C13 Blood Sacrifice Pill Furnace!

"Senior Brother Gao Chuan has all his medicinal ingredients ready, but what's Loong Jiaoyang up to, clutching that ceramic Pill Refining Furnace all this time?" someone wondered aloud.

Loong Jiaoyang was keeping his technique under wraps, careful not to reveal that he had altered the Pill Fire Formation.

"How could you possibly concoct a Spirit Gathering Pill with a ceramic Pill Refining Furnace? I bet Loong Jiaoyang is deliberately biding his time. If Senior Brother Gao Chuan's attempt fails, he could still end up on equal footing. That way, he wouldn't be defeated."

"The analysis from our fellow disciple isn't off the mark. Loong Jiaoyang's only option now is to hope that Senior Brother Gao Chuan doesn't succeed in his refinement."

The chatter among the disciples reached Guo Liangren, bringing a hint of color back to his ashen face. He reassured himself, "So, Loong Jiaoyang intends to play the waiting game. Sigh, my resolve isn't too shabby after all. I've been fretting over nothing for far too long."

Loong Jiaoyang, of course, overheard their conversations but remained silent. The strategy he was about to employ was far riskier than simply playing for time. Besides, he was not the type to sit back and hope for his rival's downfall as a means to negotiate a truce.

Against a foe as ferocious and sly as Gao Chuan, Loong Jiaoyang had no choice but to give it his all and fight with a do-or-die attitude!

Once Loong Jiaoyang completed the modifications, he channeled the power of the Li Fire into the base of the earthenware furnace. The Li Fire ignited the existing Pill Fire Formation before merging into the three pill fire channels that Loong Jiaoyang had carved out himself. The once steady and mild Li Fire transformed into three vigorous flames.

"I'm still too inexperienced; I've only managed to complete a third of the Flowing Pill Fire Array," Loong Jiaoyang murmured with a tinge of bitterness.

Any other alchemist overhearing this would be utterly astonished, as it's rare for anyone to modify a Pill Fire Array within a furnace. Even high-level alchemists would hesitate to do so, knowing that tampering with the array could lead to a higher chance of failure and potentially cause the furnace to explode.

Loong Jiaoyang, with his current level of cultivation, had managed to alter the pill fire array in a Pill Refining Furnace. Such a feat, if it became known, would surely send shockwaves throughout the realm.

"Even though the Flowful Pill Fire Array isn't complete, it's sufficient for making Spirit Gathering Pills. Let's join forces with this humble earthenware furnace and strive to produce a batch of Spirit Gathering Pills!" Loong Jiaoyang murmured to the furnace before swiftly processing the pill ingredients. From the eighteen required for a Spirit Gathering Pill, he selected only nine.

"Look, Loong Jiaoyang has set aside the Pill Refining Furnace and is getting to work. It seems he's only prepared half of the medicinal ingredients, discarding the rest..." Someone observed Loong Jiaoyang's meticulous actions.

"Has Loong Jiaoyang completely given up? Without all the ingredients, how can he possibly succeed in refining the Spirit Gathering Pill?"

"In such a predicament, what else is there to do but give up? Do you really expect a cracked earthenware furnace to produce a second-grade Medicine Pill?"

"After today, this man who dares call himself a 'saintess' will be crippled and expelled from the Profound Girl Sect. The mere thought brings joy."

"Watch your tongue. If the Saint Lady hears you, she'll rip your mouth to shreds."

...

Loong Jiaoyang was far from surrendering his attempt to refine the Spirit Gathering Pill; instead, he had revised the recipe. He planned to use the Pill Devil's enhanced formula from his mind, a strategy to save a significant amount of time and swiftly complete the refinement process.

The original recipe, with its eighteen ingredients, would take no less than an hour to produce a Spirit Gathering Pill—a duration the earthenware furnace in Loong Jiaoyang's hands could not withstand.

Ming!

The sound of a bird's call echoed. Gao Chuan was surrounded by eight trigrams, and above him, the Vermilion Bird Divine Beast materialized to the size of a human head. As a cultivator in the Middle Period of the Earth Stage, Gao Chuan wouldn't face any issues with spiritual energy when refining Spirit Gathering Pills, a realization that weighed heavily on Loong Jiaoyang's heart.

Hoping for Gao Chuan to fail at pill refining was a long shot. Loong Jiaoyang's only chance to emerge victorious from this life-or-death alchemist showdown was to successfully refine the Spirit Gathering Pill himself.

With a steadied heart, Loong Jiaoyang shut out all external noise. He fired up the earthenware Pill Refining Furnace, its flames dancing to the rhythm of the Pill Fire Array, and commenced the delicate process of crafting the Spirit Gathering Pill.

"The competition's on. Loong Jiaoyang is actually using just half the usual amount of herbs. Senior Brother Gao Chuan has this in the bag," someone declared upon witnessing the start of the pill refinement.

"That fool, he won't be so smug once his hands are useless," sneered the envious onlookers with venom in their words.

"Fellow Daoist Loong Jiaoyang, what's your game? Weren't you planning to bide your time, hoping Gao Chuan would mess up?" Guo Liangren's heart was pounding in his chest!

...

Loong Jiaoyang was now completely absorbed in his task, tuning out the world as he meticulously added each herb to the furnace in turn.

"First fire to break down the ingredients, second fire to gather their essence, third fire to shape the pill..." Once the lid was secured, Loong Jiaoyang poured his energy into the Pill Fire Formation. Employing the nine levels of the Ancient Pill Technique, he focused on the three fire stages essential for refining the Medicine Pill.

A second-grade Medicine Pill needed just a three-stage fire technique to materialize. At the moment of completion, Loong Jiaoyang flung open the furnace lid and bellowed, "Surge like fire, transform like divinity!"

Four azure Medicine Pills materialized at the base of the furnace. As Loong Jiaoyang lifted the lid, the Pill Fire Array inside furiously whisked the pills into motion. Strands of energy swirled around them, drawing in the boundless spiritual energy from the surroundings, which illuminated the looping lines etched upon the pills.

In that critical instant, the Pill Refining Furnace in Loong Jiaoyang's grasp began to tremble uncontrollably. Tiny fissures widened ominously—a harbinger of an imminent explosion.

"Offer the blood to the furnace, and the pill shall crack!" Loong Jiaoyang bit into his finger, smearing his blood onto the fissure of the earthenware pill furnace. Miraculously, the furnace that was on the brink of shattering absorbed Loong Jiaoyang's blood and held together, defying an immediate explosion.

Yet, in that instant, Loong Jiaoyang's heart throbbed with excruciating pain—a rare technique that created a sympathetic bond between the alchemist and the furnace. While any alchemist could attempt this arcane method, only a handful could endure the heart-wrenching pain and continue crafting Medicine Pills.

The peril Loong Jiaoyang faced, coupled with his use of the Blood Sacrifice Technique, left the onlookers in awed silence.

They had anticipated Loong Jiaoyang's imminent failure, dismissing his efforts as mere spectacle. However, when he lifted the lid of the Pill Refining Furnace, the sudden surge of spiritual energy from heaven and earth suggested otherwise.

It appeared that the Spirit Gathering Pill was indeed taking shape within the confines of Loong Jiaoyang's modest earthenware furnace. Regrettably, the simple furnace was ill-equipped to contain the potent essence of the Spirit Gathering Pill and teetered on the edge of destruction.

"Could Loong Jiaoyang truly succeed in refining a Spirit Gathering Pill?" someone whispered incredulously.

"He won't make it; the earthenware furnace is about to blow," another observer remarked coldly.

"The fault lies with the inadequate Pill Refining Furnace, not with Loong Jiaoyang's skills. He truly possesses exceptional talent," a third person commented, full of admiration.