Soon, Tang Qun led Yang Kai into a premium pill chamber. At its center stood a pill furnace as tall as a man, its surface carved with countless intricate patterns that radiated with spiritual energy — clearly no ordinary artifact.
Any furnace placed in such a chamber would have been among the finest in all of Biluo Pass, personally forged by master artifact refiners from Shending Heaven.
Nor was there only one furnace of this caliber. On the other side of the chamber stood five more furnaces of varying sizes — the smallest no bigger than an infant's head, the largest towering three men high. The one Yang Kai had first noticed was merely medium-sized by comparison.
It stood to reason that such a variety existed to accommodate different circumstances and different types of spirit pills.
Tang Qun introduced each furnace in turn, then handed Yang Kai a command token. "There's a grand formation in the chamber that generates pill fire. Refine this token first, Senior Brother, and you'll be able to control the pill fire at will."
While virtually every alchemist possessed their own pill fire and found it more natural to refine pills with it, for prolonged alchemy sessions it was best to draw upon the chamber's built-in fire — this way, one could conserve one's own energy.
In his early days, Yang Kai had used Divine Sense Fire for alchemy — an unparalleled tool in the art of pill refining. However, as his cultivation grew and his Divine Sense intensified, this fire had become somewhat inadequate for his needs. Having the chamber's built-in pill fire to assist was the best possible arrangement.
Yang Kai accepted the token.
Tang Qun said, "Please refine it first, Senior Brother. I'll go hasten the preparation of your medicinal ingredients."
"Thank you!" Yang Kai expressed his gratitude, and once Tang Qun had departed, he sat cross-legged and began refining the token.
Refining the token didn't take long — only about an hour. With it, Yang Kai could command the pill fire formation in the chamber, controlling the flames as he pleased.
Tang Qun soon delivered all the medicinal ingredients Yang Kai required. Yang Kai inspected them carefully — they were indeed what he needed, nothing missing, and in generous quantities.
"If you need anything at all, just call out. I won't disturb you further." With that, Tang Qun took his leave.
After he departed, Yang Kai selected a suitable furnace from those in the chamber and arranged the medicinal ingredients in order, ready to be drawn upon at any moment.
It had been years since he'd last refined pills. The last time had been back in the Void World, when he'd created the Heavenly Origin True Seal Pill. His alchemy skills had grown somewhat rusty.
Moreover, the pill formula he'd obtained from the predecessor's journal wasn't complete. After all, countless ages had passed and the journal itself had degraded, leaving behind only limited useful information — none of the many formulas recorded within were intact.
Recreating these formulas would require extensive trial and error.
But if the trials succeeded, the benefits for the human warriors would be self-evident — provided the spirit pills refined from these formulas truly possessed the effects described in the journal.
Clearing his mind, Yang Kai set to work condensing medicinal liquids. This step wasn't difficult for him — with a fine furnace at hand and pill fire to draw upon, he simply needed to exercise caution. Any experienced alchemist would handle this stage without issue; only complete novices would struggle with the condensation process.
One batch of medicinal liquid after another was condensed and dissolved into the furnace. Yang Kai focused his mind on controlling the pill fire, following the refining process recorded in the journal's formula with meticulous precision.
After only about half an hour, a strange sound suddenly erupted from within the furnace, immediately followed by a burnt smell. Yang Kai's hands froze, and he knew at once that this attempt had failed.
No disappointment crossed his face. He hadn't expected to succeed easily — the formula was incomplete, after all. He'd simply wanted to familiarize himself with the properties of the ingredients and the refining process, hoping to eventually reconstruct the complete formula.
Only a complete formula could yield spirit pills.
He cleaned the furnace, emptied the residue, took a moment to steady his focus, and began refining once more.
As time passed, Yang Kai grew increasingly adept. The sensation of pill refining from years ago slowly returned to him.
Though he had devoted little effort to the Dao of Alchemy in recent years and had essentially neglected it, he had once received the Heavenly Dao's personal instruction in the art of pill refining. Had he truly pursued this path with dedication, his mastery would likely rival even the alchemy masters of Biluo Pass.
Unfortunately, a person's energy was finite. For him, the martial path would always be his ultimate pursuit — everything else could be set aside.
Furnace after furnace of ingredients was ruined, yet Yang Kai's understanding of the formula recorded in the journal grew ever deeper. But every time the refining reached a certain critical point, all his previous efforts came to nothing.
And that critical point was precisely where the formula in the journal was missing information.
At this critical point, an additional ingredient was required — but Yang Kai had no idea what it was. He could only test them one by one, methodically. His approach, however, was far from blind.
Since the journal had been found within the miniature world left behind by the predecessor alchemist, it was highly likely that the medicinal ingredients needed for the formula could be found in that predecessor's medicinal garden.