Inside the alchemy workshop, a saint-grade pill with pill patterns had been forged by Yang Kai. The several grandmasters took turns examining it, stunned speechless and unable to find words for a long time.
Mina stood nearby listening, equally dumbfounded. Her beautiful eyes shimmered with an unusual light as she glanced now and then at Yang Kai, who was meditating nearby to recover. She bit her lip lightly, looking somewhat unwilling to accept it.
"This kid... what ridiculous luck," Chang Bao finally sighed after a long while, his voice thick with envy.
"Indeed, his luck is simply absurd," He Feng echoed.
Du Wan looked at the two of them and murmured, "Do you really think this was just luck?"
"What else could it be?" Hong Fang laughed aloud. "Pill patterns and pill clouds—every alchemist dreams of achieving them, but these two miraculous phenomena are extraordinarily rare. No one even knows the underlying principle behind their formation. Every pill that develops patterns or clouds is born of a fortuitous coincidence. However... I'll admit that the alchemist must also be operating at their absolute best during the refinement. On that front, this kid outshone every one of us."
"Mm." Kong Ruoyu gave a slight nod. "I once entered a state of epiphany and refined a pill without wasting a single trace of medicinal efficacy. I was immensely proud of it. But compared to this young man, it amounts to nothing."
The group exchanged remarks, seemingly attributing the appearance of pill patterns entirely to luck. Du Wan didn't say much to contradict them.
Luck was certainly important, but one's state of mind during alchemy was even more critical—especially in the final moments before this saint-grade pill was completed, when Yang Kai had still managed to construct so many spirit formation diagrams...
Du Wan had a vague feeling that this pill's patterns were the result of Yang Kai's effort, not mere chance.
"Young talent is truly formidable," Chang Bao said with rare gravity. "So I ask—do we old fogeys still want to compare the saint-grade pills we refined?"
"I don't think that's necessary," He Feng said, his face flushing slightly. Before Yang Kai's refinement, each of them had been brimming with confidence in their own pill, convinced theirs was superior to the others'.
But now, faced with a pill bearing patterns, everything they had produced was simply incomparable.
Setting aside the patterns entirely, the sheer amount of time Yang Kai had needed to refine one saint-grade pill was something none of them could hope to match. There was naturally no point in holding a competition.
The grandmasters looked at one another in silence, then each quietly put away their own pill—almost as though they were stowing away something embarrassing.
...
Yang Kai was immersed in his own realization, his divine spirit-soul hovering in a vast, empty expanse. There was nothing here but an endless sky filled with spirit formation diagrams, their faint glow flickering as they danced before his eyes.
His divine sense reached out, and all the treasures of knowledge he had gleaned over the years from the True Alchemy Scripture flashed before him like scenes in a revolving lantern.
The vast, almost incomprehensible body of knowledge—alchemical insights, experiences, and techniques—had previously existed in his sea of consciousness as scattered fragments. Now, however, impossibly subtle connections were forming between them, allowing him to grasp everything at once in a flash of total comprehension.
It was as though a tightly shut door was slowly swinging open before him. Behind it lay the true secrets of the Great Dao of Alchemy.
Yang Kai plunged headlong into it, savoring the understanding with utter rapture, not daring to slacken for even a moment.
As time slipped by, the True Alchemy Scripture—sealed away in his sea of consciousness for so long—was at last fully digested and thoroughly understood. Not a single obscure corner remained.
Every passage within the True Alchemy Scripture, he could now draw upon at will.
His comprehension of the alchemical arts had undergone a sudden, transcendent elevation.
It was as if he had been standing below, gazing up at the mysteries of alchemy, only to suddenly find himself at a great height, looking down. From this vantage, everything was crystal clear.
This included the generation of pill patterns and pill clouds.
These two pinnacles of alchemy were not things that could only be born of coincidence and luck. During the refinement process, there was indeed a chance to actively bring them about!
Pill patterns functioned like the meridians of a pill. With meridians in place, the pill could endure without deteriorating.
And pill clouds were an upgraded version of pill patterns.
Both of them were, in essence, natural spirit formation diagrams—a summation of many formations described within the True Alchemy Scripture. By fusing those formations together with skillful technique and forging them into the pill, one could potentially encourage the birth of pill patterns and pill clouds!
In the final instant of refining that saint-grade pill, Yang Kai had struck upon a flash of inspiration and acted on impulse. He never expected that this would lead him, by some twist of fate, to uncover the secret behind the formation of pill patterns.
This revelation had elevated his understanding of the alchemical arts to an entirely new level.
However, while pill patterns and pill clouds could now be actively encouraged, putting the theory into practice was extraordinarily difficult and carried an enormous risk of failure.
When the grandmasters said Yang Kai had been lucky, they weren't entirely wrong.
With the True Alchemy Scripture now completely mastered and digested, Yang Kai could feel that his alchemical skills had taken yet another encouraging step forward.
Heart surging with excitement, he slowly opened his eyes and looked around. When he took in his surroundings, he couldn't help but freeze in surprise.
He was still sitting cross-legged inside the alchemy workshop, but the grandmasters and Ye Xiong's pair of master and disciple had all vanished. The only person before him was a young girl with twin ponytails, curiously studying him.
His awakening seemed to have startled her, and she let out a small cry.
"Wu'er?" Yang Kai frowned slightly. "What are you doing here?"
Wu'er huffed. "Why can't I be here?"