In the spacious and tidy room, a faint mist rose in the air, shrouding the room in a slightly hazy veil. In the center of the room, a large wooden tub was placed, filled with emerald green liquid. The youth, naked, sat cross-legged within it, his eyes closed, hands forming seals for cultivation, allowing the gentle energy from the emerald green liquid to slowly seep into his body, repairing his nearly shattered meridians.
As the cultivation continued, the emerald green liquid in the wooden tub gradually became clearer. Eventually, the emerald green faded completely, replaced by clear water.
“Splash!”
A small snake head suddenly emerged from beneath the water, its tail continuously slapping the surface. Its pale purple pupils brimmed with joy.
Sensing that the energy in the liquid had been depleted, Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes, smiling at the frolicking Heavenly Devouring Serpent beside him. He carefully shifted his body, and after a moment, exhaled a breath, muttering softly, “The healing liquid prepared by Teacher is indeed effective. In just three days, my shattered meridians have become much more resilient… I wonder if they can now withstand the flow of Dou Qi?”
For the past three days since he woke up, Xiao Yan had asked Xiao Ding to procure the necessary herbs for him. Then, gritting his teeth against the pain as Dou Qi passed through his meridians, he commanded the few drops of liquid energy in his vortex to transform into Dou Qi flames, thus refining the medicinal liquid with some difficulty.
With the first batch of medicinal liquid, Xiao Yan’s recovery speed significantly increased. After three consecutive days of soaking in the liquid, his shattered meridians gradually recovered from their fragile state.
Rising from the wooden tub, he wiped his body clean and casually put on a shirt. With a flick of his hand, a faint green light emerged from his storage ring, transforming into a lotus flower that floated before him, emitting a soft glow.
Gently touching the edge of the wooden tub, Xiao Yan lightly landed on the green lotus, sitting cross-legged once more. He formed the cultivation seals with his hands and then closed his eyes.
Shortly after Xiao Yan entered his cultivation state, the surrounding space began to subtly fluctuate. Speckled energy threads penetrated the green lotus’ protective barrier and continuously flowed into Xiao Yan’s body.
At first, each influx of energy caused Xiao Yan’s face to twitch slightly. However, as the energy continued to pour in, he gradually became accustomed to the pain, able to ignore the sensation. Biting his lip, he refined and absorbed the speckled energy, fusing it into his meridians and muscles, and felt the gradual revival of his strength.
Over the next period, Xiao Yan followed the restorative procedures as instructed by the Pharmacist Elder. His terrifying injuries were gradually healing at a satisfying pace. At this rate, he should be back to his former state within a month.
During this peaceful period of recuperation, Xiao Yan, with plenty of free time, resumed his role as an alchemist. Each day, he had Xiao Ding acquire large quantities of herbs, then refined them into batches of high-quality healing medicines. During the process, Xiao Yan made an unexpected discovery. Originally, his control over the flame was not sufficient to refine the Return Energy Pill, a nearly third-grade auxiliary pill. This time, however, he was surprised to find that his manipulation of the flame had greatly improved, and he successfully refined the Return Energy Pill, although the failure rate was still high.
After a moment of surprise, Xiao Yan realized that this might be related to his creation of the Buddha’s Wrathful Fire Lotus.
Previously, Xiao Yan’s control over the Green Lotus Heart Flame was almost non-existent. He could only use it to wrap around his fists to increase his attack power or shoot it out in a crude manner. Once fired, he had no way to control its direction, so if the flame missed, the attack would be a waste of energy.
Whenever he thought of the Pharmacist Elder’s fluid and smooth control over the Bone Spirit Cold Fire, Xiao Yan was envious. If the Elder had controlled the Bone Spirit Cold Fire during the battle with the Eight-Winged Black Serpent Emperor, Xiao Yan was certain the emperor would have been utterly defeated. Instead, his own control of the Bone Spirit Cold Fire had been mocked by the opponent.
With the Elder’s control, he could release fine strands of the Bone Spirit Cold Fire, allowing them to stealthily approach the target and launch a sudden attack, turning the opponent into an ice sculpture or ash without them even noticing.
Xiao Yan longed for this kind of eerie flame control, but he knew it was impossible for him. Even after accidentally creating the Buddha’s Wrathful Fire Lotus, which astonished even Battle Emperors, his control was still far from the Elder’s level.
After the battle with the Eight-Winged Black Serpent Emperor, Xiao Yan finally began to take his control of the strange fire seriously. He knew that if he could refine his control to the Elder’s level, his combat power would skyrocket.
With this determination, Xiao Yan set extremely high standards for himself during his alchemy practice. Although he lacked Dou Qi, the main energy source for controlling the strange fire was the constant soul force, which was currently his strongest asset.
Thus, in the courtyard, Desert Iron mercenaries began to carry various herbs, entering and exiting with reverent faces, holding bottles of the rarest healing medicines and Return Energy Pills, which were scarce even in Shi Mo City. These valuable pills were casually piled in the corner by the black-clothed youth, stunning everyone. Was this the formidable aura of an alchemist?
As the days passed, the Desert Iron mercenaries delivering herbs and collecting pills became increasingly numb. No one would gawk at the pills as they did at the beginning.
In the courtyard, Xiao Yan seemed to abandon his quiet rest. After completing the daily healing routine, he would sit before the alchemical cauldron, tirelessly practicing his control over the strange fire until exhaustion forced him to rest. Through this intense training, he could clearly feel his control over the strange fire steadily improving.
Xiao Yan sat cross-legged on a stone bench, a dark red cauldron before him, surging with a faintly blue flame. Waves of scorching heat could be felt even from a distance.
His slender fingers moved, and the blue flame danced accordingly, like an obedient fire sprite.
Xiao Ding and Xiao Li stood quietly at the courtyard gate, watching Xiao Yan’s seamless manipulation of the flame. They marveled at his skill, though Xiao Yan’s slightly furrowed brow suggested he was still dissatisfied.
After a moment, the flame in the cauldron surged. Xiao Yan lifted his gaze, flicking his finger to open the cauldron’s lid. With a gesture, several perfectly round pills shot out, landing neatly in a jade bottle.
Holding the bottle, Xiao Yan glanced at it and tossed it to Xiao Ding and Xiao Li, then stretched lazily. Closing his eyes, he sensed his injuries, and a look of surprise crossed his face.
“Heh, recovering quite quickly.”
His meridians, after half a month of recuperation, had healed significantly. This surprised Xiao Yan, who had been engrossed in alchemy.
Xiao Ding caught the jade bottle and, with Xiao Li, walked into the courtyard, asking, “How are your injuries?”
“Not bad,” Xiao Yan smiled. “The final healing will begin tomorrow. I should be fully recovered in five days.”
“Such a freak,” Xiao Ding and Xiao Li exclaimed. “To recover from such a terrible injury in just twenty days, your constitution is truly enviable.”
Xiao Yan shrugged. He knew that his rapid recovery was partly due to the strengthening effect of the Green Lotus Heart Flame and mostly due to the Pharmacist Elder’s meticulous healing regimen.
“Where’s the Sea Elder?” Xiao Yan asked, leaping off the stone bench.
“Well, ever since you gave him those herb names, he’s been running all over Shi Mo City’s herbal shops. I think if not for needing to protect you, he would have left for another city by now,” Xiao Li said with a smile.
Xiao Yan chuckled and nodded. Those herbs were rare, and finding them in Shi Mo City without incredible luck was almost impossible. It seemed Hai Bo Dong was eager to restore his peak strength.
“Tomorrow, we’ll begin the final healing. I need to regain my strength quickly to find the wondrous items that can rapidly restore the Elder’s soul force,” Xiao Yan muttered, stroking his black ring.
“And, the three-year agreement is drawing closer!”
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