Divine Emperor of Death

"Master, there is also another ranking method in Alchemy that apparently became outdated in the eyes of these alchemists, but if I use it, it would be easier to explain."

Realizing that it was asking his permission so as to not come off as condescending, Davis blinked in shock before he nodded his head as though he was thoroughly impressed.

"Go ahead."

The Profound Tyrant Veined Cauldron bounced its body while floating, behaving human-like.

"Originally, the pills that were concocted were divided into ranks, from rank one to rank ten pills. However, they later became known as Crude Tier, Normal Tier, Advanced Tier, and Perfect-Tier Pills. If we compare the new types to the old ranks, Crude Tier would be considered as rank one and rank two pills, and Normal Tier would be considered as rank three to rank six pills, while Advanced Tier would range from rank seven to rank nine."

"Finally, the Perfect Tier Pill, which is clear of even the slightest flaw, was known as a rank ten pill. However, this ranking didn't end there because there was another type of pill that attracted a pill tribulation. It was called the Ascended Tier Pill."

Davis's brows widened before he understandingly nodded.

"So this Ascended Tier Pill was called a rank eleven pill?"

"Yes, but a pill could only reach rank ten from our concoction as that's the limit of perfection. External methods were always involved in creating a rank eleven pill. If I'm not wrong, master's pill was rank nine originally, but after being baptized by this strange method master used, it had reached rank eleven and encountered Pill Tribulation."

Davis nodded again.

He didn't take the first Advanced Tier Pill he made but the best from the third batch. Otherwise, that Advanced Tier Pill would've only been considered rank seven or so, and he would've ended up wasting karmic virtue if it could only increase two levels, but who knows? The distribution of rising in rank could always be relative as long as the pill is weaker or stronger.

After all, a pill full of flaws like a rank one pill, no matter how much karmic virtue is imbued, should still be trash, while a pill with less or few flaws has room to strengthen itself.

Davis felt that he needed to experiment more on it to know, but karmic nature was difficult to plunder as even the two great righteous emperors, and the wicked fiends could only give him this much.

He could only go after the Starnova Emperor, but even he would feel embarrassed to go rob from Starnova Emperor as he had stayed away from him multiple times already.

'Wait a minute...'

Suddenly, Davis kept the Ascended-Tier Pill inside and took out another Advanced Tier Vigorous Heptagonal Emperor Soul Pill and imbued karmic virtue on it without giving it much thought. A white glow emanated from his hands and entered the lustrous blue pill, assimilating itself, and within a few moments, many changes occurred as though the pill had absorbed everything, and the heptagonal patterns on it produced slightly more gleam than before, but they were not golden like the Ascended-Tier Pill.

He took it and checked the pill, his soul sense brushing over it many times, smoothly at times and stormy over the other.

"Impossible…" Davis's eyes shook, "This is a rank nine or Advanced Tier Pill, a pill with fewer flaws, and yet how can it become a Perfect-Tier Pill without even correcting the flaws inside?"

He had pierced through the pores of the pill even at the risk of making it lose its potency to check its structure where he found minute dots of pill waste located at various locations within the sphere of the pill, which was the amalgamation of the flaws of his mistakes. Those flaws hadn't disappeared, so how could this pill display the signs of a Perfect-Tier Pill?

"That's the prowess of external methods, master."

The Profound Tyrant Veined Cauldron began to extrapolate.

"Etching inscriptions to the pill will have similar effects, although not as exaggerated as master's unique method. The three others I mentioned to master before also used inscriptions to bring pill tribulation to their Perfect-Tier Pills, making them Ascended-Tier Pills. As long as the pill reached a certain tier, it would be capable of bestowing effects similar efficacy of that rank, but needless to say, raising the value of a trash pill is no easy feat as much raising the value of a perfect pill."

Davis's brows raised as his eyes flashed in a peculiar light, confirming his thoughts.

"That was knowledgeable, Tyrant- Uhm, Tyriele."

"Tyriele?" The Profound Tyrant Veined Cauldron sounded confused.

"Yes," Davis grinned, "That's your name if you don't have one already."

"My name…?" It increasingly sounded confused before its two-meter tall body suddenly shook.

"Thank you, master! I will never forget this favor as it's the first name I've ever received!"

"…?"

Davis couldn't help but almost falter with his step.

'Actually, how many century millenniums did you go without a name…?'

However, he was more astonished by something else. He had been thinking of naming it Tyriele as it was named the Profound Tyrant Veined Cauldron and sounded female even with its ancient voice that was almost indistinguishable. However, to not be rude, he used the karmic tendril of Fallen Heaven and checked its name.

Its name was Tyriele, which greatly shocked him as he hadn't even named it yet, but it had that name already while it didn't know of it judging by its reaction just now.

This also made him think that perhaps, they were truly connected by fate? Perhaps, he changed fate so many times that it chose him instead of someone else in the future, also changing its fate?

In any case, he was happier to be able to magically divine its name.

Nonetheless, looking at the Perfect-Tier Vigorous Heptagonal Emperor Soul Pill, Davis felt that he had made bank.

'Damn, I didn't even use much karmic virtue to get this pill...'

He had thrown twelve meters of karmic virtue, but it was not bright gold but white in aura, a level lower than bright gold karmic virtue. As a result, his overall karmic sin and karmic virtue that had decreased to nine meters and four meters respectively when he used them to make an Ascended-Tier Pill had certainly dropped, but they hadn't reached the level of eight meters and three meters yet after concocting this Perfect-Tier Pill.

This meant that he could make more Perfect-Tier Vigorous Heptagonal Emperor Soul Pills. However, he didn't want to waste those two karmic nature as they were extremely hard to obtain.

'Wait a minute. I only experimented with karmic virtue. What would happen if I use karmic sin to increase the rank of the pill?'

Davis wondered, but he decided to test it sometime else.

He sat down and kept the Perfect-Tier Vigorous Heptagonal Emperor Soul Pill inside, stored it safely inside a jade container, and took out the Ascended-Tier Vigorous Heptagonal Emperor Soul Pill.

It had regained a tiny bit of its energy, but it looked like it knew that there was no use struggling, perhaps, obediently accepting its fate.

Looking at it, Davis wondered if pills could form a spirit. Perhaps, they could if they lived for many years, but he didn't know how and when exactly they would form their spirit. Nonetheless, he had no wish to know at this moment.

'I've done so many hideous things already. You're just a pill without a spirit, purely acting on instinct...'

Davis wryly shook his head, getting rid of that sympathy he held towards a new, possible life and swallowed it.

The lustrous blue pill shining with a golden glow over its heptagonal pattern suddenly headed towards Davis's heart, intending to kill him!

"Break."

Davis coldly uttered with composure, and the pill stopped in its track, momentarily shuddering before it turned into a mighty wave of medicinal essence that spread all over him. It was a strong pill that endured its pill tribulation, but it was unable to defeat Davis's soul force, quickly collapsing.

He guided the medicinal essence all to his soul, whereupon it quickly covered his soul essence in its blue fog, causing him to shudder as he felt an extreme sense of explosive might gathering within his soul sea as they tried to compress his soul essence.

"…!"

Davis clenched his teeth, enduring a soul-piercing pain.

The next moment, his entire body went stiff, and he collapsed, his eyes rolling to his back.

"Master!"

Tyriele cried out in worry. However, Davis's eyes suddenly returned to him as he hurriedly sat in a lotus position again and tried to make sense of the changes occurring to him at the moment. He no longer felt massive pain but only a lingering ache.

When he saw what was wrong, he found that the pill failed to make a Mortal Sigil because his Sigil was already an Emperor Sigil and hence, had fully caused a backlash and allowed him to encounter the vague feeling of a bottleneck that naturally unscrewed.

*Bzzz!~*

Davis's purple robes, as well as his blonde hair, lifted towards the skies. Immense force swelled within him before it surged outwards. Abruptly, that bottleneck no longer existed, causing him to enter into the High-Level Emperor Soul Stage!

However, the increase in Soul Forging Cultivation didn't stop. It rapidly climbed, quickly reaching the very peak before finally stopping at a loose bottleneck, causing Davis to blink thrice before his eyes were still wide, his mouth slightly agape because he felt like it wouldn't be that long before he broke into the Peak-Level Emperor Soul Stage without having the need to swallow any kind of resources!