Jiang Chen was a man of action — when he decided to do something, he did it.
He produced the Celestial Shuttle Cauldron and spent some time in meditation, mentally rehearsing the refinement process for the Myriad Longevity Pill several times over until he had it down cold.
Only then did Jiang Chen begin.
He activated his fire origin and once more used the Ninety-Nine Truefire to heat the cauldron.
After the Celestial Shuttle Cauldron emitted its resonant hum, Jiang Chen casually picked up two medicinal ingredients and tossed them in.
These two ingredients were not actually materials for the Myriad Longevity Pill. Jiang Chen tossed them in as a matter of course, secretly channeling several streams of fire origin to instantly incinerate them into ash.
Afterward, he threw in several more ingredients in no particular order, continuously using the truefire to refine them down.
Jiang Chen's actions were clearly deliberate. His purpose was to obscure others' vision — to prevent the Myriad Longevity Pill's formula and ingredient composition from being plagiarized.
He knew that every pair of eyes up above, those titans watching from the stands, were fixed squarely on him. Jiang Chen also knew that the moment the Myriad Longevity Pill was released to the world, it would inevitably be copied frantically.
Therefore, he was deliberately confusing everyone's perception now — tossing in irrelevant ingredients to throw them off, making it impossible for them to steal the formula.
Of course, once the Myriad Longevity Pill succeeded, countless people would attempt to decompose the pill and extract its components, trying to reverse-engineer the formula.
However, the Myriad Longevity Pill was ultimately a quasi-earth-grade pill — it was far from easy to replicate.
If every pill could be reverse-engineered, then the concept of exclusive formulas in the alchemy world would cease to exist, and pill formulas would have no reason to be.
Pill formulas would always be the most practical approach.
Decomposing pills to recover formulas was certainly one path, but many pills simply could not be reverse-engineered. That was because certain pill ingredients, once fused together, could no longer be separated.
The higher the grade of a pill, the more true this became.
Of course, nothing was absolute — everything depended on who was doing it.
A supreme alchemy master from the heavenly realm, if they set about decomposing a pill from a mundane plane, could extract the formula no matter how well-hidden it was.
But Jiang Chen was confident that through his misdirection and smoke-and-mirrors display, no one would be able to reverse-engineer the formula when the Myriad Longevity Pill was revealed.
Moreover, even if someone managed to recover most of the formula and attempted to mass-produce copies of the Myriad Longevity Pill without the corresponding techniques and precise control over the fire, they would never succeed.
After all, alchemy was not simply a matter of knowing the ingredients to brew a pill.
Technique, craft, fire control — every detail determined the fate of an entire cauldron of pills.
Once Jiang Chen had laid his smokescreen thoroughly, he began placing the Myriad Longevity Pill's ingredients into the Celestial Shuttle Cauldron in proper order.
He knew that the misdirection would somewhat affect the quality of this batch of Myriad Longevity Pills. Still, Jiang Chen was confident that even if there were minor imperfections, the pills would at least form successfully.
As long as the pill formed, given the grade of this Myriad Longevity Pill, even if it turned out to be the lowest quality, getting a perfect score would absolutely not be a problem.
Once the pill came out, they might not recognize what it was, but they would definitely be able to detect its grade.
Given that the Myriad Longevity Pill was a quasi-earth-grade alchemy product, the moment it was presented, even the worst-quality, lowest-grade version would stand head and shoulders above the rest.
The refinement of the Myriad Longevity Pill, however, was no ordinary task. It was extraordinarily taxing on one's mind and spirit.
Even Jiang Chen had no absolute certainty of success at this point. After all, his cultivation was only at the fifth level of the Origin Realm. Refining a quasi-earth-grade pill was far too ambitious a leap.
Had it not been for the incredibly solid foundation Jiang Chen had built in his previous life, there would have been no possibility of success at all.
Fortunately, he had the Celestial Shuttle Cauldron and the Ice Fire Demon Lotus, giving him advantages that no one else possessed.
The Myriad Longevity Pill combined a collection of life-extending medicinal ingredients into a single form that could truly achieve the effect of wresting longevity from the heavens themselves.
After placing the ingredients inside, Jiang Chen began channeling his inner true fire, guiding it slowly into and around the Celestial Shuttle Cauldron.
The Myriad Longevity Pill was the kind of alchemy that required slow, patient craftsmanship to produce something refined.
If the flames were too fierce, failure was guaranteed. The Myriad Longevity Pill demanded a gentle, measured rhythm.
Jiang Chen controlled the flames with complete focus, pouring his entire being into the process.
With the Myriad Longevity Pill, even the slightest carelessness — letting the heat run too high — would cause the spiritual essence of the ingredients to bleed away, drastically reducing the chances of successfully forming the pill.
It was much like cooking. Some dishes called for roaring high heat and quick tossing. Others were suited to a slow, delicate simmer over low flame.
The Myriad Longevity Pill was, in truth, the kind of dish that required that slow simmer.
Inside the Celestial Shuttle Cauldron at this moment, the various ingredients were gradually melting, their spiritual energy slowly seeping outward.
At this critical juncture, it was not merely a matter of controlling the heat. Jiang Chen also had to use his own exclusive techniques to continuously purify and contain the flowing spiritual energy.
The Myriad Longevity Pill required no small number of ingredients, and the spiritual energy of each one could not be allowed to escape.
If even a sliver was lost, the pill's formation rate would suffer a catastrophic drop.
The spiritual energy of the nine ingredients formed nine vividly colored pillars within the Celestial Shuttle Cauldron, weaving back and forth through its interior like soaring dragons.
Jiang Chen did not dare let his concentration slip for even a moment.
At this point, the refinement of the Myriad Longevity Pill had reached a critical stage. If he failed to control even one of the spiritual energy streams properly, all his efforts would be wasted.
Controlling nine streams of spiritual energy simultaneously was a strain even for Jiang Chen.
Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead from the tension. His Heavenly Eye Divine Pupil burned with sharp intensity, fixed unblinkingly on the conditions inside the Celestial Shuttle Cauldron.