Chapter Ninety-Three: Soul-Purifying Elixir, Pill Thunder!

Startled by Frank’s words, Qing Mo was somewhat shaken; had the man really seen through the fact that he was not a sixth-rank alchemist? Yet his expression gave nothing away.

“Hmm? Does Guild Master Frank also make a habit of prying into other people’s secrets?” he said with a trace of irony, though it was slight and carried little force. His first instinct was simply that this fellow... was irritating. Looking at him like that, for some reason, made him want to punch him.

“Oh! N-no, not at all. I’m just rather curious, yes, curious!” Frank hurriedly waved his hands when he caught the tone of the remark and realized he had been misunderstood.

Qing Mo curved his lips slightly, paused for a moment, and asked in return, “There’s no harm in telling you, but... would you believe me if I did?”

“I would!” Frank nodded at once.

“As for me, my true rank is... a seventh-rank alchemist,” he said without revealing everything, casually naming a level. Even if he openly told them he was a tenth-rank imperial alchemist, would they believe him? He answered for them in his heart. With how young he looked, they would never believe it anyway—moreover, there was not yet any imperial-rank alchemist on the continent.

“Sev... seventh rank? So it really is... just as I thought!” Frank stammered in shock, a flash of certainty in his eyes confirming that his judgment had been right.

Qing Mo ignored his nervousness. With a snap of his fingers, a box of cigarettes appeared. He took one out, tossed it into his mouth, and lit it.

“Hah. How long will you still need to prepare the sixth-rank examination area? I don’t have much time to wait,” he said as he exhaled a plume of smoke, putting on an impatient air.

Frank said awkwardly, “It’s ready. Our sixth-rank alchemist examination venue is prepared. Please, come with me.” He stood and made an inviting gesture.

Qing Mo followed along. What was this old man making such a fuss for? ...Could it be... he wanted him to become the guild master here? He didn’t have the spare time to be anyone’s guild master. Managing this place? He still hadn’t even properly sorted out his own Hall of Reincarnation.

As they walked, they entered a room. When the door opened and he stepped inside, the arrangement within was simple and clear: a tall observation platform, and below it, a stone table.

What was there to prepare? These things were clearly fixed in place already. The old man was just dragging things out... Qing Mo looked at him with disdain.

Noticing that I was staring at him, Frank seemed to realize the issue and said awkwardly, “Young master, please!”

He gestured toward the stone table ahead.

Qing Mo glanced around; there were two others nearby, but he paid them no mind. Finishing the last of his cigarette, he extinguished it and walked up.

He reached out and touched the table, then said, “Is the recipe for the sixth-rank examination provided by your Alchemist Guild?” His palm rested on the stone surface as he lifted his gaze toward the three people ahead.

One of them brought over a tattered, ancient parchment scroll. Frank took it and handed it up with a smile. “Yes, young master.”

The other two also understood how remarkable a person capable of passing a sixth-rank alchemist examination was. They had rarely seen their guild master behave this way, and their excitement was no less than anyone else’s. To witness a sixth-rank alchemy master with their own eyes refining medicine before them—how could they not be stirred? How could they not be thrilled? Even the blood in their bones seemed to tremble faintly. The two exchanged glances, each wearing an incomparably blissful smile.

Qing Mo took the parchment recipe handed to him and slowly unfolded it with both hands. Frank then withdrew to his place and watched in silence.

None of them went up to the observation platform. They remained below, lower than the stone table itself. To them, a sixth-rank alchemist was not someone they could presume to stand above. Unless one among them surpassed sixth rank, no one was qualified to stand on the lofty observation platform dozens of meters higher. Otherwise, it would be a grave disrespect to the alchemist, and the consequences of such disrespect were severe.

Qing Mo opened the recipe and saw ancient script on it, yet he could read it clearly. From it, he learned that the sixth-rank pill was the Soul Purifying Pill.

Sixth-rank pill, Soul Purifying Pill: capable of cleansing all foreign soul power from within the body, while also nourishing the soul. Its refining materials included Clear Body Grass, Icefire Soul-Melting Fruit, and Water Spirit Lotus Seed Heart.

Because sixth-rank pills were so precious, they only provided materials for a single attempt. Soon, the Clear Body Grass, Icefire Soul-Melting Fruit, and Water Spirit Lotus Seed Heart appeared before Qing Mo. Seeing the herbs listed there, everyone wore pained expressions, for they were truly too precious... and if the attempt failed... that would be the end of it!

Qing Mo naturally saw what they were thinking. When the materials had just been presented, even the hands opposite him had hesitated to let go. To this, he only wanted to say: don’t worry, I’ll return to you a pill far more valuable.

So this “preparation” just now wasn’t for the venue at all, but for the recipe and materials...

Qing Mo set down the recipe, closed his eyes, and searched through his mind for the method of refining the sixth-rank Soul Purifying Pill. Then he opened his eyes!

His left hand lightly struck the table, and the three materials rose at once into the air. From his right hand burst a brilliantly fierce flame, intensely hot and dazzling to behold, beautiful yet perilous. It was none other than the Phoenix Divine Flame!

“That is... a different fire?!” the three below cried out in alarm.

“From the color and luster, it doesn’t seem like an ordinary different fire. I can even feel the heat from here!” Frank stared gravely at the Phoenix Divine Flame in Qing Mo’s hand, speaking in a heavy tone.

The three herbs hovered above as Qing Mo controlled them, feeding them one by one into the flame. Because the Phoenix Divine Flame’s temperature was extremely high, the three materials turned to liquid the instant they entered it.

“What? The three materials were directly melted into liquid by that flame?!” In Frank’s understanding, even other high-level alchemists could not so easily turn those materials into liquid. Yet now that he had seen it with his own eyes, how could he not be shocked?

To their astonishment, Qing Mo remained calm and indifferent. For him, a sixth-rank pill could be refined almost at will. With a slight movement of his right hand, he controlled the flame’s temperature above and merged the three droplets into one.

A faint radiance flashed, and the liquid in his hand condensed into a flawless pill— the Soul Purifying Pill!

He withdrew the Phoenix Divine Flame, and the Soul Purifying Pill dropped into Qing Mo’s palm.

“It’s... finished?!”

The entire process of refining medicine had taken only a few minutes? Surely not. Was the man opposite even human? He had produced a sixth-rank pill in just a few minutes?

The people below were already dumbfounded, unable to understand what had happened. All they knew was that from beginning to end, they had seen Qing Mo melt the materials, then condense them into medicinal liquid, and then... the pill was formed? Was refining a sixth-rank pill really so... easy? Why did it seem so far removed from everything they understood?

As the saying went: high-grade pills summon thunderbolts!

Once the Soul Purifying Pill was formed, dark clouds instantly swallowed the sky above the Alchemist Guild, turning day into night. Those outside had no idea what was happening.

A thunderclap of unprecedented force suddenly rang out!

Boom!

Boom!

“This is...? Pill thunder?” Frank was startled by the thunder. He shouted, “Quick! Go down at once and order everyone to leave the Alchemist Guild! Quickly!!!”

Everyone immediately ran out to evacuate the area.

“Pill thunder... is it?” Qing Mo raised his head toward the source of the sound, then looked at Frank and said calmly, “Stay here. Don’t wander off. I’ll be back soon.”

So the pill thunder had come? He had heard that being struck by lightning could kill a person, and now he wanted to see whether the thunder of this continent had the ability to kill him. It was just right—he could use it to temper his Great Brahma Gold Body.

The End