Chapter 173: The Medicine Emperor Arrives

A few days after Xiao Ming and Su Qian had established the plan, Su Qian began to implement it.

The first was to cancel the rest of all the Elders and summon them back to the Academy so that they could face the enemy when Han Feng arrived.

The second was to increase the surveillance of the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower. Han Feng had been in the Black-Corner Region for many years because of the Inner Academy's Fallen Heart Flame, and when he came to attack, he could attack the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower first.

Su Qian did not fear that Han Feng could simply take the Fallen Heart Flame, Han Feng did not have the ability to quickly take the Heavenly Flame, what he feared was that when the Fallen Heart Flame went on a rampage, it would be troublesome, and they would have to protect themselves from that.

The third thing was to spread the news of Xiao Ming's location so that Han Feng would not go to the wrong place when the time came.

Because the Jia Nan Academy had intentionally revealed it, Han Feng naturally knew that Xiao Ming had been staying at the Inner Academy to refine pills.

This caused him, who was seeking to learn his location, to rejoice greatly, not knowing that this was a trap set for him by the Jia Nan Academy, and feeling only that the plan was going well.

Time passed slowly amidst the conspiracies of each side.

...

High up in the lush mountain peaks, bright red flames peeked through the green gloom, turning the forest, which originally had a tinge of dampness and coldness, into a warm and dry one.

Xiao Ming looked at the Ten Thousand Beast Flame rising rapidly towards the Medicinal Cauldron with a calm expression. When he waved his palm, the medicinal materials on the ground slowly levitated upwards and finally entered the cauldron.

As soon as the herbs entered the cauldron, flames engulfed them and, in an instant, they quickly withered.

As they wilted, small droplets of water seeped from their surface and ended up sliding over it, hovering above the flames, continually rising and falling.

By the time the herbs had completely turned into a withered gray, the pure medicinal power they contained had already been expelled by the flames, so their bodies were completely transformed into a pile of useless debris.

With a slight wave of his palm, the withered medicinal herbs flew out of the Medicinal Cauldron and finally fell onto the grass, turning into a pile of gray ash that scattered with the wind as soon as it landed.

"Is this a sixth-tier Alchemist pill refinement? It's truly extraordinary! No matter how many times one looks at it, it will amaze."

Around Xiao Ming's pill refinement, five older figures, and a young one stood standing at the top of a tree.

The five senior figures were Elder Huo, Su Qian as well as Hu Gan, Wu Tianlang, and one Outer Academy Elder named Lei Yi.

The young figure was Zi Yan, and the person speaking was none other than Hu Gan.

Watching Xiao Ming's fluid movements as he refined pills, although he didn't know how to refine pills, Hu Gan still felt that Xiao Ming was very powerful, after all, Xiao Ming's subtle control was something they didn't have.

"You've already seen it several times, why are you still making such a fuss?".

Beside him, Elder Huo was not surprised, as Xiao Ming's Master, he had long since become accustomed to the monstrous aspects of Xiao Ming's pill refining, and only felt that Xiao Ming seemed to have advanced a bit further in his pill refining skills compared to before he left.

"Hey, hey, looks like this is the last Zong Breaking Pill, right?" beside him, Lei Yi observed the medicinal cauldron in front of Xiao Ming with a strong longing in his eyes.

The news that had spread from the Jia Nan Academy that Xiao Ming was refining pills really wasn't a rumor; Xiao Ming really was refining pills.

Mainly refining the Zong Breaking Pill as well as the Fighting Spirit Pill, and the medicinal ingredients were all provided by the Jia Nan Academy and the Elders.

So far, Xiao Ming had successfully refined five Fighting Spirit Pills and three Zong Breaking Pills.

The Fighting Spirit Pill was for the Dou King Elders.

The Zong Breaking Pill was requested by Wu Tianlang as well as two Inner Academy Elders, after hearing that Hu Gan had asked Xiao Ming to refine this pill, they also asked him to refine it.

The one he was refining now was the last Zong Breaking Pill.

This Zong Breaking Pill was also for this Outer Academy Elder named Lei Yi.

Therefore, he was the most anxious among everyone present, deeply fearful that Xiao Ming would fail in refining the pill.

Because, Xiao Ming had already failed three times before, and even at the Jia Nan Academy, there were not many medicinal materials for the Zong Breaking Pill.

Looking at the people beside him who already had Zong Breaking Pills and were still talking nonsense, Lei Yi hurriedly told them to shut up, deeply fearing that they would affect Xiao Ming.

Hu Gan and the others also had the good sense to stop talking, although they were some distance away from Xiao Ming and couldn't affect him, they had to look after their old friend's mood anyway, didn't they?

Listening to the Elders talk, Zi Yan rolled her eyes, she had been listening to them talk nonsense for so many days that she felt she would go crazy from boredom.

But then, seeing Xiao Ming, concentrating on refining pills, and the Elders at the top of the trees, her eyes brightened.

'Hehe, since no one is paying attention to me, it won't matter if I sneak out from time to time to get more herbs that Xiao Ming can refine for me later, it's not like the bad guys are going to show up right when I leave, right?'

Thinking of her old acquaintances, the magical beasts in the area, who must have delicious herbs that she would "borrow", she swung her little legs on the tree branch with much excitement.

...

Sunset came again and Xiao Ming's face started to become serious.

Elder Huo could see very clearly that this Zong Breaking Pill had reached the most important stage of fusion.

If he made a small mistake during the fusion process, the herbs that had been refined so easily earlier would burn in an instant, so even though Xiao Ming had refined the Zong Breaking Pill many times, he did not dare to be distracted in the slightest.

Although it was a fusion, the speed was like that of a turtle crawling, excruciatingly slow.

After two full days of fusion, finally, a faint white pill slowly formed in the medicinal cauldron.

The moment this pill took shape, the onlookers clearly felt the energy of the surrounding heaven and earth fluctuate as if a huge rock had been thrown into a calm lake, causing huge waves to surge.

Xiao Ming's face did not change at all in response to the fluctuations of heaven and earth energy outside, his mind was strongly focused on the changes of the pill in the Medicinal Cauldron, as he could not afford to be distracted at this critical moment.

As time passed, the faint white shape of the pill gradually rounded out, and a bright light emanated from it, turning it into a white jewel.

The moment the pill burst into brilliant light, waves of energy gushed out in all directions with the medicinal cauldron as the center, and the continuous momentum was quite spectacular.

As they had seen this scene more than once, Elder Huo and the others were very calm.

Only Lei Yi was excited, as this meant that the Zong Breaking Pill that belonged to him was about to be completed.

As expected, the seal on Xiao Ming's hand suddenly changed, and a mumble came out of his mouth, and instantly, inside the medicinal cauldron, the bright red flames abruptly expanded, almost filling the entire medicinal cauldron. In the midst of the flaming red color, a bright white spot of light became increasingly blinding.

The white point of light contracted and expanded, and as it did, a wave of energy spread out even more rapidly. Looking down from the air, where the wave of energy spread out, the rocks of the mountains collapsed, the trees split in half, and even the grass was directly overturned.

The white point of light contracted faster and faster as if something was brewing, and after almost half an hour, the point of light suddenly shrank to its smallest point!

With this rapid shrinking, the seriousness on Xiao Ming's face was thicker than ever!

Boom!

The abruptly shrinking point of light continued for a few minutes before, finally, a powerful white light enveloped the entire mountain peak.

A thunderous explosion rang through the air and, immediately, a three-meter-thick white pillar of light shot out from inside the medicinal cauldron.

...

In a secluded pavilion in the chaotic region at the other end of the mountain range where Xiao Ming stood, a man with a maple leaf embroidered on the back of his long blue robe raised his head slightly.

The man in the blue robe had a handsome face, with long black hair reaching his shoulders, and his body seemed to always carry a strange medicinal fragrance, which made people feel close to him. This person was none other than Han Feng.

"This kind of fluctuation appears just before the formation of a sixth-tier pill, this is the ninth time, it seems that the news is really correct, Xiao Ming is in the Inner Academy refining pills." A murmur slowly came out of Han Feng's mouth.

A moment later, he frowned slightly and said, "But nine sixth-tier pills... now that's something big! Looks like we can't delay it any longer."

"Han Beng!"

As he uttered these words, a dark shadow knelt silently on the ground in front of Han Feng.

"What are your orders, Master?"

"Go and invite those people we talked about earlier." Han Feng commanded lightly.

"Yes!" To those words, the figure replied respectfully, and then the figure quickly plunged into the darkness before disappearing.

Seeing the black shadow disappear, Han Feng exhaled softly and slowly walked towards the window, gazing at the distant mountain range.

"Gong Heng, the Dou Ancestor, still needs to be invited by me personally."

"Hehe, all the Heavenly Flames inside the Jia Nan Academy will be mine...."

...

Above the vast mountain range and the blue-white sky, a thick pillar of white energy rose straight up into the clouds for a long time.

Amid the gazes of the crowd, Xiao Ming slowly rose from the ground, took a glance at the pill that seemed to escape between the huge pillar of light, raised his eyebrows, and extended his hand.

Instantly, the pillar of light trembled, and after a moment, a sliver of white light floated down from the pillar of light and finally landed on the palm of his hand.

The white light gradually diminished, revealing the object inside, which was a bluish-white pill the size of a dragon's eye.

The surface of the pill was like the surface of the sea, and the white lines left on it were like the waves of this sea, giving it an extremely mysterious appearance.

When the white light was released from the pillar of light, the huge pillar of light trembled slightly as if it had lost its energy support, and then gradually became illusory until it finally dissipated completely.

"It's done!"

Beside him, Lei Yi, who was looking forward to seeing this scene, couldn't help but reveal a smile, and with a flash, his person instantly appeared beside Xiao Ming, excitedly looking at the white pill suspended in Xiao Ming's hand, and said, "Xiao Ming, this Zong Breaking Pill..."

"This Zong Breaking Pill was refined for Elder Lei, so naturally, it is Elder Lei's, go ahead." After inspecting the surface of the Zong Breaking Pill and finding nothing wrong with it, Xiao Ming smiled and handed it over.

Lei Yi wore a big smile and reached out to take the suspended pellet in Xiao Ming's palm, but just as his palm closed around it, the Zong Breaking Pill turned into a white light and shot out.

As a peak Dou Emperor existence, Lei Yi naturally wouldn't let it escape, and his palm seemed to wave nonchalantly, and the next moment, the Zong Breaking Pill appeared on it.

"Haha, these sixth-tier peak pills are truly extraordinary, they are full of spirituality."

With a sigh of excitement, Lei Yi slipped the pill into the jade bottle he had already prepared and put it away in his storage ring.

While Lei Yi put things away, Xiao Ming inserted the medicinal cauldron into his storage ring with a wave of his hand.

Su Qian and the others had also arrived together with Lei Yi.

"Old friend, after you found out outside that Xiao Ming could refine the Zong Breaking Pill, you came running back in a frenzy, so now you've finally gotten what you wanted, right?". Su Qian looked at Lei Yi, who was beaming with joy and burst out laughing.

When he heard his words, Lei Yi smiled and said, "Old Su, I came back because you said there was an urgent matter at the academy, not only because of the Zong Breaking Pill, but of course, the Zong Breaking Pill alone is also worth the trip back."

"Speaking of this Zong Breaking Pill, even that Medicinal Emperor Han Feng doesn't have such a high success rate, right?" asked Lei Yi, who had watched Xiao Ming refining the pills over the past few days, and had destroyed only a few pairs of herbs.

"It's only the practice that makes the master, it's not worth mentioning." Xiao Ming said with a smile.

"There is no need for you to be so modest, sometimes, your strength must be revealed." Elder Huo beside him looked at Xiao Ming and said.

This disciple of his was good at everything, his talent was outstanding and he was not arrogant.

However, he was sometimes too modest and lacked the arrogance proper to Alchemists.

With his Alchemy skills, he could naturally see that after these days of intense pill refining, Xiao Ming's Alchemy skills had improved a bit more.

"Hehe" Xiao Ming laughed and scratched his cheek, just as he was about to say something, his face suddenly changed.

And beside him, Su Qian's face also changed and he immediately spoke.

"Several people are coming, and it's a large number of them, their strength is also extremely strong!".

"Is that Han Feng?" When Hu Gan heard this, a cold aura shone in his eyes.

"Other than him, who else in the Black-Corner Region could have brought in a large number of powerful people?" Su Qian spoke coldly.

"In that case, let's inform the Inner Academy Elders." Elder Huo also said with a cold face, "This time, those who dared to come had better not expect to ever return."

At his side, Lei Yi took out a jade token and crushed it.

Seeing this, Su Qian and the others jumped up to stand high in the treetops and began to wait.

Xiao Ming also followed them and found the top of a tree to wait, and during this time, Xiao Ming also popped a Qi Return Pill into his mouth to recover the Dou Qi he had consumed when refining the pills earlier.

A few moments later, two dozen shadows of different colors arrived from the distant forest sea in the distance.

In the blink of an eye, they appeared in front of Xiao Ming and the others.

Apparently seeing Xiao Ming and the others, the blue shadow at the head gave a signal, and then its speed rapidly slowed down.

As it slowed down, a man dressed in the robes of an alchemist was revealed.

Who was the man at the head of the group if not Han Feng? With Han Feng's stop, the large group of people following him also stopped moving forward and ended up floating in the sky, and instantly, a bloody aura enveloped the sky above this forest!

"Hehe, First Elder Su Qian, I haven't seen you in a long time, how are you?"

Han Feng chuckled, but when he looked at Su Qian below and the surrounding Elders, his brows couldn't help but frown.

'Damn it, what the hell was going on here, why were these old men gathered here, this is going to be troublesome!'

At the top of the tree, Su Qian's face was gloomy as he looked at the group of people that appeared, his body rose into the air, his gaze slowly stopped on Han Feng, who struck up the conversation, his eyes slowly narrowed as he sneered, "I was thinking about who dared to come to my Jia Nan Academy and wander around, turns out it's Han Feng, the Medicine Emperor of the Black-Corner Region."

"Hehe, First Elder, you're being too polite, it's just a random nickname from a friend of the Black-Corner Region, it can't be taken seriously." Han Feng's thin lips quirked a faint smile toward Su Qian.

"Han Feng, this is my Jia Nan Academy's territory, what do people from the Black-Corner Region want to do by coming in a group?".

Of course, Su Qian knew what the other party was here for, and by saying this, he was simply buying time, waiting for the Inner Academy Elders to arrive.

Han Feng smiled faintly, but his gaze was fixed on Xiao Ming, who was attracting quite a bit of attention in the crowd of Elders, at Su Qian's back.

"These days, I have often felt the fluctuations of heaven and earth when a sixth-tier pill takes shape, and I believe it is due to Master Xiao Ming's pill refinement from your Academy. I only came here today to invite Master Xiao Ming to sit in my humble home and exchange some alchemy experiences, it's just that I didn't expect all of you to be here as well."

Behind Su Qian, Hu Gan and the others had already risen into the air.

"What a ridiculous excuse, do you really think the people of my Jia Nan Academy are three-year-olds?".

Hearing Han Feng's words, Hu Gan laughed coldly.

"If you wanted to invite someone, why do you need to bring so many strong people with you?".

"Hehe, with such a large group, of course, it's not just an invitation for Master Xiao Ming." Han Feng smiled faintly and said.

"I have heard for a long time that the Jia Nan Academy contains a Heavenly Flame inside, a Heavenly Flame is a wonder of heaven and earth, and as an Alchemist, this kind of flame can even be said to be a belief in our hearts, so Han Feng would like to ask First Elder to lend me the Heavenly Flame to look at it for a while, I will be grateful."