Martial Peak

Inside the pill room, the five Grandmasters took turns staring at the Saint Pill with Pill Veins that was just refined by Yang Kai, each of them rendered speechless for quite some time.

To the side, Mi Na heard everything that was just said and was also dumbstruck, her beautiful eyes constantly flashing with complicated light. From time to time, she would glance over at Yang Kai who was still meditating and grind her teeth, obviously somewhat unwilling.

“This boy… his luck is truly good,” After a long time, Chang Bao muttered with clear envy in his voice.

“En, too good in fact,” He Feng echoed.

Du Wan glanced over at them and murmured, “Is this really just luck?”

“What else could it be?” Hong Fang chuckled, “Pill Veins and Pill Clouds are the ultimate pursuit of every Alchemist; unfortunately, these two magical existences are extremely difficult to come by and no one knows for sure how they form. Every pill that gives birth to Pill Veins or a Pill Cloud is the result of coincidence of opportunity. However, it is undeniable that Alchemists must perform a perfect refinement to even have any chance of forming Pill Veins, from this point alone, it seems this little brat is better than us.”

“En,” Kong Ruo Yu also gently nodded, “When I had my epiphany that year, the pill I refined also could be called perfect, something I was very proud of, but now, compared with this little fellow, it seems it wasn’t actually much.”

Four of the Grandmasters present seemed to have attributed the appearance of Pill Veins to luck; only Du Wan didn’t comment.

Luck was no doubt an important factor, but the Alchemy process could not be discounted, especially this Saint Pill which Yang Kai had used so many different Spirit Arrays to form…

Du Wan faintly felt that this Saint Pill giving birth to Pill Veins was the result of Yang Kai’s efforts, not just luck.

“A youth’s potential…” Chang Bao’s said with a rare serious expression, “Should we bring out our own Saint Pills for comparison?”

“Is there any need?” He Feng blushed with shame. Before Yang Kai refined his Saint Pill, each of them had full confidence in their own and felt it was superior to the others present.

But now, in front of a Saint Pill that had given birth to Pill Veins, they no longer felt like there was any point to their little competition.

Even if they discounted the appearance of Pill Veins, just the time required for Yang Kai to refine his Saint Pill was something they couldn’t hope to match, causing them a great deal of embarrassment.

The five Grandmasters glanced around at each other silently before quietly stowing away the Saint Pills they had just refined, as if trying to hide them.

…..

Yang Kai had sunken into a state of enlightenment, his Soul Avatar standing in an empty space where nothing existed except a myriad of Spirit Arrays hovering high up in the sky.

Yang Kai’s consciousness shuttled back and forth amongst the massive wealth of information and knowledge he had gleaned from the True Alchemic Way over the past many years, all of it now seemingly on display right before his eyes.

Up until now, this seemingly unimaginably vast amount of knowledge and experience in the Alchemic Dao had just been scattered memories floating about Yang Kai Knowledge Sea, but at this moment, he actually felt that there were some subtle connections between all of it, slowly turning his simple memorization of it into a kind of comprehension.

It was as if a closed door had suddenly cracked open and was slowly exposing the hidden secrets of the Alchemic Dao to Yang Kai.

Yang Kai dove straight in and soon became obsessed, not daring to relax his mind for an instant as he soaked up this new enlightenment.

As time passed by, the True Alchemic Way, which had been engraved into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, was finally completely understood by him, leaving no more hidden places to uncover or explore.

Now, Yang Kai could recite and explain any section of the True Alchemic Way off the top of his head.

His understanding of Alchemy also sublimated and advanced to a new height.

Before, it was like he was standing before a great mountain, staring up at the mysteries of Alchemy, but now Yang Kai felt he was standing atop the clouds, looking down on everything, all of it within his control.

This also included the generation of Pill Veins and Pill Clouds.

These ultimate pursuits of Alchemy were not just chance coincidences but could really be produced by applying the appropriate process!

Pill Veins were like the meridians of a pill. With these meridians, a pill could be preserved forever.

A Pill Cloud was an enhanced version of Pill Veins.

Both of these were a kind of natural Spirit Array and could be comprehended and interpreted via a large number of Spirit Arrays which were contained within the True Alchemic Way. By compiling those Spirit Arrays ingeniously and refining a pill with them, it was possible to promote the chance of Pill Veins and Pill Clouds appearing!

At the last moment of refining the Saint Pill, Yang Kai had simply tried out this wild thought of his and to his great surprise and joy succeeded, allowing him to unexpectedly comprehend the mysteries behind forming Pill Veins.

This was what ultimately led to his leap in understanding and the enhancement of his Alchemic technique.

However, although by applying the correct process it was possible to promote the appearance of Pill Veins and even Pill Clouds, actually doing so was quite troublesome and had a fair chance of failure.

The Grandmasters had concluded that Yang Kai had gotten lucky, and in truth they weren’t wrong.

Thoroughly comprehending the True Alchemic Way, Yang Kai felt his Alchemy skill had undergone encouraging improvements.

Still quite excited, Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes and glanced around, but upon seeing his surroundings, he couldn’t help feeling somewhat stunned.

He was still sitting cross-legged in the pill room, but the five Grandmasters, Ye Xiong, and Mi Na had all disappeared. There was only one young girl with a pair of twin-tails sitting down nearby, curiously observing him.

Seemingly because he had suddenly woken up, the young girl was surprised and couldn’t help letting out a cute yelp.

“Wu’er?” Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled, “Why are you here?”

Wu’er quickly adjusted herself and grumbled back, “Why can’t I be here?”

Yang Kai chuckled at this sight, not quite sure why this little girl was acting a bit hostile towards him, quickly asking, “What about Grandmaster and the others?”

“They saw you not waking up after a long time and left, telling Wu’er to come here and watch over you until you woke up,” Wu’er muttered in a discontent tone.

“En, you’ve worked hard,” Yang Kai nodded lightly before standing up.

“Why you…” Wu’er snorted, “Since you’re already an Alchemist, why did you ask Wu’er for help performing Alchemy? Senior Sister laughed at me because of that…”

“Why would she laugh at you?” Yang Kai asked curiously.

“She laughed because a Mysterious Grade Alchemist like Wu’er was actually trying to help a Saint Grade Alchemist perform Alchemy… Are you really a Saint Grade Alchemist?” Saying so, Wu’er cocked her head to the side and stared at Yang Kai.

“En,” Yang Kai nodded lightly, not intending to hide this fact from her.

Wu’er however just grinned and said, “I don’t believe you, you can’t be a Saint Grade Alchemist, Senior Sister must have been lying in order to make fun of me again.”

“Why don’t you believe me?” Yang Kai suddenly felt interested.

Wu’er wore a serious expression as she said in a completely natural tone, “Saint Grade Alchemists all have long white beards… your hair is still black, so you can’t be one!”

Yang Kai couldn’t help bursting into laughter at this innocent comment.

Seeing him like this, Wu’er’s mood immediately soured, “What are you laughing at? Do you think that Wu’er is easy to deceive just because she’s young? Just you wait; I’ll let Senior Sister come tidy you up, she’s much more fierce than me! Also, these are the pills you wanted Wu’er to refine, there wasn’t quite enough time, so Wu’er only managed to refine thirty of them… The rest you can find a way to handle on your own, Wu’er will return your herbs to you!”

“No need,” Yang Kai waved his hand casually, “Keep all of it for yourself. The pills will help you cultivate, they should be just right for your current strength. Those herbs will also be useful for you to practice with.”

Saying so, Yang Kai seemed to think of something and immediately began withdrawing Mysterious Grade herbs from the Black Book space, “I’ll also give you these, I have no use for them now anyways.”

Wu’er had originally wanted to reject his offer; after all, her Senior Sister had taught her that accepting gifts from strangers would come at a cost.

Although the person in front of her looked tall and heroic, that didn’t necessarily mean he was anything good.

However, before she could refuse, a massive pile of herbs appeared in front of her.

Wu’er’s jaw slowly began to drop as she stared at this sight.

These herbs weren’t very high grade, but they were indeed something she needed right now. By refining them into pills then taking them to sell, they would create a substantial amount of wealth for her.

More importantly though, they were perfect practice materials for her to improve her Alchemy proficiency!

Wu’er quickly swallowed back down the words of rejection she was about to utter.

Gradually, the pile of herbs in front of her transformed into a mountain, yet the young man in front of her still didn’t stop, as if he had an inexhaustible supply of treasures on him.

Wu’er stared dumbfounded at this.

Only after a long time did Yang Kai stop and say, “With this much you’ll need to prepare a few Universe Bags, go ask your Senior Sister or your master for some.”

“Eh? Ah… en…” Wu’er responded somewhat dazed.

Yang Kai smiled warmly, reached out and patted her head before walking out.

It took some time after Yang Kai left for Wu’er to come to her senses, quickly gripping her floral patterned skirt with both hands and rushing out, eager to ask her master for several Universe Bags.

Inside Old Man Du’s room, Du Wan sat in meditation, reflecting back on all the actions Yang Kai had taken that day while refining that Saint Pill, trying to picture each of the different Spirit Arrays which had been used in the process.

The more he thought about it, the more mysterious Du Wan felt the whole process was.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Old Man Du’s brow furrowed. Sending out his Divine Sense to see who it was, a look of pleasant surprise appeared on his face in the next instant, “Come in.”

Yang Kai pushed open the door and cupped his fists respectfully.

Old Man Du smiled, got up and greeted Yang Kai, pouring him a cup of tea before asking, “How was your harvest this time?”

“Very good,” Yang Kai nodded, sincerely continuing, “I must say my thanks to Old Man Du and the other Grandmasters. If not for all of you allowing me to observe your Alchemy processes, I would not have obtained this opportunity.”

“You’re too polite,” Du Wan shook his head, “You being able to gain so much is naturally due to your own skills. Ye Xiong and Mi Na were also both there, but they didn’t seem to gain much. Only you managed to reap so many benefits.”

“The other Grandmasters?” Yang Kai asked, looking around but not finding any of their figures.

“Gone, they came here just to see if this old man could unlock the secrets of that Spirit Array. After they achieved their objective, they waited half a month, but seeing you not showing any signs of waking up, they departed.”

“Oh, I had wanted to thank them in person,” Yang Kai felt somewhat regretful.

The several Grandmasters had not concealed anything when they performed Alchemy, which was equivalent to them exposing their most precious secrets to Yang Kai, something he was very grateful for.

“You’ll have an opportunity to do so in the future. Those old fellows are a restless bunch, they’ll likely be back in Grand Boulder City in the near future,” Du Wan chuckled, “It won’t be too late to express your gratitude when you next see them.”