Chapter 16: Observing Alchemy!
Looking at Zi Yan putting on a slightly stubborn front, Jiang Yun cast her a faint glance. It was as if he had said nothing at all, yet somehow said everything.
Zi Yan, with her head held high, suddenly felt a wave of malice wash over her. A demonic beast's intuition told her something unfavorable to herself was afoot.
When she turned her head back, she met Jiang Yun's 'warm and gentle' gaze and instantly felt her worries were unfounded.
However, the fact that Jiang Yun actually dared to mock her—she bared her two little tiger teeth at him in a 'fierce' manner. Mm... the 'vicious fangs of a dragon.'
The ever-optimistic Zi Yan was the wellspring of Jiang Yun's daily happiness.
With a flick of Jiang Yun's palm, a wisp of white flame swelled against the wind. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a pure white giant cauldron. Condensing flame into solid objects was no profound technique. As long as one's soul power was sufficiently abundant, let alone a giant cauldron, even a beauty could be formed with ease.
On the Dou Qi Continent, a cauldron was an indispensable tool of the trade for any alchemist.
A good cauldron could not only stabilize flames and medicinal liquids, but could also increase the success rate of pill refinement. Among them, the cauldrons on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking were objects that alchemists scrambled madly to obtain.
Yet, once one reached the 9th-tier realm, whether or not one needed a cauldron became irrelevant. For a figure of that level was, in and of themselves, the mightiest 'cauldron' of all.
As for why Jiang Yun didn't need a cauldron—firstly, his soul power was innately powerful; secondly, he simply didn't have one; and thirdly, this was merely simple refinement of medicinal ingredients, not true alchemy, so such complexity was unnecessary.
Jiang Yun had never practiced alchemy. He didn't even know the properties and melting points of these ingredients beyond the names he'd read on the labels of their containers.
Yet, Jiang Yun possessed one unparalleled advantage—his innately powerful soul force, enough to handle any unexpected situation.
If ordinary alchemists were regular players, needing to grind for experience day and night, then Jiang Yun... was that kind of 'pay-to-win' player.
He was the object of envy and, simultaneously, the object of disdain.
Watching the cauldron take form, Jiang Yun, under Zi Yan's expectant gaze, threw the medicinal ingredients into the flame cauldron.
Instantly, raging flames churned violently within the giant cauldron. The ingredients, under the scorching heat of the flames, gradually began to transform. Jiang Yun probed their limits bit by bit.
This type of refining was not particularly difficult. As long as the heat was sufficiently intense, it would do. It didn't require much of Jiang Yun's energy, and the refining proceeded very rapidly.
Moments later, the Purple Cloud Fruit within had completely transformed into a thick, viscous purple liquid. With a wave of his palm, a handful of the seasonings Zi Yan had selected dropped into the cauldron and immediately fused with the viscous liquid.
His ten fingers suddenly began dancing swiftly before him. As his fingertips moved, the mixed liquid within the cauldron rapidly separated, ultimately splitting into dozens of tiny liquid globules.
"Condense!" With a light shout, the liquid rapidly solidified. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into dozens of purple pellets with a white halo. They spun round and round above the Saint Demon Flame within the cauldron.
Looking at these pellets, which exuded a peculiar fragrance, Jiang Yun nodded. With a small wave of his hand, dozens of the purple pellets streaked out from within the cauldron, trailing white light, and finally landed in the jade bottle in his palm.
He poured a pellet out of the jade bottle and pinched it a dozen centimeters from his eyes. He didn't even need to sniff carefully—an alluring, tempting fragrance rushed into his nostrils, vying to be the first.
No need for appraisal; one sniff was enough to tell it was a 'fine pill'—just, this was a Zi Yan exclusive custom version.
Gulp!
Suddenly, the sound of swallowing saliva came from beside Jiang Yun. It turned out that Zi Yan, who had been watching from a distance, had somehow appeared right next to him, her large jet-black eyes brimming with longing.
"Here, try the flavor!"
Jiang Yun looked at Zi Yan with a smile and handed the purple pill in his hand to her.
Zi Yan had long been yearning with eager eyes. Now, seeing it delivered right to her door, how could she stand on ceremony? She abruptly bit down fiercely—on Jiang Yun's finger... no, on the pill resting on his finger!
Jiang Yun instantly felt a soft, slick sensation on his finger. He quietly withdrew his finger, now thoroughly covered in drool. Watching Zi Yan happily devouring the treat, he extended the jade bottle in his hand.
"It seems this suits your taste perfectly. Here, take it. Once I finish refining all of these, it should be enough to last you a month."
Zi Yan nodded repeatedly. Taking the bottle, she swiftly poured out another purple pill and tossed it directly into her mouth, chewing vigorously. This pill didn't last long either; it was crushed and swallowed down into her belly in just a few quick bites.
"Hehe, truly delicious!" A satisfied smile spread across Zi Yan's face.
Seeing Zi Yan so happy, Jiang Yun took out the remaining ingredients and, following the same method, refined them into pills of various flavors, storing them in separate jade bottles.
When he finally handed all these jade bottles to Zi Yan, he saw that the very first bottle of pills had already been reduced by more than half.
Good heavens, she really was a bottomless glutton! He'd still underestimated her constitution. At this rate, holding out for a week would already be quite an achievement.
"Zi Yan, if you eat like this, the pellets will be gone in no time," Jiang Yun kindly warned, watching her munch away nonstop.
"If they're gone, you can just refine more for me then, Little Yunzi!" Zi Yan licked her lips and spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Jiang Yun was momentarily speechless. He explained, "The Outer Academy's ingredient storehouse probably can't withstand being raided like this. You're now equivalent to a human Dou Wang. Low-tier ingredients likely have almost no effect on you. And most of the ingredients in the Outer Academy are low-tier, used for refining pills below the third tier. The few high-tier ingredients there can't take much of this abuse either."
Hearing Jiang Yun's words, Zi Yan was distressed for a moment. She glanced reluctantly at the jade bottle in her hand, its medicinal fragrance so tantalizing.
Eat freely? Not enough ingredients. Not eat? Absolutely impossible!
Seeing Zi Yan's little face scrunch up—still so adorable even now—Jiang Yun found it quite amusing. Such a sight was rare. What a pity he didn't have a camera or a recording stone; otherwise, it would absolutely be usable as Zi Yan's dark history.
Just then, Zi Yan seemed to think of something. Her eyes instantly lit up. With a grand wave of her little hand and a rather spirited air, she declared, "Little Yunzi, I'll handle the ingredient problem! Just you wait. You just make sure you don't go on strike when the time comes!"
Watching the flames of determination burning in Zi Yan's eyes, Jiang Yun felt as if he had just released a 'monster.' He faintly began to guess what Zi Yan's solution might be.
Jiang Yun nodded. Zi Yan was not only his life-saver but also his very first friend on the Dou Qi Continent. Naturally, he was more than willing to help her settle this little matter.
"Then you wait for me—" Seeing Jiang Yun nod, Zi Yan shouted excitedly. Jiang Yun only felt a blur before his eyes, and Zi Yan vanished from sight in an instant.
Seeing Zi Yan disappear in the blink of an eye, Jiang Yun wasn't too worried.
Zi Yan had already broken through to rank 5. As long as no rank 7 demonic beast made a move, with the suppression of the Taixu Ancient Dragon bloodline and the bonus of her spatial attribute, Zi Yan's life was not in great danger.
And was there even a rank 7 demonic beast in the Outer Academy's Demonic Beast Forest?
The moment one appeared, it would likely be dealt with by Jia Nan Academy. Even rank 6 demonic beasts were rarely seen there.
A rank 5 Taixu Ancient Dragon had already begun entering her mature phase, more than enough for Zi Yan to roam freely across the Demonic Beast Forest.
The moment Zi Yan left, Jiang Yun instantly felt the world fall quiet all of a sudden. It was... rather unsettling.
As someone who had grown up without companions, he truly enjoyed the atmosphere of being with Zi Yan. Even if his mentality was that of an adult, who ever said adults were necessarily accustomed to solitude?
He shook his head. Why had he suddenly grown so sentimental?
Collecting his thoughts, Jiang Yun retrieved a first-tier medicinal ingredient—Hemostasis Grass. A thoughtful, contemplative look flickered in his eyes.
Whoosh— Suddenly, the Saint Demon Flame ignited in Jiang Yun's hand once again. Through the experience of his earlier 'alchemy,' he could now precisely grasp the heat required for such low-tier ingredients.
The white flame quickly burned the Hemostasis Grass in his hand into a green medicinal liquid. Following the same method, Jiang Yun condensed it into the same pellet shape as those he'd made for Zi Yan.
Looking at the white veining on the surface of the green pellet, an understanding dawned in Jiang Yun's heart.
Yet, with his rigorous nature, he took out another stalk of Hemostasis Grass. The flame in his palm began to shift; its color slowly deepened, ultimately transforming into a pitch-black, ink-dark flame—the other half of the Saint Demon Flame.
The black flame was filled with a sinister, chilling aura. One glance at it was enough to stir the darkest impulses within the human heart.
Jiang Yun followed the same procedure, using the black flame to refine the Hemostasis Grass into a pellet just like before. This time, the pellet was covered in black veins. His intuition told Jiang Yun that this pill was utterly useless; the medicinal properties of the Hemostasis Grass had been completely obliterated under the scorching of the flame.
"As expected, just as I hypothesized!"
Looking at the two pellets refined from exactly the same ingredient, Jiang Yun affirmed his speculation.
The Saint Demon Flame, being a flame composed of two diametrically opposed forces—aside from its inherent ability to stir human desires and emotions—also possessed marvelously versatile properties in each of its two flames.
The white flame was brimming with vitality; the black flame, brimming with destruction.
Then... could he use this white flame, full of vitality, to substitute for the wood attribute required by alchemists and gain a glimpse into the art of alchemy?
Alchemy, as the black technology of the Dou Qi Continent, was naturally something Jiang Yun had set his sights on. The prerequisite to becoming an alchemist was first that one must innately be of the fire attribute. Secondly, within that fire-attributed body, a trace of the wood attribute had to be mixed in to serve a catalytic function in alchemy!
On the Dou Qi Continent, a person's attribute was determined by their soul. One soul forever possessed only a single attribute, and could not be mixed with any other attribute. Thus, alchemists—those whose single soul carried two attributes—were extraordinarily rare.
One had to know that after Xiao Yan ascended to the Great Thousand World, the Endless Fire Territory became one of the three great alchemical empires of the Great Thousand World!
Naturally, part of that was due to the growth of his alchemical arts after arriving in the Great Thousand World, but one could not deny that the alchemy of the Dou Qi Continent had laid a profoundly deep foundation for him.
Therefore, upon learning that he was of the pure fire attribute, Jiang Yun had given up on alchemy. Although the Dou Qi Continent had the anomaly Tang Zhen—a pure fire attribute user who managed to refine a number of low-tier pills—that level of alchemy held little temptation for Jiang Yun.
Now, it seemed... there was still a glimmer of hope.
At this thought, even with Jiang Yun's mental fortitude, a ripple stirred within his heart.
Having resolved to test it, Jiang Yun packed up and turned to head toward the Alchemy Department. He was going to verify on the spot whether he truly could become an alchemist or not.
Jiang Yun walked slowly toward the Alchemy Department. Alchemists were the top-tier profession on the Dou Qi Continent; one didn't even need to ask for directions. Jiang Yun knew the most luxurious building in the Outer Academy would definitely belong to the Alchemy Department.
With the dense concentration of fire-attributed soul auras gathered there, Jiang Yun asserted he could find it with his eyes closed.
Arriving at the Alchemy Department, he indeed saw quite a few young men and women walking about with arrogant expressions. They all wore a badge on their chests, shaped like a cauldron and inlaid with either two stars or one star, marking their alchemical prowess.
From what Jiang Yun observed, most of them were 1st-tier alchemists, a few were 2nd-tier, but he didn't spot a single 3rd-tier.
"Hey— did you hear? Elder Liu is going to personally fire up his cauldron and give us pointers in alchemy!"
"Really?! Elder Liu is a 4th-tier alchemy grandmaster! Back in my hometown, someone like him would be the president of the city's Alchemist Guild. To see a figure of that level personally demonstrate—absolutely cannot miss this!"
"Let's go together... together..."
Watching the crowd buzzing with discussion and picking up their pace toward a specific direction, Jiang Yun's heart stirred. Arriving early was not as good as arriving just in time. The demonstration of a 4th-tier alchemist truly warranted such commotion.
Jiang Yun followed the flow of people toward their destination. On the way, many noticed this little bean sprout, Jiang Yun. At seven, he had already grown to 1.2 meters—not short. But amidst a crowd averaging seventeen or eighteen years old, he stood out conspicuously.
Yet right now, no one had any interest in investigating. What was gossip compared to watching alchemy?
Thus, Jiang Yun successfully blended into the 'scene of the crime'!
This was a plaza within the Alchemy Department, large enough to accommodate a thousand people. Today, the Northern Plaza, normally sparsely populated, was packed to the brim with a dense, dark sea of people—all because of that unremarkable, white-haired old man at the center of the arena, a 4th-tier alchemist.
Through his soul perception, Jiang Yun discovered that at least half of those present were not alchemists at all.
In truth, this was perfectly normal. As the most noble profession on the Dou Qi Continent, alchemists seemed lofty and mysterious to the uninitiated.
A 4th-tier alchemist was qualified to be a welcome honored guest of a Dou Wang in the outside world—a figure most of the people present looked up to with awe and admiration.
How could this not draw a crowd?
As time passed, the Elder Liu, seated cross-legged on the arena, finally stirred. He brought out a five-mouthed cauldron. With a light tap of his fingertip, a yellow flame shot into the cauldron.
As Elder Liu began his motions, the plaza gradually fell silent.
The alchemy had begun!
Everyone stared fixedly at Elder Liu's every movement, afraid of missing a single detail. Jiang Yun was no exception. His bright eyes locked onto Elder Liu's every action, wanting to glimpse the true essence within.
The flame burned steadily within the cauldron. With a great wave of his hand, Elder Liu produced seven medicinal ingredients. One by one, they fell into the cauldron and melted into medicinal liquids.
(End of Chapter)