The Extreme Alchemist of the Mighty Cauldron

Elder Gu roared angrily, “Fang Lin, do you still have regard for an elder like me in your heart?”

Fang Lin put on an innocent face and complained, “I do respect you, Elder, from my heart, but that doesn’t mean you can bully me. I don’t want to exchange it anymore, give my pill back.”

At this moment, Xu Shangao quickly rushed in, bearing a helpless expression on his face, wanting to pull Fang Lin out again.

However, Fang Lin gave Xu Shangao a significant look, causing Xu Shangao to flinch. Without further attempting to stop Fang Lin, Xu Shangao stood by, deeply worried.

Elder Gu was so angry that he blew his beard and glared his eyes. Many formal disciples who were wandering around within the Pill Pavilion turned their attention to the scene, clearly looking forward to the drama.

Elder Gu quickly tried to look calm, reminding himself that he was within the Pill Pavilion, and it would be utterly shameful if he, as the Elder of the Pill Pavilion, lost composure due to a newly enrolled low-rank disciple.

Consequently, Elder Gu lowered his voice and said grudgingly, “I won’t hold this against you only for now. You can go pick up three more things, as long as they’re from this floor.”

Hearing this, Fang Lin broke into a wide grin and thanked, “Thank you, Elder.” He then promptly headed straight towards a distant row of shelves.

Xu Shangao was left standing, completely bewildered that Elder Gu had actually compromised.

Fang Lin, who appeared to have had a plan beforehand, walked directly to that row of shelves and swiftly picked out two items.

Though Elder Gu was old, his sight wasn’t poor. After seeing the items Fang Lin had picked, he felt a cold jolt of shock in his heart.

After picking the two items, Fang Lin moved to another wooden rack and took one thing from the highest shelf.

With the three items in hand, Fang Lin happily returned, and directly put them into his Nine Palace Bag right in front of the gaping Elder Gu.

“Disciple bids farewell!” Fang Lin said, and immediately pulled Xu Shangao away from the Pill Pavilion.

Elder Gut s face turned pitch-black, gazing at the rapidly retreating figure of Fang Lin. He wanted to say something but ultimately just sighed in resignation.

“This kid, the next time he comes to my Pill Pavilion, I must squeeze him dry!” Elder Gu mumbled to himself, once again appearing half-asleep.

Seeing Fang Lin’s hurried departure, Xu Shangao couldn’t help but ask, “Fang, why are you in such a rush?”

Fang Lin glared at him and snapped, “If we don’t hurry and that old man chases us down, then what?”

Finishing his words, he accelerated his pace. Seeing this, the hapless Xu Shangao could only jog to keep up.

They arrived at Fang Lin’s courtyard after jogging all the way and closed the door before finally sitting down to rest.

“Fang, what did you actually take? Why are you in such a hurry?” Xu Shangao asked curiously.

Fang Lin smirked and tapped his Nine Palace Bag, revealing the three items he had just taken, placing them on the stone table.

Xu Shangao squinted his eyes to look at the items, all of which were medicinal herbs with strange appearances. Despite his sharp eyesight, Xu Shangao couldn’t recognize what they were.

Seeing Xu Shangao’s puzzled face, Fang Lin knew that the latter did not recognize the items. He curled his lips and said, “I knew you wouldn’t recognize.”

Xu Shangao was quite embarrassed. He really couldn’t recognize them.

Fang Lin didn’t make fun of Xu Shangao but simply explained, “These three herbs are the main ingredients required to refine the Inner Energy Pill. With these three herbs, I can refine a batch of Inner Energy Pills.”

Upon hearing this, Xu Shangao was startled, “Inner Energy Pill? The one that helps in quick restoration of inner strength once consumed?”

Fang Lin nodded, confirming that it was indeed this pill.

Xu Shangao looked at Fang Lin as if he were a monster and said, “Fang, can you

actually refine the Inner Energy Pill? It seems to be one of the most difficult Rank One pills to refine.”

It wasn’t that Xu was doubting Fang Lin’s capabilities, but the Inner Energy Pill was widely acknowledged as an extremely difficult pill to refine. Compared to the Nurturing Breath Pill, another Rank One formula, the difficulty was at least 30% higher.

Even genuine One Cauldron Pill Refiners only had a moderate success rate in refining these pills. Only the most experienced refiners could achieve nearly a 70% success rate.

In Xu’s perspective, though Fang Lin was a rare alchemical genius, he wasn’t a true One Cauldron Pill Refiner yet. The thought of him attempting to refine the Inner Energy Pill seemed almost absurd.

Fang Lin looked at the disbelief written all over Xu’s face, but he couldn’t be bothered to respond.

“You’ll see soon enough. When my pill is ready, don’t come running to me asking for it!” Fang Lin said in a light-hearted manner.

“Not so fast. If you really manage to refine the Inner Energy Pill, you have to give me at least two,” replied Xu, grinning.

After a little chat, Xu left. Fang Lin closed his courtyard door, but instead of rushing to refine the Inner Energy Pill, he secluded himself for cultivation, hoping to reach the Fifth Level of the Human Origin as soon as possible.

Of course, before shutting himself away, Fang Lin took the time to plant the medicinal saplings he got from the Pill Pavilion. The once vacant courtyard now looked somewhat filled.

Fang Lin was already close to reaching the Fifth Level of the Human Origin. He only needed to consume two more Nurturing Breath Pills to break through. Naturally, the priority was to break through first. Once that was done, he would consider refining the Inner Energy Pill and attending classes at the Pill Forest Academy.

In fact, Fang Lin wasn’t too curious about the academy. Given his foundation as a Pill Sovereign, he believed that there weren’t many in this world who could actually teach him anything.

His plan was simple: quickly elevate his realm, refine pills, then elevate further.

For ten days straight, Fang Lin threw himself into cultivation. After consuming two Nurturing Breath Pills, he finally broke through on the tenth night, reaching the Fifth Level of the Human Origin.

At the Fifth Level of the Human Origin, he was considered at the upper tier among Pill Apprentices and a regular figure among formal disciples. Nonetheless, now he had the basic power to protect himself.

Further, the higher the realm, the more helpful it would be in the pill refining process. Now, Fang Lin could refine more and better pills.

Upon reaching the Fifth Level of the Human Origin, Fang Lin considered whether or not to pay a visit to the Pill Forest Academy. Although he had no plans to stay for long, he figured he should at least familiarize himself with the place, so he wouldn’t be clueless about simple things like the direction of the gate.

However, after giving it some thought, Fang Lin decided to first refine the Inner Energy Pill and then go to the Pill Forest Academy.

Once Fang Lin made up his mind, he did not hesitate. After obtaining some necessary herbs from Xu, he began to refine the Inner Energy Pill.

The Inner Energy Pill was a Rank One formula and had a fairly high degree of difficulty.

Of course, this was only true for ordinary Pill Refiners. Fang Lin was extraordinary and couldn’t be judged by normal standards.

If he were at the Fourth Level of Human Origin, refining the Inner Energy Pill may have posed some challenges. After all, without a high enough realm, refining a Rank One medicinal formula could be a substantial burden.

However, Fang Lin was now at the Fifth Level of Human Origin. Although only a single level higher, this small elevation greatly facilitated his pill refining.

With the assistance of his decent Golden Flame Cauldron, Fang Lin

successfully refined a batch of Inner Energy Pills after five days of hard work.

Even with thorough preparations, the process drained Fang Lin quite a bit. He had to rest for a full day to replenish his energy.

In the batch, there were twenty Inner Energy Pills-a bit more than expected. Yet, due to slight insufficiency in medicinal properties of the herbs, the pills were only of moderate quality, causing Fang Lin to sigh with disappointment.

To think that a Pill Sovereign like Fang Lin could only produce inner energy pills of moderate quality was slightly disappointing. It was obviously due to limited resources, otherwise, his impatient personality would have led him to destroy the batch and start afresh.

Fang Lin certainly couldn’t enjoy the twenty Inner Energy Pills by himself. He took two and gave them to Xu.

After all, many of the herbs used in the refining process were from Xu’s yard. Plus, considering their relationship, giving Xu two pills wasn’t a big deal.

As for the remaining eighteen, Fang Lin gave it some serious thought. He had no immediate need for them, decided to keep a few, and thought it best to sell the rest..