Not all members of the Divine Repository Cult were mindless killers. Some, like Zhang Han in the beginning, only carried out assassinations as part of their duty—or only took the lives of the wicked. For these types of followers, Jiang Li had his own ways.

He would spare their lives but ensure that they could never reveal anything about the cult again. Unfortunately, such followers were in the minority. The majority were people like Zhang Han now—who, for the sake of gaining the Power of the Divine Repository, would kill for the slightest excuse… or not bother looking for any excuse at all.

As for those people, Jiang Li would leave no one alive. With the clean-up of the Divine Repository Cult finally completed, the next step was to track down the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon that was hiding somewhere within the Nine Provinces. Jiang Li already had a rough plan in mind.

First of all, he needed a Pill. … The best place in all of the Nine Provinces for Alchemy was, of course, the Dao Sect’s Pill Refining Peak. The Ninefold Rebirth Golden Pill that Jiang Li had once used to ascend in broad daylight had been refined by the Pill Refining Peak Master himself.

Before Jiang Li even arrived, he could already hear the Pill Refining Peak Master, Su Wei, quarreling loudly with someone.

“I’ve been refining pills my entire life, and you dare tell me my technique is wrong? Can you refine better than me?”

Su Wei was practically stomping his feet in fury. It wasn’t surprising that he’d react this way. Su Wei had always been known as a good-natured old man—but that was because he had no interest in anything other than pill-refining.

Now that someone had actually accused him of being bad at the art he took pride in, how could he not be angry?

“With that sloppy hand of yours, I could out-refine you with my eyes closed!”

“Then let’s compete! The most basic Essence Nurturing Pill—one hundred sets of ingredients. We’ll see whose quality is higher! If you can surpass me, you can take my position as Peak Master! But if I win, you’ll have to obediently assist me in refining pills!”

The other voice snorted disdainfully.

“Who would want that position? If I win, you’ll serve as my fire-fanning boy.”

“Agreed!”

Jiang Li found himself intrigued. Su Wei’s alchemy was legendary—his methods marvelous to the point of being called divine. He was recognized as the foremost authority on pill-refining in the Nine Provinces.

Any cultivator who wished to study Alchemical Arts had to begin by studying Su Wei’s three masterpieces: The Pill, The Furnace, and The Flame. Never in his life had Jiang Li seen someone bold enough to question Su Wei’s skills. He stepped into Su Wei’s alchemy room.

The furnace door stood wide open, blazing with brilliant firelight. Su Wei stood in front of the fire, face flushed, yelling hysterically. But the voice shouting back at him wasn’t human.

It came from within the furnace itself. Su Wei was arguing with his own Pill Furnace. He was so engrossed in the quarrel that he hadn’t even noticed Jiang Li’s arrival.

“What’s going on here?”

Jiang Li asked curiously, turning to the young attendant nearby. The youth was an adorable little child, cheeks rosy and lips red, wearing a red bellyband with two tiny braids tied at the back of her head. When she saw that the Human Emperor himself had come, she quickly bowed.

She looked like she wanted to stop her teacher, who was clearly making a spectacle of himself before a guest. But everyone knew that Jiang Li loved a good scene, so he stopped her, smiling.

“Tell me what’s happening.”

The little girl glanced at Su Wei’s back, then whispered cautiously, “It’s because Patriarch Tianyin awakened the consciousness of all spirit treasures—and that included my teacher’s pill furnace, the Red Crow Furnace.”

“My teacher’s furnace is a growth-type Spirit Treasure. He’s had it since his Foundation Establishment Stage, and it’s followed him till now—fifteen hundred years—its grade already reaching the peak of Dao Artifacts.”

“After awakening its spirit, the Red Crow Furnace didn’t insist on complete freedom like other spirit treasures. Instead, it chose to remain by my teacher’s side and continue helping him refine pills.”

“At first, my teacher was very happy. He felt it was proof of their thousand‑five‑hundred‑year friendship. Who would have thought that the Red Crow Furnace loved to talk—especially when my teacher is refining pills—it loves to interrupt and teach him how to do it better.”

At this point, the little girl pinched her throat, mimicking the furnace’s muffled, metallic voice.

“Old Su, you’ll ruin the batch like that.”

“Such crude technique, and you expect to form a Pill Cloud?”

“Come, come, let me teach you how to refine properly.”

“How many times do I have to tell you? It won’t work that way! Should’ve listened to me earlier, fool!”

“Little girl, since you wipe my shell every day, I’ll give you a chance. Don’t stick with that useless old teacher of yours. Come study alchemy under me.”

“What are you staring at, old man? Glaring with those big donkey eyes! I’m stealing your disciple right in front of you. So what? You can’t teach, and you won’t let others teach—how selfish!”

The little girl winced, whispering quickly in Jiang Li’s ear, “Teacher always said he wasn’t good at fighting. But ever since the Red Crow Furnace gained intelligence, I realized he can actually slap a top‑tier Dao Artifact so hard it forgets which direction is north or south.”

“Now the Red Crow Furnace has challenged him to a duel—to see who refines pills better. The winner decides who takes the lead in all future pill refinings.”

At that very moment, Su Wei and the furnace began their alchemy contest. Su Wei went first. A hundred sets of Essence Nurturing Pill ingredients were thrown into the Red Crow Furnace.

He controlled the flames with ease, extracting the essence of the herbs and discarding the dregs, his movements flowing in accordance with the Eight‑Trigram Refining Method…

“Hey, hey, hey, lower the fire a bit!”

“What now?”

Su Wei frowned. He thought the heat was just right—neither too strong nor too weak.

“It’s burning my stomach!”

Su Wei’s forehead veins bulged. If not for wanting to finish the batch properly, he would have increased the fire just to burn that loud‑mouthed furnace to slag! Eventually, a hundred pills bearing Pill Clouds were born within the flames.

The clouds were crimson like fiery sunsets—ethereal and beautiful, like pieces of art. They were indeed Supreme-grade Essence Nurturing Pills.

“Hmph, trying to shake my Dao Heart, dream on,” Su Wei said airily, as if he hadn’t just nearly exploded with rage.

“Your turn,” he said, folding his arms.

He didn’t believe the Red Crow Furnace could do any better. The furnace sneered—or it would have, if a furnace could.

“Watch closely!”

It swallowed a hundred sets of ingredients in one gulp, its inner fire roaring. The sound that came next was disturbing—wet, smacking noises, like someone chewing food. Then— “Wretch—!” the furnace retched violently and spat out a round, steaming mass.

All three onlookers recoiled. A nauseating idea struck them. Could it be that all pills ever refined… were just the furnace’s vomit?

How would anyone feel about taking pills ever again?

“Look,” the furnace said smugly, “done!”

A ball as big as a human head rolled to Su Wei’s feet.

“What is this?” he asked suspiciously.

It did look somewhat like a pill and even had crimson Pill Clouds floating over it. The Red Crow Furnace flickered with fiery pride.

“This is an improved version of the Essence Nurturing Pill! You may call it the Grand Essence Nurturing Pill!”

“A person can take at most fifty Supreme-grade Essence Nurturing Pills before they lose effect,” it explained.

“But with my Grand Essence Nurturing Pill, one is enough to equal the power of a hundred. Obviously far superior to yours!”

“Are you kidding me? That thing’s the size of a melon! How is anyone supposed to eat it?!”

Su Wei jabbed a finger in disbelief at the gigantic pill.

“Who cares about that?” the furnace said smugly.

“If humans can’t take it, then give it to a Spirit Beast—or wait until you master some Divine Ability like the Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation, then you can swallow it whole. Either way, my Essence Nurturing Pill is higher quality than your batch, so you can start preparing to be my fire-fanning boy.”

“I refuse to acknowledge that thing as an Essence Nurturing Pill!”

“Ha! You old cheat!”

“I—” “Both of you,” Jiang Li interrupted before the quarrel could go on.

“Since your contest is over, why not help me with something?”

“Human Emperor Jiang!”

“Brother Jiang!”

Both man and furnace turned at once and, embarrassed, stopped arguing. Before outsiders, at least, they had to maintain the dignity befitting a venerable pill master—and an equally venerable furnace.

“I wish to refine a Pureblood Pill,” Jiang Li said.

“Can it be done?” —— Thanks to the book friends Meimei Taotao’s Dad, Lost—Solo Dance, Xingyin Starry Sky, Kanke 1994, 20170714182738600, and Preparing 60 Scoring 59 for their monthly votes.

Thanks also to book friend Lost—Solo Dance for the reward.

(End of Chapter)