Martial Peak - Chapter 1983

 

As the last moment of the contest between Yang Kai and Zuo De that day, he had received this Pill Condensing Technique from the Grand Alchemic Dao Tone.

 

That Pill Condensing Technique was the prototype of the Nine Heavens Profound Pill Method and was the culmination of all Yang Kai’s knowledge and comprehension of the Alchemic Dao.

 

With the aid of the Grand Alchemic Dao Tone, an omnipotent and omnipresent manifestation of the Heavenly Way, Yang Kai had managed to comprehend this Pill Condensing Technique.

 

As such, the Nine Heavens Profound Pill Method could essentially be regarded as a crystallization of the Alchemic Dao and Heavenly Way.

 

The Heavens worked in mysterious ways and only those who were predestined could realize something from it directly, but the benefits of doing so were unimaginable.

Yang Kai’s Nine Heavens Profound Pill Method was a product of the Heavenly Way itself, one he was only able to spy upon by coincidence.

 

Even if he wanted to teach this technique to others, it would be impossible as it was imparted specifically to him, and created for him, by the Grand Alchemic Dao Tone.

 

At that time, Yang Kai felt that this Pill Condensing Technique was extremely abstruse and mysterious, not something he could achieve mastery of in a short time.

Now looking at it, its difficulty makes sense. After all, the Nine Heavens Profound Pill Method, which Yang Kai had obtained in his native Star Field, was still considered an extremely high-end technique in the Star Boundary.

 

Every furnace of pills he refined, Yang Kai used the Nine Heavens Profound Pill Method to condense.

 

At this moment, it was once more time to condense the Spirit Pills.

 

As Yang Kai began using the Nine Heavens Profound Pill Method, the pill fragrance inside the Alchemy Room became more and more intense and once a certain critical limit had been reached, a popping sound rang out from the Purple Origin Furnace.

 

Realizing that the time had come, Yang Kai reached out and patted the Purple Origin Furnace, causing the lid to fly off and six small Spirit Pills to shoot out.

 

Yang Kai took out a pre-prepared jade bottle immediately and stuffed these pills inside it.

“Only six!” Yang Kai frowned slightly, seemingly a little dissatisfied.

 

Theoretically speaking, one set of Source Condensing Pill materials could be condensed into nine pills, which was also the absolute limit of a single batch of Spirit Pills. Although Yang Kai had excellent Alchemy aptitude and a unique Pill Condensing Technique like the Nine Heavens Profound Pill Method, he was still just an Origin King Grade High-Rank Alchemist in the end, so condensing six pills at once was his limit.

 

Nine was perfection, so he was three pills short!

 

However, this was already quite remarkable. Few Alchemists could condense the maximum number of Spirit Pills per furnace, and all who could were Grandmasters whose names echoed across the entire Star Boundary!

Even for those Grandmasters though, there were times when things went wrong, so it was impossible for them to always achieve success.

 

Six was a number impossible to reach for most ordinary Dao Source Grade Alchemists, so Yang Kai being able to accomplish this was mostly thanks to his Nine Heavens Profound Pill Method.

 

This was also why Alchemists would fight and even kill to obtain excellent Pill Condensing Techniques, because a superb Pill Condensing Technique meant that they could refine more pills per furnace, in essence saving materials, time, and energy.

 

When Yang Kai first began refining Source Condensing Pills, he was only able to condense two pills per furnace, but after just a dozen days or so, he could consistently condense six per batch, a terrifying accomplishment no one would believe possible.

 

Although it seemed that he was not far from the limit of nine, sometimes taking even a single step forward was all but impossible. In order to reach the upper limit, Yang Kai would require an enormous amount of practice and experience.

Yang Kai spent seven days consuming all one hundred sets of materials.

 

As usual, he deliberately failed to refine more than a dozen furnaces to avoid Kang Si Ran having doubts.

 

In fact, according to his current skill, even if Yang Kai closed his eyes and only half paid attention, he could still successfully refine a furnace of Source Condensing Pills.

 

When Kang Si Ran received the summons to pick up the finished pills, his whole being exuded an aura of excitement and happiness.

 

Even though he had already had such an experience once, Kang Si Ran still couldn’t believe that Yang Kai was able to refine a hundred furnaces of Spirit Pills in such a short time.

In terms of quantity, there was almost no difference from the previous time: three hundred pieces.

 

The difference this time was that Yang Kai had pocketed more than two hundred Source Condensing Pills!

 

“Alchemist Yang, it is this old master’s honour to work with you!” Kang Si Ran looked at Yang Kai with a smile on his face, “If it had not been for Alchemist Yang’s presence, my Spirit Pill Plaza would really have been forced to close. Thanks are not enough to express this old master’s gratitude. If Alchemist Yang has any need of this old master’s assistance in the future, he needs to simply ask and this old master will do his utmost to help.”

 

“This is just a simple business transaction; Shopkeeper Kang is far too serious.” Yang Kai smiled lightly.

 

Yang Kai’s humility and kindness made Kang Si Ran smile even more heartily. He had never before met such a young, capable, yet humble Alchemist.

Which of the three previous Alchemists in Spirit Pill Plaza’s employ had not been a difficult character to work with?

 

Every time Kang Si Ran would come to collect pills from them, the three Alchemists would have gloomy expressions on their faces, like he owed them millions of Source Crystals. Even if his cultivation was higher than theirs, Kang Si Ran always had to wear a flattering smile and act cautiously around them.

 

Kang Si Ran also had to provide them with special rewards!

 

For example, every time Fan Hong finished a round of Alchemy, Kang Si Ran would have to arrange a beautiful virgin for him to ‘relax’ with, and the cultivation of this virgin could not be lower than the Origin Returning Realm!

 

There were indeed many cultivators at the Origin Returning Realm in Maplewood City, but the price Spirit Pill Plaza had to pay in order to so frequently find women who met Fan Hong’s requirements was not low! The demands of the other two Alchemists were even more outrageous. One of them needed to drink a bottle of Ten Thousand Safflower Wine, which was only available in the City Lord’s Mansion, while the other required a Demon Flame Fruit which grew only in the depths of the Demon Flame Marsh!

 

That Ten Thousand Safflower Wine cost a thousand Source Crystals for a single cup! What’s more, it was an exclusive product of the City Lord’s Mansion and wasn’t generally sold to the public. If not for Kang Si Ran having some specific connections, he would not have been able to acquire this drink.

The Demon Flame Fruit was even rarer. Only a few fruit trees that produced the Demon Flame Fruit grew near the centre of the Demon Flame Marsh. Only occasionally would some adventurers be able to return with a few of these Demon Flame Fruits. Naturally, something so rare was expensive. Five thousand Source Crystals to obtain a single fruit was considered a bargain, while seven or eight thousand was entirely possible! What was worse was that this fruit did not serve any purpose in cultivation and could only be eaten to appreciate its taste.

 

Whenever he thought back on those times, Kang Si Ran’s heart felt like bleeding.

 

What’s more, this Alchemist Yang was not only friendly, he also had no strange extra conditions, just a few pill recipes were enough to satisfy him.

 

Compared to Yang Kai, with his noble and righteous character, those other three Alchemists were simply trash!

 

Now, those three Alchemists were that cheap slut Zhuo Ning Si’s, problem to deal with. Thinking this way, Kang Si Ran’s mood was bolstered greatly.

 

“Alchemist Yang, would you like to rest for a few more days? With the Source Condensing Pills you have provided this time, Spirit Pill Plaza won’t need to worry about supply for at least half a month,” Kang Si Ran saw Yang Kai working so hard and felt quite moved, so he took the initiative to make such a proposal.

 

“Oh? If there are enough Source Condensing Pills, are there perhaps other Spirit Pills that need to be refined?” Yang Kai asked.

Kang Si Ran chuckled, “The demand for other Spirit Pills isn’t very large, so this old master has some in stock still. Please take a rest, Alchemist Yang, there’s no need for you to overwork yourself.”

 

“All right, I’ll take a rest for a few days,” Yang Kai thought for a while before nodding.

 

“That would be best. By the way, Alchemist Yang only came to Maplewood City recently, yes? Would you like to accompany this old master tomorrow?”

 

“Where to?” Yang Kai looked at Kang Si Ran curiously.

 

Kang Si Ran smiled slightly and said, “Actually, a Star Envoy has come from Star Soul Palace and is now staying in the City Lord’s Mansion. This old master was fortunate enough to be invited to accompany Sir Star Envoy tomorrow on his mission and has been allowed to bring one person with him.”

 

“A Star Envoy from Star Soul Palace?” Yang Kai raised his brow.

 

Seeing his expression, Kang Si Ran secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Yang Kai wasn’t so ignorant and uninformed that he didn’t even know about Star Soul Palace. After all, this was the overlord of the entire Southern Territory, the Sect where Bright Moon Great Emperor assumed command.

Bright Moon Great Emperor was one of the Ten Great Emperors.

 

As the representative of Star Soul Palace, any Star Envoy was obviously highly respected.

 

“Why would a Star Envoy from Star Soul Palace come to Maplewood City?” Yang Kai frowned; after all, Maplewood City was not prosperous enough to attract the attention of such a character.

 

But soon, Yang Kai seemed to understand, “Is it because of Clear Jade Mountain?”

 

“Indeed,” Kang Si Ran nodded and said, “A Luan Feng appeared at Clear Jade Mountain, so during this time, many foreign masters have come to visit Maplewood City in order to investigate Clear Jade Mountain. Alchemist Yang, you have been busy with Alchemy here day and night, so it’s understandable you don’t know what’s happening outside. Sir Star Envoy coming here is naturally because of that Luan Feng, otherwise, how could a tiny Maplewood City attract so many masters?”

 

“Who else has come?” Yang Kai suddenly became curious.

 

Yang Kai was not one for gossip, but the movements of the various great forces of the Southern Territory was of interest to him.

Hearing this question, Kang Si Ran explained everything he knew.

 

“The news of the Luan Feng’s appearance spread very quickly, so most of the top Sects from the Southern Territory have sent representatives. This old master knows that Heavenly Martial Holy Land, Orthodoxy Temple, and Azure Sun Temple have sent Elders. In addition, it seems that our Violet Source Chamber of Commerce and Seven Glories Chamber of Commerce have dispatched masters. However, this old master is only responsible for running a small business, so he was not notified of who the chamber of commerce was sending,” Kang Si Ran said without hesitation. “There are also countless small and medium-sized great forces who have sent their own envoys. The current Maplewood City… is a gathering of dragons and tigers.”

 

“Do they want to track that Luan Feng’s whereabouts?” Yang Kai looked stunned.

 

“Naturally not!” Kang Si Ran laughed in surprise, “That Luan Feng is an Ancient Divine Spirit, an existence even the Ten Great Emperors might not be able to take down on their own, so who would dare try to trace its whereabouts? It is just… After all, it was a Divine Spirit that appeared, so it has attracted much attention. Moreover, all the great forces knew that trying to trace her would yield no results, but they could not just ignore her either. Most Sects have not deployed their top-level powerhouses but instead sent out some personnel to make an appearance while also sending some of their promising youths in order for them to gain some life experience.”

 

“So that’s how it is!”

 

“Although our Spirit Pill Plaza is nothing worthy of note, it is still the property of Violet Source Chamber of Commerce and a business that Sir City Lord has taken good care of, so this time, in order to welcome and accompany Sir Star Envoy, this old master was added to the invitee list. Is Alchemist Yang interested in travelling together to see the place where the Divine Spirit appeared in Clear Jade Mountain? This old master has heard that the black flames there are still burning and that not even Dao Source Realm cultivators can enter too deep. However, even from the outskirts, it would be a chance to expand one’s horizons, and if one is able to comprehend anything from those World Extinguishing Black Flames, it would be a great profit.”

 

[I’ve already deeply experienced those black flames,] Yang Kai thought to himself.