Reaching the pinnacle from Doupo

Chapter 545 Miscellaneous Thoughts, Initial Refinement of the Ninth Rank
"The Dragon Emperor's human husband? At such a young age, he wants to refine a ninth-grade pill... He does have some guts!"

"To be honest, I'm not optimistic!"

"Hehe, Old Ghost Xuan, how about we make a bet? I think it'll work!"

"Speaking of which, do you think it's appropriate? The fact that His Majesty's husband is a human..."

"Tsk, old man, I advise you not to have any wicked thoughts. His Majesty values ​​this person far more than you imagine! Besides, with your grandson, His Majesty could blow him to ashes in one breath. How could he possibly catch her eye?"

"Old Ghost Aoki, I have no selfish motives; I am acting in the best interests of the Ancient Dragon Clan. The complete royal bloodline must be passed down... If it is combined with a human, the bloodline will be diluted!"

"How about His Majesty taking a few of my people as 'concubines'? Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?"

"Old man, you've got some nerve to even think like that!"

"Heh, do you really think alchemists are just ordinary juniors? They are the number one genius in Zhongzhou, a top genius with unlimited potential... It won't be long before they surpass us. He and His Majesty have an excellent relationship, and no one else can easily interfere in their interactions."

"Alright, let's stop this topic. There's no point in us thinking about it!"

“That’s right. Let Her Majesty decide this matter herself. We can’t influence her mind at the moment.”

"Human lifespan is at most two or three thousand years, far less than that of my ancient dragon race. We have a long time to wait, so there's no need to worry about this too much for now..."

"A long period of time may change His Majesty's mind."

Deep within the void, the ancient dragon clan's Battle Saints scrutinized Lin Yuan, exchanging thoughts in hushed tones—just as Lin Yuan had expected, the ancient dragon clan had many ideas!

Lin Yuan didn't care what these people were thinking at the moment.

Taking a deep breath, he shifted slightly and sat cross-legged on the stone platform at the top of the mountain. With his eyes slightly closed, he adjusted his state. The details of refining the ninth-grade lightning tribulation pill and his experience in refining the eighth-grade lightning tribulation pill kept flowing through his mind.

In a fleeting moment, Lin Yuan's eyelids twitched slightly, and he slowly opened his eyes, which were shimmering with fire. With a thought, beautiful, icy blue flames rose up around him.

His eyes narrowed, and the icy blue flame instantly transformed into a wisp of fire, leaping into the air.

"Gather fire and solidify the cauldron!"

With a soft shout in his heart, the icy blue flames suddenly expanded, and in just a few blinks, they transformed into a fiery cloud that hovered above Lin Yuan.

The fiery clouds intertwined and converged, condensing into an ice-blue fire cauldron, with more than ten kinds of strange flame patterns swirling around it.

These interwoven flame patterns together form a mysterious array.

"This kid has such strong fire control. But isn't he afraid that he won't be able to control it when refining pills if he uses flames to form a cauldron?" Lin Yuan's move immediately attracted a lot of surprised looks, and whispers echoed in the void.

Lin Yuan remained calm, flicking his finger to send nine Heavenly Thunder Pearls flying out and landing in the fire cauldron.

Immediately, he formed several profound hand seals, and nine tiny icy blue flames appeared out of thin air within the fire cauldron, each enveloping one of the nine Heavenly Thunder Pearls.

At the same time, a large ball of icy blue flame appeared in the cauldron with a 'poof'.

Lin Yuan changed his hand seals, and icy blue flames intertwined and converged, transforming into an icy blue fire lotus that enveloped the nine small clusters of pearls. The Heavenly Thunder Pearls, encased in flames, resembled black lotus seeds embedded within the fire lotus.

At the same time, the array patterns outlined by flames on the cauldron also shimmered with dazzling light.

In an instant, a refining power flowed lightly from the fire cauldron, enveloping the Heavenly Thunder Pearl and continuously extracting and purifying its energy.

The purified lightning energy continued to converge towards the center of the fire lotus...

The Nine Profound Golden Thunder, which accompanies the Ninth-Rank Golden Core, can be used as the main ingredient to refine the Profound Core-level Thunder Tribulation Pill.

To refine a Thunder Tribulation Pill of the Precious Pill level, one naturally needs Thunder of the Profound Pill level.

However, when a ninth-grade Profound Pill is formed, the lightning that descends is not a special lightning like the Nine Profound Golden Lightning, but the same Black Demon Lightning as when a ninth-grade Precious Pill is formed. Only, compared to the Black Demon Lightning of a Precious Pill, the Black Demon Lightning of a Profound Pill is more numerous and more powerful.

The main ingredient of the Treasure Pill-level Thunder Tribulation Pill is still Black Demon Thunder, but the amount used is much larger than before.

In alchemy, it must be purified before it can be used as the main ingredient in precious pills!
Of course, this extraction and refining is extremely difficult, and even ordinary half-saints or low-level battle saints would find it hard to do. The reason Lin Yuan was able to do it was largely because he possessed a strange fire, and a rather powerful one at that.

For alchemists, a powerful strange fire, with its strong refining ability, can significantly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of alchemy!
The use of strange fire in alchemy far surpasses its use in combat.

As time passed, tiny drops of refined, jet-black liquid were extracted from the nine Heavenly Thunder Pearls, carrying wisps of lightning, and converged towards the center of the Ice Blue Fire Lotus…

Two days later, the icy blue fire lotus in the cauldron dissipated, and a small pool of black liquid, about an inch in size, floated lightly in the center of the fire lotus.

"First step successfully completed!"

Sensing the changes within the cauldron, Lin Yuan breathed a slight sigh of relief, then reached out his palm and gently swept it across the air in front of him.

One after another, medicinal herbs of considerable energy flew out of the Nether Sea Ring, and in just a few blinks of an eye, they densely covered the sky above the Fire Cauldron. At a rough glance, there were probably no less than a thousand kinds.

The sheer quantity of medicinal herbs astonished even the ancient dragon warriors in the void.

Lin Yuan's expression remained unchanged. He gently waved his sleeve, and numerous medicinal herbs transformed into a torrent, continuously pouring into the fire cauldron, where they were devoured by the raging flames that rose from within.

Before long, powerful energy fluctuations spread out from the cauldron, causing the space to tremble.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Yuan gently closed his eyes. With a thought, his late-stage Heaven Realm soul power surged from between his brows and was poured into the medicine cauldron without reservation.

In an instant, every wisp of flame and every ball of medicinal power within the cauldron was completely under control.

Under his careful manipulation, this incredibly pure medicinal power rapidly surged towards the pool of black liquid in the center, then gradually merged into it...

Refining pills, especially high-level pills, generally takes a considerable amount of time.

Alchemists of Lin Yuan's caliber typically spend ten days to half a month refining a single batch of medicine. However, the ancient dragon clan experts in the void, due to their long lifespans, possessed enough patience and interest to watch the entire round of alchemy being refined.

As Lin Yuan devoted himself to refining medicine, time slipped away quickly, like sand through his fingers.

In the blink of an eye, nine days had passed... And when it comes to refining ninth-grade pills, no one can guarantee a 100% success rate. Even Lin Yuan's first attempt was not smooth sailing!
In those nine days, he failed twice and lost two precious medicinal herbs.

The reasons for each failure were subtle, but fortunately, after two failures, Lin Yuan's refining skills became increasingly proficient, clearly having learned a lot from his previous failures.

Under the witness of many high-ranking members of the ancient dragon clan, Lin Yuan's third refining process lasted for a full half month!
As time went by, the communication in the void gradually ceased, and the atmosphere throughout the world became increasingly tense. Everyone had a premonition that the moment that would determine success or failure was approaching!

"clang--"

On the seventeenth day, a metallic clang suddenly echoed from the cauldron.

On the bluestone platform, Lin Yuan, who had been sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, slightly opened his deep eyes, which had been tightly shut for a long time. At this moment, a powerful energy wave spread out, and in the distant sky, the thick clouds gathered like lightning...

At the summit, a captivating glint flashed in Lin Yuan's deep eyes, and a strange, natural charm emanated from his body.

His breath, subtle and intermittent, fluctuated.

On the other side, sensing the continued abundant energy in the clouds, Elder Qingshan in the void involuntarily swallowed, and a strong sense of anticipation appeared in his eyes.

"A ninth-grade elixir... Will it be successfully refined this time?"

So, under everyone's watchful eyes, Lin Yuan slowly stood up, raised his hand, and grasped the ice-blue fire cauldron in mid-air.

"boom--"

A crisp booming sound rang out, and the Ice Blue Fire Cauldron exploded.

In an instant, a terrifying wave of scorching and surging fire burst forth, causing the temperature of the surrounding world to soar.

At the same time, the magnificent ice-blue fire lotus was clearly reflected in the vision of the ancient dragon clan's high-ranking members. An extremely mysterious aura emanated from the fire lotus in the center of the fire wave, exuding a captivating power.

Gazing at the icy blue fire lotus, Lin Yuan glanced at the collar of his shirt, his hands rapidly conjuring a series of mysterious hand seals.

"Gather fire and condense the elixir!"

As Lin Yuan's hand seals changed continuously, the icy blue fire lotus began to spin lightly, creating a vortex that devoured all the vast energy around it.

The energy fluctuations at the center of the fire lotus became increasingly intense over time.

In an instant, a loud bang suddenly rang out in the sky, and everyone saw that the world seemed to darken all at once, and the dark clouds in the sky quickly turned into a deep, gloomy color.

"Hiss, Black Demon Lightning... Elder Alchemist, did you really succeed in refining a ninth-grade pill?"

In the void, Zhu Li looked at the eerie black clouds, then at Lin Yuan on the mountain peak below, and couldn't help but gasp, his eyes filled with disbelief.

A ninth-grade alchemist in his early twenties... How is that possible?!
The other Battle Saints of the Ancient Dragon Clan also wore expressions of horror. Although they had a vague feeling that "this time it will succeed" after more than twenty days of observation, they were still deeply shocked when they witnessed this scene with their own eyes.

At this moment, when they looked at Lin Yuan again, they no longer looked at him as a junior, but as a peer, or even as someone of higher status.

At this moment, the grandmaster's esteemed status was beginning to show its power.

Generally speaking, alchemists of the same level have a higher status than strong individuals of the same level, even at the Dou Sheng level!
Lin Yuan, who has already been able to refine a ninth-grade precious pill, is at least comparable to a mid-level Dou Sheng in status.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the black clouds in the sky continued to churn. After about ten minutes, a circular hole slowly opened up in the center of the clouds. Inside the hole was a deep and pitch-black expanse, like the deepest black hole...

The moment the circular cavity appeared, Lin Yuan's gaze suddenly focused, and his mind connected with the spirit of the inner fire within his body.

"Fu Xuan, this time, it's up to you!"

"Yes, Master!" Upon hearing the command, the girl's voice, tinged with a hint of joy, unexpectedly echoed in Lin Yuan's mind.

At the same time, a loud "boom" finally came from inside the void. Immediately afterwards, a black lightning bolt as thick as an arm shot out from the void and blasted towards the ice-blue fire lotus below.

Upon seeing this, Lin Yuan's face turned solemn, and his hands flashed as he formed several hand seals, releasing the immense power condensed by Fu Xuan.

"laugh--"

With a barely perceptible soft sound, a burst of purple-black flames suddenly shot out from Lin Yuantan's position.

As this strange purplish-black flame leaped, it instantly appeared above the ice-blue fire lotus, then rapidly expanded and, in its rotation, transformed into a strange vortex of flame, directly confronting the destructive lightning.

Thus, the purplish-black flames and the pitch-black lightning collided violently in mid-air.

At this moment, there was no earth-shattering explosion, nor dazzling energy fireworks; all that remained was the brutal erosion that followed contact.

Although the vortex of purplish-black flames was only about ten feet in size, it was like an endless abyss, capable of devouring all energy. The incredibly powerful black demonic lightning dimmed visibly upon contact with the vortex of flames.

In the blink of an eye, the Black Demon Lightning was completely engulfed, and the vortex of flames stabilized again after a few tremors.

Above the sky, the descending lightning gradually dissipated after being swallowed up.

Finally, streams of pure lightning power poured down from the thunderclouds, all falling into the fire lotus and merging into the pill that emitted a strange, eerie light.

Seeing this, Lin Yuan felt relieved, and his hand seals changed accordingly. "Withdraw!"

The vortex of flames enveloping the Black Demon Lightning rapidly contracted inward while refining the lightning power within. In just a few minutes, it shrank from a size of ten feet to a size of an inch before being absorbed back into the Nascent Soul Qi Core.

After that, a refined and extremely pure energy continuously flowed out from his natal Qi core and merged into Lin Yuan's limbs and bones.

At this moment, his breath, which had been stuck at a bottleneck for months, began to rise steadily and rapidly.

Without any hesitation, Lin Yuan sat down cross-legged on the spot, gently closed his eyes, formed cultivation hand seals, and began to break through the barrier of the Heavenly Burning Yuan Scripture.

Just then, a powerful energy suddenly erupted from the center of the Heavenly Fire Lotus.

Impacted by this intense energy, the icy blue fire lotus instantly disintegrated, and a beam of black light shot out from it, heading straight for Lin Yuan, who was closing his eyes to break through the barrier...

(End of this chapter)