Seeing the hairpin, Ye Xuan’s movements came to a halt. He suddenly thought of Liu Yan—that woman whose state of mind was so peaceful she seemed completely untethered from the mundane world.
"I just hope you can treat Ruoxi a little better, alright?
"I know you definitely harbor resentment toward my sister... If she acts out in the future, I hope you can give her some grace for my sake and not make things too difficult for her.
"Treat her well; she isn’t actually a bad person."
Liu Yan’s voice echoed subconsciously in his mind.
With a frown, Ye Xuan ultimately stood up. "You have a good sister," he muttered softly, ignoring Liu Ruoxi from then on. He closed his eyes and continued to consolidate his cultivation.
On the floor, Liu Ruoxi finally let out a breath of relief.
When facing Ye Xuan just moments ago, she had maintained a haughty expression, refusing to show any fear. But now, her eyes reddened as tears slowly slid down her cheeks. To say she wasn’t afraid was impossible. She just could not understand how things had come to this.
She was the legitimate young lady of the Liu family, the granddaughter of the City Lord. Since childhood, she had been the center of attention, surrounded by people who treated her like the moon surrounded by stars. How had her situation suddenly become so terrible? She had never imagined that she would be pinned to the ground, trampled upon, and humiliated by another person.
Hatred!
The gaze she directed at Ye Xuan brimmed with an unprecedented level of hatred. Liu Ruoxi didn’t just hate Ye Xuan for being a toad lusting after swan meat; she hated him even more for completely dismissing her.
She was a stunning beauty. Even if she couldn’t topple empires with her looks, she possessed a breathtaking elegance that could outshine the moon and put flowers to shame. Yet in the eyes of this country bumpkin, she seemed to be nothing more than a skeleton—a fleeting illusion of flesh and bone.
She would kill him. She definitely would.
Some time later, Liu Ruoxi groggily drifted off to sleep. While sleeping soundly, she began to feel an intense heat surrounding her. She snapped her eyes open.
The first thing that entered her vision was a Pill Furnace. Ye Xuan had his hands placed on it, and Fire Attribute Spiritual Qi flowed through the fire ports and entered the furnace.
"He is... performing Alchemy!" she thought in shock.
Liu Ruoxi’s pupils instantly contracted as she realized what Ye Xuan was doing. Was this country bumpkin also an Alchemy Master? But how could that be possible? The status of an Alchemy Master was incredibly noble. The Liu family also had an Alchemy Master, whose status within the family was second only to her grandfather.
Ye Xuan knew Alchemy? Moreover, he was doing it in such a confined space! This required absolute precision and control over his own Fire Attribute Spiritual Qi. If he made even a single mistake, he could set the entire carriage ablaze. How was this country bumpkin managing it?
As her doubts swirled, Ye Xuan continued providing flames with one hand while forming the Pill Condensation Technique with the other.
THUMP.
A muffled sound echoed. A wafting fragrance of Elixirs soon followed, and thirteen Super Spirit Pills rolled out of the Pill Furnace. Although there were two or three fewer Elixirs than in his previous batches, their quality remained high. Ten were of supreme-grade quality, and three were top-grade.
At this moment, Ye Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. "It seems I can successfully perform Alchemy inside a carriage as well," he muttered.
Truthfully, Ye Xuan hadn’t originally planned to perform Alchemy inside the carriage because the space was far too small. However, he had already consolidated his cultivation and had nothing else to do. Furthermore, he wanted to challenge himself to see if he possessed the ability to precisely control his fire. After all, a powerful Alchemy Master would never be picky about their environment. Some Alchemy Masters could even perform Alchemy right in the palms of their hands, without needing a Pill Furnace at all.
What Ye Xuan lacked right now was Super Spirit Pills. When he broke through to the 5th Layer of the Super Spirit Realm, he had consumed ninety supreme-grade Super Spirit Pills. This meant he only had one hundred and ninety supreme-grade Super Spirit Pills and seventy top-grade ones left on him.
These Super Spirit Pills were nowhere near enough. Given his rate of consumption, his next cultivation advancement would require two hundred and seventy Super Spirit Pills. The one after that would require eight hundred and ten!
This was an absolutely terrifying number. And this was only for breaking through from the 5th Layer to the sixth. If he wanted to break through from the eighth layer to the 9th Layer, or even push his 9th Layer cultivation to the peak to charge toward the next major realm, wouldn’t he need over twenty thousand supreme-grade Super Spirit Pills?
This consumption rate was just as heaven-defying as his talent.
Did this have something to do with cultivating the Divine-Demonic Overlord Body? Had his Divine-Demonic Overlord Body mutated because of the Dragon Blood? Logically speaking, the Divine-Demonic Overlord Body was only supposed to slowly enhance a person’s physical strength, eventually bringing their physical power to a level equivalent to their Spiritual Energy Cultivation.
But Ye Xuan discovered that every time he advanced his cultivation, his physical strength would also increase. His physical strength seemed to progress in perfect tandem with his cultivation. In other words, every time he advanced, the energy from the Super Spirit Pills wasn’t just used to crash open his Hidden Veins; it was also used to enhance his physical body and expand his Sea of Consciousness.
"The Dragon Capturing Cauldron!"
Ye Xuan understood now. This was likely another function of the Dragon Capturing Cauldron. It was its Mysterious Power that caused Ye Xuan to consume such a colossal amount of resources. He was undergoing a comprehensive evolution. Whether it was his physical body, his Spiritual Energy Cultivation, or his Divine Sense, all of them were steadily growing stronger alongside his cultivation level.
Fortunately, the Dragon Capturing Cauldron also allowed him to fully absorb the power of Beast Pills. Otherwise, where would he find enough Spirit Medicine to perform Alchemy? The advantage of being able to absorb one hundred percent of a Beast Pill’s power was now exceptionally crucial. He wondered when the Gongsun Family’s Secret Realm would open. The Beasts inside would definitely be perfect for him.
Shaking his head to dispel his thoughts, Ye Xuan resumed performing Alchemy.
From the Forbidden Area, he had obtained three Smiling Flowers and five stalks of Starry Night Grass. Converted into raw materials, this amounted to one hundred and six portions. They should yield roughly one thousand six hundred Super Spirit Pills. This meant all this Spirit Medicine would at most elevate his cultivation by two layers.
He decided to settle for two layers. Even though the consumption was huge, at least he was still improving.
Ye Xuan continued performing Alchemy. His speed steadily increased, and the time required for each batch grew shorter and shorter. Now, he only needed an hour to refine a batch of Super Spirit Pills. However, this was his absolute limit. It was impossible to save any more time unless the potency of his Fire Attribute Spiritual Qi received an upgrade.
Off to the side, Liu Ruoxi was completely stunned. "He really is an Alchemy Master! And every single furnace has been a success! Is his success rate one hundred percent?" she thought.
Even the Alchemy Master of the Liu family didn’t have a high success rate—he could only manage around sixty percent. But Ye Xuan’s rate was one hundred percent. She hadn’t seen him fail at Alchemy a single time.
Liu Ruoxi suddenly recalled her sister’s words.
"Your fiancé is also a genius—no, he is a Demon."
Was Ye Xuan really a Demon?
No!
He might know Alchemy, but he was probably just refining the lowest-tier mortal-grade Elixirs. Mortal-grade Elixirs had the lowest requirements, which was why he could achieve a one hundred percent success rate. Yes, that had to be it.
People were largely like this. They only believed what they wanted to believe.
As time flowed on, sixty-eight hours passed, and Ye Xuan refined one thousand and twenty Super Spirit Pills. Including the remaining one hundred and ninety, he now had exactly one thousand and eighty supreme-grade pills. Including his previous leftovers, he had exactly two hundred top-grade pills.
"These Super Spirit Pills should be enough to raise my cultivation by two layers. I still have two stalks of Starry Night Grass left, so I’ll stop performing Alchemy for now and focus on advancing my cultivation," he murmured.
Ye Xuan put away the Pill Furnace and cast a glance at Liu Ruoxi beside him. She was lying on the floor, asleep once again. Watching him perform Alchemy over the past few days seemed to have worn her out.
Shaking his head, Ye Xuan sat cross-legged on his seat and began to charge at his sixth Great River Vein.