Chapter 104: Alchemy

“Sorry about this.” As the mental energy swept over Elder Zhao’s departing figure, Liu Pan silently uttered the words in his heart, then abruptly turned and headed toward the deep underground passage shielded by the formation array.

Though Liu Pan had never formally studied formation arrays, many concepts came naturally to someone who had contemplated their design, much like his previous experience with fire-based alchemy—he lacked formal training but only needed practice to master it.

The formation was a mere third-grade shielding array, a protective formation designed to block access. To break it, one must either forcefully break through or locate the formation’s core and remove its flag.

Liu Pan had no intention of brute forcing it. Although with his current skills he could have shattered a third-grade protective formation, this was Elder Zhao’s territory. He only wished to see if there were any alchemical texts or prescriptions inside. Violent disruption would be unwise, especially since he lacked the ability to restore a damaged formation afterward.

The passage looked ordinary, revealing no trace of the formation to the naked eye. At its end stood a wooden door clearly visible. Anyone without mental energy or spiritual insight would surely collide with it.

Without wasting time testing the formation’s effects, Liu Pan swept his mental energy directly into it.

After about fifteen minutes, he discerned a clue. After a moment’s thought, he withdrew a long sword from his storage pouch and casually tossed it. The sword soared, entering the formation from a very particular angle.

The passage remained empty as the sword weaved left and right in midair, altering its direction frequently. After another seven or eight minutes, the sword reached an unremarkable spot in the lower left corner of the passage. At Liu Pan’s thought, the sword pierced the ground and lifted slightly.

With this movement, several silent formation flags materialized in the empty corridor, and at the sword’s tip appeared a flag of a different color—the formation’s core.

Liu Pan exhaled, feeling this method of breaking the formation was needlessly complicated—far more laborious than simply forcing it open.

Stepping forward without obstruction, he reached the location of the sword.

He casually picked up the sword and the flags, then tidied the ground slightly before proceeding to the passage’s end and opening the wooden door.

The room beyond was sparse—apart from a white jade stone bed and a few shelves, there was nothing else.

On the shelves lay books, medicinal herbs, and various jars and bottles.

Liu Pan wasted no time. Having already detected what he sought with his mental energy after breaking the formation, he hurried to the shelf holding the books and grabbed one to leaf through.

These books recorded alchemical prescriptions and detailed precautions for refining those pills. Liu Pan had no time to absorb the fine points; he scanned the prescriptions at a rapid pace, barely reading the first few pages of each.

Soon, he finished reviewing all the books containing prescriptions. Without hesitation, he left the room.

He closed the door behind him, and once outside the passage, waved his hand. The formation flag he had removed earlier returned precisely to its original position and vanished, restoring everything to its initial state.

A day later, Liu Pan created an excuse through his actions to leave Cangyun Peak and returned to the inconspicuous courtyard in the southeast corner of Yunliu City to begin a secluded alchemical retreat.

At first, Xu Xiaozhan found Liu Pan’s pill refining amusing, then shocking, and eventually numbed to it. He also noticed something else: Liu Pan’s mental energy was astonishingly strong. Refining pills day and night without pause, he showed no signs of fatigue.

“Those at the ‘Extreme’ level are all freaks,” Xu Xiaozhan thought, reaffirming his belief, then subconsciously shifted his focus to commerce. The goal of “World Domination” still seemed distant, but every time he saw Liu Pan and recalled his earlier encouragement, the goal, though far, no longer seemed unattainable.

Five days later, in the basement, Liu Pan’s eyes were bloodshot, but his spirit remained high.

The alchemy furnace before him hummed as various medicinal energies fully integrated, reaching the final stage of pill condensation. If Elder Zhao were present, he would be stunned to discover Liu Pan was refining the highest-grade pill recorded in the books from his own room—the Jade Orchid Pill.

The Jade Orchid Pill was a remarkable concoction, capable of forcibly raising a cultivator’s level by a small step without any side effects. It was suitable for cultivators of King of Martial Realm rank or below.

For those who had perfected the King of Martial Realm, taking the Jade Orchid Pill wouldn’t guarantee an immediate breakthrough to Martial Emperor, but it significantly increased the odds of achieving it. It was the coveted pill all cultivators beneath the King of Martial Realm dreamt of.

Of course, its effects were not endless; the first pill could forcibly raise one’s level slightly, but subsequent pills had little impact. Therefore, most cultivators saved the Jade Orchid Pill until reaching the peak of King of Martial Realm to maximize their breakthrough chances.

After five days without rest, Liu Pan did not know how many batches of pills he had refined, but his mental state was exceptionally energized. The Jade Orchid Pill was a top-tier earthly-grade primal pill. Successfully refining it meant his alchemical cultivation had advanced, allowing him to attempt lower-grade heavenly pills next.

At the basement exit, Xu Xiaozhan was utterly silent, eyes fixed on Liu Pan and the alchemy furnace. After days of observing Liu Pan’s actions, Xu Xiaozhan was finally resigned—it was the only word to describe his feelings: surrender. He had no choice but to admire him.

At the end of the day, Xu Xiaozhan was the only witness to Liu Pan’s alchemical growth.

In just five days, Liu Pan progressed from refining low-grade earthly primal pills to the highest-grade earthly primal pills. His alchemical cultivation had now surpassed Elder Zhao’s, earning him the title of a top-tier grand alchemist.

Such growth would surely astonish many if revealed outside.

Naturally, Liu Pan’s rapid progress owed much to Xu Xiaozhan’s assistance. Over these days, Xu had constantly delivered medicinal materials to the basement. According to Xu Xiaozhan, he had secretly gathered all the herbs stored by the Xu family, even buying up materials from neighboring towns in secret.

As for Xu family head Xu Yangfeng, he initially rejected these demands outright. Though Liu Pan had saved the entire Xu family, these requests were somewhat excessive.

However, after Xu Xiaozhan subtly revealed some information and handed Xu Yangfeng several white jade porcelain bottles filled with pills, all opposition vanished.

At the same time, Xu Yangfeng realized that the Xu family had truly met an extraordinary individual. Coupled with Xu Xiaozhan’s recent cultivation improvements, Xu Yangfeng knew his initial hopes had come true—Xu Xiaozhan’s future would never be confined to this small Yunliu City.

(To be continued.)