The crimson light illuminated the entire room, and a strong pill fragrance wafted out. Ye Jingcheng also raised his hand, casting the last few spirit techniques.

The crimson light in the room gradually faded, and the spirit pill reached the final spirit raising stage.

As one spirit technique after another was cast, the pill fragrance became even more intense.

Soon, the furnace lid flew open, revealing three sky-blue spirit pills inside.

What delighted Ye Jingcheng was that, among the Profound Water Pills, not only did two emit a strong pill fragrance and have a radiant color, but one was exceedingly full, with its pill pattern clearly visible.

Ye Jingcheng collected the three Profound Water Pills, satisfaction evident in his eyes.

This wasn't his first batch; it was the second. The first batch not only yielded just one spirit pill but also lacked any pill pattern.

Considering he had never refined it before and hadn't spent much time studying the pill formula, achieving this result already made him extremely satisfied.

In his thoughts, he took out a Li Fire Pill to give to the Red Flame Fox and infused it with plenty of treasure light. The latter enjoyed it so much that it closed its blue eyes, emitting a long trill from the corners of its mouth.

Ye Jingcheng then began to clean the pill furnace, taking care of the furnace's aftermath and summarizing the alchemy session.

He didn't immediately leave seclusion. For an alchemy master, refining a pill with a pill pattern is extremely difficult, even though he didn't spend much effort.

But from an external perspective, he was still considered a Tier Two Middle-grade Alchemist.

Of course, another factor was that even if he went out of seclusion now, the family wouldn't immediately rush to Lingyun Peak.

The month leading up to the end of the auction is a rather chaotic period, with many cultivators lurking around the market with ill intentions.

After all, Foundation Establishment Pills and Purple Mansion Jade Liquid have appeared, and after this secret realm trip, quite a few cultivators haven't returned to their respective clan mountains.

They are also carrying a large number of treasures.

Moreover, the Ye Family's Turtle Ancestor has already returned to Lingyun Peak.

They have to wait for at least a month.

At this moment, he took out the pill formula for the Fire Beast Pill and began to study it slowly.

This Fire Beast Pill formula is different from the typical pill formulas found in the Cultivation Realm of the Yan Kingdom; it uses a beast pill as the main component and then slowly melts in auxiliary medicines, while also removing impurities and demonic qi from the demon beast inner core that aren't suitable for consumption.

Even though the Fire Beast Pill he refines is for the Red Flame Fox to consume, thus not necessarily needing to remove that particular demonic qi,

but as an alchemy master, Ye Jingcheng also respected the pill formula and did not blindly modify it.

Perhaps when he becomes much more proficient in alchemy and refines enough beast spirit pills, he will make improvements.

But not now.

And even refining according to the pill formula, he was not confident in this kind of formula.

Previously, he had seen Ye Xuefu refine Foundation Establishment Pills.

That once left a deep impression on him, but, after all, it was just watching and he had not yet practiced.

And if it failed, a Tier Two fire attribute demon beast inner core would be lost.

This cost is definitely not low.

Ye Jingcheng naturally wouldn't attempt it lightly.

He organized the jade talisman from his time at Sand Concealment Peak and also restarted his training mode as per the method Ye Xuefu had taught him that day.

When not confident with a pill formula, the best approach is to hone one's fundamentals.

He first took out the demon beast inner core, inspecting it unhurriedly, sketching out all the alchemy steps in his mind, and evaluating all possible risks, which he simulated one by one.

Then he began to practice fire control independently.

Compared to medicine condensation, refining a demon beast inner core requires stricter fire control.

Although Ye Jingcheng could rely on the Red Flame Fox, he understood that if he couldn't issue the correct commands, the Red Flame Fox couldn't control the fire perfectly either.

Once all of this simulation was complete, more than ten days passed.

Ye Jingcheng finally started, calmly and slowly taking out a Fire-Devouring Sparrow's inner core to begin refining the Fire Beast Pill.

This time, he was more cautious with every step of the alchemy process.

After all, this was his first time refining an inner core spirit pill.

Moreover, this particular alchemy method couldn't use the Six-Part Alchemy Method, as it involves incorporating the spirit medicine directly into the demon beast inner core, requiring careful control of the heat.

And the first ingredient to be added was not other spirit medicines, but the demon beast inner core.

This also meant that once the refining began, there was no turning back.

Only if it failed, a demon beast inner core would be lost.

Fortunately, the requirements for this demon beast inner core weren't high; an inner core from an early stage Tier Two demon beast would suffice.

However, the outcome and the pill color would be affected.

But as long as the spirit medicine was well refined, it could still count as a Tier Two High-Grade Spirit Pill, which is the powerful aspect of this demon beast alchemy method.

Of course, compared to the medicine alchemy method, the number of pills derived from the inner core alchemy method would be much fewer. According to ancient records, producing three pills is already quite impressive, and producing five is essentially achieving a full pill status.

As the Fire-Devouring Sparrow's inner core fell into the pill furnace, the already prepared furnace ignited fiercely, enveloping the Fire Beast's inner core, while Ye Jingcheng hurriedly cast a special spirit liquid to enwrap the spirit pill.

This spirit liquid, made from the sap of the Fire Jade Flower, can isolate the spiritual fire and is the core spirit medicine for the inner core alchemy method.

As the spirit liquid enveloped, it could be seen that some special spiritual light began to seep from the surface of the spirit medicine.

And this spiritual light is the special demonic qi recorded in the pill formula.

This stage is extremely tedious and lengthy.

But Ye Jingcheng did not dare to be careless.

Yet, even so, halfway through the melting process, it still failed.

Looking at the pill residue before him, Ye Jingcheng was not discouraged and gathered it all up.

He now had the Grotto Heaven, so these pill residues could be stored to enhance the soil's spirituality.

Ye Jingcheng began to summarize again, and once he had enough insights, he would continue refining the Fire Beast Pill.

...

In the backyard of the Chu Family shop, an almond tree had sprung up, providing ample shade.

Under the almond tree was a stone table, where Chu Xiyu was waiting on the stone table, his gaze filled with anxiety.

Almost a month had passed since the auction, and there was still no news of Chu Xiyu.

At that moment, the door of the house opened, revealing Chu Yanqing and an old man.

The two walked out together, the old man's face full of exhaustion but pride, even Chu Yanqing's eyes gleamed brightly.

"Father, I have refined a Tier Two High-grade Concealment Defense Spiritual Artifact!" Chu Yanqing said proudly.

However, upon seeing Chu Xiyu's expression, he couldn't help but ask:

"Aunt hasn't come yet?"

"Your aunt should still be cultivating. Now that you can refine Tier Two High-grade Artifacts, I'm sure she will be very pleased!" Chu Xiyu replied.

After a moment of silence, he continued,

"Yanqing, tomorrow, you shall return to Xianyun Mountain with your Third Grandfather to first break through to the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment. The Jin and Kong families have each occupied a clan mountain in Taihang Commandery and are establishing branches. Additionally, there's been no news of the Zhang Family, indicating that troubled times are coming!" Chu Xiyu spoke a great deal, all warnings to Chu Yanqing about the current instability and danger.

The joy of Chu Yanqing becoming a Tier Two High-grade Artifact Refiner vanished instantly.

To refine this artifact, he had used methods like intense fire melting and heavy water tempering; otherwise, even with guidance, it would have been impossible to make a Tier Two High-grade Artifact in just over twenty days.

"And what about Aunt?" Chu Yanqing asked again.

"Xiyu is Ming Yuan Ascendant's wife. What could happen to her? Even if the family's spiritual artifact business is exposed, it doesn't matter. However, the family does need to find a new financial path." Chu Xiyu's face still showed some confidence.

But, in fact, what lay before them was the Taiyi Sect. What could they do but remain unconfident?

The Taiyi Sect now resembled a wounded lion, reacting violently to even the slightest movements.

And with the Jin and Kong Families occupying Taihang Commandery, it would become an uncertain factor.

What puzzled Chu Xiyu was why the Taiyi Sect agreed to the Jin and Kong Families' expansion requests.

"And what about the Chen Family's situation?" The old man next to him didn't dwell on Chu Xiyu's affairs and only looked at Chu Xiyu.

"We can't continue to annex them, but we should demand a few spirit medicine gardens from them!" Chu Xiyu replied.

...

In the humble room, four Red Flame Foxes positioned at four corners, raised their three tails, and directed their flames toward the Three Qian Taihe Furnace at the center.

The intense flames turned the pill furnace bright red.

The next moment, with a swirl, the furnace lid flew up.

Inside revealed a vibrant red spirit pill and a pitted pill.

"It seems refining pills with the inner core is much harder than using spirit medicine," Ye Jingcheng couldn't help but say.

The failed pill couldn't be given to the Crimson Flame Fox.

But the fortunate thing was having finally taken the first step in refining with a Demon Beast Inner Core, making future endeavors easier.

Moreover, he discovered that when the Red Flame Fox summoned its clone, it controlled the fire better in pill refining.

Ye Jingcheng cleaned the pill furnace and directly gave the Fire Beast Pill to the Red Flame Fox.

Along with that, he infused the Red Flame Fox with plenty of treasure light.

The Fire Beast Pill was meant for the Red Flame Fox, so he had no intention of holding back.

However, he quickly noticed the spirit talisman by the door.

The spirit talisman was a Sound Transmission Talisman, which had been at the door for half a day. Only because he was in the middle of alchemy did he not check it immediately, but now, upon seeing it,

it made Ye Jingcheng frown deeply, even staggering slightly.

The Sound Transmission Talisman contained only one message: Ye Haiyun was on his deathbed.

Suddenly, a surge of sorrow filled Ye Jingcheng's heart, recalling that before he left, he had given two spiritual peaches that could extend life by three years.

If taken, they would extend life by at least five years.

Combined with Ye Haiyun's original two to three-year lifespan, it was impossible for him to be at life's end now.

This could only mean Ye Haiyun had not used the spiritual peaches he left.

But instead saved them for other family members.

Ye Jingcheng felt a pang of sorrow, recalling how Ye Haiyun kept sending him spiritual almonds and teaching him alchemy over the years. Remorse welled in his heart. Had he known, he would have stayed to ensure that Ye Haiyun consumed them.

Ye Jingcheng immediately collected the Stone Spirit Grotto Heaven and all the arrays, then walked out of the house. Today, for the first time, he felt disrupted, neglecting to maintain his usual cleanliness and tidiness.

Ye Xingliu and others were already in the courtyard, evidently, the family was waiting for him.

"Third Uncle," Ye Jingcheng choked slightly, words eluding him despite having much to say.

"The family shop is closed; let's set off now!"

"Return to Lingyun Peak!"

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