Nine Star Hegemon Body Art

As Yu Qingxuan stepped into the palace, a divine light started to emanate from every corner. All the pill furnaces quivered in response to her presence, as if they had been waiting for her all their existence.

Confusion clouded Yu Qingxuan’s face as she entered. For reasons she couldn’t quite grasp, everything here felt strangely familiar to her.

Long Chen noticed a faint divine light flowing out of Yu Qingxuan as well, slowly merging with the palace’s energy. She was clearly forming some sort of resonance with the place.

“Long Chen, I suddenly feel a bit afraid!” Yu Qingxuan’s voice quivered as she clenched Long Chen’s hand.

Sensing something significant was happening, Long Chen tightened the grip on her hand and softly said, “How about we leave? I’ll help you bring out whatever pill furnace you want.”

Long Chen could sense Yu Qingxuan’s soul fluctuations growing more intense, as if her sealed memories were starting to awaken. Knowing that Yu Qingxuan had gone through a thousand reincarnations, each filled with suffering, Long Chen cherished her deeply. He didn’t want her to relive that pain; instead, he wanted her to live a peaceful, carefree life by his side.

But unexpectedly, the first academy’s Pill Institute seemed to resonate with Yu Qingxua and began to awaken her memories. That made him feel uneasy.

“No. I want to see this place. Just don’t leave me, okay?” said Yu Qingxuan, tightening her hold on Long Chen’s hand.

Despite the fear in her eyes, there was also a strong sense of curiosity. Long Chen wanted to stop her, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. He was at a loss as to what to do.

The palace’s fluctuations maintained a set rhythm. Although everything around seemed familiar to Yu Qingxuan, nothing specific stood out. Long Chen slowly began to relax.

Seeing the fear and curiosity in her eyes, Long Chen felt a pang of heartache. Of all the people in the world, Yu Qingxuan was the one he owed the most. He had sworn to protect her in this lifetime.

As Yu Qingxuan reached out and touched one of the pill furnaces, its runes blazed to life in response, like a subject greeting its empress. It was a reaction of utmost worship and admiration.

This particular pill furnace was the oldest and most powerful one in the entire Pill Institute. It actually took the initiative to come to Yu Qingxuan. Seeing this, Long Che tensed once more. He feared that this pill furnace might trigger Yu Qingxuan’s memories.

Suddenly, the pill furnace and Yu Qingxuan quivered. This Emperor-tier pill furnace instantly acknowledged her as its master, causing all the other pill furnaces to slowly dim.

Lu Chengkong was stunned by everything he was witnessing. Although the disciple who brought them here might not know the origin of this pill furnace, Lu Chengkong knew it well. It was one of the eight great ancient pill furnaces of the academy.

The other ancient pill furnaces had been destroyed in that apocalyptic battle long ago. Only this one survived because it was deemed too weak to enter the battlefield.

During that battle, the first academy fought to the bitter end, and they had no other choice but to bring out even their pill furnaces for combat. Eventually, when they fled to the minor worlds, it was out of sheer desperation.

Although this pill furnace was of Emperor grade, its history was incredibly ancient. It was said to be a divine item capable of constant growth. However, it had never acknowledged anyone as its master all these years, so it hadn’t had any chance to grow.

Now that this legendary pill furnace had acknowledged a master, Lu Chengkong was so shocked that he couldn’t speak.

Long Chen stared at Yu Qingxuan. He found that she was simply overjoyed, without any odd phenomenon occurring.

“Congratulations. To be able to make the Pill Institute’s oldest pill furnace acknowledge you as its master, you must be a peerless genius of the Pill Dao. It seems that the Pill Institute has hope of rising once more,” said Lu Chengkong, finally recovering from his shock.

As the most corrupt department of the academy, the Pill Institute had been steadily declining in terms of skills. Furthermore, with all their higher-ups slain by Long Chen, Lu Chengkong was extremely worried about the future. If the Pill Institute could no longer supply medicinal pills, the entire High Firmament Academy would decline. That was the scenario he wanted to avoid the most.

However, having seen Yu Qingxuan cause such a phenomenon, Lu Chengkong started to feel some hope. He refused to believe that a nobody could make the ancient pill furnace acknowledge them as its master.

“You’ve got your pill furnace. Let’s go,” said Long Chen as he squeezed out a smile. Hopefully, they could leave before something unexpected happened.

Lu Chengkong interjected, “Other than the pill furnaces, we have records left behind by the heads of the institute throughout the generations—the embodiments of their life’s work. If you’re interested, you can take a look at them. Also, this is just the outer palace. In the inner palace, you can pay your respect to the Pill Ancestor’s divine statue.”

The moment Lu Chengkong mentioned the Pill Ancestor’s divine statue, Long Chen’s heart thudded. He instantly had a bad feeling and said, “Those aren’t interesting. Every person has their own alchemy style, and we don’t need to copy other people’s paths. Qingxuan, you’ve just gotten a pill furnace. Let’s go back and test it out.”

Unfortunately, Long Chen’s attempt at bringing Yu Qingxuan away was not effective. She was extremely interested in the divine statue and pulled him forward. “I’m curious about the Pill Ancestor. As we are both alchemists, it’s only right for us to pay our respects. After all, we’ve received their blessing here. What do you think?”

Now, how could Long Chen possibly say no? He could only summon his guts and continue deeper into the palace.

Yu Qingxuan didn't bother with the records of the institute heads. Instead, she went straight for the inner palace, the most central part of the Pill Institute.

However, Long Chen and Yu Qingxuan were shocked to find that while the outer palace was extravagant and luxurious, the inner palace was incomparably shabby. It looked as if it was about to collapse.

Seeing their shocked appearance, the disciple accompanying them said, “This is the Pill Ancestor’s divine statue. Ever since the Pill Institute became degenerate, no one paid their respect to the Pill Ancestor. They probably didn’t have the face to!”

This disciple scoffed at the successive institute heads and their attitude. If he wasn’t passionate about the Pill Dao, he would have long since left the Pill Institute.

The gates slowly opened, and the four of them walked in. Apprehensive, Long Chen looked inside and was stunned.

“Isn’t this a bit too much?”