Feng Yingyue had to admit that Xue Gulin was extremely beautiful. And he was also rather talented, not as much as she was, but he was in the top five students among the 5-star Earth alchemists of the institute. Unfortunately, his character was as poor as he was otherwise gifted. Feng Yingyue would have loved to never see his face or hear his voice ever again. Even though he knew that she already had a Dao companion, he still pursued her.

"Fairy Feng. What a nice surprise to meet you here!" Xue Gulin bowed elegantly while jealous women stared at the poor Feng Yingyue who wanted none of this.

"What surprise?! We're all waiting here to observe the pill refinement. Brother Xue, I wish to stay alone to calm my state of mind. Please leave me."

"Of course, Fairy Feng. It's crucial that we're all at our best. Such an event hardly ever happens, even in a thousand year. However, I may have something of interest to you." Xue Gulin was not demoralized and took out a small box. It was clearly expensive as it was made of jade and engraved with gold and silver.

"I don't need any exterior help. Take whatever you prepared for me and gift it to someone who cares." Feng Yingyue had tried to be polite at first. But the more Xue Gulin sent her unrequited gifts, the harsher her words had become. Now, she couldn't see him without wanting to berate him.

Strangely, Xue Gulin got even more attracted to her the more she resisted him. He had had many women before, despite his age. Indeed, his father was the governor of the Heinu Province. It was a rather large province near the Wu Province. With such an influential father, he had been spoiled a bit too much and had gone after many women, including some servants. When he had turned out to be a talented alchemist, Xue Gulin had literally lost himself in luxury. With such an occupation, he could become even richer than his own father. Succeeding him would become a breeze as none of his other siblings showed any talent for alchemy. Xue Gulin could even imagine becoming close with the Emperor himself.

He had great ambitions. But in the end, he only wished to be drown in luxury and women. Not even the institute's teachers could change his inclinations. It was easier to change mountains and rivers than to alter one's character.

"Fairy Feng, I swear you'll like it. This isn't just some external help." As he opened the box, a deep fragrance spread through the courtyard. The box contained a transparent pill, so pure that it was almost invisible. Its fragrance was extremely sweet and made everyone want to taste it.

"This is a Transparent Celestial Key pill." Xue Gulin was proud when he saw all the disciples around him envious of such a gift. This pill was excessively rare. It was a 3-star Heaven pill that could allow a cultivator to open all his acupoints in a matter of weeks. As such, an 8th-grade Mortal cultivator could reach the Mortal Warrior realm in two or three months instead of two or three years. It would also accelerate the first levels of the Mortal Warrior realm. This pill was very rare and required expensive materials. Xue Gulin had spent more than half of his money on this, but he knew that he could conquer Feng Yingyue with such a gift.

"Stop calling me 'Fairy'. And take back your toy! I don't need anything from you, Brother Xue. If I wanted a pill, couldn't I just ask my master?"

Just as she was destroying the hopes of Xue Gulin, Song Guixiang came along. He went behind Xue Gulin and tapped his shoulder as though he was trying to comfort him.

"Brother Xue, do not despair. You're still quite charming. But Sister Feng only cares for her Chen Guo." On those words, Feng Yingyue became red and glared at the plump man.

"Brother! Stop spouting nonsense in public, or I'll have master punish you!"

Seeing the flustered Feng Yingyue, Xue Gulin's heart dropped down. So, there was a man who could move her... And it wasn't him!

"Brother Xue. If you give me this pill, I'm sure I can find you some ladies you'll fancy even more than my cold sister. What do you say?"

Sensing Song Guixiang's coveting eyes, Xue Gulin closed the box. "Thank you, Brother Song. But I don't need your help in that domain."

As they were talking in front of the door of the Calamity Wing, it opened. Several deans were coming out. Apart from Director Ge Ling, the deans were the primary authority of the institute. Five of them were here. All the students became serious and checked their posture. In unison, they bowed.

"This student pays respects to the deans!"

The dean who seemed in charge was an old woman with a bent back.

"Good, you're all here. We have no time to waste, come with me and don't make a sound. If anyone disturbs the refinement process, exclusion from our Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute will be a light punishment."

"This student understands!"

From this moment onwards, no one, not even Song Guixiang, would dare to breathe too loud. They all knew that refining a 5-star Heaven pill was already difficult. Thus, attempting to forge a 1-star Spirit pill, which no one had succeeded in doing since the Seven Treaties Era, was as hard as reaching the heaven.

-

In the actual Calamity Wing, there was a splendid garden and several pavilions. The deans lead the students toward the innermost pavilion. It was a squared building in the heart of the garden. Inside, there were already around thirty people. Among them, Xiao Xuefeng was meditating in a remote corner of the pavilion. Even Director Ge Ling was there to supervise everything. There was also an old man whom no one recognized, he was Chief Elder Suxian. As a 5-star Heaven array formation master, he was leading the few array formation masters from the institute. They had worked the entire week to set up several array formations all around the pavilion. Finally, Hua Fenfei was organizing all the other experts around a giant cauldron.

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This was the Thirteen Celestial Pyre. This cauldron was ten times bigger than any Feng Yingyue had ever seen before in her life. Even students from rich families such as Xue Gulin, never imagined that cauldrons this big were ever a thing. It was made from Celestial Inborn Bronze, a metal that was said to have come from the skies even during the Legendary Era. It was able to absorb Qi and increased the ability of people to control it within. It was great to forge a weapon, but even more perfect for an alchemical cauldron. With her spiritual senses, it allowed Xiao Xuefeng to manage every little detail inside the cauldron.

Under the cauldron itself, instead of three feet, there was a pair of talons holding it. They looked as though a gigantic bird was trying to steal the cauldron away. No one here was able to recognize the beast from the appearance of these talons alone. Indeed, it was a legendary beast called a Thirteen Calamities Vulture. This beast had allegedly been slain by Emperor Nuwa herself. The legends were not very clear, but it was said to be a 3-pearl immortal beast. To be honest, even the deans and the director were not entirely sure of what it meant. However, it was clearly way stronger than even a 9-core demonic beast.

Around the cauldron, many treasures had been arranged to form several array formations, as well as some engravings on the ground, and even a few flags, just to be safe. Finally, near the cauldron, a small table had been set up with several ingredients. The students could not recognize all of them, but each one they did recognize was shocking them. It was no wonder that this kind of refinement was rare. Thankfully, the deans had warned them beforehand or they could have gasped and ruined everyone's concentration.

-

Xiao Xuefeng was finally ready. She stood up and walked toward the Thirteen Celestial Pyre without saying anything. As soon as she sat down, all the other alchemists took their own seat. So as to not disturb her state of mind, Xiao Xuefeng was using telepathy to send orders to Hua Fenfei. She was then tasked with synchronizing the twenty other alchemists who would assist her sister. Xiao Xuefeng had the best spiritual senses and Hua Fenfei was the best alchemist. Besides them, Director Ge Ling was here to overview the process with an exterior eye.

The alchemists produced several hand signs and the ground opened a little under the cauldron. It was the strongest furnace in all the Hongchen Kingdom, the Core Earthly Life. This was directly connected to the fire deep within the Piaolu planet itself. No one had ever been able to measure its depth, but the texts claimed that it was ten thousand li deep. It was impossible to know whether it was literal or a figure of speech. However, even Xiao Xuefeng could not send her spiritual senses very deep within. The heat was so intense that spiritual senses themselves would burn.

There was an array formation dating from the Seven Treaties Era to control the heat, simply named the Core Earthly Life Master. Its precision was diabolical. And no one today was able to reproduce either the Thirteen Celestial Pyre, the Core Earthly Life or its master array formation. However, many grand experts had come here to study it and all had gained some new understandings in their field of expertise.

Finally, the refinement process would begin.

-

The Life Boiling Cradle pill was a pill that was extremely Yin within and almost pure Yang outside. It was also rich in both Water and Metal elements. The Metal element was perfect to supplement the Water element. However, you needed a lot of Fire element to melt and refine the Metal element. And this Fire element could easily clash with the Water element. This pill was a subtle balance of many things, and a good understanding of the Five Golden Elixir Principles was not enough. You also needed many of the Minor Principles of Silver. For example, you needed to understand 'Flying a Needle in the Furnace', a principle dedicated to the use of Metal and Fire element together.

Apart from the burning sound of the Core Earthly Life, it was impossible to hear anything. All the students were even breathing with less noise, almost holding their breath for some of them.

A 9-core floated in the air. It was a mix of reddish green and gray. This came from a Verdant Immortal Ox and as the demonic beast it originated from, it was rich in Wood and Earth elements. Very delicately, it flew inside the cauldron and began to melt as soon as the heat attacked it. Xiao Xuefeng coated it with many layers of Qi to slow down the melting process. At the same time, she poured small pellets of a golden metal, the Golden Unearthed Silk. Its Earth element was soothing for the 9-core and its Metal element was slowly taking over as it was melting as well and mixing with the 9-core.

When the metal was entirely melted, the 9-core was halfway gone. As the other alchemists sent their Qi in the fire to control the melting process and mixing both substances in a uniform golden mixture, Xiao Xuefeng focused on the next step. She slowly let go of the 9-core that melted even faster.

A viscous liquid floated in the air with a shining silver color. This was the liquefied marrow from a Silver Claws Imperial Tiger, another 9-core demonic beast. Very similar to a metal, it mixed easily with the mixture already in the cauldron. But the alchemists around had to control their flames to match the various disparities in elements everywhere. The three substances had to be perfectly mixed together. Xiao Xuefeng went as slowly as possible to allow them enough time. However, she couldn't go too slowly or the medicinal essence would be lost. They had already failed on this process once already.

As the mixture got formed, it was time to quench the metal with Water element. A white nectar poured from the sky, it was Starry Boiled Milk. Each drop of this nectar caused a powerful smoke to rise. The alchemists closed the cauldron and Xiao Xuefeng controlled the flow of smoke inside the cauldron. She had to keep everything in but the smoke could not touch the Starry Boiled Milk or it would corrupt its nature.

Once the nectar poured entirely, Xiao Xuefeng slowly put several pieces of Eternal Purifying Ginseng, a root able to absorb many impurities from a metal. They were almost like sponges sucking in the unwanted toxins. However, she had to control it so that it didn't absorb any medicinal essence. And she had to coordinate with the alchemists who were sending different flames to where those pieces of root were, according to the impurities they wanted to get rid of. They had also failed on this process once before.

Now that the mixture was pure enough, Xiao Xuefeng added the Nine Acres Storm's Rage Drop, a water with the nature of a worldly storm in it. As soon as it entered the cauldron, a powerful whirlpool formed inside and she had to use all her strength to keep the cauldron from opening or moving. The alchemists had to synchronize their flames with this raging movement inside. It would further intensify the melting now that the metals were pure.

There was one last metal to add to the mix, the most essential to reform a Dantian, the Eight Thousand Dan Mercury. As the name suggested, this was a very heavy metal. A 9th-grade Mortal could only, and barely, hold a single pellet of it. Yet, Xiao Xuefeng had to manipulate an entire ingot of it, almost a hundred times heavier, and only with her mind.

This was the metal which took the longest to melt among all the other ingredients. But it was absolutely essential to the pill. The Lower Dantian was literally called the Cinnabar Fields. And cinnabar was formed from mercury. It was the metal that would constitute the basis of the new Lower Dantian for Huang Cixi. Without it, the pill would be useless.

The alchemists had already failed once when it came to melting it and mixing it with the rest of the mixture. In total, they had thus failed three times already. And they only had enough materials for four refinements. This was their ultimate attempt. If they failed now, the pill would never be a success.