list of ingredients for the Seven-Star Dragon-Tiger Pill, and Fan Xin committed them to memory before setting off to prepare the materials.
The reason he had chosen this particular pill was that its ingredients were not difficult to find — they should be available even here on Heaven Spire Island.
Sure enough, before long, Fan Xin returned, having brought ten sets of materials with her. She handed them to Yang Kai and said, "Senior Brother Yang, as long as you successfully produce pills from at least two furnaces, you'll pass. I'll be waiting outside — just call for me when you're finished."
Ten sets of materials, with a success rate of two furnaces — for a genuine mid-grade Dao Source Alchemist, this was hardly a difficult test. A modicum of effort would be more than sufficient.
For Yang Kai, it naturally posed no challenge at all.
He could already refine Emperor-grade Spirit Pills — a mid-grade Dao Source Pill was child's play by comparison.
Fan Xin clearly understood that an Alchemist should not be disturbed during the refinement process, which was why she volunteered to wait outside.
After she left, Yang Kai retrieved his Ink Jade Cauldron and set it before him. He ignited his Divine Sense Fire and began the refinement.
Though it was his first time crafting Seven-Star Dragon-Tiger Pills, his movements were anything but clumsy. His technique was impeccably practiced, his control of the flame's intensity and the timing of each ingredient's addition was nothing short of perfect.
Soon, Yang Kai had immersed himself entirely in the refinement, heart and soul wholly absorbed.
Just as he reached that state of total concentration, the Soul-Slaying Blade in his sea of consciousness gave a subtle tremor, jolting him abruptly from his trance.
His expression didn't change, and his hands didn't so much as falter, but inwardly he began examining himself with the utmost caution.
The Soul-Slaying Blade wouldn't act up without cause. The only explanation was that something was wrong.
He probed and searched but found nothing amiss.
It took a good while before the realization suddenly struck him — someone was spying on him! The blade had reacted because it had sensed a foreign strand of spiritual consciousness nearby that didn't belong to him.