// 2 extra chapters brought to you thanks to the amazing folks who left reviews on the new story. A big shout out to RockyMasters, Chaos_Order8, Eternaldeity1027, Raj_Vatsal_5122, FroztDouluo, and LordOzzy.
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While countless gazes watched from beyond the secluded courtyard, Xiao Ming had already reached the most critical stage of the refinement.
Droplets of spiritual liquid crowded the fire cauldron like pearls of a hundred different colors, or like dazzling stars scattered across a boundless galaxy.
"Condense!"
Xiao Ming's deep shout rang out, and his hands formed an exceedingly intricate series of seals. They moved so quickly that they left layers of afterimages behind them, while surging Spiritual Strength spread outward like a vast tide.
At the same time, boundless Spiritual Energy swept across the sky and poured madly into the medicinal cauldron. The violent current engulfed every droplet of medicinal liquid in turn, then drove them hard against the mass of golden liquid at the center.
Boom!
A deafening blast erupted from the collision, yet the cauldron did not burst. Under Xiao Ming's exquisite control, each droplet's structure, trajectory, and method of fusion was precise to the smallest detail, without the slightest deviation. They merged into a single pinpoint of light in a strange yet perfect harmony.
The medicinal liquids had completed their fusion. Xiao Ming shifted his hand seals, and the Emperor Flame enveloped them once more.
Within its embrace, the surging liquid energy inside the cauldron dissolved with startling speed. At the heart of that fused essence, a tiny point of light gradually emerged.
It was the embryonic pill!
The instant it appeared, a hurricane of Spiritual Energy rushed toward the fire cauldron without pause and eventually formed a vortex of mist-like Spiritual Energy. Brilliant light flooded the cauldron, and the embryonic pill grew steadily more solid.
Two hours later, the vortex above the courtyard abruptly stilled and slowly dissipated. In its place, terrifying Spiritual Energy fluctuations began to radiate from the fire cauldron.
Rumble!
The moment those fluctuations appeared, dense black clouds swallowed the previously clear sky. They shrouded the whole of Merchant City and extended endlessly beyond it, with no edge in sight.
Black lightning carrying destructive power raced through the cloudbanks. Deep thunder rolled overhead, and horror spread across countless faces throughout Merchant City.
None of them had ever witnessed such terrifying Pill Lightning.
Xiao Ming raised his head and studied the black lightning filling the sky. He snapped his sleeve, and the fire cauldron's lid flew open on its own. An almost tangible medicinal fragrance swept outward, so rich that not even Qing Yanjing's Spiritual Array could contain it. After all, she had yet to recover her full strength, and the array she had established was not particularly high-level.
Eventually, the fragrance condensed into beads of many different colors. They fell densely from above, forming a magnificent rain of pills!
The miraculous sight made the hearts of countless alchemists throughout Merchant City tremble uncontrollably!
At some point, Mo Qing had appeared on the street outside the secluded courtyard. The pill rain pattered against his body, and he could barely hold back a cry of astonishment. Only a high-ranking Grandmaster Alchemist stood any chance of producing a pill rain after a successful refinement!
Patter, patter.
The beads poured down and struck the ground with the crisp sound of falling rain. They were not true medicinal pills, yet each one had condensed from exceptionally pure energy, and anyone who consumed them would reap considerable benefits.
Qing Yanjing extended her hand and caught one of the beads. She could not keep the delight from her eyes. Xiao Ming truly had not disappointed her!
The man responsible for it all remained perfectly calm. It was only a pill rain. On the Dou Qi Continent, even a Tier 9 Treasure Pill had a chance of producing one. The requirements appeared considerably higher in the Great Thousand World, but he had refined Di Tier Pills in his time. Why would he be smug over something like this?
Rumble!
Thick storm clouds churned above Merchant City, and black lightning raced through them like frenzied dragons. That fierce heavenly might made many onlookers shrink their necks down, terrified that one of those bolts might descend upon them.
Bang!
While the lightning roiled overhead, the fire cauldron gave a violent shudder. A pillar of light shot straight into the sky, and a glowing sphere could be faintly seen within it.
Under countless watchful gazes, the enormous pillar pierced directly into the thunderclouds. The cloudbanks immediately churned with greater violence. Dense bolts of black lightning wrapped around the pillar like roaring black pythons and bombarded the glowing sphere inside.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The earthshaking assault seemed to shake the entirety of Merchant City. Deafening thunder echoed without pause.
'The power of this Earthen Demon Lightning is comparable to the Pill Lightning I faced while refining the Di-Tier Resurrection Pill on the Dou Qi Continent. The Great Thousand World truly is different. Still, this isn't a bad thing. A baptism by Pill Lightning of such quality will make the pill even more perfect.' Xiao Ming watched with placid eyes while the lightning battered the glowing sphere within the pillar. Rather than shattering, the sphere grew ever more radiant, and fine arcs of black lightning flickered ceaselessly across its surface.
Crack...
The violent bombardment continued for roughly half an hour before it finally began to weaken. At that same moment, a faint cracking sound came from the pillar of light. Everyone watching felt their hearts lurch, and their gazes locked upon it. Cracks multiplied and crawled across the entire pillar.
Another bolt of black lightning tore down from the sky and slammed into its base. The countless cracks burst apart at once, and with a resounding bang, the whole pillar finally exploded...
An astonishing medicinal fragrance spread across the sky the instant it shattered. The scent swirled overhead and condensed into the shapes of countless herbs, a wondrous spectacle that spanned the firmament.
Whoosh!
While the crowd stared spellbound at the phenomenon, a streak of light abruptly flashed into being above them. It raced toward the outskirts of Merchant City like a bolt of lightning, trailing an almost tangible stream of medicinal fragrance behind it.
"That's the newly formed pill!"
"It's trying to escape!"
The entire city erupted into an uproar. Countless figures soared into the air, their burning gazes fixed upon the fleeing light, and naked greed filled their eyes. Few people could remain calm before a Divine Pill capable of summoning Earthen Demon Lightning.
Before any of them could act, however, a vast surge of Spiritual Strength swept past them all and slammed into the streak of light. The radiance surrounding it scattered, revealing its true form. It was a golden, glass-like pill the size of a dragon's eye, wreathed in a dense medicinal fragrance.
Having stripped the pill down to its true form, the Spiritual Strength swiftly withdrew into the secluded courtyard.
The pill fell with it and landed in Xiao Ming's palm.
Outside the courtyard, everyone felt strangely bereft once the pill vanished from sight, as though hundreds of millions of drops of Sovereign Spiritual Liquid had just slipped through their fingers.
In truth, their feelings were not far from reality. A medicinal pill of this caliber could easily sell for more than one hundred million drops of Sovereign Spiritual Liquid, perhaps considerably more.
Such an immense temptation left many factions practically salivating, and countless messages spread beyond the city.
After this commotion, even more people set their sights on Xiao Ming and his companions.
The man himself remained entirely unaware of it. He briefly examined the nine patterns on the pill's surface, then turned toward Qing Yanjing and Qing Tan as they approached.
He handed the pill to Qing Yanjing with a smile. "Your luck is quite good. This pill has nine patterns, which makes it the highest quality possible. Take it, and you should recover very soon."
"Hehe, I don't think my luck had anything to do with it. Your alchemical skill is simply too extraordinary." Qing Yanjing smiled and accepted the pill. Its rich fragrance immediately refreshed her mind, and even her injuries showed signs of mending. Pleasant surprise filled her voice. "This is a ninth-grade medicinal pill. It is fully deserving of the title Divine Pill."
The Great Thousand World used a different system from the Dou Qi Continent to classify alchemists, so its medicinal pills were naturally divided into different grades as well.
Medicinal pills in the Great Thousand World had ten grades. The first through fifth corresponded to cultivation levels from the Spiritual Rotation Stage through the Heavenly Completion Stage, and to 1st-rank through 5th-rank alchemists.
Sixth-grade pills corresponded to the Sovereign Stage. Alchemists capable of refining them were divided into Human, Earth, and Heaven Master Alchemists, though all three still belonged within the 6th-rank category.
Seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-grade pills corresponded to the three levels of the Earth Sovereign Stage, and only Grandmaster Alchemists could produce them. Even low-, intermediate-, and high-ranking Grandmasters had poor success rates with pills of their corresponding grade. Worse still, such pills summoned a special Earthen Demon Lightning as they took form, which drove the chance of success down to the barest sliver.
Many people called ninth-grade pills Divine Pills, yet they were not true Divine Pills at all.
Genuine Divine Pills belonged to the tenth grade and could be refined only by Great Grandmaster Alchemists. Like the alchemists capable of creating them, tenth-grade pills were divided into Spirit, Immortal, and Saint Grades.
Ordinary people would never have an opportunity to see pills of that caliber. Only Heavenly Sovereigns ever came into contact with them.
For this reason, and because ninth-grade pills so rarely circulated in the outside world, appearing for the most part only among factions led by Heavenly Sovereigns, the wider world had gradually come to call the ninth grade Divine Pills.
Xiao Ming had long since mastered all of this information. He answered Qing Yanjing's delight with nothing more than a smile. "Put the pill away for now. We have a visitor at the door."