"Now, do you still want to get involved in the muddy waters of Maple City?" Su Qian said earnestly after seeing Jiang Yun close the scroll.
Jiang Yun pondered for a moment, then rubbed his temples, returning to his calm and composed demeanor, as if nothing could trouble him. He chuckled softly.
"Why not?"
"Cough, cough." Su Qian choked on Jiang Yun's words, his eyes wide as he said in a daze, "That's a force with two Dou Zongs stationed there, and several powerful Dou Huang reinforcements. Don't think that just because you've advanced to Dou Wang, you can look down on everyone in the world."
Although Su Qian's tone wasn't very pleasant, Jiang Yun could still hear the deep concern in his words.
"Han Feng gathering so many powerful individuals must be for no small reason, and in the Black-Corner Region, the only thing that could make him treat it so seriously is—"
"You mean—" Jiang Yun's words immediately put Su Qian on alert. In this Black-Corner Region, only Jia Nan Academy could produce so many powerful individuals.
When he thought that the target of so many people in Maple City was Jia Nan Academy, even Su Qian felt a chill. Although Jia Nan Academy wouldn't be destroyed as long as a Dou Zun didn't appear, The Two Elders Qian Bai were two recluses. They wouldn't come out unless the academy faced a life-or-death crisis.
Even if they eventually came out to clean up the mess, the destruction caused would be enough to pain Su Qian's heart.
"This is just my guess; the truth is not yet decided!" Seeing Su Qian startled, Jiang Yun shook his head and denied it.
Han Feng's unusual actions were indeed beyond his expectation. Now that he had gathered so many powerful individuals, it was reasonable to say it was for self-preservation. After all, facing these hyenas of the Black-Corner Region, the stronger one's own strength, the more secure it was.
What's more, he had offended the Demon Flame Valley. Wealth moves people's hearts, and it was not impossible for Earth Demon Lao Gui to personally intervene.
As for the Dou Zong by his side, Jiang Yun had a faint guess in his heart.
"This—" Su Qian hesitated. Everything Jiang Yun said made sense. It was indeed inappropriate for the academy to rashly go to war with Maple City based on a mere conjecture.
Wars kill people, and it wouldn't be surprising if even Su Qian died in such a battle.
"Elder Su Qian, there's no need to worry. Since I've set Maple City as my target, I naturally have a plan." Seeing Su Qian's worry and hesitation, Jiang Yun said at the opportune moment.
"Oh~~~, tell me!" Su Qian's attention was drawn by Jiang Yun's words, and he couldn't help but ask curiously.
Jiang Yun smiled mysteriously, not responding, but instead took out a piece of paper covered in writing.
He took it with a puzzled expression and scanned the medicinal ingredients listed. Su Qian's face twitched, and he said testily, "Are you going to empty out the academy before you stop? These are all ingredients for refining a sixth-grade pill. Can you refine a sixth-grade pill now?"
"I can try!" Jiang Yun's confident voice came. In fact, after refining the Fallen Heart Flame, not only did his Dou Qi advance significantly, but his Soul Power also surged. At this moment, his Soul Power had reached a bottleneck.
Jiang Yun knew that it was the barrier of the Spiritual Realm Soul. As long as he continued to cultivate the soul technique of his clan, once he accumulated enough spiritual energy, he could advance to the Spiritual Realm Soul.
With his current peak Mortal Realm Soul Power, he was capable of refining all pills below eighth-grade.
"You, what kind of monster did this old man pick up back then!" Su Qian looked at Jiang Yun with an incredulous expression, saying in a daze.
"What kind of pill is this? Why does this old man feel it looks familiar?" After a while, Su Qian recovered and looked at the list in his hand again, feeling more and more like he had seen it before.
"These are the medicinal ingredients needed to refine the Huangji Pill and the Po Zong Pill. I already have some, and some will require the academy's help!" Jiang Yun said calmly, driving Su Qian crazy.
"Po Zong Pill—"
"You actually want to refine the Po Zong Pill—"
The Po Zong Pill, as its name suggests, can give a peak Dou Huang expert an additional 10% chance of success when advancing to Dou Zong, and it guarantees that even if the attempt to break through to Dou Zong fails, their strength will remain stable at the level before the attempt, without any decrease in rank!
Although that 10% success rate seemed very low, this small percentage could drive peak Dou Huang experts to madness!
The Po Zong Pill could be said to be a pinnacle among sixth-grade pills, enough to drive any peak Dou Huang to madness. At the same time, its refining difficulty was also one of the most challenging among sixth-grade pills.
Jiang Yun actually had the confidence to refine the Po Zong Pill. Su Qian couldn't help but scrutinize Jiang Yun at this moment. A thirteen or fourteen-year-old sixth-grade Alchemist, he must be unique on the continent, right?
"You mean—" At this moment, Su Qian already knew Jiang Yun's plan.
Jiang Yun looked at Su Qian and nodded with a smile.
The academy wouldn't risk going to war with Maple City for him without reason. He would use the Po Zong Pill and Huangji Pill as conditions to invite several Dou Huangs and peak Dou Huangs to assist.
He believed that the elders of the academy would not refuse, especially Elder Qing, Hu Gan, and Wu Tianlang, several peak Dou Huangs, who would probably scramble to come
Su Qian hesitated for a moment, then finally sighed, "I can only say I won't stop them."
"I wonder what you'll use to 'invite' this old man to act?" At this moment, Su Qian suddenly became like an old mischievous child, looking at Jiang Yun excitedly, rubbing his hands.
Jiang Yun found it somewhat amusing. Su Qian had become extremely worldly at this moment. Although he knew that Su Qian would act even without compensation, since he had decided to trade with the academy, Jiang Yun naturally wouldn't go back on his word.
"This is a level five Spirit Gathering Array diagram. I wonder if it's enough to invite Elder Su Qian!" Taking out a scroll, Jiang Yun smiled and handed it to Su Qian.
"Enough, absolutely enough!" Su Qian's eyes widened, and with a whoosh, he immediately put away the array diagram, saying with a beaming smile, his eyes almost narrowed into a slit.
"Alright, the rest is up to me. The medicinal ingredients you need, I'll gather them for you within three days." After laughing enough, Su Qian's expression became much more serious.
"Thank you, Elder Su Qian!" Jiang Yun bowed in gratitude.
Three days passed in a flash!
In a secluded valley, Jiang Yun sat quietly cross-legged on an open space. In front of him were various well-packaged medicinal ingredients.
These medicinal ingredients were quite rare. If placed in the Black-Corner Region, they would certainly fetch a very good price, and there were so many of them. It truly made one marvel at the deep pockets of Jia Nan Academy.
A simple, pale yellow medicine cauldron floated out. This was one of the treasures of Jia Nan Academy's Alchemy Department, a seventh-tier medicine cauldron, specially brought by Su Qian to assist Jiang Yun.
The Po Zong Pill formula floated in mid-air, a light projection leaping above it, fully demonstrating the refining method again and again.
After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Yun finally settled his mind and began to act. In his dark eyes, white flames rose.
"Boom—"
With a subtle sound, a wisp of white flame shot out from between Jiang Yun's vortex. With a flick of his finger, the flame transformed into a streak of light, darting into the medicine cauldron like lightning.
As soon as the flame entered the medicine cauldron, its tiny body suddenly expanded. In just a brief moment, the small flame transformed into a raging inferno, burning wildly within the medicine cauldron.
Jiang Yun had never refined a sixth-grade pill before, and starting with the Po Zong Pill, if it weren't for his peak Mortal Realm Soul Power as a backup, he wouldn't have dared to try it so easily.
He hadn't studied alchemy for long, relying solely on his formidable Soul Power and the annotations left by predecessors in the pill formulas, refining them meticulously.
Now, the Po Zong Pill was already considered an advanced pill. Simply copying and pasting wouldn't work anymore. From now on, everything would depend on himself.
The white flame, like a small sun, radiated light. A faint medicinal aroma slowly diffused from within the medicine cauldron.
Jiang Yun beckoned, and a withered branch, like an ice sculpture, was thrown into the medicine cauldron.
This was one of the main ingredients for refining the Po Zong Pill, the 'Cold Marrow Branch'.
"It's starting!" On a distant hill, several figures looked at the Cold Marrow Branch falling into the medicine cauldron, saying with some excitement.
"Can Jiang Yun succeed?"
"Not necessarily. After all, it's a peak sixth-grade pill. A few failures are normal. Elder Qing, you need to calm down. If it doesn't work this time, Jiang Yun will definitely succeed next time."
"You're so disrespectful! I was the one who taught your batch back then. Oh, now you're a Vice Dean and a peak Dou Huang, so you start disrespecting your elders? I'll beat you to death!"
"Teacher Qing, Teacher Qing, I was wrong."
"You're so old, yet still so unstable. Elder Su Qian, don't you agree?" Wu Tianlang watched the two bickering, observing with deep disdain in his eyes.
"You're calm, then why are you shaking?" Su Qian looked at Wu Tianlang with a half-smile.
Following his gaze, Wu Tianlang's leg was unconsciously shaking, clearly not as calm as he appeared on the surface.
"..."
"Tsk—, ignorant fellows, how could little Yun possibly fail!" In the distance, a purple figure sat on a large rock, her mouth full of juice, looking at the others with disdain.
Her gaze drifted, falling upon the figure diligently refining pills, her eyes full of smiles. "I wonder if the Huangji Pill tastes good. I'm also a Dou Huang now. When the time comes, I'll ask little Yun to refine a few bottles for me to try."
As soon as they heard that Jiang Yun was going to refine the Po Zong Pill, these people became excited and clamored to come and protect him. As a result, Jiang Yun welcomed the strongest protection team in history.
A clean sweep of Dou Huangs!
At this moment, Jiang Yun was struggling with the Cold Marrow Branch. Facing the burning flames, the Cold Marrow Branch did not sit idly by. Instead, it continuously emitted icy mist, resisting the erosion of high temperatures.
The mist and flames eroded each other, and with sizzling sounds, even faint white mist appeared within the medicine cauldron.
"Indeed, advanced pills are not so easy to refine. Just refining the medicinal ingredients takes a lot of effort." Seeing the scene in the medicine cauldron, Jiang Yun clicked his tongue in wonder. With a thought, the temperature inside the medicine cauldron surged!
Under the increasingly high temperature of the burning flames, the Cold Marrow Branch finally gradually couldn't resist and began to melt slowly.
Half an hour later, the Cold Marrow Branch completely melted. Jiang Yun flipped his palm and threw another medicinal ingredient into the cauldron.
Time slowly passed as Jiang Yun refined methodically, and the medicinal ingredients placed in front of Jiang Yun gradually decreased. A rich, intertwined medicinal aroma lingered within the medicine cauldron, like clouds and mist.
After experiencing several crises, all cleverly resolved by Jiang Yun with his formidable Soul Power, the Po Zong Pill finally successfully completed all steps, only lacking the final formation of the pill.
The scorching red medicine cauldron slowly rotated in mid-air, and white flames violently churned within it.
"Condense—" At a certain moment, Jiang Yun shouted loudly, and a massive amount of Soul Power poured into the medicine cauldron. The many pure medicinal liquids inside the cauldron also gradually began to fuse.
A colorful liquid mass, about half the size of a fist, slowly appeared within the medicine cauldron. Its surroundings continuously emitted a continuous stream of tiny energy ripples.
These energy ripples, centered on the medicine cauldron, gradually spread outwards in a circular shape. Within the churning flames of the medicine cauldron, a bowl-sized liquid mass was continuously shrinking. Under the burning of the flames, a spherical pill prototype was slowly forming.
As the flames continuously nurtured it, the impurities within the pill prototype were constantly being removed.
During the tedious wait, Jiang Yun dared not relax his mind for even a moment. It had to be said that the refining of advanced pills was indeed very energy-consuming.
An hour passed in a flash. The impurities in the pill were finally completely removed, and at this moment, the surrounding heaven and earth energy suddenly fluctuated.
With a "bang—" sound, an energy light pillar, about half a foot long, shot directly out from the medicine cauldron, soaring into the sky.
Looking at the light pillar rushing towards the sky, the faces of the few people in the distance slightly changed, followed by ecstasy.
"This is... this is a success?"
"The light pillar is filled with the aroma of pills; it succeeded! Jiang Yun refined the Po Zong Pill!"
"The commotion of a high-grade pill appearing. It seems Jia Nan Academy is about to produce another Alchemist master."
"What a fuss, I knew little Yun would succeed!"
Jiang Yun stared at the light cluster in the medicine cauldron. As the light cluster expanded, waves of energy ripples spread even faster. Where the ripples spread, rocks tumbled, and trees were snapped in half.
This power was already comparable to the destructive force of a Dou Ling!
Black-Corner Region!
On a certain pavilion, at this moment, Han Feng, who had broken through to Dou Zong, slightly raised his head. The direction his gaze was fixed upon was precisely the place where the energy erupted.
"Such a fluctuation should only appear when a sixth-grade pill is formed. That direction is Jia Nan Academy. Is it the old man Huo? This level of energy fluctuation cannot be refined by the old man Huo, who is a newly advanced sixth-grade Alchemist. Another unfamiliar sixth-grade Alchemist?" Han Feng frowned slightly, muttering to himself.
"Forget it, just one more sixth-grade Alchemist. It's harmless. Perhaps that fellow will be even happier?" Shaking his head, Han Feng slowly turned around, a strange smile on the corner of his mouth.
This fluctuation was not only discovered by Han Feng; many powerful individuals in the Black-Corner Region also noticed it, and everyone's reactions varied.
On a plain, large masses of black mist surged out, covering the sky and earth. These black mists quickly condensed in the sky, finally forming a black-robed figure completely shrouded in deep black smoke. Faintly, a pair of slightly crimson eyes emerged from the deep darkness, looking at the distant fluctuation, a strange smile curling at the corner of his mouth, appearing extremely sinister and eerie within the black mist.
"Hehehe—a sixth-grade Alchemist, what an unexpected gain..."