Chapter 642: Matchless Dao of Alchemy
Although there were public recipes for ointments circulating in the Nine Worlds, their effects were quite limited. Only the secret and exclusive recipes had powerful effects; some could even revive the dead! [1. More of a common expression meaning extremely potent, or it could be literal in this case. Who knows?]
Outside of the owners, no outsider was able to create these types of ointments. Even if they had the same amount of ingredients, outsiders wouldn’t know when to insert a particular ingredient or what the correct level of heat is.
“Brother Sun, this... is a bit unsuitable for this circumstance.”
This challenge was too difficult; anyone with a sliver of common sense would know that this was impossible. How could an outsider refine special ointments?
“Bring it here.” Li Qiye calmly told the alchemist monarch without batting an eye.
The alchemist didn’t dare to believe his own ears. He only said it to make it difficult for Li Qiye and wanted to attack his arrogant attitude earlier. It was quite inappropriate of Li Qiye to ask their Demon King to be his driver, so the alchemist resorted to mentioning this impossible task. Who would have thought that Li Qiye would actually agree?
The alchemist skeptically handed the ingredients over to Li Qiye.
Li Qiye looked at the batch of ingredients before him and laughed. Afterward, he sniffed the medicinal fragrances. There were dozens of types of ingredients, but Li Qiye immediately knew what they were as well as their medicinal properties and method of refinement after a quick whiff.
This task couldn’t trouble Li Qiye. For millions of years, Li Qiye had tried many different recipes, especially during the era of the Alchemy God. The two of them had crafted and attempted countless recipes.
Later on through the endless river of time, Li Qiye experimented even more and had taught many alchemists.
Although the alchemist monarch’s recipe wasn’t his own unique mix, Li Qiye knew how to refine it since he understood the properties of the ingredients.
With regards to alchemy, no one would dare to refute Li Qiye if they knew any better, at least, in the present era.
Madam Zi Yan and the other monarchs watched Li Qiye with bated breaths. Ancient Pine had told them of Li Qiye’s pill refinement process and how heaven-defying it was.
They all felt that if he indeed had such marvelous abilities, then he would for sure be above the four current alchemy prodigies of the Stone Medicine World. They held high hopes for him, so if he failed, then they would be very dejected.
After inhaling the medicinal scents, Li Qiye took out the Myriad Heavenly Cauldron.
“Boom!” As it landed, Li Qiye controlled the Fire Source inside the cauldron to spew out its hottest flame. This incomparable flame could melt everything in the world, even divine metals.
When the flame poured out from the cauldron, Madam Zi Yan and the other monarchs couldn’t handle the terrifying heat and had to back up.
This hottest flame suddenly turned into a pot that resembled a tea kettle, giving off a very substantial vibe as if it was real. The entire kettle was red from the scorching heat.
Li Qiye threw all the ingredients into the kettle where they instantly melted a second later.
The alchemist monarch was stunned: “What kind of refinement is this?!” He felt that this was going too far.
The other monarchs who weren’t alchemists and Madam Zi Yan were shocked as well. As cultivators from the Stone Medicine World, they all knew a thing or two about the common procedures of creating pills and ointments.
These things couldn’t be created by just throwing the ingredients inside all at once and refine them together. Most of the time, it had to be in a specific order in order to not diminish the medicinal properties of the ingredients.
But now, Li Qiye was foregoing all of that for his own method, resulting in them becoming dumbfounded.
“Zsshh!” Right when the group was stunned, the monstrous fire in the pot suddenly liquefied and submerged the ingredients as if it was boiling water.
Everything happened all too fast. Right when the flame turned into water, it receded as fast as the tide and immediately extracted all the essences from each of the ingredients.
What was even more terrifying was that all of the extracted essences quickly paired together at an incredible speed. Even the Goddess Weaver’s dexterous hands would not be able to match this speed. [2. A Goddess Weaver representing the star Vega, a goddess in Chinese ancient mythology. Her job is to weave the clouds and love; protect women and children. She is popular throughout Asia and has many differing versions of her tales. The Jade Emperor has a daughter named Zhinü (simplified Chinese: 织女; traditional Chinese: 織女; pinyin: zhī nǚ or Chih’nü, literally: weaver girl). She is most often represented as responsible for weaving colorful clouds in the heavens. In some versions, she is the Goddess Weaver, daughter of the Jade Emperor, and the Celestial Queen Mother who weaves the Silver River (known in the West as the Milky Way), which gives light to heaven and earth. In other versions, she is a seamstress who works for the Jade Emperor.]
The quick pairings between ingredients were fearsome, such as the Red Scorpion’s venom combining with the liquid extract of Yin Snakegrass. Under the kettle’s flame, the two essences intertwined and melted to instantly take shape.
These changes would normally take days, yet all of them were now transformed in an instant.
“Xshh!” The extremely hot flame quickly swept through the liquefied medicinal essences and tempered it into a solid.
“Pop!” The flame disappeared along with the kettle pot, leaving behind only a packet of ointment skillfully wrapped by Li Qiye using alchemy paper. He then put away the Myriad Heavenly Cauldron.
Meanwhile, Madam Zi Yan and the eighteen monarchs stood there, frozen.
In theory, an alchemist would either leave or not allow outsiders to witness them in action, lest their techniques be stolen. However, Li Qiye didn’t make this request. Even when the group witnessed — with their own eyes — Li Qiye’s method, they were unable to replicate it since they were completely staggered by the process.
From the introduction of the ingredients till the formation of the ointment, it all happened way too fast, lasting only a few seconds. It was much shorter than the time it took to boil a pot of tea.
They had never seen this method of ointment creation before. The alchemist monarch was especially stunned. This was his family’s recipe and others definitely didn’t have it, so they shouldn’t be able to create this ointment.
And even if it was possible to create it, it shouldn’t have been this fast.
The monarch was one of the strongest alchemists in his clan, but it would take him at least one day to create this special recipe. Those less skilled in his clan would require at least three days.
But now, Li Qiye did it with just a swing of his hand — this was completely astonishing to them. Both the speed and how he did it without knowing the recipe left them aghast.
Inside the alchemy wrapping, the ointment slowly hardened. Li Qiye then gently covered it with his palm before handing the wrapped up ointment to the alchemist: “Take it.”
The alchemist monarch took a deep breath in his attempt to calm down after seeing this. Li Qiye’s little action was the last important procedure after wrapping up the special formula. Without this procedure, the effect of the ointment would be greatly affected.
Thus, how could the alchemist not be shocked when Li Qiye knew of this action? If he didn’t believe in his own clan, he would have suspected that Li Qiye had stolen the formula even though he knew that this was impossible.
While everyone else slowly calmed down, the alchemist took his time opening the wrapped up ointment.
Everyone looked over to examine the ointment resting on top of his palm. The alchemist quickly became pale after seeing the ointment and had to take several steps back: “How... How... could this be? This... is of the best quality! All the impurities are gone. This ointment, once applied to the wound, would quickly permeate into the body and heal the injury instantly!” The alchemist was frightened to the point where he eventually dropped down to the ground.
Another monarch was also aghast after seeing the ointment. A different monarch praised right away: “What a great ointment, it is several times better than the one Brother Sun gave to me.”
“It’s not just several times better...” The alchemist sitting on the floor acted as if he had seen a ghost. After a while, he managed to regain his wits and smiled wryly to say: “No one can create this ointment at this quality outside of our progenitor. There is a legend in my clan: if we refine our clan’s ointment to the ultimate limit, then it can almost compare to the Soulrending Immortal Powder of the Alchemy Kingdom and would be much better than many of the contemporary ointments.”
At this point, the alchemist paused for a second and exclaimed in both excitement and disbelief: “Prior to this, I had always thought that it was impossible, but I can now see that it is indeed true... So, so... amazing.”
The others responded with gasps. The Soulrending Immortal Powder was a famous ointment exclusive to the Alchemy Kingdom. Countless big characters didn’t mind throwing away their wealth just to ask for a little bit of Soulrending Immortal Powder.
Not only was Li Qiye’s ointment of the highest quality, the process was also too frightening.
At this point, everyone was speechless from shock. This was not Ancient Pine’s first time watching Li Qiye performing alchemy, but he was still shaken despite being mentally prepared.