Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)
Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN) - Chapter 190: Refining Tendon Firming Pills

When the blue flame rose from Long Chen’s palm, the entire immortal cave was lit up gorgeously and warmly.

“What a beautiful flame!” Tang Wan-er was bewitched by that flame. That was the first time she had ever seen such a beautiful flame. It looked just like a ball of blazing water.

Long Chen smiled slightly. After he had gained control over the beast flame’s rune, his control over it had risen greatly. He could control it smoothly with just a thought and wouldn’t need to use too much Spiritual Strength.

That previous Flame Leopard beast flame he had required him to use his Spiritual Strength to keep it suppressed. It was like a disobedient animal. If he didn’t keep it suppressed, it would attack him.

But now that he controlled his new beast flame’s rune, the beast flame had now essentially accepted Long Chen as its master and wouldn’t resist him at all.

As for his control over the power and rhythm of the flame, naturally it was now completely smooth and effortless.

Long Chen even praised himself a bit inside. This kind of crazy accomplishment was something only a genius could have thought of. But of course, only if that crazy idea paid off would that person be a genius. If they failed, then they would be called madmen.

So in this world, geniuses and madmen were all cut from the same cloth. They were only differentiated by their luck.

Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu were quietly watching. This was the first time they had ever seen someone refine pills.

That was because alchemists didn’t like to have others around them when refining. One reason was because they were afraid of being disturbed, but the other was because they were afraid of others secretly learning their techniques.

Long Chen of course didn’t care about that last one in the slightest. He was completely focused, slowly warming the furnace. That was an extremely fundamental step. If the furnace wasn’t gradually heated up, at the final moment there was the danger of a furnace explosion. Heating it up first would also extend the pill furnace’s lifespan.

Once the pill furnace’s temperature rose to the right level, Long Chen began to throw in the medicinal ingredients. Controlling the flame, he refined out their pure essence.

This part was very dependent on skill. The strength of the flame had to be just right, and the alchemist also had to be experienced and knowledgeable about the heat required by the medicinal ingredients.

If the flame was too weak, it would require a longer time to refine. But more importantly, part of the essence would be lost due to that extended time.

And of course if the flame was too strong and surpassed the medicinal ingredient’s heat limit, it would immediately turn to ashes and your work would have been for nothing.

But all that was nothing to Long Chen who possessed a Pill God’s memories. When it came to knowledge of the critical temperatures of medicinal ingredients, there was no one in this world who surpassed him.

Now that he controlled the Flame Salamander’s beast flame’s rune, this blue flame was no different at all to his core flame. With his powerful Spiritual Strength, he could control it down to the finest detail.

His refining speed was extremely fast. After refining a couple of the medicinal ingredients into powder, he told Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu to take out a clean piece of glazed paper and placed the medicinal powders on top of it.

Once they cooled off, he gave them specific proportions to split them into and to them wrap them up.

As they carefully followed his instructions, he refined the second set of medicinal ingredients.

They had only just accomplished his task when he finished refining the second set.

He had them keep this set of medicinal ingredients separate from the rest and to wrap them up as well. This repeated itself seven times before Long Chen finished refining all the medicinal ingredients. Long Chen was still completely fine, but it was actually Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu who were sweating.

That was because they were too nervous. After all, these were medicinal pills, and the slightest mistake would cause failure. And so they had to be extremely careful and meticulous.

“Okay, I’ve finished the refinement part. Now there are seven sets of medicinal powders. Pour each set into the pill furnace in accordance to the order they were refined. As for the timing, wait for my signal. I’m going to continue,” said Long Chen.

“Wait a moment Long Chen!” exclaimed Tang Wan-er.

“What?”

“I’m too nervous,” Tang Wan-er said with some embarrassment. She was afraid to make a mistake.

Long Chen laughed, “What are you worried about? Even if it fails, it’ll be my responsibility. Just treat it as how you played house as a child.”

Hearing Long Chen laugh, Tang Wan-er relaxed quite a bit. Looking at the small ball of medicine in her hand, she saw it really was just like a small ball of sand she used to play with.

A flame burst into existence in his hand. Terrifying heat soared out as he placed it into his pill furnace.

“I’m starting. Release the first bundle.”

Tang Wan-er nodded and carefully poured the medicinal powders into the pill furnace. As Long Chen’s flame energy circulated, those powders began to coalesce, becoming a whole, liquid entity. It was extremely mystical.

What she didn’t know was that those ‘powders’ weren’t really powders, but the essences of the medicinal ingredients.

Long Chen was entirely focused on the pill furnace. He was extremely solemn. This was the first time he was attempting to refine a third tier medicinal pill. Although he knew the pill formula, he had no experience in it. He couldn’t be the slightest bit careless.

Even stronger pill cultivators couldn’t keep a one hundred percent success rate, let alone Long Chen who was refining it for the first time.

Looking at the completely focused Long Chen, Tang Wan-er was a bit bewitched. This Long Chen was exceptionally attractive. He was much more reliable and steady than he was normally when he was a mischievous rascal.

“Next.”

Long Chen’s light voice gave Tang Wan-er a fright. Her mind had wandered away. Luckily there was Qing Yu to the side who was prepared. She quickly released the second set of medicinal powders into the pill furnace.

Tang Wan-er blushed, looking at Qing Yu apologetically. But Qing Yu only winked at her without the slightest bit of rebuke.

Now her face turned even redder. Hastily dispelling her distracting thoughts, she focused completely on Long Chen’s pill furnace, not daring to even look at Long Chen’s face again.

The main reason Long Chen had had Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu remain behind was because he wanted to focus completely on controlling his flame and keeping track of the changes in the medicinal powders.

If he had to place the medicinal ingredients himself, that would split his attention. While concocting medicinal pills, the slightest mistake could result in failure.

This medicinal pill was something that concerned the fate of the entire faction. He definitely couldn’t make a mistake. He had used the faction’s points for his own use, which he was definitely apologetic for. He had to succeed in his refinement.

Time passed by unconsciously. Two hours later, all seven sets of medicinal powders had been thrown into the pill furnace. Long Chen had already sealed the furnace and begun increasing the flame strength.

The blue flame twisted and danced. A faintly discernible rune appeared within it. The room’s temperature began to quickly rise.

Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu seemed to not feel that terrifying heat, looking at the blue flame seedling in Long Chen’s hands with shock.

“Rune?!”

Tang Wan-er was the most shocked. Previously she had let Long Chen examine her own rune, and she had also seen him attempt to summon out his own rune. Unfortunately he had failed.

At that time she had thought Long Chen was just trying out a crazy idea. He really was a madman. Without a bloodline inheritance, how could he possible condense a rune?

But now the Pill Flame in his hand had changed color and a rune had appeared in it. Although that rune wasn’t very clear, she could clearly sense the runic power.

As someone who also possessed her own runic power, Tang Wan-er knew that it wasn’t clear only because Long Chen wasn’t activating the rune to its full strength, not that he didn’t have enough control over it.

And it was precisely because she understood that that she was so shocked. She practically couldn’t believe it. She didn’t seem to recall anyone in history ever having done as he had.

“How is it? Don’t you think the taste would be pretty good if I used such a flame to cook fish?” Although Long Chen was chatting lightly, he was clearly extremely pleased with himself.

“Where did you get this flame?” asked Tang Wan-er.

“I stole it.”

Long Chen knew that the situation within the pill furnace had already stabilized. He no longer needed to focus so intensely on it.

Tang Wan-er stared at him. She knew this fellow barely said one or two truths in his nonsense.

But she also knew it wasn’t necessary for her to get to the bottom of this. After all, powerful techniques were the life preserving measures of cultivators. Cultivators wouldn’t just randomly demand techniques from others. That was an absolute taboo.

He knew she had some apprehensions about this flame, and so he was just about to tell her where he had obtained this beast flame when the furnace began to shake intensely.

“The pills are about to be condensed.” Long Chen slowly increased his flame strength, and his right hand covered the lid.

BOOM BOOM BOOM…

Terrifying energy circulated within the pill furnace. It was like there was a berserk hurricane within.

“This is a sign the pills are about to form. All the medicinal liquid has been concentrated together. Under the powerful urging of the flame, it will almost come to life, automatically separating into several small balls.

“Each small ball will crazily whirl around the pill furnace, absorbing spiritual qi from the surroundings. It will form an outer layer with all the essence collected inside.

“Their shapes are originally not at all completely circular, but after experiencing that crazy whirling, they end up becoming the standard pill shape.

“This entire process is just like the maturation of an embryo, extremely miraculous to an inconceivable level,” Long Chen explained to the two of them when he saw how curious they were.

Although Long Chen knew all the principles of refining pills, he still possessed a profound respect for alchemy. It was a kind of divine technique, an art that could change something trash into something miraculous.

BOOM!

After a final intense explosion, the furnace returned to calm. Long Chen lifted the furnace lid.

A dense pill fragrance filled the immortal cave. Nine pearl-like medicinal pills quietly lay within the furnace.

“Heavens, a pill halo. There are high grade medicinal pills, and five of them!” exclaimed Tang Wan-er.

Long Chen had also not expected this. After all, this was his first attempt at this. Originally he had been thinking that just one high grade medicinal pill would have been pretty good, but there were actually five.

After just a moment, Long Chen realized that that was the effect of the spirit stone formation. It appeared its effect was even greater than he had imagined.

“Look Long Chen! There are five high grade Tendon Firming Pills and the rest all have pill lines, marking them as middle grade. You really are too amazing Long Chen!” Tang Wan-er held the medicinal pills, an excited smile blooming on her face.

“Ugh, I really am getting rusty. I remember I could refine such medicinal pills with my eyes closed, and they were all high grade,” sighed Long Chen. He shook his head dejectedly.

Tang Wan-er was first startled, but then she immediately rolled her eyes, no longer bothering with Long Chen. She adoringly looked at those Tendon Firming Pills with delight.

With that experience, Long Chen had already learned all the important moments to control his flame. The second furnace was refined much faster, requiring only just a quarter hour.

What caused Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu to be stupefied was that this time light shining out this time was even stronger. The nine pearl-like medicinal pills inside were actually all high grade Tendon Firming Pills.

When all the medicinal ingredients had been refined, Tang Wan-er simply stared at a table of over one hundred and ten Tendon Firming Pills. She had practically gone stupid.

Long Chen had managed to refine that many medicinal pills without rest. Although he said he could easily refine at least another ten thousand of them, he directly crawled into his blankets and fell into a deep sleep.

After Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu recovered from their shock, they began to distribute those high grade Tendon Firming Pills down. Long Chen only woke up the next day.

Looking at the jade tablet in his hand, a huge, snow-white figure appeared in his mind.

“It’s time to open a spiritual space.”