Chapter 1054, Pills Are Difficult To Refine
Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain
When Yang Kai broke into the mountain valley, the old man who was in the midst of his Alchemy immediately noticed, causing a frown to appear on his face and a terrifying pressure to emerge from his body.
The entire mountain valley where he made his home was one of Rainfall Star’s Restricted Areas; no one was allowed to even approach it, and no one dared to either, yet today, some little brat who didn’t know how high the Heavens were had actually flew straight in.
The old man was infuriated and his first thought was to take Yang Kai’s life directly to warn others what fate awaited those who dared disturb him while he was performing Alchemy.
The lives of minor characters like Yang Kai weren’t even worth worrying about for this old man.
But just as he was about to act, one of the pill furnaces placed around him suddenly made a strange hissing sound, causing the old man’s expression to fill with bitterness. Pouring his Saint Qi into the pill furnace, the old man quickly stabilized the medicinal liquids inside and muttered, “Pills are difficult to refine. Hmph, I’ll let you live for a while, your life isn’t worth wasting a furnace of materials on. Damn it, pills are really difficult to refine!”
Muttering to himself while constantly waving his hands in complicated patterns, sending his Saint Qi into different pill furnaces, his Space Ring flashing on and off as different herbs which had been prepared in advance were thrown into the various furnaces.
As more and more strange sounds emerged from the various pill furnaces, the old man’s expression remained tranquil, without the slightest bit of tension at all, only the movement of his hands accelerated noticeably.
After half an hour, the sunken eyes of the old man shone brilliantly and all the pill furnaces hummed, crisp ringing sounds echoing from them as a thick pill fragrance filled the air!
Reaching out his hand, the several dozen large and small pill furnaces all opened and a multitude of different coloured pills flew out, dropping like raindrops into several jade bottles which had been prepared beforehand.
With a pitter-patter, three jade bottles were soon completely filled.
The old man didn’t feel the slightest bit of fatigue and instead seemed quite excited. Rubbing his somewhat wrinkled hands together, he rushed over to the jade bottles to pick them up and carefully examined the pills which had just come out of the furnace.
“No… no…still no… Every time the old man checked one, he would whisper to himself, the look of anticipation on his face gradually disappearing and being replaced with disappointment.
After checking through all three jade bottles, nearly forty pills in total, he was still unable to find what he wanted.
As if it had received a huge blow, the old man’s face became disheartened and he sighed heavily, “Pills are really hard to refine. Why aren’t there any Pill Veins? Could it be that this old master’s method of mass quantities is actually wrong? No, it can’t be!”
Saying so, he threw these three jade bottles aside as if they were worthless trash, not even sparing them a second glance.
In the corner of his pill room, a large number of jade bottles were piled up, over a hundred of them in total, each one of them filled with pills. None of the pills in these bottles was lower than Saint King Grade and there were even several of them that were Origin Grade.
The old man sat down after and began pondering about the successes and failures he had experienced in this latest Alchemy refinement, attempting to determine why he was unable to refine more Pill Veins, scratching his already thin white hair.
The old man actually sat in this position for three days and three nights without any movement, just like a dead man, only his eyes revealing a light of contemplation.
Suddenly, a subtle wave of energy appeared from the Medicine Garden. This burst of energy interrupted his contemplation, making him look up unhappily towards the outside.
Only then did he remember that three days ago some little brat had actually broken into his property, but at the time he didn’t have any spare attention to deal with him so he had simply forgotten about him.
“He hasn’t left yet?” The old man was surprised and quietly released his Divine Sense, a moment later letting out a light murmur of surprise, as if he had discovered something interesting, focusing more of his attention on Yang Kai’s movements.
In the Medicine Garden, Yang Kai had sat down cross-legged, allowing his Divine Sense to spread out in all directions like a tide.
His Divine Sense probed every single inch of the Medicine Garden, trying to understand the secrets it held.
These Medicine Gardens were not arranged randomly, the way they were planted and distributed was in line with some kind of profound Spirit Array. Each individual garden composed a smaller Spirit Array, which in combination with the others gathered the surrounding World Energy to promote the growth of the various spirit grassed and spirit medicines, making them grow both faster and stronger.
Any herb grown here for fifty years would have the equivalent of a one-hundred-year-old medicinal age, possibly even higher.
Yang Kai didn’t know who it was that arranged this, but he figured it was the handiwork of the Alchemist residing in valley’s central palace!
Yang Kai devoted himself to studying these Medicine Gardens, trying to spy on its hidden mysteries, becoming complete absorbed in this task and even forgetting everything around him!
Yang Kai has studied many different Spirit Arrays from the True Alchemic Way, and back on Tong Xuan Realm, these Spirit Arrays had helped him immensely.
However, the True Alchemic Way was, after all, a product of Tong Xuan Realm.
The Star Field also had its own unique Spirit Arrays.
There were advantages and disadvantages between the two, and while Yang Kai was studying the Spirit Arrays hidden in the Medicine Garden, he was also comparing them to those he had already mastered.
When the old man inside the palace saw this scene, he immediately understood what Yang Kai was doing, and after thinking about it for a moment, he retracted his murderous intent and chuckled, “I suppose it’s not such a bad thing to let you continue!”
Seeing Yang Kai like this reminded of his own hardships in the study of Alchemy.
In order to learn different Spirit Arrays, he had travelled vast distances and visited many famous masters, most of whom would laugh at and despise him, slamming the door shut in his face or expelling him directly.
Those Alchemy Grandmasters regarded their own Spirit Arrays as their most important treasures and would not easily teach them to others. Even if it was their own Disciples, these masters would deny most of them any of their core knowledge, so teaching a stranger was even more out of the question.
When this old man was Yang Kai’s age, he had been obsessed with Alchemy and often vowed to climb high in the Alchemic Way and amaze the world.
However, in his advanced age, he had realized that the idea was wrong. Alchemy was not studied in order to make the world change their views on him, but rather to fulfil his own lifelong pursuit.
Yang Kai’s serious focus reminded him of his past and washed away his desire to kill him. No longer paying attention to this young boy, the old man simply allowed him to continue studying the mysteries of his Medicine Garden.
Sometime later, the old man inside the palace started performing Alchemy again. Just like before, the several dozen pill furnaces all began warming up at the same time as the old man tossed one herb after another into all of them.
Outside the palace, Yang Kai sat in silent contemplation, a thin layer of dust soon accumulating on his body as he eagerly delved into these Spirit Arrays.
One old and one young, neither bothering the other, focused entirely on their own independent tasks.
Every once in a while, after the old man finished a round of Alchemy, he would check to see if Yang Kai was still around, and finding him still sitting in the same place, the old man couldn’t help appreciating the patience and perseverance of this little brat.
Youths were often hot-blooded and impetuous, very few were able to calm their hearts and remain focused like this little brat for so long. It was truly impressive.
Yang Kai also noticed that the owner of the palace would often use his Divine Sense to observe him, but seeing the other party not show any intention to drive him away, he thickened his skin and continued studying as if nothing had happened.
After he finished studying the Spirit Arrays here, Yang Kai planned to properly offer this master his thanks.
He didn’t intent to steal the knowledge arranged here; he had simply become engrossed in it before he knew it.
This peaceful coexistence continued on for a number of days, with Yang Kai constantly examining the Spirit Arrays hidden in the various Medicine Gardens, comparing them to his previous analysis, but suddenly, a wave of unease spread from his heart.
Opening his eyes, Yang Kai immediately expanded his Divine Sense to check his surroundings.
Soon though, his brow furrowed, because he didn’t notice any danger approaching him, and within a few hundred kilometres, besides the owner of the nearby palace, there wasn’t even a single bird flying through the sky, much less any other people.
Yang Kai thought he was just imagining things but when he calmed himself down and was about to continue his studies, the feeling of uneasiness became stronger.
It was as if his life was being threatened and he was on the verge of death.
Standing up, his expression became incomparably gloomy.
With his strength having reached his currently level, Yang Kai’s senses had also become incredibly keen. He would not be feeling this kind of anxiety for no reason at all and there were only two explanations for it.
Either there was a master who far surpassed him in strength stalking him, or something else was threatening his life.
The former was highly unlikely.
Although Yang Kai didn’t know who the master of the palace was, he was certain this person was a powerful master. If someone harbouring ill intent was nearby, the master of the palace would certainly have detected them.
Moreover, Yang Kai felt that no one should be currently targeting him; after all, he hadn’t stirred up trouble or forged any grudges with anyone recently and there was no reason for him to be randomly targeted.
The only one he currently had issues with was Xue Yue, but because of the effects of the Soul Chains which currently linked their lives, she would only be trying to protect him and it was impossible for her to be trying to kill him.
Thinking of Xue Yue and remembering about the Soul Chains, Yang Kai’s face changed and a hypothesis came to mind.
Had something happened to Xue Yue?
Because of the Soul Chains, their lives had become linked together, and if Xue Yue was on the verge of death, it would be the same as him being in danger.
The more he thought about it, the more Yang Kai was convinced this was the case. Not daring to linger, he immediately summoned out his Star Shuttle and flew off towards the Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce branch.
Cursing in his heart the whole time, Yang Kai had to remind himself that Xue Yue’s strength was not low and with Ha Li Ka, an Origin Returning Realm master, accompanying her, there shouldn’t have been any danger to her life. He had simply gone about his own affairs with peace of mind to suddenly have this life-threatening situation to occur. This caused annoyance to fill him to no end.
“He left?” Inside the palace, the old man glanced at the direction in which Yang Kai left and slowly shook his head, not paying it much attention.
To him, Yang Kai’s arrival was nothing more than a small ripple in the vast pond that was his life, not having any real lasting effect on him. Whether Yang Kai stayed or left mattered not to him.
The old man continued to focus on the several dozen pill furnaces in front of him, forming a series of hand seals while pouring his Saint Qi into them to control each individual heating.