Chapter 4229 – Alchemy
Translator: Silavin & Tia
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
After making it through the most difficult part, Yang Kai gradually felt that his stomach was no longer bulging so painfully. He had almost finished refining the Yang Element Power and the most notable change was that the golden colour in his Dao Seal had increased significantly.
Taking the Primordial Yang Profound Ginseng out of the Heavenly Yin Jade Box again, he determinedly took a few more bites. The golden Yang Element Power exploded in his body once more, squeezing his internal organs together painfully. The energy filled his entire body, along with his physique and meridians. It even made his entire body emit a faint golden light.
Mobilising the power of his Dao Seal again, he guided the Yang Element Power into it. Yang Kai simply repeated these steps over and over again. He did not know how long had pa.s.sed but the Yang Element Power in his Dao Seal gradually became saturated while the Primordial Yang Profound Ginseng he spent nearly 300 million Open Heaven Pills to obtain was completely consumed in exchange.
When the last bit of the Primordial Yang Profound Ginseng’s medicinal efficacies dissolved into his belly and the Yang Element Power poured into his Dao Seal, Yang Kai suddenly felt an unusual change occurring in his body.
He immediately understood what had happened, his Yang Element had been completed. That meant that there were only two more steps left before he advanced into the Open Heaven Realm! Moreover, he had entered the Half-Step Open Heaven Realm.
Generally speaking, a cultivator could call themselves a Half-Step Open Heaven Realm Master once they condensed five Elements. This was not a Realm, but it was undeniable that they could exert more power than ordinary Emperor Realm Masters. Becoming a Half-Step Open Heaven Realm Master was of great significance to other cultivators. That was because they could look forward to advancing into the true Open Heaven Realm once they reached this point in their cultivation. In addition, their strength would also improve by leaps and bounds.
Unfortunately, it was useless to Yang Kai. That was because he was already on par with Low-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters in terms of strength when he had only condensed four Elements. Not to mention, he had to concentrate on three tasks at once now that he had refined the Seventh-Order Yang Element Power since he needed to operate the Defying Yin-Yang Five Elements Profound Universe Heart Scripture at all times to maintain the stability of his Dao Seal. Therefore, his strength had not increased by much.
It would not end at having to concentrate on three tasks at once. In the future, he might need to concentrate on four tasks at once upon condensing his Yin Element. The impact would be greater than what he was experiencing now. Hence, the best solution was for him to condense the Metal Element Power first. That way he could correct the sequence so that he no longer needed to work so hard to maintain the Defying Yin-Yang Five Elements Profound Universe Heart Scripture at all times.
It was just that… High-Rank resources were hard to come by. Who could say whether he would obtain a Metal Element treasure or Yin Element treasure first?
After calming down, Yang Kai checked his body and confirmed that there were no hidden dangers. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
A quick calculation indicated that he had taken almost two months to refine the Primordial Yang Profound Ginseng. This period of time could not be considered long. If it were any other cultivator, they would likely have taken a year or two to complete the refinement process and that was only if they actually succeeded in the end. It might even have taken them three to five years to complete the refinement process.
Condensing the Yin, Yang, and Five Elements placed an extremely heavy burden on one’s Dao Seal after all. If one were overly hasty in the process, there was a high possibility that it would cause unnecessary trouble down the road. Which cultivator would not be cautious when refining their Yin, Yang, and Five Elements, lest their Dao Seal become unable to withstand the internal pressures?
Only Yang Kai, who had such a strong foundation and had taken more than ten drops of the Divine Dao Water to strengthen his Dao Seal to the limit, could ignore such consequences.
Yang Kai waved his hand to remove the barriers around the secret room. After a while, the door to the secret room opened. Both Yue He and the Proprietress entered together, they must have been waiting outside all this time. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to arrive so quickly.
The Proprietress came to a stop in front of him and glanced at him, “Is it done?”
He nodded lightly.
She seemed slightly surprised, “That was fast.”
Meanwhile, Yue He did not seem surprised. Yang Kai had taken about the same amount of time to condensed his Earth Element Power back when they were in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary.
“What about the items that I asked for?” Yang Kai looked at Yue He.
“It’s all in here.” She immediately held out a s.p.a.ce Ring.
He nodded and accepted the s.p.a.ce Ring from her. Then, he swept his Divine Sense to check the contents.
At the same time, the Proprietress placed a hand on his forehead. The power in her body surged silently as she checked the situation with his Dao Seal. After a while, she retracted her hand when she confirmed that there was nothing wrong with him. Her gaze was solemn as she stared at him, “Brat, the path you are threading is extremely dangerous. There’s a very high possibility that it will lead to your death. Even if your life is not in danger, you will still face countless obstacles in your way. You must consider this matter thoroughly.”
He just grinned meaningfully though, “Proprietress, you’ve warned me about this many times. Since I have these unique advantages, I might as well give it a try; otherwise, I would definitely regret it for the rest of my life. As for the dangers and obstacles that I will face… I’ll deal with them as they come!”
At the beginning, he had refined the essence of the Immortal Tree without knowing it. That had given him an extremely high starting point. He later obtained the Golden Crow’s True Fire, followed by the Earth Attribute Great Dragon’s Dragon Bead… With such powerful heritage and advantages, how could he not strive to advance into the High-Rank Open Heaven Realm? It was only natural for people to aim high just as it was the everlasting logic that water would always flow downward.
She nodded lightly and said nothing more.
He asked, “When will the Blood Monster Cave Heaven open?”
She tidied her sleeves and said, “I’ve already sent people to monitor the changes in the Blood Monster Cave Heaven carefully. There has been no news yet. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for a few more months.”
“In that case, I’ll have to trouble you to continue keeping an eye on this matter, Proprietress. I will continue to cultivate in retreat. Let me know as soon as possible if you receive news regarding the Blood Monster Cave Heaven.”
“Don’t worry. I will not let you miss this opportunity.” She gave him a displeased look. Knowing that he had other things to do, she said a few more things before leaving with Yue He in tow.
Inside the secret room, Yang Kai reactivated the barriers and took a short rest for two days to recover from his fatigue.
Two days later, he summoned an Alchemy Furnace. He took out the s.p.a.ce Ring that Yue He had given him earlier and the pill recipe of the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill that he obtained from Red Clouds Auction House. He was going to refine the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill!
This item was extremely invaluable. Ye Jian and Teng w.a.n.g had been willing to place a bid of more than 20 million Open Heaven Pills just to obtain this Spirit Pill. Once he managed to refine this item, Void Land would never need to worry about cultivation or development resources again.
Two months ago, Yang Kai instructed Yue He to purchase all the necessary Alchemy ingredients according to the pill recipe. The Star City in Thousand Birds Territory was a large-scale one where almost anything could be found for purchase with some effort. Not to mention, they were backed by an intelligence network of First Inn. Acquiring the ingredients listed in the pill recipe had not been hard. At present, the s.p.a.ce Ring contained enough ingredients for him to refine 200 Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pills.
The Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill was meant for cultivators in the Emperor Realm to consume when advancing into the Open Heaven Realm. Therefore, it was not a high Grade Spirit Pill. It was just that the main ingredient had gone extinct, causing the Spirit Pill to be lost with the pa.s.sing of time.
With his Alchemy skills, Yang Kai was confident he could refine the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill; however, it was uncertain as to what quality he could produce. He was neither expecting to succeed on his first try nor to refine a Spirit Pill with Pill Veins or Pill Clouds. It would already be a huge harvest as long as he managed to successfully refine 10% of the two hundred portions of ingredients.
A short while later, he took out some of the Pill Powder that he previously sc.r.a.ped off from the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill, extracted a small pinch, and placed it in his mouth to savour the taste. In doing so, he slowly deduced the process of refinement from the medicinal efficacies. All sorts of thoughts flowed through his mind like a shower of sparks.
Half a month later, he finally formed a plan in his heart and began warming the Alchemy Furnace.
The Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill could increase the success rate of a cultivator when advancing into the Open Heaven Realm while World Source Liquid had the same effects. Back then, Old Bai had suffered from interference during his advancement and nearly died as a result. At the time, Yang Kai had used the World Source Liquid to pull him back from the brink of death.
In comparison, the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill which was refined with World Source Liquid as its main ingredient had even stronger effects. Not only did it have the effect of allowing a cultivator to experience the atmosphere of when a World was first born, but it also had the effect of stabilizing their Dao Seal. In addition, each Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill only needed one drop of the World Source Liquid.
Yang Kai had used two bottles of World Source Liquid to save Old Bai’s life back then, enough to produce several dozen Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pills. Therefore, World Source Liquid could not compare to the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill in terms of the consumption rate either.
Half a day later, Yang Kai frowned when he was concentrating on his Alchemy. He could smell something burnt coming from the furnace and sighed before stopping what he was doing.
When the furnace fire went out, he opened the pill furnace. The burnt smell became even more intense, to the point that it was almost pungent. His first attempt at refining turned out to be a failure. He had failed to grasp the heat at a critical moment, so all the materials in the furnace were ruined.
This was perfectly normal, however. Although Yang Kai was quite accomplished in the Alchemic Dao, it was still his first time refining the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill so he was unfamiliar with the various steps in the process. Still, he did not expect to succeed on his first try and was not discouraged as a result. After a brief rest, he reviewed what he had done wrong and started on his second attempt.
Another half a day later, the materials in the second furnace were also sc.r.a.ped as a similar scorched smell wafted from the pill furnace. He did not make the same mistake as he did previously though. This time he had failed to grasp the right timing for a certain critical step.
Alchemy has always been a rigorous process. The slightest error could lead to complete failure. That was also the reason why Alchemists were so widely sought after everywhere they went. Likewise, the worth of various rare Spirit Pills remained highly-valued at all times.
In the following month, Yang Kai kept attempting to refine the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill. He built up his experience from his repeated failures, improved his techniques, and mastered the amount of heat required at every step of the process. Every failure would leave him reflecting over his mistakes for a long time and every mistake he made allowed him to grow further.
According to the Proprietress’ previous estimation, each portion of ingredients would cost almost a 100,000 Open Heaven Pills without taking the cost of the World Source Liquid into account. If the value of the World Source Liquid was added, then the worth of the Spirit Pill could no longer be estimated. It would cost at least 1 million Open Heaven Pills.
Over this period, Yang Kai had failed more than a hundred times. In other words, he had suffered a loss of more than 1 billion Open Heaven Pills. Nevertheless, this kind of investment was worth it. As long as he could successfully refine the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill, it would turn into a steady stream of money in the future!
He couldn’t help but think about his Xia Ning Chang. Although he was certainly talented to a certain extent in the Alchemic Dao, his Little Senior Sister possessed the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body that was born for the sake of performing Alchemy. If she were here, she would definitely fare better than him.
It wasn’t until a certain day one month later that Yang Kai took out a Spirit Pill from the pill furnace. This Spirit Pill was no different from the Spirit Pill that he had bought from the auction house previously. He gently sc.r.a.ped off a layer of Pill Powder and tasted it. There was not much difference be it in terms of taste or the medicinal efficacies.
Yang Kai finally let out a soft sigh, knowing that he had succeeded in refining the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill at last. It had taken him more than a hundred failures and a whole month to successfully refine the first Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill. It had not been an easy feat.