Archfiend

Chapter 119: Forming the Pill (2)

A Minister pill! Xu Yangyi suddenly lowered his head, looking at the medicinal pill resting on his hand in shock. Three pill marks… was the symbol of a Minister pill! He knew that an Assistant pill was his own luck defying the heavens. If the qi here wasn’t so abundant, it would be a problem of getting an envoy pill. However, he absolutely hadn’t expected himself to be capable of refining a Minister pill!

“No… I didn’t refine it…” His mind suddenly flashed. “The generousness of the qi caused the pill’s quality to increase. The Whale-Inhaling Pill-Forming Art absorbed the entire room’s qi and then also incorporated it…” His vision suddenly fell towards the brimming blue origin crystal in the array hub, and he laughed, “You!”

“Compared to a thousand-year-old demon core, there’s no better environment like this. That’s why I was able to create a Minister pill.” Xu Yangyi laughed and caressed the medicinal pill in his hand. The joy in his heart was like the eruption of a tide.

Success… Finally, success!

The time taken was 2 years and 0.8 months. He possessed the guidance of the Eternal Alchemy Canon, but lacked the instruction of a wise master. He had personally separated the procedures, analyzed textual cases, and monotonously cultivated for close to a thousand days. Every single thing. Today, all of it was worth it!

“A three-mark Minister pill…” He felt the scorching of his palm and tightly closed his eyes. But carefully examining Xu Yangyi, one could see the the veins on his hand were completely exposed, and his eyelids were somewhat trembling. He couldn’t NOT be excited. But at this very moment, the magnificent voice of the Eternal Alchemy Canon suddenly rang out again within his spiritual sense.

The pill spirit hath already risen, the essence soul yet to conceal itself. [1]

Not waiting for Xu Yangyi to ponder this meaning, the entire pill furnace began to softly vibrate in the next second. Inside the cauldron, the medicinal ingredients he had previously wasted seemed to accept some beckoning. Surprisingly, they began to rejuvenate layer by layer from their form of processed coal! At the center of Xu Yangyi’s puzzled gaze, the dregs transformed into Cinnabar Fruits and pieces of Imperial Heaven Wood. Soon after… these ingredients gradually ascended, beginning to form a small several-meter-tall whirlwind in midair! 

Xu Yangyi coolly observed everything before his eyes. The Eternal Alchemy Canon had never mentioned such a circumstance.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh… The whirlwind gently swayed. Three seconds later with a plop, all the medicinal ingredients unexpectedly became white qi butterflies and danced wildly in the air. Closely following, all of them converged together to form a palm-sized, but exceptionally dense, qi butterfly!

Just as it formed, the butterfly immediately frenzied in the air as if it wanted to escape the room. A smile played at the crook of Xu Yangyi’s mouth. “You want to run?”

His foot gently stepped downwards, and he dashed towards the butterfly with lightning speed. However, just as he rushed forth three meters, he came to a sudden halt. He cautiously extended a hand and softly stroked across from him.

There was something… An invisible crystal wall that had been placed in front of him at some unknown time. On the other side of the wall, the butterfly was flying disorderly in the room, attempting to seek an exit.

“Is this its doing?” Xu Yangyi’s eyes brightened. Although he didn’t understand what this thing was, something specifically mentioned by the Eternal Alchemy Canon certainly possessed its own peculiar attributes. Thus, Xu Yangyi held no notion of setting this thing free at all. 

“Alright, it just so happens that I’ll use you to test a few things out.” Xu Yangyi cracked his joints, and they echoed with a pop. Sucking in his abdomen and drawing in breath, he twisted his hips. His hand extended ahead to make a palm and his other hand made a fist which was placed at his waist. His entire being was unlike that of a Qi Condensation cultivator’s divine ability but rather resembling more of a mortal martial skill.

However… the hand placed at his waist seemed to grasp something, and incredibly profound scarlet runes faintly infiltrated beneath his skin. Rays of glaring red brilliance were mildly discernible within the seams of his fingers. 

At this moment, if there was a cultivator who Xu Yangyi was exchanging blows with standing here, they would certainly be making firm battle preparations and waiting to match strikes. This was because the power of Xu Yangyi’s hand now was shockingly no weaker than the Ten Cardinals Red Lotus!

Azure Dragon Seeks Cauldron!

After the three steps were finished, all divine abilities were obtained. However, in his rest time, he only had enough time to gain nothing more than a preliminary understanding of the divine ability brought about by medicine placement. Xu Yangyi simply didn’t have the time to grasp the divine abilities of pill-congealing and pill-forming. The reason why he had studied this move so quickly… was because it was a rarely seen physique art within divine abilities!

Among human cultivators, it could be firmly voiced that in ten thousand arts, there absolutely wouldn’t be a single physique art! This was on account that the nature of the human body was unsuited to refine the body. On the contrary, demonkind’s physique arts were rampant in spades, but because their constitutions were different, they fundamentally weren’t capable of human cultivation. 

However, as in life, there were inevitably exceptions. The Featherwood Guard’s creator was Daomaster Ancientpine. In the past, he’d resisted several thousand blows with the old pagoda tree that was Daomaster Blackmount’s demon form, indifferent to advantage or disadvantage. The surrounding great mountains collapsed, the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers reversed in flow, and the land was dyed red with blood for a thousand li. He’d relied on nothing else but a physique art!

Nonetheless, humans couldn’t refine a physique art to use. When one appeared, it was bound to be an eternally renowned and extinct art! Although physique arts were awesome, their training requirements and cultivation severity were absolutely not things that a common cultivator could endure.

However, pure physique art divine abilities were even fewer! When Xu Yangyi had gained Azure Dragon Seeks Cauldron, it had unexpectedly surpassed his happiness. Fists meeting flesh and close-quarters combat were no doubt his favored style of fighting.

“Azure Dragon….” His gaze was luminous as he locked onto the crystal wall in front of him, and the grand power within his body became greater and greater. The butterfly behind the crystal wall seemed to sense this as well, and its flying became even more berserk. “Seeks Cauldron!”

Boom! In the wake of Xu Yangyi’s unburdened snarl, the qi of the entire cultivation room began to frantically oscillate! Immediately, a streak of red radiance—extremely fine yet extremely penetrating—rapidly charged forth with a speed that evaded the eye! In the air, it even left a visible scar! In this instant… the air had been sliced open! Like a formless dragon claw was raking out here!

CRASH! A fragile sound echoed! Without almost any raised resistance,the crystal wall instantly crumbled apart! Ensuingly, a spiritual pressure no weaker than his in the slightest gushed about across from him!

Xu Yangyi’s gaze grew profound. This butterfly formed from the convergence of qi… was unexpectedly at the middle stage of Qi Condensation! At this twinkling, the butterfly’s two wings vibrated to the extent that even his eyes couldn’t see it clearly. Afterwards, an expanse of wind edges that overwhelmed the area flew out from the butterfly’s two wings, like raindrops!

“Fuck!” There simply wasn’t time for Xu Yangyi to think of anything else. Reflexively conditioned to act, his two arms crossed over each other, and he shouted, “Tortoise Burdens!” 

With the elevation of his cultivation, Tortoise Burdens surprisingly condensed a golden shield of light in front of him. Just as the shield solidified, the pitter-patter sound of striking rain fell endlessly on his ears. 

Crash! Inside the cultivation room, stones were cut apart and sent flying in disarray! Thick as an arm and half a meter deep, the scars almost covered the entire room in the blink of an eye! It was like an unseen sword saint had set the edge of his sword into a chaotic dance! The air seemed to tear apart!

Xu Yangyi’s arms suddenly sunk. He hadn’t anticipated… that this butterfly, so delicate that it couldn’t even be more so, was actually so powerful!

“Life Sacrification!” He used this second move without the slightest hesitation. Under the assault of countless wind edges, the golden shield of light had already dulled to a black color, empty of splendor. Instantly, the golden light was abundant once again! 

Nonetheless, Xu Yangyi could only last for three seconds in such circumstances. This attack, akin to showering gales, finally came to an end with the gentle shiver of a dinging noise, and the butterfly shifted side-to-side to evade the red light as it dispatched another wind edge. However… it wasn’t fast enough. 

Perhaps it could be said that the red light was even faster!

Xu Yangyi sighed softly, wiped away at his cold sweat, and looked coldly at the butterfly. Just now, the red light had directly struck the insect. Already, it was motionless. 

Just like that? Xu Yangyi was somewhat dissatisfied. This was the divine ability after the Ten Cardinals Red Lotus. On the awesomeness index, regardless of might and appearance, the Ten Cardinals Red Lotus was relatively high. Therefore, how could there be neither hair nor hide of sound after this move had struck?

“Maybe I should find someone to test it out on next time…” Xu Yangyi looked at his fist thoughtfully. “Maybe Mao Ba’er or Li Zongyuan?”

BOOOM!!!!!! In the instant he lowered his head, the butterfly’s surroundings exploded with ripples that were visible to the naked eye! The air suffered a violent shudder that formed a shock wave!

BANG!!! Immediately following, the wall in front of him… layer upon layer of the black wall crafted from Soundsink Stone, caved in by levels and rings. It started from the wall that the butterfly had been “nailed” into and abruptly covered it full of spider-web cracks! If a bit more power had been used, perhaps the room would’ve been punched through in the next second!

Crack… Crack… Crack… The wall that shattered into silk-like pieces made a series of sorrowful cries. Xu Yangyi’s gaze flickered with a wisp excitement. He almost hadn’t understood the secret of Azure Dragon Seeks Cauldron.

An inch of strength.

Without himself having attacked a human with this divine ability in the past, the butterfly appeared to be without the slightest injury. However, once this skill struck someone… a wound erupted in a flash, extreme beyond the standard norm! Moreover, it also possessed such a terrifying speed...

When a dragon roamed the world, not a blade of grass would grow! [2]

Swoosh! Not waiting on him to finish his musings, the butterfly suddenly erupted with a dazzling brilliance. Afterwards, it unexpectedly transformed into ten thousand motes of red light and unhurriedly flew towards Xu Yangyi. Sliver by sliver, these motes sunk into his skin. 

Hum… A memory charged into his mind without so much as an omen. Xu Yangyi’s gaze flashed and he immediately closed his eyes to meditate. Ten minutes later, he opened his eyes, his expression somewhat complex. 

“A pill spirit…” He pensively rubbed his chin. From the memory of moments ago, he had already understood what this thing was in its entirety.

A pill spirit was a spiritual organism of the world that could possibly emerge in any pill refining. Even the Eternal Alchemy Canon hadn’t clearly explained what this object was. It had merely offered the line “it has existed since time immemorial” and then just rushed through things. 

It buried and concealed a few special functions. Some could cause a person’s cultivation to progress greatly, and some could make a person become even sharper. Even in legends, it was also able to wash a person’s meridians and rake their marrow. The best pill spirits could directly turn people into babies!

“That memory just now should’ve been from the pill spirit.” He inwardly thought. It was once mentioned there was an ancient pill master who refined a Primordial pill. The pill spirit that appeared caused him to immediately break through to the next great realm… How mighty and powerful was this pill spirit…?

Nonetheless, Xu Yangyi didn’t relax at all. This was because that while the pill spirit simultaneously brought opportunity, it likewise carried challenge. Pill spirits held an elementary intelligence. They instinctually rejected being captured and were only done so when defeated. However... the higher the medicinal pill’s grade, and once the pill spirit emerged, there was even a chance that the rising qi would transform into a dragon or phoenix!

In regards to such a pill spirit—not to speak of capturing it—an alchemist would be lucky if he or she wasn’t killed by it! In the pill spirit’s recollections, there was never anyone who seized a pill spirit that was in the form of a dragon or phoenix!

“In addition… this still isn’t the highest grade…” Xu Yangyi’s gaze began to narrow. In this memory, another matter had been raised… On that day Zhang Daoling had formed the Great Dragon-Tiger Pill… a humanoid pill spirit had appeared! Not only did it possess a cultivation equal to Zhang Daoling’s, it moreover possessed… an intelligence that far transcended an ordinary person! [3]

1. This is a line (I believe) originates from an essay from a bard named Xia Wanchun (1631-1647 CE) at the final years of the Ming dynasty.

2. This isn’t so much saying that the dragon makes the grass not grow, but because the dragon is so fearsome, the grass doesn’t dare to grow.

3. Refresh: Zhang Daoling was previously mentioned as Celestial Master Zhang, a real figure in Daoism.