Battle Through the Heavens: The Alchemist Starting from the Ye Family

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"There are still half a month left. During this time, Elder Hu, you can focus on your breakthrough, and I also need to improve my alchemy skills..."

At present, Ye Chen is only a third-grade alchemist, barely qualified to participate in the conference.

Of course, this is only on the surface. Because back in Qingyue City, he had already successfully refined fourth-grade pills, making him a fourth-grade alchemist.

It's a pity. According to Fang Yu, only a fifth-grade alchemist would be confident of winning the championship in this alchemist competition.

Moreover, there is also Song Qing, who is suspected to be a peerless genius alchemist, so relying solely on a fourth-grade alchemist is definitely not enough to achieve a good ranking.

Chapter Forty-Eight: Mad Alchemy

Ye Chen wasn't worried about his alchemist level.

After obtaining the Star Chart of the Unicorn Fire Spirit Dragon, his "God" attribute has reached 60 points!

Based on the standard he used when testing his soul value at the Ye family, 60 points of divine power would translate to approximately 600 points of soul value.

With 600 soul points, according to the standards of the Pill Tower, one could already reach the level of a sixth-grade alchemist...

Of course, an alchemist's level is not determined solely by their soul value; it also depends on factors such as alchemy proficiency, fire control, and soul control.

However, with the enhancement of the Star Chart, Ye Chen's control over soul power and flames is excellent, and his soul power is even more outstanding. So now he only needs to increase his alchemy proficiency.

If I focus on one type of pill and practice it a few more times within half a month, I should be able to succeed even with a fifth-grade pill.

This method is somewhat of a shortcut, but it doesn't matter. At worst, I can work harder in the future, practice more, and try to stabilize my alchemist level at the fifth-grade alchemist level. Then, after arriving in Saint Pill City, I can directly take the exam.

Having made his decision, Ye Chen immediately prepared to take action.

Judging from Fang Yu's appearance, he should be a local bigwig in Xuantian City. Getting him to help find a place to stay shouldn't be a problem. Then we can start frantically refining medicine!

Before long, Fang Yu finally emerged from the crowd again, looking quite disheveled.

"Haha, Brother Song Chen, you've been waiting a long time. I've already seen the rules of this tournament and the champion's prize!"

Ye Chen smiled and nodded, "Then I'm all ears."

"Yes. As for the rules of the competition, they haven't changed much from previous years. The first stage involves refining a specific pill within a set time, the purpose of which is to weed out those who are just there to make up the numbers. As for the second stage, it's a test of soul power..."

Soul power test?

Ye Chen's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that they were testing soul value directly, just like the Ye family did back then?

However, Ye Chen immediately abandoned this idea as soon as it appeared. After all, soul stones are extremely precious. Apart from the Pill Tower, only the five major families of the Pill Domain can possess one; it's simply impossible for anyone else to have one.

Sure enough, Fang Yu's words proved this point.

"The soul power test will put the participants into a special formation. Only those who pass the test are considered qualified and eligible to enter the final alchemy competition."

Ye Chen nodded in understanding, but he was still somewhat curious about the formation he mentioned. It seemed that the Song and Lu families did have some resources, as they were able to create a formation to test soul power...

Of course, this test can't be as accurate as a Soul Stone, but it's sufficient for most purposes.

Unfortunately, people like Ye Chen, with their powerful soul force but insufficient actual alchemy skills, have a loophole to exploit...

It has to be said that this alchemist conference is extremely beneficial to Ye Chen!

Fang Yu naturally had no idea what Ye Chen was thinking, and he didn't even know that the other party was an alchemist.

"As for the champion's reward, unsurprisingly, it's a sixth-grade pill formula. Besides the formula, there are also low-level Earth-rank combat techniques, fifth-grade pills, and other rare items. The rest are cultivation resources, including ten meteorites. However, I don't know what these are; perhaps they're some kind of rare..."

There must be some metal material...

Ye Chen, who had remained indifferent when he heard about the pill formula and fighting techniques, suddenly widened his eyes when he heard Fang Yu mention the meteorite stone at the end.

"Meteorite? Are you sure it's a meteorite?"

This thing might not be of much use to others, it can only help purify battle qi, but for Ye Chen, a meteorite stone is worth ten points of star essence!

Although he didn't quite understand why Brother Song Chen was reacting so strongly to the meteorite, Fang Yu nodded and said, "That's right, it's a meteorite. And there are ten of them."

After confirming it again, Ye Chen felt a surge of excitement.

These are ten meteorites, which is 100 points of star essence. Even with a star essence map, it would take a full hundred days to accumulate that many points.

With these 100 points of star essence, he would be very close to lighting up the next star palace!

"Originally, I just wanted to see Song Qing, but now it seems I'm determined to win this championship!" Ye Chen made up his mind, and his expression became serious.

Next, under Fang Yu's guidance, Ye Chen and his companion found a decent courtyard in Xuan Tian City and immediately began frantically refining medicine to increase their experience.

To improve one's alchemy skills, in other words, it means spending money, or more specifically, spending money on medicinal herbs. No matter how outstanding a pharmacist's talent is, practice is the most important thing, and to practice alchemy, medicinal herbs are naturally indispensable.

Fortunately, Ye Chen had originally planned to hone and improve his alchemy skills when he came out this time, so he brought a large number of medicinal herbs that he needed.

This saved him the trouble of searching for medicinal herbs everywhere; now, all he needed to do was refine the pills…

Regardless of whether the refining process succeeds or fails, at least some experience can be gained, and this experience is a treasure unique to the alchemist. With the gradual accumulation of this experience, coupled with Ye Chen's outstanding qualities in all aspects, it will soon erupt completely, bringing about a qualitative change.

The spacious room was filled with intense heat, making the enclosed space feel like an oven, steaming hot.

Fortunately, everything in the room had been moved out; otherwise, at this temperature, it would have set everything on fire and burned everything to ashes.

In the very center of the room, Ye Chen sat cross-legged. A meter in front of him was a crimson medicine cauldron, within which silver flames burned fiercely…

Three days have passed, and this is the fifth batch of pills Ye Chen has started in these three days.

Because the pills were grade 5 from the start, the previous four batches resulted in two successes and two failures, with a success rate of only 50%.

Although such a success rate is something even some beginners in the fifth-grade alchemist realm cannot guarantee, it still did not satisfy Ye Chen.

Because this Qi-Nourishing Pill is only a basic Grade 5 pill, which is relatively easy to refine among Grade 5 pills. If it can't even achieve a success rate of over 70%, then you can forget about refining some high-grade or even peak Grade 5 pills!

Inside the cauldron, the silver flames continued to rise fiercely, and amidst the burning flames, the faint outline of a pill could be seen, with a delicate fragrance emanating from it.

Under the scorching heat of the flames, the originally rough and unformed pill gradually became round and plump. About an hour later, Ye Chen's tightly closed eyes suddenly opened...

Chapter Forty-Nine: Yiling Pill

With a flick of his finger, the lid of the medicine cauldron flew open, and a streak of azure light shot out from inside the cauldron, then automatically landed in Ye Chen's hand.

I succeeded in refining it again. That means I've succeeded three out of five times. It seems I can now be considered a qualified fifth-grade alchemist.

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Ye Chen slightly recovered his battle qi before letting out a long breath and muttering to himself, "With my current alchemy skills, the success rate of refining low-grade fifth-rank pills is already quite good. As for mid-grade fifth-rank pills, it's probably a bit lower, but it's still acceptable. Naturally, it's much better than some ordinary alchemists who have just entered the fifth rank, but it's still not enough..."

It's clearly unlikely that you can stand out from this alchemist competition and win the championship with just a mid-grade fifth-rank pill.

According to the information Ye Chen received from Fang Yu, the top three in this Alchemist Competition are likely to be fifth-grade alchemists. To win the championship, one must at least be confident in refining high-grade or even peak fifth-grade pills to have any guarantee of success.

"Peak of the fifth rank..."

Even Ye Chen's expression turned serious. Although he was confident that he could quickly improve his alchemist level, he didn't have much time left.

"Looks like I'll have to stick to the original plan and cheat a little..."

Although this might seem like an unfair victory, Ye Chen couldn't care less about that for the sake of the meteorite.

With this thought flashing through his mind, Ye Chen grabbed a jade box full of medicinal herbs and pulled it over. With a wave of his hand, the many herbs inside immediately floated up, and a rich medicinal fragrance wafted out...

Ye Chen exhaled lightly, flicked his finger, and the medicinal herbs flew into the medicine cauldron. As his hand seals changed, the silver flames inside the cauldron burned fiercely once again.

The Yiling Pill is a top-tier fifth-grade pill. It can directly raise a cultivator's cultivation level by one star when taken by a Douling expert. Each person can only take it once in their lifetime.

This is one of the pill formulas passed down to Ye Chen by Ye Xun, the patriarch of the Ye family. It is not one of the Ye family's secret pill formula series. It is said to be the reward Ye Xun paid for refining pills for others in his early years.

Of all types of pills, this kind, which can directly enhance the user's strength, is the highest grade, and of course, it is also the most difficult to refine.

It can be said that Ye Chen really went all out for those ten meteorite stones!

"I only have five portions of the ingredients for this Yiling Pill. If I still can't succeed after three attempts, then I'll have to switch to other pills..."

Thinking of this, Ye Chen couldn't help but perk up again, his soul power locking onto the medicinal herbs that were being scorched by the starlight.

As the medicinal herbs gradually withered, fine, emerald-green water droplets began to seep from their surface, eventually sliding down and hovering above the flames, constantly dripping and tumbling.

After acquiring the Star Chart, the temperature of the Starfire increased again. In Ye Chen's perception, it was already comparable to many seventh-tier beast fires, and perhaps after growing for a while, it could rival those strange fires ranked lower on the Strange Fire Ranking...

Of course, thanks to Ye Chen's precise control, the silver flames inside the cauldron, though fierce, did not burn the medicinal herbs to ashes.

As the flames continued to scorch and the emerald green water droplets seeped in, the medicinal herbs inside the cauldron completely turned into withered gray. At this point, the pure medicinal power contained within had been completely forced out by the flames, and the herbs themselves had been utterly reduced to a pile of useless waste.

With a flick of his hand, the withered medicinal herbs flew out of the cauldron and fell to the ground beside him. The moment they hit the ground, they turned into a pile of gray ashes and scattered with the wind.

&n

Although this series of steps seems simple, they all require strong soul control and fire control. Ye Chen's proficiency is also due to his previous practice.

Of course, this was only the first medicinal ingredient that had been extracted.

As a top-grade fifth-rank pill, the Yiling Pill requires the extraction of more than ten kinds of medicinal materials, so the real test is about to begin!

……

……

On the other side of the courtyard, inside a room.

Hu Tian sensed the constant changes in energy coming from afar and knew that his young master's alchemy had entered the right track.

Moreover, because Xuantian City was filled with a large number of alchemists at this time, the commotion caused by this alchemy was not small, and not many people paid attention to it.

Seeing this, Hu Tian felt relieved and began his secluded cultivation to break through to the next level.

In a mountain cave dozens of miles outside Xuantian City, Hu Tian chose to break through to the Dou Zong realm because the commotion would be huge.

He took out a jade bottle, which contained the Profound Yang Breakthrough Pill that Ye Chen had given him earlier. He pulled out the stopper and poured it into his mouth.

The pill melted instantly upon entering the mouth, and in a flash, a surge of medicinal power erupted, gradually spreading throughout the body and entering the major and minor meridians that permeated the body.

A mysterious feeling emanated from the depths of every cell in Hu Tian's body, spreading all the way to his soul, pulling his mind into a profound state.

Once you step into the Dou Zong realm, you can enter the true forest of strong people on the continent. At the same time, you will take the first step in the transformation of your body, which will greatly extend your lifespan, enhance your control over the energy of heaven and earth, and even allow you to control the power of space.

As energy was poured in, the powerful lightning-attribute battle qi within Hu Tian's body began to circulate autonomously following the cultivation technique. At a speed far exceeding that of the past, it circulated for a full cycle, carrying the surging medicinal power, and then directly transformed into pure battle qi that rushed into his dantian.

Such immense battle qi surged into his dantian, and then, through a strange centrifugal force, it was released, spreading throughout Hu Tian's body via his meridians, enveloping his entire body in a dense layer of silver lightning...

The silver lightning penetrated his flesh, bones, and cells... integrating into his body in a unique way, transforming it, and ultimately causing earth-shattering changes!

Time passed by day by day.

Ye Chen and his servant were so engrossed in alchemy that one was completely absorbed, while the other was also making breakthroughs in cultivation and reaching a high level. Neither of them paid any attention to the outside world.

Ten days have passed in the blink of an eye, and there are only five days left until the conference.

This room served as Ye Chen's temporary alchemy room.

A thick, red beam of light suddenly burst through the roof, shot into the sky, and then quickly dissipated.

This change alarmed the entire Xuantian City...

The patriarchs of the Song and Lu families, who were discussing matters related to the conference, suddenly stopped talking and turned to look at the disappearing pillar of light in the sky outside the door.

"Huh? Old Monster Song, judging from this commotion, it must be the commotion caused by the birth of a fifth-grade pill, right?" Lu Chen, the patriarch of the Lu family, dressed in a long robe of an alchemist, asked his old friend in surprise.

Opposite him stood an elderly man, also dressed in an alchemist's robe. Song Lian, the patriarch of the Song family, nodded slightly and said in a deep voice, "Not bad, and it should be at least a mid-grade fifth-rank pill. Old Ghost Lu, it seems that this grand gathering in Xuantian City has attracted quite a few promising individuals..."

Chapter Fifty: The Conference Begins

Looking at the crimson pill in his hand, Ye Chen felt a surge of excitement.

"I managed to master it in just two tries, it seems I performed exceptionally well this time..."

To be honest, he was a little worried when he failed the first time, after all, the difficulty of refining the Yiling Pill was much higher than that of the Yunling Pill.

During the first attempt at refining the pill, even though Ye Chen had put in his utmost effort at the stage of combining the pills, he still failed, and all the refined medicinal liquids were wasted...

Having learned from his first failure, Ye Chen felt much more at ease the second time, and he successfully fused the final step, creating the complete pill in his hand.

Gently inhaling the rich fragrance of the pill, Ye Chen recalled the method of identifying the Yiling Pill that his ancestor Ye Xun had introduced to him. He realized that although his pill was successful, its quality was not the best, and could even be described as quite poor...

It barely reaches the peak of the fifth rank. If it were for his own use, Ye Chen would never take this quality of Yi Ling Pill.

After a moment's thought, he realized that he only had three-tenths of the ingredients for the Yiling Pill left. The final stage of the Alchemist Tournament required participants to prepare their own ingredients and refine the pills. Whoever refined the pills of the highest grade and quality would win. Therefore, he decided to save these three-tenths of the ingredients for the tournament.

After all, the competition only gives participants three chances; if they fail to refine it all three times, they will be disqualified from continuing the competition...

"Forget it, there are only a few days left. I'd better refine some simple pills to keep my skills up," Ye Chen finally decided.

In the following days, Ye Chen refined several more Rank 5 low-grade and Rank 5 mid-grade pills.

Just one day before the conference began, Hu Tian, ​​who had gone out to make a breakthrough, finally returned...