With his keen eye, Ji Ying could naturally gauge Xia Ningshang's cultivation — Void King Realm, third stage, nothing more. Yet she had just produced Void King grade medicinal herbs, which meant she intended to refine Void King grade Spirit Pills. For a martial artist who had come from a lower star domain, that should already be her absolute limit. In other words, Yang Kai's wife was a Void King grade Alchemist.
Perhaps… there was still something to look forward to. Ji Ying nodded silently to himself and watched with quiet attention.
Xia Ningshang delicately plucked up a single medicinal herb, and the aura around her underwent a dramatic transformation in that instant — she became intensely focused, as if the entire world had narrowed down to the herb before her eyes, with nothing else in existence.
Alchemy demanded total concentration, free from even the slightest distraction or wandering thought. It was an essential quality for any Alchemist.
Ji Ying nodded again, thinking that regardless of her aptitude for alchemy, this level of composure alone was commendable.
But in the very next moment, his brow furrowed — because Xia Ningshang had actually channeled her Saint Power to envelop the herb in her hands. That Saint Power was not static; it fluctuated constantly, waxing and waning, strengthening and weakening, forming a peculiar rhythmic wave. Under that wave, thin wisps of emerald-green mist began to seep out of the herb — clearly the medicinal essence within.
She wasn't using an Alchemy Furnace? A flash of surprise crossed Ji Ying's eyes.
A skilled Alchemist might be able to refine a familiar Spirit Pill without a furnace, performing the process in midair, but that demanded an extraordinarily high level of technique — and the grade of pill that could be produced this way was inherently limited. Ji Ying himself, as an Emperor Alchemist, could refine Dao Source grade Spirit Pills without a furnace when crafting ones he knew well. But even then, doing so would compromise both the quality and the quantity of the finished product.
The furnace was an Alchemist's other life — that was no idle saying. Regardless of its grade, the furnace was an indispensable tool that aided the Alchemist in every aspect of refining.
Xia Ningshang was a Void King Realm cultivator attempting to refine Void King grade Spirit Pills, which was already pushing her to her limit. Now she wanted to do it without a furnace, refining in midair? This displeased Ji Ying. Even if she was trying to show off in front of him, she shouldn't be this reckless. For an Alchemist, such arrogance was a bad sign. Judging the tiger by its paw print — with this kind of temperament, she wouldn't get far.
If someone else had done this in front of him, he would have launched into a stern lecture on the spot. But considering that Xia Ningshang was Yang Kai's wife, he managed to hold his tongue — though whatever faint anticipation he'd felt had evaporated entirely.
Then, in the very next instant, he was startled all over again.
He realized that Xia Ningshang's Saint Power did not carry the aura of a fire-attribute.
What in the world? Setting aside the fact that she was refining without a furnace and without Alchemy Fire — how was she supposed to refine a pill at all? Did she think alchemy was child's play, something you could just mess around with casually?
He could no longer contain himself and turned to look at Yang Kai.
But Yang Kai wore a calm smile and said with deep meaning, "Brother Ji, just keep watching."
Ji Ying frowned but had no choice but to go along with it. Meanwhile, his mind was already working through how to politely decline Yang Kai's earlier proposal without hurting his feelings or damaging their relationship — though that was easier said than done. If Yang Kai had brought anyone else here, Ji Ying could have refused outright without a second thought. But this woman was his wife, and a misstep could very well create lasting resentment between them.
Saint Power surged, and the herb tumbled and rotated. Before their very eyes, flecks of green luminescence began to seep out of the Void King grade herb, gradually coalescing into a cluster that condensed into a pearl-sized droplet of emerald liquid.
Ji Ying's eyes went wide, and he blurted out, "How is that possible?!"
The first step in refining a Spirit Pill was the condensation of medicinal essence. An ordinary Alchemist naturally required both a furnace and Alchemy Fire for this. Yet Yang Kai's wife had accomplished it without either — no furnace, no Alchemy Fire — and yet she had miraculously extracted and condensed the medicinal essence from the herb.
He turned to look at Yang Kai in stunned disbelief, only to find Yang Kai's expression calm and composed, as though he had expected this all along.
What was going on here? No furnace, no Alchemy Fire — how had this Miss Xia managed to condense the medicinal essence? Unwilling to simply believe what his eyes told him, he quietly extended a sliver of Divine Sense to probe — and his eyes widened even further.
It was indeed medicinal essence, and moreover… it was extraordinarily pure. The pearl-sized droplet of emerald liquid contained not the slightest impurity, pristine and flawless. The medicinal properties had been preserved with absolute perfection, without the faintest damage. Ji Ying's shock was beyond what words could convey — what he was witnessing defied everything he had ever known in his lifetime.
With his own abilities, if he took out the same Void King grade herb, he could naturally achieve the same result as Xia Ningshang — but he would absolutely require a furnace and Alchemy Fire to do it. Moreover, he was an Emperor Alchemist, while Xia Ningshang was merely a Void King grade Alchemist. The gulf between them was vast beyond measure, and the two could not possibly be compared.
He had never imagined that a Void King grade Alchemist could condense medicinal essence to such a degree while operating at the very ceiling of her capabilities. At the very least, when he himself had been at the Void King grade Alchemist level, he certainly could not have done such a thing.
The purity of the medicinal essence was directly tied to the quality of the final pill. The purer the essence, the fewer the impurities, and the greater the assistance in the subsequent stages of refining. In this step, Xia Ningshang had achieved perfection without question.
He turned to look at the Void King grade herb still in Xia Ningshang's hands — it had completely withered, every last trace of its medicinal properties extracted and condensed without leaving the faintest remainder. Xia Ningshang casually tossed the husk aside.
This stunned Ji Ying yet again.
To condense such pure medicinal essence without a furnace or Alchemy Fire was already astonishing beyond belief — and she had even managed to squeeze every last drop of the herb's potency to its absolute limit.