Back when Xiao Yan had used his soul body to secretly release the seal on the Falling Heart Flame, he had already noticed that the bottom of the Heavenly Burning Qi Refining Tower was an immense world of magma. The fire-attributed energy there was even denser than what he had encountered while searching for the Green Lotus Core Flame years ago. Cultivating in that place would be beneficial even for someone at the Dou Zong level like himself.
There was another reason too—many of the pills he intended to refine during this secluded retreat were of the seventh or even eighth tier. Such pills would definitely attract pill tribulation lightning. If he refined them aboveground, it would cause quite a stir. And Xiao Yan disliked being gawked at when he was seriously focusing on something, so to avoid unnecessary trouble, he chose a place that would be imperceptible to the outside world for his alchemy.
Not long after entering the bottom of the tower, Xiao Yan suddenly felt two strange sensations pulling at him. One came from the Falling Heart Flame within his body, and the other… from his storage ring. Upon investigating the depths of his Youhai Ring, he eventually took out a broken jade piece.
Seeing the jade shard, Xiao Yan was slightly startled—it was the legendary Tou She Ancient God Jade.
In this lifetime, the Xiao Clan had inherited a piece of this jade. Given Xiao Yan's cautious nature, he had never intended to leave such a secret tied to the Dou Di behind at the clan. So, before departing from the Xiao Clan, he had already swapped the jade in Xiao Zhan's possession with a replica. The real one had always been carried on his person.
What he didn't expect was for the Ancient God Jade to resonate here. Could it be that something related to the Tou She Ancient God was hidden in this magma world?
After staring at the jade piece for a while in thought, Xiao Yan eventually returned it to his ring. Just to be safe, he tightly sealed it with soul power to completely cut off its connection to the outside world.
Even if there truly was something left behind by the Tou She Ancient God here, it wasn't something a mere Dou Zong like him could meddle with. Besides, he only possessed a fragment of the jade—at most he could look at it and drool. Why torture himself? 'When something must be cut off but isn't, chaos will follow'—he understood this principle well.
Suppressing the jade's resonance, Xiao Yan soon found a quiet spot to begin his alchemy. Due to the overwhelming concentration of fire energy, he didn't use the Sea Heart Cauldron this time. Instead, he summoned the Ten Thousand Beast Cauldron, an artifact he had acquired from Han Feng's collection.
This cauldron was also on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking, though its rank was lower than the Sea Heart Cauldron. That was why Xiao Yan hadn't used it before, but it was well-suited for this fiery environment. With the cauldron summoned and his herbs ready, Xiao Yan devoted himself wholly to his alchemy.
As for the issue of pill tribulation lightning, he previously relied on refined puppets to absorb and withstand the strikes—using the lightning to temper the puppets themselves. However, his puppets had all been destroyed during his battle with Yuan Li (formerly Hun Moli), so now he had no choice but to face the tribulations himself.
Boom!
The first pill was quickly refined. Watching the thunderclouds gather overhead, Xiao Yan took a deep breath. Before the pill lightning could strike, his darkened palm rose and gently pressed forward. Instantly, a black dragon burst forth, forming a massive black vortex in the air that swallowed the incoming lightning entirely.
After using the Black Dragon Devouring Palm to absorb the pill lightning, Xiao Yan was about to begin refining another pill when a tingling sensation suddenly surged through his body. A violent burst of thunderous energy erupted within him. Yet despite its ferocity, it didn't alarm him—his Little Glazed Body was more than capable of withstanding it.
Under the rampage of the thunder force, Xiao Yan clearly sensed his physical body strengthening. He wasn't surprised. Thunder energy, like fire, was a force of nature, and naturally capable of tempering the body. Of course, one needed the constitution to withstand its might—or risk being blasted apart on the spot.
As the thunder force dissipated, a refined energy spread throughout Xiao Yan's body. Faint arcs of lightning danced within this power, clearly remnants of the pill lightning. Upon refining it, he noticed a significant growth in his internal Dou Qi.
Xiao Yan hadn't expected his Black Dragon Devouring Palm to be capable of directly absorbing pill lightning. But thinking about it, it wasn't too strange—after all, the technique could even devour bloodline power. What was pill lightning in comparison?
"Hmm?" Just as he finished refining the lightning energy, Xiao Yan sensed something unusual within his body. Flipping his palm, a silver bead appeared in his hand. Upon closer inspection, it shimmered faintly with electrical arcs.
This bead had formed from the residual materials left behind after the thunder energy was refined. It contained the most violent lightning force. Even with Heavenly Flame protection, Xiao Yan had been unable to absorb this volatile power. However, while it couldn't be absorbed, it could be used in battle. Tossing it at an unsuspecting enemy would likely send even a low-star Dou Zong scrambling.
For someone like Xiao Yan, that level of destructive force wasn't too remarkable. But the important part was this—this silver bead had formed from a mid-grade seventh-tier pill's lightning. What about high-grade seventh-tier? Or even eighth-tier? One could imagine that the beads formed from such tribulations would be even more terrifying.
And what if he made many?
If he could refine a hundred of these beads from seventh-tier pill lightning and throw them all at once, even someone at Yuan Li's level might be forced into a miserable retreat. Not to mention, with his ingenuity, Xiao Yan had plenty of ways to make full use of these thunder beads.
"A nice trick to have up my sleeve," he muttered, flicking the bead into his ring. With that, the previously annoying problem of pill lightning had been neatly resolved. It could strengthen his body, increase his Dou Qi, and now also generate powerful thunder beads.
With all three benefits rolled into one, Xiao Yan's drive to refine pills soared to new heights. Not long after, deep within the earth, bursts of thunderous booms began to echo intermittently…
(End of Chapter)
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