Soul Emperor Martial God

On the back mountain, Xiao Yi pondered over the Condensing Pill Five Elements Record.

Today, Elder Yi's teachings had greatly benefitted him.

At the very least, he wouldn't be as clueless as last night, as if he were reading arcane texts.

It must be said, Elder Yi's teaching prowess was truly formidable.

The esoteric knowledge of alchemy and complex, mysterious combinations of herbs, when uttered by him, easily turned into clear-cut knowledge.

Elixir refinement involved a method to remove impurities.

That involved adding the Demon Beast Core during the alchemy process, just as the elixir was about to solidify.

During the elixir-making process, the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures added would carry various attributes, more or less.

For instance, a century-old ginseng had the Earth Attribute; the Demon Blood Flame Heart Fruit had the Fire Attribute; the Source Cultivating Red Fruit had the Wood Attribute; Iron Pine Branches had the Gold Attribute...

Similarly, materials used in making the Snow Soul Pill were mostly of the Ice Attribute.

Thus, the elixirs manufactured would invariably have a trace of attributes.

The Condensing Pill Five Elements Record relied on these very attributes, using the Demon Beast Core to remove impurities from the elixir.

Of course, not only the elixirs had impurities, but the Demon Beast Cores as well carried impurities and a violent aura.

But, the Five Elements—generate and restrain one another.

For example, an elixir with the Ice Attribute.

By adding an Ice Attribute Demon Beast Core during the solidifying process, its inherent ice attributes would be greatly enhanced.

Before it fully solidified, the impurities would be "squeezed out."

This process is called generation.

As for the impurities and violent aura in the Ice Attribute Demon Beast Core, one need only add a Fire Attribute Demon Beast Core; the confrontation between ice and fire would wear away the impurities and violent aura.

This process is known as restraint.

Through this method, the impurities on both the elixirs and the Demon Beast Cores could be completely eliminated.

In summary, it all boils down to one statement.

Generation removes the impurities from the elixirs; Restriction removes the impurities from the Demon Beast Cores.

That was the principle of the Condensing Pill Five Elements Record, and what Elder Yi taught today.

"No wonder the batch of goods we seized before included daggers, poisons, and finished elixirs, as well as numerous Demon Beast Essence Blood and Demon Beast Cores," whispered Xiao Yi to himself.

"Shadow Tower, filled with assassins. Demon Beast Essence Blood is used for medicated baths to increase the cultivations of the assassins, or perhaps it has other uses."

"The Demon Beast Cores, however, are used by the alchemists within Shadow Tower to refine Pure Elixirs."

The Condensing Pill Five Elements Record wasn't exclusive to the Sky-splitting Sword Sect.

According to Elder Yi, it was a method that any profound alchemist must learn.

However, throughout the whole Northern Mountain County, not counting the Sky-splitting Sword Sect, there were only three others capable of this.

These three were all alchemists from major forces, one in the Demon Hunting Hall, one in the Shadow Tower, and one under the Northern Mountain County King.

And these three, although all Fifth-grade Alchemists, were far inferior to the Medicine Hall Elders of the Sky-splitting Sword Sect.

Thus, even though they possessed this ability, their crafting of Pure Elixirs was exceedingly slow, and frankly, pitifully slow.

Returning to the main point.

The theory is the theory.

The theory was taught by Elder Yi in one day, not difficult and fairly easy to understand.

But actual implementation proved very challenging.

An elixir with one attribute needed two Demon Beast Cores with opposing attributes to be added. P+a$rt of a [email protected]@e.s h.oste*d by My Vi@rtual Li$brary E$mpi@re (.MV&-LEMP$&Y&R)!.^

In reality, an elixir, being a fusion refined from many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

Thus, it contained not just one attribute.

This required even more Demon Beast Cores to be added.

More Demon Beast Cores meant more varied attributes.

Thus, the combination among different attributes turned quite complex.

Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in the Alchemy Furnace, under high-temperature flames, mostly get their attributes burned away, leaving behind very little.

And this little was the residual attributes of various Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

Which of these attributes was stronger or weaker? Was the Fire Attribute more dominant, or was the Wood Attribute more prevalent?

At this point, Demon Beast Cores with different strengths of energy needed to be added accordingly.

In short, these combinations were manifold and complex, endlessly varying beyond telling.

This is truly a test of an Alchemist's ability.

Refining elixirs is a complex matter; and though the Condensing Pill Five Elements Record can remove impurities, it drastically increases the difficulty by tenfold, a hundredfold.

It is precisely because of these exceedingly challenging combinations that an Alchemist's knowledge in Alchemy must be exceptionally rich.

This has stumped countless Alchemists; not to mention Ye Ming, even an ordinary Fifth-grade Alchemist is at a loss.

Even for those renowned Fifth-grade Alchemists who understand the Condensing Pill Five Elements Record, it often requires a lot of mental effort and time to consider how to integrate a Demon Beast Core into an elixir, making the process incredibly slow.

This places extraordinarily high demands on an Alchemist's comprehension abilities.

Xiao Yi's comprehension abilities, however, were frighteningly high.

Under Elder Yi's guidance, he could basically grasp these combinations within months and truly start Refining.

Elder Yi spent a day teaching the principles; the rest of the time was devoted to teaching these combinations and alchemy knowledge.

"Several months is too long." Xiao Yi shook his head. "And that's just a basic grasp; the speed of making the pills would still be slow."

"To quickly refine Pure Elixirs, you can only reach the point of thorough understanding. But that, who knows how many years it would take."

"Taiyin and Taiyang Eyes, I must rely on you again," Xiao Yi muttered to himself.

The next second, his eyes changed. His left eye became dark and eerie like a black hole, and his right eye burned fiercely like the sun.

Then, he introspected his Ice Phoenix Sword Soul.

He didn't know if it would work, after all, the Condensing Pill Five Elements Record was not a pill recipe, but alchemy knowledge.

But he wanted to try.

The night before, he had read the Condensing Pill Five Element Record for the second time, intending to memorize its entire content.

Seconds later, when his eyes returned to normal, his face clearly revealed joy.

Because all the knowledge from the Condensing Pill Five Elements Record in his mind had simplified into the most basic content.

Those so-called complex combinations, the mutual generation, and suppression of the Five Elements, at that moment, seemed easy to him.

He was even confident that he could now perfectly refine a Pure Elixir with ease.

"It can actually work." Xiao Yi was secretly astonished and extremely joyful.

...

The next morning, Xiao Yi went to the Outer Sect Treasury again.

Of course, he didn't tell Elder Yi that he had fully grasped the Condensing Pill Five Elements Record.

Grasping it fully in just a few days was not just genius; it was monstrous.

Elder Yi continued his usual guidance.

But, Xiao Yi deliberately hastened his learning pace.

After half a month, he finally informed Elder Yi that he had fully grasped it.

Inside the Outer Sect Treasury, Elder Yi looked at Xiao Yi astounded.

"Kid, are you a monster? I thought it would take you months to start understanding; yet here we are, not even half a month, and you've done it."

That half month, Elder Yi spent it mostly in various expressions of astonishment.

Every day as he taught Xiao Yi, when it came to the difficult parts of the Condensing Pill Five Elements Record, as soon as he finished explaining, Xiao Yi would infer something beyond and skip right ahead.

Even in some places, he could offer even more unique insights, no, insights that could be called perfect.

Sometimes, he even felt like Xiao Yi was more like his guiding teacher, knowing more than he did.

Xiao Yi gave a wry smile, having anticipated Elder Yi's expression.

Fortunately, he had delayed telling him for half a month, otherwise, Elder Yi would definitely treat him as a monster.

As for those inferences and perfect insights; he had perfectly understood the content of the Condensing Pill Five Elements Record, so naturally, it was very easy to achieve.

"Kid, you..." Elder Yi wanted to say something but ended up not knowing what to say.

The surprise Xiao Yi had given him this past month, he attributed entirely to Xiao Yi's terrifying comprehension ability.

He just thought, maybe, his previous estimate of Xiao Yi's comprehension was far from sufficient.

Of course, looking at this extraordinarily talented 'disciple' in front of him, his heart was also filled with satisfaction.

As a 'teacher,' it was naturally very pleasing to see his 'disciple' excel.

"Elder Yi, why the hesitation?" Xiao Yi joked. "Were you thinking of praising my brilliance?"

"Hmph." Elder Yi snorted. He indeed wanted to praise Xiao Yi, but then he said, "Have you forgotten what I told you before? Beware of pride and complacency."

"Now that you have understood, it's time to truly begin alchemy," Elder Yi remarked with a slight smile, changing the subject.

"Yes." Xiao Yi nodded; he too wanted to truly give it a try.