Forced to become a pure and innocent female pharmacist in order to cultivate immortality.

Chapter 102 The Origin of Alchemy (Two Chapters Combined)

Inside the alchemy pavilion of the Yunxia Sect, a noisy commotion filled the spacious alchemy room.

The Alchemy Room is an open-air area in the middle of the Alchemy Pavilion, where you can look up and see the azure sky and fluffy clouds like cotton candy.

Nalan Yan and three other returning disciples stood quietly on the central platform, waiting for their master to announce the start.

Yunxiao and Yunxiang were sitting right in front of them.

Judging from Yunxiang's appearance, she doesn't seem to be the type to cause trouble. Most alchemists only care about the Dao of Alchemy and nothing else. However, they all return to Yunxia Sect with a purpose, sometimes out of necessity.

"Junior Sister Yunxiang, is it really necessary to do this?" Yunxiao asked telepathically, looking at the disciples around him and the four people, including Nalan Yan, who were waiting quietly on the stage.

Yunxiao is not one to argue, but today, it seems he has no choice.

Upon hearing this, Yunxiang sighed softly.

“Senior Brother Yunxiao, I also have my difficulties. Besides, you should understand why we were sent back by the upper sect. So, I can only wish that the sect can defeat us in this open conspiracy,” Yunxiang replied.

Many of them, although they left the Yunxia Sect, were unwilling to return.

However, this doesn't mean everyone wants to return to their former sect to cause trouble. After all, cultivation emphasizes "clear thinking."

Yun Zong's actions undoubtedly confused many of them.

This will do them no good in the future, but in this cultivation world where the strong are respected, they have no other choice.

"Alright, let's begin."

Yunxiao stood up and first addressed the surrounding cultivators.

"Quiet down, everyone. Let me explain the rules."

As soon as these words were spoken, the noisy alchemy room immediately fell silent.

Ye Liuyun stood quietly in an inconspicuous corner, holding his pet monkey.

She felt that since Nalan Yan had learned the Star-Picking Hand technique, defeating this group should be a piece of cake, so she wasn't worried.

"This competition is an internal alchemy contest within the Alchemy Pavilion to see who has the superior alchemy skills. How do we judge the quality of the pills? First, we look at the grade; second, we look at the color; and third, we look at the patterns. If the first three are similar, then we look at the speed. Vice Pavilion Master Yunxiang and I will be the judges for this alchemy contest."

"No loud noises are allowed during the competition. Violators will be severely punished. Alright, the sparring can begin," Yunxiao announced.

As soon as he finished speaking, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck overhead.

The thunder was muffled and sudden, causing everyone to involuntarily look up.

Even Nalan Yan and the others were slightly puzzled.

"It's thundering, is it going to rain? That shouldn't be the case, the sky is clear and blue, it doesn't look like it's going to rain." Everyone was puzzled.

Moreover, the rumbling thunder continued, which was completely different from the previous situation where dark clouds covered the sky and thunder rolled.

This is thunder in broad daylight, and the sound of the thunder seems to come from beyond the heavens; it's very unusual.

"Huh? That's strange. I didn't concoct any medicine. Why did this happen out of the blue?" Ye Liuyun wondered.

But she soon found out what was going on.

"Don't be surprised. Although this space has stabilized, the spatial distortion last time made the spacetime barrier in this area extremely fragile. This thunder must have come from another spacetime. It seems that it might be another version of you refining medicine," Lin Qingyou explained.

Ye Liuyun was in an awkward position. She wondered if she was a jinx no matter which timeline she lived in.

How can a jinx from next door still affect this world?

If she and Ye Liuyun next door were to refine medicine at the same time, or take turns refining medicine, it would be virtually impossible for the Yunxia Sect to have a quiet period of time.

"What? Another strange thing has happened. Yan'er, and the three of you, this sudden thunderbolt is affecting the alchemy. Should we postpone the competition?" Yunxiao suggested.

However, Wang Sai was the first to refuse.

“No need. As an alchemist, one should be able to concentrate on alchemy regardless of the occasion or environment. A little thunder won’t affect my performance,” Wang Sai said.

As soon as Wang Sai spoke, the other two frowned slightly, clearly indicating that they might not have the same mindset.

But since Wang Sai had already spoken, they couldn't back down.

"We both agree to continue the competition."

After the two finished speaking, Nalan Yan also chose to continue the competition. At this point, even if it rained or snowed, they had to keep going.

Whoever speaks first about their fear of failure is essentially admitting defeat.

"In that case, let's begin." Yunxiao sat down again.

The moment he sat down, the four of them simultaneously sat down cross-legged on the spot and started the furnace.

However, they need to consider what kind of pills they should refine to win. Among the three of them, Wang Sai's alchemy skills are slightly better. He can refine mid-grade blue-level pills, while Nalan Yan is only a low-grade blue-level alchemist. The other two are also low-grade blue-level alchemists.

After pondering for a moment, Nalan Yan took out three sets of medicinal herbs, one main and two auxiliary. The main herb was a high-grade blue-level herb, the Void Orchid Grass. Generally, the main herb determines the grade of the pill, so Nalan Yan was going to refine a high-grade blue-level pill.

"This woman wants to refine high-grade blue-level medicinal herbs? Is she out of her mind? A mere low-grade blue-level alchemist, trying to skip two grades?" Wang Sai knew what Nalan Yan was up to the moment he saw the herbs she chose.

As for himself, he felt it was better to play it safe, so he chose to refine the most complex type of mid-grade blue-level pill. As for the other two, they also had to challenge themselves, so they decided to refine mid-grade blue-level pills.

"Oh, skipping two ranks directly, this little girl seems quite confident?" Lin Qingyou said with a smile.

Ye Liuyun held the monkey as if it were a toy, playing with Sun Wukong while watching Nalan Yan and the other three.

"Perhaps Senior Sister's alchemy skills have improved during this time?" Ye Liuyun said with a smile.

"Hehe, that's possible. However, if she wants to win, refining a mid-grade blue-level item would be enough. That would be safer," Lin Qingyou replied.

After deciding on the pills they wanted to refine, the four quickly got to work, simultaneously releasing their spiritual energy flames, each of which possessed an attribute.

Of the eight elements—metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, thunder, and ice—wood and water are best suited for alchemy, fire and thunder for weapon crafting, metal and earth for array formation, and wind and ice for setting up restrictions.

Each attribute has different effects on different secondary professions. Of course, nothing is absolute; it just means that the corresponding attribute is more suitable for a particular profession.

The wood and water elements are relatively gentle, and alchemy requires gentle power; brute force is not enough. Among these people, Nalan Yan has both wood and water elements, with water being the primary element and wood being the secondary element.

Wang Sai, on the other hand, has both wind and wood attributes, with wood as the primary attribute and wind as the secondary attribute.

It depends on which attribute they specialize in. However, since they are alchemists, Wang Sai should specialize in the wood attribute, so his spirit fire is emerald green, while Nalan Yan's spirit fire is aquamarine. In the eyes of alchemists, spirit fire is called pill fire.

Pill fire is just the most ordinary flame, controlled by the cultivator's own power, and it is also the easiest flame to control. In addition to pill fire, there is demon fire, also called beast fire. As the name suggests, it is not a flame produced by humans, but a flame produced by demon beasts.

If demonic fire can be subdued, it is definitely better than the cultivator's own internal fire. Finally, there is the fire of heaven and earth, also called strange fire or heavenly fire. This is a flame that is naturally born from heaven and earth, not a flame produced within the body of a living being.

These flames are generally self-aware and very difficult to subdue. They are very powerful in combat, and some of these strange flames have even cultivated into demons.

Of course, different kinds of fire are not only needed by alchemists, but also by weapon refiners. Therefore, in the world of weapon refinement and alchemy, there is a Heavenly Fire Ranking and a Demonic Fire Ranking, which record all kinds of Heavenly Fire and Demonic Fire.

Those who can subdue demonic flames can generally become purple-level cultivators, and the quality of the flames can greatly improve the quality of elixirs.

Each type of exotic fire is unique in the world, while beast fire depends on fate. Beast fire mostly originates from the bodies of some fire-attribute exotic beasts, and beast fire is not necessarily inferior to exotic fire.

For example, the Phoenix True Fire inside the divine beast Phoenix and the Qilin Divine Fire inside the divine beast Qilin are comparable to the top ten flames on the Heavenly Fire Ranking.

But which cultivator would dare to provoke the Phoenix and the Qilin? Among the beast fires, the strongest is the Golden Crow Divine Fire, which is inherited from the innate divine beast, the three-legged Golden Crow. The second is the Southern Bright Fire, which comes from the divine beast Vermilion Bird. Then come the Phoenix True Fire and the Qilin Divine Fire.

The top three strange flames on the Heavenly Flame Ranking are Immortal Flame, Imperial Flame, and Divine Flame.

The rarity of these three types of flames is almost comparable to the Heavenly Emperor becoming an Immortal, the Heavenly God becoming an Emperor, and Nirvana becoming a God.

Immortal Flame is left behind by fire-attribute cultivators when they undergo immortal tribulation to become immortals, and not all fire-attribute immortals can leave behind Immortal Flame; the probability is only one in ten thousand.

That is, it takes ten thousand fire-attribute immortals ascending to have a chance to create immortal fire.

There is a very small chance that a cultivator who successfully challenges the Heavenly Abyss will leave behind the Emperor Flame, and there is also a chance that a cultivator who undergoes Nirvana and becomes a god will leave behind the Divine Fire.

However, these flames are actually of the same type, not all the same. It's just that the chances of these three types of flames being subdued by alchemists are much smaller than those of ordinary strange flames. So far, there are no records of alchemists subduing immortal flames and imperial flames.

However, there is a chance that an alchemist can subdue the divine flame. This alchemist is currently known in the alchemy world as the Medicine Immortal. In fact, this person is Lin Qingyou, the strongest alchemist known throughout history, and the only one in the Divine Continent to ascend to the Immortal Realm through the Dao of Pills.

When Lin Qingyou successfully challenged Tianyuan, she was given the title of Pill Emperor. After becoming an immortal, she was bestowed the title of Medicine God by the Immortal Realm.

Therefore, Lin Qingyou is one of the few cultivators who is qualified to be described as "the only one". However, in reality, Lin Qingyou is only the second person in the Dao of Medicine, while the founder of the Dao of Medicine, the Longevity Celestial Venerable, is the ancestor of all elixirs in all the heavens and myriad realms.

Almost all alchemists worship the "Chang Sheng Tian Zun" (a deity associated with longevity and immortality).

No one knows which era this Celestial Venerable of Immortality was from. The Divine Continent is divided into five eras: Creation, Primordial Beginning, Ancient Times, Upper Ancient Times, and Modern Times.

Lin Qingyou is a person from ancient times, and tens of thousands of years have passed since then. The ancient era probably has a history of nearly a million years. People of today can only know about things from ancient times. It is impossible for them to know anything about everything before ancient times.

However, one thing is certain: humanity did not exist in the era of creation. In that era, there were only some innate true spirits. In the primordial era, these true spirits awakened one after another, which led to the emergence of all kinds of living beings. The primordial era was an era in which all races coexisted.

All living beings in the present era were born in the ancient times, including humans. However, humans were very weak in the ancient times, and the era in which humans truly began to rise was the prehistoric era.

Therefore, this Celestial Venerable of Longevity may not be human, nor is it known whether he is male or female; it is simply a title that has existed since the beginning of human civilization.

Humans cultivate the Dao, and the creator of the Dao is called the Dao Ancestor. However, there is certainly more than one Dao Ancestor; the Eternal Heavenly Venerable should be considered one.

Then there is the progenitor of weapon crafting, Lingbao Tianzun.

The founder of the Dharma Gate School is the "Venerable One of Ten Thousand Laws".

Therefore, every Dao must have a creator, even the Immortal Dao. The Immortal Dao is just a term that appeared in ancient times. Before ancient times, there was no such thing as the Immortal Dao.

The founder of the immortal path is the Feathered Celestial Venerable, and the term "feathered ascension to immortality" refers to the novel "Feathered Celestial Venerable".

However, whether the Celestial Ascension Venerable was human is also questionable.

Human history is much shorter than that of the demon race. The demon race can be traced back to the primordial era, was born in the primordial era, dominated in the ancient era, and declined in the prehistoric era.

In ancient times, humans were almost food for the demon race, so there are basically no historical records of humans in ancient times. As for why humans were able to rise and dominate in ancient times, it must be related to luck.

No race can prosper forever, and humanity will also decline in the future.

The Divine Continent is merely a small world among the myriad realms. Even the Immortal Realm is only a middle world. The Great World is unknown. Perhaps all the small and middle worlds combined constitute the Great World.

Nalan Yan and the others have already begun refining the medicine.

When the four of them made their move, Nalan Yan was the fastest and most fluid, while Wang Sai and the others were a bit slower because the constant thunder in their ears made them easily distracted, so they were more cautious in their movements.

"This woman is completely unaffected by the thunder? Damn it." Wang Sai couldn't help but feel a jolt of unease as he watched Nalan Yan's fluid movements.

Actually, this sudden and unexpected event was actually helpful to Nalan Yan. Her Yunxia Sect had been experiencing constant thunderstorms for the past few years and had developed a resistance to them. However, these returning disciples did not have such resistance.

Nalan Yan's method of refining medicine was completely different from the other three. She threw all the medicinal materials directly into the refining furnace, while the other three refined them one by one, which was definitely much slower than Nalan Yan's method.

(This chapter contains some introductory material, so it won't be written as a separate chapter.)

Chapter 103 Unexpected Events

Nalan Yan's alchemy technique was smooth and fluid, which was very similar to Ye Liuyun's alchemy method, where all the medicinal herbs were stewed together in one pot.

However, the fusion process wasn't as easy as Ye Liuyun's. Ye Liuyun only experienced some pressure when merging the refining and fusion processes.

Making ordinary pills is as simple as eating.

Nalan Yan kept changing her technique, seemingly under some pressure, after all, this was her first time trying to refine a high-grade blue-level pill.

She was so confident because she had secretly tried to refine a mid-grade blue-level pill without any problems.

This time, they mustered up the courage to try refining a higher-level pill. However, compared to Nalan Yan's pressure, the other three were under even greater pressure, especially Wang Sai.

Because Nalan Yan was too fast, several times faster than them.

"Impossible! How could she be so fast? What a strange alchemy technique! All the ingredients stewed together? Is she making soup? I've never seen this method before." Wang Sai had no interest in alchemy at all.

There's no way to compete; the other party is almost at the Core Formation stage, while he's still in the Material Refining stage.

The deputy pavilion master, Yun Xiang, was also dumbfounded. How long had this alchemy competition been going on? Less than five minutes, I suppose.

Even if she were to refine this high-grade blue-level pill, it would take her at least half an hour.

Nalan Yan actually completed the three stages of melting, refining, and fusion in just five minutes.

Yunxiao kept stroking his chin, looking very happy. His eyes showed nothing but satisfaction with his disciple.

The surrounding disciples were also completely focused, not daring to look away for a moment, because if Nalan Yan succeeded, she would become a high-grade blue-level alchemist.

Of course, Yunxiao also secretly glanced at the inconspicuous corner of the alchemy room, because Ye Liuyun was standing there.

Ye Liuyun only gave Nalan Yan a few casual pointers, yet Nalan Yan's alchemy skills improved so much. This can only mean that Ye Liuyun's alchemy skills are even stronger. As for how strong they are, Yunxiao couldn't imagine, but they are definitely much stronger than his.

Wang Sai and the others originally wanted to demonstrate their alchemy skills in public and establish their authority.

But now it's all good; isn't this making Nalan Yan look good?

Moreover, Wang Sai could see that Nalan Yan was under almost no pressure and had already begun the fusion of the pills. This made Wang Sai raise an eyebrow. He thought for a moment, and then secretly glanced at his junior sister.

His junior sister understood what Wang Sai meant as soon as she saw the look in Wang Sai's eyes.