Nine Star Hegemon Body Arts

"We're finally refining pills?" Suddenly, an ancient voice rang out in Long Chen's head.

"Who are you?" Long Chen was taken aback.

"Ah? I'm Ling-er! Sorry, I usually like using this voice." Ling-er appeared in front of him, giggling. She had clearly been waiting for Long Chen to refine pills.

Long Chen recalled that this girl had used a strange ancient voice the first time she had talked to him as well. She had even told him not to be too greedy.

"Hey, what are you staring at me for? I've memorized the voice, appearance, and techniques of every one of my masters. You also saw that I've had thousands of masters. I can use whatever voice I want," explained Ling-er.

"Was that Blood race expert also your master?" asked Long Chen. If so, he might be able to learn more about them.

The girl disdainfully said, "Him? How could he be qualified to be my master? He didn't dare to. After obtaining me, he didn't have the guts to make a contract with me. As for me, I looked down on him way too much to try and seduce him. If he gave me his essence blood, I didn't mind giving him a few demonic flames. But just two days after obtaining me and coming to that accord, he died."

Long Chen smiled. "It seems that you're very picky toward your masters."

Ling-er puffed up her chest. "Of course. After all, I am the spirit of the Demon Moon Furnace. I have my own pride. Even if I can control someone and benefit myself, not everyone is qualified for that."

Demonic weapons were particularly vicious. If their master wasn't strong enough, they would be controlled. When they died, all their power would be absorbed by the demonic weapon.

However, people's greed could not be controlled, so when such a weapon appeared before their eyes, despite knowing that their lives would be devoured, they were like moths to the flame.

"Then why not form a contract with me? When I die, everything I have will be yours," asked Long Chen.

"You can't trick me. Demonic weapons such as myself are all very sensitive to how tough a potential master is. There's no way I can control you. If I form a contract with you, I will never be free," said the girl vigilantly.

Long Chen nodded. Tough? What she sensed was most likely related to the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art.

"Alright. Then Ling-er, have you had masters who could refine pills before?" asked Long Chen.

"I have, but only three. Ah, talking is so troublesome. I'll show you." She waved her hand, revealing a scene in the air.

When Long Chen saw that, he was startled. There was a strange entity with golden fur covering their entire body. They looked similar to a human, but they were covered in fur, making them seem more like an ape. Flame runes were flowing across their fur, with a surging flame within their hands. They were refining pills with the Demon Moon Furnace, and their alchemy technique was bizarre, something that Long Chen had never seen before.

"This is the first master I encountered who could refine pills. He was very powerful. He died a year after obtaining me. I was very grateful to him because in his hands, I achieved sentience," said Ling-er.

The scene changed. Now it was an underground room with a large scorpion. The Demon Moon Furnace was on its back, and the flames were gushing out of the scorpion's tail.

"Magical Beasts can refine pills?" Long Chen's jaw dropped.

"No, the scorpion is just a housepet, while the alchemist was inside its body. He was using the scorpion's toxic flames to refine a poison pill. He was also very powerful and vicious. A sect raised him, but he betrayed his sect, bringing people to wipe it out. As a result, he encountered me. Two months later, he tried refining pills with me for the first time. The poison ended up invading his soul, and he suffered for forty-nine days before dying. This fellow's alchemy arts were also quite strong, but before he could refine many pills with me, he died," said Ling-er somewhat irritably.

The image changed again. There was a human this time using the Demon Moon Furnace to refine pills. As a result, he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood and exploded.

"A heart-devil invasion," said Long Chen.

"Yes. I even warned him not to refine such a powerful pill when his technique was so shoddy, but he was too greedy. When the pill formed, the pill devil drew out his heart-devil and he died," said Ling-er, once more irritated at the disappointing quality of her past masters.

When those three died, it meant missing out on an alchemist. That was a huge loss to her.

"Not forming a contract with you is also for your own good. I don't need to listen to your orders if they're wrong, so I might be able to interrupt you in the middle of doing something stupid like that and save your life," said Ling-er.

Long Chen's lip curled. "You should stop trying to scam me. First, you say that I'm tough, and now you say that you can save me?"

Ling-er blushed slightly, but she stuck out her tongue at him. "Fine, count yourself smart. Let's start refining! Let me see your techniques. If they're not good enough, I can teach you a few things."

"Do I need you to teach me alchemy?" Long Chen's gaze grew odd. This girl really did dare to say anything.

"Of course. As a demonic furnace, refining demonic pills requires my guidance. Demonic pills are very different from ordinary medicinal pills," said Ling-er confidently.

"Alright. Then please, grandmaster Ling-er, guide me." Long Chen cupped his fists, intentionally acting solemn. As a result, she didn't realize that he was just teasing her.

Long Chen thought about it and chose the simplest Life Star Pill. It was the pill he had refined the most of, and he was very familiar with it.

A flame burst into existence in Long Chen's hand. He was about to start warming the furnace when Ling-er exclaimed, "Hey, it would be best if you used my flame to refine a demonic pill. Your flame is too much on the Yang side and will impair my Demonic Qi."

Long Chen stared at her. "Are you demanding that I give my Spiritual Strength for you to control?"

"You… you don't trust me?" asked Ling-er nervously.

"That's not it. Since you could go into my spiritual space, it means I have no defense against you. It's just that my Spiritual Strength isn't so easy to control."

"Tch, you're looking down on me too much. No matter how great your Spiritual Strength is, I can control it easily."

"Alright, then try it." Long Chen didn't bother convincing her. Sitting down on a stone, he passed a portion of his Spiritual Strength to Ling-er.

The demonic furnace shuddered, and the runes on it slowly lit up. Following that, a bewitching blue flame sprout ignited.

Long Chen nodded slightly. Ling-er definitely did have some alchemy experience. Her technique for warming the furnace was normal. Although there were some aspects she did differently than him, it was all within the norms.

As if to prove it to Long Chen, Ling-er began to control his Spiritual Strength, using it as fuel for the flame. Her flame control was quite precise.

Of course, that precision was only good to other alchemists. In front of Long Chen, it could be called ordinary, extremely ordinary.

He didn't say anything though. He found that Ling-er's intelligence wasn't that high, and she lacked the viciousness of most demonic weapons. That was why Long Chen dared to accept her into his spiritual space without any contract.

"How's that? My flame control arts are pretty good, right?" said Ling-er proudly.

"Yes, they're alright I suppose."

"What's that supposed to mean? You mean just barely?" demanded Ling-er.

"Oh, you heard that?"

"You… you bully! You're looking down on me!"

"Let's just focus on our first cooperation. I will pass on the technique to refine this pill to you. I'll be in charge of the merger, and you maintain the flame." Rather than arguing with a child, Long Chen began to take out medicinal powders.

Seeing that, Ling-er also became serious. The lid automatically opened, and one precious medicinal powder entered after another.

"Increase the heat," said Long Chen.

"I can't go stronger, or two of the ingredients will have their medicinal effect drop."

"Weaken it, weaken it!" shouted Long Chen.

"I can't, or the merger won't be complete. It will reduce the quality of the final pill."

"Quick, change the flame!" Long Chen's expression began to grow ugly.

"It's too soon. Wait a bit more. Don't worry, I have more experience than you."

"You…" Long Chen's face darkened. If Ling-er wasn't a girl, he'd have definitely cursed her.

He wanted her to go east, so she went west. She wasn't following his directions at all. It seemed that she had the utmost confidence in her own alchemy experience.

To set up a good impression, Long Chen chose not to say anything further. He had told Ling-er what she needed to do, so she could do what she pleased. He wanted to see what level she could mess around to.

Eventually, the pill refining process came to an end. The furnace's light slowly faded.

"Has it succeeded? Hehe, let's see," sneered Long Chen.

"Ah… about that… it seems…"

The lid slowly opened. Long Chen looked inside to see a long black entity. He smiled. "Congratulations, grandmaster Ling-er. You've managed to refine a giant turd."