Condensing Fengfu Star

Nine Yin Grass, refining complete.

Earth Dragon Root, refining complete.

Yanweizi, refining complete.

…

Long Chen spent several full hours refining the more than thirty types of herbs one by one, and was drenched in sweat from exhaustion.

Alchemy is different from decocting medicine; it requires extracting the essence of each herb, removing the Impurities, and refining them into powder.

However, the fire in Long Chen's hands was too trashy, and the resulting powder had too many Impurities, but there was no helping it.

First, Long Chen's cultivation was insufficient, lacking the continuous energy to stimulate the Pill Furnace fire, hence the fire's power was not strong.

Second, Long Chen currently had no opportunity or ability to tame other fires, so he could only make do with this.

The Fengfu Pill is a Rank 1 Medicinal Pill. Usually, only Alchemists at the Alchemist Disciple Rank can refine Rank 1 Medicinal Pills.

However, to study the art of Alchemy, besides needing a powerful Pill Furnace fire, one also needs to be equipped with vigorous Spiritual Qi. Most importantly, one needs extremely powerful Soul Power.

The other two are not difficult. As for the Pill Furnace fire, if conditions allow, one can capture a fire-type Demonic Beast, tame it as a pet, and use the Demonic Beast's fire to cultivate one's own fire seed, which is also very powerful.

Over ninety-nine percent of Alchemists use beast fire. Only some Alchemists with extremely ancient Legacies and profound strength can control a type of Spirit Fire that is extremely mysterious and ethereal in Heaven and Earth.

Spirit Fire is a fire that possesses a Soul. In Long Chen's memories, he seemed to have once mastered a type of extremely badass Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire.

Unfortunately, no matter how badass it was, he now had to continue Alchemy using this pathetic, trashy fire; he couldn't take out the things in his memory.

After resting enough, Long Chen took a deep breath.

"Haa."

A half-foot long, waxy yellow flame jumped out from his palm, and a wave of heat surged over.

"It's passable. After the previous refining, the fire's power has grown a tiny bit. Forget it, better than nothing."

He successively threw seven types of medicinal essences into the Pill Furnace. With his Soul Power expanded, the flame in Long Chen's hands suddenly leaped up, becoming several times stronger than before.

"Using Soul Power to catalyze the flame—if other Alchemists saw this, would they be scared to death?" Long Chen gave a bitter smile.

What is most precious to an Alchemist is Soul Power. A person's Soul Power is basically innate and grows passively as cultivation improves.

Soul Power is the foundation of Alchemy. During Alchemy, a large amount of Soul Power is needed to control the heat. The slightest mistake will lead to failure, resulting in a pile of medicinal ash. If it is a Medicinal Pill with powerful medicinal properties, it might even cause the Pill Furnace to explode.

Usually, Alchemists do not invest Soul Power at the very beginning. They basically use Soul Power in the middle to Late Stage, when the Medicinal Pill is about to form, carefully controlling the fire's output.

After all, that is the critical moment for the pill to form. The temperature of the flame needs to change constantly—sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes fierce, sometimes gentle—which consumes a great deal of Soul Power.

If Soul Power is exhausted at that time, then a batch of pills is basically considered wasted. Yet, Long Chen actually used Soul Power right from the start.

Moreover, this incomparably precious Soul Power was just used to increase the fire, like burning firewood. Any Alchemist would absolutely curse out loud; even if one were a spendthrift, one wouldn't be this wasteful.

But Long Chen was not afraid. According to his memories, his current Soul Power was already not inferior to an average Alchemist.

The Ranks of Alchemists are, in order: Alchemist Disciple, Alchemist, Alchemist Master, Alchemist King, Alchemist Emperor, Alchemist Sect Master, Alchemist Venerable, Alchemist Saint, Alchemist God.

In Long Chen's memories, he possessed the memory of an Alchemist God, so he was very clear about his own energy.

This time when Long Chen woke up, his Soul Power had mutated and was exceptionally powerful, which was why Long Chen had the qualifications to do this.

"Hum."

The Pill Furnace in front of Long Chen trembled slightly, emitting a soft sound.

"Hehe, adding fuel to the fire, the speed is much faster."

He hurriedly threw another three medicinal herbs into the Pill Furnace, but by this time, sweat was already visible on Long Chen's forehead.

He hurriedly took out a two-foot-long grass stalk, put one end into a medicine jar filled with Qi-restoring liquid, and put the other end into his mouth, taking a fierce suck.

After the Qi-restoring liquid entered his belly, the pores all over his body opened rapidly, and he began to crazily absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. The Spiritual Qi that was originally about to be exhausted was rapidly recovering.

This was something Long Chen had prepared long ago, and it was also essential work for refining the Fengfu Pill. Otherwise, with his current bit of Spiritual Qi, wanting to perform Alchemy would just be a joke.

With the grass stalk in his mouth, he would suck on the Qi-restoring liquid from time to time, supplying the output of Spiritual Qi in his body.

Compared to Long Chen's Spiritual Qi, his Soul Power was too vigorous. It wasn't until two days later that Long Chen felt a trace of fatigue, which was a sign of huge Soul Power consumption.

However, at this time, all the herbs in the Pill Furnace had been added, and only the finishing work remained. The medicinal fragrance had already begun to permeate everywhere.

Although in Long Chen's impression, he could refine such a Rank 1 Medicinal Pill with his eyes closed, it was different now. This was something that would change his destiny; to say he wasn't nervous would be a lie.

"Hum."

Suddenly, the Pill Furnace jumped, emitting a humming sound, and the aura inside the Pill Furnace began to become violent.

Long Chen did not have a trace of panic; instead, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. This was the precursor to the pill forming, and also the most critical moment of Alchemy.

All his Soul Power was mobilized without any reservation. The flame in his hands suddenly surged, and an invisible force tightly locked the entire Pill Furnace.

This technique is called "Sealing Heaven and Locking Earth," a move Long Chen created himself in his memories, specifically used to prevent the pill from exploding or the Pill Furnace from blowing up.

Moreover, this move is very practical; it can lock all the medicinal power inside the furnace in the shortest possible time, preventing too much loss.

Usually, Alchemists would use it in the last step because the Medicinal Pill is violent, and they adopt gentle methods to stabilize it.

Although doing so is much less dangerous, the loss of medicinal essence is very large, so the effect of the Medicinal Pill is very average.

"Bang."

With the full suppression of Long Chen's Soul Power, the entire Pill Furnace emitted a muffled sound, and then it became completely silent.

Long Chen looked at the now-calm Pill Furnace, panting wildly. His whole body was soaked with sweat, and he felt the world spinning.

After a long while, Long Chen recovered slightly. With an excited mood, he opened the furnace lid, his hands even trembling slightly.

Five round Medicinal Pills appeared in Long Chen's eyes, and the rich medicinal fragrance filled the entire room.

"Two Low Grade, three waste pills. Sigh, if this got out, it would be too embarrassing." Long Chen's face was extremely excited, but his mouth let out a sigh.

Long Chen was stunned, then couldn't help but laugh out loud. He had fused with the memories of an Alchemist God, so it seemed that Alchemist God was too arrogant.

He didn't care about whether it was embarrassing or not. He hurriedly put the five Medicinal Pills into his hand to examine them carefully.

The two Low Grade Medicinal Pills were round, with overflowing medicinal fragrance, refreshing to the heart and spirit. Just smelling them made one feel invigorated.

Long Chen couldn't help but feel a burst of wild joy in his heart. A finished Medicinal Pill could sell for at least tens of thousands of gold coins in the Imperial Capital.

And the three waste pills in his hand were also much better than the medicine balls his mother begged for. At least the medicinal essence, thirty percent of the medicinal power, was locked within the pill.

If the medicinal essence occupies fifty percent of the Medicinal Pill, it is called a Low Grade Medicinal Pill, and Low Grade Medicinal Pills account for more than eighty percent of the entire Alchemy world.

If the medicinal essence occupies sixty percent, it is called a Medium Grade Medicinal Pill; seventy percent is called a High Grade Medicinal Pill; eighty percent is called a Top Grade Medicinal Pill; ninety percent is called a Peerless Grade Medicinal Pill.

Long Chen didn't want to think about it now; it was too far away. Maybe some people would think, what is the difference between fifty percent and sixty percent medicinal effect?

Isn't eating two Low Grade Medicinal Pills much better than one Medium Grade Medicinal Pill? If someone were to ask this, they would definitely be sprayed to death by spit.

Besides essence, there are Impurities in Medicinal Pills. So-called Impurities are things that cannot be absorbed by the body. Most importantly, those Impurities will offset the absorption of some essence.

And the saying "all medicine is three-tenths poison" is not a proverb, but a truth. When Medicinal Pills are condensed, it is inevitable that pill poison will be produced. If this poison is not taken for a long time, one will not feel much.

But as a cultivator, Medicinal Pills are often life-saving things. One doesn't know how many one will eat in a lifetime. When the pill poison in the body accumulates to a certain extent, it becomes a deadly poison.

Pill poison is the hardest type of poison to clear, penetrating deep into flesh, bone marrow, and even the Soul. And the more Advanced the Medicinal Pill, the smaller the side effects.

Therefore, the difference in effect between Low Grade Medicinal Pills and Medium Grade Medicinal Pills is more than ten times, while the price difference is more than a hundred times.

Long Chen put away the five Medicinal Pills, packed up the Pill Furnace and everything else, and could no longer hold on, so he collapsed and fell asleep.

I don't know how long he slept, but Long Chen felt a pair of warm hands caressing his cheeks, and vaguely heard some murmurs, but he was too tired to wake up.

When Long Chen woke up again, it was already three days later. Famished, he wolfed down a meal and began his closed-door cultivation again.

He swallowed a waste pill and used Soul Power to guide the medicinal power into the Yongquan acupoint under his foot. That was exactly where the first star of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art—the Fengfu Star—was condensed.

"Bang."

Long Chen's right foot shook, and the ground under his feet emitted an explosive sound. The ground cracked, covering the entire room.

"Very good, I have already found the Meridian route and the accurate position. Next, I can truly make the impact."

Long Chen smiled slightly, and a Low Grade Fengfu Pill appeared in his hand. He threw it directly into his mouth. A burst of extremely pure energy exploded, and under Long Chen's guidance, it rushed straight to the Yongquan acupoint under his foot.

The Yongquan acupoint on the sole of his foot moved, like a dry riverbed receiving nourishment. As the medicinal power surged in, it was like a flood Dragon rampaging there.

"Boom."

An explosive sound came, and terrifying energy spilled out. Long Chen's body moved without wind, and a terrifying aura exploded. The entire room was shattered, smoke and dust spilled out, and waves of Qi rolled.

The smoke and dust slowly dissipated, revealing Long Chen's handsome face. His star-like eyes were full of excitement. Feeling the small, bean-shaped object under his foot, with endless energy pouring into his whole body along the sole of his foot, Long Chen wished he could look up and roar.

The commotion on Long Chen's side immediately attracted the attention of the entire Marquis's Mansion, and everyone rushed over.

Seeing that his mother had also come over, Long Chen hurriedly said: "Mother, today is the day for the Heir to go to the Imperial Academy to study. I must hurry over."

After speaking, he left behind a group of dumbfounded people and a pile of ruins, changed into a clean set of clothes, and headed straight for the Imperial Academy.