Chapter 134: Dual-Purpose Intent

Che Wuyou frowned as he looked at the seventy-odd medicinal herbs in his hands. With no cauldron readily available, and the pill he needed to refine being of the superlative Yellow tier, how on earth was he supposed to proceed?

Suddenly, with a hardened resolve, he violently flung all seventy-odd herbs out beyond his protective barrier of true essence. This action caused Yun Fan, standing close by, to leap in startlement. Fortunately, Yun Fan knew this was the critical moment; even though he felt an immense pang of reluctance, he refrained from speaking out to disturb him.

The moment Che Wuyou cast out the herbs, before they could even hit the ground, his formidable third-tier spiritual sense surged directly outward. This was his first time attempting to refine pills using the ancient method. Legend had it that the pioneers of alchemy—those alchemists of overwhelming might—would form pills directly in mid-air or right in the palm of their hands. However, such an alchemical technique required the practitioner to be exceptionally powerful and profoundly confident, as the failure rate of this method was truly staggering. Yet, under the present circumstances, Che Wuyou had no other choice and could only attempt it.

A formidable third-tier spiritual sense at Che Wuyou’s age was absolute rarity. In the small room, Li Muqiu and Mu Chen also stared intently at the seemingly foolish youth. What was he trying to do? Was he actually planning to refine pills this way? But how could that possibly work?

Throughout the vast ancient sect of Green Pond, those with such alchemical capability could be counted on one's fingers. Although Green Pond was never renowned for alchemy, this nonetheless demonstrated just how arduous it was to form pills in mid-air—unless the pill being refined was below the superlative Yellow tier, which was an entirely different matter. Anyone with even a slight understanding of the alchemical arts could see that the pill this youth was attempting to refine was clearly a Three-Star Pill, an authentic superlative Yellow tier pill reputed to be truly controllable only by a Tier 2 alchemist.

"Such an arrogant little brat, actually attempting to form pills in mid-air, and even trying to make a second-tier pill like the Three-Star Pill... Truly too arrogant, too absurd, too ignorant." Elder Danqing, who had always maintained the detached air of an immortal, abruptly left his seat and cursed angrily. Realizing that many of the elders in the grand hall were turning to look at him, he let out a cold snort and sat back down in his place.

Yet he still muttered angrily, "A wet-behind-the-ears child, is this even alchemy? This is practically an insult to alchemy, an insult to the entire alchemical realm. This old man has practiced alchemy for hundreds of years, and I have never encountered such a madman." Hearing Elder Danqing's huffing and puffing complaints, the gathered elders could not help but shake their heads, yet deep down they largely agreed with his words. Alchemy was no laughing matter; one misstep, and one would likely be consumed by a backlash of alchemical fire, resulting in the complete destruction of both body and soul.

Towering Heaven Pagoda.

As Che Wuyou swept up all the medicinal herbs with his spiritual sense, he could not help feeling a wave of relief. The first step was a success. This was his very first time manipulating physical objects with his spiritual sense; previously, he had only ever used his spiritual sense to control flames or spiritual energy. Fortunately, the heavens had not let him down.

Feeling the steadily rising temperature around him, Che Wuyou knew the flames were continuing to intensify. Fortunately, he was still some distance from the center of the pillar of energetic light, or he would likely have been instantly reduced to ashes by the fire. He truly had no idea how those freaks had managed to successfully clear the trials.

Che Wuyou shook his head, carefully observing the changing state of the herbs outside. Suddenly, his expression changed drastically. Not good! Although the external temperature was already high enough for his own comfort, it was still clearly insufficient to refine a superlative-tier pill like the Three-Star Pill. Realizing this situation, Che Wuyou broke out in a cold sweat. What should he do? Should he manipulate the flames to gather more earth-fire? Yet at the current temperature, his true essence barrier was already on the verge of failing. If he gathered even more flames, he would likely burn himself to death.

The more Che Wuyou thought about it, the more anxious he became, to the point that the seventy-odd herbs he was manipulating began to bob up and down erratically, appearing as though they were about to slip out of his control. In the grand hall of the Sword-Quest Pavilion, the gathered elders were dumbfounded. Judging by the way this foolish kid had initially handled the herbs, his spiritual sense was clearly exceptionally profound; yet now, how could he even fail to control the medicinal herbs? How was he supposed to continue refining? Elder Danqing, meanwhile, sneered repeatedly, hurling endless curses of "yellow-bearded child."

Che Wuyou forced himself to calm down, but how could he remain calm when faced with such a thorny problem? Suddenly, he gritted his teeth, a trace of decisiveness flashing across his face. Screw it! Since the temperature wasn't high enough, he would heat it up himself! Once he made his decision, he instead felt a long breath of relief. As his spiritual sense surged and rolled continuously, the steadily rising external temperature flared up abruptly, like adding oil to a fire. Wisps of hidden dark flames began to churn incessantly, flickering so violently that they could even be seen with the naked eye.

With a sharp ripping sound, Che Wuyou’s true essence barrier was torn directly to shreds by the blazing inferno, bursting like a bubble.

With his eyes closed, Che Wuyou had long since forgotten everything, entering a state where both self and surroundings were transcended. He now knew only that he had to succeed in refining the pill, otherwise none of them would survive. Suddenly, feeling the surrounding temperature spike drastically, he subconsciously split off a strand of spiritual sense to wander around himself and his companions. As this strand of spiritual sense continuously swept about, the flames around them seemed to be hollowed out, rushing together toward the direction of the herbs.

While wholeheartedly controlling the temperature of the herbs, Che Wuyou used his other strand of spiritual sense to continuously draw in the surrounding flames, pulling them ever closer to the medicinal ingredients. As time went on, even more surrounding flames were drawn in, eventually creating a momentum where the fire all around radiated continuously toward him and his group as the center.

Sensing everything around him, Che Wuyou imperceptibly frowned. He had still underestimated the difficulty of refining a Three-Star Pill; it truly lived up to its reputation as a superlative Yellow-tier pill. Even though he had gathered such intense flames, it was still far from enough. If he had an alchemical cauldron, perhaps these flames would have already been sufficient, Che Wuyou thought to himself. Without a cauldron to concentrate the fire, although the flames he had gathered were already numerous enough, they still failed to reach the temperature required by the Three-Star Pill.

Never mind all that for now, he would take another gamble! Controlling the separated strand of spiritual sense, Che Wuyou made it sweep rapidly around the perimeter, faintly forming a vortex of spiritual sense. One must understand that many alchemists found it extremely difficult even to split their spiritual sense, yet Che Wuyou was not only capable of simultaneously controlling two strands of spiritual sense, but he had also managed to manipulate them into such a high-difficulty vortex.

This was partly due to his possession of such a powerful spiritual sense, and partly related to his experience with "dual-purpose intent" back in the Miao family. During his time with the Miao family, he had been able to simultaneously direct two streams of spiritual energy into his meridians for body tempering. At the time, he had been fearless out of sheer ignorance, but having used this method with great proficiency over the past few years, exercising "dual-purpose intent" to simultaneously control two strands of spiritual sense posed very little pressure on him now.