Seph was projecting heat into the furnace after his mentor told him to add the Carrion Yin-centipedes and Yin-infused bark inside the furnace first.

His mentor had told him they had all the ingredients to make a yin cultivation pill, which would replenish his energy to some extent, so that he can cultivate again after running out of energy after getting to Body Dismantling (III).

It was the perfect pill for the current stage he was at, while the limit to taking the attribute-raising pills was five of each, and the limit for the yin cultivation pills was ten.

Sun was busy doing his own cultivation. Seph had his eyes open. He could see that the monkey was in distress, but he didn’t know what was wrong with him. He hoped everything was okay and resolved to check on him later.

The young cultivator was projecting maximum heat, and he was pondering the heat. How it’s important to make these body-enhancing pills, and pills that can get humans to the same level as the goddess or at least close enough.

Cultivation wouldn’t be there without using pills. People wouldn’t be able to transcend to the same level as the goddess or the heaven’s host without alchemy.

Given he was a mortal three months ago, it’s astounding he could project such high levels of heat.

He wanted to be the best alchemist there is, in his era, and the only way to do it was by mastering the heat he was projecting.

He thought no house can survive the winter without fire, and no gathering would remain warm without it either.

Fire helped people survive and tame the wilderness to their will, and it also brought people together.

Fire was also the heart of the blacksmith’s job, pondering that he could almost hear their village’s blacksmith hammering away on hot pieces of iron, shaping them to his needs.

He had no issue maintaining the level of heat he was projecting while he pondered. Heat, fire, alchemy, blacksmithing, they were all on his mind.

He pondered the heat within himself that made it possible for him to even project this heat, and searched for its source from within his body.

Finally, he found it in his stomach, the center of his body. He didn’t know what made this energy come from there, but he knew it made him more familiar with fire, and more able to harness it and use it for his benefit.

At that moment, something he didn’t understand happened. It was like he got transported to another place entirely in the sky, where he saw a great orange furnace, as big as an entire planet; he knew because he saw other planets beside it, some bigger and some smaller. He didn’t know how big it was compared to their own planet, especially since he had never seen it in full size before.

In the background, there was a great black sky littered with stars. One of these stars was very close. It was the sun of that system, but he could feel the furnace was projecting more heat than that star.

The furnace had been working by itself. Without the intervention of a human, or a god, he could feel it had been working for a long, long time.

Making a pill. What was this pill for? Who ordered this pill to be made? Or who was making it? He didn’t know the answer to any of those questions.

He was looking from very far away, but he could feel the immense heat of this furnace, and he could feel the amazing powers of the pill it’s making.

If he could just have a taste of that pill, it would set him for life. It would make him more powerful than anyone on Earth.

But he couldn’t touch it or taste it. It was forever out of his reach.

Seph didn’t know what was happening. He couldn’t even feel his own body. It was like he was a floating spirit, transported through space and time. He knew this was an opportunity, so he focused on the heat that was making this cosmic furnace work.

It was pure; it was so pure that he felt if he could project something that had a taste of this, he would be the greatest alchemist in history.

He tried to mimic that heat; he tried to project it by himself, and he could feel himself succeeding to a very miniscule extent.

He could feel something forming inside his stomach, a small seed, a small piece of pure fire. It wasn’t as pure as the heat that operated the great furnace, but it was more than anything he could project so far.

The seed of fire floated there. At first, it fought with the energies inside his body, but then it settled down.

Did it tame the energies of his body? Did the energies of his body tame it?

He didn’t know, but he knew he had gained a significant advantage that would help him in his cultivation.

“By the emperor’s holy beard! You just made a dao advancement, didn’t you?” Zhi said in absolute amazement.

Seph was coming down from his all-time high, and answered his mentor quietly, as he was groggy from the trip.

“It seems so master, I didn’t know what it was, but you said it’s a Dao advancement, then it must be that.”

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“Great tides, my pupil. Which Dao did you gain an insight into?”

Seph hesitated, but said, “I think it’s a seed of fire or something. I’m not sure.”

“Don’t you have that skill that shows you your own prowess? Check out what Dao seed you got, and what effect it gave you,” Zhi said excitedly.

Seph checked his status screen and found a new part about Dao insights. He expanded it.

Dao Insights

Seed of Fire/Early Stage: Increase the chance of high and peak crafts by 5% while decreasing the chance of mid and low crafts by 5%.

“Oh, so it’s a seed of fire. It seems I’ve got an insight into crafting!”

“Splendid, that means now you are a much better alchemist, heavens! Much better at any craft you decide to try your hand on.” Zhi was showing genuine glee about the success of his pupil.

“Yes, teacher, now I need to finish this pill,” Seph said, focusing back on his task, but he found a pill had already congealed inside his furnace.

“Master, it looks like a pill has already congealed inside the furnace,” Seph asked in wonder.

“Oh, then it must have gotten spoiled; your energy went wild when you were having the Dao vision. It went wild in a good way, though; you projected very pure energy, but regardless, it spoiled the pill, you probably made a lesser one.”

Seph took out the pill from the furnace and examined it with his eye.

Appraising…

Name: Lesser Yin Cultivation Pill.

Type: Pill.

Quality: Basic.

Effect: Consume to get 10% yin energy.

“True, teacher, it’s indeed a lesser pill. I thought the entire process would get spoiled.”

Zhi said in his teaching voice, which sounded a little arrogant, “Lesser pills are how we find every single alchemical formula, basically what an alchemist does is, mix two herbs together; if the outcome isn’t a pill, they move on to mix two different herbs, but if the outcome is a lesser pill, then now you know that to make a complete pill, you need those two herbs with two more, repeating this process over and over while wasteful, helps an alchemist eventually know what a complete pill formula needs, and can finally start making it and selling it to make up for all the losses.” The alchemist was explaining all this excitedly, probably reliving his days as a new alchemist while telling his pupil the process, then he continued, “A new alchemist would usually start with a formula they’ve learned from somewhere, but after that, they use the royalties earned from selling their single formula to expand their repertoire, it’s the most satisfying process ever, to a real alchemist at least, because lousy ones get disheartened and never end up working long enough to gain more formulae and making their dream as an alchemist come true.”

“Fascinating teacher. Maybe I have a future in this alchemy thing, if adventuring doesn’t pan out.” Seph joked, but with a hint of truth in his words.

“Your future is your own to plan and map out. I’m just here as an advisor for the time being. I imagine you won’t stay in this room forever,” Zhi said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

“No, I must move on after the last garden, but I’ll try to take you with me, teacher. There must be a way.” Seph already knew his teacher was bound to the furnace, but his teacher didn’t know that.

“REALLY!” Zhi shouted in excitement, but then got control of his emotions. “I mean, really? Having to teach you and not read would be inconvenient, but I don’t think I’ll mind it too much. Some company wouldn’t be too bad.” Zhi tried his best to feign annoyance, but he was failing miserably.

“We will see, teacher, we will see. Now let’s return to making that pill.”

Seph put the Yin-infused ebony bark with the carrion yin-centipedes, and projected the heat into the furnace again, maximum heat, as his teacher had told him to do the first time. The mix was tough, but he kept projecting that heat, making it softer, and removing impurities a little at a time.

One hour later, he could feel that the mix had lost most of the impurities that the two ingredients had. He then added the third ingredient to the death-attuned mushrooms and projected mid-level heat for another hour.

The impurities kept getting cleansed bit by bit, and by the end of the hour, the mix was ready for the last ingredient, the death eater grass; he kept the heat at mid-level, as per and another hour later, the mix had finally congealed into the pill he’s been working on for four hours to get.

He checked the pill with the eye of the appraiser.

Appraising…

Name: High Grade Yin Cultivation Pill.

Type: Pill.

Quality: Uncommon.

Effect: Consume to get 50% to 70% yin energy.

After that, Seph continued making pills, and he got another high-grade pill, followed by a peak-grade pill, then a mid-grade pill, and finally he was tired again and got a low-grade pill, because he wasn’t paying enough attention.

“Now, with these pills, you can reach Body Dismantling (IV). I recommend you take the two high-grade pills to gain enough energy to get to the next level, but do it after you have had some rest. It wouldn’t do you good to cultivate right now.”

“Thanks, teacher, I will. I need to check on Sun first.”

Seph headed over to where Sun was cultivating. The look of distress was still on his face.

“Buddy, are you alright?” Seph asked with a concerned tone.

The monkey jumped, scared of his master’s voice, which he didn’t expect while cultivating.

After seeing who was talking to him, he relaxed a little and then looked at the ground, sadness filling his face.

“What’s up, buddy? What’s wrong? Try to tell me, I’ll do all I can to help you.”

The monkey shook his head, looking at the ground, sadness overcoming his entire being, then he looked at his master, and put on a fake, wide-toothed grin, shaking his head that nothing was wrong.

“Come on, you can tell me anything. We’re friends, right?” Seph was worried sick about his companion. He didn’t know what to do. He had no clue what the problem was. Seph definitely didn’t know that the issue had to do with his cultivation.

Sun got a hold of his emotions, not feeling that his master could help him with his cultivation, since they cultivated different paths.

He shook off the negative feelings, and jumped onto his master’s shoulder, and patted him on the head, and then pointed towards the makeshift bed they were sleeping on, so that they could go to sleep.

Seph didn’t want to push the issue right now, and he smiled at his friend; and they both went to sleep.