Battle Through the Heavens: Xiao Yan, who was kidnapped to another world

With such a person in existence, how could the Medicine Clan possibly relinquish the title of the continent's number one alchemist?

"Can you do it?" After Hun Xuzi left, Yao Lao looked at Xiao Yan with a worried expression.

When the grade of a pill reaches the ninth rank... no, it should be said that after the grade of a pill reaches the eighth rank, whether or not it can be successfully made is no longer limited to the strength of the alchemist's soul power and their familiarity with the pill-making process—the energy of heaven and earth becomes increasingly important in the pill-making process.

Ordinary grade eight pills can be successfully refined as long as the environment has sufficient natural energy. However, grade eight nine-colored pills require the vast majority of natural energy within a hundred miles. As for grade nine precious pills...

Back when Elder Yao was refining the Flame-Breaking Crimson Soul Pill in the Pill Tower, he almost exhausted all the energy of heaven and earth in the Pill Domain. If the Pill Tower had not been prepared for this, the Pill Domain would have been desolate for several days.

Although the Medicine Realm is rich in natural energy, as Hun Xuzi said before, the total natural energy of the entire Medicine Realm may not even be enough to refine two Grade 9 Profound Pills, let alone Grade 9 Golden Pills, which have not appeared on the Dou Qi Continent for thousands of years.

“Unless they are truly willing to open the Medicine Realm at the right time, otherwise…” Xiao Yan shook his head helplessly, “Emperor-level souls are powerful, and even a nine-star Dou Sheng can roam the continent, but the Golden Core requires more than just the energy of heaven and earth…”

The final step in refining the Golden Core is to integrate a trace of the rules of heaven and earth into the pill. This is something that can never be accomplished in the closed Medicine Realm. Therefore, even if Xiao Yan can suppress the pill-forming process, as long as the Medicine Clan does not open the Medicine Realm and allow external energy to enter, the Golden Core will absolutely not be successfully refined!

At this moment, even the old physician felt a nameless fire rise in his heart—

The Pharmacopoeia, once a member of the Medicine Clan, naively believed that this was a place where one could only prove oneself through alchemy. Although he later realized that the Pharmacopoeia was also a place where filth and evil were hidden, he never expected that the Medicine Clan could be so shameless.

'It's all so awful...'

In the distance, an old man dressed in ordinary hemp clothing, leaning on a cane that looked like it was made of medicinal herbs, with various jade bottles hanging from it, sighed softly. He had previously wondered why this pharmacopoeia, which had changed time for the sake of Golden Core alchemists, was still being held in the medicine world, but now he understood completely.

"Unfortunately, this old man still wants to see the first Golden Core in thousands of years," the old man said helplessly, pulling down his bamboo hat to cover his face. "Speaking of which... if it were a Xuan Dan embryo, perhaps it could lend him a hand?"

Suddenly, the old man thought of something, shook his cane, and carefully examined the jade bottle that made a tinkling sound as the cane shook.

"Just enough seeds," the old man said with a smile after a moment. "The Medicine Clan... if you truly have no sense of shame whatsoever, then consider these seeds I've wasted!"

A similar scene unfolded when Elder Wanhuo was surrounded by many elders of the Medicine Clan. After all, apart from the Medicine Clan Chief's medicinal pills, he was the only one with a high success rate in refining Xuan Dan. Therefore, if they wanted to keep the title of the number one alchemist on the continent in the Medicine Clan, these elders could only ask him for help.

"...Alright, I'll take action!"

Although it had been agreed with Yao Dan that he would appear in the final stage of the Pharmacopoeia and hand over the Xuan Dan embryo to Xiao Yan at the crucial moment, Elder Wan Huo knew his own temper. If he had agreed from the beginning, these old bones would definitely have doubts and might change the person to appear at the last moment. In that case, the Yao Clan would truly lose face in front of the entire continent!

'When did the Medicine Clan... become like this?'

Looking at his fellow clansmen who believed that the title of the continent's number one alchemist had already been claimed, Elder Wanhuo couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow. The Medicine Clan, once standing at the forefront of alchemists on the continent, why did they choose to sabotage the continent instead of striving to catch up when the title of the continent's number one alchemist was about to be taken away?

"How was it?" Soul Emperor asked with a light laugh as he looked at Soul Void Child, who had taken his seat again.

“Nine-star Dou Sheng, Emperor-level soul power…” Recalling what Soul Emperor had said about Xiao Yan’s strength and soul power level, Soul Void sighed, “If this were outside, I believe he could refine a Golden Core in the shortest amount of time, but in the Medicine Realm…”

"Apart from my Soul Clan and the former Xiao Clan, the so-called ancient families are nothing but a bunch of good-for-nothings who sit around and squander their wealth," the Soul Emperor said casually. "They are arrogant when they are in power, and they remain arrogant when they are out of power!"

Hun Xuzi remained silent. He knew that when Hun Tiandi mentioned the Xiao Clan, no one was allowed to interrupt except for Xu Wu Tun Yan.

"Mysterious Pill." After a moment, Hun Xuzi heard two words.

“Refine the Mystic Pill,” Hun Tiandi said calmly as Hun Xuzi turned his head in confusion. “Then, when Yao Wanhuo and Shennong hand over the pill embryo to Xiao Yan, you should also hand it over to him.”

"……Yes!"

Although he was still confused, Hun Xuzi had subconsciously accepted Hun Tiandi's order.

*

As time passed, the time for the complete opening of the Pharmacopoeia gradually arrived, and Yao Dan, the former number one alchemist on the continent and the patriarch of the Medicine Clan, descended step by step from the sky under everyone's gaze.

Dressed in white robes, Yao Dan's gaze slowly swept over everyone. When he passed Xiao Yan and Yao Lao, he paused for a moment, and then his calm voice slowly spread out, like muffled thunder, resounding throughout the world.

"The time has come, let the pharmacopoeia begin!"

With a command from Yao Dan, the patriarch of the Medicine Clan, the long-awaited Medicine Compendium was finally officially launched!

Chapter 501 Alchemy Contest

Because of their bloodline, members of the Medicine Clan are far more adept at alchemy than ordinary people, and there are also many members of the clan who possess extremely high talent in alchemy.

Therefore, those alchemy masters who are quite famous in Zhongzhou are not uncommon in the Medicine Clan. It is precisely because of this that the people of the Medicine Clan are always arrogant when compared with other alchemists.

Of course, they are only at the middle level of the alchemist class. Compared with those who truly stand at the top of the alchemist pyramid, the alchemists of the Medicine Clan do not have much of an advantage. In fact, the help they once received from their bloodline power will now become an obstacle to their advancement to the top level.

This might be considered a slight drawback of the power of bloodline.

The prelude to the pharmacopoeia was enough to keep most of the audience entertained—the younger generation of the Medicine Clan indeed possessed talents that ordinary alchemists envied. The youngest member of the Medicine Clan on stage was at least a sixth-grade level, and watching the cauldrons rise on the stage from below filled them with longing.

Of course, this level of alchemy demonstration was like adults watching children fight to the real 'high-level' members at the pharmacopoeia site—there was nothing worth watching. Therefore, everyone closed their eyes to rest and waited for the real climax of the pharmacopoeia to arrive.

This prelude of the pharmacopoeia lasted for several days before gradually coming to an end. Fortunately, those present were not ordinary people; many of them did not even move an inch during those days.

The moment the younger generation of the Medicine Clan finished their test, the atmosphere on the square did not quiet down; instead, it suddenly became even more heated, with almost scalding gazes falling on Yao Dan as he slowly rose to his feet.

"Hehe, now that the appetizers are over, it's time for the main event. I understand what you all are thinking," Yao Dan said with a faint smile, facing the gaze of the entire audience. "In the final stage of this Pharmacopoeia Conference, four people will compete. And even if I don't say much, you should all know that the final winner will take the title of the number one alchemist on the continent."

"I think no one will object to the winner of this title, right?" Yao Dan chuckled, turning his gaze to Xiao Yan and the others. "The four of you, please enter!"

As Yao Dan finished speaking, Hun Xuzi, Yao Wanhuo, Shennong Laoren, and Xiao Yan stood up one after another and then appeared in the sky above the arena.

After a brief exchange of glances, a huge fire cauldron made of strange fire rose up in front of each of them. For them, the cauldron formed by the strange fire was the most suitable and of the highest quality for them!

Therefore, in front of Hun Xuzi at this moment is a black cauldron formed from the sub-fire of the Void Devouring Flame; in front of Yao Wangui is also a black cauldron, but his black cauldron is formed from the Nine Nether Wind Flame; the fire cauldron formed by Shennong Laoren is not impressive, but the green flames surrounding him, with medicinal herbs constantly ripening and falling, are the envy of all alchemists - the flame of life, the flame of longevity, and the life flame that can ripen various medicinal herbs at any time.

"Young friend Xiao Yan, I heard that you have already devoured and refined the Pure Lotus Demon Flame..." While waiting for the medicinal herbs to mature, Shennong looked at Xiao Yan, who was only a purple fire cauldron in front of him, with some curiosity. "I wonder if this is true or not?"

"Just a fluke," Xiao Yan chuckled casually, showing no intention of summoning the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. "The Dragon Phoenix Demon Flame is a flame I condensed, no weaker than ordinary strange flames, and it's also the flame I'm most familiar with... This time, I can't afford to be careless in refining medicine, so naturally I have to use the flame I'm most familiar with."

Hearing Xiao Yan's words, which were half true and half false, Shennong Elder shook his head helplessly and casually glanced at Yao Wanhuo not far away. Although he believed that Yao Wanhuo would not be as pedantic as those old-fashioned people of the Yao Clan, he could only sigh inwardly, lamenting that the Yao Clan could not afford to play games.

Yao Wangui could naturally feel the regret in Shennong Elder's eyes, but he had no right to veto the decision made by the clan elders. All he could do was refine the Xuan Dan embryo to buy Xiao Yan more time.

……

"...Nine-Star Dou Sheng?"

As the audience cheered for the actions of the four alchemists, who were practically at the pinnacle of all alchemists, Lei Ying's face instantly turned ugly. He looked at Gu Yuan in disbelief, "What did you do? Why is that brat from the Xiao Clan now a Nine-Star Dou Sheng?!"

Although Yao Dan was somewhat surprised by Xiao Yan's strength, he had long known that refining a Golden Core required at least the strength of a Seven-Star Dou Sheng, so he was able to control his expression. However, Yan Jin and Lei Ying, who knew nothing about this, suddenly realized that Xiao Yan, who was only a Three-Star Dou Sheng a few years ago, had now become a Nine-Star Dou Sheng. They looked at Gu Yuan with livid faces, wanting to get an answer from Gu Yuan.

The Soul Emperor also looked at Gu Yuan with great interest, wanting to know how Gu Yuan would explain himself.

"...He devoured the Pure Lotus Demon Flame and accepted the inheritance left by the Pure Lotus Demon Saint in the Demon Flame Space."

The moment Gu Yuan sensed the mocking look in Hun Tiandi's eyes, he considered refusing to answer Lei Ying and Yan Jin's questions. However, after a brief hesitation, the idea of ​​'winning over the Lei, Yan, and Yao clans' still came to mind. Therefore, he gave Xiao Yan the answer he had given him.

The excuse of inheritance can't fool anyone, and the idea of ​​devouring different flames to increase one's level is even more absurd. Everyone present is at the top of the Dou Qi Continent, so naturally they won't believe what Gu Yuan said.

However, Gu Yuan's composed expression put Lei Ying and Yan Jin in a dilemma—they knew Gu Yuan's character, and they knew that Gu Yuan would definitely not lie under these circumstances, unless…

Lei Ying and Yan Jin unconsciously turned their gazes to the air, looking at Xiao Yan, who had poured thousands of medicinal herbs into the fire cauldron formed by the so-called "Dragon Phoenix Demon Flame" in one go.

'The last remaining strength of the Xiao clan?' Lei Ying looked at Yan Jin.

"Almost all the flames that Xiao Xuan controlled back then are within my clan." Yan Jin shook his head slightly.

'So...the ancient emperor's cave?'

"A Dou Di's cave dwelling outside of the ancient Tuoshe Emperor," Yan Jin nodded silently, "that should be the only possibility."

The Soul Emperor didn't care about Lei Ying and Yan Jin's petty tricks.

Gu Yuan didn't care about their little antics.

Yao Dan stared intently at Xiao Yan's every step as he refined the medicinal herbs in the sky. Although he was already very familiar with the refining process, he seemed to have returned to the time when he didn't know how to refine medicine, and he watched Xiao Yan's every move with fascination.

'Speaking of which… he's almost there too, isn't he?' The Soul Emperor glanced at the medicinal pills beside him, chuckling to himself. 'With the appearance of the first Golden Core alchemist, more and more Golden Core alchemists have appeared on the continent…'

Chapter 502 The Shameless Medicine Clan

Above the sky, after manipulating the fire cauldron to swallow thousands of medicinal herbs, Xiao Yan sat cross-legged in mid-air. As a special kind of strange fire spirit, he could refine pills much more easily than others. His perfect control over the Dragon-Phoenix Demon Flame allowed him to refine the medicinal herbs to perfection in the shortest amount of time.

The blazing purple flames completely enveloped the cauldron, making it resemble a giant fireball. Every few minutes, small fireballs would emerge from the cauldron, hovering and circling it. Each of these fireballs contained medicinal liquids and powders of different colors, all of which were refined to the highest purity.

As more and more fireballs floated around Xiao Yan's Fire Cauldron, the other three people in the distant sky also successively refined a large number of medicinal herbs. Although their control over flames was far inferior to Xiao Yan's, they were all Grandmaster-level figures after all, so they would not make any mistakes in refining medicinal herbs.

On the plaza, more and more alchemists were captivated by the fluid alchemy techniques displayed in the sky. It's no exaggeration to say that these alchemists, engrossed in their work, almost all had the potential to advance further after the completion of the pharmacopoeia!

After the extraction of these medicinal herbs had been going on for about a day, Hun Xuzi was the first to open his eyes. Possessing the Void Devouring Flame and being the closest to the level of a Golden Core alchemist, he was undoubtedly the first of the three people preparing to refine the Profound Pill to complete the extraction of all the medicinal herbs.

"More than 80% of the medicinal materials have been extracted?"

The moment he opened his eyes, Hun Xuzi's first concern was Xiao Yan's condition. Noticing that the number of fireballs around Xiao Yan had far exceeded two thousand, Hun Xuzi quickly gathered his mind, threw a large amount of refined medicinal liquid into the fire cauldron, then changed his hand seals and shouted, "Power of heaven and earth, heed my command!"

As Hun Xuzi's shout fell, a sudden gale arose within the Medicine Realm, as if endless energy of heaven and earth was sweeping towards the fire cauldron in front of him, and finally being swallowed up by the terrifying suction force emanating from it.

This terrifying devouring continued until the energy even formed a mottled energy storm, roaring wildly across the sky.

The terrifying spectacle of alchemy made many people secretly swallow hard. They had never heard of needing to absorb the energy of heaven and earth when refining pills, since the energy of heaven and earth could very likely disrupt the balance between the medicinal properties, leading to the failure of alchemy.

However, this is only what ordinary people think. For the elders of the Medicine Clan and most of the alchemy masters, although they have not personally tried it, they have heard about it from various ancient books.

"Gathering the power of heaven and earth to refine pills, I never expected that he would actually have the idea of ​​refining a profound pill." Yao Dan glanced at Hun Tiandi with a hint of surprise. He thought that Hun Tiandi wanted to see if Xiao Yan could refine a golden pill.

"It's just a Profound Pill," the Soul Emperor replied casually. "What the other two want to refine is also a Profound Pill, isn't it?"

Just as the Soul Emperor had said, the moment the medicinal herbs were refined, Elder Wanhuo changed his hand seals and shouted, "Power of Heaven and Earth, condense!"

"Haha, since you two are so generous, I can't fall behind!" Shennong laughed loudly, and with a wave of his sleeves, the power of heaven and earth in this area became chaotic again, and streams of powerful energy were pulled into the fire cauldron in front of him.

Looking at the chaotic energy of heaven and earth, Xiao Yan let out a soft breath—

That's the downside of the Golden Core technique; it requires too many medicinal herbs. Even though he was far faster at refining herbs than the other three, he still had a lot of herbs that he couldn't refine, and could only watch helplessly as the three of them fought over the energy of heaven and earth.

In the square, many alchemists stared at the energy storm that erupted in the sky with thunderous roars, their hearts filled with endless shock. This time, the Pharmacopoeia actually had three people preparing to refine the legendary Ninth Grade Profound Pill!

"Wait, what is Xiao Yan going to refine? Two hours ago, the amount of medicinal herbs he extracted already far exceeded the amount of medicinal herbs needed for the Xuan Dan that these three were preparing to refine!"

Soon, some people reacted and stared in disbelief at Xiao Yan's figure, which was surrounded by more than two thousand fireballs.

"There are rumors that... he is the near-Golden Core alchemist who appeared a few years ago!"

"So what he wants to refine is a Golden Core?" Someone asked worriedly, sensing the surrounding energy of heaven and earth. "The energy of heaven and earth in the Medicine Realm... might not even be enough to refine these three Profound Cores."

The struggle for the energy of heaven and earth among Hun Xuzi and the other two had only just begun when a shortage of energy appeared in the plaza. Even the most ordinary eighth-grade alchemists vaguely sensed that the energy of heaven and earth in the Medicine Realm might not be enough.

"Since that elder of the Medicine Clan dared to refine the Profound Pill, it at least shows that the Medicine Clan has a way to deal with insufficient energy in the world... Surely we won't see four grandmaster alchemists who are unable to refine the Golden Pill or the Profound Pill due to insufficient energy in the world during this important part of the Pharmacopoeia?"

"Exactly, even the Medicine Clan isn't in a hurry, so why are you?"

……

Concerns about the lack of natural energy in the Medicine Clan's Medicine Realm were quickly drowned out by the crowd. Everyone believed in the Medicine Clan, believing that this race, whose foundation was alchemy, had sufficient means to deal with the potential shortage of natural energy caused by alchemy.

Although the amount of medicinal materials needed to refine the Golden Core far exceeds that of the Profound Core, Xiao Yan still completed the refining of all the medicinal materials after Hun Xuzi and the other two had been fighting over the energy of heaven and earth for half an hour. Immediately, he changed his hand seals and began to seize the energy between heaven and earth without restraint.