128:

  Xiao Feng couldn’t help but find truth in his predecessor’s words, even if Alchemist Zhi’s modified pill formula gave him a far higher chance at successfully refining pills in all three attempts, even if they were only mortal grade ones. He had gone through the trouble of inviting a Grand Alchemist to oversee the duel and had chosen a path that would showcase his technical prowess, but in choosing the safest option to victory he had also chosen an option where he could not give it his all.

  To his predecessor, who came from a world where a single misstep could turn life into death, it was no wonder that he found holding back in a duel where not even his life was on the line to be an act of cowardice. Xiao Feng’s own perspective was a little different, as he understood that a defeat to a recruit would mean that his reputation as an alchemist would take a significant hit and his life’s aspiration would be set back by years, which was a risk that few would take in his own world, especially given that Alchemist Zhi had little to gain from defeating him even more summarily than he already planned to.

  But the realm of Sephari was different from Earth and in this realm, there was power in being true to one’s own soul. If Xiao Feng failed, he would be banished from the Alchemy Division and he could admit that such an outcome even hurt him to think about—- he did not wish to leave the peaceful paradise he had stumbled upon in a world full of war and moreover, he did not want to say goodbye to the friends he had made so soon.

  Yet, perhaps it was because his predecessor’s words had inspired him or because Nova’s mindset and her natural confidence had leaked onto his soul, the truth of the matter was that Xiao Feng did not want to hold back, for regardless of the result he did not wish to leave the dais he was sitting on without having given it his utmost, having pushed himself to his limit so he could walk away without regrets.

  For if he was defeated because he lacked the courage to take a risk and push forth even if it could lead to failed refinements, then where would that leave him?

  Maybe it was Sephari itself that had changed him.

  Xiao Feng reached for the Sylvan Heartroot. Once he added it to the mixture he knew that its unique property of attracting organic matter to conceal itself would be used to his advantage, as the refining mixture would form an organic layer ensconcing the Sylvan Heartroot’s dimensions and making it easier to compress into a pill.

  Still, as he deposited it onto the metal tray before catching it with shielding, he knew that he had to be careful and sequentially expose the Sylvan Heartroot to the refining mixture, so that the organic layer being formed upon it would be consistent throughout.

  Yet the process only took four minutes from beginning to end, or from its base to its top and since Xiao Feng had done it correctly, as all the mixture was subsumed into an organic coating that ensconced the Sylvan Heartroot completely.

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  With another step in the pill refinement being completed, he reached for the amethyst dragonstone burner’s knob and turned the heat up. He needed the bonds of the Sylvan Heartroot to be weakened before the next ingredient could be added, but the malleability he was seeking could not come at the cost of its form.

  He watched as the tightly concentrated Qi packed within the Sylvan Heartroot began to diffuse outwards, leaking into the organic coating after five minutes of being consistently heated. Trying to push the Sylvan Heartroot any further would only risk destabilizing its structure, which meant that he had reached the balance he was hoping for.

  The Sylvan Heartroot had been integrated into the refined mixture of five ingredients and now offered the refinement much needed structural integrity and overall stability. Of course, Xiao Feng hadn’t missed out on the opportunity to imbue his own Qi into the Sylvan Heartroot, especially given that heating it was essentially no drain on his focus.

  It was time for the seventh ingredient, namely, The Frost Lily, while the eighth ingredient— his own Qi was something he had not stopped imbuing even once since beginning the refinement.

  He caught the Frost Lily using shielding, directing it to rest next to the organic coating cocooned Sylvan Heartroot before pulling back the layer of Wind Qi entirely.

  He did not hesitate to ratchet the amethyst dragonstone burner’s heat to the maximum limit.

  In preparation for the next step, Xiao Feng shifted his focus to building a perimeter of wind around the circumference of the pill furnace, before progressively increasing its rotation speed.

  He watched as Frost Qi began to seep out of the Frost Lily in response to the sweltering heat that was building up within the Pill Furnace, a portion of it spilling onto the Sylvan Heartroot and lowering the temperature it was being subjected to, if only temporarily.

  It did not take long for the Frost Lily to lose one tenth of its Frost Qi reserves in an effort to cool down its sweltering surroundings.

  That was when he began applying compression to the two ingredients, containing the spread of the Frost Qi with a cylindrical whirlwind of Wind Qi that was shrinking inwards at his command and as the diameter of the whirlwind decreased, he made sure to progressively increase the rotation speed of the whirlwind to increase the compression force.

  He watched as the Sylvan Heartroot was pressed against the Frost Lily and then compressed inwards, causing its Qi Density to intensify as its surface area folded in upon itself, the heat making its form malleable enough to offer little resistance. The ingredient loss was minimal due to his fine control over the wind but also inevitable, since that was a part of the process. Which would have been fine, except Xiao Feng’s Essence Cultivation Art identified multiple patches of the now compressed mixture that began to intensify in radiance, becoming so bright that it was offensive to his eyes.

  The ingredients, which were already fresh and high quality, which also meant that all of them had high qi densities, had been put through a refinement process that had been too clean and efficient in removing impurities and far removed from what even a regular alchemist should have been capable of, let alone a recruit.

  Xiao Feng had a bad feeling as he cut off the heat to the refining mixture and defaulted to his backup plan, feeling the sore lack of an alchemist’s flame as he did so.

  Sometimes, being too good at your job was a bad thing.

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