Battle Frenzy

Wang Zhong’s thoughts submerged and automatically adjusted themselves within minutes. The operation of his spiritual power started to accelerate and even spiral, bringing about greater effects at lower consumption. This activated the runic array.After some slight adjustments, Wang Zhong immediately felt that he could clearly sense the process of his fire abilities growing stronger. Furthermore, this image was extremely realistic, as if he was using his eyes to see the process. Based on the speed and the strength at which his spiritual power operated, the strength of the fire also changed. He used his heart to control the fire, and there was no sign of stagnation at all. They had simply become one entity.

Beside him, Nini watched with great delight and shock. Lao Wang was subconsciously getting used to this. Perhaps he did not feel that this was impressive, but Nini knew!

Controlling fire was one of the most important steps in pill refinery. The delay that occurred in the transmission through the runic array — as well as the wastage and confusion in one’s senses due to the complex runic array routes — was an obstacle that troubled a large majority of alchemists. For example, they knew that they had to immediately lower the temperature of the pill furnace, but due to the slow transmission and wastage of their spiritual power, they would usually be half a beat late. Even if they used their experience to make up for this in other areas and refine a pill, they would only be of a normal standard at best.

Only very few genius alchemists who had extremely powerful control and sensing talents, as well as rich experiences, were able to control fire at will this easily. However, what was her master? This was his first time refining pills, his first time using the pill furnace, and his first time lighting the furnace fire. And he had only spent a few minutes before reaching this stage?!

Nini felt that using the word “genius” as a description was too humble. This was simply a miracle!

Her previous owner had asked her to accompany him for pill refinery and even prepared 20 portions of ingredients for the Vitality Supplement Pill. Nini had even made sufficient mental preparations. Even though Nini had provided guidance and assistance, it had been decent and lucky for him to produce a batch of Vitality Supplement Pills from 20 portions during his first time. Thus, Nini had the mentality that she was playing catch with her current master. After all, he was learning pill refinery and definitely needed a joyous start, which would form the foundation of his confidence in the future. She would not allow him to be covered in dust and become dejected from this blow. Whether he formed the pill or not did not matter. However, from Wang Zhong’s performance, Nini became serious.

Since her master had such good natural endowments in pill refinery, Nini would definitely help her master to become the greatest alchemist! If he was able to succeed on his first try in pill refinery and using the pill furnace, this would definitely establish an extremely strong confidence for alchemy. This confidence was much more valuable than any experience and knowledge!

“Master, don’t be anxious. The pill furnace has not completely dispersed its heat. This is an Abstruse Ice Copper Pill Furnace that heats up very slowly.” Nini also got into the zone very quickly. Elemental spirits could be called the best messengers not just because they could act cute. They were definitely not careless when they were supposed to work. At that moment, while Nini watched Wang Zhong prepare to lift the lid of the pill furnace, she reminded him at the side, “The fire shouldn’t be too big at first. You can let it burn for a while longer.”

Wang Zhong knew this intuitively. In reality, he could also sense that the top of the pill furnace had not heated up. However, he lacked experience and did not think that this was a big matter.

At that moment, he listened to Nini’s suggestion and used his spiritual power to control the fire. He sensed that the Fire Quartz was at one-third of its full energy and stabilized the degree of heat.

The pill furnace gradually grew hotter. Even though the outside of this Abstruse Ice Copper Pill Furnace was still as cool as before, Wang Zhong, whose spiritual consciousness was connected to the pill furnace, could sense the change in temperature within it. Even the inner lid of the pill furnace was turned bright red.

It was done!

“Master, you can open the cauldron and arrange the medicines!”

Nini’s judgment was exactly the same as Wang Zhong’s.

“Master, Master, you need to use a trick to open the cauldron. If you allow your spiritual power to seep through, you can loosen the layer of adhesive along the edges of the cauldron. Once you rotate it slightly, you can easily lift the lid up. Your movements must be slow, and don’t use too much strength. Once you have controlled it, you will have the greatest assurance that the inside of the furnace is stable, and nothing will leak out even if it is opened. If you forcefully pull it open, the high temperatures and the massive atmospheric pressure inside will cause an explosion. Not only will you simply destroy the pressure of the fire and the medicinal ingredients inside, but an exploding furnace is also very dangerous,” Nini said.

She had reminded him of the details again. Although the details were simple, they were found everywhere. Lao Wang, who had been prepared to use brute force, was sweating profusely. He had even thought that pulling the furnace by force was violent but beautiful. If it were not for Nini’s reminder, the furnace might have exploded before he could even arrange the ingredients.

At that moment, his left hand still held onto the handle of the furnace to sense the changes inside the pill furnace. Meanwhile, he pressed his right hand against the lid of the furnace and channeled his spiritual power inside. As expected, he felt the tightly sealed adhesive along the sides become slightly softer. He cautiously rotated the lid to the left, as if he was opening a full can of water. The lid was opened very gently, and it did not seem to have affected the peaceful surface of the water!

As a small gap appeared in the pill cauldron, an extremely powerful ray of light was emitted from inside and was extremely dazzling. Even though Wang Zhong was prepared, he could not help but squint. However, he could not seem to sense the high temperatures inside. Just like what Nini had said, the standard and correct way of opening the cauldron would ensure that the pressure inside the furnace maintained equilibrium. Basically, the action of opening the cauldron was so light that the “high temperature and pressure” inside did not sense anything. Thus, it would maintain the same state as when it was closed.

However, this was a very short process.

It was time to arrange the ingredients!

This time, Nini did not remind him. She was afraid that small sound waves would disrupt or shock the equilibrium and pressure within the pill furnace. Lao Wang was sharp-eyed and deft-handed. He grabbed the first portion of medicinal ingredients that he had prepared, which included the five main ingredients and six supplementary ingredients that would form the foundation of the Vitality Supplement Pill. He flipped his wrist and threw all of them inside.

There was a particular way to arrange the medicinal ingredients. Firstly, he had to act quickly. If he was slow by half a bit and allowed a tiny amount of the high temperature and pressure inside to leak out, there would not be enough heat within the pill furnace. There would be flaws in the pill, and he would not be able to achieve perfection. Other than that, the order and position in which the ingredients were arranged were also important. Even throwing the ingredients into the furnace required a certain technique. It was best to have the five main ingredients gathered in the center, while the six supplementary ingredients were scattered in all directions. If the positions of the ingredients were inappropriate and incorrect, or if there were problems with the order, the final pill would be affected.

Lao Wang had practiced this action back at the mushroom house many times and was extremely skilled at this. Wrist techniques and nimble actions were extremely difficult to ordinary practitioners in the divine territory, who were crude and particular about power. However, to Lao Wang, these were his forte. It looked like he had grabbed the ingredients and casually thrown them in, but the 11 ingredients were dispersed appropriately, causing Nini’s eyes to light up. Was this really Master’s first time refining pills?

The medicinal ingredients had entered the furnace. Wang Zhong conveniently used his right hand to press on the furnace. Pa! The lid of the cauldron immediately closed.

Everything before this had been extremely successful. However, some problems eventually occurred at this step.

It seemed like he had used too much power to press down the lid of the cauldron, and his actions were too stiff. He could sense that the high temperature and pressure within the pill furnace seemed to have been shocked by this explosive noise and was in slight chaos. Furthermore, the medicinal ingredients that had just been arranged were affected and were no longer as neatly arranged in the cauldron as before. After that, a slight change affected everything else.

Once the balanced pressure lost equilibrium, there would be deviations in the temperature of the furnace. The left of the furnace became hotter, while the right side cooled down. This destruction was a vicious cycle. A small mistake that was not conspicuous, a small delay, or slightly slow reactions would immediately turn into mistakes that could not be repaired. This was also one of the main reasons why pill refinery was so difficult.

It seemed like the equilibrium inside the pill furnace was about to be broken very quickly.

Beside him, Nini was so anxious that she flew around in a frenzy. “Master, Master. Use the earth hole to release some pressure from the left side of the pill furnace. Then, increase the heat to replenish the heat in the furnace.”

As expected of an expert in assisting with pill refinery. She had rich experience in dealing with these basic problems, and her reactions were very quick. Wang Zhong also hurriedly dealt with the problem according to what she had said and unplugged one of the earth holes, causing a wave of terrifying heat to surge out. It was extremely hot, and even Nini, who was two meters away, was unable to dodge in time. However, Wang Zhong still had to stand there and sense the equilibrium inside before using the stopper to plug the hole at the appropriate time. Luckily, the divine cells in his body were extremely powerful, and his resistance to fire was very high. Thus, he could endure high temperatures, but large blisters appeared on his left hand due to the wave of heat.

Beside him, Nini waved her small hand, and a rain of sweet dew fell from thin air onto Wang Zhong’s injured hand. The hot surface immediately cooled down. Furthermore, this dew contained astonishing healing properties. Combined with the recovery abilities of his divine cells, the large blisters on the surface of his skin rapidly disappeared, and his skin returned to normal.

These water healing abilities were impressive, and the recovery abilities of his divine cells were extremely powerful. However, both Wang Zhong and Nini were unable to praise each other’s abilities. One provided healing properties, while the other had recovery abilities. It was as if they had an innate affinity with each other that was extremely natural. In an instant, the both of them focused their attention elsewhere.

The chaos inside the pill furnace subsided slightly, but this drastic operation only managed to stabilize the situation. The loss of balance inside the furnace still existed. At this moment, the alchemist’s skills in controlling the fire were being tested.

At his side, Nini observed the intensity of the light from the 27 empty holes and used them as reference as she continually gave suggestions. Wang Zhong immediately calmed his thoughts and used his spiritual consciousness, while holding the handles of the furnace, to sense the changes in the temperature and pressure inside the pill furnace. This was much clearer and more direct than when Nini used her eyes to look at the empty holes. At the same time, he controlled the fire and continued to adjust the temperature slightly.

After busying about for over ten minutes, the chaos that had broken out inside the pill furnace because of a small mistake finally subsided and returned to normal.

Lao Wang could not help but wipe his sweat at this moment. Even though he thought that he was well-prepared and had Nini at the side to guide him, this was just the beginning, but he had already made a mistake. Furthermore, such a small mistake had resulted in such heavy destruction. Lao Wang felt that this was much more interesting. As expected, pill refinery was not something that an ordinary person could do.

In particular, in terms of controlling fire, he could only control the fire at will when under peaceful conditions like at the beginning. However, once the equilibrium within the furnace was lost, every small change would make it difficult to determine the state of the fire. It was easy to control the size of the fire, but if the fire went to the west and not east as you wanted, the heating of the furnace would be uneven. Just now, Lao Wang had spent over ten minutes restoring the equilibrium to the furnace because he did not know what to do when faced with a furnace fire that refused to listen to him. If he was a true expert at controlling fire, he would be familiar with thousands of different fires, as well as all the changes in different furnaces and runes, in order to target the problem at its source. They would be able to finish adjusting the fire in just over ten seconds.

Lao Wang was also sentimental as he had been a bit too confident. Just as Elder Yimo had said, one’s pill studies were ever-changing and never-ending. Even many top pill experts did not dare to say that they had reached the limit of any aspect. For example, in terms of controlling the fire, one could not stop at controlling the fire at will in a peaceful furnace.

Pill refinery emphasized one’s realm, while combat cultivation emphasized one’s actions. When refining low-leveled pills, everyone had their own strong points, and one could not tell who was good. However, when one refined high-leveled pills, actions took the backseat as one’s realm was most important.

After making such a big mistake earlier, he did not need to think about making this batch a perfect batch of pills. He would see whether he could still form pills.

Lao Wang awakened his spirit and pushed the failure to the back of his mind. He had to be cautious.

To many people, pill refinery was a dry process. In general, all the actions were very simple. As long as one was experienced, the process only involved controlling the fire, opening the cauldron, arranging the medicinal ingredients, as well as dealing with changes. Even though this involved many changes and gaps, one would slowly build up one’s feel, fire controlling methods, and experience through thousands of trials. Even the most impressive geniuses only understood and started quickly. However, if they wanted to obtain results overnight and become a great master, it would simply be a fantastic tale.

Even though he was extremely cautious, he made several different mistakes throughout the process of refining in the span of four hours. However, Lao Wang’s interest was even greater. He could experience something very fulfilling from this. Not only could he experience pill refinery, he was also able to comprehend new things by extension. Different people see the same thing at different levels. This was among Lao Wang’s natural endowments and the endowments of humans.

Opening the furnace and arranging the ingredients were the easiest parts to make mistakes in. Lao Wang made mistakes four or five times and made a different mistake every time. If he closed the furnace too forcefully, he would shock the furnace fire, but if he was too gentle, he would be too slow, causing the furnace fire to leak out. When he diverted his attention to arrange the medicinal ingredients, this would affect the control of the furnace fire and the equilibrium inside the furnace. Every time he made a mistake, he would be busy adjusting for a long time. He paid a heavy price before “saving” this batch of pills.

Furthermore, there were also frequent problems with his senses towards the high temperature and pressure inside the pill furnace. When there were delays or errors in his judgments, these were all extremely small mistakes. He simply did not have enough experience. But if he did not immediately sense these mistakes, there would be a butterfly effect, turning these mistakes into a massive lurking danger inside the furnace.

Luckily, Lao Wang’s mentality was extremely stable and tough. He was able to calmly deal with any major change. Nini felt as if the four-hour refinery process had lasted for an entire day. She was extremely busy, and her heartbeat sped up. She felt as if she had encountered many close shaves. She finally saw the 27 empty holes shining at the same brightness after great difficulty. The inside of the pill furnace was auspicious and peaceful.

Nini felt as if these tribulations were about to come to an end. However, they were only going to end. What followed was the most important and most crucial step: pill refinery. When she looked at her master at the side, his peace and joy caused her to calm down slowly. Master… was too handsome!

Frankly speaking, Lao Wang did not refine pills just to become an alchemist. More importantly, he wanted to experience the feeling of accumulating his Core. He spread out his arms and grabbed the two handles of the pill furnace. Then, all the spiritual influence and senses throughout his body were immersed in the pill furnace.

The 11 medicinal ingredients that had been tossed into the pill furnace had all been refined and turned into waves of pure spiritual influence. They rotated inside the pill furnace in a regular manner, in line with the heat and pressure inside.

Wang Zhong attached his spiritual power to the runic array inside the pill furnace, guiding the rotating spiritual influence to accumulate in the center.

“Be gentle in your guidance. Take advantage of the opportunity and make it seem natural. Don’t allow the medicine to feel the effects of external forces.”

Nini’s voice continued to sound within Wang Zhong’s heart. The elemental spirits’ senses and mastery of pill refinery were definitely the best among all the messengers, and Nini was an expert among them. Other than language, her thoughts were the same as Wang Zhong’s. They sensed each other and guided each other. Thus, Wang Zhong was able to clearly feel the correct direction in which he should form the pill.

“This process emphasized most on naturalness. When celestial bodies accumulate, they rely on a natural centripetal force. It is the same for pills…”

At that moment, with the careful guidance and sensing from Nini, he sensed that the pills became extremely sensitive. A slight deviance in his control of spiritual power would immediately be sensed by the pills, and they naturally form a resistance against this. He had to continuously appease the pills, and even release his guidance in phases before the pills regained peace and became natural once again.

Forming pills was sacred and natural. It was not easily tainted or controlled by external forces. Lao Wang felt that this level of detail had completely surpassed the level at which his divine cells controlled his cells[a]. This was too detailed and intricate.

He was just refining a batch of level-9 pills…

After half an hour of innumerable trials and tribulations, as well as various nervous moments, he finally finished the entire process of refining a pill with the help of Nini’s senses towards pill refinery.

He could sense that all the changes within the pill furnace had stopped. The 27 empty holes no longer sparkled. Instead, they all emitted a dazzling and uniform ray of light, while a refreshing and sweet scent wafted from the empty holes and drifted throughout the pill house, causing him to feel carefree and happy.

“It’s formed!” Lao Wang was already sweating profusely, but this did not conceal the joy on his face.

“A successful completion! Hug, hug, hug, hug!” Nini screamed excitedly and fiercely charged at Lao Wang’s neck to rub against him in joy, making Lao Wang’s neck ticklish. He laughed out loud. “We can go crazy later. Let’s open the furnace and take out the pills!”

Wang Zhong pressed his hand against the furnace and channeled his spiritual power into the furnace, loosening the adhesive along the edges. Then, he turned the lid slightly and lifted it up.

Squelch…

The strong scent of pills wafted from the pill furnace into the surroundings. The white pill smoke continued to spread like a magic breath, filling the entire pill house from top to bottom. The smoke was extremely dense, making the entire house feel as if it had been immersed into an ocean in some wonderland.

Before Lao Wang could put down the lid of the cauldron, more than ten rays of light suddenly soared into the air.

Pills were all intelligent, even the worst level-9 pills. They were said to have been born from nature. In particular, their intelligence was highest the moment they were taken out from the furnace.

Wang Zhong was already prepared. When the light shot out from the pill furnace, he grabbed a jade container in another hand and swept past the air, collecting the light. Then, he hurriedly closed the container. He heard banging sounds that resembled beans jumping about. This was the sound of the pills jumping and hitting the jade container after they were taken out from the furnace and while they still retained their intelligence.

The jade box was not an ordinary item either as it contained an intelligence-retraining rune inside. After all, this was a level-9 pill and the first time Lao Wang had refined pills. Thus, the effects of the pill were ordinary. In the short span of three to five seconds, the weak intelligence that those pills contained disappeared completely under the effects of the rune.

[a]? his divine cells controlled their cells?