Ou Yangming did not know that he caused the entire Xu family to be shaken because he used the Heavenly Phoenix Fire to refine a tool. The clan was in a state of panic.
At this moment, the Heavenly Phoenix Fire in his hand was burning fiercely and countless refining materials were melting rapidly. His eyes flashed, and his fingers flew as he pressed down with a bang. A pill furnace that was as wide as a person’s hug slowly took shape. The young fellow’s movements seemed to be slow, but he was very efficient. Each of his movements was put to the best use, and the miscellaneous parts in the refining process were discarded. Instead, the process was simple like how greatness was also found in simplicity.
“Condense!” Ou Yangming let out a soft cry. A plum blossom was carved on the pill furnace, and 2 small words were written at the bottom—Alchemy Saint. The words looked like they were carved with a knife, and its force seeped out from the pill furnace. The plum blossom next to the words was aloof and natural, which was similar to his personality.
Soon, the fire faded away, and the secret room returned to peace. The surging spiritual Qi calmed down once again.
Looking at the pill furnace on the ground, Ou Yangming chuckled. With a flash of thought, he meditated and recalled the details of when Pill Peak elder from the Seven Stars Sect refined pills. Every scene of the pill refinement process was broken down by him one by one, and he kept deducing it in his mind. He fused the knowledge with what he had learned from before.
After 2 hours, Ou Yangming opened his eyes. A bright light flashed, and he began to refine pills.
With that, the Heavenly Phoenix Fire emerged from his palm, and a scorching wave of air spread out.
Spiritual Qi surged out from Ou Yangming’s dantian. He clapped his hands in the air, and a spiritual medicine in his interspatial bag flew into the pill furnace. With each clap, a type of spiritual medicine flew into the furnace, and his spiritual power assimilated into the medicinal liquid so that he could observe the changes in it carefully. When the spiritual medicine liquid was merged to the extreme, the spiritual power in his dantian suddenly condensed to the center. As such, the liquid quickly contracted and collapsed toward the core point.
The turbid air in Ou Yangming’s chest seemed to be spewing out, but it was not. He shouted, “Condense the pill!”
This time, Ou Yangming did not grasp the balance of the medicinal herbs. With a bang, the liquid splashed in all directions.
As a result, this batch of medicinal pills became a batch of useless pills. Nonetheless, not only did Ou Yangming not show any regret in his eyes, but he was also eager to try again.
He tried again. Once, twice, thrice…
After 3 days, Ou Yangming gathered his Qi and exhaled. The spiritual Qi in his dantian flowed along his meridians and turned into 2 invisible large hands. He squeezed toward the middle and roared, “Condense!” As his voice reverberated, the essence of plants and trees slowly condensed toward the middle, and a faintly discernible medicinal fragrance spread out.
Ou Yangming’s face was filled with joy, but he did not dare to lower his guard.
His hands quickly formed a gesture, and a secret technique was unleashed. If the elders from the Seven Stars Sect saw this, they would probably be so angry that they would vomit blood. This was because Ou Yangming’s Furnace-opening Technique was the Pill Peak’s secret. Not only did it look right, but it also carried the right intent.
‘Open the furnace!’ Ou Yangming yelled internally. He was also somewhat nervous, and he lifted his sleeve.
A faint white light seeped out of the furnace. 1 pill, 2 pills… 13 pills?
Ou Yangming shook his head. His brows were knitted together, and he seemed a little displeased. He thought to himself, ‘I only refined 13 pills in total. There was still room for improvement!’ He did not know that generally speaking, the more pills an alchemist refined in the first furnace, the greater the potential of the alchemist. In the entire Spiritual Realm, even the best alchemists could only refine 9 pills in the first furnace. Now that the young fellow had refined 13 pills in the first batch, he was still not satisfied. If the other alchemists knew about this, he would probably drown in the saliva from their spits.
Subsequently, Ou Yangming pointed with both hands and carved 2 small words on the pill—Alchemy Saint.
Although his alchemy skills at the moment could only be described as self-entertainment in the Spiritual Realm, they were enough for him to have a place in the Big Ruins.
With a faint smile, Ou Yangming walked out of the secret room with satisfaction.
Lil’ Man was refining his spiritual Qi, so Ou Yangming did not care much about him.
Walking into the study, Ou Yangming began to grind some ink. A warm look flashed in his eyes, and the words of Wu Hanning echoed in his head again. ‘When a person grinds an ink stick, the ink polishes the person. It’s a process that tempers one’s heart.’ His thoughts slowed down, and the ink stick slowly melted into the water, its color was dark and pitch black.
He took out a purple brush from his interspatial bag and moistened the tip.
Later, Ou Yangming lightly wrote 3 big words on a fine piece of paper—’Spiritual Pill Workshop’. It was done in a single breath, and there was even a hint of a mellow feeling mixed within the words. There was also a hint of path intent flowing within it, causing those with low cultivation levels to be unable to take their eyes off it such that they could even comprehend the path from the paper. This was because Ou Yangming had fused the intent he had comprehended from the Path Intent Spear into it. Just a glance at this plaque made people feel that it was of a high class and was not an ordinary item.
Ou Yangming thought to himself, ‘I’m really going all out to become famous.
‘But this is the only way to be relatively safe. The Big Ruins is too big. Given that I’m an Advanced Spiritualist, I don’t dare to mess around.’
Now, the first thing he needed to figure out was how many big forces there were in the Big Ruins.
He also needed to find out if there was any information about Mount Return Sword, the blood-red hall, the Dragon King Temple, as well as Xu Aoran.
That day, when the sword Qi on Mount Return Sword turned into a golden sword mark on the back of Ou Yangming’s hand, he vaguely understood that Xu Aoran and the old man with the sword case on his back were definitely not simple people; they definitely had many connections with the formation of the Big Ruins.
This kind of understanding was mysterious, and it was difficult to describe with words.
Ou Yangming then returned to the secret room and finished deducing the ingredients of the medicinal pills that Ling Yue had bought for him. He went into seclusion to refine medicinal pills for a month. The Spirit Pill Workshop opened, and there were no significant ups or downs. Instead, it was peaceful and silent.
The shopkeeper of the store to the left of the pill workshop was an old man. He had a white beard and was a local cultivator of the Big Ruins. He was an Advanced Spiritualist and was actually a blacksmith. Even so, Ou Yangming was less than impressed by his smithing techniques. People called the shopkeeper Master Duan, but no one knew his real name.
As for the shopkeeper on the right, she was a charming and beautiful woman. She was like a fully bloomed rose that would leave a lingering fragrance on one’s hand with a single touch.
Every frown and smile of the woman was flirtatious, making one’s heart go soft.
She also raised a 12 or 13-year-old little girl. How could one describe it? She had bright eyes, white teeth, and a strong spiritual aura. Her eyes looked lively.
On the outside of the workshop lived an old man. He was silent, but his woodcarving skills were great, where his products were vivid and lifelike. His name was He Jian but for some reason, he did not use swords.
The opening of the pill workshop naturally required a feast for the neighbors.
Jiang Yingrong was the first to come. She was dressed in red, and she looked like a dazzling rose. Her figure was hot, and her slim waist was like a weak willow. Beside her was a little girl, who was about 12 or 13 years old, and her figure was starting to look slender. Her face was 70-80% similar to Jiang Yingrong’s, but she was less charming and looked purer. It was not hard to imagine that in a few years, this young girl would grow up to be graceful.
The mature woman exhaled a breath of fragrance and said with a smile, “Brother Yu, we don’t have much to give but here’s something made by my family. It can refresh your mind, so I hope you won’t mind it.” As she said that, she handed over a fragrance bag, which was full of precious medicinal herbs. The little girl also put the flower basket in her hand on the ground.
“Elder Sister Jiang, what are you talking about? Please come in, please come in.” Ou Yangming raised her hand and led Jiang Yingrong into the hall.
He Jian came after Jiang Yingrong. His eyebrows looked like they were shrouded by block bog. He did not say anything and handed over a wooden sculpture.
It was a small wooden sword that was 7 inches long. There was a faint sense of sharpness in it.
He limped as he walked into the hall by himself.
Master Duan was the last to arrive. His face was full of smiles. With a flick of his wrist, he handed over a magic staff. It had only reached the Half-Silver level.
The master looked pained and sighed. “Brother Yu, I know you’re a caster. This is a magic staff that I’m proudest of, and I’ll give it to you as an opening gift! In the future, when we’re together, we must help each other. Distant relatives aren’t as good as close neighbors, after all.” After saying that, he laughed loudly.
Ou Yangming’s expression did not change. He was just about to put the magic staff into his interspatial bag.
Master Duan blinked his eyes, and his eyebrows shook. He smiled and said, “Brother Yu, don’t be in a hurry to put it away. Let’s see if the properties are suitable.” As he spoke, a look of pride was clearly seen on his face. After all, this equipment was one of his proudest creations.
After hearing what he said, Ou Yangming almost choked on his saliva. He said repeatedly, “I’m satisfied, I’m satisfied.”
Only then did Master Duan let out a light sigh and slowly walked toward the hall.
Ou Yangming tilted his face, and a bitter smile appeared in his eyes. He sighed and thought, ‘Master Duan, you’re really confident. If you know of my smithing methods, I wonder what you’ll think. You’d probably be filled with grief and anger!’ There was actually some anticipation in his heart.
The hall was actually not big. It was already a little crowded after serving 6 people.
There were not many dishes on the table. There were 7 or 8 of them, but they looked delicious. After all, when Ou Yangming was in the lower realm, he often cooked for Old Craftsman. When he gained the Heavenly Phoenix Fire, he did not cook much, but his skills did not fall behind. A pot of turbid wine wasn’t spicy enough, but it could warm one’s stomach.
Jiang Yingrong’s eyes turned. She first changed the topic and said with a chuckle, “I didn’t expect you to not only know how to refine pills but also be good at cooking, Brother Yu.”
“Sister Jiang, you’re kidding. Children from poor families have to take charge early, and I couldn’t refuse it even if I didn’t know how to cook,” Ou Yangming said with a smile. The aura on his body now was 99% similar to that of the locals in the Big Ruins. Even if one looked carefully, if one’s cultivation was not higher than his by a lot, one could not tell at all. Besides, the trace would become fainter as time passed.
Master Duan remarked, “Why are you saying this? Today’s a festive day.”
He had white hair and waved his wrist before he continued, “Since we can settle down here in the Longevity Alley, we’ll be a family in the future. If you encounter any difficulties, just say it, and we’ll think of a way to solve it together. The Big Ruins is too big, so we can encounter anything. This is also because there are divine statues guarding outside the city. Without them…” His voice became softer, and he did not finish his sentence. Instead, he sighed and took a big gulp of liquor.
After hearing what he said, Ou Yangming could not help but recall the things he encountered along the way.
Blood-stained corpses, blood-dripping coffins, big cats howling at the sky… And the 10 green dragon statues outside the city.
Taking a deep breath, Ou Yangming asked, “What would happen if the divine statues were not guarding outside?”
Even Lil’ Man took a few mouthfuls of white rice and pricked up his ears to listen. He was also very curious.
