Beneath Yan Mountain, Eldest Bear was talking to his fellow fiends. They were in an alchemy house that the Great Fiends took close to six hours to build, “Brothers, time waits for no one, we must work faster. Are everyone in charge of their step ready?”

“Ingredient purchasing master, ready!”

“Ingredient processing master, ready!””

“Recipe master, ready!”

…

“Refining master, ready!”

“Evaluation master, ready!”

Eldest Bear opened the Pill Refining Process Steps then began writing down all the information necessary for making the pill, “Good, Yan Mountain’s Fiend Alchemy House’s first refining, begins!”

Eldest Bear went next to the herb purchasing master and looked over what ingredients and amounts he wrote on his paper, “Wild Angelica: twenty-three years old, tough, wide leaves, average medicinal property, ranked fifth. Ginseng: one inch long, 3,2 taels (1), has a hardly discernable sweet scent, low medicinal property, ranked third…”

Eldest Bear took ingredient purchasing master’s list then when to ingredient processing master who checked each ingredient while writing down the details, “Wild Angelica: average medicinal property, ranked fifth. According to Guide to Alchemy it must be grounded down to powder of uniform granulation. Ginseng: low medicinal property, ranked third. Too low, it can only be sliced then dipped in wine to release its medicinal property…”

Eldest Bear walked along the ingredients’ path while writing down on his paper, “According to the formula in the Guide to Alchemy, Wild Angelica powder needs to be 9.2 taels, ginseng slices 0.5 taels, crow blood 0.48 taels, spiritual herb powder 12 pieces…”

“Furnace temperature, 32.5 degrees, and no wind. According to the Guide to Alchemy we need to increase it in then breaths. Use the ninth fire controlling method. After then breaths, change to the 7th fire controlling method, then to the 52nd fire controlling method. Cycle through them every quarter of the hour…”

“Inserting ingredients. Based on the Guide to Alchemy, first is a hundred and three dewdrops, then a quarter of an hour later, insert the spiritual herb powder…”

…

“Ingredients inspection. No juice appearing, it does not satisfy a successful pill. It will produce a problem, later on, send it back and redo it…”

Eldest Bear checked his data and analyzed this step. A moment later, he found where the problem was. The fire control wasn’t adequate and the controlling method incorrect, “We’ve just started refining, so errors are expected. Brothers, let’s persevere, we will surely succeed!”

Seven days later, the refining master once again checked the pill, “Pill inspection: the chance of completion eighty percent. It needs the eight method to harmonize the compound!”

“Evaluation: pill fragrance appeared, the chance of success 90%. Extract the pill with the twelfth method. Use the water spiritual energy to extinguish the fire… ”

Half an hour later, a Great Fiend saw the round pill in Eldest Bear’s paw spreading a chicken-flavored fragrance. Eldest Bear popped it in his mouth under the expecting gazes of the other Great Fiends. His mouth let out crunching sounds as he chewed, then he opened his eyes, “Success, chicken-flavored and very crunchy. Has twice the effect of a Qi Pill. Sir Archfiend is a true scholar, he actually found this method for us to refine pills!”

Eldest Bear gave a pill to the others to try. All the masters were close to tears; they finally did it. Eldest Bear said, “Our current success rate is only temporary. We need to find a way to refine more, and then all our problems will disappear!”

“All the steps are in order. Please give the order Eldest Bear!”

Eldest Bear waved his hand and shouted, “Begin!”

The disciples were beginning to notice something. Nowadays, the ones doing the inspection, to see if the medicinal property of the pill finished dispersing in their bodies, was either Eldest Bear or Second Bear, but never both. They stood at the Alchemy House’s door checking upon them, but always with the other missing.

And what the disciples found out in particular, was that the bear brothers slipped a pill in their mouth from time to time. But the expression they showed wasn’t one of disgust, but content.

Something was fishy!

Then Yan Mountain’s Great Fiends began buying ingredients in bulk from the other Archfiends’ subordinates. But these ingredients weren’t something Master needed.

With a bit of investigating, the disciples soon exposed the Great Fiends’ secret. They were refining Qi Pills, chicken-flavored Qi Pills!

If looks could kill, the bear brothers would have died thousands of times. And as a result of their harassment, the bear brothers could no longer take the oppressive stares and handed over their own version of the Guide to Alchemy and Pill Refining Process Steps. Once the disciples studied the bear brother’s process, they started buying ingredients, to begin refining on their own.

The disciples couldn’t compare to the Great Fiends. How could Dao Sense realm methods allow the same level of control? They soon discovered, in embarrassment, that they needed to reach the Dao Initiation realm first. Let’s not talk about the Dao Initiation realm when the Guide to Alchemy wrote that one needed to be at least at the 7th stage of Dao Sense realm to start having a chance of succeeding.

And so, many disciples started to frantically cultivate, So what if they taste bad, just wait until we get to the 7th stage. Then everything will change.

Then news came from the Fiend Alchemy House. Master along with the fourth senior sister have devised a recipe for strawberry-flavored Qi Pills and the Fiend Alchemy House was in the middle of mass-producing it!

They even have fruit flavors!

This news almost drove some of them insane. They all squeezed everything into cultivating, forgoing sleep and meals. Some of them didn’t even leave the Alchemy House.

Yet the legacy disciples didn’t feel any pressure since the disciples were mere talents in the eyes of mortals. Ling Xian cultivated the hardest cultivation method, Dao Canon. Li Suyi needed to absorb Taotie’s Seed’s power then break through to the King rank, while also training in a sabre method, Demonic Blood Saber. Chen Lingyu even cultivated an immortal ranked cultivation method. As for Zhuo Qingyao, Ling Xian said that she beat him in ten moves…

Li Suyi practiced his sabre method just once an found himself filled with power. But he only practiced, with no one to try it on. Then go find a sparring partner! And so he went to have a match with Ling Xian. The two were quite close in power, but neither dared to release everything. He couldn’t just go and find Zhuo Qingyao to spar with. The problem was that Zhuo Qingyao’s ‘spar’ resulted in a trashing, his!

A demonic cultivator was more focused on having a carefree spirit. So how could he advance when he was so afraid?

Li Suyi entered in deep thought, There has to be a way to settle this problem. Right, there’s a place in the Myriad Mountains called the Yellow Sea which houses a Tower of Trials, where illusions appear. It will be the same as having a real fight. And when the threat of death loomed over, the Tower of Trials will take the participant outside.

My strength isn’t enough to reach the tower, but Master can!

(1)    Around 1 kg. 1 tael= 30 grams