At first, Long Chen was still wary of his inner demons. If he sensed something was wrong, he would rather give up refining pills with the Qiankun Cauldron than let the inner demon escape.
Long Chen even suspected that the inner demon was deliberately deceiving him. As soon as he lifted the lid of the cauldron, the seal was immediately broken out.
But Long Chen was horrified to discover that the inner demon had truly disappeared. The Qiankun Cauldron was completely empty, and despite repeated sensing, he could not sense its presence.
"This... How is this possible? Long
Chen was stunned. The inner demon had actually disappeared. Could it be that he had been refined? But soon Long Chen dismissed this idea. The inner demon was his other side, and it couldn't disappear for no reason.
"Could it be that when I used the Qiankun Cauldron to break through the Gate of the Underworld, the cauldron loosened and let him escape?" Long Chen's heart raced wildly. Only at this moment would the Qiankun Cauldron break free from his control, and only then would the inner demon have a chance to escape.
Thinking of this, Long Chen couldn't help but feel his scalp tingle. He wondered if, like Leng Yueyan, he might split into two people in the future, and that would be troublesome.
With a "boom,"
he fully opened the Qiankun Cauldron, but still showed no reaction. Long Chen even hoped the Heart Demon would come out to attack him, but unfortunately, things didn't go as he hoped—the Heart Demon really disappeared.
At that moment, Long Chen felt lost and desolate, even the joy of refining pills with the Qiankun Cauldron faded. The disappearance of his inner demon made him extremely worried, and at the same time, it felt as if he had lost something most important.
Long Chen hated inner demons and also had a certain fear of them. But when the inner demon left, he suddenly felt empty and restless, as if his soul had become incomplete.
"Damn it, where could we go? Why didn't you even say goodbye?" Long Chen looked at the empty Qiankun Cauldron and murmured to himself.
But the Qiankun Cauldron was silent. Perhaps only it knew where the inner demon had gone. Unfortunately, it did not tell Long Chen; it seemed like a weapon devoid of emotion, always cold and indifferent.
After a long time, Long Chen finally suppressed his disappointment. The disappearance of his inner demon had become a reality, but he believed that one day he would come to find him.
Without him, the inner demon is incomplete; likewise, without the inner demon, Long Chen is incomplete as well. There must ultimately be a real showdown between the two.
What he needed to do now was to work hard to improve himself, not to be defeated by his inner demons in the future, and to reclaim them.
Thinking of this, Long Chen suppressed his restless emotions, kept himself calm, and began refining pills with the Qiankun Cauldron.
When Long Chen sent the flames into the Qiankun Cauldron, he found that the cauldron showed no reaction at all. The pill fire burned for nearly half an hour, and the cauldron remained icy cold.
"Alright, it seems it's still early to refine pills. We need to use flames first to activate the runes of the Qiankun Cauldron." Long Chen immediately realized the key point.
The Qiankun Cauldron was in deep sleep and couldn't cooperate with Long Chen in pill refining. To activate its alchemy ability, one first needed to activate its alchemy runes.
To activate these runes, one must nurture the Qiankun Cauldron with the power of fire for a long time. Once the runes absorb enough firepower, they can be activated. Only after these runes are activated can they be used as the alchemy cauldron.
As the inheritor of the Dan Emperor's memories, Long Chen naturally knew this step, but with Huo Ling'er's current strength and his powerful soul, activating runes with a domain artifact-level alchemy furnace would be a matter of the blink of an eye.
But the Qiankun Cauldron had already been warm for nearly half an hour. Forget about activating runes—it even felt icy cold to the touch. How could he possibly refine a hair? It seemed there wouldn't be many days left before activating it.
As for the heater, Long Chen left it to Huo Ling'er to handle. Anyway, he wasn't in a hurry now. To avoid worrying about his inner demons and to help himself relax, Long Chen either sat at the bow with Yu Qingxuan enjoying the scenery or drank with Guo Ran and the others every day. This time, crossing the Tianhe River was like a trip.
With the ghost ship, the journey across the Milky Way was smooth and unobstructed. No matter what level of sea demon they were, they would run far away when they saw the ghost ship. It could be said that here it was as safe as possible.
However, the Dragonblood Warriors were exceptionally diligent. Apart from drinking with Long Chen, they spent most of their time cultivating, often sparring and proofreading their skills.
Especially since they had eaten Long Chen's Dual Polar Heavenly Dao Fruit, both were Dual Extreme Supremes. When they wielded the power of the Dual Extremes, they still seemed awkward. Fully mastering new power was not something that could be achieved in just a day or two.
They explored and merged in battle, while also honing their mutual understanding. The reason the Dragonblood Legion could fight alongside Long Chen was, on one hand, because of their individual strength.
More importantly, they can complement each other's weaknesses, concentrating all their strength to the fullest extent, and through this formation, unleash terrifying explosive power.
They also knew they were just mortals. The reason they had reached where they are today was not only due to Long Chen's support but also because of collective strength. They knew that without the Dragon Blood Legion, they would be worthless.
Now, as the first batch of Dragonblood Warriors assembled, they must shoulder even more responsibilities. In the future, they will guide more Dragonblood Warriors, help them integrate, regain their former chemistry, and quickly turn the Dragonblood Legion into a united unit.
When all the Dragonblood warriors gathered and their power converged, even when facing a Celestial Venerable, they were fearless.
During this period, Yu Qingxuan hadn't been idle either. She personally refined Immortal King Pills for everyone, and the pills Yu Qingxuan refined were of much higher grade than Long Chen's.
Although Long Chen possessed the Pill Emperor inheritance, he simply didn't have time to refine pills himself. Most pills were left to Huo Ling'er to refine. The art of alchemy was a matter of use and dismissal, but Long Chen truly didn't have that much time and had no other choice.
Yu Qingxuan was different. She was passionate about alchemy and had a persistent pursuit of the path of alchemy; otherwise, she wouldn't have refined, a supreme golden pill, at such a young age and caused a sensation throughout the world.
If Long Chen had also devoted himself to alchemy, his achievements would naturally not have been left behind by Yu Qingxuan. But he had too many things to do, and his energy was scattered, so he couldn't be as focused as Yu Qingxuan.
Additionally, Yu Qingxuan's life flame is the Rainbow Rainbow Flame, pure source power, while Long Chen's flame combines various flames. Although its destructive power is astonishing, refining pills feels broad but not refined, mixed but lacking substance, and not as focused as Yu Qingxuan.
Yu Qingxuan had been refining the Immortal King Pill all along, giving part to Guo Ran and the others, and keeping the vast majority for Long Chen, because Long Chen had told her that when he advanced, he needed a huge amount of pills.
Time passed bit by bit. After half a month, runes finally lit up on the Qiankun Cauldron. Long Chen immediately became excited:
"I can finally refine pills now. Let's see what level the pills produced by the Chaos Divine Artifact will be."