The Strange Flame Rekindles in Battle Through the Heavens

Chapter 47 Imperial Capital

Xiao Yan placed the white flame in his palm into the medicine cauldron, using his soul perception to control the flame's temperature within a suitable range. He then took out a set of ingredients for a Power-Gathering Pill from beside him and threw them all into the cauldron.

Because Xiao Yan had experience in refining thousands of doses of Blood Clotting Powder and could control the temperature of any part of the flame at will, refining the three medicinal herbs together was effortless for him.

Under the scorching heat of the strange fire, the three medicinal herbs were refined at a speed visible to the naked eye. Xiao Yan continuously observed the state of the herbs through the icy mirror surface of the medicine cauldron. The Green Spirit Grass and Purple Profound Flower gradually turned into juice, and the Purple Essence Fruit was refined into black powder.

After the initial refining was completed, Xiao Yan once again controlled the temperature of the flames, continuously scorching the three medicinal herbs in the cauldron. Under the long-term scorching of the strange fire, the three medicinal herbs gradually began to produce some impurities.

Xiao Yan used his soul perception to continuously expel these impurities until the refined medicinal materials were free of impurities.

After all the medicinal herbs were refined, Xiao Yan once again used his soul perception to control the fusion of the three herbs. After the three herbs fused, a pitted and uneven pill appeared in the cauldron. Xiao Yan controlled the flames to continuously nourish the pill. In no time, the rudimentary pill transformed into a crystal-clear one.

Xiao Yan continued to nurture the pill with his strange fire for a while, and the pill became even more round and smooth, emitting a faint fragrance. He extinguished the flames in the cauldron, tapped it, and the pill instantly flew out.

With a wave of his hand, the pill fell into Xiao Yan's hand. Feeling the slightly warm pill in his hand, he couldn't help but feel happy, as this was the first pill he had ever refined.

"Not bad! You succeeded on your first try. Congratulations, from today onwards, you are also an alchemist," said the old alchemist with a smile.

"That's right! Don't you know who I am? Refining this kind of pill is a piece of cake for me!" Xiao Yan said with a hint of pride.

"Hey! You're getting cocky just because I called you fat! What are you bragging about for refining a low-grade pill! You have a different kind of fire and a very strong soul perception. Even an idiot could refine it successfully with those two things!" Yao Lao said disdainfully.

Xiao Yan casually tossed the energy-gathering pill in his hand into his mouth. After swallowing it, the pill immediately transformed into a ball of pure energy, which spread throughout Xiao Yan's limbs and bones.

Xiao Yan felt full of energy, and his strength had increased significantly. Although this increase in strength was negligible for Xiao Yan, he was currently lacking elixirs that could restore his physical strength.

Xiao Yan's internal cultivation techniques can operate and he can cultivate on his own, with a fast recovery speed for his battle qi. However, Xiao Yan is still made of flesh and blood and will still get tired. Now, with the energy-accumulating pill, Xiao Yan has truly become a fighting machine.

While his energy was still high, Xiao Yan continued refining the herbs until all fifty-odd portions were transformed into Energy-Gathering Pills. Only then did he nod in satisfaction. After storing the pills in a jade bottle, Xiao Yan stretched, but he didn't feel particularly tired; on the contrary, he felt refreshed.

"Teacher, are there any other pills I can refine? I'll refine some more." Xiao Yan asked with a smile.

"Hehe, you rascal, others find alchemy tedious and boring, but you seem to get more and more enthusiastic as you refine it," the old medicine master said with a smile.

"What's so boring about alchemy?" Xiao Yan said nonchalantly.

"You've never been to Earth. Those jobs are twelve hours a day, some even longer, and all-nighters are common. During work hours, there's no rest except for meals. Even going to the toilet is subject to time limits, and you get fined if you're late. Compared to that kind of work intensity, what is alchemy?" Xiao Yan thought disdainfully.

"Hehe, since you don't mind the effort, I can't spoil your fun. This is the recipe for the Fire Condensation Pill, which is much more complicated than the Energy Accumulation Pill. Why don't you try making it yourself?" Yao Lao passed the Fire Condensation Pill recipe to Xiao Yan again.

After receiving the refining method and required medicinal materials for the Fire Condensation Pill, Xiao Yan once again retrieved the necessary ingredients from his storage ring. The Fire Condensation Pill is of a slightly higher grade than the Energy Accumulation Pill, so the materials required were fewer—only about thirty portions.

After taking out the medicinal herbs, Xiao Yan continued to refine them. Except for the first time when he failed because the refining method was a bit complicated, he never failed again.

Looking at the thirty-odd pale red pills in his hand, Xiao Yan's face revealed a satisfied smile. These pills truly lived up to their reputation for enhancing the absorption efficiency of fire-attribute cultivators' fire energy; even just smelling them made Xiao Yan feel extremely comfortable.

Xiao Yan casually took out one and put it in his mouth. After swallowing it, he felt the fire attribute energy around his body become more concentrated, and the efficiency of refining Dou Qi increased significantly.

"Not bad! Your cultivation speed has increased quite a bit." Xiao Yan nodded in satisfaction.

Although Xiao Yan's cultivation technique can operate on its own, allowing him to cultivate 24 hours a day, Yao Lao estimates that Xiao Yan can increase his strength by one star per month. This cultivation speed is already terrifying, but who would complain about their cultivation speed being too fast?

Xiao Yan stood up, stretched, and loosened his muscles. After putting away the medicine cauldron on the ground, he walked to the cave entrance and used a Cloud-Dispelling Palm technique to send all the boulders at the cave entrance flying.

Xiao Yan stepped out of the cave, the blinding sunlight shining on his face, causing him to squint. He shielded his eyes from the sun with his right hand, and with a wave of his left, a vine was drawn into his palm. He then followed the vine down to the ground to continue his training journey.

Xiao Yan only trained in the outer area of ​​the Monster Mountain Range, where the most powerful monsters were second-tier monsters.

With Xiao Yan's strength, although he couldn't defeat a second-tier magical beast, escaping would be easy. However, Xiao Yan would only flee when encountering a high-level second-tier magical beast; when encountering a newly arrived second-tier magical beast, he would fight it to the death.

Although newly ascended second-tier magical beasts are much stronger than first-tier ones, Xiao Yan's recovery speed for both injuries and battle qi is extremely fast. With the boost from the energy-building pills, he can employ a strategy of attrition. However, these magical beasts aren't like bosses in a game who will fight to the death. They are highly intelligent, and seeing how formidable Xiao Yan is, most of them will simply flee.

If a second-tier magical beast truly wanted to escape, Xiao Yan would be helpless. Even using the Dragon-Capturing Hand wouldn't work, because the second-tier magical beast was already enormous, and Xiao Yan's current strength was insufficient to pull it away.

Xiao Yan fights monsters during the day to improve his strength, and refines medicine at night to improve his alchemy skills.

Xiao Ran continued walking in one direction along the Monster Mountain Range until, three months later, Xiao Yan arrived at the capital of the Jia Ma Empire—the Imperial Capital.

(End of this chapter)