Nine Astra Skies

Master Apothecary Xuanyi sighed as he watched the crowd leave. All his life, his alchemy had reached the level of master apothecary and he had also earned great respect in the Xiwu Empire. His two disciples, Lei Yi and Li Xu had both made him proud but it was a shame that they did not get along well with each other. Hence, there would always be a concern about what might happen between them. When Master Apothecary Xuanyi recalled how he was forced to leave his tutelage years ago, he could not help but feel desolate.

After the crowd had exited the entrance hall, Li Xu had no interest in socializing with Lei Yi and the others, so he took Ye Chen to his side courtyard. There were six rooms. It was more than enough even if he vacated two spots for Ye Chen, Little Tanuki, and Little Wingsy to stay.

Seeing Li Xu and Ye Chen making their way out, Lei Yi said with a grimace, "What is that kid's cultivation base? Have you found out yet?"

"I've asked my clan and they're currently looking into it. I heard that when Li Yu auditioned at the Yun Castle, the kid was the top Eighth Level. Only three or four months have passed since then, so at most he's a beginner Ninth Level," Hao Feng said. "I heard this kid was behind House of Ye's killing of the Second-rank Prince of Donglin, Liu Xun and the Minister of War, Liu Kan. But I believe these were just rumors because Liu Xun and Liu Kan were both Tenth Level combatants. How is it possible for a top Eighth Level to advance to the Tenth Level in merely three or four months?"

"Anyhow, think of a way to get rid of him before he officially becomes a disciple here!" Lei Yi said in a low tone. Seeing how protective Li Xu was toward Ye Chen, Lei Yi felt some pressure. In the case that Ye Chen was adored by their master, it would be a huge blow for them. To be able to achieve top Eighth Level cultivation at such a young age, it was unavoidable that Ye Chen would be regarded as a threat to them.

"I'm afraid that's not a good idea." Yan Cheng frowned.

"Why not? We'll be fine as long as we don't act while we're here on the island," Lei Yi said coldly. "It's not like we're going to do it ourselves. We can just hire a few combatants to finish him off. Nobody would suspect that it was us, not even our master. "

For an Advanced Apothecary like Lei Yi, he was capable of coercing even Tenth Level combatants, let alone a Ninth Level combatant. It only took some medicinal pills to convince people to help them with matters like these.

"What if the kid stays on the island?" Yan Cheng asked.

"I don't believe that he'll always stay there!" Lei Yi scoffed coldly.

"That tanuki on the boy's shoulder looks very adorable. It should be some Second or Third Level mystical beast. When are we going to catch it? I can gift it to my aunt." Hao Feng smirked as he watched Li Xu, Ye Chen, and the rest leave the place.

The few of them chatted and laughed as they walked away.

Ye Chen retrieved his Astral Body. He had caught everything that Lei Yi and his men had said earlier. Ye Chen felt a cold jab in his heart, especially when he heard Hao Feng's last sentence which completely set him off. Hao Clan had already annoyed him enough earlier on and now Hao Feng even dared to set his eyes on Little Tanuki. 'You guys were lucky that we never crossed paths. If I ever have the chance to face you lot, I'll let you know that there are certain people that you can't afford to bully!' Ye Chen thought.

Ye Chen followed closely behind Li Xu and entered a separate courtyard. On the way, they passed through a circular arch to a small garden. A large area of ​​the ground was planted with herbs and there was an overwhelming fragrance. These herbs had not matured yet so for the time being, it could only serve as decorative purposes. There was a stone bench and a stone table at the center of the garden, with six rooms surrounding it.

"My place is a bit messy. You guys wait here first. I'll let my servants clean up the two rooms for you. You guys can stay in the East Court," Li Xu said before turning around and went in. They could hear Li Xu's voice as he gave his servants some orders.

"Brother Ye Chen, Sister Tanuki said that Master Li is very kind," Little Wingsy whispered.

"Hmm." Ye Chen nodded. He too, had a good impression of Li Xu.

"Brother Ye Chen..." Little Wingsy looked at Ye Chen with its watery eyes.

"What is it?" Ye Chen asked.

"I'm hungry," Xiao Yi said pitifully.

Ye Chen burst into laughter and said, "Didn't I just put a lot of lamb legs in your Heaven-Earth bag?"

"It's already finished," Little Wingsy said embarrassedly.

Little Tanuki was so tickled with laughter that she rolled on Ye Chen's shoulder. Ye Chen laughed helplessly as he again pulled out some lamb legs from his armguard space and stuffed them into Little Wingsy's Heaven-Earth pouch. This foodie's appetite was shocking. An ordinary person would not be able to afford raising Little Wingsy. It seemed to Ye Chen that he must prepare more beef or mutton next time.

Shortly after, two rooms were cleaned out. Ye Chen and Little Tanuki stayed together in one room and Little Wingsy in the other. It seemed that they had finally settled down.

Usually, the maids would deliver every meal to their rooms, so they need not worry about food. Ye Chen was quite excited as he would soon be able to learn alchemy techniques from Master Apothecary Xuanyi.

There were two rooms in Master Li's side courtyard dedicated to alchemy. Ye Chen could visit them whenever he wished after gaining Li Xu's permission.

Creak. Ye Chen pushed open the door to one of the rooms and looked inside. It was extremely spacious. A huge furnace about three meters high was placed in the center of the room. It was supported by a tripod stand and it looked majestic. The medicine cabinet at the wall was filled with various herbs. Many treated herbs were placed on the desk next to it, which looked a bit messy. A typical maid was not allowed entry to this room, so no one had cleaned this place for a long time.

Little Tanuki, who was standing on Ye Chen's shoulder, also looked around curiously.

Ye Chen walked toward a desk. On it were books about alchemy and some of Lei Yi's reflections on his alchemy experiences. After flipping through a few alchemy books, Ye Chen frowned. The alchemy techniques recorded in these books were incomparable with the book - The Grand Supreme Way of Alchemy.

The contents of these alchemy books were in the Grand Supreme Way of Alchemy, recorded in the first half volume, which introduced the basics in the book. As for the latter half of the book, the contents were much more comprehensive.

Soon, Ye Chen's interest in these few alchemy books diminished. Next, he picked up Li Xu's notes and started reading. Li Xu's alchemy notes were written in more detail. Not only did it contain the methods and formulas of alchemy but also records of changes that would happen in every step during alchemy. It had recorded all the easily missed mistakes to the clearest detail.

It turned out that there were many tricks when refining alchemy. It was not surprising that the success rate of Ye Chen's alchemy was so low. These tricks could be used universally and he reckoned that they could help improve his ancient alchemy techniques significantly. Ye Chen was ready to go back to his room to try it out. He wanted to refine and produce more Soul-amassing Pills. After using these tricks, the success rate of his alchemy should improve slightly.

Ordinary alchemy methods consumed more time than ancient alchemy. It took almost three days to refine and produce even the most common Chi-amassing Pill. Besides, it required the assistance of an alchemy apprentice to control the fire. Now was not the time for Ye Chen to try it out yet.

According to what Master Apothecary Xuanyi and Li Xu had said, there was still a lot that Ye Chen had to learn. He could only increase his efficiency by building a solid foundation.

Alchemy was very beneficial for cultivation because the cultivators would be able to refine and produce their own high-end pills. When consumed, these high-end pills could grant them the gains from several years' or even several decades' painstaking cultivation! Learning alchemy and meditative cultivation were two different paths, but they led to the same outcome. Of course, it was impossible to rely entirely on consuming pills without focusing on cultivation and actual combat.

Ye Chen was completely immersed in Li Xu's notes.

Li Xu passed by the door and saw Ye Chen's concentrated look. He smiled slightly and then left quietly without disturbing Ye Chen.

Ye Chen did not return to his room until the sun had set. He felt that his day was rather rewarding. He also lived very comfortably here at Li Xu's residence. The only thing that made him a little disturbed was Lei Yi.

Back in his room, Ye Chen sat cross-legged on his bed. Most people would think that Ye Chen was cultivating looking at his state. However, Ye Chen's Astral Body had transcended into his armguard space and was attempting alchemy. He had placed a thousand herbal materials into the furnace as he controlled the flames of the artifact spirit.

The flame of the artifact spirit - True Yang Fire - was much stronger than ordinary flames. The alchemy speed was faster but at the same time, the failure rate was higher.

Ye Chen had recalled the alchemy techniques that he just read and patiently suppressed the flame of the artifact spirit, guiding the heat of the flame through the refining furnace. Ye Chen had control of every single temperature change in the refining furnace as well as the reactions of the herb mixture.

The flames were slowly roasting and the herb mixture was undergoing strange changes.

This time, Ye Chen was more comfortable and masterful in the pill refining process than before. This time, he felt that there would be a breakthrough in his pill refining.

Back then, Ye Chen was blindly experimenting with pill refining and he would easily lose control of the strength of the flame but now, things were very different.

Time passed by slowly. Ye Chen felt that when using his Astral Body to control the artifact spirit flame, his Astral Body was also enhanced and strengthened. After being hit by the beam of light in the town, his Astral Body was slightly damaged. Now, most damages have been restored.

The latter half of Ye Chen's pill refining process was a bit unsatisfactory. It did not achieve his desired effect but the results still surprised him. With a thousand materials, a total of twenty-three Soul-amassing Pills were refined. The success rate had reached about two percent, which was already quite remarkable.

This was not Chi-amassing Pill but Soul-amassing Pill, which was countless times more expensive than the Chi-amassing Pill!

How could Ye Chen not be delighted at an outcome like this? He hugged Little Tanuki and kissed her excitedly. Little Tanuki struggled and ran to the side, her cheeks blushed pink. This was not the first time Ye Chen had been making fun of her.

Ye Chen collected the Soul-amassing Pills and stored them properly. After a moment's thought, he recalled that both he and Little Tanuki had just consumed a Soul-amassing Pill each, so before the pill was digested, it was not suitable for them to take another one. However, now that Little Wingsy was already sound asleep next door, he thought that he should ask Little Wingsy tomorrow.

The Soul-amassing Pill was precious to cultivators. Ordinary pills could only improve a cultivator's Celestial Chi cultivation level but a Soul-amassing Pill could enhance a cultivator's talent. These two had completely different benefits!

Ye Chen's heart moved. Besides the Soul-amassing Pill, he wondered if he could refine and produce more advanced pills.

After having this idea, Ye Chen immediately replicated a thousand copies of Chi-consolidating Pill's materials, trying out luck if he could refine and produce some other pills. The cost of Chi-consolidating Pill was much higher than Chi-amassing Pill, but the former's price was not too enticing for a wealthy guy like Ye Chen.

After all the materials were processed, Ye Chen shifted his concentration back to the process of refining pills.