Chapter 650: Medicinal Pill Classification in the Great Thousand World
// 2 extra chapters brought to you thanks to the amazing folks who left reviews on the new story. A big shout out to RockyMasters, Chaos_Order8, Eternaldeity1027, Raj_Vatsal_5122, FroztDouluo, and LordOzzy.********
Under the prying eyes of countless observers, Xiao Ming had reached the most critical step of his alchemy process in the secluded courtyard.
Inside the fire cauldron, the dense spiritual liquid resembled pearls of various colors, similar to countless dazzling stars scattered across an endless galaxy.
"Condense!"
Xiao Ming shouted in a deep voice while forming extremely intricate hand seals. His hand movements were so swift they even left trails of afterimages. The surging Spiritual Strength spread out like tidal waves.
At the same time, countless streams of Spiritual Energy swept across the sky and wildly rushed into the cauldron. The violent Spiritual Energy engulfed droplet after droplet of the raging medicinal spiritual liquid before slamming into the golden liquid at its center.
Boom!
The collision of the numerous streams of spiritual liquid produced a loud noise, but it did not cause the cauldron to explode. Instead, a pinpoint of light emerged under Xiao Ming's meticulous control. The shape, trajectory, and merging method of each drop of spiritual liquid were controlled with the utmost precision, merging into one in a strange state without a single mistake.
The fusion of the medicinal liquid was complete. Xiao Ming's hand seals changed, and the Emperor Flame enveloped it once again.
The surging liquid energy within the cauldron rapidly dissolved under the embrace of the Emperor Flame. A speck of light gradually emerged at the center of this merging liquid energy.
This was the embryonic form of the medicinal pill!
At the instant the embryonic pill was formed, a hurricane-like surge of Spiritual Energy continuously converged towards the fire cauldron, even forming a mist-like swirl of Spiritual Energy. The light within the cauldron grew more intense, and the embryonic pill became increasingly solid.
An hour later, the swirl of Spiritual Energy within the courtyard abruptly halted and slowly dissipated. Instead, the fire cauldron began to emanate extremely terrifying fluctuations of Spiritual Energy.
Rumble!
Just as those fluctuations appeared, the clear sky above was instantly covered with dense, dark clouds, shrouding the entire market district and stretching endlessly outward, with no end in sight.
Black lightning that carried a destructive power quickly flashed through the clouds. The deep, rumbling of thunder left many in the market district with expressions of astonishment.
Such a terrifying Pill Lightning was something they had never seen in their lives.
Xiao Ming lifted his head, gazing at the densely covered sky with black lightning. With a sharp flick of his sleeve, the lid of the fire cauldron automatically flipped open. A pervasive medicinal fragrance quickly spread out, so intense that even the Spiritual Array set up by Qing Yanjing couldn't contain it. After all, her strength had not fully recovered, and the level of the Spiritual Array she had arranged was not particularly high.
Eventually, the medicinal fragrance condensed into various colored beads that densely rained down from the sky like a grand rain of pills!
This phenomenon caused many alchemists in the market district to feel their hearts fluttering uncontrollably!
Mo Qing also appeared on the street outside the secluded courtyard at some point. The rain of pills that fell on him made his heart cry out in astonishment. Such a pill rain was a rare phenomenon that only occurred after a high-level Grandmaster Alchemist successfully refined a pill!
Drip, drip.
Countless pill beads poured down from the sky, landing on the ground with a crisp sound like raindrops. Although these beads were not actual medicinal pills, they were condensed from pure energy and could have significant beneficial effects on the body if consumed.
Qing Yanjing reached out and caught one of the pill beads, an uncontrollable smile lighting up her eyes. Xiao Ming had indeed not disappointed her!
Xiao Ming, the one behind all this, remained calm. It was just a pill rain. For him, the Pill Rain was just a minor event; even in the Dou Qi Continent, a Ninth-Tier Xuan Pill could trigger it. Even though the conditions for triggering such a phenomenon in the Great Thousand World appeared to be much stricter, he had previously refined Di Tier Pills. How could he feel overly proud of this?
Rumble!
In the sky above the market district, thick clouds were swirling with black lightning that was snaking through them like wild dragons. The ferocious aura caused many people to instinctively shrink back, afraid of being struck by the black lightning.
Boom!
The fire cauldron trembled violently as the lightning flashed across the sky. Then, a pillar of light suddenly shot straight into the clouds. A glowing ball could be faintly seen inside the pillar of light.
Under the watchful eyes of countless spectators, the massive pillar of light directly pierced the storm clouds, causing the clouds to churn violently. Black lightning bolts, like roaring black snakes, tightly wrapped around the pillar of light and fiercely struck the glowing ball inside.
Boom, boom, boom!
Under this earth-shattering bombardment, it seemed as if the entire market trembled, with deafening thunderous roars echoing incessantly.
"The power of this Pill Lightning is comparable to what I encountered when I was refining the Di Tier Pill, the Resurrection Pill, in the Dou Qi Continent. The Great Thousand World is indeed different. However, it is not a bad thing. Such high-quality Pill Lightning baptism will only make the medicinal pill even more perfect." Xiao Ming looked calmly at the glowing ball inside the pillar of light being bombarded by the thunderous strikes from above. The ball not only remained intact but also shone even brighter. Threads of black lightning arcs continuously flickered around it.
Crack...
The fierce bombardment continued for the duration of an incense stick before it finally began to show signs of weakening. A faint cracking sound emanated from the pillar of light as the thunderous roar subsided. Immediately, everyone watching felt a jolt in their hearts, their eyes glued to the scene. They saw the cracks multiply, then diminish and spread across the pillar.
Then another bolt of black lightning tore through the sky and struck the pillar of light with great force. Suddenly, the many cracks that had formed burst apart, and finally, with a loud bang, the pillar of light exploded open.
The moment the pillar of light burst open, an astonishing medicinal fragrance spread across the sky. The fragrance swirled and astonishingly condensed into various herb-like shapes, filling the sky with an extraordinary spectacle.
Whoosh!
While the crowd was mesmerized by this phenomenon, a streak of light suddenly flashed across the sky. It moved like lightning as it raced toward the market district's outskirts, leaving a dense trail of medicinal fragrance in its wake.
"That's the newly formed pill!"
"It's trying to escape!"
The entire city was in an uproar as soon as the streak of light appeared. Countless people leaped into the air, their eyes fervently following the streak. A deep greed could be seen in their gazes, as few could remain calm in the presence of a Divine Pill that had unleashed such a formidable Pill Lightning.
However, before any of them could make a move, a massive surge of Spiritual Strength swept in front of them and smashed violently into the streak of light. The impact shattered the light covering its surface and revealed its true form. It was a pill the size of a dragon's eye wrapped in a fragrant, golden, glass-like medicinal essence.
After the Spiritual Strength revealed the pill's true form, it quickly descended back into the secluded courtyard.
The pill then fell into Xiao Ming's palm.
Outside the courtyard, when the pill disappeared from sight, everyone felt a sense of loss. It was as if they had just missed out on hundreds of millions of Sovereign Spiritual Liquids.
In fact, a pill of this caliber could easily be sold for hundreds of millions of Sovereign Spiritual Liquids, if not more.
Such a huge temptation made many factions salivate. As a result, countless messages were sent out.
It was clear that the number of people setting their sights on Xiao Ming and his companions had increased after this event.
The person in question, Xiao Ming, was not aware of any of this. He briefly examined the nine patterns on the surface of the pill, then turned to Qing Yanjing and Qing Tan as they approached him.
As he handed the pill to Qing Yanjing, he smiled and said, "You are lucky, the pill has nine patterns. This is a medicinal pill of the highest quality. I believe you will recover quickly once you take it."
"Hehe, I don't think it's luck on my part, but rather your extraordinary alchemy skills," Qing Yanjing replied with a smile as she took the pill. The fragrance that wafted out of it invigorated her spirit, and signs of recovery appeared on her injuries. She was somewhat surprised and said, "Even though this is a ninth-grade medicinal pill, it deserves to be called a Divine Pill."
In the Great Thousand World, the classification of alchemists differed from that of the Dou Qi Continent, and naturally, so did the classification of medicinal pills.
There were ten grades of medicinal pills in the Great Thousand World. From the first to the fifth grade corresponded to the Spiritual Rotation Stage to the Heavenly Completion Stage, and similarly, from the first to the fifth rank alchemist.
The sixth-grade medicinal pills corresponded to the Sovereign Stage. Alchemists who could refine these pills were divided into three levels: Heaven, Earth, and Human, and called Master Alchemists, yet they still fell within the sixth rank category.
Pills of the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades corresponded to the three sub-stages within the Earth Sovereign Stage. Only a Grandmaster Alchemist could refine such pills. Whether it was a high, intermediate, or low-level Grandmaster, the success rate of refining these pills was not high. This was because the process of pill formation attracted special types of Pill Lightning, which further reduced the success rate to an extremely low level.
Although many people called the ninth-grade pills Divine Pills, they were not true Divine Pills.
The true Divine Pills were the tenth-grade pills, which could only be refined by a Great Grandmaster Alchemist. Just like the Great Grandmasters themselves, these Divine Pills were divided into three levels: Spirit, Immortal, and Saint.
Ordinary people rarely saw pills of this caliber and were usually only accessible to Heavenly Sovereigns.
For this reason, coupled with the fact that ninth-grade medicinal pills were rarely circulated in the outside world and were mostly found within the power circles of the Heavenly Sovereigns, they were often referred to as Divine Pills.
Xiao Ming was already well aware of this information. In response to Qing Yanjing's surprise, he merely smiled and said, "Put the medicinal pill away first, we have a visitor at the door."